London, King Charles Street, Wartime Cabinet Command. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The British Empire's civil and military officials sat blankly, not one of them spoke, and everyone looked at a war briefing in front of them in a daze. And Winston. Churchill turned his back to them, smoking a cigar and staring at the huge map that hung there, motionless.

The conference room on the ground floor was dimly lit, and the air smelled of cigar smoke and coffee, with a faint musty smell. Beneath the glossy surface of an empire on which the sun never sets, as if to herald the infallibility, is in fact an old, corrupt, moldy and decaying country.

And that war briefing ruthlessly tore the last camouflage of the British Empire to shreds!

The contents of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's inspiring speech in June 1940, when the British Expeditionary Force was withdrawn from France in disarray, are now soon becoming a reality. Because the Royal Navy, which has defended the British mainland from foreign invasion for hundreds of years, lost 4 valuable Tejas class aircraft carriers in the battle that just ended!

In addition, the flagship of the Home Fleet, the King George V, was also badly damaged, and was barely sailing towards Clyde Sound.

The German Grand Fleet, on the other hand, may have lost one aircraft carrier, but all other ships were intact and were now heading towards the Danish Strait. In the Atlantic, it should be said that there are no more maritime forces in this world that can stop them, not even the US Navy! The only one that could compete with the Combined European Fleet, with the German Navy at its core, was the Japanese Combined Fleet, but unfortunately, Japan was an ally on the side of Germany.

It is therefore a definite prospect that the British mainland will soon be invaded, unless Britain is willing to surrender before then. Of course, this is impossible!

So the British people are really ready to fight to the end now...... The battle in France and the battle on the sea had already been lost, and the battle in the air was no less to the detriment of England. The British people must then defend their homeland with confidence and at all costs.

Just like Churchill told everyone more than a year ago: we will fight on the beach! Fight at the enemy's landing site! Fight in the fields and in the streets! Fight in the mountains! We will not surrender at any time. Even if our island, or a large part of this island, is occupied by the enemy, and starved, the overseas empire, which we have armed and protected by the British fleet, will continue to fight.

Although in 1940, when Churchill said these words in a radio address to the nation, the whole empire cheered for him.

But all the British at that time did not think that the invasion would happen...... Because at that time, the Royal Navy was still very powerful, and the German Navy could only do some work, and could not threaten the British mainland at all.

But now...... Armed to the teeth, the German Nazis really looked like they were coming to Britain, and were the British people ready to defend their decaying and declining world empire at all costs?

Just when everyone was uncertain, Churchill slowly turned his fat body and looked at everyone with a firm and confident gaze.

The British Prime Minister said: "We must fight to the end, we must win, because without victory, the empire will cease to exist." ”

"Mr. Prime Minister, we ......" First Sea Minister Dudley. Pound said with a sad face. "Our Royal Navy no longer has the strength to defend our homeland."

Having lost 4 Radiance-class aircraft carriers, the King George V class was severely damaged and incapacitated. Now the aircraft carrier forces of the Royal Navy are almost incapacitated. Although there were still some battleships, Cunningham had already reported the matter of wire-controlled gliding bombs by telegram!

60 P.108 heavy bombers dropped more than 290 500-kilogram fly-by-wire bombs! Of these, 72 hit (after increasing the altitude, the hit rate also decreased a little), and all 4 aircraft carriers were hit by more than 10 HS293 bombs. The Tejas was hit by 14 of them, and was eventually blown up and sank as the fire spread uncontrollably to the ammunition depot. The Victory was hit by 15 bombs, 12 of which were detonated, causing a fire that burned the aircraft carrier into a floating empty shell. The Dreadnought sank into the water after only 10 bombs, and lost all power and could not be saved, so it had to give up. Because the Indomitable was once very resistant to beating, it suffered the most bombs, and was blown up alive by 18 HS293 bombs. And the King George V was hit by 15 bombs, and it is absolutely a miracle that it did not sink.

But the wire-controlled gliding bomb used by the Germans and Italians was clearly an even greater miracle, and its appearance had completely changed the pattern of naval warfare. Now the hegemon at sea is not even aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft, but shore-based aviation with long-range high-altitude heavy bombers. At least in the seas that the combat radius of shore-based aviation is capable of covering, the surface fleet has become more vulnerable than ever.

And the remaining battleships of the British Empire could still play a role in the defense of the British mainland in the face of such remote-guided gliding bombs? The answer seems to be no.

