Chapter 276 Evacuation

"What should we do?" Although he had made up his mind, he did not dare to act rashly. After all, treason and surrender to the enemy on the battlefield is a capital crime; you can be shot on the spot without going to a military court.

"It's very simple. Have you forgotten that we are on the front line? There is a German position in front of us. When it gets dark, we will sneak over." Harrison pointed to the German position opposite and said easily.

"..." Ashton felt that this decision was too hasty. Even if they sneaked over, what if the Germans thought they were going to make a sneak attack and swept over them? Germany failed to surrender, and Britain itself became a traitor, so it would be a shame to die. "This is not safe enough. I think we should send someone over to negotiate with them before it gets completely dark, so as not to be beaten into a hornet's nest by them at night."

Harrison spread his hands. "Then who will go over? I can't get away." It's not that he is afraid of death, but that he is the platoon leader. The company commander may summon them to a combat meeting or issue new orders at any time. Once the company commander notices something, he might be shot on the spot.

Ashton shrugged helplessly. "Then I'm the only one going. But the Germans may not like it just the two of us."

"That's true. It only takes two bullets for two people." After pondering for a while with a grimace, Harrison slapped his thigh. "I'll go find Connor later. Just tell the Germans that at least one platoon of soldiers will come over." Connor is also their friend. This guy hates war more than anyone else; he has complained constantly since he joined the army. It's okay to complain, but this guy is quite eloquent. He often incites his comrades around him and was warned by the company commander several times.

"good."

There was a channel at the end of their trench. Ashton thought that the water was good. Although the water temperature was a bit cold, the distance to the German side was not far enough that he would not freeze to death.

After agreeing that if he could successfully reach the German position, three red flares would be fired at night as an agreed signal, Ashton pretended to be anxious and walked towards the river channel. Anyway, the simple toilet is over there, and he won't arouse any suspicion even if he runs there.

after an hour.

"..."

"Why are you still here?" Harrison looked at Ashton who was still squatting on the pit and asked in a low voice.

Ashton pursed his lips with a wry smile, pointed at the two soldiers standing diagonally opposite and urinated, and whispered. "I really want to leave. I've been squatting here for an hour just waiting for no one to be around, but people are coming one after another and I can't find time." His legs were almost numb from squatting.

Harrison was speechless. "Shet, I just went to the toilet over there, and it was blown to pieces. It's unusable, so I have to come here."

"No wonder there was a queue just now."

After the two urinating soldiers left, Harrison looked outside and urged. "There's no one here now. Let's go quickly." Ashton gritted his teeth and dragged his paralyzed calves to stand up. With Harrison's help, he crossed the trench and ran towards the river while bending down.

He ran to the river in one breath, quickly took off his clothes, soaked some water and patted himself, walked into the river step by step, and began to swim downstream.

He didn't know how long he had been swimming when he suddenly heard a loud shout in German not far away, and then he remembered the crackling sound of gunfire, and bullets were flying in his direction. Ashton's legs went weak and he almost drowned in the river. He kicked the water on the spot, waved his white vest soaked by the river water desperately, and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Surrender! I'm here to surrender!"

A searchlight shined in this direction, and after a few scans, it locked onto him. Seemingly seeing the white vest in his hand, the gunfire stopped and the German soldiers shouted.

Ashton vaguely heard the cry for him to swim over, and he swam desperately in the direction of the light. After a while, his feet stepped on the soft river beach.

He stumbled on and continued to walk forward, and soon he saw several German soldiers with guns and ammunition surrounding him.

At nine o'clock in the evening, Viscount Gott, who seemed to have aged ten years suddenly, appeared in the underground conference room on time.

The atmosphere in the conference room was extremely depressing, with everyone smoking cigarettes in silence with a gloomy face.

Viscount Gott looked around the conference room and spoke in a hoarse voice. "You are all the most heroic warriors. It was my poor command that put you under siege. In order to avoid a larger tragedy, I decided to sacrifice my personal honor and issue this humiliating and tragic order. I hope I "My decision will not bring shame to my motherland. I hope my decision is correct."

Although Viscount Gott did not say it clearly, no one sitting here was an idiot and understood what he was going to say next.

Someone immediately stood up and objected. "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, we can still fight."

"Colonel Montgomery..." Viscount Gott sighed, but in the end he said nothing and waved his hand to signal the adjutant.

The adjutant picked up the document in front of him and read it. "After a day of fighting, all the first-line defense positions were lost. If the German offensive is as fierce as today tomorrow, we may not be able to hold the second core defense line. As for the third defense line, it basically does not exist and can't play any blocking role at all. The consequence is that we will be forced into a very narrow place and squeezed together. A heavy artillery shell from the Germans can write off a platoon or even a company of our soldiers. And our remaining bullets can only sustain one day of high-intensity combat. The day after tomorrow, we can only fight the German armored forces with bayonets."

"..." Montgomery opened his mouth, but finally didn't insist. He was not a madman, and it was impossible for his soldiers to fight against the German steel torrent with flesh and blood.

Seeing that no one continued to object, Viscount Gort continued. "I am destined to be a clown. You are the last hope of the empire. You cannot stay here and become prisoners. The weather is good tonight. The German Air Force should not come to harass us. Well, don't delay, evacuate now." The weather tonight is very bad. The low sky is full of dark clouds and it is drizzling. It is impossible for German planes to fly over to harass them in such weather. The engineers repaired a section of the dock with great difficulty, allowing some ships to dock.

When everyone came to the port, they saw that the dock was crowded with wounded. The lightest of them was also missing arms and legs, and more people were lying on stretchers and unable to move. The groans and screams resounded over the dock.

A large cruise ship and a destroyer were docked at the dock.

The soldiers moved the wounded to the large cruise ship, and the officers boarded the destroyer.