Ch.217Blood of Dunkirk

* * *

Neither the French Commune nor the French government-in-exile has the ability to protect Syria.

This creates an opportunity for Turkey.

“Britain will prioritize their own affairs. Even if they hold a grudge later, they won’t act now. Besides, unless Communist Germany extends a hand of reconciliation, it would be impossible.”

If Goebbels has any sense, he won’t negotiate.

After all, if an aggressor extends a hand first, they lose their justification as someone meant to spark world revolution.

Why wouldn’t they seize the opportunity when the colonial empires they need to destroy are cornered like this?

Especially when the communization of France will make their popularity skyrocket.

Even if the British forces survive by luck, it will be difficult.

“Let’s sound out Kemal.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“We need to stay on high alert from now on. We anticipated France falling, but this is still a gamble for us.”

One must always consider the worst-case scenario.

Would we have entered if France was intact? We need to prepare for variables to this extent.

Fortunately, the nuclear weapon is almost ready now, so whatever Germany does, we can end it with nuclear power.

“The White Army, as always, stands ready for battle at any moment.”

It’s satisfying to see the military fully prepared.

Stalin received reports of Nazi Germany’s invasion signs but denied them until he was hit hard.

In this world, the United States of Greater Russia will kill these three communists—our Germany, France, and Italy—with overwhelming power.

“Your Majesty. News from our London branch. The Allied forces preparing to evacuate from Dunkirk have suffered devastating losses at the hands of Communist German and French forces.”

Not long after, Savinkov brought us the news we had been waiting for.

This means Turkey doesn’t need to worry about Britain’s reaction.

Britain and France have both fallen together, hand in hand.

“Well, there’s no need to deliberate on this.”

If Britain and France have blundered, we can keep our promise to Kemal.

Moreover, I’ve shared something interesting with him. Britain and France won’t be able to do anything about Turkey now.

Britain with its army decimated, France with its government in exile having lost its homeland—what can they do?

This way, we feed Turkey a little to get their help in the war. Now all that remains are Poland and Austria.

“Poland doesn’t have much time left either.”

“Poland launched a belated offensive but then retreated.”

They were already devastated in the original history, so there’s no way they could coordinate effectively.

Communist Germany won’t even think about landing in Britain, so they’ll deal with Poland, which is in their way, immediately.

Even so, we can’t step in yet.

Well, if Poland begs desperately, that might be different, but we still don’t have justification to enter the war.

We’re creating justification through Austria, and if we enter through Poland, we won’t have the opportunity to take a piece of Poland.

“Hmm, let’s do some work. Make Poland request support from Russia.”

“Finally time to use that method.”

“Yes, please take care of it.”

“We all requested support from Russia in Poland!” If it comes to this, Poland won’t be able to say anything.

For that to happen, Poland needs to be trampled a bit, and now the picture is being painted perfectly.

Poland will now have to face Communist Germany and the French Commune directly.

Naturally, they can’t handle it alone, so with the Poles’ request for support, Russia can occupy eastern Poland without war, under the pretext of protecting it, right?

* * *

Around this time, every available ship was being gathered in mainland Britain.

This was to evacuate the hundreds of thousands of Allied troops from Dunkirk, to safely return British soldiers to the mainland before they were trampled to death by the communists.

“Send every ship we have! From all across Britain, even from Ireland! We must save our British Empire’s soldiers!”

We’re talking about 400,000 troops.

It was a force meticulously built up with more thorough preparation than in the original history.

Of course, this British force included troops from the Commonwealth, but it was a force that Churchill had prepared with painstaking craftsmanship.

Losing them would mean Britain had essentially lost this war. They had to commit their entire fleet to focus on homeland defense.

“Those French bastards! How dare they betray us!”

“We should have known since the Paris Commune.”

“Please save my only child!”

“My grandson is in Belgium. Please help him return safely.”

All Britons joined in prayer, and Churchill in his bunker was losing what little hair he had left preparing for the Dunkirk evacuation.

Was it stress? Or the emotional toll?

Churchill’s face had grown gaunt and aged since British forces began to be pushed back to Dunkirk.

