The day after Zeebrugge and Ostend were raided by the German navy, the British wartime cabinet held an emergency meeting in London. Pen ~ Fun ~ Cabinet www.biquge.info Admiral Winston Churchill told the cabinet members and senior generals attending the meeting with a very painful look that in last night's battle, a total of 17 British ships were sunk or heavily damaged, 89 British naval officers and men were killed, nearly 200 wounded, the Belgian side also lost more than 200 soldiers, the defenses of the two Belgian ports were seriously damaged, and worse, the German army blocked their exit channels with shipwrecks, so that the German troops stationed in Zeebrugge, British ships in Ostend and Bruges were all blocked, and the clearing of the shipping lanes would take at least a week, and it was hoped that the German Navy would not attack again in the meantime.

"There are all kinds of indications that the German Navy will launch a large-scale landing operation on the Belgian coast in the near future in response to the German Army's offensive in northern Belgium, and if the landing operation is successful, the German base camp is likely to make the decision to land on the British coast."

Hearing Churchill's inference, the Cabinet meeting was in an uproar. Prior to this, rumors of a possible landing of German troops in Britain were rife, and even some information from British spies showed that the Germans did have such a plan, but as the German marines entered the battlefield of Amiens, engaged in fierce battles with the French army dozens of kilometers inland from the coast, and then advanced to the Paris front, this rumor naturally cooled down. In the eyes of professionals in the British Naval Staff, since Germany's only marine division was involved in the meat grinder-like battlefield on the Western Front, it was difficult to return to its original position in a short time. Who would have thought that the battle of Paris had not yet been decided, and the German marines who had been tempered by the war quietly withdrew and returned to the mainland to replenish and recuperate, and the sharpened fangs were chilling.

"Silence, everyone, silence!"

Prime Minister Asquith unceremoniously reminded his colleagues that cabinet meetings were still going on and that being quiet was both a rule and etiquette and a sign of composure.

"What is the strategy of our Navy in response to this move of the German Navy?" Asquith asked, looking at Churchill.

Churchill had already prepared, and he quickly replied: "The conservative approach is to deploy as many submarines as possible in Belgian waters, with the main fleet maintaining its current disposition, and attacking with submarines when German landing ships are discovered; The radical approach was to deploy the main fleet to Dover, the mine-striking ships to Dunkirk, and the submarines to Belgium, waiting for a tough battle with the German fleet. ”

Although Asquith had no military experience, he was not ignorant of war as Minister of the Interior in the wartime cabinet during the Boer War. However, the predicament facing the British Empire today has not been seen in a hundred years, and Asquith is not a prodigy like the Pitt father and son (Pitt Sr. was the ninth prime minister of the United Kingdom, and led LinkedIn to win the Seven Years' War during his tenure; Pitt Jr. was the 14th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and supported the war against Napoleon with fiscal reforms. Both father and son are regarded as one of the greatest prime ministers in British history), and Churchill was so embarrassed by the two options that he had to turn to the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Tiwedon Stedey.

"According to our estimates, the German High Seas Fleet currently has 12 to 14 capital ships, two to four more than us, and the overall speed is 2 to 3 knots faster than ours, and the advantage of the battle cruiser formation is very fatal, and if a duel between the main fleets breaks out again, our chances of winning are only 3 to 4 percent." The implication of Vice Admiral Stedey could not be clearer - in the present situation, the British Navy would do well to adopt a cautious strategy and wait for an opportunity to move.

"It should be reminded that after the occupation of Abbeville and Le Crotois, northeastern France and northern Belgium were already surrounded by German land, and the Belgian king and his army were very disappointed with the present situation. Once the Germans captured Bruges and the adjacent seaports, and blocked the West Hold waterways, the Belgian royal family, government, and army in Antwerp would become a meal for the Germans, and we would lose this weak but brave ally. Churchill said with a very helpless expression. Of course, the cabinet ministers present will not forget that not long ago, they unanimously rejected Churchill's proposal to "invite" King Albert of Belgium and his government agencies to Britain, after all, King Albert had made it clear that he and his army would remain in Belgium and not go anywhere.

As a cabinet meeting was underway, an important visitor from France asked Asquith to adjourn the meeting, and he asked War Secretary Kitchener, Imperial Chief of Staff Sir Charles Douglas, and four key military figures, Admiral Churchill and Chief of the Navy General Staff Stedy, to accompany him to the reception room. There, General Clegeri, the stocky chief of staff of the French army, shook hands with them one by one with an anxious expression.

