In London, England, within the British wartime command underground of King Charles Street, after Churchill returned from the Strait front, a huge defense map of the English Channel was hung here.

On the map, starting from Norfolk at the entrance to the east of the strait, to Cornwall, to the west, the ten counties became places of gathering troops. The troops' numbers, the code names of the forts and the front-line airports were marked.

If you count it carefully, there are 5 armored brigades, 5 motorized infantry brigades, 10 motorized infantry divisions, 10 infantry divisions, 5 air defense divisions, 5 air defense brigades, 5 fortress divisions and 5 fortress brigades. More than 400,000 British officers and soldiers, 1,000 tanks of various types, 2,000 anti-aircraft guns of various caliber, 2,000 cannons (excluding large-caliber coastal defense guns), and countless mortars and machine guns are placed on the north coast of the English Channel in southern England.

There are also 62 turrets equipped with 10-inch (including 10-inch) caliber shore defense cannons, standing at the forefront near the beach. The muzzles of more than 350 giant cannons point to the English Channel in the south, ready to smash the enemy fleet that was trying to approach.

24 front-line airports and dozens of air defense realm radars were also deployed on land in 10 counties on the north coast of the English Channel, and more than 1,500 Spitfire and P51 fighters can take off at any time to fight.

A little far from the English Channel, there are hundreds of military airports belonging to the Fighter Command, Bomber Command and Coast Air Force Command. The total number of fighter, bomber, reconnaissance aircraft and torpedo attack aircraft on standby is more than 5,000!

The reserves deployed on the second line, the troops near the defense line in the North Sea, or used to defend the London city garrison troops, had a total force of more than 1 million. They manipulated thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, cannons and countless light weapons, guarded carefully constructed lines of defense, and were ready to completely annihilate the invading enemies at any time.

In Wales, Scotland, which is farther away from the Germans, and even Northern Ireland, which seems to be uninvaded, there are also hundreds of thousands of British officers and soldiers and thousands of various aircraft ready to fight.

In addition to these more than 2 million elite front-line troops, there are 44 so-called "county divisions". They are local troops of the United Kingdom, somewhat similar to the American National Guard and the German local defense forces. However, after nearly two years of strengthening armed forces and training, these "county divisions" have now become very regular. Now, many front-line infantry divisions of the British Army are reorganized from one of the "county divisions" adapted from these "county divisions", and the number of "county divisions" will be re-established. Therefore, the number of "county divisions" will not decrease, and there are always 44.

In the spring of 1942, the entire United Kingdom was already a large barrack of millions of British people in military uniforms. Anyone who wanted to capture it would inevitably suffer unimaginable casualties.

However, in this dark and humid underground command center that is easily reminiscent of the dungeon, few people think that they can rely on these millions of armed British people to defeat the invading Germans. The task of these British cannon fodder is just to delay the fall of the British mainland.

Because they all know that there are huge loopholes in the defense of the UK!

"Mr. Prime Minister, the Local Defense Command believes that the defense of Great Britain is very tight."

In the conference room, Baron Ironside, the commander of the local defense force who had introduced the defense situation of the British Isle, suddenly pointed the baton in his hand at the Ireland Island next to the British Isle.

He said: "But the defense of Ireland is empty, except for the less than 40,000 people in Northern Ireland, there are only about 40,000 Irish troops. Their equipment level is poor and their will to resist is very weak, unless we get help from us..."

"So is it possible for the Germans to invade Ireland?" Churchill frowned while smoking a cigar. "Is it possible?"

"There is such a possibility," replied Viscount Brook, the chief of the General Staff of the Empire. "The Germans are currently concentrating their troops and ships in Brest, Antwerp, Zebrugge, and Wilhelmshaven. Brest, located on the Atlantic coast, has very good port facilities, and is expected to become the main starting port for the German army. It is only 250 nautical miles away from Ireland, and the Germans can easily transport several motorized divisions to Ireland. For airborne troops, the distance of 250 nautical miles is not very far. If the Germans seize Cork and Watford (the port city of Ireland), it will be difficult for us to protect Ireland from invasion by Germany."

"Ireland..." Churchill smoked two cigars, frowned and silent for a while, "Those Irish people are really troublesome. If we want to protect them, they may regard us as invaders, right?"

