Chapter 52: The Line of Defense (4)
The performance of the Imperial British Army in the coastal defense positions was so miserable and ugly that it was impossible to believe that it was a professional army. And in fact, these people are not professional soldiers, at least two weeks ago they were not military professionals.
When the British Empire reached its most critical moment, everyone was forced to let out a final roar, and the situation at that time was not so exaggerated, but not far off. The British Expeditionary Force, which was composed of ninety percent of the strength of the British Army, was completely annihilated in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden had surrendered on their knees, and the capital of France had been occupied, and they were being beaten to the point of being hanged. The glorious Royal Navy of the British Empire is half-crippled, and the even more glorious Royal Air Force is half-crippled.
Tobacco Dealer Pirate ...... in the British Empire Oh no...... Raising the citizens of the empire for n years, the festival of righteous death should be today, and people of insight from all walks of life are speaking out. As a result, a large number of loyal and brave people from the country's peasants, industrialists, and men enthusiastically signed up to join the army, preparing to kill Germans, kill Germans, and kill more Germans. As a result, when they arrived at the ground, they found that except for Churchill's National Guard, the army and navy were not prepared to recruit at all. The Air Force is a muster, but only recruits flight cadets, if there is flying experience, it is preferred, but there is an age limit, and at the same time, it must also be healthy, have good eyesight, have a strong character, and the most important thing is to have a higher education, at least it will count, and it will only shovel feces, which is obviously not good.
How can the citizens of the empire have no way to serve the country with empty blood. Every day, the newspaper published a large number of articles on a certain street where a certain lord intended to break his family and join the army, or a certain butcher shop in such a district and a certain slaughter was preparing to abandon his business to serve the country. Hyde Park is even more from morning to night, the demons dance wildly, all kinds of roars, all kinds of tearing flags.
Churchill has been infiltrated in politics for many years, and he is the most cunning and cunning, and he will be the most obedient to the will of the people, and the situation is indeed imminent. It is also necessary to plan ahead. Secret negotiations with the United States are ongoing, after all, it is the same culture and the same species, of course, we must coexist and prosper, although the White House was burned back then, but those old chaff and rotten grains should not be too careful, as for the Americans who relied on the Americans' bills after the last war to shed blood and tears, etc., that was the previous administration's eyes, and this transaction must have made the American brothers eat with their mouths full of oil. There will be no regrets about such a choice. I heard that Roosevelt was already very moved, and the US military has a batch of mothballed arms that are being unsealed, and perhaps there will be a turnaround in a few weeks. Once the transaction is successful. When American weapons arrive, it will be in vain if there are guns and no one at that time.
So the British government began to open recruitment offices in major cities, and in just two weeks, the British Army effortlessly acquired three infantry divisions. The Navy received a division. The Air Force filled eight battalions. But here comes the problem, the British Army never dreamed that one day they would worry about too many soldiers. Originally, those three regular infantry divisions couldn't be fed, so what do you want to do with the three more? All the military supplies are already under the cordon, and there are not enough rifles in the stockpile, let alone any artillery and machine guns.
What's even more troublesome is that even if the third-year cadets graduate early, they can't get enough of the officers needed to form these units, let alone the most critical backbone non-commissioned officers. Before that. It is also necessary to train this group of rookies to be qualified soldiers, otherwise what is the difference between them and that group of National Guards.
There are training and stationing grounds. The barracks vacated by the expeditionary force are large and well-equipped. However, there is a huge shortage of military training equipment, because most of the old equipment used for training has been taken away by the self-defense forces in the villages and towns, and they are frantically searching for all the weapons and equipment that can be used.
Moreover, even if they are fully equipped, there are still not enough military training instructors, and now there is a shortage of experienced officers in the local defense force, and the expeditionary force has taken away most of the high-level officers, and the rest are a group of old, weak, sick and disabled people who do not want the expeditionary force. Although the government had begun to send officers from the colonies, it was clear that the distant waters could not save the current fire.
Looking back, the British Army fell to the current embarrassing state because the British Expeditionary Force was so cleanly defeated.
At that time, the British Expeditionary Force crossed the English Channel with great dignity, like the savior of Europa. In order to show that the British Empire was strong and powerful, their armament exceeded normal standards, and the infantry divisions not only took away the weapons and equipment stored in the arsenal, but even occupied some of the weapons and vehicles of the remaining troops.
A large number of high-ranking officers in the British Army Staff and the Expeditionary Force Command who had fought in World War I, who had drunk tea before Verdun and smoked cigarettes by the Somme, had eaten, played and seen, and hated the last game of reincarnation and meat grinding, so they were ready to do it again as they did last time.
Moreover, this time the German Army did not have Kaiser Wilhelm to hold back, and it was replaced by Hitler, who was obviously crazier than Wilhelm, and it is said that this cargo also squatted in the trenches and suffered poison gas, so this war trench warfare is a must, a war of attrition is a must, the artillery group is covered, the tanks are pressed, and the corpses are covered by a sea of blood.
