diymy Chapter 21 The Victory of the Common People
Chapter 21 The Victory of the Common People
Perhaps Churchill thought the intelligence was too fantastical, so he dared not announce it on the spot.
"Excuse me!" Churchill said to the members of parliament, "Give me a few minutes; there are some things I need to confirm."
As he spoke, ignoring the boos from the members of parliament, he hurriedly led Peck out of the room and into the adjacent telecommunications room.
Churchill, his hand trembling with anger, questioned the decoder:
"Are you sure you haven't made a mistake somewhere?"
"A mere twenty-odd men wiped out an entire armored regiment? And the German 5th Panzer Regiment at that?"
Do you think I'm stupid? Or that I'm easy to fool?
A lieutenant stood up and explained:
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, we have checked several times, and the message and decoding are both correct."
"If there's an error, I believe it's a message sent by the 8th Army."
"They might have missed some units, like twenty battalions..."
Churchill interrupted him impatiently: "Confirm it again."
"Yes, sir!" the communications soldier replied, turning around to get back to work.
A short while later, they received a reply, but the communications soldiers fell silent once again.
One of them nervously handed the telegram to Churchill, still pondering what the problem might be.
Churchill took the telegram and read it:
"Do not doubt it, Your Excellency Prime Minister, it was indeed more than twenty people. I know it's hard for you to believe, but it really happened, and we won, an unprecedented victory."
Churchill gritted his teeth. He even suspected that Montgomery's command post had been occupied by the Germans, and that the people sending the telegram there now were Germans mocking him.
"Alright," Churchill said to the lieutenant, "Ask him which general was so brave as to take down an armored regiment with only twenty-odd men!"
A short while later, Montgomery replied: "No, he is not a general, but an oil salesman."
Churchill was so angry he laughed, convinced that this was a clumsy lie being fabricated by German spies.
But soon another telegram arrived in his hands.
Churchill took a look: "He used the salt flats, which seems to be the specialty of oil salesmen. He used water tankers to melt a hole in the salt flats, burying the entire regiment of German troops, including tanks and cars, in quicksand!"
Churchill's smile gradually faded, and he began to believe it was true.
"Do you know what a salt marsh is?" he asked Peck, who was standing next to him.
Peck shook his head blankly.
"Then go investigate!" Churchill roared excitedly. "Right now!"
Peck practically sprinted out, and returned a short while later:
"I have contacted Professor Alfred of Cambridge University on your behalf, Your Excellency the Prime Minister."
"He is a geography expert with in-depth knowledge of desert landforms."
"I think he can answer your question."
As they were talking, the call was transferred to the telecommunications room.
Churchill nodded, took the phone and listened for a while. His eyes gradually lit up, and soon he smiled broadly, nodding repeatedly to express his gratitude.
After hanging up the phone, he leaned on the edge of the table in silence for a moment, then suddenly waved his hands nervously and cheered, "It's true! We won!"
Cheers erupted in the communications room, and the councilors in the nearby conference room heard it and got up to see what was happening.
When they learned of this miraculous victory, everyone was stunned. Some joined the cheering crowd, some looked regretful, but most were amazed at who could accomplish such an almost impossible feat!
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Bog Arabs also cheered thunderously, and British soldiers rushed forward to hug Thorne, some even shedding tears of emotion.
"You saved our lives, sir."
"God bless you, sir, we are extremely grateful!"
"I will remember you, sir, a perfect battle!"
……
They were infantrymen of the 1st Royal West Kent Regiment, and their orders were to "lay mines and do everything in their power to hold off the German armored regiment."
Having witnessed the might of the German armored forces before, they knew what that meant: death, injury, or capture.
Neither of these approaches will yield good results.
Therefore, while preparing for battle, many of them were already making their final prayers for their impending death.
Unexpectedly, the situation suddenly reversed: the twenty-odd repairmen, led by Thorne, miraculously buried the Germans!
The soldiers, feeling as if they had been brought back from the dead, were so eager to kneel before Thorne, who had created this miracle, that some even believed he was a messenger sent by God to save them.
Thorne could only respond passively, maintaining a smile on his face, which almost made his face twitch.
Thorne was actually trying to save himself.
He could have simply walked away, after all, he wasn't a soldier.
But this is Egypt. If the El Alamein defense line collapses, the whole of North Africa will be finished. Where can Thorne and his family go?
Moreover, Thorne also has an oil company that is just starting to do well and cannot be moved.
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Montgomery stood at the window, coldly watching the scene unfold. Turning to Degangan and Gray behind him, he said, "Do you know what this means?"
"What?" Gray looked bewildered. Judging from the general's tone, victory didn't seem to be a good thing.
Degangan nodded slightly: "The point is that he's not a soldier."
"Yes." Montgomery sat back in his chair and sighed softly.
"We are in Egypt, gentlemen."
"The army, under Ochinlek's command, retreated all the way from Libya to Tobruk, Derna, and Benghazi."
"We only managed to regain our footing after retreating to this point."
Frustrated, Montgomery grabbed a pencil, tapped the El Alamein Line on the desktop map, and said:
"Our army needs morale, it needs confidence, it needs a victory to unite them."
"At the same time, prestige is also needed to keep the restless Egyptians in check!"
"But now..."
He turned his gaze back to the cheering crowd outside the window.
Gray understood.
Thorne did all of this; he was a commoner, neither a member of the British army nor a nobleman.
This civilian almost single-handedly took on a German armored regiment and miraculously won. This amazing result made the British army, which was suffering repeated defeats, seem incompetent!
If this gets out, what will the British think?
What do Germans think?
Will Egyptian guerrillas become more active as a result?
Montgomery rose, straightened his double-badge beret, and strode out the door, saying, "I'll go fetch him, and then you guys figure out a way to get him into the army!"
Gray quickly followed a few steps: "But General. He's the son of the Red Sea oil magnate; he's exempt from military service."
"I know," Montgomery replied impatiently without stopping, "That's why I need you to figure it out!"
With that, he led his guards downstairs, leaving Degangan and Gray staring at each other in the office.
What can we do?
Change the law?
Or could you persuade Thorne to voluntarily join the army without serving in the military?
No one would be that stupid!