After receiving Eisenhower's affirmative answer, Montgomery sighed... It was not until this time that he realized how ridiculous he was. The Germans were fully capable of blocking the Allied attack, but he thought that Germany was about to collapse and could not wait to launch an adventure plan that was not well prepared or even violated his command style to seize credit.

"Marson Marshal!" Seeing that Montgomery didn't say a word, the staff officer asked: "What should we do now? The situation in the Netherlands is still deteriorating!"

"Retreat!" said Montgomery: "Do whatever you can to get them out!"

"But...how to retreat?" said the staff officer.

It is impossible to retreat from the sea. The Netherlands and Belgium are all "atlantic barriers". Although it is still in an unfinished state, it is not something that can be broken through if it wants to, unless it comes to the "Normandy" landing again... But that was successful after making a lot of preparations.

Going east is Germany, and it is impossible to retreat in this direction unless you surrender.

So there is only Belgium to the south.

"Arden Mountains!" Montgomery pointed to Belgium weakly and said: "There is only this road, and the forest can be their cover to avoid the pursuit of the Germans. Our 2nd Army will continue to attack the Germans and drag them down. At the same time, I will send an air force to pick them up!"

The staff officer wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything. He responded, "Yes, sir" and left the command center.

Montgomery knew why the staff officer performed like this.

Because this is not a good way to retreat, on the one hand, the British and American airborne troops are not familiar with the Arden Mountains, except for the 17th Airborne Division, which was originally used to attack Arden Mountains.

Other troops, such as the British 1st Airborne Division and the US 11th Airborne Division, had their missions in the Netherlands, and they had no map of the Arden Mountains. They asked them to retreat into the Arden Mountains to deal with the Germans who were familiar with the terrain. There would probably be no good results.

However, this seems to be the only way and the only way, so the staff officer cannot refute it.

The subsequent battle situation was indeed the same. The defeated generals of the British and American airborne divisions received orders to retreat to the Ardennes area, but there were German ambushes everywhere along the way, and any of these ambushes were all that British and American troops could not deal with... The German army had tanks in their hands, either "tiger" or "leopard". The paratroopers who only had light weapons or even insufficient ammunition could do nothing.

The British and American airborne divisions fought and walked all the way, which was a bit like plucking hairs by geese... Every time they passed an ambush, they would be pulled a few hairs, and then a few more and a few more. When they finally arrived at the Aden Mountains, they were almost completely pulled out.

The airborne troops with a total strength of 34,600 were only more than 5,000 people who could reach the Aden Mountains.

Then the more than 5,000 people discovered... the Germans had already built a more terrifying line of defense in the jungle of the Arden Mountains waiting for them.

The "more terrifying" line of defense mentioned here refers to an invisible line of defense.

The 719th Infantry Division and the 84th Infantry Division, which have been stationed in the Arden Mountains for a long time, are actually equivalent to the mountain division... Strictly speaking, they cannot be considered mountain divisions, because the altitude of the mountain here is not high, with an average height of more than 400 meters, especially the mountainous areas in Belgium, which is about 200 meters above sea level, which is already the highest area in Belgium.

But more than half of this area is covered with forests, and it can almost be said that it is just forests.

This is easily reminiscent of the jungle war in Vietnam.

The 719th and 84th Infantry Divisions of the Germans have been stationed here since the Germans broke through the Ardennes Mountains to capture the Maginot Line. They are familiar with everything here, know how to hide themselves in the jungle and track the enemy, and know how to use the existing things in the jungle to quickly create a trap that is simple and practical...

So, the remaining soldiers of the British and American paratroopers who walked into the Ardennes were like walking into a maze, into the mouths of human-eating beasts, into the palms of giants... Here, they were no longer plucked by geese, but were skewed on branches and roasted on fire by German troops.

In the end, only more than 200 people were able to get out of this forest and join the British 2nd Army.

In fact, there were not only those who survived, but hundreds of others did not retreat to the Arden Mountains as ordered, including Colonel Celte, the commander of the 2nd Paratrooper Brigade.

Because Colonel Celt believes that this is simply seeking death.

"We can't get to the Arden Mountains!" Colonel Celt said to his surviving subordinates: "The Germans will chase us all the way, and then only one percent of us will survive! One hundred people can only survive, which is no different from being wiped out!"

Colonel Celt's estimate was wrong. More than 10,000 remaining soldiers fled to the end, more than 200 people were left, not as bad as one percent.

"But what else can we do?" asked the staff officer: "We have no other choice!"

"They said there will be air force to cover us!" said a lieutenant colonel. "We will also airdrop supplies on the way. I think we should do what we say!"

"That's the Arden Mountains!" Selt opposed: "Look at the place we are hiding, look at this place..."

Celt raised his head around and continued, "This is just a small jungle. Even if our planes fly over our heads, they can't find us. They don't know where we are, and we dare not shout at them or send signal flares... In such a place, the air force can't play any role! We only rely on ourselves!"

Celter's words left his subordinates speechless.

After a moment of silence, the staff officer asked, "So, Colonel, what should we do?"

"Yes, Colonel!" the soldiers also asked, "Where can we withdraw from this damn place?"

"We won't withdraw!" Celte replied.

"Don't withdraw?"

"Yes!" Selte nodded: "We'll stay here!"

"But... this is a dead end!" The staff advised: "There are Germans everywhere here!"

"And we weren't getting supplies, we didn't even have enough food!"

...

"Gentlemen!" Selt interrupted the argument of his subordinates and said, "What I mean by staying here is not staying in this jungle. You must know that this is the Netherlands, there are many Dutch resistance organizations, that is, guerrillas, and they can survive here. Why can't we?"
Chapter completed!