The Rise of the Third Reich

"We must be very careful not to describe this rescue as a victory. War is not won by retreat. However, there is a victory in this rescue, and this should be noted. This victory was obtained by the Air Force. The returning Many soldiers never saw our Air Force in action; they only saw enemy bombers escaping our Air Force's cover attack. I have heard a lot of talk about this: That's why I want it now. Let me digress to talk about this matter, and here is the reason why I must tell you about it.

This was a major test of the strength of the British and German air forces. Can you imagine any greater purpose than the Luftwaffe's purpose of making our retreat from the beaches impossible and of sinking all the thousands of ships that crowded there? Apart from this, what is the greater military importance and significance for the purpose of the entire war? They tried their best, but they were repulsed; they were frustrated in the execution of their mission. We withdrew the army; the price they paid was four times the damage they inflicted on us..."

On May 1, 1940, on a plane flying from London to Paris, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was listening to a recording of his speech while smoking an extra-long cigar.

He almost admired his ability to discover favorable factors. He could actually discover "hidden victory" from a complete military disaster - the exchange rate of 1:4 is nonsense. The Royal Air Force really needs to have such ability. , then there is no need to withdraw the expeditionary force.

Even according to Royal Aviation's own report, the exchange ratio between the two sides was around 1:1. This was not an aircraft-to-aircraft exchange ratio, but included enemy aircraft shot down by ground fire and surface fleet fire - and those Enemy aircraft also caused great losses to British ships on the sea. During the ten-day retreat, as many as 85 ships were sunk by aircraft alone, 8 of which were destroyers full of officers and soldiers (the British battleship fleet was patrolling near the British coast during the day, so there were no were attacked by airstrikes), and 55 other ships were damaged.

In addition, the incoming enemy aircraft were not all BF-109s and Fokker Zeros, but also included a large number of bombers and torpedo attack aircraft. The Royal Air Force dispatched all fighter jets (mainly Spitfires and Hurricanes). In this case, they only achieved an exchange ratio of 1:1, which only shows that air superiority is still on the side of Germany.

But Germany's advantage is not overwhelming. If the air battle was carried out over the British mainland, even if the exchange ratio was 1:1, the Royal Air Force would have a chance to defeat the German Air Force. Because there is a high chance that a downed British pilot can escape by parachuting, while a German pilot will be captured after parachuting over the UK.

And after several months of confrontation, the Royal Air Force has found the weaknesses of the Fokker Zero and the BF-109. The former has poor high-altitude performance and dive performance, while the latter has too short a range and poor mid- and low-altitude combat performance. The two fighters can indeed overwhelm the Spitfire when fighting together over the European continent, but when the battlefield shifts to the British mainland, the short range of the BF-109 will become a fatal weakness. Once the BF-109 is unable to exert its power, the Fokker Zero will not be difficult to deal with.

In addition to the "victory" achieved by the Royal Air Force that made Churchill happy, the hundreds of thousands of empty-handed expeditionary officers and soldiers who withdrew from Belgium also gave Churchill a little more confidence. With these officers, non-commissioned officers and veterans who have been baptized by the fire of war, coupled with the large amount of arms purchased from the United States, the British Army can quickly recover.

It was precisely with these two trump cards that Churchill dared to make bold statements in his speech, declaring: "Although we have lost this battle, we will never surrender or surrender. We will fight to the end, and we will fight in France." , we will fight on the sea, we will fight in the air with confidence! We will become stronger as we fight, and we will never surrender at any cost, even if our island or most of this island is occupied by the enemy. and starved, (which I never believed would happen), our overseas empire, armed and protected by the British fleet, would also fight on..."

With a snap, Hirschman pressed the switch of a Telefunken tape recorder, and the very clear sound of Churchill's speech suddenly stopped. In the headquarters conference room at No. 73 Wilhelmstrasse, everyone except Hessmann had a contemptuous smile on their faces.

"Hahaha, this Churchill must be crazy." Hermann Goering, who had gained a lot of weight probably because he was in a good mood during this period, suddenly laughed, "The British are so pitiful, they are going to lose their lives because of this Churchill their empire.”

Hitler also laughed and spread his hands. "He must be delusional. We never wanted to invade. At least we won't attack the British mainland in 1940 and 41." He looked at Hersman. "is that so?"