"The Royal Navy has an even bigger task ahead of us," Churchill waved his left hand with a cigar in his hand, "so now we must preserve the strength of the fleet." ”

Future? Does the Royal Navy have a future?

The cabinet members, who had long been pessimistic and disappointed about the prospects of the British Empire, looked at their never-say-die prime minister in amazement when they heard this.

"The British Empire is a world empire!" Churchill said, "Our territory is spread all over the world, and even if the homeland is occupied by the enemy, the British Empire still has vast overseas territories that can support us in continuing to fight." From now on, the Royal Navy's mission is to defend our most important overseas territories. At the same time, important people and supplies are being shipped to Canada. Canada will be the base of our counter-offensive in Europe and the starting point of the revival of the British Empire. ”

Not to mention, Churchill still has the ability. The fact that such a thing as running away came out of his mouth can also make the listener awe-inspired.

"Mr. Prime Minister, His Majesty ...... King" Deputy Prime Minister Attlee frowned, he did not want the government to move to Canada.

The reason is simple, he is the leader of the Labour Party, and it was the votes of the British working class that brought him to power. If the government wants to abdicate Canada, there are many people in the elite class that the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party rely on can run with it, and there are already Conservative and Liberal semicolons in Canada. Therefore, when Conservatives and Liberals come to Canada, they will always have a foothold in the political arena. However, the British working class did not have the conditions to flee to Canada, and even if some of them could cross the sea, they would go to the industrially developed United States to work, and would not stay in the big rural area of Canada. Therefore, Attlee, the leader of the Labor Party, had to retire from politics when he arrived in Canada.

But he didn't dare to say no to Churchill now, this was an extraordinary time, and it would be bad if he labeled Churchill a traitor. So Attlee could only bring His Majesty out to tell the story.

"His Majesty the King, of course, will not give in to Germany!" Churchill said with great certainty.

Attlee was a little skeptical, where is Princess Elizabeth, the heir to the throne of Her Majesty, now? I heard that this little girl is on a blind date with her cousin Prince Friedrich of Germany in the Netherlands! Is this what it looks like to resist to the end? This is obviously preparing to surrender and lose half of it......

Churchill glanced at Attlee, who had a skeptical expression on his face, and said, "The king's intention is very obvious, that is, to fight Germany to the end, and at the same time to defend the interests of the British Empire as much as possible!" Everything he does, it's for our empire! ”

This is actually telling Attlee: you are a lawyer from a working class background, you don't have to try to figure out the mind of a high king, you don't understand this kind of thing.

At this point, Churchill nodded to the officials and soldiers present, "Well, that's the end of today's meeting, I'm going to Buckingham Palace to meet Your Majesty now...... Report to him on the grave situation at present. ”

……

After leaving the underground headquarters on King Charles Street, Churchill went straight to Buckingham Palace. King George VI also knew that there was a decisive battle at sea today, so Qiu Fatzi immediately summoned him as soon as he arrived. As soon as he saw the fat man, he said, "Your Majesty, I'm very sorry, I have some bad news to report to you." ”

"Again, again...... Defeated? The King of England, dressed in military uniform, sighed softly.

"Yes, we were defeated." "The Navy lost four aircraft carriers, and the King George V class also suffered heavy losses and lost its combat effectiveness...... Your Majesty, the Cabinet believes that it is time to think about the defense of Canada and Australia. ”

Defending Canada? But who is going to invade there?

However, the King of England was not surprised at all when he heard Churchill's proposal, but nodded and said, "Yes, we must defend Canada and Australia...... At the very least, Canada must be kept from being occupied by other countries. ”

Churchill said: "Then the wartime Cabinet began to make plans for the defense of Canada." At the same time, the wartime cabinet also saw the need to evacuate parts of the population of Britain proper. The Queen and Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret, it is best to travel to Canada immediately. Your Majesty...... Be prepared to leave your home country for Canada at any time. ”

The old fat prime minister paused, and told the king in an extremely serious tone: "Your Majesty, it is enough for the British people to have Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth...... There will be no problem with the homeland, which will always be Britain and will not become a free state of Germany. But the situation in Canada is more complicated, and a leader with sufficient prestige is needed to ensure that this rich land belongs to Britain forever. So all of you in the Cabinet want you to be the monarch of Canada in the future! (To be continued.) )