"What we need is not courage, but howitzers. ◎," Henry Clayton waved the pickaxe in his hand, and the thick blue bricks were smashed to pieces.

"Stop complaining, Clayton. This is our destiny. Only God knows what the officers are thinking in their minds. We can only follow their batons obediently."

Sergeant Hugo Gerald was a veteran who participated in World War I, but at that time he was almost thirty years old. Now an old cobbler in his fifties was re-enlisted by the Army. As a soldier with combat experience, he assumed the responsibility of a subordinate commander. The Army finally had some humanity and promoted him to a higher rank, from a top corps to a sergeant, which fulfilled his long-cherished wish decades ago and became an arrogant and domineering non-commissioned officer.

But speaking of this, when the old cobbler really stood in this position, he found that he was not a non-commissioned officer. Because he could not be hardened in the face of these young soldiers who were like him back then, no matter what, everyone in the infantry battalion knew that there was an old sergeant in Company C, which aroused the envy of other companies for Company C. Why were they so lucky, but the non-commissioned officers in their company were all bull-headed terriers wearing military uniforms.

The only unhappy thing was the company commander of Company C. He hoped that he would have a tough non-commissioned officer who could maintain his authority and assist him in command. Unexpectedly, the one who was assigned to him was a good man, but facing the old sergeant in his fifties with gray hair, he could only make his own suggestions in a tactful manner. Of course, the final result was imagined. The company commander who surrendered in his final defeat, which did not affect the training and combat of the troops. The company commander completely gave up his ideological transformation of Sergeant Gerald.

The infantry battalion where Company C is located is a permanent guard of Dover Castle, and suffered serious losses from German artillery attacks. Due to the disrepair inside the basin and the structure is too old, the ventilation and living conditions of the original soldiers' residences were very harsh, so after the end of World War I, there were no longer large-scale garrisons here. Most of the infantry stationed in the barracks on the west side of the basin, with a long two-story dormitory building with red bricks and green tiles. The barracks are located on the top of a mound. The army spent a lot of effort to shovel a flat land on the top of the mound, and could overlook the Dover Harbor, with a broad view and easy defense but difficult attack. Unexpectedly, they have become excellent targets of attack for German artillery.

The infantry of the battalion and most of the battalion were buried under the rubble in the shelling that night. The only company of the four infantry companies is now left with the C company, which is still intact. The platoon led by Sergeant Gerald was lucky enough to be unscathed and even survived intact.

The reason was that the next day it was the turn of this platoon and the platoon guards to change defenses. The soldiers of the platoon packed their personal luggage and equipment overnight. As soon as they loaded all their belongings onto the truck, German shells hit Dover Fortress. The old sergeant stayed in the Somme River. Knowing the powerful bombardment of large-caliber artillery, he quickly notified the company commander and summoned the entire platoon of soldiers to start moving down the mountain. In the end, his judgment saved the entire company. There were only a few unlucky guys in the C Company who panicked and refused to leave the barracks and died in the subsequent shelling. The rest of the personnel lie in the drainage canal under the mound and spent the long night safely.

Now as a rare and complete unit, Company C has been dispatched to the front end of the urban defense circle. They were ordered to defend a defense area about three blocks, with a front line of two kilometers. The entire Company C has only 107 logistics personnel. However, the actual situation is not that exaggerated. In fact, they only need to defend three key intersections. Because the defense area is densely covered with buildings and walls, they only need to arrange some observation posts to guard. As the acting platoon leader of a row, Gerald took on the defense work of one of the intersections.

This fifteen-foot-wide road is the only way to the hilly area outside the city. The intersection is facing a ninety-foot-high earth slope, and behind the earth slope is the road to Folkstone. This is a must-fight for the German army. Once the German army starts attacking, the defense line of the C Company will be the first target. Sergeant Gerald is very clear about the terrible pressure that the troops defending at this strategic point will bear. He is not sure about blocking the German attack.

He didn't believe what the lieutenant colonel in the regiment said. The German army had already suffered heavy losses in the previous battles. As long as they persisted in fighting, they would show the courage of the English. The Germans would definitely return in a defeat, and the final victory would definitely belong to the British Empire. He didn't know how many such big talks he had heard on the French battlefield back then. He believed that the lies like officers were still lying in the fields of France.

But no matter what, the preparations should be made. The old cobbler led one of his platoons to strengthen the fortifications. He was preparing to build a seemingly decent blocking position based on the hasty blockade wall. Finally, there was no shortage of materials and manpower. Some citizens and police forces joined their team, and the large number of people and the strong force was reflected here. The outline of a barricade began to slowly take shape on the original pile of rubble.

