The Rise of the Third Reich

On the outskirts of Paris, the Chateau de Vincennes, the Allied Forces Headquarters.

Paul Reynaud arrived at 1 pm on April 25 and announced the sad news that the Kingdom of Belgium was suing for peace with Germany. There was a sudden silence in the war room, and everyone looked ashen, as if the end of France had come.

I don’t know how long it took before I heard the 74-year-old General Wei Gang say in a hoarse voice: "Mr. Prime Minister, we must save the 1st Army and the 7th Army trapped in Dunkirk... They are the French resistance. Tinder.”

Similar to the situation faced by the United Kingdom, France is now extremely short of experienced officers and non-commissioned officers. The French 1st Army and 7th Army now retreated to Gravelines and Dunkirk, carrying out desperate resistance against the 30-kilometer-long coastline.

In the area along the "Maginot" line of defense, the main forces of the French 2nd Army (mostly annihilated), 3rd Army, 4th Army, 5th Army and 8th Army (each group army has a small number of troops) Evacuation) was cut off by the Germans, and was also attacked by the infantry of the German Army Group A and Army Group C. It was only a matter of time before the entire army was annihilated.

In addition, most of the French 9th Army and 2nd Army no longer exist. Of the 10 French armies formed before April 10, only one, the 10th Army, was left to defend Paris. In addition, there are several divisions in the newly-created 6th Group Army that are "old troops" with combat effectiveness. The rest are recruits who are severely inadequately trained and equipped. If there are not enough officers, non-commissioned officers and veterans as the backbone, and the army is formed entirely of new recruits, it will be easily crushed by the powerful German army.

"They can be allowed to retreat from the sea and leave the port of Dunkirk..." Paul Reno said with a gloomy face. "I will discuss this matter with Prime Minister Churchill. But we must also prepare for the worst. If the troops cannot withdraw, how many combat-effective divisions can we organize?"

Can't withdraw? Maxim Weigang was stunned, looked at Renault and said: "Prime Minister, you mean how many people we can't evacuate?"

"Perhaps not a single one can be withdrawn!" Renault said. "If that happens, can we continue to fight? How many troops can we put out in early May?"

"No one can be evacuated?" Maxim Weigang was stunned by Renault's words. He didn't say a word for a long time. After a while, he stammered, "Then, then we can still piece together There are about 50-60 divisions, and there will be that many troops before May 10th... But those are troops with extremely poor combat effectiveness."

France still has a lot of new recruits being trained, with nearly 3 million recruits on the books, as well as a lot of machine soldiers and logistics troops. Even if it can form another 100 divisions, there will be no problem with the manpower. However, troops lacking both equipment and backbones are just cheap cannon fodder on the battlefield. They have no meaning other than letting the French nation shed more blood.

"I know," Renault nodded, "I know... I will negotiate with the British. You should form an army as soon as possible and deploy to defend Paris. Regardless of whether there are enough officers and non-commissioned officers, we must defend Paris. "

…

"Mr. Prime Minister, please rest assured that Britain will never abandon its allies, and the British Royal Navy will do its best to help the French troops in Dunkirk retreat. What you have to do now is to hold on, hold on, and hold on!"

British Prime Minister Churchill assured the French Prime Minister on the phone. After hanging up the phone, he said to Admiral Pound, the First Sea Lord sitting opposite him: "We don't have the ability to save the French, do we?"

The Admiral nodded helplessly. "Yes, our own people have no time to evacuate. Now that the Belgians have surrendered, we don't have much time left..."

The Belgian army was originally located to the southeast of the British army, blocking the German Army Group B attacking from the east. As soon as the Belgians surrendered their guns, the German Army Group B would soon reach the British army.

"Go all out to save the expeditionary force," Churchill said, puffing on his cigar, "as much as we can save."

"So... what about the French?" Pound asked, "Are we going to save them?"

"Of course, of course we have to save them," Churchill smiled bitterly. "If we don't save them, they will surrender, and then the expeditionary force will really be finished."

"But we don't have that many ships..."

Churchill waved his hand and said: "Whether he can be saved is one thing, whether he can be rescued is another matter. Admiral, do you understand what I mean?"

Whether to save or not is a matter of attitude, and whether they can be rescued is a matter of ability. The British Empire's current capabilities are limited, but it still tries every means to save the French soldiers.

"Mobilize fishing boats and private yachts to pick up people from the beaches of Dunkirk," Churchill instructed, taking a puff of his cigar. "We must make the French feel that the British people are going all out to rescue them."

