Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Belli dura despicio (2)
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July 7, 1940
Bulford, Wiltshire – Southern Britain
Under the command of General Bernard Law Montgomery, 50,000 British troops—comprising the 3rd Infantry Division of the Southern Command and hastily reinforced Home Guard units—were facing Charles de Gaulle's French army of 200,000.
The quiet, tranquil village in southern Wiltshire was now engulfed by the sounds of gunfire, shouts, and screams.
“Kill those damned traitors!”
Their eyes gleaming with hatred and vengeance, the British troops frantically fired their machine guns, and the French soldiers attempting to breach the trench line fell one after another, turned into heaps of flesh.
The surprisingly sturdy trench line, established under Montgomery's orders as soon as the French landed, was inflicting considerable losses on the French forces despite their numerical inferiority.
“Behind us is only our homeland, waiting to be trampled! If we must die, let us die fighting!”
The hastily conscripted Home Guard was abysmally trained, but unlike in the original history, they had been properly issued rifles and equipment.
With proper guns in their hands, fueled by a thirst for revenge against France and a desperate need to protect their homes, even these mere conscripts burned with a fighting spirit that could not be ignored.
“God damn it, they said it would be easy once we landed!”
“Those damn Brits! Did they eat some rotten fish and chips? What's got them so venomous? Did their terrible food finally drive them insane?”
The French, on the other hand, found their momentum faltering in the face of the British troops' desperate resistance, despite their own overwhelming numbers.
“It hurts, it hurts so much. Sh...it. Why am I in a place like this....”
The last words of a dying soldier, watching what should have been inside his stomach spill out with his crimson blood to stain the ground, spoke for the entire French army.
When they first landed in Britain, their resolve to display the glory of La Grande Armée under a great Prime Minister who surpassed even Napoleon had evaporated meaninglessly on the battlefield.
“T-tanks!”
But no matter how high the morale of the British troops, infantry alone could not stop an armored division, especially when their heavy equipment was concentrated in the east to defend London.
The British fired what few anti-tank rifles and 2-pounder anti-tank guns they had, but they were no match for the Somua S-35, a masterpiece of a French medium tank whose armor surpassed even that of a pre-upgrade Panzer IV.
“Get down!”
“Aaargh!”
The French armored units simply drove over the soldiers hiding in the trenches, and a report of the breach was immediately sent to headquarters.
“General! The eastern defensive line has been breached! We’re only infantry, we can’t stop their tanks! We have to retreat!”
A staff officer shouted urgently, but General Montgomery, wearing a stylish beret, merely glanced at him with an indifferent expression and asked casually.
“To panic first, as a proud member of the British Army… you should be ashamed. Retreat, you say? Are you certain?”
“Sir?”
“I asked if you are one hundred percent certain that we must retreat.”
When the staff officer fell silent, Montgomery ignored him and issued an order to the radio operator.
“Tell them to hold their positions, whether the enemy tanks break through or not. If we can stop the infantry and supply lines that follow, the tanks alone can do nothing.”
“But General, if we get encircled by their mobile warfare—”
Thanks to the spectacular mobile warfare the Germans had demonstrated against Poland, a fear of armored envelopment had spread to every nation.
“This is Britain. They have no troops to support an encirclement, and even if they did, reinforcements would come from London. What they want most is for us to be swayed by them and abandon our well-prepared defensive lines.”
The staff officer dared not argue with the general, who had spoken with such conviction. Montgomery continued his orders.
“Our 3rd Infantry Division is a historic unit that fought even in the Napoleonic Wars. I command you on its honor! Whatever appears, whatever breaks through, hold your positions! Trust the units behind you to deal with any enemy that gets past!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
As the staff officer rushed to relay the orders to the front line, Montgomery stared at the operational map, now a chaotic mess where British and French forces were intermingled due to the breakthrough, and muttered to himself.
“This is our land. The longer we hold out, the more it favors us.”
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July 9, 1940
Portsmouth, Southern Britain – French Invasion Headquarters
“Their commander is a cautious one.”
De Gaulle pressed his eyes with a weary expression.
With their overwhelming superiority in numbers, the British forces were being slowly pushed back, but de Gaulle had yet to achieve a decisive victory or break the enemy's will.
United by their fury and bitterness over France's betrayal and the invasion of their homeland, the British troops held their ground, regardless of whether their lines collapsed or how many casualties they sustained.
Even with high morale, any other army would have panicked at the risk of encirclement when an armored unit breached their front line. But Montgomery, known for his stubbornness and grit even within the British Army, was an exception.
“Bernard Law Montgomery. I heard he was just some general writing outdated infantry tactics manuals, but he's no pushover. What’s the plan, Charles?”
