Chapter 351 France Don’t Cry Thirty-Six

"We must be very careful not to describe this rescue as a victory. War is not won by retreat. However, there is a victory in this rescue, and this should be noted. This victory was obtained by the Air Force. The returning Many soldiers never saw our Air Force's activities; they only saw enemy bombers escaping our Air Force's cover attack. I heard a lot of talk about this: So I want it now. Let me digress to talk about this matter, and here is the reason why I must tell you about it.

This was a major test of the strength of the British and German air forces. Can you imagine any greater purpose than the Luftwaffe's purpose of making our retreat from the beaches impossible and of sinking all the thousands of ships that crowded there? Apart from this, what is the greater military importance and significance for the purpose of the entire war? They tried their best, but they were repulsed; they were frustrated in the execution of their mission. We withdrew the army; the price they paid was four times the damage they inflicted on us..."

On May 1, 1940, on a plane flying from London to Paris, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was listening to a recording of his speech while smoking an extra-long cigar.

He somewhat admired his ability to discover favorable factors. He was actually able to discover "hidden victory" from a complete military disaster - the exchange rate of 1:4 is nonsense. The Royal Air Force really needs to have such ability. , then there is no need to withdraw the expeditionary force.

Even according to Royal Aviation's own report, the exchange ratio between the two sides was around 1:1. This was not an aircraft-to-aircraft exchange ratio, but included enemy aircraft shot down by ground fire and surface fleet fire - and those Enemy aircraft also caused great losses to British ships on the sea. During the ten-day retreat, as many as 85 ships were sunk by aircraft alone, 8 of which were destroyers full of officers and soldiers (the British battleships were patrolling near the British coast during the day, so there were no were attacked by airstrikes), and 55 other ships were damaged.

In addition, the incoming enemy aircraft were not all BF-109s and Fokker Zeros, but also included a large number of bombers and torpedo attack aircraft. The Royal Air Force dispatched all fighter jets (mainly Spitfires and Hurricanes). In this case, they only achieved an exchange ratio of 1:1, which only shows that air superiority is still on the side of Germany.

But Germany's advantage is not overwhelming. If the air battle was carried out over the British mainland, even if the exchange ratio was 1:1, the Royal Air Force would have a chance to defeat the German Air Force. Because there is a high chance that a downed British pilot can escape by parachuting, while a German pilot will be captured after parachuting over the UK.

And after several months of confrontation, the Royal Air Force has found the weaknesses of the Fokker Zero and BF-109. The former has poor high-altitude performance and dive performance, while the latter has too short a range and poor mid- and low-altitude combat performance. The two fighters can indeed overwhelm the Spitfire when fighting together over the European continent, but when the battlefield shifts to the British mainland, the short range of the BF-109 will become a fatal weakness. Once the BF-109 is unable to exert its power, the Fokker Zero will not be difficult to deal with.

In addition to the "victory" achieved by the Royal Air Force that made Churchill happy, the hundreds of thousands of empty-handed expeditionary officers and soldiers who withdrew from Belgium also gave Churchill a little more confidence. With these officers, non-commissioned officers and veterans who have been baptized by the fire of war, coupled with the large amount of arms purchased from the United States, the British Army can quickly recover.

It was precisely with these two trump cards that Churchill dared to make bold statements in his speech, declaring: "Although we have lost this battle, we will never surrender or surrender. We will fight to the end, and we will fight in France." , we will fight on the sea, we will fight in the air with confidence! We will become stronger as we fight, and we will never surrender at any cost, even if our island or most of this island is occupied by the enemy. and starved, (which I never believed would happen), our overseas empire, armed and protected by the British fleet, would also fight on..."

With a snap, Hirschman pressed the switch of a Telefunken tape recorder, and the very clear sound of Churchill's speech suddenly stopped. In the headquarters conference room at No. 73 Wilhelmstrasse, everyone except Hessmann had a contemptuous smile on their faces.

"Hahaha, this Churchill must be crazy." Hermann Goering, who had gained a lot of weight probably because he was in a good mood during this period, suddenly laughed, "The British are so pitiful, they are going to lose their lives because of this Churchill their empire.”

