Iron Cross

In the early morning of January 8, such scenes can be seen everywhere in major cities in southern England:

"Don't look, don't look!"

"Hand it over, hand it over!"

"Confiscate, confiscate, all confiscated!"

"Stop, stop!"

On the street, the police shouted and ran in exasperation, while the citizens dodged flexibly, occasionally taking a piece of paper and running away. Leaflets can be seen everywhere in the fields, on the roofs, on the streets, and on the trees, all falling from the sky.

It has been a long time since German planes flew to Britain to bomb. The air defense forces and radar forces have been tense since the Battle of Britain. Finally, the nerves have relaxed. But at dawn today, about 130 German He-218 bombers, escorted by the Bf-219 squadron, visited the British Isles again in an ultra-low-altitude raid. They flew to major cities in groups of three or five, and London was the top priority. However, this time the bombers dropped leaflets instead of bombs.

After dropping the bombs, these extremely fast "swans" fled at a speed of nearly 580 kilometers per hour without waiting for the British anti-aircraft aircraft to react...

The leaflets are the latest result of Dr. Goebbels, the German Propaganda Minister, who has been working tirelessly on the propaganda front line in recent days. This time there is no empty propaganda and theoretical dissemination, only exciting texts and pictures to attract the attention of the British people.

"He did not defeat us, but won our respect" is the upper part of the leaflet. It is a documentary report that reveals the truth of the North African Campaign and the inside story of Lieutenant General Montgomery's suicide. The accompanying photos are very impactful: one is a photo of the German head of state and the Italian leader leading the officers of the two countries to bow and pay tribute to Montgomery's body; the other photos are the scene of Montgomery's funeral, with a full 1,800-person German honor guard, 72 tanks in front of them, all of which are Tiger tanks that daunt the British army, and a hearse covered with the British flag in the middle. There are a total of 8 senior officers carrying the coffin, 4 of whom are British officers (including Ramsden), and 4 German marshals (Keitel, Kesselring, Rommel and Guderian). The leaflet specifically noted that the two former and current commanders of the African Army were among the coffin bearers, and behind them were all funeral teams composed of important figures, including the German head of state, the Italian leader, the Egyptian king and prime minister, the Iraqi prime minister, etc. The overall specifications are comparable to a state funeral, and the mourning is extremely honorable!

The next part of the leaflet was another report - "Some people are still alive, but he is dead", which used pungent and sarcastic words to mock the actions of Alexander, the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Theater. The accompanying photos were also carefully selected: one was the seizure on the dock of Alexandria Port. The materials piled up like mountains and not even unpacked in time were very visually impactful; one was the desperate and lonely figures of the defending soldiers in Cairo under the heavy siege of the army, and the voice-over explained that "... at this time, their supreme commander had already fled to a safe area 1,000 kilometers away by plane"; the third was a photo of the Aswan mutiny, with two teams with Union Jacks facing each other and glaring at each other. The powerful Gestapo even got a photo of Alexander and Ted walking under the bayonets of the New Zealand military police in a miserable state and published it.

These news and photos were all not seen in British newspapers. When the British media was still boasting about "heroic resistance" and "bloody battles", the Germans had already exposed the truth of the matter. Ordinary people certainly have a sense of right and wrong, but that doesn't mean they don't want to see the real information - the more the government wants to hide, the more interested the people are. Although the police tried their best to block and kill the distribution of leaflets, the news spread like wildfire.

Many people couldn't help but recite the limerick that Dr. Goebbels wrote to ridicule Admiral Alexander while reading:

Lost in North Africa last night;

Lost in the Middle East today;

If you ask about the Admiral's shadow;

All on the run.

"Mom... Mom... I found Dad, I found Dad." The little girl Kate rushed into the house, waving the leaflets and shouting to the hostess.

"Your dad is back? Where is he? Where is he?" The hostess turned around, her face full of shock.

"Here, No..." Kate handed over the flyer, turned to a photo on the back, pointed to a slightly blurred image of an officer and said happily, "This is Dad, I recognize him..."

"Hmm?" The hostess took it and looked at it carefully, and said uncertainly, "It looks a bit like him, but it's not clear. Where did this newspaper come from?"

"I picked it up from the ground. There are all over the outside. The police are catching people..."

The hostess felt strange. Would she be caught for picking up a newspaper? After taking a closer look at the text and title, she felt like she was struck by lightning. Her face turned pale and her hands couldn't help shaking.

The little girl didn't notice the change in her mother, and still said excitedly: "I think it is, Dad eats well, look... What else does the newspaper say, please read it to me, why is there a photo of Dad, didn't Dad go to war?"

The hostess finally saw the full content of the "newspaper". On the back was a photocopy of Montgomery's suicide note and several photos of the Italian prisoner-of-war camp.

