Chapter 272 Seeking Help
Dunkirk.
I am afraid that not many people knew about this little-known French port city before World War II. During World War II, it became famous as the place where the world's largest retreat took place, and became one of the topics that military fans in later generations talked about with relish.
One of the hottest topics is why the German soldiers pursued the victory during the Dunkirk evacuation, but stopped the attack?
On May 20, about 400,000 troops retreated to the port city of Dunkirk in northeastern France.
Dunkirk did not have any strong fortifications and was a port that was extremely vulnerable to bombers and artillery fire. Once the Allied forces retreated here and were attacked by the Germans, hundreds of thousands of troops would be devastated like "live targets". The only way out here is to escape to Britain across the English Channel by sea transportation.
On the 24th, the 19th Panzer Corps led by the famous German general Guderian and the 41st Panzer Corps led by Reinhardt had arrived only 10 miles away from Dunkirk and completed the encirclement of Dunkirk. Dozens of infantry divisions behind the German army were also following up. At this time, as long as the German army launched an attack on Dunkirk, the 400,000 British and French allied forces would likely suffer a devastating disaster.
However, at this time, a miracle in the history of war happened. The little mustache personally ordered the German armored forces to stop advancing and said that "the enemies in Dunkirk will all be left to Marshal Goering's air force to deal with." Generals Guderian and Reinhardt had to obey the order and stay put, watching the British and French allied forces board the ship and escape from Dunkirk.
Three days later, the little mustache ordered the German army to launch a full-scale attack on Dunkirk. But at this time, the best time to attack had been missed. The British government originally planned to evacuate 30,000 people, but in about a week, 80,000 people were successfully evacuated from Dunkirk, including 50,000 French troops. These troops all became the main force of the counterattack on the European continent in the future.
And Yannick would certainly not make this mistake again. When the sky was bright, German planes were hovering over Dunkirk.
"Flying tank" Il-2 attack aircraft, "roaring death god" Stuka, Mosquito bomber all appeared on the scene, madly ravaging the British and French coalition forces below.
The British anti-aircraft guns on the ground had long stopped firing, and even those who survived by chance did not dare to fire easily, because as soon as they fired, either the German heavy artillery shells would pour down, or the Stuka in the sky would dive down and drop a 500-kilogram aerial bomb directly, blowing the anti-aircraft guns and all the surrounding objects into pieces.
The German Army Aviation in this time and space almost realized the "bold words" of Hermann Goering in the original time and space that the German Air Force could take Dunkirk alone. Ordinary aerial bombs, cluster bombs, and incendiary bombs ranging from 50 kg to 500 kg were deployed to clear the way for the armored forces on the ground.
Every machine gun fire point, every anti-tank gun, and every place with a little dense personnel of the British and French coalition forces could not escape the bombing of these bombers.
The firepower of the German ground forces was no less impressive. 45mm, 82mm, and 120mm mortars, 75mm?IG 42 infantry guns
122mm rocket launchers, and 152mm howitzers kept roaring and bombarding the British positions.
Viscount Gort hid in the basement, staring at the flashing light bulb above his head with a gloomy face. From the sky, his basement was just a half-collapsed broken house, so it had not been hit by a bomb until now.
In order to stabilize the morale of the army and command the retreat, he personally came to the front line; but he did not expect to encounter such a desperate situation.
In front of him was a latest telegram just sent from home, which contained a desperate message. The civilian ship originally prepared to be sent to Dunkirk to pick up the expeditionary force was attacked by German bombers. The German army used new bombs to destroy hundreds of civilian ships in one fell swoop, and even civilians suffered heavy casualties.
It seemed that the "Generator Plan" was a failure. He could only ask Churchill to send fighters to cover, even if it was to disperse the German planes overhead, otherwise he really couldn't hold on.
Churchill certainly couldn't give up these hundreds of thousands of expeditionary forces, and immediately ordered General Hugh Dowding, commander of the British Air Force Fighter Command, to send fighters to drive away the German planes over Dunkirk.
But General Dowding shook his head. "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, you also know that our air force is already somewhat insufficient and cannot afford any more losses. We cannot allocate enough fighters to the Dunkirk area." What he said was also true. The British Empire's air force suffered considerable losses in the Battle of France. He had to allocate a part of it to ensure air superiority when the expeditionary force retreated. Now he has to allocate a part of the main air force of the mainland to Dunkirk. Even if he wins by chance, he will be seriously injured. What can he use to protect the air safety of the British mainland?
Sir John Greydill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, almost jumped up in anger after hearing this. Listen, is this what a human being says? If you want to preserve the strength of your air force, you have to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in our army? If there is no army, can the air force alone resist the attack of the Germans? Dream on!
Just when Sir Dill was ready to fight with Admiral Dowding, Churchill stopped him in time. After all, Churchill knew Dowding. Although his ability was unquestionable, he was not a good person and was not smooth in dealing with things. In short, his emotional intelligence was not very high and he was not liked in the army. "Sir Dowding, come with me to smoke a cigarette."
The two of them came to the balcony. Churchill lit a cigar, exhaled a puff of smoke and spoke slowly. "Sir Dowding, you and I both know that the current situation of the Imperial Air Force is not optimistic. But you should also understand that not only the Air Force, but also the Empire's Army and Navy exist to protect the Empire. For the Empire, we must take those soldiers back no matter what. Otherwise, the British Empire will really fall into an unprecedented desperate situation."
Dowding lowered his head and remained silent. Although Churchill's words made sense, he had to be loyal to his duties, serve his position, and consider the problem from his perspective.
The Battle of France has proved that the existing British models cannot compete with the German Air Force.
The Hurricane is not an opponent of the German fighters at all, and the Spitfire can't take advantage either, and is at a disadvantage. The improved version of the Spitfire has not yet been finalized. Even if it is put into service, who can guarantee that the German fighters will not be improved? In this case, his fighter unit should pay more attention to the safety of the airspace of the homeland. Only under this premise can he consider other places.
Now that the safety of the homeland cannot be guaranteed, a part of the fighters have to be sent to Dunkirk, which will obviously consume the air force that has already been stretched to its limits.
Seeing that Dowding still did not express his opinion, Churchill could not help but increase his tone. "Sir Dowding, if the Germans destroy our expeditionary force, their next step will be to land on the British mainland. At that time, can your air force alone stop the Germans? If you dare to guarantee that your air force can stop the German attack, then you don't need to send planes!"
"..." Dowding is not Goering, of course he can't make such an arrogant guarantee. And Churchill's face is already very ugly. If he doesn't agree to send planes, maybe he will be dismissed and go home the next moment. He sighed secretly and nodded reluctantly. "Okay, Prime Minister, I will send 15 squadrons of fighters to Dunkirk."