But no matter how brave the Belgians were, their defeat was already certain when they were trapped in a tight siege. When the Sixth Army and the Eighteenth Army stepped up their attacks and issued an ultimatum. King Leopold III of Belgium surrendered in the early morning of May 28. At 5 pm on May 27, he sent General Rossau, the Belgian deputy chief of staff, to the German army to request a truce. At 10 o'clock, the general brought back the conditions of the German army: "The head of state demanded that he lay down his weapons unconditionally." At 11 o'clock in the afternoon, the king decided to surrender unconditionally and suggested that the fighting should be stopped at 4 o'clock in the morning, hoping to buy the British and French forces the last few hours. , and as a result, the fighting stopped at 4 a.m. on May 28.
General Bock, commander of Army Group B, personally met with General Rossau, deputy chief of staff of Belgium, at the front line. After quietly listening to General Rossau's relay of the news that King Leopold III of Belgium requested a truce, General Bock was very sympathetic to the Belgian. General of Belgium, but accepting the surrender of a country is beyond the scope of General Bock's responsibilities for the time being. For this reason, General Bock had to ask General Rossau to wait. At the same time, the radio station here has sent the message to the Eagle's Nest base camp in the Siegfried Line.
Hit received the news? Without exception, Lieutenant Colonel von Blomberg and Army Commander-in-Chief von Brauchitsch were all shocked by the sudden good news. From the beginning of the war until now, the army of the Kingdom of Belgium has performed better than the British and French forces. Much. If their military numbers were not inferior to those of major European countries such as Britain, France, and Germany, they might have had unexpected effects. Hit? Le also once hoped that the troops of the Kingdom of Belgium would surrender, but there has been no progress in persuading the surrender for several days. Hit? Le also gave up this idea and ordered Army Group B to annihilate the Belgian army. But at this moment, the Belgian army, which had been resisting, was willing to surrender. Why not let Hit? Le was overjoyed. At this point, there is no need to know what happened to them in the Kingdom of Belgium. Hit? Le immediately suppressed his excitement and said calmly, "Inform General Bock that the Kingdom of Belgium must surrender unconditionally! If they refuse, then annihilate them!".
After the staff officer goes down, Hit? Le summoned General Yodel. As soon as General Yodel came in, Hit? Le first said, "If nothing else happens, the Kingdom of Belgium will not reject our conditions because they have no choice!"
"Yes, Führer!" Yoder doesn't know Hit? What did Le want to say, so he could only remain humble and wait for Hit? Le spoke his mind. Hit? Le pointed to the map on the table and then pointed to the place where the Belgian army blocked the British and French coalition forces. "If the Belgian army surrenders, we will not only be able to mobilize two armies to participate in the siege of Dunkirk." The British and French Allied Forces, the most important thing is the defense line of the British and French Allied Forces in the east, there will be a 20-kilometer long gap. If Rommel's 7th Armored Division and the SS Skeleton Division are allowed to pass quickly, it will undoubtedly have a huge effect! This effect is even greater than if we had two more armies!"
Yodel followed Hit? Le continued to think, nodding from time to time. It seems Hit? Le successfully persuaded General Yoder to quickly pass through the twenty-kilometer-long gap from the eastern front at this time, taking advantage of the opportunity before the British and French forces could react. Unexpected results will definitely be achieved. Even when the command system of the British and French coalition forces is focusing its attention on the west, it is very possible to destroy the eastern defense line of the British and French coalition forces in one sentence.
Hit? Seeing that he had succeeded in getting General Yoder to act according to his own ideas, Le said for a moment with pride, "By the way, isn't Lampard attacking on the western front now? How is the situation now?"
Hear Hit? When Le asked, General Jodl immediately regained his calm expression, "Führer, the soil in the canal area is soft and there are many swamps. There has been no breakthrough in the armored group yet! But don't worry, Führer, Marshal Göring's The air force successfully prevented the British Royal Navy warships from docking. So far, those British guys have not been able to break through the steel sky formed by our imperial air force!"
"I knew it a long time ago!" Hit? Lepo said with a headache, "If Britain hadn't been so bold in trying to rescue the British and French forces in the Dunkirk area, I wouldn't have wasted the armored clusters there. They should have been used on the more valuable French plains. Up, not there!”
"Führer, this is not your fault!" Yoder said, "None of us thought that the British were so crazy! They wanted to rescue hundreds of thousands of troops just by relying on the navy! But they will never succeed. We have The most powerful army and the most powerful air force in the world! I believe that with the full cooperation of our army and navy, the British will never succeed!" Hit? Le was noncommittal, not knowing what he was thinking.
Not long after, General Bock received a telegram from the base camp. The content of the telegram was very simple. The Belgian army must surrender unconditionally. Although General Bock had some objections to this, his personal ethics still made him understand. This kind of thing is beyond his control. Even though General Bock was unwilling to do so, under his duty, General Bock still summoned General Rossau, the deputy chief of staff of the Belgian army who had been waiting for a long time, and announced Germany's attitude to General Rossau heartily.
