Chapter 356: The Nation

In the dark of night, an old British destroyer, its lights flashing, quietly approached a dilapidated pier. On both sides of this half-destroyed pier were craters, but it was also densely packed with anti-aircraft guns.

This was the last pier in Dunkirk that could accommodate large ships. The Allied fighter planes, in order to protect this pier, had already lost a full 90 aircraft. To ensure the absolute safety of this pier, more than 100 anti-aircraft guns of various sizes were deployed here.

On the pier, a dark mass of panicked and helpless British soldiers stood. Their ammunition had been completely scrounged up and given to the covering forces at the front. Their rifles had also been taken away and given to the French rearguard units. After all, French ammunition was not very compatible with British, so the French units that received British ammunition also had to take a batch of rifles.

So, apart from the fierce fighting French and British troops on the perimeter, in the core of Dunkirk, what was left were mostly pitiful soldiers who did not even have rifles and ammunition. If a German army were to break through that fragile outer defensive line, then these Anglo-French troops would only have one choice: to surrender.

After the British destroyer had docked at the pier, it hurriedly lowered its gangway, and the starving British soldiers began to slowly board the destroyer under the command of their officers. This was Britain’s “Operation Dynamo,” using all the strength they could muster to save the blood and bone of the British Empire’s army.

But tragically, the daytime operation had suffered a disastrous defeat. On the first day of Operation Dynamo, Britain had had one cruiser, seven destroyers, and a full twenty transport ships sunk. These pitiful warships had been sunk by the German Navy’s carrier fleet in the waters near Dunkirk, and the twenty Swordfish torpedo bombers that had gone to sneak attack the German fleet had not returned, which had made the British give up the idea of using the air force to annihilate the German High Seas Fleet.

So the work of rushing to transport the troops, which was already a race against time, could now only be carried out at night, swallowing their anger. In this way, the losses were reduced to a tolerable level, but the efficiency was only one-third of the original, or even less.

Don’t think that night operations are all safe, at least not in front of the German Air Force. To train the bombing level of the bomber formations at night, the Do-217 bomber formations and the Butcher strategic bomber units often visited Dunkirk at night. Although the bombing accuracy was average, it had severely slowed down the speed of the retreating British troops.

The weather this evening was very bad. There were clouds, and some light rain had fallen, so when this destroyer arrived at night, the German Air Force had not appeared in the skies over Dunkirk.

“Major General Montgomery, it is truly a joyous occasion for you to be promoted this time and to be transferred back to Britain to command the 3rd Corps of the Home Army,” Lord Gort said with a sigh on the pier to Montgomery, who was about to leave Dunkirk. “I always have a premonition that this time, we are doomed.”

The sea breeze blew on Montgomery’s face, making the thin man feel a chill. Montgomery looked at the dark mass of soldiers who were boarding the ship to escape back to Britain and said helplessly to Lord Gort, “Whether I can hold my ground in Britain will depend on how many soldiers you can withdraw this time. You know, even if the King orders a full mobilization, we cannot train so many elite troops in a short period of time.”

“I hear the Hurricane fighter is being produced in a hurry. I hope there won’t be any more problems this time,” Lord Gort said, somewhat dejected. Under his command, the British Empire’s army of nearly 250,000 had been routed. Now, at least 50,000 would have to be left behind at Dunkirk. This made him feel somewhat wronged, because after all, this battle was not commanded by him, but by that spendthrift French general, Gamelin.

Montgomery nodded in agreement. “I know that once France is defeated, the bombing route of the German Air Force will be shortened by hundreds of kilometers. Whether we can defend the territory of Britain will depend on whether the air force can hold the sky.”

“The Nelson spirit tells us not to be too pessimistic about anything! The British Empire has never faced an insurmountable obstacle,” Lord Gort said. “I will defend Dunkirk to the last second. I hope the navy can act like a man and win the victory of this war.”

“I can’t control these things, nor can I manage them,” Montgomery said. “I’m more worried that once France has a problem, if the Italian forces in North Africa kick us when we’re down, we will lose the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal.”

“If we lose the Suez Canal, the days ahead will be difficult,” Gort’s mood also became complicated after hearing Montgomery say this. Once Germany and its quasi-ally Italy set their sights on the Mediterranean, then more than half of Britain’s transport lines would be well and truly cut off. This was a situation that no one in Britain wanted to see.

Germany still had a pitiful Romania to provide a stable oil supply. If Britain were to lose the Suez Canal, then the oil from the Middle East and the raw materials from India, and even materials like rubber from the Far East, would have to take the long route around the Cape of Good Hope—and if France fell, even the South Atlantic would not be safe.

