81_81266Now Montgomery finally knows what it's like to get caught in a street fight. His troops fought hard in Norwich for an afternoon, leaving 3,000 corpses on the outskirts of the city, but they failed to even storm the city.

Only then did he know how terrifying the German army's strong combat effectiveness in the first Norwich battle was terrifying, and the outer defense line that he had not been able to break through in an afternoon, and it only took 1 hour and 23 minutes for the Germans to snatch it from the British ** team last time.

Suddenly, he had the urge to curse people, to scold those intelligence officers who were in charge of assessing the combat effectiveness of the German army! He really wanted to arrest and kick all those officers and old men, and then ask them what they had done in the first place to condone the rearmament of the German army!

Along with the urge to scold and the idea of hitting people, there was also a hint of admiration in his mind. He even admired De Gaulle, who had already boarded the ship for the United States, and admired that he dared to take the initiative to counterattack such a German unit so many times.

Of course, if you go deeper to explore his heart, you can even find envy. He envied those who had such troops, and longed to sit in the command like Rundstedt, so that such a powerful army could destroy the city and conquer everything.

Soon the two sides fought fiercely again during the night, and the British fought fiercely with the Germans all night, and by dawn the next day, the British had nothing to gain in Norwich.

At 8:15 a.m., the German troops on both flanks took the lead in counterattacking, encircling the British troops cutting into the outskirts of Norwich, and at noon more than 7,000 British soldiers surrendered, and the British attempt to attack Norwich was completely bankrupt.

Later that day, the Germans abandoned Great Yarmouth under strong pressure, and the city became the first British city to be recaptured by the British defenders from German-controlled districts. The move gave the British government a little bit of self-confidence, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a famous "From Bunge to Great Yarmouth" speech, which went on to become world-famous.

"General, the Germans counterattacked at Norwich, our army collapsed on all fronts, and is now on its way back to Bunge, and if the troops of Great Yarmouth do not shrink back to the Lostoft area, there is likely to be a problem. The adjutant said uneasily, staring at the map.

Montgomery shook his head and sighed: "You are wrong, it is not that there may be problems, there will be problems, now they can hold out there, once the weather improves, the German air force will be able to cover their ground forces to surround Lostoft, once Lostoft is encircled, can the troops of Great Yarmouth still be alone?"

"That'...... General, we should let the troops of Great Yarmouth retreat back to the Lostoft area!, and we can strengthen the ......defenses of Lostoft," the adjutant hastened, "or we will lose Lostoft." ”

"If we do, then we're not just going to lose Lostoft, we're going to lose Bunge, we're going to lose Ipswich, we're going to lose Oldborg, we're going to lose Berry St Edmunds!" Montgomery said with a wry smile.

The adjutant was stunned for a moment, then looked at Montgomery: "How is this possible?"

"The King has just presented me with the British Empire War Medal, which has just been customized...... The Prime Minister, who gave his speech "From Bunge to Great Yarmouth" on the streets of London, saw this victory as an important milestone in encouraging the people to continue the resistance, and if we quit Great Yarmouth when they had just shouted that Britain would win, would I still be able to retain my position as Commander-in-Chief of the Front?"

He pointed to the map and said, "Once they drive me out, no matter which fool is in office, he will be forced to attack on all fronts under the double pressure of the Prime Minister and the King, and at that time, we will really be finished!"

"Are they going to do this at this time? joking about the future of the British Empire?" the adjutant couldn't believe his ears, they were fighting desperately in front, and the group of bigwigs in the back were still making the situation on the front line worse for the sake of face and mess, what was the reason?

The first is to call the United States so that aid and support can continue; the second is to show the colonies so that India and Canada can feel at ease; and the third is to show the people so that the British people at home can have more confidence in the war. Montgomery stretched out three fingers, and he saw these three points as a general, and the calculations in the hearts of the adults behind him would only be more sufficient, and the loss of the troops on the front line was thirty or fifty thousand people, which was just a number for those high-ranking old men.

Sadly, like those soldiers who fought bloodily on the front line, they are just a chess piece, but those soldiers are pawns that can be sacrificed at any time, and the role of their own chess piece is even greater, so that those who play chess can't bear to give up lightly. And if you want to continue not to be regarded as an outcast, you must send all the troops you have trained to the front line to die without conscience.