"General Bock, is there no room for negotiation?" General Luo Sao asked unwillingly. He believed that Belgium had nothing to do with Germany. During the two wars, Belgium only defended itself. This result is really too cruel for Belgium. So he argued, "The reason why Belgium is confronting Germany is simply because it doesn't want the war to burn our country! We have no hatred against Germany!"
General Bock looked at General Rossau with pity, listened to his defense for Belgium, and then said, "Maybe Germany did lack moral reasons in the last war, but this time..." General Bock smiled coldly, " The Waffen-SS general who is currently commanding the armored group attack, Lampard & Krupp, his hometown of the Ruhr area seems to have been invaded by you and the French army and controlled for several years! General Rossau, you should pray for responsibility in the future The person in charge of running Belgium is not a member of the SS, if he is responsible!" General Bock did not say anything further at this time, but the threat contained was very obvious.
After listening to General Rossau's defense for Belgium, General Bock's originally somewhat compassionate heart immediately became as hard as iron. From this point of view, General Rossau's words had the opposite effect. Admiral Bock, who no longer wanted to talk nonsense with General Rossau, immediately said, "General Rossau, please tell His Majesty King Leopold III of Belgium that you must either surrender unconditionally or wait to be completely annihilated. There will never be a third option." choose!"
After saying that, he ignored General Luo Sao, who looked ashen, and left alone. General Rossau stood there motionless for a long time. Maybe he understood the fate of a small country, or maybe he regretted that Belgium should have established a good relationship with Germany earlier. Finally, General Rossau sighed heavily and staggered back to Leopold III, who was anxiously waiting for news.
What General Rossau brought was not good news. Germany did not agree with Belgium's withdrawal from the war, but wanted Belgium to surrender unconditionally. However, Leopold III, who had lost his will to resist, was still ready to accept Germany's conditions and agreed to the Belgian army to give up resistance. This was not just for the sake of the safety of the Belgians, but mainly because of Leopold III. Seeing that the British and French coalition forces were trapped in a tight siege, they had given up hope on the Allies. So there is no need for the Belgians to continue to bleed and die for the sake of the British and French.
But Belgian Prime Minister Pielot firmly opposed it and said to Leopold III, "Your Majesty, although the Germans now have the absolute upper hand, we retreat to Britain. Although we are now surrounded, we can open the door with our strength." A small gap can still be used to cover your retreat! I hope Your Majesty will not give up hope!"
"Really?" Leopold III said with a bitter smile, "If this war started when Germany attacked Poland, how many countries have fallen at the feet of Germany now? Czechoslovakia? Poland? Denmark? Norway? And the Netherlands, and now we are in Belgium. Although the British and French coalition forces are only a few dozen kilometers away from us, this little distance is really out of reach. It is not that we have no intention to join the British and French coalition forces, but the German Wehrmacht It easily shattered our move! Moreover, they are also surrounded. Although I heard that the British Royal Navy is preparing to rescue them, is it really difficult to succeed? "
Leopold III was now completely disappointed with Britain and France. There were many reasons for this. On the one hand, Germany swept through the five countries and fought a hard battle with the British Royal Navy off the coast of Norway, leaving the world's number one Britain. The Royal Navy did not take advantage. It makes people look at it with side eyes. Now even Britain and France, known as the two strongest powers in the world, have been defeated. Leopold III had completely lost confidence in the Allies. On the contrary, the growing Axis powers made Leopold III even more suspicious.
"But Your Majesty, I am against this!" Unlike Leopold III, Belgian Prime Minister Pielot still has full confidence in Britain and France. In his view, he believes that the current situation is completely temporary passivity, just like During World War I, Germany was unstoppable at the beginning, but when the two countries were fully mobilized, Germany immediately failed. But he forgot that Germany's inability to win a quick victory at that time was entirely limited by the times. Now, the advancement of science and technology has made it possible for Germany to quickly destroy France.
The two people had completely different views on Belgium's future. Leopold III believed that the future belonged to the Axis powers. Britain and France were no longer enough to rely on, and Belgium must now surrender to preserve Belgium's strength. It will be possible to make a comeback later. Belgian Prime Minister Pielot believes that Britain and France will consume Germany because of their vast colonies around the world, just like the last war.
In fact, Leopold III's thoughts would be more insightful if Americans did not participate in the war in the future. Of course, they cannot predict the future development of the world. If someone tells them now that Germany's biggest opponents are the Soviet Union and the United States, they will definitely think that person is crazy. Because although the United States has the largest economic power in the world, it is still far inferior to Britain and France in terms of influence. Not to mention the Soviet Union. Countries in Western Europe will never remember that there is such a country. They don't understand the Soviet Union at all.