"Henry! Henry!" A young soldier stood under the barricade and shouted loudly at Clayton.

"Oh! Hell, don't scream so loudly, I'm not deaf." Clayton smashed the pickaxe into the rubble and then jumped off the barricade.

"Why are these?" Clayton frowned and took the canvas bag from the soldier's hand. Half of the cylindrical cloth bag was empty. Clayton reached out and flipped it a few times, and found that it was only three round drums.

"Dad, we only have three spare drums on it. In addition, seven of them were originally, and we only had ten drums to use. This is not enough to beat it." Clayton shouted loudly at the sergeant who was commanding soldiers to strengthen the sandbag bunker on the top of the barricade.

"We have a loader, I'll help you with the three of you. Finally, we have some bullets." Gerald replied loudly.

"But we..." The machine gunner wanted to express his opinion, and suddenly the lookout whistle on the roof behind him exclaimed loudly.

"Note that there are people on the mountain, my God! There are many people!"

The machine gunner quickly climbed the barricade in three steps in two steps. He blocked the dazzling sunlight coming from his face with his hands and looked towards the hill two hundred meters away.

"O my God." Clayton was stunned by the scene in front of him. He took off the helmet from his head and rubbed his eyes hard with the back of his hand.

At this time, a long row of figures appeared on the hill opposite the street. They quickly climbed over the top of the slope and began to run wildly towards the British position along the gentle slope. At first there were dozens of people, followed by hundreds, and finally countless crowds of people appeared. They were like floods breaking the dam. They were also like frightened beasts, making meaningless shouts, colliding with each other, pushing and pulling, and rushing towards Gerald's position.

"It's our people! It's the British Army!" The lookout shouted loudly. Clayton turned his head and looked at the observation post on the roof. Everyone had eyes, so there was no need to scream like this.

What appeared in front of us was indeed British soldiers, and they were definitely not faked by Germans, because no matter how clever the Germans disguised themselves, they could not perform the essence of the British defeated soldiers. They were like a miserable dog with even their backbone broken.

Gerald had lost his original calmness. He was indeed frightened by the scene in front of him. Even on the battlefield of World War I, he had never seen such a scene in front of him. He had seen French soldiers running fast and Germans fleeing in a panic, but he had never seen any British troops become as crazy as the people in front of him.

Indeed, these people are already crazy, at least they look crazy. These people in front of them have completely lost the courage of soldiers. They are now just a group of ordinary people who want to escape. The army has lost its establishment and organization, and the internal class hierarchy has collapsed. There is no difference between officers and soldiers at this time.

The soldiers threw away everything they thought would endanger their lives. Most of them had only a military uniform left at this time. They abandoned weapons and ammunition packs because those heavy equipment could not only prevent the enemy from chasing, but also consumed their precious physical strength and slowed down their escape. Belts and armed belts were also useless things. People could not breathe well with these things. Maintaining the rhythm of breathing was a must-be noted, because you didn't know when the enemy would stop, and you would have a long way to run. The helmet was a complete burden, and it was useless except blocking the sight and pressing the cervical spine. If the German bullets really found you, it wouldn't make any difference if there was this iron pot.

So the soldiers escaped while taking off their equipment. Soon most of them became bare-handed, but the effect was indeed significant, and the speed of light escape was indeed greatly improved. The German infantry was gradually left behind, which made the British defeated army more vigorously. Running up the mountains, into the ditch, into the fields, and towards Dover. This was the experience gained by the officers and soldiers of the Fifth and Sixth Infantry Division along the way. They found that there were no Germans on the road leading to Dover. There were always vicious devils to be encountered in the rest of the places. They seemed not to be planning to capture prisoners, but directly used a series of tracer bullets to force you to continue running wildly.

The German armored teaching battalion and grenadiers were like the strictest sports coaches. They calmly stood behind the British defeated soldiers, and together with the paratroopers and infantry troops on the surrounding roads, driving these British people to the Dover city. The soldiers who stopped to surrender were intimidated and shot, making them think that the Germans were determined to kill them all. The subsequent news made the defeated soldiers even more frightened, and the speed of escape increased again.

On this night, they showed the Germans how great the human body has. After exhausting a group of pursuers, they could still keep running wildly. The perseverance shown by these British people to survive is awe-inspiring.

