The surrender of Belgium seemed to have fired a decree gun to retreat and run away, and the originally sneaky retreat turned into an all-out campaign to rescue the GIs on the 25th and 26th. The British Admiralty began to requisition ships along the coast and along the Thames as planned, and even appealed by radio to all those who owned ships to Dunkirk, Ostend and Niupult.

Since the situation in the Battle of France was worse for Britain and France than in history, the British retreat was also more resolute, and some of the officers and men of the expedition were evacuated at night with warships long before the surrender of Belgium. 7,500 men were evacuated on the night of the 21st, 6,900 on the night of the 22nd, 7,200 on the night of the 23rd, and 7,100 on the night of the 24th, and 28,700 British officers and soldiers had already withdrawn to the mainland before the large-scale retreat began.

The British seemed to have an advantage in the battle to save the officers and men of the failed expedition.

But their opponent this time was not Adolf, who had illusions about the British Empire. Hitler, but Hersmann, the German Chief of the General Staff who was determined to overthrow the British Empire. Under his strict orders, the German 1st, 6th and 18th armies, with 7 armored divisions as sharp knives, attacked fiercely for several days, not only causing the Belgian army to surrender early (3 days earlier than in history), but also attacking outside Dunkirk on the afternoon of May 25!

The Luftwaffe and naval aviation have not been idle in the past few days, and since the 22nd, they have been indiscriminately bombing Zeebrugge, Ostend, Niupult, Dunkirk and other ports that may be used for withdrawal. On the 22nd and 25th alone, the Luftwaffe and naval aviation flew more than 5,000 sorties, dropped more than 10,000 tons of bombs in four ports, and bombed most of the docks and dockyards into ruins.

In addition, German Navy submarines also made a big move, laying more than 2,000 mines outside the ports of Zeebrugge, Ostend, Niupult, Dunkirk and other places. Turning the waters between Dunkirk and Zeebrugge into the Sea of Death, several British ships were struck every night.

But the British also understood what the withdrawal of the expeditionary force meant to them, and all the shipowners responded positively to the Admiralty's call, and barges, tugboats, cargo ships, passenger ferries, fishing boats, motorboats, and even private yachts went to sea to the dangerous waters across the Channel. According to the British Admiralty, 693 British civilian ships and more than 100 French ships have joined the rescue ranks.

But most of the larger ships sailed to Zeebrugge, Ostend and Niupult under the careful arrangement of the British Admiralty, while most of the British ships bound for Dunkirk were small-tonnage fishing boats, motorboats and private yachts......

"******What the hell, did you Royal Navy get wiped out by the German High Seas Fleet?"

On the east embankment, the only remaining embankment in the port of Dunkirk for ships, the commander of the French 1st Army Group, Pierre Murphy. Vice Admiral Björtte was furious at a British Navy Colonel with the three letters SNO cut out of tin foil on his steel helmet.

William, who was in charge of boarding the port and beaches of Dunkirk. Admiral Tennant looked at the angry French vice admiral in front of him, and just shrugged his shoulders helplessly, "Vice Admiral, I have arranged a yacht for you and your attaché, which is very comfortable and fast. ”

"Colonel, there are nearly 200,000 officers and men in my army group, and they have been fighting the most brutal enemy in the world since April 12, for thirteen days, for thirteen days! They are now exhausted, will soon run out of ammunition and food, and will become prisoners of the Germans if they cannot be withdrawn from the port of Dunkirk...... Or killed by the Germans! ”

Pierre. Lieutenant General Björtte pointed to the crowded beach not far away, populated by French officers and soldiers who had just retired from the front line and had spent nightmarish 13 days at the hands of the German Superman, and had now managed to escape to the beach of Dunkirk, where they were awaited not by the giants of the Royal Navy, but by small fishing boats, motorboats and private yachts.

These small boats may seem like hundreds of them on the rough sea, but how many people can be saved? 3000…… Or 5000?

A few thousand were insignificant for the 200,000 French troops, who had already been squeezed by the Germans around Dunkirk. Even if tens of thousands of people could be evacuated every day, it would take 20 days to evacuate all the people.

And the Germans will be able to take Dunkirk in a few days at most! In that time, how many people can be evacuated?

It seems that the British really abandoned, no, it should have betrayed France! The French on the beach thought in despair: the English had finally left the hapless French and fled by boat......

