Chapter 347 France Don’t Cry 32

Outside of Paris, Vincennes Castle, Allied General Headquarters.

Paul Reynaud arrived at 1 pm on April 25th and announced the bad news that the Kingdom of Belgium had asked for peace with Germany. The war room was suddenly silent, and everyone looked ashen, as if the end of France had come.

I don’t know how long it took before I heard the 74-year-old Admiral Weygand say in a hoarse voice: "Mr. Prime Minister, we must save the 1st Army and the 7th Army trapped in Dunkirk... They are the spark of French resistance."

Similar to the situation faced by Britain, France is now extremely short of experienced officers and non-commissioned officers. The French 1st Army and the 7th Army have now retreated to the Gravelines and Dunkirk area, with a 30-kilometer coastline behind them for a desperate resistance.

Along the Maginot Line, the main forces of the French 2nd Army (most of which were annihilated), 3rd Army, 4th Army, 5th Army and 8th Army (a small number of troops were evacuated from each army) were cut off by the German army, and were also attacked by the infantry of the German Army Group A and Army Group C. It was only a matter of time before the whole army was annihilated.

In addition, the 9th Army and most of the 2nd Army of the French Army no longer exist. Of the 10 French armies formed before April 10, only the 10th Army is left to defend Paris. In addition, there are several divisions of "old troops" with combat effectiveness in the newly built 6th Army. The rest are recruits with serious inadequacies in training and equipment. If there are not enough officers, NCOs and veterans as the backbone, and the troops are formed entirely of recruits, they will be easily crushed by the powerful German army.

"Let them retreat from the sea and leave the port of Dunkirk..." Paul Reno said with a gloomy face. "I will discuss this with Prime Minister Churchill. But we must also prepare for the worst. If the troops cannot be withdrawn, how many combat-capable divisions can we organize?"

Can't be withdrawn? Maxime Weygand was stunned and looked at Renault and said, "Prime Minister, do you mean we can't withdraw many people?"

"Maybe none of them can be withdrawn!" Renault said, "If that's the case, can we still fight? How many troops can we take out in early May?"

"No one can be withdrawn?" Maxime Weygand was stunned by Renault's words. He didn't say a word for a long time. After a long time, he stammered, "Then, then we can still piece together about 50-60 divisions, and we will have so many troops before May 10... But those are troops with extremely poor combat effectiveness."

France still has a lot of new recruits in training. There are nearly 3 million new recruits on the books, as well as many machine soldiers and logistics soldiers. It is no problem to form another 100 divisions. However, troops lacking both equipment and backbones are cheap cannon fodder on the battlefield. There is no meaning except to make the French nation bleed more.

"I know," Renault nodded, "I know... I will negotiate with the British. You should form an army as soon as possible and deploy a battle to defend Paris. Whether there are enough officers and non-commissioned officers or not, we must defend Paris."

...

"Mr. Prime Minister, please rest assured that Britain will never abandon its allies. The British Royal Navy will do its utmost to help the French troops in Dunkirk retreat. What you have to do now is to hold on, hold on, and hold on again!"

British Prime Minister Churchill made a promise to the French Prime Minister on the phone. After hanging up the phone, he said to Admiral Pound, the First Sea Lord sitting opposite him: "We don't have the ability to save the French, right?"

The admiral nodded helplessly. "Yes, our own people don't have time to withdraw. Now the Belgians have surrendered. We don't have much time left..."

The Belgian army was originally in the southeast of the British army, blocking the German Army Group B attacking from the east. Once the Belgians surrendered, the German Army Group B would soon kill the British army.

"Do everything we can to save the expeditionary force," Churchill said, puffing on a cigar, "rescue as many as we can."

"So...what about the French?" Pound asked, "Should we save them?"

"Of course, of course we have to save them," Churchill smiled bitterly, "If we don't save them, they will surrender, and then the expeditionary force will be really finished."

"But we don't have so many ships..."

Churchill waved his hand and said, "Whether to save or not is one thing, and whether we can save them is another. Admiral, do you understand what I mean?"

Whether to save or not is a matter of attitude, and whether we can save them is a matter of ability. The British Empire has limited capabilities now, but it still tries its best to save French soldiers.

"Mobilize fishing boats and private yachts to pick up people on the beaches of Dunkirk," Churchill puffed on a cigar and instructed, "We must make the French feel that the British people are doing their best to rescue them."