With trembling hands, he asked Alan Brooke who had come to see him:

“Chief of Staff, how are the evacuation preparations going?”

“We’re gathering ships somehow, but we’ll need to make several trips.”

This meant:

Unless Communist Germany showed mercy, casualties would be inevitable.

At these words, Churchill dropped his head weakly, looking like a man who had lost his country.

“We’ll suffer tremendous losses in the meantime. How am I to report this defeat to His Majesty?”

A safe evacuation itself would be difficult.

The Communist German forces would attack ferociously, and having to make multiple trips would make it even harder.

At minimum, troops would need to be sacrificed to hold back the communists.

If Communist Germany, with its rear now secure, attacked the surrounded forces, the death toll would be enormous.

What on earth was Russia doing?

Shouldn’t they have entered the war by now, by whatever means? Wouldn’t they be in trouble too if France fell?

Anyway, the situation was urgent.

Even the home fleet was being deployed to assist with the evacuation.

Even East Prussia’s small fleet was helping, which said it all.

This was all because of the French betrayal.

Those damned frogs. They should have swept away the entire command when they were at Allied headquarters.

Of course, there were loyal French troops who followed Britain into exile, but most had joined the French People’s Army, so Churchill couldn’t view France favorably.

“Prime Minister.”

“What is it?”

This time it was Louis Mountbatten. What business did the Anglo-French Allied Commander have?

For him to come personally during evacuation preparations… Surely there wasn’t more bad news?

“Jerry’s fleet has emerged.”

“The Red Fleet of Communist Germany?”

What were the Germans doing sending out their fleet?

No. Surely not.

Terribly unthinkable things crossed Churchill’s mind.

It couldn’t be.

It mustn’t be. Churchill shook his head slightly, trying to deny it.

“I believe they intend to prevent the evacuation.”

And just then, Mosley, sweating profusely, voiced the worst-case scenario Churchill had been trying not to imagine.

No. But that’s all it is.

“Their fleet can never defeat the Royal Navy! They may have been rebuilding their fleet, but compared to ours, it’s just a handful!”

They absolutely cannot win.

How dare these communists think they can match the British Empire’s fleet?

Yes. That must be right. Looking at Louis Mountbatten with hope, however…

He only shook his head.

“But if their goal is to attack our retreating soldiers to the bitter end, it will be difficult.”

With a gloomy face, he deliberately trailed off, saying it would be difficult.

Yes. What does that mean?

“It will probably be difficult.” Simply put, but the meaning was clear.

The casualties would be beyond imagination. But if so, Communist Germany would lose its entire fleet too.

Would they sacrifice their small fleet?

“That means they’d lose their entire fleet.”

“From Germany’s perspective, they can just use U-boats, and they might want to completely destroy us so we don’t even have forces to land. The French fleet that switched sides might even help them.”

A truly worst-case scenario could unfold.

“Why would the French fleet help? Even with a revolution, how could they so quickly—”

“Most have already joined the People’s Army, and above all, they were dissatisfied with British command during the Allied operations.”

France already had anti-war sentiment.

In that situation, the French couldn’t have liked being forced into war by Britain, and with France’s internal chaos as an excuse, Britain took control of the Anglo-French command. With offensives repeatedly failing, it was natural for the French to develop resentment toward Britain.

“So what are you saying? That Jerry’s inadequate fleet might kill our soldiers? Can’t we destroy their fleet first?”

“Regrettably, we must also check the French fleet, and if they’re prepared to sacrifice their entire fleet to target our army… it’s impossible.”

Of course, in the end, they could destroy Communist Germany’s fleet and maintain the prestige of the Royal Navy.

But it would be a victory exchanged for tens of thousands of British soldiers.

From the beginning, Britain was being forced to make such a choice, and Russia’s entry into the war, which they had not wanted until now, became desperately desirable.

What was this country of saints doing?

Why wasn’t Russia, which had been united in hatred against the Bolsheviks during the Civil War and had purged communists nationwide, raising its backside yet?

Then he shook his head.

It was Churchill himself who had not wanted Russia’s participation.

What use was such thinking now?

