In this world, there are no immutable laws of warfare. Therefore, the attack did not have to begin in the early hours of the morning or the morning, and there was no rule that the attack must be inflicted with the best weapons, and yet the beleaguered Britons were bound by this habitual thinking, which made their situation even worse.

On this ordinary night, without a single sortie, the Germans attacked, and in a full-scale offensive.

This is the army that has a reputation for being serious and old-fashioned?

The world was shocked!

In just two hours, General Hamilton's defensive line was full of holes: in the face of the most powerful German armored forces, the 50-kilometer-long defensive line on the west side was facing an "avalanche"; In the face of a large number of German troops attacking from London, the defenders on the eastern flank, although holding some of the main positions, the fall of the defensive line seemed only a matter of time; In the middle of the battle line, the infantry-based armies of Kluk and Heringen were advancing step by step with the assistance of a large number of artillery, and the defenders were only able to support themselves at the cost of their lives......

Grimsby Beach, England.

White is an English native soldier who has just been promoted to sergeant this spring and has arrived with his troops on this beautiful beach. Unfortunately, Mr. White is not here for a vacation, let alone a vacation. For nearly three months, he and his companions worked day in and day out to build and fortify the beach, and in the end, they succeeded in making the beach a seemingly impregnable line of defense. A very small number of mines were deployed in the open sea - at this time everything of metal was becoming more and more rare in England, including powerful mines, and it took some time for the German minesweepers to clear a large area through which they could pass; Numerous stakes were nailed to the shallow waters of the beach to prevent the enemy landing ships from approaching, and correspondingly, the trees near Grimsby were cut down; The long and tall breakwater became an important part of the beach defense system, and the British constantly widened and raised it, and the first-line defensive positions and observation posts were set up around this breakwater; On higher ground, concrete forts and batteries were built, although there were no more fortress guns in the navy's warehouses. The British still managed to find nearly 200 cannons to defend this estuary - although the shells were limited, they could at least give great psychological comfort to the soldiers and civilians; The city was crisscrossed with trenches, and the city was extensively renovated within range of naval guns, with bomb shelters and underground hideouts dotting almost every corner.

When the German fleet appeared at sea, White's companions - more than 2,000 defenders and local militiamen quickly took refuge in anti-shelling bunkers, but White had to remain in an observation post very close to the breakwater - and shortly after the Germans had successfully carried out the landings at Bonemouth and Dover, a new manual of anti-landing operations was distributed to every unit of the British Allied forces. In this manual, the soldiers were warned to beware of the Germans landing before the shelling was over. As a result, despite the enormous risks involved, a part of the soldiers were left on the front lines for surveillance.

The shelling of the German fleet began in the early hours of the morning, and the powerful shells fell, and the earth-shaking explosions were endless, and the entire ground shook violently, as if the earth would be destroyed in the next second. White spent almost the day worrying that a German shell would land on his observation post, and the top of the small bunker was only 2 meters thick of earth and planks. During the shelling, the sergeant also had to venture again and again to observe through the periscope.

At noon, White and the other observers spotted the presence of a German landing ship on the surface, and this information was immediately reported to their superiors and eventually sent to General Hamilton. To White's surprise, however, the Germans did not actually make a beach-grabbing landing - the landing ships were slowly sailing offshore under the protection of a group of destroyers. But before he reached the stake area, he stopped. At dusk, they turned around and returned to the fleet, and as night fell. The shelling of the German fleet also stopped.

White was lucky enough to make it to the end of the bombardment, but it was not until two days later that his hearing slowly recovered. Later, he learned that the nearest cannonball had blown up a nearby observatory into the sky, leaving no corpses behind.

Just as White was being replaced by other soldiers and preparing to go to the field hospital to have his ears checked, something unexpected happened - the German fleet on the sea began shelling again, and soon after, the German soldiers launched a landing operation under the cover of artillery fire and night!

Although it was not clear how the beach defenses had been damaged, White could imagine the devastation of such a long and heavy shelling, so his previous confidence had long been replaced by apprehension, and what made him even more chilling was that his own batteries had fired some shells intermittently for a long time, but they were quickly completely muted under the fierce response of the Germans.

By the light of the flares. One was already able to see the German landing craft that were getting closer and closer. At the urging of the officers, the British soldiers defending the beach braved German fire to enter the defensive positions, but the protection of the soldiers from the trenches and communication trenches was very limited in the face of 280 mm and 305 mm high-explosive shells, and many British soldiers died before they could reach their combat positions - despite the fact that they were all home, the morale of the soldiers quickly decreased with fear and despair.

White shared his commander's expectation that his mines and stakes would hold off the German landing fleet, but none of the German landing ships were damaged by mines in this battle - both German minesweepers had cleared a large enough safe area as early as the daytime battleship bombardment, and the stakes that had outcropped out of the sea during the day were also bombarded intensively by German battleships and cruisers. Combined with the final close-range shelling by the German destroyers, large stakes were destroyed - although some German landing ships were still stopped and injured by them, most of them carried their own soldiers to the beach.

Soon, the battle evolved from a one-sided artillery bombardment to a fierce exchange of fire from both the attacking and defending sides.

Meanwhile, in Swansea Harbour in the west of England, the opposite is true. The Scheer fleet, which had been heavily bombarded during the day and made a landing gesture, began to turn, and the destroyers and transports towed away the already empty landing ships, and the disgraced defenders breathed a sigh of relief, but there was a great deal of confusion in their hearts.

Southampton, England.

