Six Hundred and Ninety-Nine Different Options

When Montgomery climbed out of the trench, there was a fire site lit by incendiary bombs about a hundred meters away. The fire was beating and burning near the building, and charred bodies and other craters could still be seen around.

He was pulled back by his subordinates to an underground headquarters that had been dug up in recent months to strengthen the defense of Alexandria. Before anyone could get back the damage report caused by the bombing, he heard the hoarse air defense alarm again. Someone rang it again, and the ear-piercing sound echoed in the sky, making people feel a kind of hopeless sadness in their hearts.

100 butcher bombers from Crete once again visited Alexandria. Although they still did not damage the port facilities, they dropped more bombs in other parts of the city. In terms of bomb load, the butcher bombers obviously There are much more than -217 bombers, so although the second bombing only used aerial bombs and no napalm incendiary bombs, the damage caused was not much less.

Collapsed buildings and rubble filled the streets and alleys. The originally spacious streets are now blocked by bricks and tiles. People are everywhere looking for the bodies of their relatives and friends in the ruins, crying and rummaging through the ruins. The rubble on the ground kept hovering around the still burning buildings.

The sound of explosions was still coming. It was the second explosion after some munitions and combustibles were affected by the bomb. From time to time, there would be a cloud of black smoke rising in the distance, and the entire periphery of the port was blown up. Ruins, only a few buildings were not destroyed by bombs.

When Montgomery came out of his basement headquarters again, the Alexandria he saw in his eyes seemed to be no longer the beautiful port he knew. There was thick smoke and rubble everywhere. Hell makes no difference.

Holding on to a section of sandbag with shrapnel stuck in it, he frowned and looked at the reddish sky. The German bombardment was still hitting the outskirts, one after another. Although it was not as loud as the explosion in the city, it was really dull. It's like hitting people's hearts. These distant explosions remind people all the time that the war is far from over, and everything is just the beginning.

When the city was greeted by overwhelming German bombers for a whole half a day, the British defenders outside the city were also terrified and worried about the situation of the friendly troops in the city, because the high-density bombing destroyed many telephone lines, leaving the front lines in many places The troops were unable to contact the rear headquarters and logistics department.

"Sir! There is chaos on the radio, there are calls for help and shouts everywhere, we have no way to contact General Montgomery." The radio operator raised his head and looked at the British division commander who was waiting anxiously. Another time, the two Next to a telephone, the staff officer and the operator also shook their heads helplessly.

The entire communication was in chaos, and the telephone line was probably blown or blown out. In short, the division headquarters could no longer contact the higher-level institutions such as the military headquarters and the army headquarters. It had just repelled an Italian attack.

Ammunition consumption has also reached a very worrying level.

The people who rushed to contact the supply department at the rear had already set off, and there is no news now. It seems that even if the huge supply station was not destroyed by the bombers, there is no manpower and energy to distribute the supplies requested by so many frontline troops. Replenishment.

"We can't wait like this any longer, and send someone to drive the remaining two trucks back! In any case, we must find some ammunition and come back, and we can put away the medicine and troop replenishment first!" After picking up the phone and finding no response from the receiver, he said helplessly to the teacher: "It seems that the loss in the port is greater than expected, and it is already in a state of collapse."

"The first batch of people sent out should have already arrived there, and it is estimated that they will bring back definite news soon." The teacher glanced at the burning city not far away, and then looked back at Italy flying in the distance. Jun Qi shook his head after sighing, and carefully looked at the map of the defense zone spread on the table.

At this point in the war, everyone knows that these soldiers are dying, and they are still struggling hopelessly for the British allies in other directions. The pace of progress, so as to win a trace of pitiful dignity for the tomorrow of the empire on which the sun never sets. At least now, almost all British people here understand that the future of Britain will no longer be a world power, it can only be regional, and will be jointly suppressed by allies and enemies.

But the war is still going on, their battle is not over yet, but at this moment, everyone is already desperate for their future, no one thinks that they can escape this catastrophe, no one thinks that they can wait until the end of the war alive .

