Chapter 80: 80
The news of the British army's crushing defeat at Dunkirk was immediately conveyed to England.
When news broke that only 25,000 of the 200,000 soldiers sent to France had returned to the mainland and that the 175,000 soldiers left behind in France had died or been captured, the entire UK fell into panic.
There was a series of complaints and criticism asking why the sons of their country were left to die on French soil, and defeatism and pessimism that Germany could not be defeated no matter what they did spread across people of all ages.
The Halifax cabinet, which had previously been pushing for strengthening with Germany, immediately began negotiations with Germany.
It was absurd to continue the war any longer when the army's elite troops were destroyed in France and the morale of the entire nation was at an all-time low.
***
May 25, 1940
Bern, Switzerland
With sunlight streaming in through the curtains and brightening the room, the British and German negotiating teams sat facing each other.
"This is Alexander Cadogan."
"This is Joachim von Ribbentrop."
The two foreign ministers of Britain and Germany held hands.
Unlike Ribbentrop, who had a faint smile on his face, Cadogan could not hide the stiff expression on his face.
Yesterday, he heard that 350,000 Allied troops had been destroyed by the Germans at Dunkirk.
The news that 175,000 of the 350,000 men were British soldiers, more than half of them dead or wounded, and that those who barely survived had been taken prisoner, weighed heavily on his heart.
Cadogan's shoulders were heavier than ever.
Before starting the meeting, he drank cold water. The water was so cold that it made my teeth ache.
As the cold energy spread through my esophagus and throughout my body, I felt as if an electric current was flowing.
"Then, let's begin."
Originally, Britain had planned to invite France and Italy to this meeting as well.
However, France whined that the war situation was hopeless, but when it received an offer from Britain to participate in the talks, it suddenly took a step back, saying it would respond after sufficient discussion with the entire cabinet and military.
Same goes for Italy.
Mussolini was greatly surprised by Britain's proposal, but, like France, responded lukewarmly.
Britain did not know whether it thought there was still a chance of victory, or whether it was trying to come up with a trick to avoid domestic criticism asking whether it was time to start a war and now to negotiate.
In the meantime, when Dunkirk fell and the BEF was destroyed, Britain, unable to delay any longer, participated in the armistice talks on its own without waiting for the response of the two allies.
The common position of Halifax and Cadogan was that bringing back the sons of their country who had become prisoners of Germany was more important than the criticism they would receive from the Allies.
Aren't France and Italy the ones who dragged their feet by not giving a definite answer in the first place?
Even if we are allies, there are limits to how far we can go. With that in mind, Cadogan rationalized his and the prime minister's decision.
"First of all, I want to hear Germany's demands first. "Tell me."
"All right. Our German requirements are simple. First, Britain will cease all hostilities against Germany and cease support for France and Italy. Second, lift the economic sanctions imposed on Germany and cooperate with Germany. third······."
While Ribbentrop discussed Germany's demands, Cadogan and the British negotiators listened in silence.
Germany's request from Britain was simple.
As soon as the peace treaty is concluded, Britain is to withdraw from France and Italy and not provide any support to those two countries thereafter.
Officially recognize Germany's annexation of the Czech Republic and Poland and pay 500 million marks in compensation as an apology for starting the war.
"-Finally, Britain will immediately withdraw from Greenland and Iceland and pay compensation of 200 million marks to Denmark and Norway and 50 million marks to Sweden. That is all."
"Keuung······."
As soon as Ribbentrop finished speaking, Cadogan frowned.
"Can I ask you a question, Secretary Ribbentrop?"
"of course."
Ribbentrop, who had a relaxed attitude, readily accepted the question with an expression that said, "That's about it."
"Prime Minister Halifax, who sent me here, sincerely wants peace between our two countries. "Does Hitler really want peace?"
There was a bone in Cadogan's words.
Ribbentrop, understanding what he meant, frowned slightly.
Ribbentrop spoke in an absurd tone.
"It was Germany that first proposed peace negotiations to your country. And your country flatly rejected our offer. "But now you're saying something like that?"
