Chapter 11: The Onlooker Sees Clearly

The sky gradually brightened, and the streets of Dunkirk were bustling. Through a partially collapsed window, Logan glanced outside and saw a group of British soldiers hurrying past, perhaps searching for the perpetrators of the massacre at the Expeditionary Force headquarters last night. But Dunkirk was now flooded with at least one hundred thousand Allied soldiers—British, French, Belgian, and even Dutch—belonging to hundreds of units, many of whom may not know each other. In such circumstances, identifying the culprits of the destruction, whom they hadn't even seen, was like finding a needle in a haystack!

Inside the house, where the roof and one wall had collapsed due to German bombings, the paratroopers were taking turns resting. Although they hadn't rested much during the night, few could truly sleep now. Groat satisfied his craving for cigarettes, Tobias nibbled on biscuits while tinkering with the noisy typewriter, and Steffenberg amused himself with the new gift Logan had given him—the Lord Goth pistol. Most seemed to have recovered from the grief of Enk's death, perhaps already accustomed to the cruelty of war!

"Alright, everyone, when we go out later, remember to act as if we're bystanders. What happened last night has nothing to do with us! And if we encounter enemy patrols, there's no need to panic; everything will be resolved smoothly!" With that, Logan rolled his tongue and uttered a phrase completely different from his Scottish accent: "Nobgoblin!"

Half of the paratroopers smiled knowingly.

Logan adjusted his collar and said, "Let's go! Let's see what mischief we can find!"

The paratroopers, sitting or lying down, all stood up, helping each other check their attire and weapons. After last night's battle, they now looked more like a group of Allied soldiers withdrawn from the front lines!

Last night, stars were visible, but now the sky over the port was misty, reflecting the uncertain future of the Allies. However, as warned by the German meteorological agency in Norway, this weather was not conducive to air raids!

After walking for almost two streets, Logan and his men didn't encounter any checks. He also noticed that the soldiers retreating to the beach wore expressions of pure fatigue and worry. After asking a few random people, it became evident that no one knew what had caused the gunfire from the castle last night.

It seemed that to prevent further morale deterioration, the British had sealed off news of the attack on the headquarters and the deaths of General Goth and others.

After daybreak, the scene on the beach was crowded indeed, resembling a field of dark-colored shrubs from afar! Towards the direction of the harbor, several sunken ships with only their decks or masts visible remained. In the outer channel, the large black ship, half overturned, was undoubtedly the result of Logan and his team's work last night. Although the "Black Elf" didn't completely block the channel, it significantly affected the movement of ships entering and leaving the harbor.

Proudly observing the black ship, Logan soon saw a warship flying the St. George's Cross swiftly passing beside it and entering the inner harbor. The Allied soldiers on the beach and the seawall erupted into cheers.

"Happiness? Fat chance! You'll all be crying soon!" Logan muttered to himself. Before coming here, he had discussed Dunkirk's layout, especially the two breakwaters, with Stuttgard. Logan vividly remembered that the British successfully used the breakwaters as piers, allowing large numbers of Allied soldiers to board ships even under intense German bombardment!

Stuttgard indeed approved of Logan's analysis, but he was only the leader of the Air Force Paratrooper Division. It was difficult to persuade Goering, let alone the entire empire. Even taking the high road, the success rate was uncertain!

Since most of the port facilities had been bombed by the Germans, the British warship couldn't dock directly. Instead, it stopped a few hundred meters away from the pier, and its lifeboats were sent to ferry soldiers ashore. The sailors seemed inexperienced in such operations, and the soldiers were even less accustomed to them. Sometimes, they crowded to one side and capsized the boats; other times, there were too many people on board, and the boats either ran aground or sank. By the time they struggled to board the rescue boat, it was already quite worn out!

"Hmph, even the mighty British Empire has its days!" Logan sneered inwardly. Even before the first batch of soldiers boarded, another piercing air raid alarm sounded in the distance. This time, the gunfire came urgently and swiftly, accompanied by a buzzing sound akin to flies.

Looking up, Logan found several black dots in the eastern sky. In a matter of moments, the scene on the beach changed drastically: Allied soldiers looked like ants on a hot pan, some eagerly pressing forward with hopes of boarding ships, while others desperately retreated, and officers anxiously directed their subordinates, and soldiers sought refuge blindly.

Meanwhile, soldiers stationed at the pier and in the city also panicked. With few anti-aircraft guns deployed on the periphery, the sparse defensive barrage was powerless against the invading waves of German bombers. Their hopes rested on the Royal Air Force fighter squadron across the strait and the intangible "luck."

Surveying the surroundings, there were hardly any calm faces. Logan found a small open space away from the crowd and, with his paratroopers, calmly observed: the black dots in the sky gradually grew larger, and it soon became apparent which were fighter planes and which were bombers. The twin-engine planes with white bellies were probably Ju-88s or Do-17s, flying unabashedly at low altitudes, leaving strings of bombs behind. Each bomb that hit the ground caused a violent explosion, sending up huge columns of earth, forming a cone-shaped spectacle, while the white seawater resembled giant mushrooms, scattering down like a celestial shower!

Watching the harbor engulfed in flames and smoke, especially the slowly sinking British warship, the German paratroopers might have thought the Allies were doomed. However, when the German bombers departed and the smoke gradually dissipated, they were surprised to find that the rising smoke columns seemed to be guiding distant ferries. Soon, new ships squeezed through the narrow channels into the harbor, and outside the breakwater, smaller vessels had already begun taking in soldiers wading ashore!

Tobias nudged Logan's arm again and nodded northwest. "Those are the British fighters, right?"

The black dots appearing to the north didn't chase after the retreating German bomber formations but circled above the harbor. Encouraged by this seemingly softer and lighter buzz, the Allied soldiers at Dunkirk hastened their steps. In just half an hour, several more batches of soldiers boarded ships, with the vast majority being British soldiers!