The use of fishing boats and yachts to rescue people looks very lively, but in fact not many people can be fished out. This is just to show an attitude to the French.

Churchill held his cigar in his mouth, puffed out a few puffs of white smoke, and then asked Pound: "Where is the French fleet?"

"All gathered at Toulon," Admiral Pound answered. "It was a heavily fortified port. The French also stationed several fighter squadrons equipped with D.520s there to guard against the Italians..."

"That's to protect us!" Churchill snorted a few times and said angrily, "The Germans spread rumors that the Royal Navy would attack the French Navy to prevent their ships from falling into German hands."

"Prime Minister, now that the French are on guard, are we..." Admiral Pound knows what the defense at Toulon Port is like. There are many strong coastal forts there, equipped with hundreds of large-caliber artillery, and battleships. The naval guns were unable to do anything to the port of Toulon. The D.520 is a very difficult fighter to deal with. The F2A Buffalo on the British aircraft carrier may be difficult to deal with them.

Churchill shook his head and said: "We have to believe in General Cunningham, he will definitely find a way."

…

"Now the Roman Empire and the German Empire stand together!"

Berlin, Wilhelmstrasse 73. At the headquarters meeting held on the afternoon of the 25th, Hitler, who had just returned from Rome, said happily: "The British Empire's rule in North Africa will soon fall apart! Mussolini told me that he had deployed two troops on the African continent. One army group is in Northeast Africa, with 300,000 people; the other is in North Africa, with 240,000 people. The British troops there are very weak, with a total of less than 100,000 people, so Italy's victory in Africa is useless. It’s suspenseful! It seems that our original prediction was not very accurate...The Italians are well prepared for the war!"

Before Hitler went to Rome, he was not very optimistic about Italy's expansion prospects in the Mediterranean. However, when he learned that Mussolini had prepared 540,000 troops in Africa, he immediately changed his view.

That's 540,000 Italian troops! (Not all of them are Italians, many are colonial troops) and the opponent is only 100,000 British troops (there are also colonial troops), almost 5 against 1, victory is certain. After all, the British army's performance in the Battle of France was quite weak, and it was impossible to defeat the Italians who were five times their size.

The victory of the Italian army in North Africa meant that the Suez Canal fell into German and Italian hands. By then the British Mediterranean Fleet will be unable to gain a foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean at least. Their existence in the Western Mediterranean depends on Spain's willingness to join the war - this is not a big problem in Hitler's opinion. As long as North Africa and the Mediterranean fall into Italian hands, Spain has no reason to watch Gibraltar for Britain.

Once Gibraltar is captured by Spanish or German-Italian forces, Britain will have no foothold in the Mediterranean.

In this way, Turkey (Turkey is also pro-German, but they are very afraid of Britain, but if the entire Mediterranean is controlled by Germany and Italy, Turkey will not even be able to see the "face" of Britain, so naturally there is nothing to fear) will fall to Germany and Italy!

At that time, the German army will be able to march into the Middle East through land routes, and Iraq and Iran, two oil-producing countries that are already very pro-German, will soon become vassals of Germany.

After taking over Iraq and Iran, the oil problem that had been stuck on Germany's neck was solved, and the door to the Indian Ocean was completely opened. If Germany could further liberate India, then the German Empire would undoubtedly win the war.

"We are going to win!" Hitler said in a cheerful tone. "In a few months at most, Britain will pray to us for peace. If they are still stubborn, I will send troops to liberate India. If India is lost, the British Empire will not The complex also exists.”

"Leader," Hessmann was not infected by Hitler's optimism at all. He shook his head and said, "We should not have too much hope in the combat effectiveness of the Italians. They are likely to fail in Africa."

"I know the Italians don't have much fighting power," Hitler waved his hand, "but a five-fold advantage is still enough for them to defeat the British. Besides, we will also provide some help to Italy. Mussolini has promised to let our planes enter Rana. The airport.”

Defense Minister Marshal Schleicher was also very optimistic. He smiled and said to Hersmann: "Ludwig, I think in the next stage, our main task is to solve the Balkan problem... Our goal is to produce products in the Middle East. To get there, we must go through the Balkans and Turkey. In order to prevent the Roman Empire from becoming stronger in the past, we must control Turkey before Mussolini and open up the road to Iraq and Iran. At the same time, we must also prepare for conflict with the Soviet Union. Prepare!”