With a buzz.

10 Downing Street.

Inside the Prime Minister's Office.

A fat man sat on the sofa chair with a cigar in his mouth and crossed his legs, humming a little song and looking leisurely.

It's fun inside and out.

"Prime Minister?"

Looking at the appearance of his own prime minister, the chief secretary did not understand.

Recently, the war situation in Europe has been very unfavorable, how can this master still be happy?

And, it doesn't seem to be the usual happiness?

Got the wrong medicine?

A month ago, the implementation of the Overlord plan, which had been planned for several years, began, and the coalition forces gathered more than 2 million troops, more than 5,000 warships, more than 5,000 transport ships, and more than 10,000 aircraft of various types.

Among them, there were more than 5,000 bombers alone, and before the plan was carried out, they also bombed the railway lines of Germany and France on a large scale, cutting off the arrival route of enemy reinforcements.

And a year ago, he began to release false information to confuse the already small number of defenders.

Be prepared.

At the beginning of the landing, almost everything went according to the planned outline, and even better than expected, the resistance of the Germans was minimal, all the beachheads were seized, and only minor problems arose in some places, such as the beaches of the Omah Sea.

This surprise has no effect on the bigger picture.

But the subsequent change was so sudden that he, the chief secretary, had not yet fully accepted it.

Ten days after the landing, nearly one million troops and equipment went ashore, the two artificial ports were operating at full speed, and the vanguard troops also gathered to gradually advance inland, and won a great victory at Saint-Sauvo, cutting off the Cotentan Peninsula and completely completing the initial plan of the Overlord Plan.

Everyone believed that the opening of a second battlefield had been successful, and the next step was to advance slowly, and that the remnants of the Germans were no longer able to stop the allied attack, and defeat was only a matter of time.

The unexpected struck suddenly.

The sudden outbreak of a magnitude 8 storm in the English Channel, the destruction of a large number of ships at the landing site, the almost halt of two artificial ports, and the loss of supplies on the front line, caused the army to suspend its offensive.

Of course, this is normal.

The weather itself is unpredictable, let alone the English Channel, where even the most experienced meteorologists, with the help of hundreds of years of observations of the Navy, cannot accurately predict what the weather will be like in the future.

After the incident, according to the speculation of the General Staff, although the storm greatly affected the progress of the plan, it was not a big problem, it was only delayed for a few days, and the Germans could not make waves at that point on the northern coast.

And then.

As soon as the staff report was sent to the headquarters, the unexpected came.

Taking advantage of the storm that caused the two artificial ports to be unloaded and the planes unable to take off, the Germans suddenly exerted their strength, and somewhere they pulled out ten armored divisions, a dozen infantry divisions, a total of 2,500 tanks, and hundreds of thousands of troops to launch a counterattack.

Relying on the mobility of the armored forces, the enemy, with inferior forces, crushed the Allied two-way army that penetrated deep into Cotentin in one fell swoop, surrounded and annihilated nearly 200,000 Allied troops, reopened the peninsula, and almost drove the landing force back to the landing site.

If it weren't for the fact that the air force took off to support during the storm, I am afraid that it would have been driven back to the landing site.

Moreover, during the support of the aircraft, it was also found that the other side not only had a large number of tanks, but also a large number of armored vehicles, half-track transport vehicles, and accompanying mobile anti-aircraft vehicles.

In particular, those anti-aircraft vehicles greatly strengthened the air defense capabilities of the armored divisions, which led to the loss of supporting fighters.

The enemy then strengthened the defenses of Cherbourg and established a defensive line to prevent the Allies from gaining access to the best port.

At this point, the Overlord plan has suffered a heavy blow, and all the plans have been planned.

After the incident, the intelligence department shouted that it was impossible, and immediately investigated, using all intelligence forces, but did not find out where these armored divisions came from, and where the tanks, armored vehicles, and fuel came from.

Even the allies on the Eastern Front had news that the Germans took out more than 5,000 tanks to launch a counterattack, also encircled and annihilated hundreds of thousands of troops, and advanced nearly 100 kilometers.

Suddenly, inexplicably.

The Germans stood up.

Seven and a half thousand five hundred tanks, as well as more than 20,000 armored vehicles, transporters, and fuel to support the mobility of these vehicles, were more than they had at their peak.

"Don't panic."

took a sip of a cigar, and the fat man's tone was calm:

"Everything is under control, we have an absolute advantage in strength, whether it is industrial capacity, economy, or population, and victory is still ours in the end."

"And."

"It's actually a good thing for you."