“Isn’t there any way? Any way at all?”

“For now, I’ll do my best.”

Louis Mountbatten’s face, promising to do his best, didn’t look very optimistic.

And then.

On the day the Dunkirk evacuation operation began.

Fierce fighting continued at Dunkirk.

“Don’t let the Tommies escape! Bring victory to Comrade Goebbels!”

“Hail Goebbels!”

As the French army was changing its sign to the People’s Army under German supervision, Army Groups A and B, with support from French supplies, were launching fierce attacks on the Allied forces at Dunkirk.

“Hold them back somehow! We must hold until the remaining forces evacuate!”

“We need to support our troops! Hurry!”

Britain was trying desperately to evacuate, leaving sacrificial forces behind.

However, Charles Forbes, commander of the British Home Fleet supporting the Dunkirk evacuation, faced a serious obstacle.

“Sir! The enemy fleet is blocking ours!”

“These damn communists!”

These red specters were clinging to the British Empire’s soldiers like water ghosts.

It was the worst situation for those who needed to support the evacuation operation.

“We must hold here to prevent the British from evacuating, until they are completely annihilated!”

As Army Groups A and B began their fierce attack on Dunkirk, with some French People’s Army troops cooperating to drive the Allied forces into a death trap.

Not only that, Raeder’s Red Fleet blocked the Royal Navy like zombies while destroying all the transport ships sent from Britain to save the soldiers.

Even troops already on transport ships became prey for the red U-boats.

Even while helplessly suffering attacks from the Home Fleet, they kept biting and destroying transport ships and attacking British troops on the shore.

Oil leaked from British transport ships hit by torpedoes and battleship fire, and what were humans until recently—chunks of meat and surviving soldiers—were burning on the sea.

With each transport ship destroyed, the British army suffered exponential casualties.

Communist Germany’s Red Army had no intention of letting the Allied forces survive.

“Kill those red flies! We must save our army!”

“Don’t let a single imperialist return!”

Even the Red Air Force joined in, pushing back the RAF and indiscriminately bombing the coast where Allied forces were evacuating and the transport ships with bombers.

“They won’t even accept surrender!”

“They’re red demons!”

“Churchill, you bastard! Why did you start this war?”

The dying British soldiers were filled with fear of the German communists and hatred for Churchill who had started the war.

Charles Forbes, who was destroying Raeder’s fleet, could do nothing but watch the army being swept away by the red tide.

“H-how can this be? O-our soldiers are all dying. All of them! Hundreds of thousands of our troops, our young men, all dying.”

The shore and sea were filled with blood and flesh that had once formed human bodies.

The Royal Navy completely destroyed Raeder’s fleet, ensuring they would never crawl out to sea again, but…

Of the 400,000 troops, fewer than 60,000 made it back to the British Isles alive. Even this number included other Commonwealth forces and French, Dutch, and Belgian government-in-exile troops. The remaining prisoners captured at Dunkirk were sent to Dachau concentration camp.

Unlike the original history, the Dunkirk evacuation operation was essentially a failure.

In this battle, Communist Germany’s fleet was destroyed, making it difficult to target the British mainland, while Britain’s navy remained intact but the large army they had carefully built up evaporated instantly, making landing operations impossible.

Considering that Germany had difficulty targeting a British landing even when it was intact, this was essentially a German victory in preventing a British landing.

British blood overflowed at Dunkirk, the coast, and on the sea where merchant ships from the British mainland had become transport ships carrying the army.

This was a complete British defeat.

That once-great country that had ruled the five oceans as the world’s strongest power, where the sun never set, was collapsing.

“Hahaha! This is all thanks to us Italians who opened a front in the south! What are you waiting for? Now is the chance! Liberate all those British African colonies!”

Stimulated by Dunkirk, Mussolini tried to take advantage of the British Mediterranean Fleet’s absence to move Italian forces in Africa to proudly occupy British African territories, but…

Unfortunately, in Africa, there were Ethiopian forces moving north to help the Allies at Russia’s request.

“Mussolini’s attack is blocked by the Ethiopian army.”

“Are they always getting blocked?”

And so they were blocked again.