On the sea, ships continued to gather from various places towards Dunkirk. During the day, more than 5,000 British and French allied troops had been transported away, but Dönitz had been sitting and watching the ships leave without launching an attack. He was now like
A wolf king watched the fat sheep running past him one after another, patiently waiting for the best opportunity. He knew that the real climax of transportation was at night, when there would be no harassment from the German air force, and
Darkness will give him maximum cover.
It was getting dark, and even a faster ship would take a full day to complete the 90 nautical mile journey. In order to speed up the retreat, the British army retreated day and night, especially as night came and the fighting gradually
At the end, there is no air pressure, and the retreat will be faster.
Dönitz finally started to move.
"Order all wolf packs to start attacking. Your target is all movable objects on the sea. Send them all to the bottom of the sea!" Dönitz shouted loudly, and the telegraph operator next to him immediately began to generate electricity, and the telegram followed.
The radio waves reached the submarines lurking everywhere - the wolves began to take action.
At this time, the British fleet had been concentrated. In order to prevent interference from the German navy, most of the fleet was patrolling near the German naval port. On the contrary, because Dönitz's submarines were diving underwater, the British fleet was completely unprepared for these submarines.
of entry.
At this time, the British anti-submarine equipment was still very simple sonar, and it was basically like a deaf person in front of Dönitz's submarine.
A huge cruise ship appeared in Dönitz's eyes. The draft of this cruise ship was already very deep. It was obvious at first glance that it was filled with soldiers. There was also a British destroyer escorting the cruise ship next to it, which even more clearly showed that
This ship is extraordinary. Dönitz waved his hand, and under his command, six submarines came around the cruise ship and surrounded the cruise ship.
"Hit!" Dönitz said softly. The six submarines slowly adjusted their posture. In almost three minutes, six torpedoes rushed towards the cruise ship. What Dönitz did not know was that he had hit the cruise ship.
The biggest target tonight is the cruise ship "Lancasteria". This cruise ship has more than 4,000 soldiers on board, accounting for one-third of the number of people evacuating tonight.
"Boom" A violent explosion occurred on the left side of the ship. The orange-red fire ball and shock wave caused the ship to move a few meters to the right. Then, there were two explosions on the right side. Three out of six shots were fired, and the results were so-so.
Just get by.
The cruise ship was not a battleship, and it did not have much defensive power. The huge gap caused countless seawater to pour into the hull. The hull sank rapidly. The soldiers and sailors on the ship jumped into the sea like dumplings. Some lucky ones could still
I grabbed some floating objects and swam out. Some unlucky ones were sucked in by the vortex caused by the intrusion of sea water and could never come out again.
The cruisers next to the cruise ship turned on their lights, frantically looking for opponents to attack them, and trying to save people, but there was nothing on the sea. The cruiser immediately thought it might be a submarine, and before the cruiser started dropping depth bombs everywhere,
The left side of the cruiser was also hit by a torpedo. The cruiser that basically stopped for rescue was basically a living target in the eyes of Dönitz's wolves. When Dönitz's submarine floated, the surface of the sea was
The cruise ship has almost completely sunk to the bottom of the sea, and only half of the cruiser next to it is still on the sea.
Dönitz looked at the British and French soldiers splashing into the water everywhere, shook his head and said, "They are dead, let's go."
What Dönitz didn't know was that his ambush would become the largest shipwreck in recorded history, with more deaths than the Titanic.
And this is just a wolf pack. There are too many wolves like this in the strait at this time. British ships are ambushed everywhere. When the sun rises again, the sea is full of floating corpses, and
When Churchill in London received the news, he sat on his chair in shock, not knowing what to say.
"Prime Minister, is the generator plan... still going on?" the officer next to him asked.
The Generator Plan was the name given by the British to the Dunkirk evacuation. Churchill was very capable of bearing it. He twisted the telegram into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket and said, "Immediately issue a foreign statement. Our one-day evacuation yesterday
It was extremely successful and successfully rescued more than 10,000 British and French soldiers, and the retreat continued in an orderly manner. In addition, let our fleet dig out all those damn submarines for me! Dig them out!!!" Churchill tightened his grip.
He raised his fist, and all the fat on his body trembled, like an angry bear. The officer nodded quickly and retreated. Churchill squinted at the map and said, "Confidence... The confidence of the Empire to fight to the end must not be undermined."
