Chapter 1034 The Future of America (7)

"Führer, do you really intend to negotiate peace with the Americans?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"But the situation is obviously in our favor." Goebbels asked doubtfully, "Wouldn't it be a pity to negotiate peace now?"

"I know it's beneficial, so I want to negotiate peace under this situation. Germany has reached its limit and needs to slowly pull back its national power, while the United States has not fully released its national power, or in other words, they don't know how to release it."

Goebbels was puzzled: Aren't the United States' war losses far greater than those of Germany? Even if its industrial strength is strong, why does the head of state say it has not been fully unleashed?

"You cannot look at the problem in isolation and separation." Hoffman explained, "The U.S. industrial production capacity has almost reached its peak, but the equipment and materials they produced used to have to be sent to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union across the ocean. Now they only need to be sent to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. The Caribbean and South America are just around the corner, but we originally only needed to transport supplies and troops to the European continent. In the future, we will have to travel thousands of miles to the Americas. Do you think the balance of power between each other has increased or decreased? "

Goebbels immediately understood: What determines the success or failure of a war is not only industrial strength, but more importantly, delivery capability. In the past, the United States could only send little by little to the European continent, and Germany could use all its strength. Now the positions of the two sides have been reversed. Germany can only send little by little, but the United States can use all its strength.

"For example, in the Battle of Brazil, if it happened in Europe, when Rommel's army is tired, I can immediately switch to other armies. But now, although we have accumulated millions of troops on the European continent, we can only watch the American coastline and worry - this It is the same as when the United States clearly stockpiled millions of troops at home but could not deploy them to the European continent. Another example is supplies. After the Eastern Front campaign ended, there was a large amount of surplus supplies and equipment, but these things did not have wings and needed to be used. Ships are sent to the Americas and South Africa in batches. Even though our military's shipping capabilities have improved rapidly, we are still no match for the United States. To say the least, even if our shipping capabilities are the same as those of the United States, our fleet has a round trip of 20,000 kilometers. The American fleet travels 5,000 kilometers back and forth, who is more efficient?”

Not only was Hoffman aware of these constraints, but the High Command was also deeply troubled.

Originally, the most logical move after encircling and annihilating the Patton Group was to attack the US military in Recife, but Rommel sent a report informing them of the latest changes in the enemy situation: the US military transported at least 2-3 more divisions (mainly the 101st Airborne Division and the 11th Airborne Division) via airlift. Division), transported a batch of supplies and equipment by sea. Although some were sunk by submarines on the way, the number that successfully arrived was not small.

Based on aircraft reconnaissance and photos, it is estimated that the US military in Recife currently has more than 150,000 troops (actually 165,000), and its aviation strength is between 1,500 and 2,000 (excluding the actual more than 1,900 strategic airlift units, one-third of which are skilled crews). The Brazilians said that Recife had been operated by the United States for many years, and the base facilities were complete, the defense system was complete, and supplies were abundant, which made Rommel feel a little difficult to deal with.

Currently, he has fewer troops than his opponents, both in the air force and the army, and they have just experienced a war. The battle line stretches from Victoria to Arakallu. The troops are in disorder, and the upper and lower command systems are disconnected. Half of the logistics supplies are made by temporary depots and half by looting. The U.S. military's material reserves were barely able to survive, and the situation was even more embarrassing than it was in North Africa.

In the end, the Americans were not as cunning as the British, and they did not retreat fast enough. They always thought they could still fight, but they were beaten half to death by Shaoken. In the end, they attacked Patton's headquarters with one breath. The Americans made another stupid move and actually used transport planes to retreat. If we don't do this, just retreating to the valley and fighting a defensive battle with Rommel will be a headache. It will definitely be solved eventually, but the time will never be that fast.

Now if we don't reorganize our forces and go directly to challenge Recife, we're afraid we'll end up in a bloody battle. Rommel had experience and lessons in North Africa and didn't dare to play like this, so after the battle of El Salvador, he logically made a request for rest and reorganization.

It just so happened that the Navy also needed to bring back the Krank fleet that was injured in the war, and escort the second batch of reinforcements in October. Taking advantage of the Army's break, 2 armored aircraft carriers and 2 escort aircraft carriers have escorted the scarred fleet. Crank's fleet sailed home yesterday.

In view of the limited transportation capacity of the Supreme Command, the second batch of reinforcements will mainly transport materials and equipment. The personnel can only supplement 1 armored grenadier division, 1 infantry division and 2 air force wings (one of which is a transport aircraft wing). . Rommel also accepted this. It would be good to have 100,000-120,000 fully replenished troops under command! The head of state still has the South African battlefield to take care of.