"We plan to launch an attack and occupy the British mainland in 42 years," Hersman said. "Before that, we will use a submarine blockade to deal with the British."

In fact, there is currently a copy of the "Sea Lion Project" to invade Britain in the General Staff Archives, but Hessman does not intend to actually implement this very risky plan.

"We can also use aircraft for bombing," Hermann Göring suggested. "We have many bombers, and we also have Fokker Zeros that can perform escort missions. In addition, Fokker Company and Fokker-Wulf The company has also jointly developed the Fw-190, an air-cooled fighter jet with very superior performance. This aircraft can have a range of more than 1,200 kilometers after adding throwable auxiliary fuel tanks. It can completely replace the BF-109 and cooperate with the Fokker Zero to protect the bomber group during air raids. British mainland. At present, the Air Force has placed an order, and the production lines of Fokker and Fokker-Wulf are ready to produce 60 aircraft per month starting in May.”

Due to the dual promotion of the "Keynes Plan" and Soviet-German cooperation, Germany had a huge civil aviation industry before rearmament. Now it naturally has a considerable aircraft production capacity, and it still has sufficient engine technology for the air-cooling route. accumulation. Therefore, the Fw-190 and Fokker Zero can be designed and put into mass production in a relatively short period of time.

However, Hersman still opposed the air attack on Britain. He shook his head and said: "Herman, didn't you listen to that Churchill? Even if the homeland falls, the British will continue to fight... Unless we can eliminate the army used to protect Britain. The Royal Navy of the Overseas Empire.

So there is no shortcut to conquering Britain except strengthening our navy. In addition to working hard to integrate the European shipbuilding industry and speed up shipbuilding, it is to obtain the French Navy's capital ships. As long as we can get two nearly completed 'Richelieu' class ships and two 'Dunkirk' class ships, we can defeat the British. "

…

The two "Richelieu" class ships and the two "Dunkirk" class ships that are nearly completed are now also Churchill's heartache. They are now in the port of Toulon. It was protected by coastal batteries and D.520 fighter jets as well as dozens of anti-aircraft guns.

Although Cunningham, the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, promised that they could be sunk or severely damaged, Churchill still felt that it was best to resolve it peacefully - after all, the impact of attacking allies would be very bad. For this reason, Churchill came up with the idea of ​​"peaceful reunification" "The French route. But whether the French government would accept this national salvation plan of "unification of Britain and France", to be honest, Churchill was not sure at all.

At an airport protected by anti-aircraft artillery regiments on the outskirts of Paris, before Churchill had time to tell Paul Reynaud about his proposal of "unification of Britain and France", he heard bad news from the latter.

"Prime Minister, they have begun to attack Paris!" Paul Reynold said. "To the northeast of Paris, the positions of the 10th Army between the coast and the Oise River are under attack. In the direction of Reims in the center, the German army's The armored forces are advancing towards the Marne, and on the southern front, there is also an armored group advancing towards Dijon."

"Mr. Prime Minister, I just thought of a plan that can save France... Can we talk about it after we get in the car?"

Churchill was not surprised that the German army launched a new attack. The French were completely defeated. How long could the Germans wait until they were ruthless? The only way to save France now is to merge with Britain.

"What? The merger of Britain and France?" Paul Reno was very surprised when he heard the news in the car. He looked at Churchill with his mouth wide open, and it took him a long time to recover.

Renault asked: "Does the UK, like Germany, want to build a strong European community?"

"There is no such thing," Churchill shook his head and took a puff of cigarette. "Britain has never had the idea of ​​unifying Europe. Such a plan is just to unite Britain and France more closely to jointly combat Germany's ambitions. As long as we Defeat Germany and secession can be achieved immediately."

Paul Renault was slightly disappointed when he heard this. The British never want to be truly European, nor do they want to see a unified Europe, they just want a divided and powerless Europe. If the British hadn't disrupted the situation, Emperor Napoleon would have unified Europe long ago, and France would not be as miserable as it is today.

"Well, this is indeed a way," Renault nodded. "I tried to persuade other members of the cabinet and the leaders of the various parties in the parliament. But I can't guarantee success. If everyone opposes the merger, we can't continue. war, can France make peace with Germany alone?"