。 The big offensive has begun!

The "Stukka" dive bombers carried out intensive bombing in all directions of propulsion, and the "Messerschmitt" fighters suppressed the British and French fighters.

The roads were flooded with refugees, and these helpless refugees were not only attacked by the Luftwaffe, but also by their own frightened and demoralized soldiers and gendarmes.

Soon, the refugees were cornered into a roadside trench by German tanks, and as they drove by, confident young German soldiers waved to them proudly.

Although the Germans rarely deliberately harmed fleeing civilians, they made the impression of absolute invincibility wherever they went.

By the evening of the same day, the German armored forces were only 19 kilometers away from Laon. French Defense Minister Daradier ordered a counterattack, but the French commander-in-chief, General Gammelin, replied that there were no reserves, because the main French forces were blocked on the Maginot Line on the flank.

At the same time, Ganmarin, declaring that he could no longer assume responsibility for the defense of Paris, ordered a complete withdrawal of the French troops in Belgium. Fortunately, these French orders were copied to Lord Gott, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, who ensured that the divisions of the British Expeditionary Force deployed at Dill would retreat together.

It was clear that the Allies were suffering a serious catastrophe and the French government was preparing to withdraw from Paris.

Similarly, London was politically paralyzed at this time - Winston Churchill had just succeeded Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister, and it was up to General Gott to decide whether to abandon France or risk the loss of most of the British expeditionary force in a last-ditch attempt to save the situation.

Faced with an impending disaster, Churchill flew to Paris on the evening of May 16. Previously, he had been awakened in his sleep by a phone call from French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud. Renault claimed: "We have failed! We failed! We lost this war! ”

Renault's phone call showed a general demoralization in France. Churchill's visit had two purposes, one was to cheer up the political core of France, and the other was to get a personal understanding of the real situation of the war. After hearing Ganmarin's question to him, "Where are the strategic reserves?" Churchill was visibly sad, and Gammelin's answer was "No!" But even so, Churchill refused to give up hope.

Frustrated, the French leaders were reluctant to adopt this viable plan, citing a lack of air power, and finally Churchill proposed that Britain would send all the Royal Air Force fighter squadrons to France for the defense of the homeland, and the plan was finally accepted by France. Even so, the development of the war seems to indicate that the Germans could reach the shores of the Channel or Paris within a few days, or even both. If this were the case, the British and French forces in the north would most likely face the fate of being disintegrated or even annihilated, unless a total ceasefire was reached.

Churchill returned to England the following morning, and his indomitable will had an effect on the French leadership, making them at least agree to organise some form of counterattack against the German vanguard, as he had proposed. However, the slow pace of the Allied plan meant that it would take four days to organize such a counterattack. Even so, the situation is still a mess. By the evening of 20 May, Guderian's armored men had reached Abwehr, the mouth of the Somme. At this time, the German front can be said to be the weakest, and if there is the best time for the Allies to attack the German army, it is at this time.

On May 21, four British infantry brigades and one tank brigade marched south from Arras

According to the plan, two French infantry divisions and one light mechanized division would provide support on each flank, and the French ** team of the same size would also attack from the south at the same time and eventually join up with the British army. …,

But as a result, only the British and French light mechanized divisions acted as required.

Indeed, their attack forced the German SS "Skeleton Division" to retreat sharply, and later, the SS "Skeleton Division" massacred 100 British prisoners of war at the Hotel Paradiso in Paris to vent their anger.

However, the British tank units soon discovered that the road to the attack was blocked by Rommel's 7th Panzer Division. Rommel attacked British heavy infantry tanks with 88 mm Flak guns, and actual combat showed that British tanks were extremely vulnerable to such small anti-tank weapons of the German army. After a brief exchange of fire, the German 7th Panzer Division drove the British back to their original positions and threatened to encircle them. Still, the battle was a source of concern for Rommel, at least!

By the evening of 23 May, Gort had ordered the British farther north to begin a retreat.

Two days later, the situation became even more urgent, and he had to quickly withdraw his troops to the Atlantic coast and to Britain.

Even then, it would save only a quarter of his troops.

In this way, he gave the necessary orders, in a self-responsible manner: the British 3rd Army retreated to the beaches on both sides of Dunkirk, the 1st Army retreated to control the western flank, with a French division to its right, and the British 2nd Army on the left, while the Belgian army took control of the eastern flank.