As he spoke, the fat man looked at the east side of the map hanging on the wall, still smiling very happily.

The war has been going on for three years, and even if the Germans suddenly broke out, producing enough tanks, planes, artillery, ammunition, and enough fuel, oh, and enough food, it is said that the basic food restrictions for civilians on the mainland side have been lifted, including the prisoners, and they will be able to eat enough.

Even, civilian fuel is slightly relaxed.

But so what?

On his side alone, that is, the Allied forces on the Western Front, there were more than 10 million troops.

The key point is that there are more than 10 million combat personnel, and if we include logistics, transportation, and so on, the number of people serving the battlefield is probably more than 25 million. And they can continue to be recruited.

And the Germans have lost at least three million people over the years, they have only a few allies, just a small population, and in the end, they can only win.

Can't lose.

Now, the Germans have suddenly stood up, and their side will indeed suffer some losses, but in comparison, the biggest loss is the north.

Two and a half thousand tanks and five thousand tanks, the combat effectiveness is noticeably different.

Now suffer a small loss, endure for a while, after the end, you can get greater benefits on your side, anyway, with the continuous arrival of material resources in the United States, the domestic contradictions have been basically alleviated.

"Understood."

Following the Prime Minister's line of sight, he thought for a moment, and as the chief staff officer, he suddenly understood.

Allies now cannot be allies forever, and according to the current situation, many allies now will inevitably be enemies in the future, and the Germans have nothing to fear.

Although he will suffer a little loss, others will suffer a greater loss, after all, the power in the east is not ordinary, and the more time passes, the more favorable the future situation will be for the belt.

Right now.

A secretary walked in and handed a copy of the latest battle report to the fat man with a cigar in his mouth:

"Prime Minister, this is the battle report from the front."

"Good."

The fat man took another sip, took the cigar in one hand, took the telegram in the other, and looked at it with a smile on his face.

In Operation Overlord, the total strength of the coalition army was 2.88 million troops, and the previous accident during the storm, the Germans advertised that they had annihilated more than 200,000 prisoners, but in fact only lost 150,000 troops.

It's just drizzle.

There is also the equipment of several armored divisions, which is not a big problem at all, although the national strength with the belt cannot be quickly replenished, but there are still Americans, and it can be replenished in a few weeks.

Now there are not many German submarines left in the Atlantic.

After the storm had passed and the port was repaired, the fat man could not wait to push for a second attack.

Target Cherbourg.

As long as this excellent port is captured, the coalition forces will be completely invincible, and then they can advance slowly. The same number of troops is not too large, then double, triple, or even more.

As for whether the Germans would hold back the occupation of the coalition forces, the fat man was not at all worried about this.

This offensive was a three-dimensional operation, with nearly 1,000 fighters bombing intensively, covering and cutting off all enemy supply lines in the vicinity, and a fleet composed of more than a dozen capital ships, more than 20 cruisers, and dozens of destroyers suppressed defensive firepower.

At the same time, the ground forces sent two army groups to attack, including five armored divisions alone, with a total of 1,500 tanks.

In that part of Cherbourg, counting the surrounding troops, the enemy had only twelve divisions, and lacked strong fortifications and no shore artillery, although there was intelligence that the Germans were repairing, but it was impossible to have time in less than a month.

What do they keep?

It's just that as soon as he saw the battle report, the fat man's smile suddenly froze, and the cigar in his hand fell to the ground without knowing it.

"Is this true?"

He couldn't help but ask the staff officer who had sent him.

The fat man wanted to ask, was this a joke made by anyone?

Nearly 100 warships, nearly 1,000 aircraft, hundreds of thousands of ground troops, attacking only one Cherbourg, more than five times the strength of the defenders, attacked for a day in a row, and actually failed.

That's all there is to it.

And the attacking forces suffered heavy losses.

The capital ships were generally lightly damaged, only five were intact, and the heavy cruisers suffered huge losses, two were sunk, five were heavily damaged, and the rest were all wounded, as for the light cruisers and destroyers, the losses were even more outrageous, with more than ten sunk ships and more than fifteen heavily damaged, and the rest were all wounded.

It's even more outrageous than fighting a decisive battle.

The losses of the air force were not small at all, more than 370 of the 1,100 attacking planes, a loss rate of more than 30 percent.

There were also ground forces, which also lost more than five hundred tanks and suffered almost fifty thousand casualties.

How is this possible!

The fat man didn't believe it at all.

But if someone jokes with him on such an important matter, and the fat man doesn't believe it, who would dare to do that? Unless it is the lame man, this is obviously impossible, but if this is true, it means that his judgment of the situation has been seriously wrong, and the future development of the situation will be completely unpredictable.

