On the day the Belgian Army announced its surrender, the 3rd Infantry Division of the British Expeditionary Force, under the command of Major General Montgomery, quickly outflanked and intercepted more than a dozen Belgian transport units that were preparing to surrender, and captured nearly one transport vehicle with this.

Montgomery then gathered the 200 military vehicles with 400 military vehicles from his own division headquarters for the retreat operation.

He ordered all military vehicles to be coated with a layer of reflective paint on their reducers and illuminated by small lights hidden under the rear fenders, and the drivers of the latter vehicles used this light to follow the previous vehicle, while the entire convoy turned off its headlights, imposed strict light control, and quietly withdrew in the night.

To prevent accidents, he also ordered traffic pickets to be set up at intersections and corners where it is easy to get lost to direct the convoy to move.

That night, Montgomery's 3rd Division marched through the night, silently and covertly. Sneak into the encirclement of the Germans.

While crossing a small road next to the village of Salz, on another large road less than ten miles away from them, a mighty infantry corps of the German Army Group A, the 13th Infantry Division, was also rushing into the encirclement.

Both sides were on the road overnight, speeding up their marches, and both sides, from generals to soldiers, were kept in the dark. However, Montgomery's British 3rd Division had more vehicles, so it was faster than the German 13th Infantry Division.

This enabled the British Expeditionary 3rd Division to march 60 kilometers at night, successfully jumped into the German encirclement, and rushed to the front of the German infantry in the early morning of the 28th, and organized a temporary defensive line to cover the evacuation of the large force to Dunkirk by land and sea.

"The commander of this British unit seems to be a bit level." In the conference room of the German High Command, Manstein pointed to the large map by the wall with a telescopic pole and said: "According to the telegram sent by the 13th Division at 10:27 a.m., a British division appeared in front of them. According to the information we have received before, the only thing that can appear here is the troops of the 3rd British Division. ”

In response to the British "Generator Plan", Reinhardt had already arranged for Manstein to formulate a dismantling plan called the "Power Outage Plan". Now, everything is exactly what Manstein had predicted. Nearly 400,000 Anglo-French troops were besieged in a narrow strip of northern France, leaving only the small port of Dunkirk, a small port of 10,000 inhabitants, as a sea retreat. The German armored forces, which had just stagnated, had also returned to full force and divided their forces in the direction of Dunkirk.

The only thing that was a little surprising was that the 3rd Division of the British Army, which was supposed to be outside the first encirclement, actually jumped into this encirclement.

However, it doesn't matter, it's just a little more effort.

The navy has dispatched all available fleets to cooperate with the implementation of the "Power Outage Plan". They sent all the warships in the High Seas Fleet that could be used. In this fleet, almost all German-made warships were collected, as well as a large number of second-rate warships captured and received in Poland, Denmark, Belgium and other countries. Aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, torpedo ships, frigates, and even submarines, you name it.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that at the request of Germany, the Kingdom of Norway, under the auspices of its new Prime Minister Quisling, quickly and secretly dispatched a main fleet (only a small fleet in the eyes of Germany) including 2 King Blonde Harald-class coastal defense ships to Danish ports to participate in the "Power Outage Plan" and accept the coordinated command of German Admiral Raeder.

The current situation is very different from when Manstein drew up the "Scythe Harvesting Plan" under the instructions of Reinhardt.

First, after the Battle of Narvik, Norway, the German Navy defeated the invincible Royal Navy of the British Empire for the first time. It was only a detachment of the British, but it was also a victory, an unprecedented victory, a morale-boosting victory.

And with the encouragement of the victory in the Norwegian naval battle, the commander of the Imperial Navy, Raeder, is now a little bolder. As the saying goes, wine is a bold man. And the easy defeat of the British Royal Navy detachment in Norway became a strong drink for the courageous Raeder.

In addition, the Imperial High Seas Fleet in the hands of Raeder is no longer what it used to be. You must know that the navy of the Third Reich in this time and space did not let go of the Polish fleet, which could have slipped away to Britain in the past, and did not suffer heavy losses caused by the attack on Norway by the "Weser River Exercise", and even replenished 2 captured British destroyers. (During the Battle of Norway, the First Detachment of the High Seas Fleet of the Third Reich captured a total of three British destroyers.) It's just that one of them is seriously damaged and is still in a state of repair, temporarily parked in the William Military Port for maintenance, and cannot participate in this operation. ）

In addition, it is supplemented with four large aircraft carriers of the "Zeppelin-class" that have not been put into combat in history, as well as the auxiliary "Exocet-class" small aircraft carriers.

It can be said that the Imperial Navy in Raeder's hands now is several times or even dozens of times stronger than the fleet he was able to command in the same period in the history before Reinhardt crossed over!

By the way, he was also the commander of the Combined Fleet, and at the same time commanded the main fleet sent by Norway to help.

On the other hand, the British Royal Navy, in the war against Norway alone, has lost 3 cruisers and 8 destroyers. Among them, there was a destroyer that was sunk by the Norwegian coastal guards.

One side is much stronger than it is in history, and the other side is much weaker than it was in history. It was this change that led Reinhardt to carry out this bold naval interception.

When British warships are temporarily used to transport personnel, and when they are loaded with officers and men with extremely deep drafts and even a little tilt, these British warships will lose 80 percent or more of their combat strength and defensive power. At that time, it may only take one shot to hit, and these overloaded versions of the "military transport ships" that have been temporarily requisitioned may sink immediately.

With the loss of this fleet, the British Navy would face another loss of blood since the Battle of Norwegian.

When Norway was defeated, they could still pretend that nothing was wrong with the background of a maritime power. However, in the successive blood losses, even the empire that never sets will definitely become seriously ill for a long time.

Due to his long contact with Reinhardt, Manstein knew very well that once the French campaign was over, the next step would be a landing battle against the British. If you can't take advantage of the current advantage, you can weaken the British Navy as much as possible. The future landing operation will be very difficult and even painful.

Don't look at the German high seas fleet this time, but their target is not just a small Dunkirk....... And the main forces of the British surface fleet!