"Your father...he lost the fight...is in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp."

"What is Italy? What is a prisoner-of-war camp?"

"Italy is far away, and a prisoner-of-war camp...well, it's a bit like a prison cell, with no freedom."

"No freedom?" Kate laughed innocently, "What is freedom? But I think at least he won't be hungry. Look at what they eat, including macaroni, meat, fish, and fruit. Yeah, There is actually a bottle of wine next to it... You see, Dad eats much better than us."

She talked to herself for a long time and didn't hear her mother's answer. When she looked up, she found that her mother's face was full of tears. She was so nervous: "Mom, it's my fault. I don't ask you for food. I don't want to eat." ...Don't be sad, don't cry..."

"Okay, I won't cry, I won't cry..." The hostess held Kate tightly in her arms, "God bless... your father is still alive."

In the cabinet meeting room, everyone had read the leaflets, and everyone was worried and frowning. They didn't expect the Germans to be so cruel. The people were now excited, and it was obvious that things were not getting better.

"What's going on with the Air Force? Why do you let so many planes come to us? Where are your vigilance and preparedness?" Churchill knocked on the table and said angrily, "This time it's leaflets. What if it's a bomb that falls?" What to do? This is dereliction of duty!”

"The air force took off to meet the enemy, but the boys said the enemy planes were flying away very fast..."

"Faster than a fighter jet?"

Attlee coughed slightly and changed the subject at the right time: "Winston, the MPs are excited and want to drag you in for questioning..."

"This... involves a lot of secrets." Churchill raised his head in distress, "Can you not go?"

"The MPs have a very tough attitude, saying that this is a closed-door meeting without reporters or other irrelevant observers. The Prime Minister must attend and they will all sign a confidentiality agreement." Attlee's face was long, "This is not yours alone. We all must have a way to deal with it, otherwise a motion of no-confidence will be launched.”

Everyone's faces were ugly. They were originally planning to slowly release the unfavorable news about the war situation and put the blame on Montgomery, the useless commander. But now it was better. The Germans came first. Montgomery not only committed suicide but also left a suicide note. How should the government face the people now? Especially the photo of Alexander and Ted walking under a bush of knives made everyone grit their teeth, except for the blood.

"The latest telegram." Marshal Brooke, the Chief of General Staff, took it and looked at it with a frown on his face. "The German armored forces marched towards Eritrea and crossed the border. The local administration has sent a telegram to surrender to the Germans. More than 1,000 of our troops there The people are retreating to Somalia. In addition, at noon today, the Aden Protectorate announced the abolition of all treaties with the Kingdom and became a German protectorate. A German force landed at the port of Aden. Both sides of the Red Sea are now within the enemy's sphere of influence. The Saudi Kingdom has Surrounded on all sides.”

"Where are the troops withdrawn from Cairo?" Churchill asked with a frown.

"All the personnel of the two divisions gathered in Aswan, and Lumsden also returned from Cairo. However, General Alexander, who had retreated early, was already in the same boat as them. The Australian and New Zealand coalition forces did not listen to him at all, and it was impossible for both sides to continue. cooperate."

"Form all the troops who have retreated from Egypt into the East African Army, and retreat to Sudan under the command of General Lumsden." Churchill pondered for a moment and said, "Remove General Alexander from all his duties, let him go to South Africa first, and then transfer Returning to China to await investigation, he has unshirkable responsibility for the failures in North Africa and the Middle East.”

"Where's General Ted?"

"You deserve meritorious service." Churchill said coldly, "I can't replace all the generals, otherwise who will command the war? Lumsden is not the most suitable candidate."

"Okay." Brooke sighed. He knew that Churchill would definitely want to find a scapegoat. Montgomery was originally the most suitable candidate, but not only did he commit suicide and win the respect of the Germans, what's more terrible is that the news spread - -The only candidate for the scapegoat now seems to be Alexander.

"Admiral Wilson sent a telegram that the 10th Army requested tanks, aircraft and troop support. It would be difficult for him to hold Persia with his current strength." Brooke explained, "He lost more than two divisions in Iraq, and Persia only The remaining five divisions have less than 70,000 men. The German army in Basra has crossed the border and launched an attack. It has very few tanks and aircraft and almost no warships. It is impossible to fight, and the Persians are even more ready to move. "

"Where are the current battle lines?"

"The enemy has occupied Abadan...but before that we had blown up the oil refinery. The two sides are currently facing each other in the direction of the Ahvaz oil field group. The Germans are constantly deploying troops. We only have three infantry divisions, among which 1 local division, 2 Indian divisions, he was prepared for the worst."

Churchill knew what the worst-case scenario was: blow up the oil fields, fight while retreating, or retreat to Afghanistan and India if it was impossible.