News of Lütjens' victory at Narvik quickly spread throughout Europe. Everyone was shocked by the Third Reich's bold attack.
The news of the invasion of Norway by the British and French forces and the news of the German surprise attack on the British fleet came one after another, only one day apart.
What is even more dramatic is that the day before, the British army was still celebrating that they had captured the important town of Narvik in Norway. However, the next day, they became the target of Narvik and were attacked by the German army. The people were surprised to find that,
In this unpredictable world war, even a superpower like Britain cannot win every war.
It has to be said that the blow of the German High Seas Fleet was really accurate and ruthless. After the British army in the northern division had just achieved a tactical breakthrough, the maritime supply line behind them was abruptly cut off.
Although Lütjens's fleet did not stop at Narvik, they looted all the supplies stored by the British Expeditionary Force in Narvik. Without subsequent supplies, the British division fighting on the front line would have to
Change your combat strategy and wait for the next batch of supplies to arrive, or go south as soon as possible to join another British and French expeditionary force group with abundant supplies.
In a surprise attack, Britain lost not only the invincible myth built by the Royal Navy over the years, but also the supplies and morale of the current expeditionary force.
In response to the great victory at sea, the German Foreign Ministry, contrary to its sluggish state in the past three months, suddenly made an effort under Ribbentrop's arrangement and spoke righteously:
"Germany strongly condemns the behavior of Britain and France that blatantly violates international conventions and tramples on the sovereignty of neutral countries, and expresses sympathy and support for the Norwegian government. Germany and Norway have a profound historical friendship. Germany will never sit back and watch Norway be destroyed in a crisis.
The world's justice will not be allowed to be trampled on. Germany is willing to support the great and strong Norwegian people to resist the invaders to the end. German soldiers will work with the Norwegian army to resist foreign enemies and safeguard justice, whether on sea, land or in the sky!
"
Reinhard also delivered a national address on the radio, expressing Germany's determination to assist Norway in fighting the British and French forces:
"Just yesterday, the British and French forces, which have always regarded themselves as the righteous side, attacked and invaded Norway. There was neither a declaration of war nor an ultimatum, but British artillery shells suddenly fell like raindrops over the Norwegian port, and then the British and French forces launched a massive attack
Landing on Norwegian territory. An hour later, the British ambassador met with the Norwegian Foreign Minister and said that the two countries were in a state of war. But it was the same ambassador who had assured the Norwegians a month ago that Britain was a friend and almost an ally.
Germany is Norway’s enemy!”
"What an irony. A robber can confidently point at the police and say to the people: 'Look! This is the person who wants to harm you. I am the only one who can help you.' Yes, this is what Churchill and his cronies wanted.
Logic, this is the colonialist routine of the empire on which the sun never sets, arrogant and despicable!”
"Therefore, we are determined to eliminate Churchill and eliminate all traces of the colonial system. Nothing can make us change this determination! At this point, we will never negotiate! We will never negotiate with Churchill or any of his followers. We will
We will fight him on land; we will fight him on the sea; we will fight him in the air until he and his colonialism influence on the world are completely gone, until all the colonized and oppressed countries have ceased to exist.
Liberated from the yoke of the British Empire.”
“Any person or country that fights colonialism will receive our assistance. Any person or country that colludes with Churchill is our enemy. I advise the current British Prime Minister, Mr. Chamberlain, not to let Churchill do this.
Instigated by similar militants, go back to your original intention and the ideal of peace that we strive for together. As long as you are willing to stop, the peace agreement we signed in Munich will still be effective...
..”
"It is worth pointing out that just in the early hours of this morning, the Imperial Navy penetrated deep into the northern waters of Norway and sank 7 large British warships that violated, defiled and threatened to control Norwegian territorial waters with minimal losses, and captured two of them along the way.
Our troops also landed on the soil of Oslo this morning as allies, standing on the same front as the Norwegian people in the name of justice."
"However, this is only the beginning. If Britain cannot stop their violent behavior of bullying other countries and insists on going its own way. In that case, we will meet violence with violence and destroy the evil of the colonialists with force. This is not a class war, this is a
This is a war that affects the whole of Germany and our Allies, and all are involved in it, regardless of race, creed, or party affiliation."
"Today, I hereby announce that the Third German Reich officially declared war on Britain, and the Third German Reich officially declared war on France! We will fight together with all members of the anti-colonial Allies, and we will defend the freedom of every Allied member
and sovereignty!”
Since the beginning of the Battle of Poland, Britain and France both declared war on Germany. Germany, which had always avoided war, finally began to declare war on Britain and France. Not only did it declare war, Germany also seemed to have the tendency to form an alliance to fight together.
An Allied Powers led by the Third Reich, wouldn’t Churchill and the others have no choice but to form the Axis Powers in the future? Reinhardt, who was the first to register this good name, was secretly happy.
Of course, whether you can win in the end has nothing to do with what name you choose. Without an effective strategy, sufficient strength, and luck on the battlefield, even if you choose a name that defeats the Buddha Alliance, you won't be able to win a hundred battles in the end.
Yum.
Changing the name of the Axis Powers to the Allied Powers is just Reinhardt's personal bad taste and has no practical significance. What's more, this alliance still has few members.
Germany counts as one, Italy counts as one, Spain counts as half, and Norway will soon count as one. However, Romania, Finland, Bulgaria and other countries have not yet sided with Germany.
If France, which is known as the number one army in Europe and even the world, cannot be knocked out of the target, those who are really confident enough to follow Germany and shout slogans to fight imperial colonialism are probably the only countries like Norway that have been invaded and have no choice but to join.
.
...........
Faced with the constraints imposed by Germany's moral heights and the Royal Navy's first huge loss at Narvik, Chamberlain, as British Prime Minister, undoubtedly became a victim of Churchill's strategy.
The MPs strongly criticized the old man and his government who had made Britain lose trust in the world politically and disgraced the Royal Navy militarily. Many MPs even called for people who understand war to lead the British Empire and not to ruin the Royal Navy.
Basically, the implication was that until Admiral Churchill was recommended as Admiralty Secretary, many impatient MPs openly proposed to launch a vote of no confidence in the Chamberlain government.
On the other hand, as the instigator of this war, Churchill not only showed no regrets, but instead tried to further increase the scale of the war, quickly cooperating with the French army to occupy the entire territory of Norway, and using the most brutal means to end this turmoil. In this way
, it can also save some face lost to Narvik by the British Empire...
