Chapter 504: Brothers in Distress (Part 1)

The exhausted Roosevelt almost forced himself to hold himself up in the final stage and was pushed out of the venue in a wheelchair. As soon as he disappeared from the sight of the congressmen, he could no longer hold on and almost fainted. Fortunately, the chief of staff had prepared a doctor in advance. After an emergency examination, it was determined that Roosevelt was in very bad condition and needed to be hospitalized for recuperation. He should not be under too much pressure in the short term, let alone start heavy work.

"It is best to completely break away from work and recuperate for 1-2 months." This is the doctor's preliminary conclusion.

Hoover nodded gloomily and warned: "This information must be kept completely confidential."

"I can hold on, I can't be away from my post for a long time, that will cause unnecessary trouble." Roosevelt said in a weak tone, "There are more important things that need to be implemented."

The eyes of the senior officials of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were all flashing with tears. During this inquiry meeting, Roosevelt dragged his illness, used strategies, and used his political credibility to force the soldiers to pass. Faced with the accusations from congressmen about the failure of the military operation, he One person took over all the responsibilities, and did not criticize the soldiers in private. He talked and laughed about the pressure, but his body was so haggard, which moved these generals who had spent half their lives in the army to tears.

"The first is to immediately organize the withdrawal of Ike's troops to South Africa. As much as possible can be withdrawn. Focus on preserving the people and forget about the equipment. The second is to transfer the equipment of the Eighth Air Force to the British and withdraw the personnel. Experienced fighter pilots serve as instructors to train new trainees; the third thing..." Roosevelt pulled Marshall and said in a weak voice, "Accelerate the construction of homeland air defense and focus on the air defense of large cities on the east coast. They cannot be bombed anymore. ! Then... the Joint Chiefs of Staff will consider how to keep South Africa and communicate with Prime Minister Churchill..."

After explaining this, Roosevelt seemed to let go of his worries, exhausted all his energy, tilted his head and passed out. Everyone almost screamed in shock, and finally pushed into the hospital in a highly confidential atmosphere. According to the normal power logic of the United States, once a special situation arises for the president, the vice president needs to take control of the power. However, under Hopkins' suggestion, everyone reached an agreement in the hospital secret room: this will be kept strictly confidential unless Roosevelt's condition is still good after three days. no. Everyone quickly formed an arrangement for the distribution of power. During the period when the president was unable to serve, political affairs were handled by Hull, Hopkins and Hoover through consultation; military affairs were handled by consensus among the senior leaders of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Henry Agard Wallace is the current Vice President of the United States. Although Roosevelt strongly supported him as Vice President, his relationship with other senior officials was very poor and he was full of mystery, so no one wanted him to climb over them. ——Even if it’s only for a few days.

Everyone still doesn’t know that on the day after Roosevelt accepted a congressional inquiry, his fellow sufferer, Churchill, the wartime prime minister of the British Empire, was also under fire from members of Congress. The public’s opinions were mainly concentrated in three aspects:

First, why did we agree to hand over the Illustrious-class aircraft carriers and King George V-class battleships to the unified command of the U.S. Navy? Now that the losses are so heavy, who is responsible for the whole thing?

Second, the United States has proposed to immigrate 100,000 British engineers and skilled shipbuilders. What is the government going to do?

Third, Madagascar is lost and South Africa is in danger. Where is the future of the British Empire? Can the war be won?

This is actually a general outburst of emotions towards the consecutive defeats in the North African Campaign, the Indian Ocean Campaign, the Middle East Campaign and the North Sea Campaign. Everyone is sensible: Strictly speaking, the defeats in these battles are not directly related to the Prime Minister, but the person who has the most overall control over the situation, if he is not responsible, who will be responsible? Should Brooke or Pound be asked to take the blame?

Churchill seemed to have aged ten years overnight. He puffed on his pipe and thought for a long time before answering hesitantly.

“Lending the capital ships to the United States was a package agreement originally reached to launch the North African campaign. It was to alleviate the short-term strength shortage of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The follow-up was to relieve the crisis in the Atlantic direction. This difficult situation was not so much aimed at the United States. It is better to say that it is directed at us. Without the material support of the United States, we will collapse soon, and without us, the United States will only lose a springboard for counterattack on the European continent," Churchill explained helplessly, "both in terms of status and. In terms of strength, it is always difficult to refuse our request to the United States.”

"As for the unified command by the United States, it was also caused by the failure of Cunningham's fleet in India and the serious losses in the North Sea Battle that failed to block the German army from seizing the Azores. The United States requested that they be under unified command." Churchill spread his hands. , "When a team loses consecutively, they must want to change their coach or captain to change their luck, so they chose Spruance and Fletcher. Please note that these two generals are not unknown figures. They were originally We have won major battles at Midway, and there is no problem with our ability... As for the results, we cannot predict them. If we have to evaluate them, we can only say that there is no victorious general in the world..."

