Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 1209 The Circling Dragon Pattern

In the blink of an eye, in the 20th century, although Calais had lost its original role as an old castle, due to the advent of the Age of Discovery and its unique geographical location, Calais became France's second only to Brittany and Marseille. important port.In addition, the city of Calais also has its own specialties. Their traditional products include lace and thorny bamboo. These textiles are exported to the world through the port of Calais.

In addition, Calais is an important military fortress.Due to its special geographical location, the port construction of Calais has been carried out in accordance with the army's mobilization plan.The whole city is divided into four parts by two canals.Each block has multiple bastions as support points for defense.Next to each bastion is an auxiliary fort. Although most of these artillery are old-fashioned mortars, they can still be used.

Most of the buildings here have three to five floors, most of which are made of solid granite, and the outer layer has been laid with reinforced concrete.Ordinary 75mm guns have little effect on it at all.

What's more important is the layout of the streets of Calais. Almost all the streets are composed of countless T-shaped irregular shapes.In this way, no matter where you walk, you will always be blocked by a building in front of you.If the defending side deploys several firepower points there, then a dozen people can easily block the assault of more than one company of the opponent's troops.Moreover, there are too many forks, and it is very easy for soldiers who are not familiar with the terrain to get lost.Therefore, during the war, those who choose to attack this city will undoubtedly experience a terrible nightmare.

At this time, Calais was used by the British army as an important transit port concession between Britain and France.Since this is a relatively important port, the defense of the British army in Calais is relatively strong.In order to deal with the possible amphibious landing attack of the Dragon Army, the British army specially transported 240mm fort cannon and 400mm mortar from Dover.In addition, the coastal forts facing the sea have been greatly transformed.

The French assembled about three coastal artillery battalions and deployed nearby.

In addition, in order to prevent the harassment of the Chinese Air Force, the air defense facilities of the entire Calais have also been greatly strengthened.The 6th Heavy Anti-aircraft Gun Company, the 172nd Type Anti-aircraft Gun Company and the 1st and 2nd Searchlight Companies of the Royal Artillery were transferred from the British mainland and Arras.They set up a semi-circular anti-aircraft cordon around the city.Since the Calais area is relatively close to the British mainland, about three British divisions came here, including a brigade of the Guards Armored Division, the [-]rd Infantry Division, the [-]th Infantry Division and a brigade of the [-]nd Armored Division. Due to the tightness on other fronts, most of the troops were transferred away one after another.Only the [-]rd Infantry Division is still waiting to be replenished in Calais.And the commander of the division, Montgomery Jr., naturally became the new commander of the city defense of Calais.

On May 5, Chen Jitang's armored vanguard had reached the coast near Saint-Valéry.After a brief pause, they began to turn northeast to attack the various ports along the strait according to the route prescribed by the headquarters in advance.

On the evening of the 27th, the Tenth Armored Division of the Dragon Army had arrived at the city of Boulogne.

The next day, the First Armored Division of the Dragon Army began to attack the British troops on the front line of the A Canal.Successfully entangled the British [-]th Infantry Division defending there, and another unit, the [-]nd Armored Division, took the opportunity to sweep the British and French forces in the port of Boulogne. They occupied the port and most of the city, and successfully The defenders were crushed into a small castle of Boulogne.It's just that these castles built in the middle ages are stronger than the dragon army imagined, so the dragon army troops lacking heavy artillery will not be able to break through for a while.

On the other side, the troops of the two armored divisions led by Li Zongren did not directly attack Dunkirk as the Allied forces expected, but circled a semicircle and unexpectedly cut into the weakly defended Gravelina, and Quickly occupied there.There is a transit point between Calais and Dunkirk.The actions of Li Zongren and Chen Jitang's troops meant that the two wings of Calais were cut off by the dragon army.For a while, Calais was immersed in an atmosphere of chaos and panic.

Refugees and non-combatants are trying to escape from the city in every possible way, and all kinds of British military equipment are continuously transported from the UK and piled up near the port without any order.Fighters and bombers of the Chinese Air Force visited from time to time, and they found a large amount of weapons and equipment piled up on the pier, so they launched round after round of attacks.As a result, the Allied forces lost a lot of weapons, vehicles, ammunition and radio equipment, which brought great difficulties to the entire guidance work and made the situation in Calais even worse.

