Chapter 279: Undefended City
After hearing the news that the Dunkirk expeditionary force had laid down their weapons and surrendered, Churchill yelled hysterically for a long time. It's just that Viscount Gott is a sinner of the British Empire, and he will be sent to the gallows in the future.
Rather than being angry, it is better to hide the fear in my heart.
Is the UK really going to be doomed?
No! The British Empire cannot be over! ! The UK can still send insistence! !
Churchill immediately called a meeting. "Everyone, unfortunately, we lost all the expeditionary force due to the shameless betrayal of some people." As he spoke, Churchill's heart was filled with bitterness and helplessness. Since the financial crisis ten years ago, God seemed to have forgotten the British Empire. This poor country.
Today's British Empire is like a turbulent one, like a giant who has been suffering from a long illness but got caught in the rain and his life is hanging by a thread? It can be said to be in danger.
However, he still cheered everyone up with confidence. "Nelson's spirit tells us not to be too pessimistic about everything! There is no obstacle that the British Empire cannot overcome yet!"
"Now we must defend our land with all our strength, and we must do the following things. The first thing is to recruit our reserves and enter active service, and bring all the Poles, French, etc., as long as they remain on our land. Arm yourself!"
The main leaders of the Polish government in the original time and space fled to London, England, and established a government-in-exile. A large number of Polish soldiers who fled abroad, under the leadership of the exiled government, joined the British and French armies to fight against Germany. The Warsaw Squadron composed of Polish pilots shot down a total of 126 German aircraft in the Battle of Britain, ranking first among all Royal Air Force fighter squadrons participating in the war. First. Among them, the Polish ace pilot Lieutenant Drobinski also shot down the German ace pilot Adolf Galland in an air battle.
However, at this time, the Polish government was intercepted halfway by Yannick. Officials including the former Polish President Mościcki and Marshal Simigwi were imprisoned in German prisons, and most of the Polish soldiers were also imprisoned. Entered a prisoner of war camp; in the end, only more than a thousand people escaped to Britain, barely enough to form a regiment. But now Churchill is not just a regiment, not even a battalion, not even a company; there are as many as you want, the more the merrier!
"The second thing is that France's surrender is inevitable. We must properly handle the French navy." The French navy is known as the fourth navy in the world, with 1 aircraft carrier, 3 battleships, 7 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, and more than 50 destroyers of various types and 101 submarines. Once all these battleships are handed over to Germany, Britain will be completely finished.
The British Navy has suffered a series of heavy losses and its strength has been greatly weakened. If it wants to regain its strength, a simple and crude way is to bring over the ships of the French Navy! Even if it can't be done, it must not be left to the Germans!
"We have to prepare for the worst. We would rather destroy the French Navy with our own hands than let the French Navy warships fall into the hands of the Germans!" The German Navy can't defeat it, so there should be no problem in attacking the French Navy, right? If even the French navy couldn't be defeated, Britain would no longer have to struggle and would just wait to die.
Everyone couldn't help but look at each other in confusion. After all, France was still an ally. To stab an ally in the back was a bit... However, everyone was well aware of Britain's current situation and acquiesced to Churchill's plan.
After all, this is British nature.
To say which country was the most selfish in World War II in the original time and space, there is no doubt that it was the United Kingdom. In order to preserve their own strength, they can betray their allies without shame and push them into a pit of fire. For example, in Dunkirk, the French army was used as cannon fodder to cover the British army's retreat; in Burma, the Chinese were allowed to resist and cover their retreat. The key problem is that after doing these despicable and shameless things, they still speak loudly and accuse other allies of not attacking, as if the whole world is Britain fighting bloody battles, and other countries are sitting in silence.
"Third, we need enough time to buffer and send people to Germany for peace talks to paralyze the Germans. It is best to talk for a year and a half."
Seeing that Churchill was so calm and taking countermeasures one after another, everyone gradually regained their confidence. At this moment, Churchill has become the backbone of Great Britain. As long as he is here, Britain will never admit defeat!
On the other side, in the conference room of the Matignon Palace in Paris, France, everyone fell into an atmosphere of despair. Every senior French cabinet official present was either wiping away tears or crying secretly.
French Prime Minister Reno asked weakly. "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, do we still have a chance?"
Gan Molin, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, now exists in name only and has become a mere commander, he said with a frustrated look. "There is no chance. It is not difficult to see from the battle situation these days that the German army has a real and overwhelming advantage. Not only in terms of the combat quality of its personnel, but also in terms of weapons, technology and equipment, it is even higher than us." Moreover, Dunkirk Those who surrendered in the Croatian encirclement were France's elite. Without these main forces, what strength would France have to resist? "And the German army did not suffer any serious damage after this battle. I guess that within a few days, they will launch a military operation to attack Paris."
Marshal Pétain on the side spoke. "I propose that Paris be declared an undefended city at the appropriate time to prevent Paris from being ravaged by war."
Not long ago, Marshal Pétain was still serving as ambassador to Spain. He was recalled to the country by Reno and appointed deputy prime minister.
Everyone knew what this appointment meant. After all, the deputy prime minister was not a permanent position of the French government. The purpose of setting up a deputy prime minister at this juncture and letting Marshal Pétain be the one was obvious.
In the original time and space, the Spanish head of state Franco advised him not to return to his country. "Why do you have to link your own reputation with a failure that should be the responsibility of others?" In fact, if Pétain really considered himself, the best choice at that time was to stay overseas. He could even use his lofty reputation to establish an exile government, occasionally move his lips, and encourage the people in the occupied areas to fight against the German invaders. Someone would do the real desperate things for him. If Pétain did this, his student Charles de Gaulle would not have the honor of "rebuilding France" after the war, and Pétain would become the "double champion" who saved the nation twice.
But Pétain finally chose to return to his country to clean up the mess. He answered Franco at the time. "I know what I will face when I return to my country, but my motherland is calling me, and I have no choice but to do it. Perhaps, this is my last time to serve my country." From this confession, it can be seen that Pétain knew very well that returning to his country was to take the blame for others and bear the stigma of defeat, surrender, and treason. Pétain wanted to act as the protector of the defeated France, so that Germany would maintain a minimum respect for this country that had lost face for the sake of its former prestige.
Everyone was silent. The so-called undefended city is a city without military defense and military facilities during war. When a sovereign state is invaded and its capital or city is in danger of being occupied, the government of this country will declare it an undefended city in the spirit of humanitarianism to protect citizens and protect the cultural relics and monuments in the city from being destroyed, and order the garrison to withdraw and automatically give up the right to occupy the city. The city will adhere to the principle of non-resistance.
According to the 1907 Hague Convention, the attacking party shall not carry out destructive attacks such as artillery or bombing on undefended cities and villages.
At this time, the secretary hurried in, walked to Renault's side, and whispered. "Mr. Prime Minister, British Prime Minister Churchill called."
"Everyone, I'll leave for a while and come back to continue." After speaking, Renault got up and walked out of the meeting room.