Chapter 404: The Prime Minister’s Lament

A knock sounded on the door of Churchill’s office. A blonde secretary placed a file on the desk in front of the Prime Minister and turned to leave. Prime Minister Churchill’s mood had been worsening by the day, so no one was eager to linger in his office and risk his temper.

The British Prime Minister lifted his gaze to the thick stack of reports and knew there would be no good news today. He had no choice but to pick up the top report and begin reading. These matters had to be dealt with, and although they were all essentially obituaries, he had grown numb after reading so many.

As expected, it was a loss report for a convoy. It stated that transport convoy number 96 had been ambushed on its way to Britain and had suffered heavy losses. This was nothing new; Churchill would have been more surprised if a single hour had passed without a British transport convoy sustaining losses.

But as he continued reading, a grave expression appeared on Churchill’s already numb face. It wasn’t because convoy 96’s losses were exceptionally high—after all, it wasn’t unheard of for convoys to be completely annihilated by Dönitz’s wolf packs these days. What surprised Churchill was the manner of the fleet’s loss. The Germans’ method of attack had changed.

Previously, over ninety percent of British convoy losses were caused by German submarines. These elusive wolf packs, commanded by a middle-aged man named Dönitz, used swarm tactics to launch large-scale night attacks on British fleets, inflicting irreparable damage.

The British had yet to find an effective counter to this troublesome tactic, and now the Germans had come up with something new. The outermost screen of a transport fleet was typically composed of Royal Navy escort destroyers, whose job was to hunt down German submarines and ensure the majority of ships in the convoy’s core could reach Britain safely.

This time, however, it was the destroyers that were attacked. “A new type of weapon, like an airplane flying through the sky, directly slammed into the British warships, sinking the destroyers on the outermost watch.” The report mentioned that this new weapon could accurately target British ships and even alter its trajectory mid-flight.

Furthermore, the report stated that this strange flying device, which automatically crashed into British destroyers, had appeared simultaneously on two major British shipping routes. It had sunk five vessels, including a light cruiser and three destroyers. The transport fleets, their defensive screens breached, were inevitably ambushed by submarines that same night, suffering devastating losses.

The report called the weapon a “flying torpedo,” a “suicide plane,” or “Akado’s Dart,” and most accounts claimed it was a new weapon launched by German submarines. However, Churchill’s advisors were no fools; they analyzed the clues and ruled out the possibility of a submarine launch.

A weapons expert, summoned to the Prime Minister’s office, reviewed the report and gave his conclusion: “Mr. Prime Minister, this weapon was likely launched from a destroyer or a cruiser, not from a submarine.”

He pointed to several blurry photographs of dark shapes. “From these vague images, we can see that the weapon’s design considers aerodynamics but not the needs for traveling through water. Also, its frequency of use is clearly much lower than the number of German submarines would allow. Therefore, I analyze this to be a guided weapon launched from a surface warship.”

“What it’s launched from is not important,” Churchill said with a sigh. “What I’m worried about is whether it will appear in large numbers on our shipping lanes! And whether it will completely sever our supply lines.”

Churchill had every reason to be anxious. On average, one out of every two British merchant ships sailing from New York was being sunk. Roughly one-third of all American aid was ending up at the bottom of the cold Atlantic. The life-saving equipment that Britain had traded its islands and naval bases for was half-gone before the battle had even begun.

Britain had planned to form three armored corps, but due to the delayed arrival of supplies, only one had been established. The other two, while called armored corps, lacked even half the equipment of a German panzer unit. The remaining 20 infantry divisions, with over 300,000 men, were “World War I infantry” armed only with light weapons and artillery. Only God knew how they would fare against the battle-hardened German troops.

The unfortunate Montgomery was trying to make bricks without straw. He had even suggested that the Royal Family should travel to Egypt or Canada to “inspect the work.” Although the suggestion was rejected, it revealed that Britain’s high command had little confidence in the channel defenses.

On the beaches, 17 of the 75 minefields that Britain had painstakingly laid were now useless due to German naval and air attacks. Of the 33 sea mine blockade zones, only 9 remained relatively intact. Relying on coastal defense guns, trenches, and barbed wire to push the Germans back into the sea was a hope that not even Churchill, let alone a military commander like Montgomery, believed in.