In any case, the firm opposition of Belgian Prime Minister Pielot forced Leopold III to consider that although Leopold was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he was obliged to accept the government in this constitutional democratic kingdom. opinion. Whether as commander-in-chief or head of state, he has no right to surrender without authorization. In the end it was the Belgian people who passed the verdict against their monarch, and they were right to do so.
At this time, Leopold III was also very tough, because he felt that he was right, and said, "Prime Minister Pielot, I have already decided on this matter, so if you think you are right, you can Go to England and continue the resistance!”
"Your Majesty!" Belgian Prime Minister Pielot was still saying something, but Leopold III no longer wanted to hear it. Prime Minister Pielot saw that Leopold III had made up his mind and said, "Your Majesty, I hope you will not regret it in the future! With that, he walked out of Leopold III's room!"
The surrender of the King of Belgium was like adding fuel to the fire, adding huge difficulties to the British and French forces. In a desperate moment, he abandoned Britain and France and opened the door. General Bock immediately followed the orders of the base camp and quickly ordered the SS Skeleton Division and Rommel's 7th Armored Division to surrender from Belgium. After the broken defense line attacked the British and French coalition forces.
At this point, the country of Belgium has fallen into the same fate as the Netherlands. After the end of World War I, this country gave up its status as a permanent neutral country because of its profits. It participated in France's aggressive actions against the Weimar Republic many times and tied its own interests to France. When Hitt in 1936? After Leer reorganized the German military, Belgium quickly declared itself a permanently neutral country, hoping to avoid German retaliation. But it ultimately failed to avoid the predetermined outcome. If Germany's passage through Belgium in World War I was an unethical act, then Belgium fully deserved to be "passed through" again in World War II.
Twenty-two Belgian divisions and 300,000 Belgian soldiers entered the prisoner-of-war camp and became prisoners of General Bock, commander of Army Group B. For this reason, Germany received complete weapons and equipment capable of arming twenty-two divisions.
French Prime Minister Reynaud issued a fiery radio broadcast angrily condemning Leopold's surrender. Belgian Prime Minister Pielot, who had successfully escaped the siege, also made a broadcast in Paris, but in a more polite tone. He told the Belgian people that the king's actions were against the unanimous opinions of the * and that he was cutting himself off from the people. , it is impossible for him to continue to be in power, and the Belgian government-in-exile will continue to struggle.
Regardless of what the King of Belgium and the Prime Minister were still arguing about, General Bock ordered Rommel's 7th Armored Division and the SS Skeleton Division, which indeed achieved unexpected results. He kept his eyes fixed on the British Expeditionary Force attacking the Western Armored Group. The commander, Lord Gott, did not expect that the Belgian army, which had been resisting tenaciously, would surrender. It was not until the two German armored divisions launched their attack that they responded only 20 kilometers away from Dunkirk. At this time, the distance between the east and west German armored groups and the port of Dunkirk was already the same. Hundreds of thousands of British and French troops had to defend an area with a total length of only 40 kilometers and a width of only 20 kilometers.
German artillery has been able to reach most of the areas defended by the British and French forces. For the British and French forces in the encirclement, there is no safe area within the encirclement at this time.
With an absolute advantage, the armored group in the west basically annihilated the British and French armored forces here in two hours. Only a few dozen French B1 heavy tanks escaped back. Then they worked hard to establish a beachhead on the canal and successfully crossed the river, annihilating more than 10,000 British and French troops, including 1,820 British Expeditionary Force soldiers and 4,521 French Army soldiers captured.
Although the terrain here is crisscrossed by canals, ditches and flooded areas, the terrain is still not conducive to tank operations, but the armored corps of Guderian and Reinhard have established themselves on the canal between Gravelines and Saint-Omer. At the five bridgeheads, various SS armored divisions were nervously crossing the river. Guderian and Reinhardt, who had crossed the river in advance, had already set up their positions, preparing to deal a devastating blow to the encircling British and French forces.
The progress made on May 27 was quite beneficial to Lin Wei. At least Lin Wei had seen the hope of annihilating the British and French coalition forces. If everything goes well, in just three days, Lin Wei will be sure to crush the plan made by Churchill, a premature baby. Let the powerful British Royal Navy return without success. The most important thing is that Lin Wei really wants to know whether he can reverse Germany's situation now. This is also Lin Wei's counterattack against fate.
Lin Wei, who was looking refreshed, was going to take an armored command vehicle in the evening to visit the soldiers of the armored group on the front line, but immediately. Lin Wei was stunned when he boarded the armored command vehicle, staring blankly at the northern sky.
"Is it true that fate cannot be changed?" Lin Wei suddenly thought of this question. From the direction facing the English Channel, you can just see a thick and dark cloud pressing over. Anyone who sees this dark cloud feels breathless.