Hitler's heart twitched a few times, and his eyes involuntarily fell to the map next to him. Abouville, more than 40 kilometres west of Amiens, was quickly found, as if it were a fortress fulcrum, wedged into the retreat of the coalition forces along the coastline. Although the coastal town of Noyères is not marked on the map, Hitler can know the location of the mouth of the Somme with his eyes closed: Hitler was a herald who worked on the Somme River for more than two years, and his familiarity with the surrounding area has long been engraved in his bones!

Moments later, Hitler's blood boiled, and the great ecstasy and excitement drowned him like a tsunami, and the tight heartstrings were completely loosened. There is no doubt that the current situation on the Western Front is completely clear, and the defeat of the French army is not an orderly retreat, but a thousand-mile rout that is even more unbearable than that of the Poles. Now the French army is launching a counterattack from the southern flank, and even gathering the defeated troops and reorganizing the troops has become a luxury for them. Otherwise, Guderian, who was rushing at full speed, would have been cut off his fragile flanks long ago, where could he have driven more than 150 kilometers straight from Perona all the way to the coast?

As if fearing that Hitler was still obsessed with the flank threat of the Panzer forces, Keitel said excitedly: "The threat of a French counterattack from the south has been eliminated, and the only possible threat is for the Belgian coalition to break through to the south." But even if they were to act immediately, they would be seriously hampered by our armored forces and the motorized divisions that were following closely, and the final escape of a few divisions would not affect the overall situation at all. And after the annihilation of the coalition forces on the northern front, we will be able to form a strength advantage of 70 divisions over the French, and there will be no suspense about victory! ”

Hearing these words, Hitler could no longer contain the excitement in his heart, and burst into laughter, and by the end his voice was already choked with joy. Up to now, the battle on the Western Front has only been fought for 11 days, and in the last battle, the right flank of the German army was still blocked under the fortress of Liege; Today, however, the Germans had already made decisive advances, and the defeat of France was only a matter of time. Even Hitler himself, who insisted on waging the war on the Western Front, could never have dreamed that victory would come so brilliantly and quickly!

"Without a visionary leadership and efficient and rigorous organization, the German Army would never have been able to achieve what it is today! ...... "The ecstatic Hitler put aside the feud with the army and praised the latter without hesitation. After saying this, not only Brauchitsch's face was full of red light, but even Halder, who had slammed the door three days ago, straightened his back and felt less disgusted with Hitler.

Although the Führer was stubborn, arrogant, and occasionally insane, he really led the Army and Germany from one victory to another. At the thought that Germany could heartily suffer the humiliation of the past and realize the long-cherished national aspiration of nearly a hundred years, Halder was thrilled and could not help himself!

"The rest of the battle will be up to you. I am ready to draw up a peace treaty with the French, in which they will return all the land and wealth that they have taken from Germany for the past 400 years. Hitler clenched his hands into fists and said with a gleam in his eyes. As for the location of the peace talks, he had already thought about it, and it was in the Compiègne Forest, where Germany signed the armistice in 1918, that he could not retaliate against the humiliation inflicted on Germany by France that year. As always, Keitel nodded desperately and complimented: "My Führer, you are the greatest commander of all time!" ”

The night breeze whistled through the cracks in the windows of the government office at 10 Downing Street, and a rare map of Western Europe with France at its core hung on the beige interior walls, including Belgium to the northeast. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sat quietly on the sofa, sipping one cigar after another with a frown, while Admiral Ironside, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and Marshal Pound, First Sea Lord, were also solemn, silent and solemn.

"News has just arrived from the French front that the German 2nd Panzer Division has captured Abbeville. The 700,000 allied troops in the whole of Belgium were all under siege, and 10 divisions of the British Expeditionary Force were also trapped in it. Due to the lack of supplies, the Northern Coalition can only hold out for another half a month at most, and the only hope now is to retreat from the sea. Ironside spoke in a hoarse voice and reported to Churchill.

