After Liszt got the Führer's telegram, he handed the telegram to General Student beside him with a sad face. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

General Stud took the telegram and looked at it twice, and then returned it to Liszt with a smile and a smile.

They lacked ammunition and enough heavy weapons, which is why they called the High Command. Generally speaking, this kind of telegram begging for something is more useful to the Führer than to the General Headquarters of the Army.

It's a pity that this time the Führer didn't come up with supplies, but instead gave them a somewhat depressing idea.

"If we want to attack Portsmouth, doesn't that force us to continue to expand the front? We are already short of ammunition, and now we have to go to the flank to open up a new battlefield, wouldn't it cost us more? Liszt asked Student.

Student thought for a moment and replied: "Your Excellency, the British 2nd Army has now moved a lot north, and this is indeed a good opportunity, perhaps easier than we imagined. ”

Attacking London is obviously unlikely to happen overnight, but attacking Portsmouth is different.

It was no longer the focus of the British defense, and it was not heavily guarded. Once the Germans really got into the rhythm of a rapid offensive, the consumption of ammunition was negligible.

'It makes sense to give up London and attacking Portsmouth is worth a try. But my troops need ammunition, fuel, and heavy weapons...... Solve some problems for me! Liszt smiled helplessly, and then spoke.

As he spoke, he walked to the front of the map, looked at distant Portsmouth, and shouted loudly to the officers outside the door: "Transfer the 501st and 502nd armored battalions to the direction of Brighton!" ”

In the Brighton direction, the 2nd Parachute Division in Student was cooperating with the German 9th and 114th Divisions.

Three divisions had already taken Brighton and were advancing in the direction of Worthing. The speed of the attack in this direction was not fast, and it was never the main direction of attack of the German army.

After receiving some ammunition replenishment, the 9th Mechanized Infantry Division reversed its attack and began to move north to Crowley.

On the night of the 18th, the Germans captured Crowley. At this time, Britain, which had already imposed martial law on London, was worried about the timing of the German attack on London.

"The enemy must be stockpiling ammunition, and their logistics should be very difficult." Viscount Gott made his own analysis of the fact that the Germans did not continue their attacks on London.

Churchill was concerned about London's safety, and since Buckingham Palace was half blown up, the royal family and many ministers have pinned their hopes on Hitler.

These men hoped that Hitler would be willing to negotiate peace with Britain, and they were even willing to cede the Wall Peninsula and a large surrounding territory for a humiliating peace.

The English Channel will not be a natural danger for Britain at that time, and the British fleet will also be handed over to others at that time, and the legend of the sun never setting on the British Empire will also become yesterday's dream.

"The Germans have just shelled the city of London, and because of the distance, they can now only hit a few blocks in the southeast corner of the city." Gort pointed to the map and introduced it to Churchill and others.

The losses were not enormous, and the German landing force did not have much ammunition to waste on such a demonstrative combat operation as the bombardment of the city of London.

By the night of February 18, 1941, Germany had transported a total of 32 150 mm heavy guns to the British mainland.

Most of the remaining troops were using 105 mm howitzers, and the worse ones were using captured British artillery and 80 mm mortars.

In terms of artillery, the gap between the German army and the British army is still huge. So when Germany shelled the British demonstration in London, Britain responded with more intensive artillery fire to Germany.

"Tonight, I will organize troops to carry out a counterattack against the German army. It was expected that the Germans would be pushed back by about 5 km. "As a British general who took over the defense of London, Viscount Gort still has a little ability.

After concentrating his troops, he dispatched the elite and began to organize a counterattack, which became the first effective counterattack by the British after the successful landing of the German army.

"Once the counterattack is successful, the German large-caliber artillery will no longer be able to threaten the streets of the city of London." Speaking of this benefit, Churchill's plan struck a chord.

The shelling of London for the past two days has been the most intolerable thing for Churchill, and he even ventured to inspect the shelled neighbourhood in order to restore his collapsed confidence.

But whatever he did and what he did was not as practical as keeping the Germans away from London. As long as German artillery fire no longer falls on the city of London, confidence will naturally return to the hearts of the British people.

So, Churchill supported Viscount Gort's counterattack plan. So on the night of the 18th, both the British and the Germans were engaged in fierce fighting.

The whole night was spent under the roar of artillery, and a steady stream of British troops moved into London to strengthen the frontal defenses.

The British, with about 3 infantry divisions, took part in the counterattack and launched a counterattack against the German units. The battle began in the early morning of the 19th, when it was still dark, and lasted until dawn when German planes arrived.