"Hum, hum!"
Cadogan, who couldn't even get his money's worth, cleared his throat and retreated.
Ribbentrop thought Cadogan might blame Chamberlain, but he retreated immediately and did not attack further.
"I think you misunderstand that we want to continue the war, but that's not true. If we were going to continue the war, we wouldn't be here right now. "Isn't that right?"
"Well... it's not wrong."
"If Britain truly wants peace and proves its sincerity, we are willing to make as many concessions as we can. "Isn't the reason we gathered here to end the war?"
"That's right."
"Let's discuss it slowly from now on. "There is plenty of time."
There was a lot of noise from the start, but negotiations began in earnest anyway.
Cadogan first began coordinating the issue of reparations among Germany's demands mentioned by Ribbentrop.
"You asked for 500 million marks in compensation, but it seems like a difficult demand for us to accept."
"Why? "I think this amount is not excessive and is a reasonable amount."
"First of all, Britain is not a defeated country. And the national power of Britain and Germany are equal. "I think we need to make this point clear."
Although we negotiate because the war situation is unavoidable, we are not a defeated country in the end, so we cannot give compensation. I can't give up my pride.
Ribbentrop sneered inwardly, but in fact, Cadogan's words were not entirely wrong.
"That's convincing. great. So, how much specifically are you thinking about?"
As Ribbentrop meekly retreated, a look of relief appeared on Cadogan's face. Cadogan said.
"150 million marks. Instead, the UK also plans to contribute to Germany's economic reconstruction. Should we ruin the relationship between the two countries just because of the issue of compensation? Also, I would like to change the expression 'sign of apology' a bit."
"······Please wait a moment."
***
"Cadogan said that?"
-Yes, Mr. Fuhrer.
I heard a phone call from Ribbentrop in Bern, so I thought the meeting was already over, but no. The talks had just begun.
As expected, the proud British people reacted sensitively to the issue of compensation.
They verbally requested an adjustment, claiming that the amount was excessively high, but the fact that they had to pay compensation must have had a bigger impact than the amount itself.
Still, I thought I would hold out and say I couldn't pay a single penny, but that wasn't the case. That's how much Britain was interested in this meeting.
"Do as Kadogan says."
- Are you serious?
The purpose of demanding compensation was not the compensation itself, but to prevent the talks from proceeding as Britain intended.
It would be wrong to break up the talks by making the other party angry with excessive demands, but if the price we ask for is too small, it could send the wrong signal to the UK.
what? Do these guys seem to be in a bad situation too? If you even think like this, you'll be in trouble. We have to go hard from the beginning.
"In any case, compensation is not our goal; a peace treaty with Britain is our ultimate goal. There is no need to ruin the meeting by antagonizing Britain. "If negotiations fail, we in Germany will be in trouble as well."
-All right.
***
"great. Well then, let's do it."
When Ribbentrop, who returned to his seat after a phone call with Berlin, gave a positive answer, Cadogan internally shouted "Hurray."
As a result, the amount of compensation to be paid by Britain to Germany was changed from 500 million to 150 million, and the expression was changed from an expression of apology to a support fund given by Britain for Germany's economic reconstruction.
The British negotiating team regained their composure as the agenda that seemed to be the most difficult was surprisingly easily resolved. Next was the Scandinavian problem.
"Of course, Greenland and Iceland plan to return to Denmark as soon as the peace treaty is concluded. "I just wish the amount of compensation would be adjusted."
The expressions on the faces of the representatives of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden who were present with the German negotiating team turned sharp. The Danish representative said as if it was an abomination.
"Huh, I didn't know that the British Empire was such a poor country. "When did you start bragging about being the richest country in the world, but was that all just a lie?"
Cadogan was furious at the Danish representative's harsh remarks and glared at him, but the Danish representative did not avoid Cadogan's gaze and looked directly at him.
The representative of Norway also came forward and supported the remarks of the representative of Denmark.
"If you are too poor to pay compensation, how about this? It involves ceding some of the colonies owned by the British Empire. Well, I guess India would be appropriate. If you hand over India, we will take care of the rest."