Some soldiers who were really unable to continue running simply lay down on the road. The fatigue and despair made them unable to let the Germans shoot them and end the nightmare. The Germans did not do anything to them, but just dragged them to the side of the road, and then a specialist threw the British soldiers who were tired like dead dogs into the back box of the truck. From a distance, it seemed that they were collecting corpses. The British cursed the inhuman Germans, but continued to work hard to squeeze out the last portion of adrenaline in their bodies and moved towards their only hope of survival, the Port of Dover.

At this time, there were more than 8,000 soldiers left in the two infantry divisions. The escape of one night made them almost collapse. Whether physically or mentally, the damage brought to them was too heavy. Now they only have Dover city area in their eyes, and they believed that as long as they ran into the city, they could be rescued.

I don’t know when it started, but some exciting news came from the team. Dover had guns, cannons, tanks, strong turrets and barracks, and he had plenty of supplies and food and drink. He didn’t have to worry about anything as long as he got there. It was a fortress that would never fall, and the Germans could not capture it.

This may be a lie that an officer told his subordinates when he cheered his subordinates up. It was similar to quenching thirst, but it became a fact and the hope of all British soldiers. In fact, the most dangerous rumors have not yet been spread. Some people claim that there are ships in the port of Dover. A large number of ships were parked in the port of Dover, enough to transport all of them away.

After seven hours of crazy marathon, the defeated soldiers finally arrived outside Dover after hardships. The German army made clear the passage for them. Unconsciously, the defeated soldiers rushed to Dover's city along the road left by the Germans. Although the number of people was not tens of thousands, they were still boundless like a tide in this small area.

At this point, no one can stop them from escaping. The Germans cannot do it, and the British cannot do it even more. The barricades and positions that were set up were knocked down and destroyed. The officers and soldiers who tried to stop it were stepped on by the crazy crowd and turned into mud. The defeated soldiers rushed in from various openings in the city like mercury, and the road was crowded with figures in yellow-brown uniforms.

They had already reached their destination, but they didn't know where to go. Due to the loss of the organization, no one knew where to end. The soldiers only knew to continue moving forward. Going forward was a road of life. The city of Dover was in chaos, and the local garrisons had no idea how to deal with the current situation. The outer defense line had been completely torn apart, and the original defenders were swept away by these defeated soldiers. The destructive power of the crowd was so great that it was beyond everyone's expectations. They even overturned several Vicks tanks blocking the way with bare hands, dragged the tank hands out of the tank and beat them up.

At this time, each of these defeated soldiers was filled with tyranny. The humiliation and harm brought to them by the Germans made them always want to find a channel to vent. Any drop of Mars will turn into a prairie fire.

So, the Mars fell, Major General Evans, the commander of the First Armored Division, led his division guards to block the defeated soldiers. The commander, who had just been promoted to general, had changed into the general uniform he had dreamed of and wore his full medal. Evans stood in the back seat of his officer convertible sedan with great enthusiasm, holding the exquisite horse whip in one hand and the gun holster at the waist with the other. He stared at the group of embarrassed defeated soldiers in front of him with contempt, not knowing when. He didn't like these two infantry divisions, perhaps because of command, he subconsciously hated the officers and soldiers of the two infantry divisions.

"What do you want to do? Where are your officers? Where are your division commanders? Let your commanders come out to see me. Do you still look like a British soldier? Look at your appearance, you are not even as good as a street hooligan. Where are the weapons in your hands? You cowards! Look at what you have done?"

Evans waved his horse whip and scolded the defeated soldiers in front of him. Perhaps the dazzling red general's collar and the crown on his shoulder played a role. The soldiers in the front row began to slowly retreat. These were all strictly trained regular soldiers, instilled with the idea of ​​obedience in their minds, and they would still be afraid of the generals subconsciously.

But the next moment Evans made an unforgivable mistake, pulling out the pistol from his waist.

"You cowards, stand at attention immediately. I should shoot you all! Wait, you all have to go to the military court! Now call out your officers and return to their respective troops immediately. Whoever does not obey the orders..." With Evans' threat, his guard platoon also began to raise his gun and aim at the defeated soldiers in front of him.

"Fight! They are going to shoot all of us!" Someone yelled in the crowd, as if he opened a hidden valve, and the resentment of the British defeated soldiers completely broke out.

At this time, these soldiers were not all naked. The city defenders along the way provided them with a lot of weapons, usually after knocking over the ground and stepping on them. These weapons used to resist the invaders have become tools for the fire of their compatriots.

Afterwards, no one knew which side of the conflict was first attacked, because all the witnesses present lost their lives in the fire later. Major General Evans was not spared. When the Germans found his body, they could not recognize what it was. They found a major general's epaulette hanging from a piece of cloth wrapped in the corpse. Only then did they realize that it was a general of the British Army. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!