At the farthest point, the British advanced 4 kilometers and drove the Germans back to where they had been a day earlier.

Of course, Dietrich personally supervised the battle for half the night, Adolf? The Panzer Division of Hitler's Guard Banner had retreated only 1 kilometer, and was still the closest unit to London.

Early in the morning of 19 February, the Moscow radio station broadcast an important news that Comrade Stalin, the great leader of the Soviet Union, demanded that Hitler immediately withdraw his troops from Britain so as not to affect the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries.

This was a very formal ultimatum, presumably the Soviet Union was ready for war, and the news made Brauchitsch and his field marshals nervous.

Also early on this morning, the German 114th Infantry Division captured Worthing. Now they are only 40 kilometres from Portsmouth.

Viscount Gott, tired all night, sat in his place and listened to the various reports of the German attack from his men.

Originally, he and Churchill were rejoicing at the victory last night, because if they continued to counterattack tonight, then London would be completely free from the German shelling.

But now, it seems, a new crisis has arisen again. The German attack on Portsmouth, the lateral zone of occupation had expanded too much, which directly led to the fact that the attack of British torpedo boats became more difficult.

Originally, the landing ground of the German troops was not so wide, so the attacks of the torpedo boats were relatively concentrated. The results of concentrated attacks are also greater, which is an inevitable thing.

As a result, there are now too many landing sites for the German landing force, and they are also desperately trying to repair the port of Dover.

Night attacks by torpedo boats were becoming less and less effective, and counterattacks during the day were even closer to suicide. As a result, the German army was able to transport by sea more and more calmly, and its losses were smaller.

"Attacking Portsmouth? Are the Germans really so well supplied? Viscount Goth looked at the message coming from the other direction, and suddenly had a feeling that he could not see through the Germans.

He anticipated that the German landing force would grow larger and tighter.

Over time, the more German troops there were, the less logistically they were supplied. Without enough supplies, it was impossible for the Germans to fight a large-scale campaign in London.

That's why he made up his mind to fight back, preparing for a tug-of-war with the German landing force in London that repeatedly fought for positions.

As long as he can succeed, then the German army will be crucified under the city of London, constantly depleted and weakened.

"There are not many defenders in Portsmouth now, and the 2nd Army went north and took away the two divisions that were originally there." When the staff officer mentioned this, he felt that Sir Dill was making too much of a fuss.

In order to strengthen the defenses of the London side, at least 5 divisions were drawn from the direction of Portsmouth to reinforce them to the north.

This move weakened the British flank, so that the German offensive would be overwhelming in one morning.

Unlike in the London direction, the British troops in the Portsmouth direction did not have armored units and did not have enough anti-tank guns to defend against armored units.

They also did not have anti-aircraft guns for cameo anti-tank weapons, since most of the anti-aircraft guns were in the direction of London.

Compared to the London Army, which had many artillery pieces and a large number of tanks and heavy weapons, the 2nd Army took most of its mobile forces, and Portsmouth, which was left with shore defense forces, obviously could not stop the German advance.

"If the 2nd Army can move south and try to threaten the flank of the German left flank, I think we can stop the German advance further." Viscount Goth looked at the map hanging on the wall and muttered.

As long as the 2nd Army moved south and attacked the Germans who had just captured Crowley, the Germans would have to be distracted and return to the defense to prevent themselves from being cut off from retreating.

It is a pity that Viscount Goth was the commander of the London Army Group, and he was not the chief of the General Staff. Sir Dill could command the 2nd Army, and he couldn't.

Churchill, who also got the report of the German attack on Portsmouth, happened to be with Sir Diere. He pinched the message and looked at Sir Dill beside him.

"Let the 2nd Army counterattack, and only the 6th Panzer Division can be dispatched......" Dill knew what Churchill meant, and directly replied with an irrelevant sounding answer.

Speaking of the 6th Panzer Division, Churchill dismissed the idea of counterattacking: the 1st Panzer Division was heavily damaged, the 2nd Panzer Division was completely annihilated, and the 9th Panzer Division suffered heavy losses......

There was only one wretched 6th Panzer Division left in the direction of London, and if anything went wrong with this Panzer Division, he Churchill would almost kill himself by wiping his neck.

"Send a telegram to the defenders of Portsmouth, tell them to hold on there and fight to the last man!" Churchill gritted his teeth and commanded Sir Diere.

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