"Enemy planes! Enemy! ”

Suddenly, someone shouted in horror, and then the "buzzing" of the airplane's motor was heard in the sky.

Dozens of German planes appeared in the sky! There are Fokker 99 dive bombers in a V-shaped 3-plane formation, and there are also Fokker Zero fighters in a four-finger formation. They whizzed out of the clouds and circled the sky, seemingly looking for worthy targets.

"What's going on? Why are there fishing boats on the sea? "Rudolph, who only returned a few hours ago. Second Lieutenant Hersman, who was on a mission in a new Fokker Zero, had just emerged from the clouds with a four-plane formation when he was stunned by the scene on the sea.

"Walter," he said to Squadron Leader Novotny via the on-board radio, "we seem to be in the wrong place, this is probably not Dunkirk." ”

The news that the Anglo-French forces had begun to retreat by sea could not be concealed from the German intelligence services. So Dunkirk became the target of bombing by naval aviation units with a large range. However, the warships and steamships that should have covered the sea were nowhere to be seen, and only small boats such as fishing boats and yachts were nowhere to be found.

"No, we've come to the right place," Novotny's voice came through the headphones, "this is Dunkirk!" Rudolph, look at your lower left at 9 o'clock. ”

Rudolph. Hersmann looked in the direction Novotny had said, and saw only a narrow stretch of beach densely packed with people.

"Oh my God, are those French?" Rudolph. Hersman asked.

"I think so."

"So what should we do with them?"

"Bomb it?" "But to kill so many people, it seems that it is not enough to rely on 2 squadrons of Fokker 99, and it is necessary to send He-111." ”

……

"Fishing boats?" When the situation at Dunkirk was reported to the general staff of Tsosen, Hersman laughed, and said to Halder beside him, "The British Empire is even more vile and shameless than I thought, and it seems that it will take some effort to defeat them." ”

"Marshal, shamelessness will not save the Empire," said Halder, "and it will only make the French see through their faces." ”

"What if you see through it?" Hersmann glanced at Manstein, who had just been transferred from the headquarters of the Western Front (he would be appointed as the second quartermaster after Halder left for Italy), "Erich, do you think the French will fall to us because of the Dunkirk affair?" ”

"No, it won't." Manstein shook his head, "The French have long known that Britain is not a good thing, and for the past few hundred years, France has been against England. The French do not follow the British out of love and trust, they follow the British out of fear. For the French to follow us Germany, we must be like the British, and make the French afraid! Or...... The British did something even more out of the ordinary. ”

"Well said!" Hersmann nodded his head and then said to Halder, "Franz, although we win this time, the French are likely to be more afraid of the British Empire than we are!" So we won't get our hands on the French fleet easily, and it's likely that we'll have to use some intrigue and trickery, and if we don't do it, we'll have to grab it! ”

"Marshal," said Halder with a wry smile, "it will not be easy. ”

"It doesn't have to be that hard," said Hersman, smiling, "and this is an opportunity for the British to continue to play the role of villains in the future." ”

"Wicked?" Halder smiled, "Marshal, do you think the British will attack Toulon?" It's not easy. ”

"It's not easy, but it's not too difficult for the Royal Navy." Hersman shook his head, "They probably won't use battleships for artillery battles. The two aircraft carriers, the Ark Royal and the Brilliant, are no longer in our surveillance range, and I think they must be on their way to the Mediterranean! ”

"Then they don't have much chance," said Halder, "and the French have deployed several squadrons of fighters in Toulon." In addition, we will deploy the Fokker Zero and Fokker 99 in Rnaya. Maybe we'll find an opportunity to take out these 2 aircraft carriers. ”

"It's hard to say, and there's nothing wrong with letting the British teach the proud French a lesson." Hersman smiled slightly, he knew that the British would have a way, and the British Empire was not so easy to clean up.

Moreover, there was no need to help the French keep the entire fleet. The real value in the French Navy, in addition to a few cruisers and destroyers, is 2 'Dunkirk' class and 3 'Richelieu' class under construction.

Thinking of this, Hersmann said to Halder: "Don't be too active in protecting the French and make them suffer more. The loss of some ships is nothing, we can always get most of it. And our goals are not limited to the fleet of the French Navy, but also France itself! Soon there will be a referendum to decide the fate of France. (To be continued.) )