However, on 28 May, King Leopold of Belgium signed an armistice with Germany, and the Belgian army ceased to exist. In this way, a large gap appeared on the left flank of the British position.

The gap was closed overnight by the 3rd Infantry Division, led by Major General Montgomery, in an efficient maneuver operation carried out in extremely difficult conditions. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this operation saved the British expeditionary force. It was at this time that the gods of fate came to the aid of the allies. Hitler ordered the German Panzers to stop their advance, which gave the British a respite and time to organize the largest retreat in history:

"Operation Generator"!

Operation Dynamo was an attempt to rescue the British, as well as as many French troops, from the German encirclement.

More than 1,000 ships of all types participated in the rescue operation, ranging from the Royal Navy's anti-aircraft cruisers to small sampans. Driven by their owners, these ships sail from hundreds of small berths on the south bank or at the mouth of the Thames and cross the English Channel to the opposite shore. At least 250 ships were sunk by the Germans and many owners were killed or wounded, but the operation saved the lives of a large number of soldiers who formed the bulk of the Forces nouvelles. Before the start of the operation, the Allies' greatest wish was to rescue about 50,000 people, but in reality, during this 9-day miraculous operation, a total of 338226 people were evacuated to the British coast, of which, according to Churchill, more than 100,000 French troops.

On 31 May, Churchill returned to Paris and agreed with the French that the British would share the task of breaking off with the French, and that the French troops at Dunkirk would be withdrawn to Britain in the same proportions as the British troops.

At the time of the rescue operation, the French troops were engaged in heavy fighting with the Germans south of Dunkirk, and this force could no longer reach the sea.

At the end of the rescue operation, many of the soldiers who eventually reached the shore gave up the chance to escape, and the last fleet returned almost empty. A significant part of the French army who escaped quickly decided that they did not want to live in England and eventually chose to return to France, so that Churchill's good intentions were largely in vain.

However, for the British people, the escape of the main forces of the British expeditionary force at Dunkirk was a miracle. This greatly lifted the spirits of the people, and for this reason Churchill issued a much-needed warning to the people. "We have to be very careful not to call this rescue a victory." In a congressional report, he said, "Wars are not won by retreat. "But the Dunkirk miracle allowed Britain to continue fighting. …,

Part of Hitler's armored forces, despite the increasingly fierce resistance of the Allies in some areas, such as Normandy, turned westward, advancing at incredible speed to secure the Atlantic coast.

Other forces advanced southward, avoiding the Maginot Line altogether, leaving the more than 400,000 French troops guarding these useless fortifications bewildered and demoralized.

Once the Germans had occupied Dunkirk and the west coast of France as far as Abbeville and the mouth of the Somme, there was nothing left to stop the Germans from advancing south into the heart of France, except by Hitler's orders.

As early as May 29, the Führer told Rundstedt and Bock that his next plan was to "settle accounts with the French ** team". Britain can wait a little longer, or better yet, an agreement is reached. He believed that with Germany and its partners in control of Europe, Britain would eventually have to sue for peace.

As a result, long before the end of the Dunkirk retreat, Bock ordered his 18th Army to clear the remnants of the Belgian resistance and force its advance to the west, while at the same time instructing the rest of Army Group B to move south to seize the first-line positions on the Somme and fight side by side with the infantry and armored divisions approaching the coast of Rundstedt!

By 5 June, 10 armoured divisions of the two army groups had been redeployed into five armoured armies.

At dawn that day, guided by a dense group of bombers, two Panzer Corps set out from the bridgehead west of Amiens and advanced towards the Seine.

"Today, with the support of a powerful new type of military force, the second great offensive begins!" At the same time as Hitler announced, General Weygand also appealed to the French troops: "Let us use this as a source of unwavering determination as our country is being ravaged." The fate of the country and the future of your children depend entirely on your strength. ”

For an army in desperation, this is not the most motivating speech.

However, the "hedgehogs" that the French ** team hastily assembled around the strategic nodes selected by its commander also prevented the large-scale German attack for several hours, destroyed the German vanguard armored forces that entered the attack range, and forced the German commander to suspend the offensive and think about countermeasures.

"The resistance of the French army is intensifying," one German commander wrote in the report, "and the French army is fighting us with a new method of warfare!" ”