"Conquering the United States is impossible in the short term, even if more European and Japanese forces are introduced." Hoffmann smiled at Goebbels, "Anyway, the war will not be over at once, so why not give the U.S. government a chance for peace? As long as the Washington authorities are willing to recognize the independence of Central American countries and give up control of the region; are willing to return part of the Caribbean and Central American territories to the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands; and are willing to share the Caribbean with us, Germany can definitely live in harmony with the United States... …”

Goebbels was stunned for a moment, then laughed meaningfully.

The so-called Central America refers to the countries south of Mexico and north of Colombia, mainly including the six independent countries of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, and a British colony - British Honduras (later known as Belize).

These small Central American countries are independent on the surface, but in fact, all politics, economy, and even military and diplomacy are controlled by the United States. There are many American troops stationed there. Hoffman asked them to be independent in order to uproot the influence of the United States in this area.

In order to muddy the waters, Hoffman also designed a complex operating system: British Honduras was returned to Britain (London), Panama was guaranteed to be neutral by European countries, the Panama Canal established an international joint-stock company, and Germany, Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States, Japan, and Panama jointly invested and controlled it. The European joint forces were stationed in the canal area to ensure safety, and the administrative power of the canal area was handed over to the British (the British troublemaker has strong management experience in this regard).

In this way, Panama will not have any objections. In the past, the United States was the only one in power, and Panama had no say in the affairs of the canal area. Now at least it is managed by multiple countries, and Panama still has some participation rights, which can balance the influence of the United States; France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan must be jubilant, and they got shares for free; the British will get more lucrative and can be the watchdog of the southern gate of the United States.

After taking control of the Panama Canal, any movement of the US Navy was completely exposed to the eyes of European countries. Even if the US wanted to start a war, Germany could not move as long as it closed the canal area, forcing the US to continue to build a two-ocean navy. Moreover, a two-ocean navy is not easy to build, and the Falkland Islands base will still monitor Cape Horn. Eliminating the US Navy's ability to freely mobilize is equivalent to abolishing the US's ability to start a war at will.

The post-war arrangement for the Caribbean was even more complicated:

Cuba and Puerto Rico were guaranteed independence by Germany—Germany would definitely control them after the war;

Haiti and Dominica would continue to be left to the United States;

Jamaica, the Bahamas, and the Windward Islands (including Barbados, Dominica, Granada, St. Lucia and other small islands) were British colonies before the war and were to be returned to the British;

Taking into account Italy's contribution and also to muddy the waters, Hoffman was prepared to give part of the Leeward Islands (including Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda and other islands) to the Italians;

There were also Martinique and the Netherlands Antilles, which belonged to France...

This meant that the Caribbean would have the influence of traditional maritime powers such as the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and the Netherlands, and the parties would check and restrict each other. Hoffman was not worried that these European countries would side with the United States on the Caribbean issue because their roots and headquarters were in Europe. His purpose was clear, which was to turn the Caribbean from the backyard of the United States into a place jointly managed by Europe and the United States.

As a deal, the Bermuda Islands, which are only more than 1,000 kilometers away from the east coast of the United States, must not be occupied by the British again and must be handed over to the Americans.

The next morning, Ribbentrop came to report to Hoffman excitedly, and said in an exaggerated tone and demeanor: "Führer, the effect of your speech is amazing, and it has achieved explosive results so quickly. Harry Truman, the warmongerer, announced his withdrawal from the next US presidential election. Dewey basically won, but Truman did not let Dewey have an easy time. He arranged the title of special peace ambassador for him. It is expected that the Americans will soon propose peace through a third country."

Of course, Ribbentrop lied to please the Führer with his eyes open - first there was the election debate and then there was Hoffman's speech, but Hoffman did not intend to expose it. It's good to listen to such words for fun. Whoever takes it seriously is the biggest fool in the world.

Truman's withdrawal from the election was still somewhat unexpected, but he soon felt relieved and nodded with a smile: "Although Truman was tough-talking, he admitted defeat politically."

"What guidance do you have for peace talks with the United States?"

Hoffman talked in detail about the Central American issue, the Caribbean arrangement and Ribbentrop.

The other party took a breath and hesitated for a long time, saying, "I'm afraid the Americans won't accept this condition."

"I didn't expect the Americans to accept it so readily." Hoffman analyzed, "Truman's withdrawal from the election means that he not only knows that he won't be elected, but also doesn't want to be the president of the United States who signs the peace treaty. Therefore, this treaty cannot be agreed upon before the new president takes office, that is, before January 1945. There are still a few months left, and the Americans will definitely struggle desperately. But we still have a lot of strength to show."

"For example?"

"Guderian will show Blitzkrieg 2.0 in South Africa, and the Japanese have not yet exerted their strength in the Pacific... After the combined fleet shows its force, the Americans will know how powerful it is. You should talk to the Americans first. We have been in contact with Black Cat for so long, and it will take more than a day or two to talk about a ceasefire with a big country like the United States."