"Nope! It shouldn't be like this! Why, contrary to what I thought, the Germans should not attack now! Our large forces have not yet arrived here. Aren't they trying to divide and surround us here? ”

Montgomery shouted at Alexander.

"What the hell are the Germans trying to do?"

"Time."

Xu Jun satisfiedly picked up a piece of fat and juicy beef roasted just right from the beautiful silver plate in front of him and put it in his mouth, and he tasted this rare delicacy on the front line with satisfaction.

The officers at the same table had been cutting the beef on their plates with great interest, but now they all stopped their knives and forks and looked at their commander, waiting for him to continue. In fact, they would love to hear the Commander tell him what the ultimate purpose of his elaborate pre-planning was. They had been privately speculating about the purpose of Xu Jun's complicated trap, but so far they had not received two identical answers, not even similar ones.

"Time." Xu Jun slowly swallowed the beef in his mouth, then took a big sip of the red wine in front of him, and looked at the staff officers and adjutants who were looking at him with expectant eyes.

"Gentlemen, I just want to get time."

"Can you be specific? My Excellency, General. ”

Colonel Wei Erle, chief of staff of the General Headquarters, asked suspiciously, he was the chief of staff of those commanders-in-chief. Hearing his words, the other officers also nodded vigorously in agreement.

Weierle continued to ask: "In the past two days, I have also been speculating about the purpose of the operation of your previous plan, because I and everyone here can only see your plan for the current stage, and we do not know your plan for the next stage. So I hope the general can tell us what exactly you want to gain at this stage, what role will you play in the next phase of the operation, and what is your ultimate goal? Otherwise, it will be really difficult for us to prepare for the next phase of operations. ”

"Hahahaha, my Colonel Werle. You must know that for the sake of secrecy, no one knows the full contents of this plan except for a few generals and staff officers in the High Command. Even the command of the army group could only receive detailed orders from each other, and did not know why they did it. You are understandably confused. Since you want to know the overall content of this plan so much, I can tell you a little, but I can only tell you the purpose of our campaign at this stage, and what the future plan of action is for you to experience for yourself, I believe that if you understand what I want to obtain now, you will also be able to think of our next plan. ”

"Then please tell us quickly." Colonel Weirle said eagerly. "I'm really curious what exactly do you want? Originally, we thought that you wanted to lure the British out of the canal zone, and then let the armored forces divide and surround and annihilate them. But according to your orders, those armored units started to move last night, they attacked too early, and the enemy's large forces had not yet entered that area, why did you do this? ”

"Colonel Werle, because I had no intention of dividing and encircling and annihilating the Britons in the plains of Arras." Xu Jun replied with a smile.

"What? Don't you think so? So what is the reason for the trap that we put so much effort into? After listening to Xu Jun's answer, Weierle was even more confused.

"I said it, time. I lured them out of the Canal Zone and blocked their way so quickly, just to gain precious time. Xu Jun forked another piece of beef, put it in his mouth and chewed it.

"Are you saying that you are not ready to destroy the enemy there at all, and now the actions of the armored forces are not to attack, but to block?"

"Yes, it would be accurate to say that we are closing the door of hope for the British Expeditionary Force." Xu Jun swallowed the beef and continued.

"If we wanted to encircle the British near Arras, it would be technically possible, but we would also pay a lot of price for the British in their dying throes. And we must not forget that there is still the French First Army in the encirclement, and they have not done anything until now, it seems that they are on the sidelines. If they find out that we are doing our best to eliminate the British, they may make some small moves behind our interspersed troops, and cause our troops to suffer some unnecessary losses.

Even if they didn't, they would immediately shrink their defenses and take refuge in the depths of the Canal Zone. When the time comes, it will be a problem for us to try to eliminate them. ”

"So can't we all let them all run out and eat them together?" Randolph asked suspiciously, holding a glass of red wine.

"My dear Captain Randolph, you are naïve, knowing that if we had waited for their last troops to leave the Canal Zone, their vanguard would have been in contact with the main French forces long ago." Weierle preemptively answered Randolph's question, and then he turned to Xu Jun and asked, "I also understand the reason why you don't want to fight a war of annihilation in Arras, General." I can't really think of any tactics you're trying to use to eliminate those enemies, though. ”

"My dear Colonel Werle, I don't want to annihilate them, I want to take them all prisoner." Xu Jun replied with a confident expression.

"Captive? How can it be? ”

"Gentlemen, as I said earlier, all I want is time, and I have now got the time I need. If we had followed our previous tactics, by the time we had broken through the enemy's lines from all directions and reached the sea, the British would have withdrawn to their islands by their navy.

Now it was different, I used that trap to get two days, during which time I laid mines in the strait, completely blocked the Strait of Dover, and cut off their retreat from the sea. In the course of two days, our follow-up troops also caught up and joined the front-line corps, and our assault strength was strengthened. During these two days, I have accumulated a large amount of ammunition and materials on the front line, and I am ready for continuous operations in the future, and we have rested and replenished the front-line troops during these two days.

And for two days, the British could do nothing but travel back and forth and consume their precious supplies. When they finally understand that they can't break through our armored defenses, their main forces will definitely be withdrawn to their original positions, which will give us more time.