"In recent days, the most important cultural buildings in Paris - the Palace of Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, etc., have suffered heartbreaking damage under German fire. To avoid the greatest city in human history being reduced to a pile of rubble, we are ready to abandon Paris. ”

As soon as General Clage had finished speaking, the bearded Kitchener asked mercilessly: "Is it true that in the eyes of you Frenchmen, the value of these historical buildings is higher than the interests of the state?" ”

Naturally, this was just the usual excuse used by the French, who were less willing to admit the military superiority of the Germans, and Clégerie further explained: "We have received information that the Germans are preparing to launch a landing operation on the Cotentin Peninsula or on the Brittany Peninsula, and that if we continue to gather heavy forces in Paris, the rear will be defenseless and will be in danger of a complete collapse." Therefore, we considered abandoning Paris on our own initiative, retreating steadily, and finally holding off the Germans on the Caen-Le Mans-Tours-Lyon line. ”

Of course, the military politicians here knew what that meant - the German army would occupy the northeastern part of France, the coastline and ports from Calais to Le Havre would be planted with the Black Eagle flag of the German Empire, and the Germans would be able to assemble ships and troops to invade Britain across the narrowest points of the English Channel.

But in the presence of the French Chief of Staff, none of the British military and political officials present made this clear and demanded that the French military reconsider their choice. Field Marshal Kitchener continued to speak coldly: "That is, you intend to give up most of France to the Germans? ”

"The occupation of these lands would not do the Germans any good, as their logistical lines stretched for hundreds of kilometres, and they would have to be on guard against the guerrilla attacks of the French army and civilians, who would encounter all the difficulties that Napoleon's army faced in Russia." General Clegeri replied quickly.

"A kind reminder...... Spanning more than 300 miles from Caen to Lyon, defending such a long line would dilute your forces, but the enemy can calmly choose a few breaches and concentrate his forces to break through your defenses in one fell swoop. Then you will have to consider whether to withdraw to the southern mountains and continue the fighting, or to sue for peace with the Germans. Kitchener said.

General Clegeri looked stunned, but was speechless.

Kitchener sang blackface, and his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Stedi, came out and sang whiteface: "In order to support France in winning this war, Britain has sent all the main forces of the army to France, and it will take some time for the newly recruited soldiers to complete their training, and the troops of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are rushing to Europe halfway around the world, and on the battlefield in Eastern Europe, our Russian allies have already beaten the Austrian army, and they are gathering heavy forces to attack Germany again." We are confident that as long as the French army holds out in Paris for a few more weeks, the situation on the battlefield will change in our favor! ”

"We also hope that the turning point of the war will be in Paris, and that the Germans will be helpless against this great city, at least as they were more than forty years ago, but ......," General Clégeri shook his head regretfully, "and if we continue like this, sooner or later the German artillery will raze Paris to the ground, and our carefully constructed defenses will disappear along with our brave soldiers." ”

Lieutenant General Stedi advised: "If the Russian army can be urged to launch an offensive on the Eastern Front in advance, forcing the German army to withdraw its troops from the Paris front, there will soon be a turnaround." ”

At the beginning of the war, it was under the encouragement and lure of the French government that the Russian army hurriedly sent two army groups to attack Germany before completing its preparations, so that the German army transferred two corps to the eastern front when the war on the Western Front was at its most tense, which was equivalent to pulling the French at the cost of two army groups. Now that the situation in Paris is precarious, the French government will certainly repeatedly ask Russia for help, and the result of the request is written on the face of General Clégeri. It's not that the Russians can't save them when they see death, the Battle of Tannenberg made them lose two swords, and then although the Russian army defeated the Austro-Hungarian army in the Battle of Galicia, its own losses are also considerable, with the war preparations of the Tsarist Russian army, it is impossible to launch three large-scale attacks in a row in just over two months, not to mention that the German East Prussian Army commanded by Hindenburg has set up a posture to attack Russian Poland, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is unwilling to lose, has also mobilized fresh forces to respond to the German army, A major battle that would determine the situation on the Eastern Front was about to unfold on the Polish plain, and only when the Russian army won this battle could it be possible to attack Germany in turn.

From Clegeri's expression, the two British cabinet ministers and senior generals present read these pessimistic contents.

"If the French army is forced to abandon Paris, we should give it our understanding and support, and I believe that people of justice all over the world will also respect the heroic sacrifice of the Allied soldiers in Paris."

Admiral Winston Churchill, who has always been known for his radical personality and sharp views, rarely uttered such warm words. It is worth noting that his first sentence said that it was the French army that abandoned Paris, and the latter sentence mentioned the sacrifice of the Allied soldiers, which obviously meant something. The battle of Paris has been fought so far, not only the millions of German and French troops have fought fiercely, but the British expeditionary force has also fought bravely on the front line, the casualty rate of the participating troops is not lower than that of the French army, and the British army has also launched a rather effective offensive in Abbeville and Amiens alone, which is enough to show that the British army has no intention of abandoning the French allies, and the French seem to be haunted by the hesitation and hesitation of the British in the previous stage. Such hesitation and hesitation are fatal for war.

(End of chapter)