"That's for sure!" said Viscount Brook, "this way the Germans will be easier. They don't have to occupy them at all, just take over Cork and Watford."

It turns out that the British had long known that Ireland was a big hole in the British local defense system that Hessman, the German god of war who "scammered" could think of. Of course, the political elites and military elites of the British Empire could also think of it.

All of these people can be regarded as experts in Ireland issues. When it comes to "the Irish people's change of accounts", they can keep them for three days and three nights.

So they all know that most Irish people hate Britain, although the ruling people in Ireland say they should be neutral and oppose any invasion of the enemy. But how could the figures who could sit in the cabinet command in a wartime openly and not see through the Irish people's thoughts?

The Irish people are looking forward to the coming of the Germans! Only when the Germans come will they have the opportunity to truly get rid of British independence and regain Northern Ireland. The reason why they shout "neutrality" and that they want to resist is said to the British, and the only ones they are ready to resist are the British army.

But all these Irish experts are helpless with the Irish people. If they have a solution, Ireland will not become such a president-elected free state. Although it is nominally a member of the Commonwealth, it is actually an independent country.

"Mr. Prime Minister," Viscount Brook, chief of the Imperial General Staff, told Churchill, "the feasible solution now is to deploy more troops in Northern Ireland and support the Irish immediately after the Germans landed in Ireland."

Churchill thought for a moment, frowned and asked, "That is, our army is going to take an offensive on the Ireland Island?"

The statement of supporting the Irish is purely self-deception. Now the British Army must invade if it wants to enter Ireland, not only fight against the Irish, but also fight against the Germans.

"Yes, there is no other way." Viscount Brook nodded.

Churchill knew that Viscount Brook was right. Even if the British army invaded now, it would be impossible to completely control the Ireland within a few days, because the Irish had already prepared. Then the Irish would sing and dance to welcome the German Nazis...

"Okay," Churchill exhaled a big mouthful of white smoke, "Then let's start preparing for the Battle of Ireland. Put some more troops in Northern Ireland, and it's better to place two more armored divisions. We must let the Germans know how powerful we are!"

...

“It’s so big!”

"Yes, Marshal of the Empire, it and Gustav cannons are the largest cannons in the world. After assembly, four traits of load-loading rails are needed to make it move."

"Can it be used to destroy British turrets across the strait?"

"If you can hit it, you will definitely be destroyed. This is an 800mm caliber cannon. The armor-breaking bomb it fires weighs 7.1 tons. What else can't be smashed? However, it's not easy to hit the target through the strait."

On the front line of Calais, France, the person who introduced the situation to Hessmann, who came to inspect, was General Ludwig Baker, who was also an expert in artillery and engineering.

This general was actually an opponent of Hessman's war proposal, but he was just an isolated opponent and could not form an opposition. After Hessman took over the General Staff, he was assigned to a free position and became arrogant.

He and Schletcher had a good personal relationship, so after Schletcher became the commander of the Western Front, he took him to be the commander of the army group. However, the army group under his command was a bluffing army group. There were a lot of army numbers under his jurisdiction, but the actual force was very limited. The most lethal of them was the so-called "Calais Coast Artillery Group".

The Dora cannon that Hessman is now inspecting is now assigned to the Calais Coast gun group.

In addition to this 800mm cannon, the Calais group also has another 800mm Gustav cannon; 10 280mm K-5 large-caliber cannon (4 of which are train cannons and 6 are placed on the turret); 1 210mm K-12 cannon with a range of 115 kilometers; 8 French Krutz Bruno 280mm cannons; 2 French Scher Bruno 280mm cannons; 3 French Lange Bruno

280mm cannons; 6 240mmk-3 mobile cannons; 6 Zeiss 240mm mobile cannons; 10 210mmk-39 mobile cannons, as well as four armored turrets "Friedrich Augusta" turret (triple 305mm cannons), "Heinrich" turret (double 280mm cannons), "Odenburg" turret (double 240mm cannons) and "Skifried" turret (double 380mm cannons).

There are 51 large-caliber long-range cannons in total, which seem to be very powerful, but the only ones that can pose a threat to the British armored turrets located in Dover are the two 800mm giant cannons, "Dora" and "Gustav", and the other cannons can only be used to block the strait. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!