Chapter 951 D-Day (13)

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In the dark and swaying carriage, the three major military leaders of the British Empire were surrounded by U.S. commandos layer upon layer. The scene was as embarrassing as it could be.

No one here would normally be cheering for each other, but now they are being held at gunpoint by American soldiers who do not even have the rank of sergeant. Only they know how they feel. So even though it was almost 2 o'clock in the morning, the three of them were still not tired, thinking carefully about what went wrong in today's incident.

Fortunately, Evler knew that they had a good background and did not dare to treat them too much. He neither tied them up nor gagged them. He just asked the soldiers to watch closely. In his opinion, if they were to deal with several generals in their 60s, if they were used again, It would be ridiculous to deal with prisoners this way.

"We trusted him too easily..." Brooke said regretfully, "None of the politicians are good!"

Porter gritted his teeth and said: "If he falls into my hands, I will definitely hang him from a plane!"

"Forget it... let's figure out how to escape."

"Sirs, don't worry, our lives will not be safe. We are ordered to protect you, but if you want to escape, well... you have to outrun the bullets first."

Hearing such a vicious threat from the sergeant major opposite, the three of them shut their mouths in unison and thought about what to do next.

They had already agreed on one thing through their eye contact: Winston must be heading for those ships, and maybe he would have to put himself on board as a hostage - so that the naval aviation would not attack the fleet. Even though the convoy went around many places, they could still accurately determine whether the vehicle was heading west or north. The destination is Liverpool, the port where the Royal Navy is currently temporarily stationed.

Pound was the first to outline an action plan in his mind: starting from Liverpool, as long as the British aviation force did not attack, the fleet could move slowly, bypass Northern Ireland, avoid the detection of German reconnaissance planes in the direction of Iceland, and then sail along Ireland. - Take the British-Canada route from Newfoundland. As long as you keep your rhythm, it will be dark when you enter the Azores air defense circle. Except for the German submarines underwater, there will be no threat from other aspects. As for avoiding submarines, there are certain ways, and of course it is an unconventional way - let the cruiser guard the outside of the two aircraft carriers, protect the aircraft carriers with its body, move forward at the highest speed, ignore any submarine risks, and do not conduct any anti-submarine warfare Route avoidance only changes the route after a period of time, but overall it still travels in a straight line.

This desperate assault formation was summed up by the transport fleet. The conclusion is that as long as the heart is hard enough and other losses are ignored, the effective force can be preserved to the maximum extent - because the submarine cannot keep up with the speed of the transport plane when it rushes in at full speed. So later the Germans replaced the high-speed submarine - Type XXI, but now it is a real aircraft carrier fleet. The fastest speed can reach more than 30 knots, and they will lose 2-3 cruisers. These aircraft carriers are relatively safe. To take a step back, these two armored aircraft carriers have been designed with enhanced defenses. It will not be a serious problem if they take 1-2 torpedoes. As long as they can hold on to Canada, everything will be possible.

When he thought of this, he became anxious: the two aircraft carriers were the two aircraft carriers that the Germans had repeatedly told them to get, and they even valued them more than the other battleships on the slipway. Relying on this bit of wealth, the British Empire not only secured relatively ideal armistice conditions, but also secured the guarantee of preserving Northwest India and capturing South Africa. Although Japan's offer was a bit high, it was not unacceptable - just like that, the Germans also said that they could help lower the price, as long as the British were willing to cooperate and hand over the fleet. Moreover, it is not permanently withdrawn. Germany will still return it after the war (losses will not be compensated).

He was determined to keep these two warships no matter what, and Churchill could not be allowed to take them to Canada. Taking away the aircraft carrier would only be two more warships for the Americans, but it would incur endless anger from the Germans on the mainland, and even It is possible to lose a corner of India that has been saved with great difficulty. Moreover, he believed that Americans would never come to rescue Great Britain after getting the aircraft carrier - the last rescue battle in Iceland had completely seen the faces of these upstarts. Nimitz may have been a good man, but he had to listen to his superiors.

