The Surrender of Lord Gort and his Expeditionary Force

  The fighter squadrons of the first wave of the British Royal Air Force's attacking force barely held off the German fighters' attack on the British bombers, and a dozen or so British bombers that survived the dogfight broke through the German fighters' interception and flew towards the sea where the British and German fleets were engaged.

  When British bombers flew to the English Channel for combat, they were shocked to see thick smoke billowing on the surface of the sea. Through the intense smoke and flames, British pilots could vaguely see that the British home fleet had been defeated, with several battleships having lost their fighting capacity and drifting aimlessly on the smoky sea surface. The remaining British battleships seemed to be only a matter of time before they were also defeated.

  Because the German battleships and cruisers seemed to be dividing their forces in an attempt to encircle the British Battle Fleet, Squadron Leader James, the highest-ranking surviving pilot of the dozen or so remaining Blackburn Skuas from the air battle.

  He took temporary command of the bombers. After carefully observing the battlefield, he opened the wireless transmitter and said to the airmen: "Gentlemen, you all saw that our sailors are in a precarious situation now. The Germans seem to be serious this time. Although I don't understand how our navy ended up like this, we, the Royal Air Force, who bear the honor of the British Empire, have seen this and cannot sink all their ships, but we can destroy one German warship that poses a greater threat to our sailors. I hope everyone, whoever is still able to fly, will let the Germans experience the warm embrace of our torpedoes. Our target is the British battleship 'Bismarck' which was taken from us by the Germans. Gentlemen, follow me."

  He dived down towards the sea, and the other pilots followed suit. On board the "Munich" battleship, the lookout suddenly shouted, "British dive bombers are coming in low over the water! They're going to torpedo us!"

  He then telephoned the combat room. The captain of the 'Munich' battleship also spotted British dive bombers approaching him when Rog spotted them from the crow's nest, and he immediately ordered: "Disengage from formation, maintain one-quarter power, turn 90 degrees, position southwest 180. Point the bow at them."

  The bridge and engine room quickly executed his orders. A thick black smoke billowed out of the funnel of the battleship 'Munich'. Under the action of 24 boilers, the battleship 'Munich' drew a beautiful arc on the surface of the sea. As the 'Munich' turned, Lieutenant Lütjens, commander of the German Ocean Fleet, also discovered British dive bombers swooping down from low altitude over the sea and hastily ordered each ship to turn and reduce the striking profile of the British aircraft to a minimum. At the same time, the high guns on each ship opened fire fiercely.

  On board the 'Munich', when the bow was already facing towards the British bombers, Captain Rog ordered that except for the forward main gun to continue putting pressure on the British fleet, all other high-caliber guns would immediately open fire on the British bombers.

  At this time, the captain of the battleship 'Munich', Roge, discovered the power of the 'Dense Array' anti-aircraft system installed by Zhou Tianlei for them. Although only 2 guns were firing, the gunners, who were conducting real combat shooting for the first time, did not have high accuracy, but he was smart enough to aim at the route of the British dive bombers with dense firepower. The captain of the battleship 'Munich', Roge, felt that it was impossible to see clearly the trajectory of the shells, and only heard the familiar sound of a sewing machine working on the target after

  In the blink of an eye, I saw five British dive bombers being shot down in flames and then crashing into the Atlantic Ocean. High water columns burst forth from the sea.

  The situation of other British dive bombers was not much better. They were also attacked by the dense anti-aircraft fire of the German fleet, and what they feared most was not the 105mm dual-purpose gun installed on the German warship, nor the quadruple 20mm anti-aircraft gun, but the "dense array" air defense system installed by Zhou Tianlei on the German warship.

  A British pilot shouted over the radio: "What are those high-caliber anti-aircraft guns on the German warship? The shells are coming too dense..." Before he could finish his sentence, the plane was hit head-on by several 30mm cannon shells fired from the 'Hipper Admiral' heavy cruiser's 'Dense Array' air defense system. The plane exploded in mid-air and then turned into a fireball, crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.

  In a matter of minutes, more than a dozen British dive bombers turned into fireballs and plunged into the Atlantic, with only one survivor, a Royal Air Force lieutenant named Gader, who was rescued by German sailors. For half a day, he stuttered and couldn't utter a clear sentence, muttering only one phrase: "Too dense... too dense..."

