Chapter 51 Rain
September 14, 1940. Saturday, a long-awaited heavy rain finally fell on the scorched earth of Britain. Based on past experience, over the next month, the North Sea, the British Isles, as well as Belgium, the Netherlands, and northern France, will be dominated by rainy and foggy weather.
The long-suffering British soldiers and civilians seemed to see hope of reversing the situation again. However, just two days ago, the German landing forces, mainly composed of the elite tank units of the Wehrmacht's 4th Armored Division and the SS "Leibstandarte" Brigade (which was officially upgraded from a regiment to a brigade at the end of August), supported by the heavy infantry of the Wehrmacht's 10th, 17th, and 21st Infantry Divisions, under the command of Army General Hermann Hoth, successfully captured the major port of Southampton in southern England. In the subsequent night battles, the German forces, with their powerful armored units, crushed the counterattacks of the British 2nd and 5th Armies, killing and injuring over 30,000 regular British troops and second-line militias, greatly consolidating their beachhead in southern England—the German engineers have begun to repair the dock facilities in Southampton destroyed by the retreating British army, clear the mines in the harbor, and blast the sunken ships used to block the channel. Once the port resumes operations, the logistical supply of the German army will be greatly enhanced!
In the Bristol Bay area, German airborne and landing forces have occupied Cardiff for five days. Although the German Navy surface vessels were unable to break through the blockade of the British H fleet, the German forces have still been able to expand their strength through air transport and submarine transport in recent days. The British losses in the attacks on this side amounted to nearly ten thousand regular troops and a large number of second-line militia forces, and it became evident that they could not break through the German defense. Therefore, they began to dig trenches in cities such as Newport and Llandaff, attempting to trap the German forces in Cardiff Port. However, considering the abundant food, fuel, and ammunition reserves in the Welsh capital when it was occupied by the German forces, coupled with the large amount of supplies brought by the German landing, even the British themselves lack confidence in waiting for the Germans to run out of supplies!
London, on this rainy day, was unusually clean. The chimneys that once billowed thick smoke stood silently in place. Due to the threat of the German Air Force and landing forces, most of the industry had been relocated to Scotland. The streets were sparsely populated, with only determined regular troops and militiamen surrounding the capital, and many civilians had already evacuated to the north.
Inside the British Joint Operations Command headquarters in East London, replacing Churchill as the Minister of the Navy, Duddley Pound, known as the "Echo Man" who always seemed half asleep, announced in a dull and slow tone:
"Gentlemen, the Cabinet has made a decision: members of the royal family, government officials, officers' families, and senior technical personnel are beginning to be evacuated to Canada. Generals, your families and personal belongings will certainly receive priority care, so there is no need to worry!"
As early as the beginning of the French surrender, Churchill had made a stunning decision at a secret cabinet meeting: if Britain was invaded by Germany and could not resist, the members of the royal family and government leaders would immediately be transferred to Canada to establish a new resistance government to fight fascism to the end. This plan was codenamed "Operation Torpedo," and large amounts of gold and securities had already been sent to Canada in batches before August.
Has it really come to the point of no return?
The senior generals in the Joint Operations Command headquarters sat still like wax figures.
"Gentlemen!"
After a while, General John Dill, the chief of staff of the Joint Operations Command, finally broke the silence, "The mass retreat is just a precautionary measure, and the situation has not deteriorated to the point of losing all hope! Yesterday evening, I received two good news from the Prime Minister: the Americans have agreed to secretly sell us a large number of aircraft and tanks, and new squadrons of fighters and armored divisions will soon be formed in Canada; the Russian leader received our envoy and stated that the Russian army has already begun a secret mobilization. Taking advantage of the heavy German troops stockpiling on the western front, five million Russian soldiers can easily break through the weak eastern defenses of the German army and advance straight to Berlin! So, gentlemen, as long as we persist for a few more months on our homeland, the situation will change for the better!"
The atmosphere in the conference room finally changed slightly, but some still questioned, "Can we trust the Russians?"
