Faced with the collapse of the entire French front, the British rulers in London were helpless in the face of gloomy news. The German-Austrian forces used their powerful armoured forces to quickly break through tactics so that the French had no time to rearrange their defenses, and after holding out for three years, the French line, which was considered to be extremely strong, collapsed at an astonishing rate. The entire kilometer of northern France was littered with French routs, and they became defenseless.

"France is finished!" In the Prime Minister's official residence on Downing Street, in a brightly lit conference room, Lloyd's. The main members of the wartime cabinet led by George and the senior generals of the British army and navy sat around the long table, and at this moment, everyone's face was clouded with gloom, and the shape of the whole battlefield made the future feel bleak. Desperate news continued to come back from France: opposition to Niveller's senseless offensive and distrust of the commander-in-chief had led to a widespread mutiny in the French army, and the German-Austrian forces had taken advantage of this opportunity to launch an all-out offensive. The entire French line collapsed, and the nearly 800,000 British expeditionary force in France was in great danger, and if they did not act in time, they could be besieged in France.

This is unacceptable in any way.

France couldn't be worse now, the French high command had lost control over most of the troops, and even the British soldiers on the front line were infected, in a state of extreme lack of morale, and even most of France was shrouded in pessimism about defeat!

The situation is irreparable.

For the British Empire, the loss of an ally like France was certainly a great disaster, but the fate of the nearly 800,000 British expeditionary force was a matter of greater concern to the British. The troops under the command of General Haig were in great danger and could at any moment suffer heavy losses like the French, or even annihilation altogether.

This has made Downing Street's decision-makers even more on pins and needles.

"Now we have no choice but to agree to General Haig's construction and withdraw the expeditionary force from France! Although it would be a sign of abandoning our allies at this time, I think our French friends will understand our decision. Without this force, Britain would be powerless to defend its homeland, and then all of Europe would fall under German rule! We also had to bow to them. War Secretary Wilson spoke first to the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force in France, Douglas Murphy. Sir Haig considered the situation in France irretrievable and demanded that the Cabinet make a swift decision to organise the withdrawal of the British expeditionary force to the country.

He believed that this was the only viable way to avoid doom for hundreds of thousands of British expeditionary forces at the moment.

"If a large number of civilian ships are mobilized and requisitioned, the navy has the ability to withdraw hundreds of thousands of officers and men of the expeditionary force to the country within a month!" This was stated by the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, Admiral Leoper.

"The problem is that I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on for that long." Sir Kitchener said without trepidation, "It will require the sacrifice of the French to cooperate." ”

"What should the French really do before they surrender!" Winston Churchill, the former First Sea Secretary and now Quartermaster of Munitions, suddenly said, "The country needs to recruit a number of military and civilian vessels at its disposal, even fishing boats and river ferries." Mr. Milner and I will rush to France to coordinate with them the question of organizing the defence. ”

"Well, since we are not willing to bow to the Germans, the war will continue, and this will require us to withdraw as many soldiers as possible, including French, Belgian, Italian, Russian, and Serbian soldiers fighting in France. This is good for us to defend our homeland. "Prime Minister Lloyd. George sighed, "We had to abandon France for the time being and wait for American reinforcements to arrive. ”

"Why aren't the Americans ready?" Home Secretary Milner asked suddenly.

"The American advance party of 50,000 men led by General Pershing has come ashore in Liverpool, but the Americans lack equipment, and because of the current situation in France, he now refuses to take people to France." Sir Wilson said that the Americans did not want to risk their own soldiers.

"Now they can't count on it, and President Wilson said that it will take at least half a year for the U.S. side to prepare for conscription and training." said the Foreign Secretary.

"Well, the Americans don't seem to be counting on it, and now we can only rely on ourselves." The Prime Minister breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and said with a solemn expression: "It seems to be an impossible task to withdraw all the troops under the attack of the Germans, and it will definitely require the sacrifice of some troops, and we need to withdraw as many troops as possible from France." For the sake of the interests and future of the British Empire, we need your concerted efforts, and all departments must do their best! ”

Voices in favour of continuing the war dominated the Chancellery, and although the war had already gone beyond their initial expectations, Germany and Austria-Hungary had not been defeated, but Russia had been dragged down first, and now it was France's turn. On the Entente side, the Turks, the weakest of the Central Powers, were not defeated.

Out of boundless trust in the Royal Navy, the British were not very worried about an attack on their homeland from the mainland. At least until the Royal Navy was intact, it would not have been possible for the Germans to swim across the English Channel and land on the British Isles. Now the Americans are also involved, and it is thanks to this that the British decided to continue the war.

Half an hour later, the order for a great retreat reached General Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, and Milner, the Home Secretary, and Churchill, the Quartermaster of Munitions, set out from London to lobby the French government to temporarily move the government to England so that they could continue the resistance together.

At the same time, at the German-Austrian High Command in Saarburg, Helton finally convinced Wilhelm II and his generals that the British would withdraw their troops from France with all their might in order to continue the war. And if these hundreds of thousands of British troops are captured, it will be an important bargaining chip in the future.

Hundreds of thousands of British prisoners of war were enough reason for the British people to demand that the government withdraw from the war.

However, Heldon's reference to Dunkerke misled the judgment of the High Command's generals, who eventually misjudged that the British would retreat to the Calais coast, which was closest to the British. In fact, in another time and space, the British chose Dunkelke as the location of the Great Retreat, because the Anglo-French forces were surrounded in Belgium at that time. The limited capacity of the ports of Dunkirk and Calais makes them not suitable for large-scale maritime transport.

Contrary to what the German and Austrian High Command had predicted for the British to retreat, the British had chosen the Cotentin Peninsula, which was relatively defensible and had a large port like Cherbourg.

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