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.“We can pull out some refugees if we have time, but the main problem is withdrawing the remains of British forces before they get overwhelmed.”He stared down at the display on the terminal in his hand.Major-General Langford had put out a request to shipping, and even he had been surprised at the response; hundreds of smaller ships had volunteered for the mission to Ostend.Britain’s merchant marine was no longer what it once had been; the attempt to replay Dunkirk would be much harder than it had been back in 1940…and that had not been easy.The Royal Marines had studied Dunkirk extensively and knew that repeating it would be tricky; the Germans had allowed the British the time they needed to escape.The Russians…might not make the same mistake.The skies were clear; that wouldn’t last.Higher command had decided that if the RAF made a serious commitment to covering Ostend, the Russians would realise what was happening sooner and bring the full weight of their air force to bear on the evacuation ships.The nightmare would have no end; if the Russians managed to sink a dozen heavy ships, the remains of British forces would be trapped on the shore.He needed time…and Marine Colonel Patrick Trombly knew that time was the one thing the Russians wouldn’t give him.A soldier ran up to him and nodded once; Marines were forbidden to salute anywhere where there might be an enemy sniper, looking for targets, such as senior officers.“Sir, the Yanks are here, and ten cunts,” he reported.“They were coming down the road when they met us…”Trombly smiled.He hadn’t expected that that part of the mission would have worked; Belgium seemed to be as chaotic as the remainder of Europe.“Have them all checked, searched, and then moved to one of the helicopters returning to Britain,” he said.He smiled at the thought of the poor American explaining his travelling companions to his own people back in the States, or even in Britain; perhaps the girls were important, but he doubted it.“All we have to do here is wait.”“Yes, sir,” the soldier said, and dashed off again.“Well, fuck me rigid,” Captain Bellamy said.“You know…I really thought that would fail and they wouldn't make it…”“Let’s just hope the government drives a hard bargain,” Trombly said grimly.The thought of what might happen if – after – Europe fell worried him.Britain was weaker than it had been in centuries.“This is not going to end well.”Chapter Thirty-Seven: Breaking the BackThe German is either at your throat…or at your feet.Winston ChurchillHanover, GermanyThe Lord Mayor of Hanover was a weak man.He had, Shalenko knew, been lucky enough to be out of the city when the missiles had blown the New Town Hall of Hanover to bits, and had been somehow able to calm most of the rioting in the city…for a few days.The chaos had started again as the Russian Army had blown through yet another desperate last stand and started its march on Hanover; hundreds of German soldiers and reservists had dug into the city, daring the Russians to enter the city.They had no supplies, no hope in the long run, but if they could smash up his forces…It had been the reservists presence that had allowed the Lord Mayor, Paul Steiner, to put an end to some of the chaos.Hanover had a large community of different ethnic groups and the chaos had seriously damaged half of the city, but the German soldiers had managed to put most of it down, or at least contained to some sections of the city, rather than the entire city.The Russian soldiers who had surrounded the city had started to turn back refugees; Steiner had been forced to face the unpleasant fact that his city would starve before too long…if the Russians didn’t attack it and reduce it to rubble.“You have an obligation, under the Geneva Convention, to let civilians go,” Steiner protested, when he came to meet the Russian besiegers.“You can’t keep them trapped in the city…”Shalenko smiled.He had read the FSB’s briefing on the Mayer carefully.He had been a stout Green, someone who could always be counted upon to pass laws concerning the environment in Germany…and a total novice when it came to military matters.Steiner had been considered a safe pair of hands for Hanover by the Greens; there was no way that they would have allowed him into the rarefied heights of German National Government, or even the European Parliament.“Actually, I can,” Shalenko said.He took no pleasure in ensuring that the city was starved into submission – or death – but it was better than feeding his men into a meat-grinder.The British might have joked about being sporting enough to let the enemy do the killing, but Shalenko had always considered the joke disgusting; his soldiers were a priceless resource.Hanover wasn't a threat, but if the Germans had some armoured units in the city, they could come out and hit his rear.“The Convention doesn’t actually say when I have to let them out, does it?”Steiner said nothing.Shalenko’s lips twisted; Felix Steiner had been an SS officer and a brave fighter, commanding soldiers in battle personally.His distant descendent had none of the spine that had allowed Felix Steiner to stand up to Adolph Hitler himself.He was at home with the law…but the law was gone, replaced only by the invading army and the Russian occupation forces that were either occupying cities, or surrounding them and waiting for them to surrender.Shalenko wouldn’t have given much for the fate of the Germans who had to be forced into submission; the FSB units had a reputation for brutality
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