Using fishing boats and yachts to rescue people looks lively, but in fact, few people can be rescued. This is just to show an attitude to the French.

Churchill held a cigar in his mouth, puffed out a few puffs of white smoke, and then asked Pound: "Where are the French fleets?"

"All concentrated in Toulon," Admiral Pound replied. "It is a heavily defended port. The French also deployed several fighter squadrons equipped with D.520 there, saying that they are guarding against the Italians..."

"That's to protect us!" Churchill snorted a few times and said angrily, "The Germans spread rumors that the Royal Navy would attack the French Navy to prevent their ships from falling into German hands."

"Prime Minister, now that the French are on guard, are we..." Admiral Pound knows what the defense at Toulon Port is like. There are many strong coastal forts there, equipped with hundreds of large-caliber artillery, and battleships. The naval guns were unable to do anything to the port of Toulon. The D.520 is a very difficult fighter to deal with. The F2A Buffalo on the British aircraft carrier may be difficult to deal with them.

Churchill shook his head and said: "We have to believe in General Cunningham, he will definitely find a way."

…

"Now the Roman Empire and the German Empire stand together!"

Berlin, Wilhelmstrasse 73. At the headquarters meeting held on the afternoon of the 25th, Hitler, who had just returned from Rome, said happily: "The British Empire's rule in North Africa will soon fall apart! Mussolini told me that he had deployed two troops on the African continent. One army group is in Northeast Africa, with 300,000 people; the other is in North Africa, with 240,000 people. The British troops there are very weak, with a total of less than 100,000 people, so Italy's victory in Africa is useless. It’s suspenseful! It seems that our original prediction was not very accurate...The Italians are well prepared for the war!"

Before Hitler went to Rome, he was not very optimistic about Italy's expansion prospects in the Mediterranean. However, when he learned that Mussolini had prepared 540,000 troops in Africa, he immediately changed his view.

That's 540,000 Italian troops! (Not all of them are Italians, many are colonial troops) and the opponent is only 100,000 British troops (there are also colonial troops), almost 5 against 1, victory is certain. After all, the British army's performance in the Battle of France was quite weak, and it was impossible to defeat the Italians who were five times their size.

The victory of the Italian army in North Africa meant that the Suez Canal fell into German and Italian hands. By then the British Mediterranean Fleet will be unable to gain a foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean at least. Their existence in the Western Mediterranean depends on Spain's willingness to join the war - this is not a big problem in Hitler's opinion. As long as North Africa and the Mediterranean fall into Italian hands, Spain has no reason to watch Gibraltar for Britain.

Once Gibraltar is captured by Spanish or German-Italian forces, Britain will have no foothold in the Mediterranean.

In this way, Turkey (Turkey is also pro-German, but they are very afraid of Britain, but if the entire Mediterranean is controlled by Germany and Italy, Turkey will not even be able to see the "face" of Britain, so naturally there is nothing to fear) will fall to Germany and Italy!

At that time, the German army will be able to march into the Middle East through land routes, and Iraq and Iran, two oil-producing countries that are already very pro-German, will soon become vassals of Germany.

After taking over Iraq and Iran, the oil problem that had been stuck on Germany's neck was solved, and the door to the Indian Ocean was completely opened. If Germany could further liberate India, then the German Empire would undoubtedly win the war.

"We are going to win!" Hitler said in a cheerful tone. "In a few months at most, Britain will pray to us for peace. If they are still stubborn, I will send troops to liberate India. If India is lost, the British Empire will not be able to win." The complex also exists.”

"Leader," Hessmann was not infected by Hitler's optimism at all. He shook his head and said, "We should not have too much hope in the combat effectiveness of the Italians. They are likely to fail in Africa."

"I know the Italians don't have much fighting power," Hitler waved his hand, "but a five-fold advantage is still enough for them to defeat the British. Besides, we will also provide some help to Italy. Mussolini has promised to let our planes enter Rana. The airport.”

Defense Minister Marshal Schleicher was also very optimistic. He smiled and said to Hersmann: "Ludwig, I think in the next stage, our main task is to solve the Balkan issue... Our goal is to produce products in the Middle East. To get there, we must go through the Balkans and Turkey. In order to prevent the Roman Empire from becoming stronger in the past, we must control Turkey before Mussolini and open up the road to Iraq and Iran. At the same time, we must also prepare for conflict with the Soviet Union. Prepare!”