  While the German battleships were busy fending off the British Swordfish torpedo bombers, the British strike force had just been forced to pause for repairs after being hit by the German battleship Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, when HMS Rodney arrived on the scene.

  The captain of the British battleship 'Rodney' rushed to the battlefield and began to observe the situation, finding that the situation was very unfavorable for the British fleet. The 'Balmoral', 'Elizabeth Queen' and 'Warrior' battleships were engulfed in fierce flames, slowly withdrawing from the battlefield, seemingly having lost their combat effectiveness. The flagship of the British strike fleet, 'Nelson', had its front main gun severely damaged, with only the rear gun still firing. The situation of the 'Resolution', 'Revenge' and 'Royal Sovereign' battleships was no better than that of the 'Nelson'. There were very few guns on them that could still counterattack against the Germans, it seemed that the British Home Fleet had suffered heavy losses in the previous artillery battle.

  Although I don't know what kind of trick the Germans are playing, I have to cover for the British fleet's retreat. Otherwise, this time the British will suffer a great loss.

  The captain of the British battleship 'Rodney' thought so. He turned around and ordered: "Aim at the German High Seas Fleet flagship 'Scheer', fire!"

  At the same time as the 406mm main guns of the British battleship 'Rodney' opened fire, the commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Lütjens, also observed through binoculars that the British battleship 'Rodney' had entered the battlefield.

  He began to give orders: "Order the fleet's battleships to open fire on 'Rodney'." At that moment, the 406mm main gun of the British battleship 'Rodney' had already fired shells that landed outside the hull of the German High Seas Fleet flagship 'Scheer', causing a very high water column. The commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Lütjens, had previously observed through binoculars the faint glow of the propellant burning out of the barrel of the 406mm main gun of the British battleship 'Rodney' as it fired.

  But he did not expect that the target of British battleship Rodney was himself. Frightened, he shouted at the top of his voice; "Fire quickly, fire quickly."

  On board the British battleship Rodney, the captain of the Rodney observed the shooting situation of his warship with a telescope. When he saw that the main gun of his warship had formed a cross shot on the German Ocean Fleet flagship Schleswig-Holstein, he ordered: "Order the forward main gun to correct according to the water column, we must hit the opponent in the next shot."

  On the German side, the captain of the flagship "Admiral Scheer" reported to Admiral Lütjens: "Report, sir, our forward main armament observation instrument has been put out of action by a near miss from the 406mm main armament of the British battleship 'Rodney', only the aft main armament observation instrument is still available..." A 406mm armour-piercing shell cut off his words. The 406mm armour-piercing shell penetrated the armoured command centre of the German flagship "Admiral Scheer".

  The captain of the German High Seas Fleet flagship 'Scheer' and several German naval staff were blown to pieces along with Admiral Lütjens.

  While the battleships "Gneisenau", "Scharnhorst", "Munich" and "Lützow" were turning their guns towards the British battleship "Rodney" after receiving orders from the German High Seas Fleet flagship "Admiral Scheer", the optical rangefinder on the main gun was also tense Calculating various parameters of artillery firing, when the captain of the "Munich" battleship, Rogge, suddenly found that a very large fireball suddenly appeared on the German High Seas Fleet flagship "Admiral Scheer", followed by a huge explosion.

  He hastily looked through the telescope and saw that the bridge of the German High Seas Fleet flagship "Scheer" had been hit by a 406mm shell fired from the British battleship "Rodney". The wide bridge was twisted into a strange shape under the impact of the 406mm armor-piercing projectile. The mainmast of the warship was also shaken out of position and tilted to the right. The sailors on the deck were running around in panic.

  The captain of the battleship 'Munich', Rog, knew that the flagship would definitely not be able to perform its duties, he did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered his warship to raise the flagship flag. At the same time, he ordered his warship to heavily bombard the British battleship 'Rodney' with maximum firepower.

  The British battleship 'Rodney' was heavily bombarded by a group of German battleships led by the German battleship 'Munich'. A large fire immediately broke out in the upper structure of the warship.

  The German battleship did not let it go, and the heavy shells came one after another. Finally, the big guns on the British "Rodney" battleship fell silent, and it began to drift on the surface of the sea like a dead fish.

  Several German destroyers approached the former High Seas Fleet flagship, SMS Grosser Kurfürst, as it was listing badly and German sailors were starting to jump into the sea. The water was covered with oil leaking from the former High Seas Fleet flagship, SMS Grosser Kurfürst. Sailors struggled to swim away, trying to escape the massive whirlpool that would be created when the warship sank.