Crush!"
Dönitz's feast only lasted a short time. Starting from the next day, the British fleet training intensity greatly increased. They knew that there were many submarines under the sea, and even began to drop depth bombs indiscriminately. Anyway, the British
The country is strong, and if these bombs are dropped all the way, we can bring more soldiers home.
With yesterday's experience, the retreat was faster today. Although Goering's air force tried desperately to block it, the British and French air forces also risked their lives to block it. In order to retreat, all gentlemanly demeanor was abandoned. As long as they were
Soldiers who were hit or injured were abandoned aside, and their positions were given to healthy soldiers. There were corpses and bloodstains everywhere on the beach. Although the German army continued to publicize that the transport fleets on the sea were sunk by the German navy and air force.
, but no one wants to believe it. After all, there are still ships coming to rescue, right?
Guderian's troops were only 20 kilometers away from Dunkirk at this time. Forty to fifty thousand coalition troops were desperately blocking his attack. Guderian could even see the scene of an air battle at the port in the distance. He kept worrying anxiously.
He ordered an assault, but could not break through.
Rommel looked at the battle situation and ran to Guderian's headquarters and said, "This won't work. The enemy troops have been compressed so much by us that they may not even be able to break up."
Rommel was not wrong. Now Dunkirk is constantly reorganizing its troops to facilitate retreat and block the enemy. In fact, the enemy opposite them has been defeated for two or three rounds, but there are always reinforcements to fight to the death.
Block their next attack.
What worries Rommel even more is that the pursuit battle is actually about psychology. Once the enemy gets used to defeat and gains resilience, then after these people return to the UK and reorganize, they will become an extremely difficult force to fight without killing every last one of them.
Don't even think about winning the final victory.
Guderian asked, "Do you have any ideas?"
Rommel looked at the sky and said, "What we need now is to completely defeat the psychological defenses of the British and French forces. What do you think would happen if a force soared from the sky and entered their core?"
"Paratroopers?" Guderian said happily upon hearing this, "That's a good idea. It's not too late now. Let's send a telegram to the Head of State together. Of course, we can't stop."
Hitler in the rear received the joint telegram from Guderian and Rommel, and immediately forwarded it to Goering, ordering Goering to attack. Goering laughed after reading the telegram. Now everyone knows that France is going to be finished, so it is time to grab the fruits.
Now that Guderian is asking for help, isn't he indirectly admitting that he cannot win without him? This approach made Goering greatly satisfied, and he immediately asked the paratroopers to gather and prepare for the airdrop.
The weather gradually began to deteriorate that day, and the wind and waves on the sea became stronger and stronger. Although Dönitz's wolves could not be as unscrupulous as yesterday, they still found many opportunities for sneak attacks. On this day, the British and French forces successfully retreated 10,000
Of the seven thousand people, three thousand people fell on the beach, and tens of thousands more were drowned at the bottom of the sea. After all, under the water in winter, there are not many people who can persist until the British fleet rescues them. If it is summer, there will be
It's much better. You know, in the great evacuation in history, about half of the sunk troop carriers had about half of the people who persisted until the end and waited alive until other rescue ships.
Hitler in the rear looked at the frantic rescue efforts of the British and French forces in front and became anxious, but he had no choice but to look at the stalemate at Dunkirk. Fortunately, everything was still in favor of Germany.
The next day it was foggy and the plane could not take off, but Dönitz's wolf pack was active on the sea. The British rescued nearly 20,000 people that day, but nearly 20,000 people were killed or buried at the bottom of the sea.
On the fourth day of the great retreat, there was heavy fog, but the battle on the sea and under the sea became more intense, and transport ships were sunk every hour.
On the fifth day, the weather was clear, and Göring, who was already prepared, gave an order, and a brigade of German paratroopers descended from the sky under the rising sun. The British and French allied forces on the ground were stunned when they saw the German paratroopers who were like soldiers and generals from heaven. These paratroopers were dropped.
Between Dunkirk and the blocking position, Guderian did not miss this opportunity and immediately devoted all his strength to the assault. Unable to obtain the manpower support from Dunkirk, the defense line was finally broken through.
