In the early morning of January 8, the main cities in the south of England were full of such scenes:

"Don't look, don't look!"

"Hand it over, hand it over!"

"Confiscate, confiscate, confiscate!"

"Stop, stop!"

On the street, on the one hand, the policemen shouted and ran in anger, and on the other hand, the citizens flexibly dodged, and occasionally took the opportunity to get a piece of paper and hurriedly ran away. In the fields, on the rooftops, on the streets, on the trees, you can see leaflets everywhere, all spilled from the sky.

It had been a long time since German planes had flown to Britain to bomb, and the nerves that had been tense since the Battle of Britain had finally relaxed, but at dawn today, about 130 German He-218 bombers, escorted by a group of Bf-219s, visited the British Isles again in the form of ultra-low-altitude raids. This time, however, the bombers dropped not bombs, but leaflets.

After dropping the bombs, these extremely fast "swans" fled at a speed of nearly 580 kilometers per hour without waiting for the British air defense planes to react......

The leaflet is the latest achievement of the German propaganda minister, Dr. Goebbels, who has been working tirelessly in recent days to promote the front line. This time, there was no empty propaganda and theoretical dissemination, only gripping words and pictures to attract the attention of the British public.

"He Didn't Defeat Us, But He Earned Our Respect" is the first half of the leaflet, which is a documentary report that exposes the truth about the North African campaign and the inside story of Lieutenant General Montgomery's suicide, with powerful photos: one is a photo of the German head of state and the Italian leader leading the officers of the two countries to bow to Montgomery's body; The other few are the scene of Montgomery's funeral, a German honor guard of 1,800 people, in front of which are 72 tanks to open the road, all of which are Tiger tanks that are intimidating to the British army, and in the middle is a hearse covered with the British flag, a total of 8 senior officers Fu Ling, 4 are British officers (including Ramsden), and the German side has 4 field marshals (Keitel, Kesselring, Rommel and Guderian), the leaflet specifically indicates that the two commanders of the African Army before and after are among the Fu Ling, and the funeral procession composed of important people is behind, Including the head of Germany, the leader of Italy, the king and prime minister of Egypt, the prime minister of Iraq, etc., the overall specifications are comparable to a state funeral, and the honor is extreme!

The next part of the leaflet is another report, "Some Are Alive, But He Is Dead", which mocks the actions of Alexander, the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Theater, in a spicy and sarcastic way, and the accompanying photos are carefully selected: one is the seizure of the docks in Alexandria Harbor, where the piles of materials that have not even had time to be unpacked are visually striking; One is the desperate and lonely figure of the defenders of Cairo City under siege by a large army, and the voiceover explains"...... By this time, their supreme commander had already fled by plane to a safe area 1,000 kilometers away"; The third is a photograph of the Aswan mutiny, in which the two teams facing each other with the flag of rice are glaring angrily, and the Gestapo even gets a photo of Alexander and Ted walking under the bayonets of the New Zealand gendarmerie in embarrassment and publishes it.

These news and photos were not visible in the British newspapers, and while the British media were still boasting about "heroic resistance" and "bloody struggle", the Germans had already found out the truth of the matter. Of course, ordinary people have a sense of right and wrong, but that doesn't mean they don't want to see the real information – the more the government wants to hide it, the more interested the people become. Despite the police's best efforts to block and stifle the delivery of leaflets, the news spread like wings.

While watching, many people can't help but recite the limerick poem written by Dr. Goebbels himself to ridicule Admiral Alexander:

Lost North Africa last night;

Lose the Middle East today;

If you ask the general's shadow;

All on the run.

"Mom...... Mom...... I've found my dad, I've found my dad. The little girl, Kate, rushed into the house, brandished a leaflet, and shouted at the hostess.

"Your dad is back? Where is it? Where is it? The hostess turned around, her face full of shock.

"Here, No......" Kate said happily as she handed over the flyer, flipped to a photo on the back, and pointed to a slightly blurry image of an officer, "this is Daddy, I recognize ......"

"Huh?" The hostess took it and looked at it carefully, and said uncertainly, "It's a bit like, but I don't know very well, where did this newspaper come from?" ”

"It's picked up on the ground, it's everywhere outside, and the police are arresting it......"

The hostess thinks it's strange that picking up a newspaper will also be caught? Looking at the text and title carefully, I instantly felt that the five thunders hit the top, my face turned pale, and my hands couldn't help shaking.

The little girl didn't pay attention to the changes in her mother, and said excitedly: "I think so, Dad eats well, you see...... What else did the newspaper say, read it to me, why is there a picture of my father, didn't my father go to war? ”

The hostess finally saw the full contents of the "newspaper", and on the back were photocopies of Montgomery's suicide note and multiple photographs of the Italian prisoner of war camp.