Since there is going to be a war of attrition, then the material reserves are necessary, and the French were originally going to provide some of them, but they found that the things provided by the French could not be seen at all, what food, medicine, ammunition and oil did not meet the habits and standards of the British at all, it was all French, the taste was pitiful, the caliber was strange, and even the weights and measures used for fuel replenishment were different. So the British decided to bring everything with them. When encountering the expeditionary force's military seats, divisions, and brigade seats, all of them were ruthless people with rich family and family connections, and the background was solid to death, and they were unceremonious, and then the fierce generals hollowed out the foundation of the British Army.
Only a few years after the world economic crisis, the industrial productivity of the British people has been severely hit by the crisis, and the military industry, as a major gold eater, has been shrinking under the pressure of Parliament. The military expenditure of the Royal Navy of the British Empire was just enough to support itself, and after decommissioning a bunch of old ships, it only dared to build a few cruisers to satisfy its hunger, and did not dare to clamore for the purchase of capital ships for several years.
The Army's life is not easy, the tank bidding is which is cheaper, which is thin, which is fuel-efficient, and the infantry and artillery weapons are finally replaced with some new goods, but it is a drop in the bucket, and most of the troops are still equipped with reserves for the First World War.
This time, whether it's old or new, it's all for those losers to be dragged across the strait. In addition to infantry light weapons, there are almost all anti-tank weapons, heavy artillery, tanks, transport trucks, officers' cars, all kinds of light and heavy ammunition, fuel, communications equipment, field hospitals, military rations, military uniforms, a large number of four-wheeled carriages and war horses, building materials, field tents, boats, bridges, ferries, and ...... Even the barbed wire is a British original. When the British Expeditionary Force landed on the coast of France with a huge convoy of convoys, the French were overjoyed by the endless stream of transport vehicles, and then they were left dumbfounded, were these British going to fight here for ten years?
At this time, the British Empire's Royal Navy ships were cruising the four seas, the British Empire's Royal Air Force's Iron Bird Eagle was hovering around the world, the British Imperial Army's Iron Cavalry was crisscrossing the Europa continent, and Germany was single-handedly fighting the invincible soldiers of the two major European powers, which was asking for its own death. As soon as the British Empire arrived, the brutal German army was bound to be wiped out, and the defeat of Hitler's arrogant bandits was just around the corner. Since the Wang Division annihilated the enemy outside the territory, the local area should be as stable as Mount Tai and solid as gold, leaving two or three children with spears to fight the door, and there is no need to worry about what attacks will be attacked.
As a result, the war began, and before the bigwigs in London looked at the map and saw that they were ugly, the British Empire Expeditionary Force was wiped out on the other side, and at present, hundreds of thousands of British and French loyal and brave divisions were being led by a dozen and a half generals in the German prisoner of war camps to consume the enemy's precious military rations, and the British government's wealth that had been stored for many years was all cheaper than the Germans. The arrogant bandit Hitler also died, but the problem was that a more terrible demon king came to power, and there were only a few spear-wielding children left in Britain.
This is not the most disturbing, the most disturbing and fatal is the glory of the empire, the dozen or so giant ships, including the world's great color ven, were bombed into a reef in the strait by the Germans, cheapened the pile of French lobster octopus, and the Royal Air Force collapsed in the sand, the precious pilots suffered heavy losses, the unlucky corpses sank to the bottom of the sea, and the lucky ones went to the sea with the army compatriots, and the two most important barriers of Britain were almost broken under the First World War.
During that time, the British government and the opposition were shocked overnight, and everyone felt that the Germans would never let go of this opportunity to set foot on British soil at the most vulnerable time of Britain, blow up Big Ben, and burn Buckingham. The coastal observation post would shout at the German landing ship when it saw a pontoon from afar.
Finally, a piece of comforting news came to the British government, although the German Navy completely annihilated the British naval detachment in the Battle of the Faroe Islands, but the brave Royal Navy fought back, and the German Navy also suffered serious damage, at least for a short time, and lost its combat capability. The British Imperial Navy still retained some strength, at least until the large German warships entered the battlefield, and there was no problem defending the Strait. The British Empire was finally given a brief respite, and according to Churchill, it was a God-given opportunity for Britain.
So the British Army used all means to train the newly recruited rookies, at least let them learn how to stand in line, how to wear uniforms, how to fold blankets, how to salute officers, but weapons training is still far away. London finally freed up 40,000 Lee Enfield No3 rifles that had been in stock for twenty years, but they were not well preserved, so they had to go to the gun factory for renovations first, and it would take time for the soldiers to get their hands on them. Britain's arsenals are working overtime to produce artillery and ammunition, but there is still a big gap to meet the reserves for a major battle. According to the Downing Street grapevine, the government has acquired a batch of rifles and artillery in the United States and is arranging for transportation, and before these weapons can be equipped with troops, the army has decided to make use of these free labor forces and go to the strait to dig trenches. (To be continued, please search, the novel is better and updated faster!)