Thinking of this, Fang Yan seemed to open a new door, and his impression of Hitler on this matter changed greatly.

It is true that Hitler's order to halt the advance of the armored forces was indeed due to his own lack of military skills, but if viewed in the context of macro strategy, it was undoubtedly a very far-sighted choice. A relatively weak Britain that recognized Germany's hegemony in Europe would be more beneficial to Germany than a disintegrating British empire, and the olive branch extended by Germany was the best glue to make the two sides turn hostility into peace.

Had it not been for Churchill as British Prime Minister, Hitler's strategy would most likely have succeeded. With a clever tongue, Churchill succeeded in turning the mainstream rational argument in the British House of Commons that "there is no hope of victory if we continue to fight" into an impetuous voice that "if we continue to fight, there will be no more damage to Britain's position". In addition, Churchill occupied the moral high ground with a series of great and righteous remarks such as "national dignity" and "national honor", which immediately aroused the stubbornness and stubbornness hidden in the soul of the Anglo-Saxon nation.

In the end, Hitler tragically shot himself in the foot, resurrecting hundreds of thousands of well-trained enemies, and in turn showing the knife to Germany, which had let them go.

In contrast, as for Hitler's statement that the British were a "high nation" and therefore opened up to them, it was at most a cold dish for Chinese New Year's Eve, which was not worth mentioning at all. In Hitler's worldview, the Scandinavians of Northern Europe were closer to the Aryans than the Germanic Germans, the most noble blood in existence, but this did not prevent the German army from sweeping Norway and forming a puppet government to exploit the local people. Of course, after the victory, the United States and Britain naturally wanted to promote Hitler as a deranged racist madman out of political correctness, so it was normal to amplify some of Hitler's ideas to the extreme.

After figuring out the main crux of the problem, a smile gradually appeared on Fang Yan's face. If Hitler still had the idea of recruiting Britain, then considering the differences between the current world and history, Fang Yan would have been 70% sure to persuade Hitler to chase after the poor. Now the only thing that is bad is the meeting between the two. Fang Yan remembered that Hitler in the historical plane had been to the headquarters of Army Group A before giving the order to stop the offensive, and Fang Yan, as the commander of the air force directly under Army Group, would have a good chance to contact the Führer at that time.

Although Fang Yan wanted to take advantage of this incident to kill two birds with one stone, while changing Hitler's will, the army command also owed himself a huge favor; However, considering that the action on the battlefield to stop the retreat of the coalition forces was a race against time, and could not tolerate even a one-hour delay, Fang Yan finally had no choice but to give up. To this day, Fang Yan still adheres to his bottom line: national interests are definitely not a sacrificial tool he uses to gain political capital.

In the past few days of Fang Yan's careful preparations, the advance of the German army on the French battlefield was still like a tsunami flood. On 21 May, Rommel's 7th Panzer Division thwarted one of the largest coalition counterattacks near the northern French city of Arras; Thanks to Fang Yan's command of the HNA pilots to conduct targeted reconnaissance and cover, the Battle of Arras in this plane was not as dangerous as it was in history. After a short period of repair, the Germans launched another onslaught late that night, and the seven Panzer Divisions of Army Group A were like sharp sickles, attacking from the southwest to the northeast in a direction diametrically opposed to the Kaiser's army.

On 22 May, the German 2nd Panzer Division swept through the French port of Boulogne. It has entered the constriction area at the eastern end of the English Channel, 50 kilometres to the northwest of the British land. On the same day, the new commander-in-chief of the French army, Weygand, finally figured out the situation at the front and immediately issued the same general retreat order as his predecessor Ganmalin, however, this order came too late.

The battlefield on the Western Front was originally characterized by its depth and narrowness, not to mention that the French army was still facing the German troops that were advancing wildly? In the three days wasted by the French army on the 19th~22nd, the German infantry marched 150 kilometers in a hurry, plugging all the gaps caused by the rapid advance of the previous armored division. The front became so impregnable that even the most optimistic coalition commander lost any illusion of a breakthrough.

On the evening of 23 May, the 10th Panzer Division arrived at the city of Calais and launched a campaign to capture the city as soon as supplies from the rear arrived. At this time, there were less than 2 battalions of French guards in Calais, so it can be said that it was not enough to stuff the German army.

It stands to reason that the Coalition forces had already fallen into the extreme disadvantage of being surrounded on three sides three days ago, and this important port town, which was the closest to the British, became the best hope for the Coalition forces to retreat from the sea, and this should not be the only force to defend now; However, due to the influx of refugees in Belgium, which seriously delayed the movement of the coalition forces, the front line troops were unable to retreat to the rear, and the city defenses of Calais were barely strengthened for several days.

