The Rise of the Third Reich

Belgium's surrender seemed to have fired the legal gun to retreat. What was originally a sneaky retreat turned into an all-out campaign to rescue the soldiers on the 25th and 26th. The British Admiralty began requisitioning ships along the coast and along the Thames as planned, and even issued a radio appeal to all ship owners to proceed to Dunkirk, Ostend, and Nieuwpoort.

Since the situation in the Battle of France was worse than ever for Britain and France, the British retreat was more determined. They used warships to evacuate some of the expeditionary officers and soldiers at night before Belgium surrendered. 7,500 people were evacuated on the night of the 21st, 6,900 people were evacuated on the night of the 22nd, 7,200 people were evacuated on the night of the 23rd, and 7,100 people were evacuated on the night of the 24th. There were already 28,700 British officers and soldiers before the large-scale retreat began. Withdrew to the mainland.

The British seemed to have a head start in this battle to save the failed expeditionary officers and soldiers.

But this time their opponent was not Adolf Hitler, who had illusions about the British Empire, but Hessmann, the German Chief of General Staff who was determined to overthrow the British Empire. Under his strict orders, the German 1st, 6th and 18th armies, with 7 armored divisions as their sharp swords, attacked fiercely for days. Not only did the Belgian army surrender early (three days earlier than in history), but it also On the afternoon of May 25th, we arrived outside Dunkirk!

The Luftwaffe and naval aviation have not been idle these days. Starting from the 22nd, they began to bombard ports such as Zeebrugge, Ostend, Nieuwpoort, and Dunkirk that may be used to withdraw troops. fry. From the 22nd to the 25th alone, the German Air Force and Naval Air Force dispatched more than 5,000 aircraft sorties and dropped more than 10,000 tons of bombs at four ports, blowing most of the docks and docks into ruins.

In addition, German Navy submarines were also dispatched in large numbers, laying more than 2,000 mines outside the ports of Zeebrugge, Ostend, Nieuwpoort, Dunkirk and other places. The waters between Dunkirk and Zeebrugge turned into a sea of ​​death, and every night several British ships hit mines.

However, the British also understood what withdrawing the expeditionary force meant to them. All ship owners actively responded to the call of the Admiralty. Barges, tugboats, cargo ships, passenger ships, fishing boats, motorboats and even private yachts all set out to sea and sailed to the other side of the strait. Dangerous waters. According to statistics from the British Admiralty, 693 British civilian ships and more than 100 French ships have joined the rescue effort.

However, most of the larger ships sailed to Zeebrugge, Ostend, and Nieuwpoort under the careful arrangement of the British Admiralty, while most of the British ships bound for Dunkirk were small. Tonnage of fishing boats, motorboats and private yachts...

"Damn it, was your Royal Navy completely wiped out by the German High Seas Fleet?"

On the east embankment, the only remaining berth for ships in the Port of Dunkirk, Lieutenant General Pierre Billot, commander of the French 1st Army Group, was pointing at the three letters SNO cut out of tinfoil on a helmet. The British naval captain was furious.

Captain William Tennant, who was in charge of commanding the boarding of ships at Dunkirk port and beach, looked at the angry French Lieutenant General in front of him and just shrugged helplessly, "Lieutenant General, I give you and your The attaché arranged a yacht which was very comfortable and fast. ”

"Colonel, there are nearly 200,000 officers and soldiers in my army group. They have been fighting the most brutal enemy in the world since April 12. They fought for thirteen days, thirteen days! They are exhausted now. We will soon run out of ammunition and food. If we cannot evacuate from the port of Dunkirk, we will become prisoners of the Germans...or be killed by the Germans!"

Lieutenant General Pierre Billot raised his hand and pointed to the crowded beach not far away - the people on the beach were all French officers and soldiers who had just retired from the front line. They had spent a nightmare of 13 days and were hanged. The German supermen were beaten to a pulp, and now they finally escaped to the beach of Dunkirk. What awaited them was not the giant ship of the British Royal Navy, but small fishing boats, motorboats and private yachts.

Although there seemed to be hundreds of these small boats covering the undulating sea, how many people could they save? 3000...or 5000?

For the 200,000 French troops who had been compressed by the German army around Dunkirk, a few thousand men were insignificant. Even if tens of thousands of people could be evacuated every day, it would still take 20 days to evacuate everyone.