A few months earlier, when the landing German forces had swept through the south of England, the beautiful seaport city had been threatened with war, and it was guarded by the remnants of the British Army's First Mouth Army. This predominantly English infantry corps was involved in the previous counterattack against the German 8th Army. However, the strong defense of the Germans caused them to shed blood, the entire army lost most of its combat effectiveness, and the remnants of the troops were demoralized. Faced with the overwhelming superiority of the besieging Germans in numbers, equipment, and momentum, the calm British commander, General White, opted for a dignified surrender, and the city was able to retain its original appearance - although Southampton had been attacked by German air raids before, it was the most intact than any other city in southern England.

When the campaign was launched, Hindenburg and his front-line general staff were at the helm of the battle. The four armies on the English front - Kluk's 1st Army, Hindenburg's 5th Army, Herringen's 7th Army, and François's 8th Army - were under the unified command of this front staff. Hindenburg served as the commander-in-chief of the front, and the other armies each sent their own staff officers responsible for liaison and coordination.

From the week leading up to the campaign, the luxury villa on the outskirts of Southampton was one of the busiest places in the world.

"Beware of the British counterattack! When faced with death, people can always burst out with amazing power! General Hindenburg paced around the room, and his voice was not loud, but it was fine. There have been a lot of rumours in recent times about the veteran being promoted to field marshal and becoming the new chief of the army staff, but Hindenburg has privately said that he will not consider those things at this critical time - everything will be said after the war of England is over.

"Indeed! Judging from the current situation of the war, although the British are in a disadvantageous situation, their main force is still there! In the absence of aircraft reconnaissance sites. We have limited knowledge of their troop movements. That's the biggest risk we've ever taken this time! ”

General Hoffmann, deputy chief of staff of the General Staff at the front, supported Hindenburg's opinion, which, like Hindenburg, was unknown before the war. But by this time he was already one of the hottest staff officers in the army. In the Battle of the Sinking Island, which was crucial to the outcome of the war, the Kaiser commissioned him to draw up a battle plan with Hindenburg, which, at least for now, was as the Kaiser praised: "Wonderful!" ”

At this time, all eyes in the room were drawn to the large map on the wall. The generals struggled to figure out what to do next for the British, who were unable to carry out a full-fledged counterattack with their forces at a disadvantage and the entire line tight.

"Maybe the British will just retreat?" General Albrich, the staff officer and liaison officer sent by Cluck, suddenly asked, "Why do you withdraw to Scotland on all fronts?" ”

In contrast, General Mertens, General Herringen's staff officer, cared about something closer: "Whatever happens, just wait until dawn." Our planes will make the battle a no-brainer! ”

Hindenburg nodded, "Before dawn, we need to be very cautious!" ”

Northampton, England.

Perhaps by a coincidence of fate, the general headquarters of the defending side was set up at the beginning of the campaign opposite Southampton, just as the Germans chose their headquarters, and Northampton was located on the central vertical line of that front, a distance of kilometres in a straight line to the middle of the line.

It's a pity that this location didn't bring good luck to the British, and the game was just getting started. Their defence was so porous that it was a nightmare start for the British government and people. On this night, in addition to guessing the unpredictable location of the attack, the British command made a big mistake in the specific timing and method of attack of the Germans. The news of the unfavorable defense of the front line came one by one, and the mood of the generals was also slipping towards the freezing point little by little. For four months, they did everything they could to build this line of defense, and this became the last confidence of the British government and people, and the people once trusted this line so much that they proudly proclaimed, "Our line of defense will make it impossible for the Germans to bleed an inch!" However, the wishful dream was finally shattered by reality!

General Hamilton sat in his place without saying a word, and just a few minutes before the room had been filled with the sound of quarrels, but as the mild-mannered General became angry, the people finally calmed down.

On the road outside the window, groups of soldiers are rushing to the battlefield.

"Now is not the time to pass the buck, we should think about how to repel the Germans! Those damned Germans, they actually landed, how dare they ......" Hamilton was full of money, and yet those flowery words were useless when cursing others.

The Chief of Staff, General Benson, stood up, and he waved his fist angrily, "Send them out into the sea to feed the fish!" ”

Unfortunately, the Haig-era celebrity had become an insignificant player in Hamilton's command, and no one in the entire conference room responded to his proposal.

"It seems unlikely to me that the Germans will send a large force to land, and it is likely that the landing on Grimsby Beach will be only a small force that attracts our attention! At this time, if we mobilize troops from the frontal front, we will be playing into the tricks of the Germans! ”

General Roy, the deputy chief of staff of the command and the most trusted man of General Hamilton, kept an eye on the movements of the German army before the battle began. The command was a disappointment at the time of the campaign, but General Roy's prestige was not at its lowest point - he was able to obtain a wealth of information from the thousands of scouts, spies, and spies lurking in German-controlled areas, who were able to send information from the front by all means, despite the fact that there was a considerable amount of misinformation, whether intentional or unintentional.

"But General, the situation in Grimsby is very dangerous now, and the defenders there alone will not be able to support it for long!"

General Bitta, a veteran who had become Haig's scapegoat during the first German landing, had become commander of the British 22nd Army, a motley force of Indians, New Zealanders, Australians, and even French freedom fighters, who had been given a very figurative name by the soldiers, the Refugee Shelter. However, the current situation did not allow the British to pick and choose, and this army group was now Admiral Hamilton's main strategic reserve.

"Even if the Germans had taken it with the help of the navy, they would not have been able to advance inland - once the German infantry who landed left the beach, I promise our cavalry would never return to the sea!" After detailed calculations, General Roy appeared confident, and it turned out that he was not wrong in his estimation of the number of German troops landing, but unfortunately the factors of war were often impossible to calculate - especially rumors and morale.