Today's British Empire is already an old lady in the New Year, and every year is not as good as a year. The First World War had drained the blood of this twilight hero, and this time Accardo went to war again, and the British people from top to bottom discovered a terrible fact - they didn't even have enough money to fight again.

The British Royal Navy scraped together almost all of its own family resources this time, and originally wanted to compete with the German Navy, but it was helpless to find that it seemed to be really a foot high, and the overall strength of the German Navy had made the British Navy jealous.

The generator program had only been launched for a day or two and had already made the Royal Navy feel powerless, and although a large number of British civilian ships were involved in the operation to save the British GIs, the frightening damage report was a real headache for the British government. In 36 hours, the British lost 1 cruiser, 8 destroyers and 27 large transports, not counting the various civilian ships with temporary statistical difficulties, and conservative estimates that at least 100 ships were sunk by Germany, ranging in tonnage from 270 to 4000 tons.

Such a huge loss only allowed the British to rush back less than 7,000 soldiers, and preliminary estimates show that if another 7,000 people are rushed, at least 150,000 tons of ships will be lost. And the time had to be extended to four days - which was almost the limit of what the defensive line around Dunkirk could hold. In other words, the British generator plan this time will only rush back home to 15,000 soldiers at most.

As a result, during the day of the second day, the day after Montgomery left Dunkirk, the British ventured to organize a fleet of 221 ships, hoping to expand the number of people to more than 20,000, but the operation became futile due to the coordinated operation of the Luftwaffe and the German Navy, and after the loss of 43 civilian ships and 2 destroyers, the British Navy was forced to completely suspend the folly of daytime operations.

Now in Dunkirk, there are 310,000 French troops and more than 137,000 British troops, these troops are trapped in their positions, short of medical care and supplies, and even more desperate they have to face the elite infantry of the German Army, and thousands of artillery pieces that have just been pushed to the front by the Germans.

Because the time of the battle was advanced by a year, and because the German army launched a war against Britain, France, Belgium and other countries more quickly at the behest of Accardo, the number and proportion of troops in the Dunkirk encirclement changed this time. This time the British expeditionary force was a little smaller, with a total strength of just over 170,000, including those who were subdued and killed, and now only about 150,000, while the French were much larger than they had been, with a total of about 310,000 men surrounded—of course, because of the Belgian surrender, there were no large Belgian troops in the encirclement.

Worse still, Accardo was not as easy to fool as Hitler, and Catherine, the commander of the Air Force, did not have the unparalleled influence in front of the Führer like Goering, so this time the air operation mobilized more troops, and the ground combat did not stop. Of course, the German navy was stronger than ever, and these factors together influenced the battle of Dunkirk.

On this day, another catastrophic fact was laid out in front of the Anglo-French forces, two 400 mm caliber railway guns captured by Germany in France and another four 280 mm caliber railway guns were transported to Dunkirk together, these six cannons were arranged in effective firing positions, which could cover the port area of Dunkirk, and the first fire of the two 400 mm heavy guns that night killed almost half of the hundreds of British officers and soldiers on the dock who were preparing to retreat.

A shell hit the concrete pier, blasting it into a 30-meter-diameter crater on which a battalion of British troops was waiting to retreat, killing more than 170 people, including the battalion commander. Of course, the second artillery did not have such good luck and only hit the nearby beach, because the soft sand unloaded most of the power of the shell, which weighed more than a ton, so it caused only a few dozen casualties.

Followed by 280 mm caliber cannons, they also opened fire, shelling the entire Dunkirk area, and just into the middle of the night, German bombers also poured out, more than 300 bombers of various types overwhelmingly patronized the positions of the British and French forces, dropping more than 1,200 tons of bombs in one go, and bombing the entire Dunkirk into a sea of fire. Coupled with the frenzied attack of German submarines, the British navy and civilian ships lost 31 ships of various sizes that night before they rushed back more than 1,900 people.

"No matter how many naval and civilian ships there are, they can't afford to be consumed like this!" a naval commander complained loudly as he slapped the table.

Another general also nodded and said approvingly: "We have lost too many troops, and we are simply adding to the achievements of the Germans! The German army's bombing and artillery bombardment at night have become more and more accurate, and the losses at night have almost equaled the losses during the day! If this continues, our navy will have to sacrifice for the army in the English Channel!"

