Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

The British army on the British mainland urgently mobilized troops to attack Boumare.

The road leading to Boumare was riddled with holes by German bombers and a large number of mines were dropped, which seriously affected the speed of the British army. In addition, there are German bombers in the sky. Once the British army gathers in too many numbers, these bombers will bombard them head-on.

Throughout the day, the British army did not move much and lost a lot of troops in vain. They could only wait and watch the German transport planes deliver supplies to Bumare one after another. The German army not only used transport aircraft to airdrop, but gliders of various sizes also forcibly landed in Bumare. Most of these gliders are disposable, and recycling them is of little significance. Moreover, these gliders are loaded with steel plates, so they are not afraid of being broken. When making an emergency landing, you only need to ensure the safety of the driver, and the aircraft body does not need to worry about how it falls.

This kind of steel plate is PSP perforated steel plate, which was called Marston pad in the original time and space of World War II.

The concept of Marston mats originated from Europe. Before World War II, many military airports in Britain, France and other countries were still unpaved. As aircraft became heavier and heavier, the wheels began to use brakes. But at that time, the turf of British and French airports was the best in the world, and they could barely cope with it.

It was not until Germany rose and the clouds of war in Europe were getting thicker that Britain and France became nervous. Once a war breaks out, existing airports will inevitably be attacked, and a large number of temporary airports will be needed. How to quickly build a usable temporary airport has become a difficult problem that engineers need to solve. British engineers developed rolls of steel mesh to quickly pave runways, and France developed planks with interlocking mechanisms.

The British and French studies also attracted the attention of the U.S. Army Aviation. After analysis, both options were not suitable. The British one could not withstand the take-off and landing of American heavy bombers, and it was difficult to repair after damage. The French one was too heavy and inconvenient to install. So the Carnegie Steel Company in Illinois finally developed the Marston pad based on the requirements of the U.S. Army Aviation and the experience of Britain and France.

The M8 Marston pads widely used in World War II were stamped steel plates. Each piece is 3 meters long, 38 meters wide and weighs 30 kilograms. There are two transverse grooves that divide each board into three sections. There are a total of 87 holes punched on it. There are buckles on the front and back for joining the boards together. The installation is very convenient and can be completed by one person using simple tools. A small team of engineers can complete a 1,500-meter-long and 60-meter-wide airstrip in two days.

The laying of Marston mats is very convenient and quick. It can be constructed on simply flattened ground. The staggered arrangement of each Marston mat can expand the width of the runway. During construction, a certain number of mats can be laid into the ground with U-shaped buckles for overall reinforcement, or welded for reinforcement. If you are more particular, you can also use straw mats or the like to lay a layer of bottom first.

Marston mats were widely used during World War II because they were simple and quick to lay and easy to repair and replace. They were used from various islands in the Pacific to battlefields in Europe and Africa. Without it, Allied air power cannot be deployed forward in a timely manner, and its efficiency will be greatly reduced, which may even have a major impact on the war situation.

Although this thing has low technical content, it consumes a lot of resources; during World War II, the United States alone produced about 2 million tons of M8 Marston pads, and the cost was US$200 million based on 1940 prices. The resource-poor Axis powers were powerless; they couldn't afford to use them even if they wanted to.

Steel plates were quickly connected one by one, and by evening a 30-meter-wide and 200-meter-wide airport runway had been built; planes would be able to take off and land normally tomorrow morning.

Finally staying up until night, the British army was clearing mines and building roads, and advanced towards Bumare with difficulty.

On the other side of the Irish Prime Minister's Office, the German emissary stared at the Irish Prime Minister de Valera in front of him with a gloomy face. "You secretly sent almost a battalion of troops to England today, right? Is this your country's so-called neutrality policy?!"

Prime Minister de Valera wiped sweat from his face. "Mr. Jonas, I can swear to God, those people were never sent by us. They are defecting..."

When World War II broke out in the original time and space, Irish Prime Minister de Valera told the House of Commons that neutrality was the best policy for Ireland. This was almost unanimously supported by the House of Commons. Of all the members of the Commonwealth of Nations at the time, Ireland was the only neutral country.

But despite the government's claims of neutrality, many Irish decided to rebel against Germany. According to later statistics, by the end of the war, a total of 60,000 Irish people served in the British army, including thousands of members of the Irish Armed Forces. They either went to the United Kingdom via Northern Ireland, or went directly to the British mainland to join the British army. Their number accounted for about 1/6 of the total number of Irish troops (20,000 people).

For fear of deteriorating Anglo-Irish relations, the British army did not form a corresponding organic "Irish force", but assigned them to various units.

However, what these Irish soldiers did not expect was that the Irish authorities did not appreciate their heroic actions, but instead regarded them as "deserters."

After the war in Europe ended, the Irish authorities began to liquidate "deserters" from the army. On May 17, 1945, Irish Defense Minister Oscar Traynor proposed a bill to deprive "deserters" of any right to employment in public positions. On August 8, the proposal was officially passed. The bill includes four main items: During the period of "defection", "deserters" will be deprived of all wages and allowances; they will lose any rights to receive service pensions; they will lose any unemployment benefits that retired officers and soldiers of the Republic of China can usually obtain. ; They are not allowed to receive any compensation for their labor from public funds for 7 years.

This decree only applies to those who "defected" from the Patriot Army to join the armies of belligerent countries during World War II, and has no involvement with civilians. It is estimated that the number of people affected is between four and five thousand.

Some military elders and dignitaries attempted to cancel the decree, but despite their objections being brought up for discussion, the House of Commons voted in favor of the bill.

In this atmosphere, many veterans who returned home were in miserable conditions and were labeled "traitors". They were included in the "blacklist" by the love government and were unable to hold public office. Their family lived in ridicule by others. In fact, in addition to being expressly prohibited from engaging in public service, these people who are stigmatized as "traitors" are discriminated against and ostracized by society. They can't find any jobs at all. Most of them live in poverty, and even their children are implicated.

As it concerns Ireland's internal affairs and is troubled by the Northern Ireland issue, the British government has not stopped the Irish government's "retaliatory" actions for a long time. It was not until the 1990s that Irish society's attitude towards this group of World War II veterans gradually changed.

The German emissary waved his hand, interrupting de Valera's explanation. "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, there is no need to explain. Regardless of whether those people defected privately or were secretly dispatched by your government, I only know that our German soldiers may fall under their guns in the future. This is a pure act of war! Since If you want war so much, then we will give you war!"