"So what do we do now? Can't we find a way to withdraw the troops from Great Yarmouth? That's a whole 20,000 men!" the adjutant asked distressedly.

Montgomery waved his hand irritably: "If I, in order to secure my position, not only will I not even withdraw those troops, but I will have to fill in another 20,000 men! ”

"General!" the adjutant was stunned for a moment and blurted out, "You can't do this." ”

"Yes, I know I can't do this, and if I do, the 7th Army will be completely finished, and if the 7th Army is finished, we will be in a more difficult situation. Montgomery seemed to be talking to himself, "But what am I going to do to keep Big Yarmouth for more than three days?"

Silence, what remained in the British front command, was only terrible silence.

......

A few British soldiers with their hands raised looked at the two fallen former comrades in stunned shock, and then at the young German platoon commander with scars on his face and an assault rifle in both hands.

"That's enough, you guys, send these surrendered British soldiers to the prisoner of war camp behind!" Opening the hatch of the assault gun, the assault gun commander named Ralde lifted the hatch and shouted to the young platoon leader.

A few German soldiers hurriedly moved to escort the frightened British soldiers who had lost their weapons to the rear, and about a few dozen British prisoners, who were dejected, lined up in a row, passing by the young platoon commander who was still holding an assault rifle.

"Smoking?" Rald reopened a pack of French cigarettes, pulled out one and handed it to his young comrade, who carried the assault rifle behind his back and then took his old friend's cigarette and put it to his mouth.

"I brought 14 people, count me 15. They beat my men to death, and they dare to laugh at me......" the young platoon commander muttered, lit the cigarette, and sat down on a large rock. At this time, among the dozen or so soldiers he brought, the remaining seven people all gathered around him and stood in a small circle around him......

"Smoking!" Ralde didn't talk nonsense, took his cigarette and began to make a circle, each of the seven took one, and two cheekily took two. Soon the soldiers who survived the battlefield began to crouch together and swallow the clouds, and then after a few minutes, they forgot about their fallen comrades and began to celebrate their victory with laughter.

Ralde walked back to his assault gun, looked at the gun commander who was poking his head out to help him guard his surroundings, and then climbed into the low assault gun and into the cramped command cabin. He sat in the commander's seat, and then looked at his men: "Drive, go back to the battalion headquarters to replenish the ammunition, I heard that the British have suspended the attack, I don't know what the hell they are thinking." ”

"We are not the generals above, it is enough to fight every encounter. The gun commander said with a smile. Their assault guns were temporarily fired over to take a look, and then they played a role in turning the tide, which is not accidental, but the reason why elite troops can be called elite troops.

These soldiers have integrated how to fight into their souls, they can smell danger when they sniff, they can squint their eyes to feel the direction of the enemy's attack, so this assault gun gave up the simple task of shelling, and then after communicating with the troops on the front line, they rushed here to fight a beautiful blocking battle.

Then came the astonishing news from the command of Army Group A, that the British attack force was surrounded by armored forces on both flanks of the German army, thousands of troops had surrendered, and even the commander of the 1st Panzer Division, the commander of the front, had entered the prisoner of war camp.

If Rundstedt did not order a counterattack at this time, he would have come to an end as the commander of Army Group, and Army Group A immediately launched a counterattack, and later that afternoon, it surrounded the British troops attacking Great Yarmouth, but because of the weather, the Luftwaffe units still had no way to dispatch their own fighters on this day, and could only watch their land forces fight bloody battles on the front line.

However, Army Group A did not disappoint Accardo or Rundstedt, and they held on to the vast majority of their defensive positions, losing only one town, Great Yarmouth, in a few rainy days.

On this day, the British Navy Queen Elizabeth shelled the German pontoon pier, sinking two requisitioned German civilian fishing boats and destroying several German coastal defensive positions in the southern area of Buckton. and damaged a French heavy cruiser, resulting in the death of 11 members of the Vichy French navy, and these 11 people became the first soldiers of Vichy France to die in World War II, which will be recorded in history forever