"Do you think our army is better?" Montgomery sat on the side and did not speak, but another army general slapped the table and rose into a rage: "We have 32,000 men on board and retreated, and only 9,000 have arrived in England! More soldiers have sunk with ships at sea than have died in battle! Is this a gathering to deliver food to the Germans?"

Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was sitting on the throne, also had a bitter heart, and such a retreat was not what he wanted to see. With such a huge loss of manpower and material resources, the Navy wasted so much combat strength, and only rescued less than a tenth of its troops, and the number of people killed when they escaped at sea was more than the combat losses on the frontal battlefield. Such an action was simply a failure for him, so he immediately ordered this emergency meeting to discuss the next matter.

If in peacetime, the competition between the navy and the army seems to be a happy thing, at least orderly competition between them can be guaranteed. But this kind of internal friction could no longer be allowed to interfere with combat operations, so Churchill decided to stop the quarrel in the conference room.

Now the Navy has come up with two plans to deal with this crisis. Churchill coughed twice and said, "Instead of arguing here, let's see what we do next." ”

"The Navy has drawn up two sets of operational plans, the first of which is to stop the operation of generators to rush personnel and ensure the safety of the Empire's maritime transportation lines. A naval general said: "This plan can temporarily save some naval forces, so that the naval ship formations that have suffered too many losses have time to rest." ”

"Give up? Give up the 100,000 troops left by the army in Dunkirk?" If the German army lands, what will we use to fight back?

"So, General Montgomery. I wonder if it is possible for us to hold the British mainland if our expeditionary force were wiped out at Dunkirk. Churchill looked at Montgomery, the new commander of the 3rd Army, and asked.

"Now we have about 80,000 soldiers who can fight in the first battle, and counting the 10,000 who have retreated, we have about 90,000 who can go into battle immediately, but they lack heavy weapons and equipment. Montgomery told the truth: "We are mobilizing our troops, and in a month there will be another 100,000 troops trained, but it is difficult to say how effective these troops will be." ”

"200,000 troops, 200,000 troops, 500,000 troops were defeated by the Germans, what effect can 200,000 people do?" a general of the British Army sighed helplessly and said: "Even if it is 300,000 people, it is really hard to say how much effect it can play." ”

"We estimate that Germany will be able to raise about 100 transport ships, and if Germany intends to use armored forces on the British Isles, the first wave of troops landing will not exceed 40,000 troops. Even so, we don't really have an advantage locally. Montgomery said: "Germany used a lot of airborne troops in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark and Norway, which caused us problems in setting up our defenses. If we disperse our forces at various points of defense, then even with twice the number of troops, we cannot guarantee absolute security in the southern region. ”

He didn't finish all of this, and continued to strike at Churchill's fragile heart: "Our A13 Mark 2 tank and Matilda 2 tank are inferior to the German Leopard tank, so if you want to drive the armored forces of the German landing force into the sea, you must equip at least 1,000 tanks." ”

"1,000?" Churchill was also taken aback by Montgomery's statement, but he knew that Britain still had a few pounds and taels. The navy is crazy waiting for the new ship to be launched, and the air force is urging the production of Hurricane fighters to bury him, and now the army is also coming to collect debts, so will he not be allowed to live?

Thinking of this, he had to look at his old subordinates on the navy side, and said with difficulty: "Or, let's discuss the second plan, right? After all, the consumption of this first plan to the army is too great." ”

"The second plan was proposed by the captain of the Hood, Colonel Cole, and the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Holland. This plan was to dispatch the main fleet of the Royal Navy to annihilate the German High Seas Fleet in the English Channel. A naval admiral said.

Beside him, Vice Admiral Holland stood up and said: "As long as we can take out the German High Seas Fleet in one fell swoop, then the generator plan can be carried out during the day, and the encircled army units can be saved!"

"Vice Admiral Holland! I hope you will understand that we do not yet have a good way to deal with the German high seas fleet, and a rash attack will only take advantage of the fleet. Churchill said with a frown, knowing that if the naval fleet attacked rashly, it would be tantamount to suicide.

"I am sure that the German High Seas Fleet will be completely annihilated! Because they have one of their greatest weaknesses!" said Vice Admiral Horan, who was determined to succeed.