De Gaulle paused for a moment at his friend Alphonse Juin’s question before speaking.
“First, we will withdraw de Hauteclocque's unit.”
The armored unit led by Philippe de Hauteclocque (Leclerc in the original history) had easily broken through Montgomery’s forces, which lacked any armored strength. But with Montgomery's troops refusing to budge, the unit now found itself on the other side, facing supply problems.
While an armored breakthrough presents the enemy with the risk of encirclement and annihilation, it also exposes the deeply penetrating armored unit to the risk of being encircled itself.
Unfortunately, unlike the German army, the French army lacked sufficient supporting armored units and motorized infantry to exploit the breakthrough, making the latter risk far too great.
“So it has to be done.”
Juin sighed, but there was no other choice.
If only the enemy had faltered. If only their own forces had been faster. If only they had more tanks. If any of those had been true, de Gaulle might have been able to use his numerical advantage to encircle and annihilate Montgomery's forces.
But his opponent possessed the grit not to be shaken by a breach in his defensive line, and he had an army with morale high enough to obey such orders.
Unlike the Germans, the French had not equipped every tank with a radio, only command vehicles. As a result, the armored units that had managed to breach the enemy's defenses had to halt repeatedly to receive and disseminate orders, wasting precious time.
While the enemy held firm, the French, already short on armored units, squandered the most valuable currency in mobile warfare—time. Now, with reinforcements on their way from London, the very armored unit that had broken through was in danger of being encircled itself.
“The fact that there are no armored units here means the forces rushing from London will be armored divisions. For now, we must preserve our armor and push forward slowly, World War I style.”
Of course, such a method would inevitably lead to a war of attrition, and de Gaulle sensed that a swift capture of London and a quick victory were now out of reach.
Moreover, the longer the war dragged on, the less certain air superiority would become.
The war had begun with a surprise attack that destroyed all of the RAF airbases in southern England. This gave the French Air Force an advantage in engagements over the English Channel, as the distance and sea crossing posed problems for the RAF fighters flying from the Midlands.
But once the battle shifted to the British mainland, the situation reversed.
Having secured the southern airbases, de Gaulle didn't face the same range issues as the Luftwaffe in the original history. However, France’s ambitious new fighter, the D.520, was proving inferior to the British Supermarine Spitfire in every aspect except range, and was suffering repeated losses.
The French Air Force still held a numerical advantage, but British pilots who were shot down could be rescued by civilians and return to the fight, while French pilots who bailed out were left to experience the locals' terrifying hostility firsthand.
To make matters worse, the navy’s request for air cover for their transport convoys and warships—a response to the relentless attacks of the British H Task Force—diverted already scarce aircraft, further eroding their numerical superiority.
As a result, the gap between the two air forces was slowly closing. France’s expectation that Britain would crumble like a sandcastle once they landed had been completely shattered.
“Will you be alright, Charles? The Prime Minister must be getting anxious by now.”
De Gaulle knew all too well that meeting the Prime Minister's demands was now a lost cause.
He remained silent for a moment before speaking.
“Prime Ministers change, but France remains… Even as a defeated nation, the French people must live on.”
After saying this, de Gaulle added, his expression more pained than it had been when the front lines were not moving as he wished.
“But whether France can be great again, I do not know.”
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July 11, 1940
Paris, the ‘City of Light,’ Capital of France – Government Building
“Prime Minister, I regret to inform you that the operation to capture Gloucestershire has failed. According to Major General de Gaulle's report, while we have achieved localized victories, he believes we must abandon any short-term plans for the capture of London.”
“I see.”
Minister of Defense Philippe Pétain had deliberately presented de Gaulle’s report as it was, rather than sugarcoating it. To his surprise, La Rocque’s reaction was unexpectedly calm.
Calm enough to make Pétain, who had secretly hoped for de Gaulle’s downfall, wonder.
La Rocque quickly read the report Pétain handed him and set it down.
“It can’t be helped. Although the offensive failed, General de Gaulle has secured southern England while minimizing our losses. We have no choice but to continue the war on our own terms.”
Although political impatience had led him to press de Gaulle, La Rocque had served in the army himself and possessed enough tactical acumen to have taken note of de Gaulle’s advocacy for mechanization.
“Please convey this to General de Gaulle. He need not force results. Tell him to hold down the British forces and maintain the occupation of southern England for as long as possible.”
“Hmm, very well, Prime Minister.”
Pétain was displeased with the Prime Minister's composed reaction, which was not what he had hoped for, but he soon acquiesced.
Though Pétain personally disliked de Gaulle, he was also a French patriot and a seasoned general. He recognized that the Prime Minister’s judgment was, in itself, sound.
