Chapter 231: Cannons and Diplomacy
Belgium, Antwerp.
Leopold III, King of Belgium, was still having lunch when he received requests for an audience from the British and French consulates.
He set down his silver knife and fork.
The fragrant steak before him, seasoned by the news of those meeting requests, suddenly became bland. It no longer stirred the slightest appetite.
"Your Majesty, the British ambassador is already waiting in the palace reception room. Do you… wish to meet him?"
Although Leopold had studied at Eton College in Britain during his youth and had deep connections with the British, he was not truly pro-British.
Since 1936, after realizing that the political landscape of Europe was changing, he had adjusted Belgium's diplomatic strategy. The former pro-British and pro-French stance had gradually shifted into a semi-neutral policy with a pro-German inclination.
After the end of the Polish campaign, he had actively promoted a group of pro-German figures into government positions.
"No."
Leopold refused without hesitation.
"Diplomatic attitude is a reflection of the battlefield. If Britain and France held the advantage, they would not be actively seeking us out. Their current behavior indirectly proves that Britain and France are at a disadvantage."
"Meeting British and French diplomats at this time would leave a poor impression on Germany. I do not wish to drag Belgium into the war. In the final analysis, this war was caused by the French. Belgium has no reason to help the French."
Although Germany had not deployed heavy troops near the Belgian border, Leopold had seen how many forces the Germans had sent to intimidate the Dutch border.
However, relying on his old friendship with Britain, he did not wish to burn every bridge. After a short pause, he continued.
"Do not report this to Germany either."
He looked toward the attendant.
"I will pretend I know nothing, and Britain and France will pretend nothing happened. For the time being, strictly guard the French border."
"No British or French Army is allowed to cross the border without my command."
The failure in diplomacy was within Churchill's expectations.
That evening, despite opposition from the British Imperial General Staff, the War Cabinet forcefully approved a withdrawal operation named [Blood Transfusion Plan].
Meanwhile, in Lille, many ordinary soldiers had no idea that they were about to face the fate of retreating without even seeing the Germans.
They only knew that the Maginot Line was in danger.
They also knew that a few days earlier, headquarters had ordered them to prepare for an assault toward Sedan while guarding against Belgian armored forces.
So when the order arrived for the officers to abandon heavy weapons, abandon tanks, and have everyone march toward Dunkirk, many soldiers could not understand it at all.
A small number of veterans from the Great War even demanded that their officers provide a reasonable explanation.
Why were they retreating to Britain without even fighting a battle?
The atmosphere quickly turned into soldiers denouncing the weakness of the officer corps and refusing to obey orders.
The officers, who had still been trying to preserve morale, had no choice but to tell them the truth of their predicament.
And when the soldiers learned that the Calais region was facing encirclement by the German Army, morale plummeted.
Coupled with the Army's malicious propaganda regarding Germany's surrender policy, many soldiers began to fear that once captured, the Germans would strip them naked and throw them into coal mines, forcing them to work day and night until they died.
After two rounds of psychological shock, more than two hundred thousand soldiers began advancing toward Dunkirk overnight.
At the same time, in Calais, not far from Dunkirk, Manstein occupied the city under artillery cover with almost no resistance.
At the same time, five German infantry divisions arrived in Abbeville, which meant the entire northern pocket had been completely sealed.
All that remained was to take Dunkirk.
More than two hundred thousand British and French soldiers had become wild boars trapped inside a sack.
The General Staff Headquarters understood this.
Manstein understood it even more.
In order to take Dunkirk and close the pocket before the British and French Allied forces arrived, Manstein, who had just captured one city, had no time to arrange garrison personnel. Nor could he wait until dawn for supplies from the rear to arrive.
When the soldiers ran out of bullets, they used French weapons.
When the artillery ran out of shells, they dragged along captured French cannons.
In this way, the Third Armored Division pieced itself together and continued advancing toward Dunkirk.
The Ninth Panzer Division and Eleventh Panzer Division followed closely behind.
This armored force, which had broken through the northern defense line, bypassed the eastern coast, and created a miracle of rapid advance, was about to reach its final and most crucial objective.
The German Army was racing against time.
France was racing even harder.
Many units abandoned newly issued weapons and heavy machine guns without firing a single shot, leaving them by the roadside. Heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns that would slow the march were discarded everywhere.
After all, weapons could be manufactured again.
But if two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers were annihilated, that loss could never be reversed.
Berlin.
In fact, many officers inside the General Staff Headquarters held reservations about Manstein's advance, which disregarded the attrition of the panzer divisions.
They believed every panzer division had been built with real money and real steel.
Overloading the troops in this way was overdrawing the future of those three armored formations.
But such remarks were captured by the Internal and External Intelligence Department within only a few hours of appearing.
Because of this, Jörg specifically organized a large meeting in the early morning, repeatedly reiterating his support for Manstein and declaring that this was a fleeting opportunity.
Only then was the spark of dissatisfaction directly extinguished.
After all, although the Wehrmacht General Staff Headquarters allowed free discussion, once the Führer maintained his stance, everyone had to obey orders.
"Your Excellency, Commander in Chief, General Manstein is less than twenty miles from Dunkirk."
A staff officer stood upright and reported, "According to intelligence received from the Air Force this morning, a large number of British and French troops have appeared on the route from Lille to Dunkirk."
"Submarine units deployed in the English Channel and the Dover Strait have detected the full deployment of transport ships and destroyer fleets from multiple British ports."
"We have reason to believe that Britain is planning a retreat."
As soon as the staff officer finished, Ethan took over and continued the report.
"Your Excellency, President, the Internal and External Intelligence Department received news from Belgium in the early hours of the morning. Our spies deployed in Belgium captured photographs of the British ambassador entering the palace."
"Mr. Heydrich believes that the possibility of Belgium colluding with Britain and France has reached the thirty percent alert line."
Jörg took the photographs.
He did not immediately confirm that Belgium's attitude had changed.
Instead, he picked up the telephone and inquired about the situation along the Dutch border area.
After receiving the answer that Belgium had not sent additional troops to the border, and had instead reduced the number of border troops, he said, "There is no need to pay attention to Belgium."
"The fact that they have not reinforced the border already indicates that the probability of a change in attitude is low."
"And since the probability of a change in attitude is low, there is no need to go to war with Belgium over conjecture or possible risk."
His gaze swept across the room.
"Blindly solving problems with cannons will only cost us our legitimacy and reduce the number of potential international allies available to us."
"Since we possess the advantage of legitimacy, why should we throw it away?"
Jörg had not been carried away by absolute military superiority.
With victory following victory, a small number of people in the military, and even among the public, had begun to believe that military strength could replace diplomacy, and that any risk could simply be answered with artillery fire.
But Jörg's philosophy had never changed.
Military power was important.
Diplomacy was equally important.
That had been true in the Great War.
It was true now as well.
"We already suffered from this lesson once during the Great War. There is no need to suffer it again."
Jörg placed the photographs down.
"Moreover, Belgium is not Luxembourg. Their Army is not weak."
"Send a diplomat to Belgium to test the waters first. No military action is to be carried out."
With those words, Jörg set the tone for Germany's attitude toward Belgium.
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