France hastily responded to the challenge with extremely poor ideological and material preparations. Although Paul Reynaud organized a new government and became prime minister, Daladier still served as minister of state and war minister. According to Colonel de Gaulle, who stayed in the government for a few days on official business at that time: "Those days made me fully see how corrupt the government is. There are powerful groups in political parties, newspapers, administrative agencies and labor unions. Publicly support the cessation of the war."
Therefore, France's preparations for war were very poor. France is the originator of the aviation industry. At that time, its automobile production exceeded 300,000 units per year. However, when the war broke out, there were not enough aircraft and tanks, and there was also a shortage of other military equipment. The French ruling class believes that the sit-and-see policy is effective and will not fight Germany to the end.
The French Commissariat was cavalier about industrial mobilization. Many arms factories still did not work at night after the war broke out. Skilled workers who made aircraft and cannons were sent to local military camps to do things like sweeping yards or peeling potatoes. For example, the Renault factory usually employed more than 30,000 workers, but when the war broke out, the number dropped to less than 8,000. The French General Staff was superstitious about the so-called "impregnable" Maginot Line, which cost 200 billion francs to build, accounting for half of France's total defense expenditure of 400 billion francs from 1919 to 1939. They thought they had gotten into a safe. After the outbreak of the war, hundreds of thousands of French troops stood still, eating, drinking, and having fun all day long, sitting back and letting Germany in the east wipe out its ally Poland, and then turned around and concentrated their efforts on Western Europe.
Although the British Chamberlain was also doing his best to do his job, and when Germany blitzed Poland, he invited the former Admiralty Churchill, who was at odds with him, to join the war cabinet, and re-appointed Churchill as the Admiralty Minister, just like Chamberlain himself As I thought, once Germany pushed Britain to the bottom line, Chamberlain could also defend the interests of the British Empire.
However, Germany won consecutive battles, especially in the Battle of Norway. The German navy attacked in all directions, cooperated with the air force and the army to land in Norway on a frontline of more than a thousand miles, and took the initiative everywhere like divine help. In the naval battle, it first defeated the Narvi The destroyer fleet in the harbor later even sank the Warspite. Prior to this, the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst sank the British Royal Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Glory. It can be said that since the beginning of the war, Chamberlain has not received a piece of good news, but bad news one after another.
At this time, Churchill did not forget to make trouble for himself. Chamberlain really wanted to know whether the cabinet made a wrong decision when he invited Churchill to join the war. But now what he has to face is this damn cabinet crisis. As early as May 7, 8, and 9, the British House of Commons debated the defeat of the British army in Norway. Not only did the opposition criticize the government he organized, but also Conservatives also criticized themselves.
"Hey!" Chamberlain sighed. Chamberlain thought of the cheering crowd at the airport when he returned to the UK when the Munich Agreement was signed, and the happy smiling faces of the people at that time; "The people do not want war!" Chamberlain cried. Said, but now that Chamberlain has temporarily overcome the political crisis, Chamberlain still hopes that Britain can avoid being involved in the war. With the British naval power, he can completely defeat Hit? Le blockade on the European continent. I guess I can no longer serve as Prime Minister. Therefore, there must be someone whom he can trust to continue his policies. At this time, Chamberlain thought of Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary and an active implementer of the appeasement policy.
"Prime Minister, the king summons you!" Just when Chamberlain was thinking about how to continue to implement his policies. The royal courtiers arrived.
"Oh, okay! I'll go right away!" Chamberlain said quickly.
Chamberlain immediately drove to Buckingham Palace. The palace is a four-story gray cube building with a solemn main entrance hanging with the royal emblem. It is the center of the British emperor's power. It is surrounded by railings. There are many statues in the square in front of the palace. The entire Buckingham Palace Surrounded by iron railings, there is a square outside the iron railings facing the main building of Buckingham Palace. In the center of the square stands a gilded Victorian statue monument, surrounded by four groups of stone sculptures.
But now Chamberlain obviously had no intention of seeing the scenery. He immediately entered the interior of Buckingham Palace without stopping, walked through the corridor with huge chandeliers, and came to the throne of George VI. There were crystal chandeliers hanging in the throne room. The tops of the surrounding walls are painted with scenes from the Wars of the Roses in the fifteenth century.
Without stopping, Chamberlain came to the west wing of the same floor not far away, where there was a very luxurious suite. When receiving distinguished guests, the king and members of the royal family walked through a small corridor to the king's study, a small hall separated by only a wall from the white drawing room. After a while, according to the king's order, a servant turned on the switch. The guests in the white living room were surprised to find that the entire wall was instantly hidden in the wainscot, and the king and royal family members instantly appeared in front of people.