John Dill deliberately adopted a confident posture: "We have never believed that the Russian army can defeat Germany with their inferior weapons, but their numerical advantage has always been something the Germans are very wary of. As soon as the Eastern Front opens up, the German army will have to divert their main forces to fight the Russians, and we will take the opportunity to launch a counterattack in Britain! Even if the United States does not join the war, we can still recall our warships from around the world to form a new fleet that still overwhelmingly dominates the German Navy!"
"Yes, let them fight each other to the death! Then we'll have a chance to turn the tide!"
Army Commander Brooke seemed to have found a lifeline. If it weren't for the fact that nobody was willing to take over the mess at this time, he might have rolled out of this position long ago due to the failures in the battles of Lepeta and Cardiff!
Although the senior generals were somewhat disheartened, they were absolutely trustworthy. Therefore, John Dill continued loudly, "Although the Russians have not made a clear promise, the Prime Minister believes that they will launch an offensive no later than April next year. So... gentlemen, this winter will be unprecedentedly difficult, and we must ensure that our soldiers are fully prepared! According to our calculations, the Greater London defense circle should be able to hold out for 5 to 6 months, which should be enough!"
"What do we do next?" General Fraser, who took over as commander of the British Home Fleet after the death of Charles Forbes, had gone to the north to reorganize the heavily damaged fleet. Representing the Navy Department at the meeting was Vice Admiral John Tovey, who had just returned from the Mediterranean to the mainland. Under Admiral Andrew Cunningham in the Mediterranean Fleet, this veteran had commanded the British cruiser squadron to defeat the Italian heavy cruiser squadron in the Battle of Calabria.
"Navy, our primary task should be to protect our sea lanes and to prevent German surface vessels from entering the Atlantic for operations as much as possible! Our Home Fleet now has only one battleship, three aircraft carriers, and four heavy cruisers capable of conducting maneuver warfare, so these two tasks will be extremely challenging!" After speaking, Dill turned his gaze to Tovey again. "The performance of the Air Force has been excellent in the past week, and the weather ahead should be favorable for us. Sir, I hope that in a month's time, our Spitfire squadrons will be able to regain control of the airspace in southern England!"
The expressionless 58-year-old Hugh Dowding nodded. In the past week, the Royal Air Force had shot down over a hundred German combat aircraft. However, due to the forced relocation of aircraft factories in the south, production had been significantly affected. Would the strength of the German Air Force not be restored after a month? It seemed that tactical arrangements would still be the key to the outcome for both sides!
"Army!" Dill's gaze swept over the army generals led by Brooke. In peacetime, they had never been as valued as they were today.
"It is not realistic for the Army to engage in mobile warfare against the powerful German forces landing in the south. I believe the Army should abandon some secondary strategic points in southwest England, concentrate its forces in ports such as Plymouth, Weymouth, and Poole, and continue to reinforce the defenses of the Greater London defense circle. As for Cardiff... our goal is to gradually wear down their forces and compress their defenses over the next three to four weeks. The Home Fleet will cooperate with us in the final battle!"
The army generals remained silent, but in fact, they were already fearful of any form of German defenses— the roaring MG34s and the German tanks that always seemed to be half-buried in the ground had already become nightmares for the British infantry!
It was the naval commander John Tovey who spoke up: "General, I must remind you that perhaps... the Home Fleet will not always be hovering in the Celtic Sea. After all, General Cunningham no longer has many large ships, and now the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean has gained a huge advantage in strength. Perhaps they are brewing a new offensive?"
Dill looked at the 55-year-old Vice Admiral of the Navy strangely. "If we have to choose between the mainland and the Mediterranean, I think... the mainland is ultimately the fundamental survival of Britain!"
At this moment, in the distant Cardiff, the rain was falling steadily, and the trenches dug in the fields quickly filled with water. German soldiers could only prop up canvas in the trenches, experiencing the hardships reminiscent of the combatants from two decades ago in France.