On the beach, they learned that the German army had broken through the defense line and the British and French forces, which were rapidly approaching Dunkirk, finally panicked. The air force covering them in the sky could no longer give them peace of mind, nor could the ships that kept coming from various places.
Feeling safe, when the first German tank appeared on the streets of Dunkirk, everyone ran to the beach like crazy, forcing the commander of the 1st Army Commander Alexander to ask the gendarmerie to bring out machine guns to fire
, only then did he suppress the frantic crowd. Alexander wanted to continue shooting, but a strong hand suppressed him. When he looked back, it was Montgomery.
Montgomery shook his head and said, "General, there is no chance anymore. The German troops are coming soon. They can escape one by one. The motherland still needs them to protect it."
Alexander looked at the wounded soldiers wailing everywhere on the beach, the dead bodies, the German planes that swooped down to shoot and drop bombs from time to time, and the chaotic troops. He suddenly covered his eyes, bent down, and started crying like a child.
This is the first time I feel so helpless about the situation.
Montgomery patted him on the shoulder and said, "General, we still have a chance. Please organize and assemble our officers and non-commissioned officers. They are the real soul of the army. I have asked the soldiers to protect a cruise ship. With it
, we can allow at least 3,000 non-commissioned officers and officers to return to the UK, and they can easily rebuild a force with combat effectiveness and experience."
Alexander raised his head after listening, nodded and said, "You are right, we still have a chance, I give you the right now, you can let anyone on the boat, or let anyone off the boat, including me...
.”
Montgomery nodded and said, "Okay! I will start organizing immediately."
What Montgomery didn't know was that his unit, composed entirely of non-commissioned officers and officers, would later become the largest asset rescued by the British in Dunkirk. At this time, Montgomery was just constantly pulling people with the rank of officers
The people were allowed to board the ship, and the soldiers were allowed to find a place to hide and wait for the Germans to surrender to them.
Hitler looked at the telegram, drank a cup of coffee with a smile, and said to Manstein and Goering next to him, "Our generals have done a good job. Guderian has rushed into Dunkirk with less than 100,000 people."
Escaped, the remaining 300,000 people were captured by us, ah... What I have a headache now is how many prisoner of war camps should be built to detain these gentlemen from the UK? Do you think they will want us?
What about the black tea from India?”
Victory allowed Hitler to make witty remarks easily. Although there were still millions of French troops in southern France and the Maginot Line, what did it matter? When to eat those dishes was just a matter of one's mood.
"My Führer, I'm afraid he doesn't have 100,000, so don't forget Dönitz's wolf pack." Manstein reminded Hitler.
"Yes! That's right... I'm afraid 50,000 would be good. Our air force sank most of their ships." Göring quickly said that the greatest contribution was actually made by the air force. Hitler nodded and did not say anything.
Yes or no, but said, "My generals, I can't wait to see the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. By the way, where do you think we should put the French surrender ceremony? Well... the last war
Where is that train now?"
"In Paris." Manstein said with a smile. As a German general, he hated that train very much. Naturally, he was happy to see Hitler humiliate France in this way.
Hitler was laughing, but Churchill was crying. Hitler didn't know how many people Britain had rescued. Churchill knew that the British and French forces rescued a total of 68,564 people from Dunkirk, of which nearly 20,000 were French, Belgian or
There are less than 50,000 people from other countries, and the British have lost all their army equipment, including 1,200 cannons, 750 anti-aircraft guns, 500 anti-tank guns, 63,000 cars, 75,000 motorcycles, and 700
Tanks, 21,000 machine guns, 6,400 anti-tank guns and 500,000 tons of military supplies. Even the richest British people felt great pressure. The sea and beaches were full of corpses of British and French troops. In later photos, the sea
The densely packed corpses were like hell. This miserable situation made people in Britain and France unwilling to eat sea fish for half a year. Even the fishermen lost the courage to go fishing. The scene of two or three corpses coming up after one net was really shocking.
It’s disgusting. No matter how hard Churchill tried to cover it up, the whole world still knew that the Dunkirk evacuation had become a tragedy. Hitler even claimed that Churchill was the culprit of this tragedy. The evidence was that all the British and French troops in the prison camp were
Live well and be able to return home and be with your family when the war is over.
But these are no longer what Churchill should be concerned about. What he needs to do now is to prepare for the next German attack-the attack on the British mainland.