The German paratroopers made a fatal mistake, the rain and the night paralyzed their vigilance, and they thought that they would not be ambushed in such bad weather, for which they paid a terrible price.

The brilliant initial results made them think that the British army had lost their courage, but what they saw proved them wrong, and the enemy still had a stubborn will to resist, and they would not only resist, but also take the initiative to attack.

The first company of the 1st Paratrooper Battalion was surrounded by enemy troops, and under successive blows, this paratrooper company lost all the company platoon commanders and half of the soldiers. Relying on their rich battlefield experience, the remaining soldiers decisively occupied two buildings on the side of the street, and under the leadership of the two surviving sergeants, they engaged in fierce battles with the enemy. The problem is that these soldiers only carry ammunition from their carry-on gear, and the rate of ammunition depletion in the heat of fire is terrible, and they will soon run out of ammunition.

The commander of the second company, Clawson, was very anxious about this, and he had to free the soldiers from the siege before they ran out of ammunition, otherwise a massacre would await them. The enemy was already showing signs of this, consciously replenishing their guns at the fallen German paratroopers, who were not prepared to capture the prisoners at all, and who wanted to exterminate the German soldiers.

Clausen was powerless to change the current situation of the battle, his forces were already insufficient, and he lost most of his vehicles during the retreat, as well as the ammunition and equipment loaded on those vehicles. Many paratroopers were ordered to lock their weapons onto fixed gun racks in their vehicles, and as a result, many did not have time to unload their rifles when fleeing for their lives. Most of the ammunition boxes and weapons cabinets were left on the trucks, and the machine gun and mortar squads did not abandon their equipment, and the paratroopers were able to suppress enemy fire.

Clawson set up a makeshift line of defense next to the natural ditch, which gave him a chance to observe the attackers. The result surprised him to the fact that the enemy's strength and firepower far exceeded his estimates, and from the roughly observed data, the opponent was armed with at least six light and heavy machine guns. In particular, two two-pounder anti-tank guns posed a great threat to the German machine-gun crews and mortar squads.

The paratroopers carried an 80-millimeter mortar, but only 12 rounds of ammunition, which was the result of the four ammunition men sticking to their duties, and the remaining ammunition was stored in two Opel trucks, which were now within the effective range of the enemy, and for the time being they did not want to get anything back from there.

The heavy rain had an impact on both sides of the battle, especially when the Germans hid behind the night rain after the change of position, which made the attackers much more difficult to fight. The German paratroopers in the towns were still putting up a stubborn resistance. Because the building they occupied was in good ground, it was difficult for the attacking side to break through the German defense line for a while, and the battle began to develop towards prolongation, which was the last thing the attacking side wanted to see, and the longer the battle dragged on, the more beneficial it was for the German army, they must have sent a distress telegram, maybe now the German reinforcements were already rushing to this side.

"Sir, if we can't get rid of these enemies in half an hour, we must consider retreating from here." Mitchell. Lieutenant Skirsky suggested to his battalion commander.

"Retreat? Where to retreat? From the moment we fired the first shot. There is no way back for us. "Joseph. Army Major Solsky rubbed his brow, folded the map on the table and stuffed it into a leather map bag.

"Order the second company to attack again, and these Germans in the village must be eliminated first." Solsky stood up and walked over to the radio in the corner of the room, where he raised his chin at the communications corps. The other party immediately understood and adjusted the frequency.

"The red dragon calls the lion's nest, the red dragon calls the lion's nest, I'm Major Solsky, did the lion's nest hear me?"

"Hear it very clearly. Please speak. There was a London accent on the radio.

"We have repelled a German counteroffensive, the troops are very depleted, and we need support."

"The command has learned about the situation there you have. Now that the vanguard of the German army has appeared in many areas, the headquarters is trying to find a way to mobilize reinforcements, you have been put in a priority position, please be sure to hold on until ten o'clock in the morning, you must hold on to Balham until ten o'clock, and it is strictly forbidden to retreat until the command orders are given, repeat, any form of retreat is strictly prohibited without the permission of the headquarters, and the call is over. The other party's wording is very harsh, but there is always some lust in the tone, it seems that the other party is also afraid of provoking Solsky, afraid that the other party will pat his ass and run away.

"Understood, we'll hold on until the last minute, and the call is over." Solsky handed the microphone back to the communications officer, who sat down on the edge of the radio table, took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, shook out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

The glorious Podhall Brigade had already existed in name only, and the British had long been unable to protect themselves, and they did not hesitate to tear off the fig leaf, and the Poles became victims again. It turns out that these so-called allies have once again abandoned the Poles, just as they had done a year earlier.

The British had never really believed the Poles, and what Solski had seen and heard during his six months in England had convinced him of that. These British are just taking advantage of the blood and patriotism of the Poles to defraud the Poles in exile of money and benefits, and they even use these propaganda to coax the enthusiastic young Poles to throw their blood and lives for the benefit of Britain, so that the Poles will believe that all their efforts will be rewarded after all, and Britain will spare no effort to support the great cause of Poland's recovery, at least in the public opinion propaganda of the British and his allies.

In fact, the situation of the exiled Poles in Britain is miserable, and the exclusion of Polish refugees in exile can be seen everywhere, both in the British civil and official manners. Some of the British were even angry with the Polish refugees because of the disadvantage of the war, believing that the Poles had provoked the damned war and dragged the great British Empire into the flames of war, and now everything was caused by the short-sighted and stupid Poles, who must be held accountable for their stupidity, and that the British Empire was no longer obliged to protect these barbaric Poles, and that they should be deported and sent to the Balkans or whatever, and that they should be left to fend for themselves.