Someone whispered: "Why not... isn't the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet Lien Chan Lianjie?"

Churchill pretended not to hear the discussion and continued: "Although we handed over the battleships to the command of the United States, Britain also received appropriate compensation:

First, the carrier-based aircraft pilots on several aircraft carriers are all American. Although we have lost 4 Tejas-class aircraft carriers, we have not lost a single pilot, so we still retain a relatively complete carrier-based aircraft team;

Second, the United States has agreed to provide us with 10 escort aircraft carriers and thousands of high-performance fighter jets. It has already received most of them, and they are all better than our own equipment;

Third, the United States has increased its material assistance to us. After losing its oil production base in the Middle East, Britain is completely dependent on the United States for the supply of refined oil. In the past few months, the Americans have provided us with more than 3 million tons of refined oil. This is The very large and impressive figures have supported our consumption and reduced the strategic reserves by only 500,000 tons. Without these oils, the oil depot reserves are now nearly exhausted;

Fourth, the British and American governments have currently reached an agreement that the navies of both sides in the Atlantic will form a coalition. The commander-in-chief will be Admiral Ingersoll, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, and the core aircraft carrier fleet commander will be Admiral Cunningham;

Last but not least, President Roosevelt promised to compensate our capital ships. In the short term, we can get one Essex-class fleet aircraft carrier and one Independence-class light aircraft carrier. In the long term, we can get more than five aircraft carriers, and the first light aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier has been handed over to the Royal Navy and is currently undergoing sea trials in the United States..."

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then looked at Churchill with deep meaning: Aren't there rumors that Cunningham was at odds with the Prime Minister and that he had been left out in the cold? Why was he suddenly reactivated and held such an important position? Besides, Cunningham has broken his leg now and has to rely on a wheelchair to get in and out. Can such a general also serve as the commander of an aircraft carrier fleet?

Churchill smiled awkwardly and explained two sentences: "General Cunningham has been in poor health since returning from Africa, so he was arranged to serve as a sinecure to recuperate. Now he has recovered and has a strong desire to return to the battlefield. This is a rich experience. The naval admiral cannot be left idle. In response to the strong request of the U.S. government, the cabinet decided to appoint him as the deputy commander of the British and American Combined Fleet and the commander of the aircraft carrier group..."

Hearing such words, Attlee couldn't help but roll his eyes - he knew what the so-called "strong will" meant. If it weren't for Nimitz's letter, Cunningham, a stubborn old man, wouldn't bother to talk to the Prime Minister. , if it were not for the explicit request of the U.S. Navy, Churchill would not use Cunningham again... The two are now reconciled on the surface, but he who knows the inside story knows how reluctant this relationship is to be repaired.

"Gentlemen, we can't just look at how much we have lost. The United States has lost more for us. Think about the merchant ships sunk by submarines, think about the battleships sunk by the Germans, think about those sent to the Indian Ocean and The U.S. Army ultimately sacrificed..."

Everyone was silent. Although the United States spared no effort to support Britain in its struggle for world hegemony, the Americans did pay heavy sacrifices. As far as warships were concerned, their losses were more and greater.

"As for the second question..." Churchill said with a wry smile, "Immigration is not the best way, but it is the best way to solve the existing difficulties. The resources of the British Empire are extremely limited, and there is a relative surplus of shipbuilding workers. The United States is rich in resources and has many slipways. , but cannot find enough workers, so this immigration is mutually beneficial..."

"Should we not continue to build warships? Shouldn't we build those Vengeance-class and Lion-class ships?"

"Build it? Why not build it?" Churchill stared, "Two Lion-class battleships, one Vanguard-class battleship, two Vengeance-class fleet aircraft carriers, and six Giant-class light aircraft carriers will be built one after another as quickly as possible. Even if we transport 100,000 workers, we can still find enough labor for construction. The Americans don’t need our skilled workers for nothing. They will provide a variety of materials to help us speed up construction, such as the 16-inch guns used on battleships. He said that he would provide finished products, such as special steel and boilers, and would find ways to help us speed up the progress.”

"According to estimates, I hope to complete the construction of two Rendezvous-class ships before January 1944, and one Lion-class ship in March. The remaining warships will be completed gradually in 1944, and some will be delayed until 1945. Apart from these, I will not prepare. "If we build capital ships, we will at most build cruisers, destroyers and other small warships," Churchill said after careful calculation. "The United States has launched a huge shipbuilding plan and strives to start construction of 36 aircraft carriers a year. President Roosevelt promised to build one-third. A quarter is provided to us directly for the completed warships, but I estimate that we may actually get more.”