"The rain in England never seems to stop once it starts! Tsk, it seems like the weather has cooled down too, should we light up the fireplace?"
In a small two-story stone and wood structure on the edge of Cardiff Harbor, wearing the uniform of an Imperial Air Force Major General, Logan sat upright at the table, holding a steaming cup of tea, calmly chatting with Lindemann.
"Heh, it's only September! General, you should do more exercise!" Although both were generals, Lindemann was over fifty. With rich experience, he was still energetic and showed no signs of lacking in vitality.
"Yeah, it's been a while since I exercised!" Logan reluctantly shifted his body, continuing to tightly hold onto the cup of hot tea.
Lindemann sighed, "Rainy days are good, airplanes can't take off, and British tanks can't cross the muddy fields to launch attacks! If only we had brought more 88mm anti-aircraft guns!"
Four days ago, during the night battle, the British suddenly deployed over thirty Matilda infantry tanks. Although these thick-skinned monsters were very slow, they still opened up two breakthroughs in the relatively weak German defenses. After that, Lindemann's tank troops had a few tough battles with them. Although they won, the process was quite exhausting— as for the fierce 88mm guns, due to being scattered along the entire defensive line and being quite cumbersome to maneuver, they couldn't catch up with the fighting in the end.
Logan sighed with some emotion, "I hope the High Command sees the recommendations we've submitted and can make improvements to our weaponry as soon as possible! Only when the 88mm guns are put into action can our tank troops truly become invincible! There aren't many British tanks, and if they encounter an attack with hundreds or even thousands of tanks, we'll be in trouble!"
"Hundreds or even thousands? Are you talking about the Russian army? Hey, from what I know, their fast tanks can't withstand a hit. Our Panzer III and IV tanks are enough to deal with them!" Lindemann said confidently.
"Is that so? General, do you know about the T-34?" Logan's question was natural. A few decades later, almost no one was unaware of this tank, which was hailed as the Soviet Union's finest tank of World War II. Like the American B-17 bombers, it changed the course of the war through its outstanding combat performance and astonishing numerical superiority!
"T-34? I don't know, but I've seen the Russian T-27 and BT-7 tanks in Poland. To be honest, I don't think they're anything to be afraid of except for being a little faster!" Lindemann replied nonchalantly.
"Really? General, do you know about the T-34?" Logan's question was natural. A few decades later, almost no one was unaware of this tank, which was hailed as the Soviet Union's finest tank of World War II. Like the American B-17 bombers, it changed the course of the war through its outstanding combat performance and astonishing numerical superiority!
"T-34? I don't know, but I've seen the Russian T-27 and BT-7 tanks in Poland. To be honest, I don't think they're anything to be afraid of except for being a little faster!" Lindemann replied nonchalantly.
"Why?" Lindemann was quite surprised at the Air Force colleague's expression of amazement.
"Uh... nothing! Just remembered something I have to do when I get back!" Logan concealed. It was no wonder that when they sent out bids to various tank manufacturing plants for "35-ton airborne tanks," staff officers questioned the necessity of such weapons. They even cited some examples from the Winter War (November 1939 to March 1940) as arguments against it.
The Winter War almost served as a testing ground for the Soviet army's ground weapons. In addition to the massive numbers of BT series and T-26 tanks, the Soviet Union also deployed some heavy tanks. However, these tanks often got stuck in the cold snow, and tank crews were forced to blow up their tanks and retreat on foot. Even the Finnish 37mm anti-tank guns and anti-tank rifles could threaten Soviet tanks— German officers who were sent to observe the war in Finland at the time also honestly fed back these situations to decision-makers at home.
"General, there's no need to worry too much about these things. Once we defeat Britain, the war will end quickly!" Lindemann said confidently.
Logan noticed the sequence in which the Army General spoke in: Once Britain is defeated, the war will end quickly. By saying this, it seemed that German senior officers had generally realized that a war with the Soviet Union was inevitable— the huge ideological gap seemed to have doomed these two neighboring countries to be unable to coexist peacefully for a long time!