Polish refugees in Britain can now only live in areas demarcated by the British government, and the treatment is not much different from that of their compatriots in the distant homeland, and the British side gives high-sounding reasons to ensure the safety of these people. Avoid unnecessary conflicts with British locals due to differences in customs and language.

Officials were not shy about making anti-Polish statements in social settings, spilling all the dirty water they could on the surrendering Polish government, claiming that it was the Polish hubris and ignorance that angered the Germans and gave Hitler a reason to start the war. Even if war was inevitable, if Poland had agreed to Hitler's request to cede the Danzig Corridor, the situation would have been very different, and Hitler might have spent a year or two preparing for war, but Britain and France would have had plenty of time to respond. If you add in some diplomatic and political maneuvers, the British are very good at dealing with these issues. Maybe this war can't even be fought.

British officials were there to make a fuss and frenzied afterthought in order to shirk their responsibilities and cover up the stupidity and incompetence of their government. There is nothing wrong with the British Empire, it is ...... that is wrong That's right, it's the damned Poles who are wrong.

Solski's infantry battalion was the last bloodline of the Podhall Brigade, the only remaining formed Polish army on British soil. After participating in the Norwegian campaign, the brigade was withdrawn to Scotland for reintegration and training with the British Norwegian Expeditionary Force. Unlike history, the ensuing Battle of Dunkirk ended with the annihilation of the Anglo-French forces. And the doom of the Podhall Brigade began.

The British had lost ninety percent of their troops, the country was empty, rumors of a German landing were noisy, and the coastal cities were alarmed overnight. According to reason. They should immediately consider regrouping their army, increasing the strength of the existing forces in the country, moving well-formed units to the south, and preventing the Germans from landing attempts. But British politicians have some different brain-groove circuits. Their first thought turned out to be that the Podhall brigade must be disarmed immediately.

They believed that the existence of a fully armed, well-trained army on its own soil, composed entirely of foreigners, at the weakest moment of England's weakest moment, was a very dangerous danger for the Empire. These foreigners, in particular, are the most untrustworthy Poles, and they must be restrained immediately and all possible threats must be eliminated.

The British took all the light and heavy weapons of the Podhall Brigade on the pretext of replacing them with new equipment, and only the officers still retained their respective guns. As a result, the Poles waited for almost two months, but the promised new equipment did not arrive, and the British replied to them that the equipment was to be supplied to the British army first, and the Podhall brigade had to wait patiently.

The officers were so angry with the British that they demanded that the old equipment they had taken from them be replaced, but the answer was that it had been dismantled and recycled as scrapped weapons, and that the Army had made a mistake in the work process, and that the person in charge had been dealt with accordingly.

In the end, all the Poles really got their hands on was a batch of woolen uniforms of the British Army, and they had to re-sew the logos and insignia themselves. At this time, even the blind could see that the British had bad intentions, and they originally thought that the Polish politicians were shameless enough, but they did not expect that compared with the British, the group of Warsaw bureaucrats was really not enough at all.

For the first time, deserters appeared in the glorious Podhall brigade, and some soldiers could no longer bear to be idle in the barracks, watching their country and people still suffer under the iron heel of the Germans. They didn't want to stay in England anymore, they wanted to go where they could fight the Germans, and fight with the people who were willing to fight the Germans.

Although the officers understood the feelings of these soldiers, in order to maintain order and discipline in the army, they had to cooperate with the British military to search for these soldiers and send them to a military court for punishment of desertion. These events once again dealt a serious blow to the morale of the troops, and likewise undermined the authority of the officers and damaged the cohesion of the team.

Many soldiers began to disobey the orders of the officers, and some began to sneak out of the barracks, wander the taverns and brothels, fight with the British soldiers, attack the gendarmes and police, and even participate in robberies and thefts, which became evidence of the British ostracizing the Poles and discredited the entire Podhall Brigade.

The British had finally waited for their chance, and they could have a good reason to attack this force, without having to bear the infamy of bullying their allies. The Podhall Brigade was split by British wartime Cabinet Order, this infantry brigade originally consisted of four infantry battalions, three of which were completely dispersed, and some soldiers were transferred to the British Army to serve duties and transportation, most of the soldiers were ordered to be discharged, and some of them were sent to prison to be deported at the end of their sentences.

In the end, only Solsky's infantry battalion was left in the whole brigade, which continued to retain the formation as a model for the allies, after all, this infantry brigade performed bravely in Norway, and there were some civilian supporters at home and abroad, and the British did not revoke the number of the Podhall Brigade, and they didn't want to make it ugly.

By the time the dust had settled, and it was almost late July, Solsky's infantry battalion had finally gotten their weapons, and as expected, they were still in their original batch, and the British didn't even bother to do the work of covering up, and the soldiers even found their own numbers engraved earlier on the weapons, and even found the signatures of their comrades.

However, when the troops were finally rearmed, Solsky began to put his military discipline in order, resumed military training, and he was ready to prove to the British that the Poles could not be crushed, and that no amount of intrigue could make the Poles give up the idea of recovering their country, and that one day he would make the British regret their current actions, and that the Polish soldiers would use their lives to redeem their lost honor and dignity.

In the early hours of August 23, in this humble English town, Solsky finally waited for his long-awaited opportunity, and he was ready to die here. He was convinced that the glory of the Podhall Brigade might end here, but the spirit of the Poles would live on, and Poland would not die. (To be continued......)