At about 6 o'clock in the morning, the sky had just cleared up, and the coup convoy finally arrived at the dock slowly and hurriedly. Everyone looked up and saw that the warships, including the two aircraft carriers, were there, and everyone could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Sir, the officer on duty outside the pier called and said that the Prime Minister, Marshal Pound, Marshal Brooke and Marshal Porter are all here."

Admiral Fraser, commander of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, who had received Attlee's telegram informing him of the details, nodded and asked, "Are there others? For example, American soldiers or something?"

"There are...a lot of American soldiers, all holding guns. Have the officers been kidnapped?"

Fraser shook his head slightly: "Don't worry too much about this. Pay attention to the vigilance, let the people over, and don't let them board the ship..."

"yes!"

Just as the officer on duty was about to leave, Fraser stopped him again: "If our people want to board the ship, yes!"

"clear!"

"Marshal, you know what I'm going to say later, right?" Churchill stood next to Pound, saying half to please and half to plead, "I can't let these aircraft carriers that the British Empire has painstakingly built fall into the hands of the Germans. I want to They are taken to Canada, where the Union Jack of the Imperial Navy will fly forever!”

Pound ignored him.

Marshal Porter and Brooke looked at the fat man with disdain - they had been fooled too many times.

"I know you want to hand over the aircraft carrier to Hitler in exchange for favorable terms, but how much harm have the Germans caused us in the past five years? General Cunningham died at the hands of the Germans. I will never bear this grudge. Forget! The current situation requires someone to fight against the invaders in Great Britain, and I completely understand this. But Great Britain also needs people who persist in resisting aggression and defending freedom wholeheartedly - I am willing to play this role!" Churchill continued to plead! , thought for a moment and then added, "You all know Hitler's credibility. He has never kept his word. I hold the Royal Navy fleet as a strong constraint on him, so that he cannot treat Great Britain excessively. We must have the means to curb aggression." strength."

"I'll give it a try, Fraser may not necessarily listen to me."

"No, I believe you can do it. Your prestige in the navy is unparalleled." Churchill breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Pound agreed to help, it would be easy for these commandos to control the situation when they came up.

"Then are you going to kidnap us and go to Canada?"

"No, no, no, I will personally take you back to London later. I want to apologize to you in person." Churchill said, "I long for the Royal Navy so much. I hope you can forgive the offense of a former navy personnel..."

Pang De snorted, but his expression relaxed. He took two steps forward and stood at the front of the crowd. Churchill stood behind and did not move. Evler whispered to the two soldiers to follow him to prevent accidents.

Pound did not go any further, but took off his hat, revealing his full head of silver hair, and asked Porter for a Royal Air Force hat (Marshal Brooke's Army did not have a Royal Air Force hat), and raised the flag with difficulty but meticulously - only The flag language that only the Royal Navy understands, those two military hats are the flags in his hands.

"I am Dudley Pound, Marshal of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, and I order you all to line up, stand at attention and salute!"

"Sir, the marshal asked us all to line up and stand at attention and salute."

"As ordered, line up as quickly as possible, stand at attention and salute!" Although Fraser didn't understand what the old marshal wanted to do, he still gave the order without hesitation.

"Wow!" The sailors ran onto the deck one after another, stood up one by one, and formed a neat queue behind the railing. Under the command of the officer, they all stood at attention and saluted.

Seeing the sailors standing at attention and saluting, Churchill breathed a sigh of relief - bringing Marshal Pound here was the most correct decision.

"Raise the flag and play the music!" Pound continued to order.

"...

Your rise is majestic,

Offenses from foreigners only make it more frightened,

Fear, fear, fear,

Make them more frightened!

The storm and thunder made the heaven and earth cry,

Our people stand firm like oak trees,

I will be loyal to you day by day,

Rule, Britannia!

Britannia rules the sea,

Britons will never be slaves! "

Accompanied by the majestic Royal Navy military song - "Reign!" Britannia! ”, a dazzling flag slowly rose to the top of the flagpole, and everyone, including Churchill, saluted the naval flag.

Pound nodded with satisfaction, and then raised the flag again.

"Now, as Marshal of the Navy, I order you for the last time..." When the order was given, a strong wind blew. The hat in Pound's hand was not firmly grasped, and it was blown away. Marshal Pound immediately ran to catch it. .

