Chapter 22 London
On May 25, 1940, at 2:00 pm, No. 10 Downing Street, London, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the British Empire.
“Has it been confirmed?”
Winston Churchill stood in his office and looked carefully at the pile of photos placed on the desk.
"Yes, Prime Minister, we confirmed it as soon as we got the latest information." British Army Secretary Anthony Aiden sat on the sofa aside and nodded affirmatively.
"These intelligence is very real. Yesterday afternoon, the Royal Air Force conducted reconnaissance on one side of the German front and took pictures of it. In fact, the French intelligence agencies and MI5 had already discovered that the German team had begun to have abnormal operations.
In order to obtain more accurate intelligence, in addition to sending air force reconnaissance aircraft, we also used intelligence personnel lurking in the German occupied areas. As a result, we found that the German army had mobilized almost all the troops on the entire front, and the powerful armored divisions suddenly began to move towards their rear, while some second-line infantry divisions were transferred up to replace the armored division's offensive.
The German team near Aras has completely stopped the offense. As the news received from the front line, the Germans there are shrinking their positions, as if they are preparing to move into defense. In France, except for Calais, which is also being attacked by the German Guderry, the other fronts have begun to stabilize. So far, except for some small-scale harassing attacks, the French front has basically been calm."
Churchill frowned, and he turned to the back of his desk and sat down, looking at the documents from the Army Intelligence Department on the table and meditated.
"Prime Minister, this morning we sent reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance. We found that German armored troops were gathering in the Cambre area, and we also discovered a large number of tank battlefield repair workshops and oil depots.
After analysis by our intelligence experts, it is believed that the reason for Germany's large-scale mobilization was that their armored forces were in big trouble." General Ismail, a representative of the British Chiefs of Staff, said with a report.
"From the reconnaissance photos, we have seen the enemy's armored divisions gathering towards their rear, and a large number of tanks are being pulled to march, which means that these tanks are either broken or have no fuel to start. In the photos, there are the German Seventh Armored Division, the Fourth Armored Division, and the Sixth Armored Division. The same situation has appeared in other moving German armored divisions.
Especially the several troops moving towards Cambrey also carried a large amount of air fuel barrels, which can be clearly seen in the photos of the 7th and 4th Armored Divisions, which made us more convinced that the Germans had exhausted fuel. We also found that the Germans provided a large proportion of fuel in the supplies provided by the Germans to install the A Division in Guderry, and there were more fuel trucks on the road leading to Calais than ammunition trucks. They even used Air Force transport planes to transport supplies to Guderian."
"Transportation aircraft? Air transport?"
Churchill raised his head and looked at Isme in confusion.
"Yes, this is a report from the RAF radar station." Ismay pulled out a report from the document and handed it to Churchill. He continued.
"Last night, radar station No. 4 outside Dover found a large number of German aircraft moving towards Calais. Judging from the speed and size of the aircraft, they were all large transport aircraft. Then the targets suddenly disappeared near Calais. We think the Germans landed there, and there was an occupied French large field airport. At midnight, they suddenly appeared from the radar and flew back to the rear of Germany. We can believe that Germany was going all out to transport supplies to Guderian, which shows that Guderian's situation has reached a very difficult point."
Churchill pondered for a while, and opened the cigarette box on the desk, took out a cigar from it, then picked up the silver scissors on the table and cut off the tail of the cigar. He slowly picked up the lighter on one side and lit the cigarette. Churchill took a sip of the cigar, staring at the photos on the table with both eyes. Then he turned around and looked carefully at the map on the wall for a while.
"Your opinion is that there is something wrong with the German logistics?" Churchill asked.
"Yes, and it may be even worse than we thought," Ismail replied. "From yesterday and today's intelligence, Germany is desperately transporting fuel to France. On the railway to France, Germany's tankers are 70% more than usual. And we believe that German tanks have to stop for overhaul.
We have discovered that many German tank battlefields have a large number of tanks parked outside. And now it seems that Guderian's armored troops have reached the end of their strength. The Germans may have concentrated all their supplies to support him in full support to continue fighting.
The other German armored troops had to retreat to the safe rear for repair and wait for their domestic supply to transport. After all, it is unwise to leave exhausted fuel and faulty tanks on the front line. Now in the Alas area, only a small number of infantry troops are left to defend. They have exposed a weak line of defense of fifty kilometers in front of us."
"Is this a trap?" Churchill was still a little suspicious. "The Germans were so careless that we saw their weaknesses?"
"It shouldn't be, because the Germans' actions began suddenly. They must have thought that even if we knew about these situations, they would not be able to react. Moreover, their supplies should be delivered within three days, and they can quickly repair the hole and launch another attack. Moreover, in order to obtain this information, we also paid a considerable price. The Air Force lost about fifty reconnaissance aircraft, bombers and fighters to get close to those tank repair shops. More than 80 pilots were killed or captured for this, and more than 30 intelligence personnel lost contact with the headquarters. They should have been caught by the Germans.
