"What?! The position is lost again! Montgomery looked at the combat staff officer in surprise.

This is already the seventh position that has lost contact, and thinking about the battle, losing contact with the forward position is equivalent to losing that forward position. In other words, it was just noon, and the Germans had already conquered seven of Montgomery's sub-positions.

Seven positions, according to Montgomery's expectations, will have to drag on for 3 days to lose. However, it was clear that the German army's combat effectiveness far exceeded his expectations. Or rather, the combat effectiveness of his troops was much lower than he expected.

"Assemble the guard company. In addition, inform all the people of our division headquarters that they are ready for transfer. Montgomery squinted his eyes and looked at the magnified scale map by the wall, and said coldly, "I can't stay here anymore." ”

Hearing Montgomery himself say that he was leaving, his adjutant was almost frightened and his jaw dropped. You must know that last night, when Montgomery led them to build fortifications overnight and set up positions in dispersion, he also ambitiously ordered that no retreat should be allowed, and that the troops must hold on for at least a week.

But now, only halfway through the first day, the cooking class of the division headquarters is still preparing lunch, and there are still six and a half days before the scheduled deadline, Montgomery, as the division commander, has decided to run away?!

Once the division headquarters has run away, even if the troops on the front line do not realize it for a while, they will find out that something is wrong sooner or later. By that time, the blow to the morale of the defending forces would be devastating.

Moreover, the location where the division headquarters is now is on the back of a small hill. Last night, Montgomery had also personally arranged for the establishment of 17 temporary outlying blocking points centered on this hill.

Although there is no time to dig a complete trench to build a standard position, those blocking points have terrain advantages to rely on, and it stands to reason that the blocking effect will definitely not be bad.

Coupled with the fact that the division headquarters had just made contact with the military headquarters in Dunkirk this morning, it was perfectly clear to what extent the rear was in chaos. At this time, whether the 3rd Division of the Expeditionary Force could hold the sniper line established centered on this hill has become the key to whether the entire British Expeditionary Force can have time to withdraw to the mainland.

With this area, not only Montgomery, but also his adjutants, including all the operational staff officers of the divisional headquarters, everyone thought that it was perfectly fine to gain three or five days. And these three or five days are the key to whether the entire expeditionary force, and even the main force of the French army in the Dunkirk area, can break out of the German encirclement.

According to Commander Brooke's reply to Montgomery this morning, all the coalition forces around Dunkirk were demoralized and demoralized. If the Germans were allowed to rush in front of them, perhaps this would lead to the largest surrender since the beginning of the war!

All hopes were pinned on the 3rd Division of the Expeditionary Force, on Montgomery and his command team.

Until the sun rises today, Montgomery is indeed full of confidence and is ready to become the savior of the coalition forces, determined to turn the tide and help the building to fall!

But Montgomery's illusions and ambitions, which lasted only one night, were shattered by the facts before him.

From the fall of the first position to the loss of contact with the seventh position, not a single remnant fled back to the rear front, and all the defensive forces on the lost position were gnawed clean by the Germans.

Of course, these forces will certainly not be wiped out. The most likely thing is that after seeing the strong firepower of the German army, they chose to surrender. Or maybe they struggled to resist for a while before surrendering. But in any case, the lack of this batch of troops has caused the combat effectiveness of the 3rd Division to slide down by more than 30 percentage points again, and this is a crisis in front of us!

Supposedly, the division headquarters was at the rear of the blocking line, and there were ten scattered strategic blocking nodes in front of it between the Germans and them. When it comes to threats, there is still some way to go.

"Commander, do you want to ........ Let's wait until there are only 3 blocking points left on the front line before retreating. The adjutant reminded in a low voice: "If we withdraw early, let the front-line troops know, it will affect their morale, so as to reduce their resistance." ”

The adjutant thought very simply, even if the German offensive was fierce and the advance speed was extremely fast, after all, it was still a long distance away from the division headquarters. As long as the three blocking nodal positions of the "inverted V-shape" outside the division headquarters remained, it was impossible for the Germans to appear in front of them at once.

In other words, until the enemy situation was discovered at the "inverted V-shaped" blocking point, the division headquarters was still safe. Then it is better to stay and command the front-line troops and stabilize the morale of the army. It's a big deal, but the last moment will come and slip away.

"Stay?" Montgomery snorted coldly, glanced at the adjutant and said, "The German troops you see now are still some infantry. The infantry is advancing so fast, once their armored forces join, will we still withdraw?! ”

Shaking his head, Montgomery seemed to be explaining to his adjutant, and said as if he was analyzing himself: "If you really wait until the last barrier of the division headquarters is attacked before withdrawing, in case they can't hold it for long, then the division headquarters may be caught up by German tanks during the evacuation process......."

Montgomery had already considered the worst-case scenario, and while it may not happen in the worst direction, it is not impossible. At the slightest possibility, Montgomery would approach it with 120,000 caution, a style he had been accustomed to for many years.

The adjutant, who understood the character of the division commander, did not argue, but he couldn't help but remind Montgomery: "But division commander, even if we withdraw to the rear and withdraw to Dunkirk, what can we .......do?"

The rest of the words, the adjutant did not speak. But Montgomery knew that the adjutant was trying to remind himself that the end was nothing more than annihilation in another place.

"That's not what you should be thinking about!" Montgomery paused, then looked directly at the adjutant in a somewhat cold tone and said, "We have been holding off the German army here for more than 24 hours, and we have already given the coalition forces unexpected good news. Besides, the 10 remaining blocking points can still resist for at least 12 hours, and we have done enough for the coalition forces! ”

At this point, Montgomery had lost all of the righteousness he had shown last night. At this time, in the general's body, the adjutant felt more, a kind of yin owl aura.

Under the adjutant's gaze, Montgomery slowly revealed a trace of his heart: "The Third Division is a highly decorated unit, and as its commander, I have an obligation not to let it be wiped out here by the Germans. So....... I have to take it with me to catch my return shift! ”

It seems that in the context of the hopelessness of the blockade, the division commander, who had always seemed to be selfless before, also began to think about the way back.