Chapter 596: Supplies Determine Everything
I have a lot to do today, so there is only one chapter, sorry!
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The early morning in Antwerp was covered in snow. Snowflakes slowly fell from the gray sky, gently landing on the roofs, long streets and trees of this ancient city.
This is a fortress city, called the "National Fortress" by Belgium, and it is also the last safe haven for this small country.
In order to resist possible enemy attacks for a long time, the fortress designers dug a huge underground facility in the east of the city to resist possible enemy artillery fire.
At this time, it was used as a warehouse by Lieutenant General Avis.
Lieutenant General Elvis stood in the snow and watched the cars coming and going on the road. They were carrying supplies from the port into the underground warehouse like ants moving house.
The most valuable thing at this stage is material things, which mean everything.
Lieutenant General Ives knew that it was unsafe to pile up supplies at the port because the warehouses there were all open-air and a considerable portion of the supplies were munitions, which could be burned to ashes if bombed by German warplanes.
The best way is to transfer them to underground warehouses.
Looking at the trucks loaded with supplies, Lieutenant General Elvis smiled.
Franks, how long can you hold out?
Charles can't give you bread or ammunition. He is not Moses who can create supplies with a wave of his cane.
If you don't want to run out of ammunition and food, you should lower your noble heads and surrender to us, especially that Charles!
When Vice Admiral Ives thought of Charles, his eyes were filled with deep hatred.
"General." At this time, the staff officer leaned over to Lieutenant General Ives's ear and reminded him, "It's General Eden."
Following the staff officer's gaze, Lieutenant General Ives saw Major General Eden walking out of the snow with several guards. Some snow had accumulated on his military cap and shoulders, and it seemed that he had been outdoors for some time.
"Good morning, General." Major General Eden spoke fluent English and took the initiative to step forward and shake hands with General Ives.
"Good morning, Major General," Lieutenant General Ives replied.
He was a little surprised. These Belgian generals always disliked the British and made things difficult for them. Now Major General Eden seemed to be too enthusiastic.
But the next second, Lieutenant General Elvis understood that it must be because of supplies. They already knew who was the dominant one!
Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Ives straightened his chest a little, and his voice was full of energy, with a bit of arrogance and condescending: "Long time no see, Major General, weren't you in Namur? Why are you here?"
Major General Eden raised his head towards the fortress defense line one kilometer away and said: "I am here to inspect. I heard that the Germans may take action recently, a big action."
"A major operation?" Lieutenant General Ives raised his eyebrows. "Are you talking about attacking Antwerp?"
Major General Eden said "hmm" and asked, "Haven't you heard?"
"No." Lieutenant General Ives shook his head disapprovingly: "That's impossible, Major General, unless the Germans are crazy!"
More than 300,000 British troops gathered on this line of defense. They had sufficient ammunition and strong men and horses. It was impossible for the Germans to attack here.
If they were going to attack, they should attack Charles' 6th Army, Lieutenant General Ives thought, because the 6th Army had just recovered from the mutiny and was now short of supplies and ammunition.
Eden seemed to see through Lieutenant General Ives's thoughts. He smiled and said, "Perhaps the Germans have been frightened by Charles, General."
This made Lieutenant General Ives look a little ugly, but he did not argue with Eden, but replied indifferently: "Really?"
Let's wait and see, the Germans would be foolish to do the hard thing instead of the easy thing.
This was part of Kitchener's plan, he hoped to use the German army to force Charles to surrender.
Kitchener's original words were: "If the Charles refuses to surrender, the Germans will beat them up and they will be obedient. There are only two options for the Charles: be defeated by the Germans, or seek 'cooperation' with us."
Everyone thought that Charles would choose to "cooperate" as long as he was not stupid.
Major General Eden took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Lieutenant General Ives, but responded confidently: "Yes, Lieutenant General, I think they will attack Antwerp."
After lighting a cigarette for Lieutenant General Ives, Major General Eden added: "Because it is well known that they will choose to attack the enemy's weaknesses."
It took Lieutenant General Avis a while to understand what Major General Eden meant: the defense line held by the British was a weak point.
At that time, he had smoked half of a cigarette in his mouth. He couldn't breathe and choked, so he coughed violently a few times and tears came out.
After finally recovering, Lieutenant General Ives shook his head, glanced at Major General Eden, and sighed, "You will understand, Major General."
Lieutenant General Avis did not get angry because the Belgians, including King Albert I, were all targets of their wooing.
However, before Lieutenant General Avis could finish his words, intensive artillery fire was heard in the distance.
Elvis looked in the direction of the gunfire in confusion and raised his telescope, but he could not see anything in the snow.
"General." A signalman ran over in the snow, panting and speaking with steam rising from his face. "Our frontline positions are under heavy bombardment from the Germans. The artillery fire is very intense. The Germans may launch a full-scale attack on us!"
Lieutenant General Avis was stunned. Are the Germans really attacking Antwerp?
Major General Eden asked back at this moment: "What do you want me to understand, General?"
Lieutenant General Ives's eyes flashed with embarrassment, but he still insisted: "This may just be a small-scale attack."
But soon, intelligence came to Lieutenant General Ives one after another:
"General, the Germans have launched an attack. There are hundreds of tanks and at least five divisions!"
"The enemy's attack was planned and organized, and their submarines attacked simultaneously."
"More than ten of our merchant ships were sunk by the Germans just now, and it's still going on!"
…
Lieutenant General Ives's expression changed.
If the Germans launched an attack from both sea and land at the same time, it would mean that this would not be a "small-scale attack" but a pincer attack on the port city of Antwerp.
…
In the Atlantic Ocean, only 70 nautical miles away from Antwerp, a fleet of more than 50 merchant ships was ambushed by a group of German submarines.
The German army was very smart. They assembled 38 submarines to launch an attack at the same time. These submarines sank half of the 12 destroyers escorting the British army in the first place. The remaining destroyers fought back hastily but were not careful about the end. Soon they were either killed or injured and lost their combat effectiveness. The only two remaining destroyers saw the bad situation and hurriedly abandoned the merchant ships and fled.
The merchant ships were immediately trapped in the hunt of German submarines and had no power to fight back. Suddenly, there were burning flames and ships that had lost their center of gravity everywhere. Some of them were tilted, some were tilted high to reveal their propellers, and others were constantly exploding and emitting bursts of flames.
The sea was littered with sailors jumping into the water to escape and ship debris.
The sailors were holding onto the floating objects in the icy sea water, shivering, with deep despair in their eyes.
(End of this chapter)
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