After our first aerial reconnaissance was successful, the Germans mobilized a large number of fighter planes to block these areas. If it was a trap, they would not have to spend so much effort to protect their secrets."
Churchill thought for a moment, nodded, and then he asked Ismail.
"So what is the opinion of the Chiefs of Staff?"
"Our opinion is that now the Germans' mobilization is our best chance to turn defeat into victory. The main force of the Germans and the most troublesome thing is their tanks, which are now lacking fuel and are being trimmed.
In this way, their infantry forces will lose the support of the tanks within at least three days. And, "Ismai stood up, walked to the side of the map, picked up a pencil and gestured on the map.
"And, due to the retreat of these tanks, the enemy left a big weak link in their encirclement. In the Aras area, they had only one infantry regiment to defend their supply line. If we tear this hole open, then our troubled Expeditionary Force and the French First Army would be able to jump out of the encirclement and meet with the French army in the south. By then, even if Germany sent his armored divisions, they would not be able to break through the Somme defense line that had been strengthened by these troops.
Moreover, we can cut off the logistics supply of the A-army in Guderry. If we counterattack from the French coast, we can even surround this elite German armored army. In that way, Germany's combat capabilities will be greatly weakened, and with our counterattack, we may win this war!"
Ismail became more and more excited as he spoke. He seemed to have seen himself standing at the venue for the German surrender signing ceremony.
Churchill didn't think so. He always felt that this opportunity came a bit too suddenly. According to the rigorous attitude of the German Army, he should not make such a low-level and fatal mistake. He was ready to seek support from the Army Minister.
"Mr. Aiden, what do you think? Will this be another trap for the Germans? It doesn't seem like a mistake that the Germans will make."
Aiden stroked his beautiful mustache and said seriously.
"Prime Minister, I think this should not be a trap, because I can't see what the Germans can get by working hard to set up this trap? They have surrounded our troops in the canal area. Now they can't win as long as they continue to attack. I can't think of any reason for them not to do that.
But now they not only stopped their attacks, but also exposed their weaknesses. If this is a trap, it would be too illogical. So I think the only correct answer is what General Ismail said, and they did have great trouble. Now I support the opinion of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, and we must seize this opportunity. This is God's arrangement, and I can't believe if we can meet the same opportunity again in the future."
The words of the Secretary of the Army finally dispelled Churchill's concerns, and his face suddenly became clear. He called out happily.
"God bless Britain! If this is true, then this is really an opportunity given to us by God. We can use these three days to break through the German encirclement and rescue our brave soldiers from desperate situations. We must now draw up a plan immediately. We need to discuss how to make better use of this opportunity and give a thorough lesson to those damn Nazi lunatics. Do the chiefs of staff have plans already?"
"There is no detailed plan yet, only a rough framework. We want to start immediately after you get your approval. It is basically based on General Wei Gang's plan to advance south."
"General Wei Gang does have a trick. Did he expect these things long ago? Hahahaha. Then use his plan as a framework."
"Yes, Prime Minister, do you also need to notify the French Command to cooperate with our actions?" Ismail asked.
"Of course, send a telegram to Renault immediately and explain these situations to him in detail. Oh, just say that General Wei Gang's plan seems to be possible now."
"Yes, I'll just arrange these things back."
"Immediately call the ministers and chiefs of staff from all branches of the army to come to me for a meeting. Time is tight now, and we seem to have only... It's only two and a half days now, so this plan must be formulated today and then handed over to the French commander immediately. Let Gotte prepare immediately."
"Gott's troops are retreating to the coast, with only a small number of troops defending on the front line."
"What, what are they doing on the coast? Oh, yes, it was my order. Seeing that I was happy, I forgot everything. The Army Department immediately sent a telegram to Gott, ordering his troops to stop retreating to the coast and let them return to their original positions."
"Yes, Prime Minister, I will arrange it right away. What should I do if the Navy's "generator" operation is required? Should they stop preparing? Admiral Ramsey is still collecting ships everywhere?" Aiden asked.
Churchill hesitated for a moment.
"If we use that plan, how many soldiers can we bring back."
Aiden replied: "It can be withdrawn by about 50,000 or 60,000, and it may be even less. The German air force and submarines will not make it so easy for us to cross the strait."
Churchill thought for a moment and pressed the cigar in the ashtray.
"Then let Admiral Ramsey suspend the preparations for the "generator" operation...wait... Then, it seems that we will not use this plan anymore...at least we have a better opportunity now.";
Chapter completed!