It's like when you came to retreat.

That's not a good thing.

The entanglement and panic in his heart made the fat man stop thinking for a while.

"Prime Minister."

At this time, the head of an intelligence department walked in, and knowing that the prime minister could hardly believe the news of the defeat, he personally came to explain, and said to the fat man:

"The war reports are all true."

"Our offensive has suffered a major defeat."

"Why?!"

The appearance of the head of the intelligence department made the fat man accept the reality, he was worthy of the prime minister, and after taking a few deep breaths, he regained his reluctance to calm down, but he still did not understand.

How is this possible!

Even if you fail, how can you lose so much.

Are the Germans so fierce?

Why didn't you find it before? Didn't Montgomery drive that Rommel around in North Africa?

"Many of the enemies have exceeded our expectations."

The head of intelligence replied:

"According to the battle reports from the front, I found that the Cherbourg area already has a very complete system of defensive fortresses. There are groups of solid concrete fortresses, large-caliber shore defense guns, multi-level anti-aircraft fire networks, and long-range cannons of various calibers. ”

"A well-established complex of concrete fortresses."

The fat man's brows were furrowed at that time.

Group!

And it's perfect.

In less than a month, no, only half a month to be exact, this little time, to build one, or a dozen, or even dozens of fortresses, Thaksin.

But in a short time, the construction of a perfect fortress complex, or reinforced concrete, how is this possible.

Unscientific.

Manpower is not a problem, tools are not a problem, the most important thing is that so many fortresses, or reinforced concrete fortresses, need a huge amount of materials, this is more than half a month can be transported!

"Yes."

The head of intelligence nodded and replied:

"The Cherbourg area, and the surrounding area, there are a large number of solid concrete forts with heavy machine guns and artillery inside, and the reason why this operation failed is because of these forts."

"We lack effective means to tackle tough problems."

"The guns of the capital ship can't do it either?"

The fat man was puzzled.

It is understandable that heavy patrols cannot penetrate, after all, there are only 203 caliber guns, but how can a battleship with more than fourteen-inch guns, or even sixteen-inch main guns, not be able to penetrate a mere concrete fortress.

Also, he still doesn't understand how the Germans built those forts.

"According to the battle reports of the fleet, as well as intelligence information."

"In the Cherbourg area, there are eighteen twelve-inch shore guns with an effective range of more than 30 kilometers, and there are more than 30 double-barreled eight-inch naval guns with a range of more than 30 kilometers."

The person in charge of intelligence said, and in the follow-up, he continued to explain in an accentuated tone:

"Moreover, the enemy's naval artillery fortresses have reinforced concrete fortresses up to five meters thick or even more, and maybe even thicker."

The fat man, who had been the Minister of the Navy, suddenly understood.

Naval guns and shore guns were at a disadvantage because of their accuracy.

To put it simply, one is to shoot a fixed target in a mobile state, and the other is to shoot a moving target in a fixed state, and those who know how to shoot know that there is a big gap between the two.

Coupled with reinforced concrete fortresses of more than five meters, the fleet could not beat and normal.

Military concrete is much, much harder than civilian concrete, with a thickness of five meters, and it is difficult for even a 16-inch gun to penetrate it, and besides, it is difficult to hit itself.

"Also."

The head of intelligence continued:

"The enemy placed more than a hundred quadruple 40-mm anti-aircraft guns in Cherbourg, as well as almost a hundred 88-mm anti-aircraft guns."

"So much."

The fat man suddenly swooped out.

Cherbourg alone has more than five hundred anti-aircraft barrels, and that's not counting the rest of the troops, no wonder the air force suffered such losses.

"But how did they build so many forts in such a short time?"

The fat man still didn't understand a few points in the end.

Such a large group of fortifications will take at least half a year to complete.

The fat man suspects that these forts, as well as tanks, have long been on the West Coast, and his own intelligence officers have made a mistake and have not found out, otherwise how can they explain? There is no way to explain this.

"It is said."

The head of intelligence had already prepared:

"They used a modular construction technique, similar to an assembly line technique, which allows you to build a fort like a stacked block, and a quick-drying cement, because we can't get more information because the construction site has the direct involvement of the military."

"However, it is certain that these forts were indeed built recently."

"Fast-drying cement, modular construction of assembly lines, so it is."

The fat man nodded, and then his tone suddenly increased:

"Where did they get their supplies from?"

"There are also such twelve-inch shore defense guns, anti-aircraft guns, these things are not easy to transport."

