In the conference room of the underground command post opposite 10 Downing Street, London.

Ismay, a representative of the British Chiefs of Staff, quickly wrote a line of numbers on the small blackboard directly opposite Churchill, 23-250,000.

"The number of prisoners taken by the expeditionary force was between 220,000 and 230,000, and with the number of prisoners captured in Norway, the number of prisoners in the hands of the Germans was between 230,000 and 250,000." Ismay said.

Churchill held a cigar in his right hand and said expressionlessly: "How many German prisoners do we have?" ”

Without thinking, Ismay wrote another number on the blackboard, and the look on Churchill's face was as cloudy as the weather in London.

"3,142 people, this is the number of all the German prisoners we have in our hands, not even a fraction of the number of prisoners of the expeditionary force." Ismay said.

Seeing such a disparity in numbers on the blackboard, everyone in the room looked at Churchill.

The family of the officers of the expeditionary force, headed by Lord Gort, Lady General Franklin, and Lady General Brooke, has been temporarily pacified by me, but I don't know how long I can be pacified? We must give them a clear answer as soon as possible. ”

Churchill sat there, letting his cigar burn silently.

Lord Gott is the commander of the expeditionary force, Franklin is the commander of the first army of the expeditionary force, and Brooke is the commander of the second army of the expeditionary force.

Churchill thought for a few seconds and then said, "You set a time." I met with them to reassure them. The sooner the better. ”

Aiden nodded and said, "I'll do it right away." ”

Sir Dowding said: "After receiving a warning from the Germans. The mood of the pilots of the bomber unit was very unstable, and many of them privately revealed that they would refuse to bomb Germany. ”

Churchill slammed his left hand on the table and shouted to Sir Dowding: "Tell me, what is the charge of disobedience in wartime?" Whoever dares to disobey the military order at this time does not need a trial by a military court and is directly shot. ”

"Their attitude was not to disobey all military orders, but only to the task of bombing German residential areas, and they considered it against military honor to target civilians. Some pilots even said privately that the Germans had not dropped a single bomb on British territory, and that it was only a beast to bomb German civilians that we were going to bomb. ”

"I did not let the Air Force bomb the civilian areas of the Germans, when did I give such an order to the Air Force? I gave you the order to bomb the industrial areas of Germany, and you dropped the bombs on the Germans and now you are blaming others. Churchill stared at Sir Dowding, his eyes full of anger.

Ismay saw a blush on Sir Dowding's face, and his eyes widened, as if he were showing signs of a rampage. Hurriedly interjected: "The day after tomorrow is August 1st, and the warning of the Germans will be implemented." What are we going to do? ”

"Let the bomber units send the best pilots, strictly follow orders, and bomb only the industrial areas of Germany." Churchill said quickly.

"Mr. Prime Minister, I am sorry that with the distance between industrial and residential areas, it is impossible for a group of bombers to bomb an industrial area at night without accidentally injuring a civilian area, and the Air Force does not have that kind of technology, let alone bombing under the harassment of German air defense forces and fighters." Sir Dowding was not slow to answer.

Churchill hit a soft nail in front of Sir Dowding but was speechless, because Sir Dowding was telling the truth.

"Since it is technically impossible to do so, I think we should simply shift the target and target the ships that the Germans have collected in France and Belgium, which will not only weaken the German landing force, but also not touch the bottom line of the Germans." Aiden suggested.

"Is there a better way?" Churchill said angrily.

"Now the international and domestic public opinion is very unfavorable to us, especially the condemnation of the Norwegians, and we are powerless to fight back."

After the bombing of German residential areas by British bombers came to light internationally, the Norwegian government first expressed its heartfelt condolences to the German civilians who died in the bombing, and at the same time strongly condemned the crimes against humanity of the shameless Churchill government.

In the face of the strict Norwegian government, the British propaganda department was collectively impotent, and it really did not return the scolding.

Churchill snorted coldly and said: "What qualifications does a country like Norway have to speak on international affairs, tell the propaganda department, let them use words like fascist accomplices to fight back against Norway, remember that we are the side of justice, and use sufficient confidence in wording." As for other countries, what is the attitude of the US government? ”

"The U.S. government just wants us and Germany to exercise as much restraint as possible in the war and avoid harming women, the elderly and children, and their attitude is very objective." Ismay said.

Hearing the adjective objectivity, Churchill couldn't help but relax, and said in his heart that the Americans were still on his side, and all he issued was these high-sounding diplomatic rhetoric.