In this way, Britain would go from being the blockader to the blockaded. The British Empire, which was itself just a small island, was not as capable of resisting a blockade as the continental country of Germany. So once Germany completed this strategic objective, Britain would be more passive than ever before.

“This German Führer is truly a strategic master in every sense of the word,” Gort sighed again. He suddenly felt that he had sighed more in this one month than in his entire life. Ever since he had led the 150,000-strong British army into Belgium with great fanfare, it seemed that bad luck had never left him.

Thousands of brand-new tanks had been abandoned along the way, and now only less than 200 remained. And these 200 tanks would also have to be left here; not a single one could be transported back to the country. The cannons and cars had been completely lost, and even the tents and medicine had been given to the Germans all along the way.

Gort felt a bit like he was the Germans’ transport commander. Whatever the Germans lacked, he had painstakingly delivered it to them. Now the Germans were short of tens of thousands of cheap laborers. Gort knew that after the continuous efforts of Gamelin and himself, they were on the verge of filling this gap for the Germans as well.

If Akado could hear Gort’s evaluation, he might be quite proud. He had put into practice in this world the conclusions he had come to after repeatedly studying the strategic tactics of Germany in World War II in his previous life. It seemed the effect was not bad, to be able to make the originally sure-to-win Britain so flustered.

“I, on the other hand, am more worried that Germany will play an even harsher game,” Montgomery said. “What if these Germans win over the Turks and directly threaten the Middle Eastern oil fields? That would be the most fatal. If they were to deploy a long-range air force in Turkey, then with the shabby air defense weapons in the Middle East, we would have to wait at least twenty years if we wanted to use oil from the Middle East.”

“That’s impossible, isn’t it? Wouldn’t Germany then offend all the countries in the Middle East? Would that German Führer Akado make such a muddle-headed move?” Gort asked back, somewhat disbelieving.

“If he did that, then he would be truly ruthless to the extreme,” Montgomery said with a frown. “He’s not even afraid of going to war with our Great Britain and France. Is he still afraid of offending a few local snakes in the Middle East? As long as he destroys the oil fields, then that part of the Middle East, even if it sides with us and completely falls out with Germany, what can they support us with? If anything, we might have to subsidize them with some more things.”

“Then I’ll send a telegram to Prime Minister Churchill. At least have him stabilize Italy and try to win over Turkey, to see if there’s any hope… of maintaining the current situation…” Lord Gort said. Seeing a crew member come over to urge Montgomery to board, he then, with his adjutant and staff officer, walked back.

Looking at his retreating figure, Montgomery found that Lord Gort’s back seemed to be a little stooped. He followed the two crew members who had come to fetch him and walked in the opposite direction, boarding the destroyer that was returning to Britain, facing the sea breeze.

Ironically, this British destroyer was actually leased from the United States, old and backward. Compared to Germany’s new destroyers, these American destroyers seemed not even to have an advantage in a gun battle, let alone other capabilities. It was only because they needed to maintain the number of their navy that Britain had no choice but to exchange its overseas military bases for these scraps.

Standing on the bow of the ship, Montgomery couldn’t help but be filled with emotion. When did the British Empire become so weak? Just to suppress the development and expansion of one Germany, it has already been overwhelmed. When the war came, the seemingly powerful Anglo-French alliance had collapsed in an instant. In less than a month, they had handed victory over to the originally weak Germany. What on earth had happened to this world? Was he still in a dream and had not yet woken up?

The sea was pitch black, like a giant beast with its mouth wide open, as if it could swallow everything. The destroyer set sail in a complete blackout, slowly sailing toward the open sea. The English Channel, which had once stopped countless invaders, and which even the great Napoleon had shrunk back from, was now a dead end from which the Anglo-French coalition forces could not retreat.

“My God, please bless the British Empire through this crisis!” Montgomery closed his eyes, feeling the sea breeze on his face. The salty air made one more sober, but the swaying deck under his feet, for Montgomery who was used to land, was not very comfortable.

Lady Luck, because of someone’s pious prayer, once again showed her true self. Montgomery’s destroyer returned to Britain without any incident. And just after this destroyer, four consecutive British transport ships, full of personnel returning to base, were sunk by German submarines, causing a huge loss of more than 5,000 people. These soldiers, including the crew, all fell into the cold seawater. Because they could not swim and because of the cold temperature, only 19 survived.