"Woo...... Woohoo......"

Sirens began to sound over Limburg Airport in Heinsberg County, a signal for pilots to go to battle.

Heinz. When Lieutenant Barr heard this, he immediately extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray, then stood up and shouted: "All the 2nd Squadron of the 3rd Brigade is out!" ”

At the same time, several other squadron commanders of the 3rd Brigade gave the same order.

When the pilots heard the order to attack, they all stood up from their chairs with a cheer. Hersmann's eldest son, Rudolph. Hersman jumped up from his chair, his face full of nervousness and excitement, and ran out as if he were flying. His good friend Novotny and the new prince were like him, and they rushed out with a howl like two wolves eager to catch their prey.

Heinz. Lieutenant Barr and the "old birds" in the 3rd Group laughed when they saw the performance of these newcomers. Today's task is boring escort and air cover -- first escorting hundreds of Ju-52 transport planes and ******, and then battlefield air superiority. And it can't fly far, just fly dozens of kilometers away in the air near the Eben-Emer fortress for a few hours, and don't let the Belgians and British and French planes get close to the mission.

And in the opinion of the "old birds", such a task has no oil and water at all. The Belgian Air Force was not very large, and it was attacked by surprise, and even a few good planes were mostly blown up on the airfield. As for the planes of the French and the British - their airfields have been 2-300 km away recently, and the legs of the "Spitfire" are short, and it is really useless to come to the Eben-Emer fortress and go home after making an appearance.

As for Ms.406 and the Hurricane, it is also a death to come! Today there is more than one battalion of Fokker Zeros that are responsible for escort and air cover, and the same number of BF-109 fighters!

……

"Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Prime Minister!"

Paul. Renault was staring at a blank piece of paper, wondering if he should write something to Stalin, the father of the Soviet Union, to express France's intention to invade Soviet territory. One of his secretaries suddenly pushed open the office door and rushed in.

"François," Paul said. Renaud looked at his secretary, who was usually calm about what happened to him, with a little frown, "What's wrong?" ”

"Belgium!" The secretary named François said in a trembling voice, "The Germans declared war on Belgium, just 1 hour ago!" Plus, they gave Luxembourg an ultimatum! ”

"Hell!" Paul. Renault scolded in a low voice, "Now the Germans are really going to fight hard!" ”

He stood up suddenly, felt a pain in his head, shook his body, and François hurriedly stepped forward to support him.

"Prime Minister, are you alright?"

Paul. Renault waved his hand, "It's okay...... I'm fine, just a little tired. ”

At this time, he faintly heard the sound of "The Internationale" again, and the protest outside the Palais Marting continued!

"François, go and tell Daladier and Bloom (big left Pai) the news of Germany's declaration of war on Belgium and Luxembourg." Paul. Renaud waved his secretary away, then sat back in his chair, eyes closed.

After a long while, he opened his eyes again, then picked up the phone on his desk and dialed the headquarters of the coalition forces in Vinsen, and soon the hoarse voice of 72-year-old General Gan Malin came from the telephone receiver.

"Is it Mr. Prime Minister?"

"The Germans have declared war on Belgium and Luxembourg," Mr. Reynaud said, "and it seems to be a replica of the previous war." ”

"We expected that." "Our 'Dale River' project is designed to deal with this situation," said Gammelin in a relaxed tone. ”

"Then do it as soon as possible," said Paul. "I will summon the ambassadors of Belgium and Luxembourg right away," Renault said. I think Belgium will invite us in this morning, when will Army Group 1 be able to be dispatched? ”

Britain and France had a secret agreement with the Belgian government that in the event of a German invasion, Belgium would immediately invite the main forces of the Anglo-French alliance to station. Moreover, as early as the early days of Germany's military recovery, the Belgian army had already launched targeted defensive deployments, deployed defenses along the Albert Canal and the Dyer River, built a large number of strong fortresses and permanent fortifications, and formed an elite army with 22 divisions.

According to the secret agreement between Britain and France and Belgium, the Belgians would rely on the pre-war defensive line to hold Germany back on the Dale River and thus preserve the best part of their country. More than 30 divisions of the Anglo-French army would march into Belgium immediately after the German attack and fight side by side with the Belgian army.

"Except for the 9th Army, the rest of the troops will be able to dispatch immediately." There was a slight excitement in Gan Malin's tone. "I will strengthen the 1st Reserve Panzer Division to the 1st Army Group, so that the 1st Group will have enough armored forces to fight the Germans."