“At least the navy has divided its main fleet and is now operating in larger battle groups with air cover. That damnable British H Task Force, which was running rampant, has finally ceased its activities.”
The price, of course, was that air superiority over the British mainland had shifted from an advantage to a stalemate. Still, considering their opponent was the formidable RAF, they were making good use of the gains from their initial surprise attack.
“Hong Kong has fallen, and our friends, the Japanese, have subjugated Thailand and are attacking Singapore. Although Plan A has failed, the British fleet has been temporarily neutralized, and for the time being, they are unable to intervene anywhere.”
La Rocque said this, then turned his gaze to Foreign Minister Paul Baudouin.
“Our friend, what was his name again? Chan… something?”
“Chandra Bose, Prime Minister.”
Hearing Baudouin’s answer, La Rocque smiled.
“Ah, yes. Tell our friend to hasten his preparations for the uprising.”
Subhas Chandra Bose was an Indian independence activist who, unlike Mahatma Gandhi, advocated for armed struggle.
With support from La Rocque's government, he was preparing for an armed rebellion in India and, through France's mediation, was planning to pursue an alliance with the Japanese Empire.
“With the Royal Navy having suffered a severe blow and their homeland under attack, Britain’s colonies are hesitant to join the war. This is our chance to show them clearly that the British Empire has already met its end.”
The reason La Rocque remained confident despite de Gaulle’s failure was that the Indian rebellion was now imminent.
“Are you certain they will attack Gibraltar and join the war once we have the upper hand, Minister of Defense?”
“Ahem. Yes, Prime Minister. The Caudillo must also be mindful of public opinion in his country.”
Spain was still dragging its feet, but La Rocque believed that between Pétain's friendship with Franco and the prize of Gibraltar, they were willing to join the war.
All he had to do was prove that victory was within reach, and they would side with France. The machinations he had so carefully orchestrated would be more than enough to show them that.
“Prime Minister, what will you do about Italy?”
But even La Rocque’s composure cracked at Baudouin's next words.
“Those useless fools…”
They had asked for reinforcements to attack the Mediterranean Fleet, only to collapse in less than a week, even after the Mae Corps had been withdrawn.
The reports Italy had sent about the German offensive were so outrageous that La Rocque had dismissed half of it.
Thousands of aircraft and numerous heavy artillery pieces bombarding them for six days straight, 24 hours a day? The exaggeration was too much, even for a country trying to save face after a humiliating defeat.
And as for their shameful failure to even strike the Mediterranean Fleet, instead getting battered themselves, La Rocque was at a loss for words.
He finally let out a sharp *tsk*.
“In that case, we have no choice but to proceed with Plan B. It seems we must declare war on Germany after all.”
If France did nothing and allowed Italy to collapse, they could find themselves completely isolated in Europe.
“Inform Italy that we will send reinforcements, Foreign Minister.”
“But Prime Minister, if we send reinforcements to Italy now, by the time we arrive, we will be shedding French blood to defend an Italy that is already in ruins.”
Pétain’s objection was valid, and La Rocque smiled faintly.
“Of course, reinforcements for Italy are just lip service. Simply have our troops *prepare* to be sent to Italy. And do it loudly, if you can. Loudly enough for German spies to notice.”
While Pétain looked on, puzzled, La Rocque pointed to a map and spoke again.
“I’ve heard that their—the Germans'—reserves are preparing in Hamburg to aid the British.”
“They were.”
“So, let us declare war. Declare war to compel Germany to help the British, and push them into believing that we will help Italy.”
As Pétain wondered if this wasn't just playing into Germany's hands, La Rocque pointed at the map again.
“Italy’s terrain is rugged anyway. Whether they hold out or not, there’s a limit to how fast the German army can advance. We’ll make Italy believe reinforcements are coming, so they’ll fight on a little longer.”
La Rocque’s finger traced the Franco-German border—the Siegfried Line.
“There are 500,000 German troops stationed here. It is said to be heavily fortified, a perfect match for a stalemate with our Maginot Line, but—”
La Rocque’s finger moved just above it, to Belgium.
“But it is a defensive line that only covers the border between our two countries. If we break through Belgium, their industrial heartland, the Ruhr, will be right before us. While Germany is landing in Britain to deal with General de Gaulle, and while their main army is pushing into Italy, we will mobilize two million troops, break through Belgium, and attack Germany.”
La Rocque smiled, a cruel, venomous grin.
“Those damned Belgians. They were all too happy to occupy the Ruhr with us, then they broke our alliance over Munich, and in the last conference, they sided with Germany. Let us make them pay the price for their carelessness. Germany won its civil war by taking the Ruhr first; now, it will lose this war by losing the Ruhr.”