Effler thought he was chasing the hat...

Churchill also thought he was chasing the hat...

The two guarding soldiers also thought he was chasing the hat...

But Marshal Pound started running and shouting: "Pull anchor and set sail! Get out of here! Get out of here!"

The expressions of the people behind suddenly changed, and the two soldiers immediately raised their guns subconsciously: "Don't run, stop, stop, let's shoot..." Unexpectedly, after this order, Marshal Pound ran faster and faster, fighting with all his strength. After having the strength to run towards the warship, the two men immediately raised their Thompson submachine guns and fired - they did not dare to aim at people, but only shot at the ground, hoping to scare Pound to stop.

After a burst of "chunk, tug, tug, tug, tug, tug", something unexpected happened: a bullet hit the granite on the ground. The hard stone caused the bullet to rebound and hit Pound's body, hitting him in the middle of the back.

The old marshal paused, staggered, and then fell to the ground.

"Marshal!" Porter and Brooke shouted out first.

"Marshal!!!" Fraser and thousands of naval officers and soldiers who were watching on the warship also shouted.

"Bastard, who told you to shoot!" Churchill was stunned when he encountered such a turn of events, and roared at Evler.

The latter was also dumbfounded. Before leaving, Qian told Wan that his subordinates should not shoot. These were all important people. Not to mention killing or wounding, they would not end well. Unexpectedly, such a change happened. The two people who fired the gun were also stunned. They felt incredible when looking at the muzzle of the gun - it was obviously shooting at the ground. Their knees softened and they knelt down involuntarily.

Churchill and Evler quickly rushed towards the place where Pound fell. Churchill's round meat ball ran faster than Evler. As he ran, he shouted: "First aid kit! First aid kit!"

Immediately, someone tore open the first aid kit and rushed towards him as if he had woken up from a dream.

But it was too late. A trickle of blood flowed from the corner of Pound's mouth. His life was coming to an end. Even without this bullet, his brain tumor was about to break out. He had been complaining about headaches since last year. The doctor had already issued a diagnosis certificate and suggested that he leave his post for recuperation, but the unfavorable military situation forced him to hold on. He wanted Cunningham to take over his job, but he didn't expect Cunningham to die first. He had to continue to work.

Churchill helped Pound up and shouted: "Marshal... Marshal... Hold on... Hold on!"

The other party smiled bitterly and shook his head. He struggled and said in a weak voice: "Win... Winston, I'm going first... I hope... you... remember... you were also a member of the Royal Navy... No... no matter where you go... the Royal... Royal Navy will never... never... never... fight the Royal Navy!"

After that, he tilted his head and died in Churchill's arms.

"Pound!" Churchill shouted, then burst into tears, fell to his knees, and trembled all over...

Fraser, who witnessed all the changes, was furious and wanted to go down, but was stopped by several staff officers: "Sir, you can't go down. If you go down, the situation will escalate. The Americans still have two commanders. What if you are detained?"

"Ready for the naval guns..."

"Prime Minister... Prime Minister... Let's go, let's go..." Seeing the naval guns rotating towards the dock, Evreux was so scared that he pulled Churchill away desperately.

"Let's go to the airport..." Churchill walked away, looking back every few steps. Several commandos hugged Pound's body tightly, and the ground was red...

"Sir, fire?" With the range of the naval guns, even a 127mm dual-purpose naval gun would be enough to tear everyone on the dock into pieces.

Fraser shook his head: "Forget it, everyone has their own ambitions, let them go!"

"Sir!"

"There are the Prime Minister and two other officers inside, what if they are accidentally injured by firing?"

"But the Prime Minister?"

Fraser, who knew the inside story of the "coup", shook his head: "As long as there is no re-election, he is our Prime Minister. Even if he is guilty, you and I cannot deal with him, not to mention that he just wants to take the ship to Canada - there is no enemy there yet."

"But can we just let the Americans kill the marshal?"

"Of course not!" Fraser gritted his teeth and said, "I will settle this matter later! Let the Americans wait for me!"