"Will the 1st Army Group be able to move to Belgium under German air strikes?" Paul. Renault asked, a little worried.

After several months of attrition, the fighter forces of the French Air Force are now much less powerful than before. There are only more than 300 M.406 and H-75 fighters left, and the D.520, which has excellent performance, has just been put into active service, and the number is insignificant. With the addition of British fighters stationed in France, there are less than 600 advanced fighters that can fight against the BF-109 and Fokker Zero. Relying on this air force, it was simply not able to deal with the Luftwaffe, which had an absolute superiority in numbers.

"Mr. Prime Minister, we already have a plan." "The troops will be mobilized this evening, and some of the Spitfires on British soil will be transferred to the airfields in Dunkirk and Calais, so that the troops can enter Belgium safely," Ganmalin said. ”

"Okay, that's great." Renault nodded, the Spitfire is a fighter that can really fight against the BF-109 and the Fokker Zero, but the British refused to transfer a large number of Spitfires to France under the pretext of covering the Royal Navy, and the fighters sent to France were mainly Hurricanes with poor performance.

Renault asked, "Has the commander of the 4th Reserve Panzer Division been chosen?" ”

"Not yet," said Ganmalin, "Prime Minister, do you have a candidate to recommend?" ”

"Jean Charles. De Gaulle will do it. "Renault recommended de Gaulle - not a recommendation, but an order. Because Renault was also the Minister of Defense, he was already in charge of the military regime, and General Gammerin was theoretically only his chief of staff.

"Good!" "He is indeed a suitable person, and I hope that he will lead the 4th Reserve Panzer Division to a meritorious service in a few months' time, when we march towards Berlin!" ”

……

"It's actually this time!"

Neville. At 4:20 a.m. (GMT), Chamberlain also received news that Germany had declared war on Belgium and Luxembourg (Luxembourg had surrendered). It was the Foreign Secretary, Viscount Halifax, who brought him the news, and Churchill arrived with Viscount Halifax.

Churchill did not come to 10 Downing Street because he heard the news, he came to the Prime Minister's Mansion to discuss with Chamberlain who would succeed as Prime Minister.

It turns out that Chamberlain's government is being hit by a no-confidence case! The cause was the "Batumi incidents" not so long ago. Chamberlain skillfully kept Britain out of the way, but some Conservative MPs believed that the government was playing tricks on the "Batumi incident" and might lose France's trust. So they defected in a no-confidence vote, so Chamberlain's cabinet did not pass the vote.

Now there are only two options before Chamberlain, one is to dissolve the lower house of parliament and call for a general election; The second is the resignation of the cabinet.

The emaciated Chamberlain had no intention of remaining as prime minister, so he wanted to be succeeded by either Churchill or Viscount Halifax - since the Conservatives were still the largest party in the lower house of Parliament, the Conservatives would still be the prime minister if a wartime coalition government was formed.

"What do you think?" Chamberlain looked at Viscount Halifax and Churchill.

"We must defend Belgium!" Churchill did not hesitate to say, "Otherwise, Germany will have the best base from which to threaten the Reich's homeland and lifeline, and then we will pay a very much more heavy price." ”

Belgium is less than 100 kilometres closer to the UK mainland, and 1,000 kilometres west of Belgium is the Atlantic Ocean!

Viscount Halifax also nodded, agreeing with Churchill.

"And what if the coalition forces are defeated in Belgium?" Chamberlain asked, "What do we do?" ”

His gaze slowly swept over the faces of Churchill and Viscount Halifax, "Are we going to fight?" ”

"Of course!" Churchill replied without hesitation, "The Reich must fight, and it must be victorious, for the price of non-victory will be too heavy for the British Empire to bear!" ”

Viscount Halifax hesitated for a moment, and nodded slowly, "We must fight." ”

Chamberlain asked, "Which of you will be prime minister?" He looked at Viscount Halifax and seemed to want him to be prime minister.

The viscount, however, shook his head, and said, "Without the support of the masses, a member of the House of Lords cannot under any circumstances succeed in running a wartime cabinet." ”

Churchill was an elected member of the House of Commons, while Viscount Halifax was a member of the House of Lords (House of Lords). But that's not the main reason why he can't be prime minister, it's just an excuse. The reason he didn't take over as prime minister was that he really didn't know how to lead the British Empire to victory.

"Okay!" Churchill stood up, nodded at Chamberlain, and said in an extremely solemn tone, "Let me be the prime minister, and I will lead the British Empire to fight to the end until victory!" (To be continued.) )