"What did you say just now?"
"Now, leave it at this."
As the fight showed signs of growing, Ribbentrop took action.
Although not as strong as the British negotiators, he also wanted to conclude these talks as quickly as possible. I couldn't waste time with pointless arguments.
The Swedish representative was in a similar position to Ribbentrop.
Although its citizens died in Britain's attack on Narvik and participated in the war, Sweden's anti-British sentiment was relatively less intense than that of Denmark and Norway, as the mainland was not attacked.
"I won't say I won't pay compensation at all. We will pay compensation of 100 million marks each to Denmark and Norway, and 20 million marks to Sweden. "We are also returning the entire merchant fleet stolen by Britain."
"That's natural."
After a long discussion and compromise lasting over an hour, the amount of compensation to be paid by Britain was decided at 100 million Danish marks, 100 million Norwegian marks, and 20 million Swedish marks.
The Scandinavian representatives were very dissatisfied with the amount of compensation, but Cadogan had no intention of giving in on this point.
As is the case in the international community where everything is determined by the size of power, this agenda also went as Britain intended.
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which were clearly affected countries, had to be satisfied with the fact that they could receive compensation.
Both sides agreed on the following issues.
Britain tolerated Germany's annexation of the Czech Republic and Poland and promised to place restrictions on the activities of the Czechoslovakian and Polish governments-in-exile in Britain.
They also agreed to release the prisoners they had acquired during the war as soon as the war with France ended.
May 25, 1940, 3:25 p.m.
Representatives of Britain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden signed the ceasefire agreement in turn.
***
"The amount is so enormous that even the word 'mountain' is not enough."
Guderian clicked his tongue when he saw the British military equipment and clothing scattered everywhere.
Trucks that could roll right away with just a little bit of maintenance or oil were left untouched along the edge of the road.
It was an eye-opening sight for the German military, who had to scavenge whatever vehicles they could from all over Germany and occupied territories for the expedition to the Western Front.
"It looks like the Tommys were in quite a hurry. "You left all these precious trucks and ran away..."
"They are extravagant guys. "Is this why people call it the British Empire or the British Empire?"
"Anyway, it's a good thing for us."
Guderian asked as he stared at the British army ambulance, which was as good as new from the factory except for a flat tire.
"Have you figured out the total number of vehicles abandoned by the British?"
"The number is so large that we are still counting, but the number confirmed so far is over 30,000."
"30,000 units."
Guderian muttered the number 30,000 again, as if pondering the weight of numbers.
The vehicles Guderian mentioned here refer to four-wheel drive vehicles such as trucks and passenger cars, and do not include motorcycles or armored vehicles. Even taking that into account, it's 30,000 units. It's a jaw-dropping number.
"How many vehicles has our corps lost so far?"
"There are a little less than 100. Of these, 78 were recovered by our forces and sent to the maintenance unit, but only 51 were said to be repairable."
"I lost about 50 people. And 30,000 units were just added."
A smile appeared on Guderian's face.
"It would be difficult to find a more lucrative business than this."
It took more than a week just to retrieve all the equipment that the British army had abandoned in the Dunkirk area.
Of these, there were 1,150 cannons, 500 anti-aircraft guns, 850 anti-tank guns, 20,000 motorcycles, 475 tanks and armored vehicles, and 63,000 vehicles.
There were countless rifles, machine guns, small arms such as grenades, ammunition, clothing, and food.
The German army called the captured British military supplies 'Halifax supplies', meaning that they were a gift from British Prime Minister Halifax to the German army.
The number of supplies abandoned in the French fields was so great that the German army had to organize a special transport unit.
Much of the Halifax supply was sent to the rear and stored in warehouses, but some was immediately used at the front.
Unlike Britain, which negotiated with Germany and stayed out of the war, France was still at war with Germany.
German soldiers quenched their hunger with canned lamb from Australia and canned pineapple from South Africa, and accelerated their advance by riding British-made Bedford trucks.
Their final goal was Paris.
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