Hitler also laughed and spread his hands. "He must be delusional. We never wanted to invade. At least we won't attack the British mainland in 1940 and 41." He looked at Hersman. "is that so?"

"We plan to launch an attack and occupy the British mainland in 42 years," Hersman said. "Before that, we will use a submarine blockade to deal with Britain."

In fact, there is currently a copy of the "Sea Lion Project" to invade Britain in the General Staff Archives, but Hessman does not intend to actually implement this very risky plan.

"We can also use airplanes for bombing," Hermann Goering suggested, "We have many bombers, and we also have Focke-Zeros that can perform escort missions. In addition, Focke and Focke-Wulf have jointly developed the Fw-190, an air-cooled fighter with excellent performance. This aircraft can have a range of more than 1,200 kilometers after adding droppable fuel tanks. It can completely replace the BF-109 and Focke-Zero to protect the bomber group to attack the British mainland. The Air Force has already placed an order, and the production lines of Focke and Focke-Wulf are ready. Starting from May, the monthly output will reach 60 aircraft."

Due to the dual promotion of the Keynes Plan and the Soviet-German cooperation, Germany had a huge civil aviation industry before rearmament. It has developed to a considerable aircraft production capacity now, and has sufficient accumulation in air-cooled engine technology. Therefore, the Fw-190 and Focke-Zero can be designed and put into mass production in a relatively short period of time.

However, Hersman still opposed the air raid on Britain. He shook his head and said, "Herman, didn't you hear what Churchill said? Even if the homeland fell, the British would continue to fight... unless we can destroy the Royal Navy used to protect the British overseas empire.

Therefore, there is no shortcut to conquering Britain. The only way is to strengthen our navy. In addition to working hard to integrate the European shipbuilding industry and speed up shipbuilding, we can obtain the French Navy's main battleships. As long as we can get two nearly completed "Richelieu" class and two "Dunkirk" class, we can defeat Britain."

...

The two nearly completed "Richelieu" class and two "Dunkirk" class are now Churchill's concerns. They are now in Toulon Port. They are protected by coastal artillery, D.520 fighters and dozens of anti-aircraft guns.

Although Cunningham, commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, promised that they could be sunk or severely damaged, Churchill still felt that it would be best to resolve it peacefully - after all, the impact of stabbing an ally is very bad, so Churchill figured out the route of "peaceful unification" of France. But to be honest, Churchill was not sure whether the French government would accept this "British-French unification" national salvation plan.

At an airport protected by anti-aircraft guns outside Paris, Churchill had not had time to tell Paul Reynaud, who came to greet him, about the proposal of "British-French unification" before he heard bad news from the latter.

"Prime Minister, they have begun to attack Paris!" Paul Reynaud said, "To the northeast of Paris, the positions of the 10th Army between the coast and the Oise River are under fierce attack. In the direction of Reims in the middle, the German armored forces are advancing towards the Marne River. And on the southern front, there is also an armored group advancing towards Dijon."

"Mr. Prime Minister, I just thought of a plan to save France... Let's talk about it in the car, okay?"

Churchill was not surprised by the new attack launched by the German army. The French have completely collapsed. When will the Germans wait for a ruthless move? Now the only way to save France is probably to merge with Britain.

"What? The merger of Britain and France?" Paul Renault was very surprised when he heard the news in the car. He looked at Churchill with his mouth wide open, and it took a long time for him to come back to his senses.

Renault asked: "Does Britain want to build a strong European community like Germany?"

"No such thing," Churchill shook his head and took a puff of cigarette. "Britain has never had the idea of ​​unifying Europe. This plan is just to unite Britain and France more closely to jointly fight Germany's ambitions. As long as we defeat Germany, we can immediately achieve separation."

Paul Renault was slightly disappointed when he heard this. The British never want to be true Europeans, nor do they want to see the unification of Europe. They only want a divided and powerless Europe. If it weren't for the British, Emperor Napoleon would have unified Europe long ago, and France would not have had the misfortune today.

"Well, this is indeed a way," Renault nodded, "I will try to persuade other members of the cabinet and leaders of various parties in parliament. But I can't guarantee success. If everyone opposes the merger and we can't continue to fight, can France make peace with Germany alone?"