But the person Chamberlain least wanted to see now was here, namely Lord Admiralty Churchill. There were obvious differences in the policies of Churchill and Chamberlain. Churchill was a strong pro-war party, while Chamberlain hoped that Britain would avoid the crisis of this war. Because Chamberlain knew deeply from the last war how tragic modern war is, Chamberlain sincerely hoped that Britain would not take a trip into this muddy water again.
"Chamberlain! Now Congress hopes that Churchill will become prime minister! And the Lord of the Admiralty is indeed capable of taking on this position! So I am ready to order Churchill to form a cabinet!" George VI said slowly.
Chamberlain's heart thumped, thinking that what was supposed to come had come, and said, "Since everyone agrees that Churchill will form a cabinet, I have no objection!"
King George VI opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he did not speak. He walked over and patted Chamberlain on the shoulder. King George VI knew that once he asked Chamberlain to step down, it meant that he had rejected Chamberlain's policy, which was definitely a disservice to Chamberlain. A huge hit.
Churchill looked at the people who had always had different political opinions. After a long time, he sighed, "Chamberlain, we have no hatred at first. We are all thinking about Britain, but your policies can no longer make Britain continue to escape." Go down, Norway has fallen, are the French next? Or us?"
"Hey..." Chamberlain looked at Churchill and said, "The last war caused our position as the world's largest country to be seriously shaken. The Americans are already on par with us. Do you want to do it again?" Chamberlain's rhetorical question made Churchill was speechless. Churchill knew that it was impossible to get Chamberlain to agree with his opinion, so he was not prepared to continue persuading him.
May 10, Hit? News of the invasion of the Western Front reached London, which only added fuel to the fire. British public opinion was in an uproar. At 6 pm on May 10, the king summoned Churchill and ordered him to form a cabinet. An hour later, Churchill met with Labor Party leader Attlee and invited the Labor Party to join the cabinet. and get support.
On May 13, 1940, Churchill gave a speech in the House of Commons, expressing his loyalty to Britain and his determination to carry the anti-fascist war to a victorious end. He said: "I have nothing else. I only have blood, toil, tears and sweat to contribute to everyone." You ask: What is our policy? I said: Our policy is to use all the ability and all that God can give us. Powers are waging war on sea, land, and air; war is being waged against an evil force the likes of which has never been seen in the sinful and tragic history of mankind. This is our policy. You ask: What is our purpose? I can answer in one word: victory, win at all costs!" The House of Commons finally expressed its support for the Churchill government with an absolute advantage of 381 votes to 0.
Churchill originally wanted Chamberlain to serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer in his government, but he encountered strong opposition from the Labor Party and the Liberal Party, who insisted on expelling Chamberlain from the cabinet. Eventually, Churchill appointed Chamberlain as Speaker of the Privy Council, in charge of the Speakers' Committee of the Privy Council.
It can be seen that Churchill was determined to change Chamberlain's appeasement policy and use all his strength to fight Germany, and he was full of confidence in victory. However, the Churchill government came to power when Britain was in an existential crisis, and the situation it faced was indeed grim.
On May 13, Lin Wei, who was preparing to attack the city outside Rotterdam, received the news that Chamberlain had resigned and Churchill would succeed him. He stayed there, not knowing what to think.
"Leader, leader!" Robert C. Crawford shouted anxiously.
"Oh, nothing! Let's continue!" Lin Wei said. Lin Wei knew clearly that among the countries in World War II, the person with the strongest determination to fight against Germany came to power. Roosevelt, who did not want to be surrounded by American isolationism, and who was in the early days of the Soviet-German War Stalin, who wanted peace talks with Germany, was also different. After Churchill came to power, he could be said to be the toughest leader among the Allied warring factions.
More importantly, it did whatever it took to win. After Germany forced the French navy to surrender, it wanted to prevent the French navy from causing security damage to the British. Immediately sunk the French navy fleet. Is it no longer special to have superb means? Under restraint. At the same time, Lin Wei also understood that if Chamberlain was still Prime Minister, Lin Wei could negotiate peace with the British after Operation Sickle, but if the tough Churchill was Prime Minister, there would basically be no end to the fight between Britain and Germany.
On the other hand, Lin Wei thought of Chamberlain, and thought of the scene where the old and sick Chamberlain traveled thousands of miles during the Munich Conference. Chamberlain was right. Although he selfishly sacrificed the interests of a small country, he did It was for the sake of Britain. It knew that if Britain had another all-out war with Germany, even if Britain won by relying on the interests of its colonies, it would fall from its position as the world's hegemon. In its place is the United States.
"Chamberlain, Churchill, you are all for Britain! It's a pity that our positions are different!" Lin Wei thought to himself.