Chapter 503 Chips (1)

"Oh my God!"

Because Churchill was unconscious, Deputy Prime Minister Clement Attlee could only temporarily assume the duties of Prime Minister.

After reading the casualty report that had just been counted, his face turned pale and he uttered a painful groan.

This report recorded that three days ago, the German bombing of the Thames Barrier flooded London, resulting in more than 60,000 civilian casualties. This was not all. Many places had not been carefully investigated. It was conservatively estimated that at least 100,000 people died in this flood.

What's worse is that it's only the beginning of March, the weather is still a bit cold, and the temperature at night is around zero degrees. In this temperature, being soaked in the cold sea water, I don't know how many people will get sick. Once the disease spreads, the consequences in London today will be unimaginable.

The most important thing is that if the gap in the Thames Barrier is not blocked, London will become the second Venice.

The German army that landed in Dover has been attacking all the way and has advanced to the outskirts of London and set up camp. In a few days, the German troops from Norwich and Plymouth will also arrive, and then the whole of London will be surrounded.

After sighing for a long time, Clement Attlee summoned the members of the wartime cabinet.

"We have tried our best... Gentlemen." Clement Attlee looked at his colleagues who were all dejected and sighed deeply. "Does anyone think we can still fight and it is necessary to continue?"

"..." Everyone looked at each other. Although their wartime cabinet was all pro-war factions, no one was more determined, stubborn, and persistent than Churchill; and now Churchill was in a coma and his life was uncertain, and the German army was already at the gates of the city, which inevitably made them think about it.

Arthur Greenwood, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, muttered in a low voice. "It's okay to surrender, but the problem is that the German Crown Prince wants to send us all to the military court."

The last time Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth went to Germany in person for negotiations, the news she brought was that Crown Prince Yannick wanted to hand over the wartime cabinet members headed by Churchill to the European Military Court for trial and severe punishment.

The person next to him sighed depressedly. "But if we don't surrender, I'm afraid we won't even have the chance to go to the military court."

Listening to the conversations of these colleagues, Clement Attlee could see that these people all wanted to surrender, but they were just afraid of losing their lives in the military court. "Then let's discuss what bargaining chips we have to save everyone's lives."

"Bargain?" Everyone's eyes lit up, and Foreign Minister Eden spoke first. "Giving our agreement with the Soviet Union to Germany should be considered a big bargaining chip, right?"

"..."When the Soviet Union was mentioned, everyone showed a disgusting expression as if they had eaten a fly. Even if the Soviet Union had fought a little, the situation would not be as bad as it is now.

Clement Attlee shook his head. "I'm afraid the Germans have noticed it long ago, otherwise they wouldn't have supported Finland so strongly." If it weren't for Germany's secret support, Finland wouldn't have been able to resist the Soviet army until now.

After thinking for a while, Clement Attlee's eyes lit up. "Maybe the German Crown Prince will be interested in what's in the Manod Quarry!"

The Manod Quarry is located in the Manod Mountains in Blaenau-Ffestiniog, a small town in North Wales. It has a history of more than a century. After years of mining and excavation, a huge cave appeared in the middle of the mountains. The upper part of the cave is covered with hundreds of feet of slate and granite, which can withstand bombing. In addition, this place is remote and confidentiality is easier; therefore, after the outbreak of the war, many artworks in the UK were moved here and hidden.

In the original time and space during World War II, Churchill had a famous saying when talking about British art treasures. "Hide the artworks in caves and cellars, and don't let any famous paintings leave the British Isles."

With the Allied retreat from Dunkirk and bombs falling in London, the German invasion of Britain seemed "on the verge of a bow and arrow." How to protect the collections of the National Gallery of the United Kingdom has become a big problem. Churchill was determined to save the collections of the National Gallery from being destroyed by enemy bombing, and also instructed that these national treasures must remain on their own land.

After the outbreak of the war, the paintings of the National Gallery of the United Kingdom have been stored in various temporary locations in Wales, but it is clear that these places are not suitable for long-term preservation. Experts searched all over the UK for a suitable hiding place-finally, they set their sights on the Manod Quarry in Blaenau-Ffestiniog, a small town in North Wales.

Suzanne Bosman is a senior photo researcher at the National Gallery of the United Kingdom and the author of the book "The National Gallery of the United Kingdom during World War II". She said that moving about 2,000 works by masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Anthony van Dyck, William Turner, John Constable and others was a "quite arduous task".

And in order to welcome these most precious paintings in the world, Manod also needs to be "fully prepared". "A cold and wet quarry is not a good place to place precious works of art," said Suzanne Bosman. “Before the artworks were moved in, six sealed, climate-controlled cabins were built in the mountains.” Storing the artworks in a mine doesn’t sound like a perfect plan, but in reality, the artworks “are doing pretty well there.”

In order to collect the artworks, people used explosives to expand the entrance of the mine so that the largest works could be moved in. A railway system was also built in the cave. According to the BBC, the paintings will "sit" on a specially built narrow-gauge railway, which will transport them to the door of the hut in sealed carriages. The paintings will only be unloaded after entering the space with strictly controlled conditions.

Bosman pointed out that in fact, the transportation process is not as smooth as described, and Anthony Van Dyck's painting "Charles I on Horseback" is a huge challenge.

The painting is about 12 feet long and 5 feet wide. Bosman joked that the painting is like a "monster": it is much higher when installed in the back seat of a truck; on the road leading to the quarry, there is a very narrow S-shaped bend, which happens to be under the arch of a railway bridge passed by the road. "It's like finding a sofa at the corner of the stairs: the height is enough, but the premise is that the angle must be accurate."

In the end, people had to dig up the road surface to lower it by a few inches. "You can still see today that the kerbs on this stretch of road are higher than on other stretches, which shows how important the evacuation was," Bosman said.

The National Gallery was not the only institution to move its collections to Wales: the British Museum sent the Magna Carta, works by Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, and precious books by Shakespeare, Milton and others to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. However, even this was considered unsafe, and during the war, they dug an underground cave with a special heating system to store these national treasures.

Everyone nodded. After all, these are the treasures of the British Empire and are priceless. The German Crown Prince should be satisfied.

Clement Attlee continued. "Prepare a few more chips for insurance purposes. Well, we can also disband the 'auxiliary forces'."