And while they were desperately rushing towards Arras, we had been attacking the Belgian defense for two days in a row. If we intensify our offensive as planned, we believe that within twenty-four hours the Belgian army will collapse. We can force the Belgians to surrender before the British have time to get back to their lines, and then take over their lines. In that way, we would not only free up more troops to deal directly with the British and French troops, but we would also be able to tear a big hole in their line of defense, and make their canal defense completely meaningless. ”

"Ah, what a wonderful, my general, you are truly the greatest genius of war I have ever seen." Weierle finally understood Xu Jun's thoughts, as an experienced staff officer, he immediately understood what Xu Jun meant, and now he was finally completely convinced by Xu Jun's plan.

Willle happily added: "Also, if the British and French knew that their plan for a breakout was not feasible, their morale would have plummeted if they had fallen into our trap." And when they know that their only sea route is also blocked by us, they will fall into utter despair. At that point, their command will become panicked, and their soldiers will lose their fighting spirit.

I think they should be running out of supplies, and you let them waste two days, which means that they have consumed two days of supplies in vain. At that time, the British and French will have to rely on airdrops to keep their troops alive. Of course, you won't let them get airdrops so easily.

In that case, when our troops crushed the Belgians to the sea, they would be completely surrounded in a very small area, with no way back, not enough ammunition, not even enough food, and their morale would be so low that we would not be able to hold out much if we did not attack them.

According to their habits, when all hope is dashed and all retreats are cut off, they will not continue to fight a hopeless battle, they will definitely choose to surrender. ”

The more Werler spoke, the more excited he became, and the other staff officers and adjutants finally understood Xu Jun's plan, and their faces were filled with joy.

"Yes, Colonel," Xu Jun said with a smile.

"That's when we'll be able to get the biggest win at the least cost. And according to my plan, we may have unexpected prizes in addition to those 500,000 troops. ”

"What prize?" Wehrle asked eagerly.

"Haha, I don't want to say it yet, you'll understand later. But we can't think of the enemy as simple as they do, they will make the last struggle. It was a severe test for any army that fought with them. This must be made clear to the front-line troops that we are facing the elite of the British, not those incompetent French ** teams.

The British had already begun to clear the Channel, and it would take them another three days to clear a channel for large ships to navigate. Now the enemy still has the possibility of escaping. We still have a difficult task ahead of us, and we need to speed up our offensive and seal off that retreat before they begin to retreat. Although we have the upper hand in the current situation, we still need to maintain a high degree of vigilance, and the slightest mistake can ruin a war, and this is a case of abound in history. ”

"Understood, General." The officers all stood up and replied with a serious face.

"Okay, let's all sit down, our lunch isn't over yet? What do you think of today's beef? ”

"That's good, my deputy Führer. Hahahaha, it's delicious. I really didn't expect to be able to eat such delicious beef at the front, it was like what I ate in Berlin's restaurant. I remember I was still ......," Randolph said happily with a piece of beef on his fork.

Dogen, who was sitting next to him, felt that the guy seemed to be a little too proud, so he gave him a hard kick under the table.

"Ouch." Randolph screamed in pain, and he turned his head to look for the Dougan theory. But when he saw Dogan's gray eyes staring at him viciously, he suddenly retracted again. Everyone burst out laughing when they looked at Randolph's grievance.

"Hahaha, Lieutenant Colonel Dogen, do you have any opinion on today's beef?" Xu Jun asked with a smile.

"Ah, Your Excellency the Deputy Führer, I have no opinion, this beef is very tasty, very good." Dougan hurriedly replied respectfully, and by the way, he glared at Randolph fiercely again, this guy still showed a look of grievance, drawing a circle on the plate with a fork, and the face of the SS was lost by this guy.

"Haha, I thought you weren't satisfied, but this beef was sent to me from Berlin by the Führer personally on the orders of the Air Force. Definitely the best of the best. Speaking of the Air Force, Hans. Xu Jun turned his head to look at Hans, who was drinking with a wine glass.

"Ah, here, Your Excellency." Hans hurriedly put down the cup.

"When will we finish the big airfield we're building next to the barracks? You must know that the Air Force Division directly under the Führer has been fully deployed, and as soon as the airfield is completed, they will be able to move in. This air division will play a very important role in the next phase of our operations, and I hope to complete the construction of the airfield before the next phase of the operation begins. ”

"Yes, General, I have been urging the engineering units to speed up the process, and the speed has increased greatly since the addition of the engineering units sent by the Air Force. But this airfield is too big, and to accommodate the aircraft, ammunition, supplies and command organs of an air division is not an ordinary field airfield. However, now that it is about 90 percent complete, only some ancillary facilities and the commissioning of the command system remain, and if they are allowed to work overtime, it should be completed by tomorrow night. ”

"Very good, Hans, you're doing a good job." Xu Jun nodded with satisfaction.

"Gentlemen!"

Xu Jun stood up and picked up his wine glass.

"For the sake of our victory in this stage of the operation, and for the success of the next stage of the operation, I propose that everyone have a toast."

The officers hurriedly stood up with their cups.

"For Germany, for victory!" Xu Jun drank the glass of wine in one gulp.

"For Germany, for victory!" The officers drank their wines too.

"Then it's time for dessert, right?"

A voice suddenly rang out, and everyone turned their heads to stare blankly at the young SS officer with a look of innocent expectation.

With a crisp sound, Lieutenant Colonel Dogan crushed the cup in his hand.