  Zhou Tianlei did not know these, he began to command the submarine group to withdraw from the battlefield and return to the German military port to replenish fuel and ammunition according to plan shortly after the naval battle started, preparing to go to the Strait of Gibraltar to execute the task of blocking the French fleet in the plan.

  In the end, although the German High Seas Fleet emerged victorious, they towed the surrendered British battleships back to port with their destroyers, but there was no excitement in the fleet as there had been after their previous two victories. Their commander, Admiral Lütjens, went down with his flagship, the Bismarck, into the Atlantic Ocean during this battle.

  In the air, fighter squadrons of the German Second Air Fleet and British Royal Air Force planes clashed after the British learned that their Strike Fleet had been heavily defeated in a naval battle with the German High Seas Fleet. Knowing the jig was up, RAF Commander Dowding ordered two more Hurricane fighter squadrons to be sent in, determined to preserve as much of his force as possible.

  In the aerial battles between British and German air forces, the initial chivalry on both sides gradually disappeared as the intensity of the fighting escalated.

  The British received strict orders to break through the German intercepts and rescue the British fleet.

  The combat airspace was completely disrupted, with squadrons, flights and formations all being broken up. British pilots were desperately trying to break through the German fighter screen, while the Germans were doing everything in their power to stop them, resulting in a chaotic melee.

  Pilots from Britain and Germany have thrown away the tactical rules, now they are just manipulating their planes, staring at the target they found with both eyes, and then launching an attack on their own target. No coordination, no tricks, only a massacre.

  However, the German fighters were still at an advantage in this dogfight as they flew from bases in Belgium and northern France controlled by the Germans, with plenty of fuel, which also alleviated the problem of the short range of the Bf 109 to some extent.

  The British, on the other hand, were flying from inland airfields in Britain and had already been airborne for a long time before meeting the Germans, beginning to feel some fatigue. Moreover, they were now operating close to German-controlled territory, and the long flight distances had greatly shortened their stay in this airspace; they also had to pay attention to the amount of fuel in their planes during combat in order to have enough ability to fly back to Britain.

  So in the initial battle, British pilots fell behind. In the first batch of confrontations, more than a dozen fighter planes were shot down. The blood of their comrades finally made those British pilots who had not been shot down understand: whether they had fuel or not and whether they were in enemy airspace or not was no longer important to them; if they did not fight desperately, the German Second Air Force would kill them all over the English Channel.

  So at the beginning, both sides could still maintain their knightly demeanor, but after fifteen minutes, the British were the first to throw away their gentlemanly demeanor. Then the Germans also threw away their knightly demeanor. The pilots of both England and Germany became bloodthirsty. Even the air commanders on both sides lost their calm heads.

  Fierce battles, scattered debris everywhere, planes falling from the sky with long trails of smoke, hot tracer bullets, and adrenaline pumping wildly, making pilots excited beyond control. Their minds only retained the techniques they had practiced before. They manipulated their planes in the air with a cold demeanor, their brains only filled with the thought of eliminating their opponents. With bloodthirsty eyes, they stared at their targets locked in the crosshairs. Now, to these pilots, those were just their targets; they could only survive by killing them. No one considered or calculated how many enemy planes they had shot down, nor did anyone think about what honors they would receive when they returned. Everyone was desperately fighting for survival, constantly firing at their opponents.

  After the new forces sent by Air Chief Marshal Dowding of the Royal Air Force joined the battle, those original British pilots began to calm down and withdraw from the battlefield under the cover of two 'Hurricane' fighter squadrons sent by Air Chief Marshal Dowding. Flying back to their own country.

  An hour later, in the skies above the battlefield, the last British plane was shot down by a group of enraged German fighters and crashed into the sea. The German Air Force won the final victory in this aerial battle. The British Expeditionary Force and the French First Army Group knew their fate was sealed after learning that the British Home Fleet had been defeated by the German High Seas Fleet, and the Royal Air Force had also suffered a crushing defeat in the English Channel. After contacting Britain, they were told to protect high-ranking officers at all costs, and the British would send submarines to rescue them from Dunkirk. The brave soldiers were left to be captured by the Germans.

  Lord Gort, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, refused to leave and decided to stay with his soldiers. However, he sent some of the commanders who had performed well in the defense of Dunkirk to the evacuation submarines, including Montgomery.