"In this case, we have to publicly state that we are not targeting civilians, that the bombing of the western part of Essen was an accidental injury, and that it must be determined that it was an accidental injury." Churchill said categorically.

"This is the only way we can appease the people and the families of the prisoners of war at the moment, but what should we do if the Germans demand reparations and apologies?"

"The most we regret about the accident is that the Germans are dreaming if they want us to admit our mistakes and compensate for the incident." Churchill said.

"You listen to the voices outside, the families of the prisoners of war are protesting, especially the families of the prisoners of war who have been released indefinitely."

"Tell them that we are actively mediating with the German government to try to get the prisoners of war to return home as soon as possible, and in short, to find an excuse to demobilize them first, do you still have to deal with such a trivial matter myself?" Churchill touched his broad forehead as he spoke, a tired look on his face.

"When did the barbaric Germans become so cunning? With that hateful mustache style, he would definitely have dropped double the bomb on our heads. There must be a reason for his sudden change of style, let MI6 investigate who is behind the scenes. Churchill ordered.

At the end of the meeting, as the senior officials prepared to leave, Churchill's secretary kindly suggested: "The main entrance to the command post has been blocked by the protesting crowd, and gentlemen can leave through the back door." ”

Hearing the faint cry of protest outside, a group of high-ranking officials looked at each other, and then rushed to the back door of the command post

Churchill was in a bad mood, and Chen Dao's mood was not much better.

After a month-long marathon tussle, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop finally persuaded Mussolini to allow German troops to enter Libya, albeit with only one division.

For Chen Dao, the limitation of one division is not a problem at all, after all, in his eyes, more than 10,000 people are a division, more than 30,000 people are a division, and more than 50,000 people are also a division.

As long as Mussolini, a bald man whose heart is higher than heaven and whose fate is thinner than paper, allows the German army to enter North Africa, go to the Middle East to grab oil and avenge the sacrifice of the 007 comrades by the way, the great cause will be half successful.

After learning that Mussolini agreed to borrow the way, with the order of the ecstatic Hitler, the Seventh Panzer Division, which had been waiting for a long time, immediately opened up.

Since the decision was made to march into the Mediterranean, the creation of the Afrika Korps was carried out at a rapid pace under Hitler's strict supervision, and the 7th Panzer Division, which had gained notoriety as the Devil's Division in the French campaign for various reasons, was given priority in the refitting work.

Rommel, who had just been promoted to lieutenant general, became the first commander of the German African Army without any suspense, under the command of the 7th Panzer Division and the 7th Air Defense Battalion of the Herman Goering Motorized Division.

Upon receiving the order to evacuate, Rommel immediately led his staff to Tobruk, Libya, to familiarize himself with the geography, and the 7th Panzer Division, under the leadership of the new division commander, Major General Font, was transported to Italy through the Alps, and then loaded onto ships for Africa.

The march into the Mediterranean was carried out in an orderly manner, but Chen Dao did not feel the slightest joy.

The first is that the attack on the island of Malta was rejected by Hitler, and Hitler's reason was that taking Egypt as quickly as possible would be the biggest blow to the prestige of the Churchill government, and as for the island of Malta, as long as Egypt and the Middle East were taken, the defenders of the island of Malta would automatically give up.

No matter how Chen Dao and Goering persuaded him, Hitler's eyes were only focused on Egypt, hoping to quickly occupy Egypt and then march into the Middle East, ignoring the island of Malta.

After returning to Kiel, another bad luck befell Chen Dao.

As naval aviation grew, boundless paperwork followed.

Chen Dao was trapped in the office every day to review various documents, and he didn't even have time to chat and fart with Garland and others.

It just so happened that the 7th Air Defense Battalion had already followed the 7th Armored Division into Libya, and it was natural for him to go to North Africa as a division commander to care about the suffering of his subordinates.

After Chen Dao made up his mind, he immediately asked the naval command for leave under this high-sounding banner, and after obtaining permission, he threw all the work to the hard-working Garland and Leibniz, and took Captain Bach and Captain Lorenz to the south of the Mediterranean, and decided to enjoy the Mediterranean style in his spare time.

However, the ideal and plump, the reality is very backbone, what Chen Dao and his two followers don't know is that what awaits them in the Mediterranean is a major crisis where the wind is sluggish and the water is cold, and the strong man is gone and almost never returns. (To be continued......)