The Germans can occupy Dunkirk in a few days at most! How many people can evacuate in such a short time?

It seems that the British really abandoned, no, they should have betrayed France! The French people on the beach thought in despair: The British finally left the unlucky French and escaped by boat...

"Enemy plane! Enemy plane!"

Suddenly someone shouted in terror, and then there was a "buzzing" sound from the aircraft motor in the sky.

Dozens of German planes appeared in the sky! There are Fokker 99 dive bombers in a V-shaped three-plane formation, and Fokker Zero fighters in a four-finger formation. They roared out of the clouds and then circled in the sky, seemingly looking for valuable targets.

"What's going on? Why are there so many fishing boats on the sea?" Second Lieutenant Rudolf Hersman, who had just returned to the team a few hours ago, was now flying a new Fokker Zero fighter on a mission. He took a As soon as the four-machine formation emerged from the clouds, they were stunned by the scene on the sea.

"Walter," he contacted squadron leader Nowotny through the airborne radio, "we seem to be in the wrong place. This is probably not Dunkirk."

Of course, the news that the British and French forces had begun to retreat by sea could not be concealed from the German intelligence department. Therefore, Dunkirk became the bombing target of the naval aviation force with a larger range. However, the warships and ships that should have filled the sea were nowhere to be seen, only small boats such as fishing boats and yachts.

"No, we are in the right place," Novotny's voice came from the headphones, "This is Dunkirk! Rudolf, look to your lower left at 9 o'clock."

Rudolf Hersman looked in the direction Novotny said and saw only a narrow beach densely packed with people.

"God, are those all French?" Rudolf Herschmann asked.

"I think so."

"So what should we do about them?"

"Blow it up with bombs?" Novotny said, "But to kill so many people, it seems that two squadrons of Fokker 99s are not enough. He-111s need to be sent."

…

"Fishing boats?" The Dunkirk situation was reported to Zossen's General Staff. Hersmann laughed and said to Halder beside him, "The British Empire is more despicable and shameless than I imagined. It seems that It will take some effort to defeat them.”

"Marshal, you can't save the empire by being shameless," Halder said. "It will only make the French see through their true colors."

"So what if you see through it?" Hessmann glanced at Manstein, who had just been transferred from the Western Front headquarters (he would serve as the second munitions director after Halder went to Italy), "Erich, Do you think the French will turn to us because of Dunkirk?”

"No." Manstein shook his head. "The French have long known that Britain is not a good thing. In the past few hundred years, France has been against Britain. The French do not follow Britain out of love and trust. They follow Britain. We follow Britain because of fear. If we want the French to follow us in Germany, we must make the French afraid! Or...the British will do something even more outrageous."

"Well said!" Hessman nodded hard, and then said to Halder, "Franz, although we won beautifully this time, the French are probably more afraid of the British Empire than we are! So we don't It will be easy to get the French fleet, and it is likely that some tricks will be used, and maybe we will have to grab it!"

"Marshal," Halder said with a wry smile, "this is not easy."

"It's not necessarily that difficult," Hessman said with a smile. "The British will continue to play the role of villain in the future. This is an opportunity for us."

"Evil man?" Halder smiled, "Marshal, do you think the British will attack Toulon? This is not easy."

"It's not easy, but it won't be too difficult for the British Royal Navy." Hessman shook his head. "They probably won't use battleships to fight artillery battles. The two aircraft carriers 'Ark Royal' and 'Glorious' are not here. They are within our surveillance range, I think they must be on their way to the Mediterranean!”

"Then they have little chance," Halder said. "The French have deployed several squadrons of fighter jets in Toulon. In addition, we will also deploy Fokker Zero and Fokker 99 in Rana. Maybe we We will find an opportunity to kill these two aircraft carriers.”

"It's not easy to say, and there's nothing wrong with letting the British teach the arrogant French a lesson." Hessman smiled slightly. He knew that the British would find a way. The British Empire was not that easy to clean up.

Moreover, there was no need to help the French save the entire fleet. In addition to some cruisers and destroyers, the truly valuable items in the French Navy are the two Dunkirk-class ships and the three Richelieu-class ships under construction.

Thinking of this, Hersman said to Halder: "There is no need to be too active in protecting the French and let them suffer more. It's okay to lose some battleships. We can always get most of them. And our goal is not Not only the French navy, but also France itself! A referendum will soon be held to decide the future of France."