The question facing Churchill was no longer whether they could stop a German landing, but how to bleed the Germans dry on the British Isles. That was why he issued the “Order for the Defense of the British Homeland,” a command that vowed to turn Britain into a living hell. The order was simple: distribute all old, stockpiled equipment and weapons that hadn’t yet reached the front lines to British civilians, and have them fight the regular German army to the death, regardless of the cost.

The war department estimated that 1.5 million British civilians would die fighting the German army. Montgomery was even more pessimistic; he believed that if Germany retaliated viciously and used this as a pretext to violate international conventions, 3 million Britons would die in the war.

Moreover, Montgomery was not optimistic about these so-called “delaying actions.” He had once told Churchill, “These civilians have no training. They will be slaughtered by the regular German army. They also lack heavy weapon support, and their effectiveness against German armored forces will be extremely limited.”

Churchill’s reply at the time had almost made Montgomery curse aloud: “Limited effect means it still has some effect… If we lose thousands of civilians to destroy even one German tank, then we will have bought Britain some time. And what we lack, precisely, is time.”

In truth, the war between Britain and Germany was not about the strength of their armies, the quality of their technology, or the will of their people—the battle between the two nations was a battle for time. Germany was racing against time, hoping to conquer Britain in one fell swoop. Britain was stalling for time, hoping the United States and the Soviet Union would react and encircle Germany. All the complex calculations boiled down to this simple fact.

To ensure Germany would be dragged into the quagmire of war, Churchill and Montgomery used every trick up their sleeves. Montgomery secretly deployed his only armored corps to a concealed location in southern England. Once the Germans landed, he would command this unit and another elite infantry corps to charge the German beachhead. Even if it meant being crippled by the German air force, he had to push the Germans back into the sea.

He knew that Germany, despite its apparent wealth and power, was like Napoleon’s France—seemingly invincible but with only enough courage for one landing attempt. If they could repel Germany’s elite forces at great cost, Britain would be well and truly safe. From that point on, whether to make peace or to continue the war would be up to the British to decide.

In areas suitable for landing, Britain had been building defensive systems for over a century. Although some of the gun batteries and fortifications were too old for modern warfare, many could still be used, which saved a lot of time.

Old gun batteries were converted into “open-top” machine gun nests, old machine gun nests were reinforced into trenches, and open ground was covered with barbed wire. Add a few cannons, and you had a reasonably solid coastal defense position.

Britain’s military strength was too small, and the number of trained and experienced soldiers was even smaller. So, Montgomery had been reinforcing the southern coastline by plugging gaps. He positioned his elite troops on the second line, hoping to concentrate a superior force to push the German army back into the sea.

However, his forces had an unavoidable weakness: the quality of their armored units. The original British armored forces had been completely lost at Dunkirk. The armored troops Montgomery now commanded were new recruits with less than 15 days of training, and their equipment was a full generation behind that of their German opponents. Relying on American M3 Lee tanks to challenge German Panthers was a depressing prospect in itself.

The support the navy could offer for the anti-invasion effort was also very limited. HMS King George V and the carrier HMS Glorious were undergoing major repairs in northern ports. HMS Repulse was the only operational battleship in home waters. Including the lucky survivor HMS Ark Royal, the Royal Navy’s available strength was less than half of the German Navy’s.

Furthermore, the landing site would certainly be within the operational radius of the German air force. If the navy were to interfere with the landing, it would be like handing the Luftwaffe free kills. And it was questionable whether the Royal Navy, having already lost its nerve, would have the courage to fight at all.

Thinking of these problems, Churchill’s head throbbed. He desperately wanted to throw the burden back to Chamberlain, but that cunning old fox would certainly not step up to take the blame now. He had seen this outcome coming and had played a clever trick to escape it.

Speaking of clever tricks… a thought seemed to strike Churchill. He picked up his pen and began to write a report. He would follow Montgomery’s advice and persuade the King to take the Royal Family to Canada to inspect the new Hurricane fighter production line.

The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/caleredhair