Chapter 264: The End of France (34)

Prepared to give up resistance, Leopold III called the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister to make his decision clear. This decision was not only for the safety of the Belgians, but most importantly, he had a premonition that Britain and France could not defeat the powerful Germany, and since the British and French coalition forces were going to withdraw, there was no need for the Belgians to shed blood and sacrifice for Britain and France.

However, Prime Minister Herbert Pierrot firmly opposed this decision. "Your Majesty, it is absolutely impossible. Although Belgium is in danger now, we can retreat to France to establish a government in exile, and we will definitely be able to counterattack in the future."

Unfortunately, Leopold III was a very stubborn person, and no matter how others persuaded him, he remained indifferent. "Counterattack? How many countries has Germany annexed so far? Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Netherlands; and Denmark, Norway, and Netherlands were persuaded to surrender in just one day. Even the first land power and the first naval power in Europe were beaten back step by step, so what is the counterattack?"

"Prime Minister Reynaud said that the British Royal Navy is preparing to rescue them, but do you think the Germans will let them get their wish? Once this group of British expeditionary forces is eliminated, the British Empire will be in danger."

"Now we can go to France to establish a government in exile, but what about after France is defeated? Go to Britain? When Britain is defeated again, where will it go? The United States? Is this to show the miserable appearance of a lost dog to the world?"

But Herbert Pierrot was still full of confidence in Britain and France. The two argued for a long time and neither could convince the other. In the end, they could only take a step back and decided that Herbert Pierrot would lead a group of government officials to Paris, France to establish a government in exile, and Leopold III would stay and surrender to the German army.

The Allied Forces that received the order to withdraw were not only the Belgian Army, but also the British and French soldiers. After all, they felt that they had fought well in the past few days of fighting and resisted several "fierce" attacks by the German Army.

Just when they thought that the battle would become like the last war, a long tug-of-war, they were suddenly told to retreat. If they did not retreat, they would be surrounded by the Germans. If they continued to hold on, they would be waiting to die.

However, obeying orders is the duty of soldiers. If they are asked to withdraw, they will withdraw. Anyway, this is Belgium, not their homeland, and it doesn't matter if they give up.

So the mood of the British and French Allied Forces was relatively stable.

But the Belgian soldiers were furious. What about the promise of advancing and retreating together? ! What about the promise of holding on to the end?!

This is simply a naked betrayal!

Unfortunately, no matter how indignant they were, the Allied Forces still began to retreat.

As Gamelin expected, the Allied Forces' retreat was not smooth. When the people saw the Allied soldiers who defended their homes retreating to the rear like a tide, they immediately fell into a huge panic. For a time, rumors spread like wildfire, such as "hundreds of thousands of Allied troops were wiped out" and "hundreds of German tank divisions are advancing madly". A large number of Belgian people took their luggage and livestock on their escape journey, desperately competing with the army to occupy the retreat route.

The British and French Allied forces secretly evacuated on the night of July 9. At 7 o'clock the next morning, Leopold III broadcast an order for the surrender of the entire army. In his opinion, he had done his best, after all, he had won 12 hours for the Allied forces, right?

The human heart is dark. The Belgian defenders, who hated the British and French Allied forces for abandoning their allies and retreating without a fight, immediately put down their weapons. Some people even moved obstacles on the road so that the German army could pass quickly and chase those treacherous guys.

Hearing the news of Leopold III's surrender on the radio, Prime Minister Reynaud almost fainted. What about the promise to delay the German army as much as possible?

He was furious and immediately made a fierce broadcast, angrily condemning Leopold's surrender; Churchill of Britain also hysterically criticized Leopold's inappropriateness.

And Belgian Prime Minister Herbert Pierrot, who had already arrived in Paris by plane, also made a broadcast, but his tone was more decent. He told the Belgian people that the king's actions violated the government's unanimous opinion. He did so and cut himself off from the people. He could no longer continue to govern, and the Belgian government in exile would continue to fight.

Such debates were still fierce until long after the end of the war. However, there were many people in Belgium and abroad who defended Leopold. They believed that he had done a right and glorious thing in sharing weal and woe with the Belgian military and civilians. They repeatedly claimed that he surrendered not as the head of state but as the commander-in-chief of the Belgian army.

Regardless of the Belgian king's wrangling, Admiral Bock ordered the entire army to attack and chase the retreating British and French forces.

The British and French forces originally wanted to use the nearest port of Antwerp or Zeebrugge.

Zeebrugge is the second largest port in Belgium, close to the North Sea, and closer to the UK than Antwerp. Compared with Dunkirk, which is 60 kilometers away, Zeebrugge is also closer to the British and French front line, making it easier to escape.

But at this time, the 18th Army commanded by Georg von Kuchler, who had been waiting in the Netherlands, began to move south.

In this way, the only port that the British and French forces could go to was Dunkirk; the straight-line distance between Brussels and Dunkirk was no more than 140 kilometers, but this road became a road to death leading to hell.

With refugees blocking the way in front and the German army chasing behind, the coalition forces had to reluctantly abandon all the baggage and equipment that could not be taken away: first the 155mm heavy cannon, then the Charles B1 tank, and even the transport trucks that had run out of fuel were thrown randomly in the wilderness. At the beginning, the British and French coalition forces would destroy the abandoned tanks with grenades and explosives. Later, there were too many to destroy, and grenades became a resource that they dared not waste, so those tanks and armored vehicles were abandoned there intact, and at most some parts were dismantled.

The German army followed the pace of the British and French coalition forces' retreat, so many equipments were not destroyed by the coalition forces in time, and had to be handed over to the chasing German army. Many tanks were parked neatly on the roadside, and their engine compartments were opened, but the engines and other equipment were still inside.

Faced with an extremely severe situation, Gamelin had no choice but to use a heroic move and leave some personnel to block the pursuit of the German Army Group B. Unfortunately, without supplies and with low morale, how could they possibly be the opponent of the German army with high morale and excellent weapons and equipment? Sometimes they could not even withstand a German attack; they either collapsed or surrendered on the spot.

In London, Churchill, who had severely criticized Leopold III on the radio, returned to his office and saw Sir Charles Forbes, the First Sea Lord, and Vice Admiral Ramsay, the commander of the Dover naval port, waiting.

"What happened?" Churchill's heart flashed a trace of uneasiness. The two naval leaders responsible for formulating "Operation Dynamo" came to visit him, which must have brought him some problems.

Vice Admiral Ramsay said. "Mr. Prime Minister, we need to requisition civilian ships, I mean all civilian ships; including fishing boats and private yachts, the more the better."

Churchill frowned slightly. "Why?"

Vice Admiral Ramsay sighed. "Just now, German bombers bombed the ports of Calais and Dunkirk. Although the losses were not heavy, we believe that the Germans will continue the bombing until all the docks are destroyed. By then, large ships will not be able to dock and will have to withdraw from the beach, which will require small civilian ships to participate in the operation." Large ships weighing thousands of tons or tens of thousands of tons cannot get too close to the beach, and can only be transferred by small boats of tens of tons or hundreds of tons, or simply use small boats to transport people back to Britain.