The front can be explained, but the back is absolutely impossible, according to the battle report, there are eighteen 305 shore guns and thirty double-barreled 8-inch naval guns in the Cherbourg area, all of which are heavy objects that must be transported by train.

The construction of a concrete fortress of this scale requires at least tens of thousands of tons of cement reinforcement.

"The source of the tanks, armored vehicles, weapons and ammunition, as well as oil and reinforced concrete, we have not yet investigated, only that they were taken from a warehouse in Cherbourg."

"Still."

The head of intelligence paused for a long time before replying:

"Through the intelligence agents embedded in the military's top echelons, we discovered a very strange and suspicious, new technology research intelligence."

"Strange and suspicious information?"

The fat man's tone was very dissatisfied.

Isn't it time to change the head of intelligence?

Weird, very suspicious, technical information, which can basically be judged to be fakes, and that group of goods is notoriously fond of all kinds of strange weapons. Still need to report to him?

"At first, we thought it was false information, so we didn't pay attention to it."

The head of intelligence smiled bitterly:

"However, in the case of Cherbourg, it is very likely that this is true, and the Germans also seem to be very strict about the secrecy of this project."

"Tell me about it."

The fat man suddenly became interested.

"I have already sent copies to the Americans, and they are also studying the accuracy of this intelligence."

Before speaking, the head of intelligence added.

·····

It's mid-July.

Chengde.

Most of the Hattori reinforcements promised by the base camp have arrived, and the imperial army stationed in Chengde has reached nearly 100,000.

It reached the level of the peak of the First Army.

The basic construction of the large-depth and multi-level positions has also been completed, and all that remains is to strengthen and reinforce, as well as continue to deepen.

However, to Hattori's expectations, he originally thought that when the enemy found out that he was building a large depth of fortifications, he would launch a large-scale attack in advance, but things were somewhat unexpected.

According to the reconnaissance, the eight-way tanks assembled opposite Chengde have reached 700, and the heavy artillery is also more than 1,000, the number is not less than him, and there are 12-inch heavy guns at the siege level, which can launch a general attack.

Instead of launching a large-scale attack, the independent regiment on the opposite side trained his troops.

Almost every day, the Independent Regiment would send nearly 100 armored units to storm his position under the cover of heavy artillery, break through the ground and then advance for more than ten miles before taking the initiative to retreat.

Rain or shine, never stop, never get tired of it.

For so many days in a row, he suffered nearly 10,000 casualties.

Of course, the dozen or so 12-inch heavy guns never stopped, and they shelled on time and on point every day, but the positions were different, which gave him a headache.

"Yaga."

An angry slap on the table, Hattori gritted his teeth.

This hand was completely unexpected, and he had no way to deal with it, the attack had no chance of winning, and he lost his position, whether it was a decisive pig rush charge or a night infiltration attack, there was no return.

All he could do was hide in the fortifications and wait for the enemy to attack.

Fortunately, in a multi-layered position with a depth of more than a hundred miles, he also had all the bridges demolished and almost all the roads dug up, which would inevitably trap the enemy's armored clusters to death.

After a few words of swearing, Hattori also began to ponder.

Since he knew that the other party's Eighth Route would train his troops almost every day, Hattori naturally planned in his heart whether he could plan and ambush an independent regiment.

More than a hundred tanks, without follow-up troops, he could not eat them all, but he could still bite a few bites by gritting his teeth. It is also good to let the people of the independent regiment know that the Imperial Army of the Great Japanese Empire is not easy to mess with.

The only problem was that the enemy's armored forces were very mobile, and coupled with the lack of intelligence, he could not know from which direction the enemy was attacking.

The other side.

The branch of the independent regiment led by Ding Wei.

"At present, the size of the troops assembled in the Pingxian area has reached forty-nine battalions."

The staff officer is reporting:

"Thirteen of them were armored battalions, thirteen artillery battalions, half of which were newly formed units."

"There are twenty infantry battalions, and two-thirds of them are newly formed units that have been formed for less than a month."

"The rest are newly formed logistics support battalions."

"There's no hurry."

Ding Wei's tone was leisurely:

"Continue to train troops according to the current plan, and each time an old battalion leads a new unit to launch an attack on the devil's position, and the actual combat training will be drawn up by the General Staff."

Because most of them are newcomers, and so is the staff department, Ding Wei needs to give the new staff officer time to grow, and he can't always ask him questions, but the staff officer should share the burden with him to solve the problem.

"That's right."

He added:

"Beware of devils in ambush and take countermeasures."

Insect catcher·····