Faced with this situation, Little Montgomery successively issued general mobilization orders and martial law orders to stabilize the current situation in Calais.The defenders of the [-]rd Infantry Division and Calais immediately canceled all vacations and make-ups, and entered a state of combat readiness.All reserve soldiers in Calais and combat soldiers who had rested in Calais and did not leave immediately went to the designated place to report.

After 8 o'clock in the evening, the whole city is under control, and it is strictly forbidden to go out.On the other hand, he quickly made a request for reinforcements to the British Army Headquarters, and hoped that the other party could send enough ships to ensure smooth logistics and allow more ordinary civilians and non-combatants to evacuate.

Under the command of Montgomery Jr., the British army moved very quickly.Soon, the originally chaotic situation in Calais changed.He assembled an army of about 12000 men from scratch.This force is 7000 people from the 500rd Infantry Division as the core, supplemented by various garrison troops, police forces and reservists in the Lai area.In the end it even included [-] non-combatants who didn't take part in any combat.

However, the British headquarters also found that Little Montgomery was alone, and they quickly sent reinforcements, including the third battalion of the Royal Tank Regiment and the No.30 Infantry Brigade, which were quickly transported to Calais.The former is the only armored force in the British mainland, which is equipped with 72 Matilda 2 tanks.After that, they were transported directly from their barracks Southampton to Calais.The latter was prepared as an indigenous force for the attack on Narvik, but the defeat of the British Navy forced the cancellation of that operation.The brigade consists of the [-]nd Battalion of the Royal King's Rifles, the [-]st Battalion of the Rifle Brigade and the [-]st Battalion of the Queen Victoria's Rifles.These three battalions are all motorized infantry battalions belonging to the standing army, and their strength is very strong. The only problem is that most of the motor vehicles of this force are left in the country because there are not so many transport ships.But for little Montgomery, there is no time to take care of these, because the dragon army is already approaching, and is rushing towards him at a high speed.

"Every hour you persist in Calais is extremely precious to the entire British army and even all the Allied forces. Therefore, you must persist in fighting, and you must hold off the opponent for three to five days, so that our troops To be able to rush to Calais to join you, regardless of success or failure, as long as you can last more than three days. Your tenacious resistance will receive the highest praise, and retreat is absolutely not allowed. Everything you do is Gain time to withdraw the expeditionary force back to Dover! Churchill!"

Flipping through the still ink-stained telegram, little Montgomery felt as if he had knocked over a five-flavored bottle.The current situation is simply clear to him. His army has been defeated, and the defense of the entire Allied forces in France has become torn apart. All the ports leading to England in the east, except Calais and already Except for the besieged and impenetrable Dunkirk, all were occupied by the dragon army.

Calais, which he was guarding, has become the target of public criticism. He is facing an army of dragons who do not know how many tens of thousands. Behind those dragon troops are hundreds of thousands of Anglo-French-Belgian allied forces, and behind the allied forces are several million standard The steel army with the five-clawed golden dragon logo is pressing towards him.

Judging from the current situation, Little Montgomery suddenly found himself like a piece of ham sandwich bread, and it was the bottom piece, which was pressed deeply on the plate, leaving no room for turning.

"Hey!" Thinking of this, Little Montgomery sighed heavily, then threw the telegram heavily on the table, and then kept rubbing his temples.The current situation is really too difficult for him. If he resists, he will die, if he cannot resist, he will die, and if he retreats, he will die.

Encountering such a mortal battle is really a hell.Although the telegram said that it would give him considerable honor, little Montgomery knew deeply that this kind of honor would not be given to him. on the side.If you fail, let alone anything else, the scapegoat must be yourself.Thinking of this, he smiled wryly and shook his head.Everything in front of him is a dead end, unless so many allied forces can escape to ascend to heaven, or.

While he was thinking about his way out, the outside door was pushed open.His adjutant Valery appeared at the door, "General! We found traces of the Dragon Army's reconnaissance troops in the southeast!"

"Southwest direction? Dragon army reconnaissance unit?" Little Montgomery jumped up, quickly picked up the magnifying glass, and looked at the huge defense map on the table: "Southwest direction, near Berg Town?" Little Montgomery said He raised his head and asked the other party suspiciously.

"Yes! Our reconnaissance team found traces left by the armored vehicles of the Dragon Army's mechanized troops on the road. After tracking, it was found to be a half-track convoy of the Dragon Army. All the people on it were wearing camouflage military uniforms. The emblem on the front of the car is a hovering dragon pattern."

(End of this chapter)