There is an old saying in the East, which is that if you keep the green hills, you will not have to worry about having no firewood.
There is also a proverb in the West that if you stop the loss in time, it will not be considered a complete failure.
Of course, no matter how justified these words are, running away is running away. Even if you change the term and call it retreat, in its essence, it is still running away. No matter how disciplined and organized the retreat is, it is still running away.
However, Churchill can't control that much now. In his eyes, a "strategic shift" of 200,000 elite British Expeditionary Forces is much better than 200,000 elite troops being wiped out by the Germans on the French mainland.
You know, at the beginning they sent this expeditionary force to fight in France with the belief that they would win. The 3rd Division and the 50th Division were both meritorious divisions in the traditional sense, the most elite in the British Empire.
The other eight divisions are all first-class divisions in the British Army and are the backbone of the British Empire's power on the road.
This was originally a luxurious lineup used by the British to prop up their appearance, and was used as material for publicity and bragging after victory. However, after the main force of the coalition forces was captured and fell into a desperate situation; Belgium fell and the German army approached the core area of France, no one could be more optimistic.
People who dare not talk about victory anymore.
A few days ago, that stupid French commander Gamelin actually tried to get the Royal Air Force of the British Empire to put more aircraft into their bottomless pit, using the sacrifices and losses of the Royal Air Force to restore the corrupt situation.
Stupid! Unfathomably stupid!
Now that the Allies have lost the chance of winning, every member country will definitely find a way out for its own future. Belgium has no way to escape, and the battlefield is on its own soil, so it can only drag its incomplete army to continue to bleed and sacrifice.
.
The French continue to trick the British into sending them planes, aren't they trying to gain a slim chance of survival for their country?
As for the British Empire, they knew that the defeat of the Allied Forces was certain, but they still sent a damn fighter plane to the French mainland. It was too late to withdraw the 200,000 elites who had already invested it into the country!
Churchill was very lucky. Fortunately, he knew how to deceive Gamelin and deceived him into talking about transporting people out of the encirclement and then placing them outside the encirclement. In fact, he was not referring to the outside of the encirclement, but the French rear.
It's native to the UK.
Of the 200,000 elite expeditionary force, it is estimated that there are only about 150,000 left. If we do not withdraw, there will be even less left. Therefore, Churchill not only decided to withdraw, but also to withdraw as many as possible.
He had already deceived Gamelin with a half-truth and half-false "Generator Plan", claiming that the French would send part of their troops to cooperate with the remaining Belgian troops to block the German pursuers on the periphery. The main force of the British Expeditionary Force would fight with the French.
Together with the main force of the army, they took the opportunity to withdraw from the three ports of Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk on the French coast to the outside of the German encirclement at a rate of 10,000 people per day.
The reason why this plan is said to be half true and half false is that it conceals an important part from the coalition commander-in-chief Gan Molin - the whereabouts of the retreating British troops!
In the plan Gamelin saw, Britain concentrated all maritime transport vessels including barges, tugboats, cargo ships, passenger ships, fishing boats, motorboats and even private yachts. It deployed 1 cruiser and 8 military vessels from the Royal Navy.
Under the cover of the destroyer and 26 modified warships including the "Longling", they carried out the withdrawal operation together with a large number of ferries collected from the French civilians. (In fact, there are only 25 modified warships left, because the "Longling"
It had been destroyed by Lengerheimer with a Panther tank at Pronaigang, but the news had not spread yet.)
The above parts all exist in the real plan.
The hidden part is in the second half of the stanza.
The first troops to be evacuated are all officers and soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force. They will return directly to the British Isles and become part of the British Empire's defense force again. Only after the British troops have almost withdrawn will they start to fight for the French outside the encirclement.
The destination for transporting troops is also the British Isles.
After that, the British Empire will send those French troops who are willing to return to France to fight in France. Troops who are unwilling to return to France are also allowed to join the British Empire's local defense force sequence, and the British Empire will pay them and provide them with housing.
Part of the British Armed Forces.
Blatant poaching!
Bringing the troops that France uses to defend the motherland to Britain to serve as Britain's defense force. For France, this is tantamount to betrayal! For the three-nation coalition in desperate situation, it is even worse!
However, this is beneficial to the United Kingdom. It is reasonable for any country in the alliance to consider retreat in a crisis, at least from their own country's perspective!
In war, there is not so much justice. In an alliance, the interests of one's own country are always higher than the interests of allies.
Everything will be tested by war, including selfishness, greed, stupidity, meanness, cowardice, and viciousness.
Churchill, who planned all this, knew very well that since the French ally had lost the glory and power of the world's largest army in the war test, Britain, as an ally, had an excuse to abandon this ally that had lost its use value.
If adding insult to injury could make things better for the British Empire, then it would become a matter of course.
These adding insult to injury were the parts that the British Ministry of Defense concealed from the Allied Forces Command, but they were also the parts that were tacitly known to the entire top brass of the British War Cabinet.
Under the leadership of Churchill, these British leaders have realized that the French battlefield is no longer the place where World War II could end as they had previously imagined, let alone the place where the Third Reich could fall.
This is a protracted war, and the elite British Expeditionary Force with at least 150,000 troops left is really important to the British Empire!
The Empire on which the Sun Never Sets is no longer as invincible as it was a few decades ago. This seemingly behemoth superpower had already gone downhill during the war decades ago.
Why is the UK trying so hard to provoke other countries into confrontation and tirelessly playing with its European balance of power policy? And why in such an important European final battle, the majestic British Empire can only come up with a measly 200,000-strong army.
The expeditionary force relied on French and Belgian forces to fight the German army?
The reason is simple - Britain has reached a point of decline!
The victory of World War I did not bring the British Empire the revitalization and prosperity imagined. In terms of economy, Britain changed from a creditor country before the war to a debtor country after the war. The international financial center was transferred from London, England to New York, United States.
The world political and military hegemony of the "Empire on which the Sun Never Sets" has ceased to exist in name only.
Especially in the last World War, British merchant ships suffered heavy losses due to attacks by German submarine forces, which severely damaged its shipping industry and led to a decline in British trade volume. What is even more serious is that Britain's previous economic lifeline, that is, its colonies, has
On the eve of World War II, there were already a lot of out-of-control phenomena.
Norway's defeat has dealt a blow to the declining empire, and directly contributed to the resignation of former British Prime Minister Chamberlain. If the expeditionary force once again staged a disastrous defeat like the Norwegian battlefield on the French mainland... this
The so-called superpower will surely be the first to collapse in morale!
Thinking of this, Churchill became even more convinced of the necessity of what he was doing. Sitting in the office, the new fat prime minister of the British Empire grabbed the phone on the corner of the table with his fleshy right hand and issued a document for treason.
Covering order: "Inform Gamelin that the Royal Air Force will provide them with a new batch of troops to support them. This batch of air force troops will be used for the "Generator Project", and their army must also take it.
Be more motivated. Yes! Everything is for the alliance!"