"Why can't you launch a counterattack and break through to the south?" Churchill took out his cigar with some irritation, and the light blue smoke from his mouth almost sprayed Ironside's face, and said loudly, "The German tanks were still in Perona yesterday, and they arrived at Abwehr, 130 kilometers away, tonight, such a fast marching speed must mean that their flanks are extremely weak, as long as 2~3 divisions launch a resolute counterattack, they will definitely be able to open a passage." Such a simple truth, even I, a civil official, understand, are the two idiots Wei Gang and Gort possessed by pigs? ”

Ironside shook his head slowly, and said astringently: "Your Excellency, the situation on the ground has completely collapsed. Belgian refugees fleeing south blocked all roads and completely dispersed the troops close to the Franco-Belgian border, and the command and coordination between the various units became chaotic, making it almost impossible to organize a large-scale counteroffensive. Taking a step back, even if the counterattack is successful, it is impossible to save the 700,000 besieged coalition troops: due to the chaos in southern Belgium, the armies simply cannot quickly retreat to the rear through this open gap of life, and the German infantry is rapidly approaching from the rear, and it will not be long before the gap will be re-plugged. ”

In the face of Ironside's explanation, Churchill remained unrelenting and said angrily: "The French have lost their courage because of the plague of communism, but the British stick boy is still tough and pure." Don't tell me that the army of Great Britain was also frightened by the Germans and fell apart in the flow of refugees! The French do not dare to attack, then it is up to us to attack and open the gap, even if we have to lose twenty or thirty divisions in Belgium, it is better than all annihilation! ”

"Your Excellency, Sir Gott retains a firm grip on the 250,000 expeditionary force under his command. However, most of our troops were engaged in frontal battles with the Germans at this time, and it would take two days for the rest to withdraw to the vicinity of the German lines in the south. At the moment, only 2 tank battalions in the north of Arras can be put on the attack. Ironside said bitterly.

In fact, why didn't Ironside want to launch a counteroffensive? It's just that the power that can be invested in a hurry is too small, and at most I can only talk about personnel. On the Western Front, where the density of troops was extremely high, the British army of 2 battalions was not enough to stuff the Germans' teeth, even if they were equipped with a full complement of Matilda tanks, they could not make any waves!

Churchill was silent, his cigar in his mouth burning to the end. If Ironside's words are true, then the defeat of the coalition forces on the northern front is indeed irreparable: within half a month, the Germans will completely wipe out Belgium and completely annihilate or force back the elite of the coalition army of 60 divisions. Even in the ideal scenario, where most of the coalition forces would survive the sea, what would happen to the massive amount of equipment lost? You must know that in such a hasty evacuation, soldiers may not even be able to carry rifles; And without equipment, to resist the next large-scale attack of the German army on the French hinterland is tantamount to a fool's dream!

"There's no time left to think about weapons and equipment. The top priority is to find a way to rescue the besieged troops from the sea! Churchill suppressed his chaotic anxiety, and soon had a clear thought in his mind. Undoubtedly, the most valuable assets of the coalition forces on land are those who are well-trained and battle-hardened. Although the current weapons production capacity of the British and French armies can be described as miserable, and they cannot quickly rearm these soldiers after rescuing them, they can still seek assistance from the United States; Even if mainland France did fall in the future, these soldiers would still be able to continue fighting in North Africa and England.

But the thought of the total number of besieged coalition troops exceeding 700,000 made Churchill feel a little dizzy and a sense of despair. There was no doubt that it would be inconceivable to evacuate so many people from the sea in a short period of time: first the Coalition needed a deep-water port for large ships to dock, and then there were enough ships to transport soldiers, and the Germans, planes, submarines, mines, and torpedo boats obviously did not sit idly by. Therefore, the coalition forces in the encirclement are destined to survive only a small number of people.

"Marshal Pound, ask the Navy to immediately concentrate ships in the southern ports of the country, and begin to develop a plan to rescue the expeditionary force from returning home. We have very limited time now, so I hope to see a detailed plan in two days. Churchill gathered his heart and turned to the First Sea Lord in front of him. Despite his bleak future, Churchill was by no means the kind of person to give up easily, and the confusion and panic that had arisen before was quickly replaced by fortitude. Pound obeyed the order when he heard this, he understood how heavy the responsibility he shouldered, and it can be said that whether the coalition forces will have the strength to fight again in the future depends on the rescue operations he takes next.

Churchill gritted his teeth, with a look of guilt and determination in his eyes, and spoke again: "In addition, send a telegram to Sir Gort, asking him to find a way to gradually withdraw the expeditionary force from the front line and move it in the direction of the channel. We may not be able to save many Allied forces this time, and we must try to ensure that the expeditionary force returns safely; There is now a severe shortage of well-trained Army soldiers in Britain, and these 10 divisions are of unparalleled importance to the defence of our homeland. ”

Ironside nodded in agreement. In the current critical situation, Britain naturally wants to put its own interests first, and as for the French and Belgians, if the situation does not allow them to be rescued, then it can only be said that the dead friends are not dead and poor!

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