Outside his command post, Montgomery saw some signal soldiers coming from the west and south. Many of them sent soldiers to find his whereabouts because the grassroots troops could not contact him. The city was in chaos, and few could remember that they had once had a commander named Montgomery. However, the signal soldiers worked hard to restore part of the communication and contacted some front-line troops. The outer battle continued. The bombing caused the British to lose several outer bunker garrison areas at once, which can be said to be a heavy loss.

"Shrink the defensive line! I will make a speech after the communication is restored." Montgomery looked at the soldiers who came to him, and finally opened his mouth a little tiredly. His voice was a little low, without the high pitch and spirit of so many days , seemed a little lonely and sad.

Beside him, the chief of staff reluctantly announced the loss of this bombing. The ammunition and weapons piled up on the site waiting to be distributed were almost destroyed. , almost one-half of the wounded died in the attack, and two-thirds of the medicines and beds were lost, so the shortage of medicines in general was even worse.

At least 5,000 wounded of various degrees and 900 soldiers died in this unprecedented bombing, and at least 7,000 civilians were killed in this catastrophe. What is even more sad is that tonight, there will be 5 more More than 10,000 people are homeless, and the situation here will be even more chaotic.

"Ammunition! The defense line in front needs more ammunition! Can someone help collect some ammunition?" A British military officer standing on a truck shouted loudly to the listless wounded squatting on both sides of the road. No one answered his calls, and the wounded sat there as if they had lost their souls, without saying a word.

Many Indians looked at the British soldiers on the truck in horror. The habit he had developed over the years made him accustomed to submitting to the British rule. Common sense told him that the British were powerful and could not be provoked. The bombs dropped by a plane with an Iron Cross painted on its wings were torn apart, and I saw these British soldiers crying for their father and mother to avoid the devastation of the German planes.

Some British soldiers handed over some spare ammunition in their hands, and some smarter and slightly wounded knew that they would probably not find a place to sleep in the city tonight, so they boarded trucks and returned to the front line as supplementary soldiers, at least there There is also a trench sheltered from the wind, which is much safer than inside the city-as for danger, how can it not be dangerous here?

So a few rounds of bullets were thrown onto the truck, as if they were giving alms, but more people were indifferent. The scene looked a little chaotic, and even a little bit out of control. In the end, a few soldiers from the logistics supply carried two The arrival of a box of ammunition and the addition of a machine gun on an armored vehicle stabilized the morale of the army that was on the verge of collapse.

"There is not much ammunition. I don't know if the Germans and Italians will launch a night battle, but I can only promise that you will restore normal ammunition supplies tomorrow morning. After all, it is too chaotic here now. Some underground ammunition depots have been destroyed. It was blown up, and some were buried, and we need time to clean it up." The leading logistics officer pointed to the place where smoke and explosions were still smoking not far away, and explained that he was already too busy to find his way, but he still couldn't Satisfy the soldiers who come to apply for ammunition supplies in various positions.

Montgomery, who was standing aside, looked at everything in front of him, feeling like a knife was twisting his heart. He had fought for his ideals and persistence here for so long, but today he realized that all of this was just a pitiful struggle. Churchill smashed Britain into ruins for his persistence, and the century-old empire collapsed overnight, but he was still obsessed with this road, and turned another place into a piece of scorched earth.

"Go back! If the communication is restored in the evening, I will give everyone an explanation!" Montgomery seemed to have made up his mind, glanced at the position of the sun, and then said to the surrounding soldiers: "No one should bear all this , it is time to end this senseless war."

After all, my choice is different from that of Churchill! With these words silently in his mind, Montgomery turned around and walked back to his air defense bunker, and then he issued an order to call all the division commanders of the entire 9th Army to the headquarters for a meeting, and then spread the astonishing news that the British troops would surrender in the evening information.

Then the British special envoy rushed to the German positions for consultations, and then rushed back to his own defense line in the fastest time, bringing back the news that Rommel accepted the conditional surrender. Rommel promised that the British soldiers could return home instead of Sent to horrible concentration camps.