"Your dad...... He lost...... In an Italian prisoner of war camp. ”

"What is Italy? And what is a prisoner of war camp? ”

"Italy is far away, prisoner of war camps...... Well, it's a bit like a prison cell, there is no freedom. ”

"No freedom?" Kate laughed innocently, "What is freedom?" But I don't think he's going to go hungry, you look at what they eat, there's macaroni, meat, fish, fruit, and there's a bottle of wine next to it...... You see, Daddy eats a lot better than we do. ”

She talked to herself for a long time, but she didn't hear her mother's answer, and when she looked up, she found that the other party's face was full of tears, and she was nervous: "Mom, it's me who is not good." I don't ask you for anything to eat, don't eat it...... Don't be sad, don't cry......"

"Okay, I don't cry, I don't cry......" The hostess held Kate tightly in her arms, "God forbid...... Your dad is still alive. ”

In the cabinet room, everyone read the leaflets, one by one, their hearts were heavy, their brows were tightly locked, they did not expect the Germans to come such a hand, and the people are now excited, and it is clear that things cannot be good.

"What's going on with the Air Force? How do you let so many planes come to us to spread wild? Where have your vigilance and precautions gone? Churchill banged on the table and said angrily, "This is a leaflet, what if it's a bomb that falls?" This is dereliction of duty! ”

"The Air Force took off to meet the enemy, but the boys said that the enemy plane slipped fast......"

"Faster than a fighter jet?"

Attlee coughed lightly, and changed the subject just in time: "Winston, the councillors are excited to pull you to be questioned......"

"This ...... There's a lot of confidentiality involved. Churchill looked up in annoyance, "Can you not go?" ”

"The MPs were very tough, saying that it was a closed-door meeting, that there were no journalists and other unrelated observers, that the prime minister had to be there, and that they would all sign a non-disclosure agreement." Attlee's face was long, "It's not your business alone, we all have to deal with it, or we will start a no-confidence motion." ”

Everyone's faces were ugly, and they were going to slowly release the unfavorable news of the war situation, and by the way, they put the blame on Montgomery, the commander of the rice bucket, but now it's good, the Germans came first, Montgomery not only committed suicide but also left a suicide note, how should the government face the people now? In particular, the photo of Alexander and Ted walking under the knife bush made everyone grit their steel teeth, but they barely spurted out the old blood.

"Latest telegram." Field Marshal Brooke, Chief of the General Staff, took a look and showed a sad expression, "The German armored forces are marching towards Eritrea and crossing the border, the local administration has telegraphed to surrender to the Germans, and more than 1,000 of us there are retreating towards Somalia. In addition, at noon today, the Protectorate of Aden announced that it would abrogate all treaties with the Kingdom and become a German Protectorate, and a German force had landed in the port of Aden, and both sides of the Red Sea were now all in the enemy's sphere of influence, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was surrounded on all sides. ”

"What about the troops withdrawn from Cairo?" Churchill asked, frowning.

"The men of the two divisions were all gathered in Aswan, and Ramsden also returned from Cairo, but Admiral Alexander, who had retreated in advance, was already on the same page as them, and the ANZ forces did not listen to him at all, and it was impossible for the two sides to continue to cooperate."

"Form the East African Army with all the troops retreating from Egypt and retreat to Sudan under the command of General Ramsden." Churchill groaned a little and said, "Remove Admiral Alexander from all his posts, let him go to South Africa first, and then return home to wait for the investigation, he has an unshirkable responsibility for the failure in North Africa and the Middle East." ”

"What about General Ted?"

"Guilty and meritorious." Churchill said coldly, "I can't change all the generals, otherwise who will command the war?" Ramsden is also the most suitable candidate. ”

"Okay." Brooke sighed, he knew that Churchill must be looking for a scapegoat, Montgomery was the most suitable candidate, but the other party not only committed suicide but also won the respect of the Germans, and even worse, the news spread - the scapegoat now seems to be only Alexander.

"Admiral Wilson sent a telegram saying that the 10th Army had asked for tanks, planes, and troops to support it, and that it would be difficult for him to hold Persia with his current strength." Brooke explained, "He lost all two divisions in Iraq, and Persia had only five divisions of less than 70,000 men. The German army in Basra had crossed the border to attack, and he had few tanks, planes, and few warships, so he could not cope with the battle, and the Persians were even more impatient. ”

"Where is the battle line at the moment?"

"The enemy has captured Abadan...... However, before that we had blown up the refinery, and now the two sides are facing each other in the direction of the Ahvaz oil field, and the Germans are constantly moving troops, and we only have 3 infantry divisions, including 1 native division and 2 Indian divisions, and he is prepared for the worst. ”

Churchill knew the worst-case scenario: blow up the oil fields, fight and retreat, and really not retreat to Afghanistan and India. (To be continued.) )