At the same time, Guderian's 1st Panzer Division, another Panzer Division, was heading straight for Dunkirk, anticipating that by the day after tomorrow the sun would rise, the equally weakly defended seaport town would be captured by the Germans.

After three days of unremitting efforts, Fang Yan finally collected and mastered all the information he wanted through the continuous reconnaissance of the air force under his command. Because Fang Yan knew that Britain had begun to prepare for the rescue operation of the expeditionary force early on, and had assembled a large number of ships in the ports of southeastern Britain, it was natural to order the troops to carry out targeted aerial photography. Then, based on this information, Fang Yan worked out a set of action plans for the British overnight to save the troops from the beach, if this plan was not made by Fang Yan, he was afraid that the formulator would be immediately arrested as a British spy.

At about 10 o'clock in the morning of 24 May, Fang Yan, who was making daily arrangements at the headquarters, received the news that Hitler was going to inspect Army Group A's headquarters. To Fang Yan's surprise, Rundstedt actually named himself, a little major general, to go to the airport to greet him, which undoubtedly saved Fang Yan a lot of effort and excuses to leave his duty to meet Hitler, so that everything fell into place.

Fang Yan guessed that Rundstedt probably did not know the complex power game and balance between Hitler, Raeder and Valt, and thought that he was really sent to the Western Front to gild because he received special care from Hitler; Now that the Führer has come, then it is natural to bring the young generals favored by the Führer to him.

After explaining the work arrangements of the headquarters to his subordinates, Fang Yan lifted the briefcase containing his hard work on the table, and then boarded the contact car. Ten minutes later, Rundstedt's old but tall body appeared on the platform of the railway station. Since Army Group A had almost all rushed into the enemy's territory at this time, and none of the commanders of the several army groups showed up, this made Fang Yan feel a little regretful, because there were a few heavyweights missing from his audience.

The wind blew Hitler's clothes flying out of the carriage, and his slightly thin face radiated with joy, apparently in the joy of the victory that was now within reach. As soon as he shook hands, Hitler praised the wisdom and decisiveness of Rundstedt in front of him, and as for the fact that the latter had concealed the situation a week earlier and acquiesced in Guderian's continued attack, Hitler had been completely thrown out of the clouds.

Seeing this, Fang Yan felt that Hitler's attitude towards his subordinates was very similar to that of the Japanese Emperor Hirohito, as long as it could bring victory, then the trivial matter of offending the commander-in-chief was completely worthless. Fortunately, the current German Army can be described as a star-studded army, and dozens of excellent generals can largely compensate for Hitler's decision-making mistakes; However, the Japanese Army was rampant with red deer, and the few talents who were the only ones fell under the millstone of the faction, and finally dragged the empire into a quagmire from which it could not extricate itself.

Hitler was a little surprised to see Fang Yan appear, but he did not intend to have any intersection with this chess piece on this trip, and after some simple encouragement, he immediately went to the headquarters and discussed the front-line battle situation with Rundstedt. Because he was wearing a navy uniform, Fang Yan couldn't say a word with some embarrassment, so he could only listen quietly with a few low-level staff officers.

However, Fang Yan, who was observant, soon discovered that Hitler still had some anxiety lurking beneath his euphoric exterior. He feared that the Panzers would suffer heavy losses in the attack on Belgian towns and valleys, so that even if the Northern Coalition was completely annihilated, the German armoured spearhead would be dulled and the powerful assault force needed for the battle would be lost in the subsequent attack on southern France.

“…… For now, it is better for the armored forces to stop and repair for 2 to 3 days, and wait for the infantry to catch up before starting the operation. "From May 10th to today, the armored forces have been fighting for half a month, and now that the enemy has been unable to escape, it is time for them to stop and recuperate for a while." What's more, the armored forces are now not fighting on the plains of France, but on Belgian towns crisscrossed by rivers, and the infantry is undoubtedly the best choice to destroy the enemy entrenched in these places. ”

Hitler's eyes flashed with a glint that seemed to have something in mind, and after a moment, a strong look of approval appeared on his face, and his expression quickly became resolute. As early as a week earlier, a distraught Hitler had ordered the Panzer troops to stop advancing, and although Guderian later cured Hitler's suspicions with victory, that timidity was hidden in his blood and could not be completely broken. Now that Rundstedt offered to pause, Hitler immediately subconsciously took it for granted: the Panzers had completed their mission, and it was time for them to step back and give up the stage to the infantry.