Chapter 825 The Fish Dies or the Net Breaks? (Continued)
"The problem must be divided into two. The Americans can produce so much that we can't stop them. Instead of letting them spend all these materials and financial resources on local defense, it is better to let them send them all the way to the UK. We can kill them first. Half, like last time in Newfoundland, you can occasionally grab a handful!" When they mentioned this, Ribbentrop and Hoffmann both smiled knowingly. The losses in the Newfoundland campaign were indeed quite large, but these more than 1 million tons! It was quite fun to grab. Not to mention the supplies, the hundreds of ships alone made Speer, who was responsible for the dispatch of supplies, very happy. After the head-on confrontation with the British and American navies, the navy's morale began to improve.
Hoffman waved his hand: "Let them send it. At least it can contain some British and American naval forces in the North Atlantic, creating opportunities for the Ise formation to break into the Falklands."
The Ise formation has passed the Suez Canal, and the news will definitely reach the United States. The Supreme Command predicts that Britain and the United States will not take it lightly this time. The reason why they passed easily last time is entirely because Europe and the United States believe that Germany's destination is India. Britain and the United States are sure They will use bases in South Africa to initiate a break in diplomatic relations. It is not a big problem with submarines or long-range bombers. They are most afraid of Britain and the United States using their main fleets to intercept. Going to the North Atlantic to break diplomatic relations can at least slow down the other side.
"Then I will continue to be with Black Cat Xu?"
Hoffman nodded: "They can't have it all for long. When new warships such as the Hyuga and Jean Bart enter service in late March and the rest of the warships are repaired, all new carrier-based aircraft will also be replaced. Commander Ozawa He said that he would drag them out to fight again. If the combined fleet force can be added, a final battle would be held to wake them up. "
Although Horikichi had different considerations about the Second Western Expedition, Japan and Germany still made great progress in cooperation in other aspects. The design of the Axis-class aircraft carrier based on Unryu was finally finalized, with a standard displacement of 25,000 tons and a shipboard The aircraft configuration is 72 regular aircraft + 10 reserve aircraft, and all technical details are consistent and locked. In the future, the three axis aircraft carriers of Germany, Italy and Japan can carry out standardized maintenance, replenishment and even repair at each other's ports and docks respectively.
Hoffmann ambitiously launched a huge European shipbuilding plan. In addition to the warships that have started construction on the existing slipway, the new aircraft carriers that have been built since March all adopt this standard, and many countries have also adopted it: Japan starts construction 6 times a year -8 ships (6 ships in 1944, 7 ships in 1945, and 8 ships in 1946), Germany starts construction of 1 ship every month (half in the direction of the North Sea and the Mediterranean), Italy and France each start 4 ships every year, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands and Greece are the first batch of construction aid parties to participate in the German, Italian and French project. They will build independently when the technology matures. Generally, each country is required to have two ships per year. Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Greece have initially achieved coordination in the early stages of building the Will Wheel. What they need to do now is to raise this level again.
Everyone understands that this is part of the European Union. In his vision, the head of state proposed a variety of economies such as the European coal and steel joint venture, the railway joint venture, the shipping joint venture, the electric power joint venture, the shipbuilding joint venture, the petrochemical joint venture, the postal joint venture, and the telecommunications joint venture. Imagine that the coordinated construction of No. 4 tanks, European standard trucks, and European standard freighters (Volunteer) has achieved initial results, which is dazzling. Forcibly promoting joint ventures and standardization are definitely the most efficient. However, if there were many small countries in the past, they would inevitably blame each other and ignore the overall situation for a little profit. This is how it will be difficult to maintain the EU in future generations. But now that Germany has hegemony in its hands, its military strength is unique in Europe, and it will fight if it doesn't obey, making integration much easier.
In fact, all countries know that resource endowments vary from country to country. It is definitely uneconomical to build a complete system behind closed doors rather than carry out differentiated development according to the advantages of division of labor. When products and processes are standardized, it will be inevitable to unify monetary units, economic rules, zero internal tariffs, and even the mutual penetration and integration of banks and finance. In a few decades, Europe may not really need to go to war, because everywhere there is one among you, one among me, and there may be conflicts over one's own capital and industry.
Of course, there are also people in Germany who complain that the head of state is too polite to his friends. Shouldn't all these things be exported and left in German hands? Hoffmann laughed loudly at this. Germany will have the strongest political position in Europe in the future. It will actually control the command of the European joint forces. It will also have the right to formulate the Petroleum Mark and all economic, technological, industrial and service standards. It has already suffered a lot. It makes me laugh out of my dreams - if you don’t export industrialization within the European system, how can you open up the European market and close it to the outside world? And there must be competitive pressure, so as to promote industrial upgrading. Germany will move to the high-end, and the low-end and mid-end industries will be freed for other countries to develop - a standard flying goose model. In the future, informatization, atomic energy, aerospace, industry 3.0, and industry 4.0 are all still waiting on the road. Why worry that there is no room for development and upgrade? As for what to do after Industry 4.0, Hoffman himself has never seen it, nor can he live that long. He can't even control his son Kohler that far, so why worry about it? By then his name had long since become a part of history, and whether Germany was strong, weak, rich or poor had nothing to do with him.
Based on this, the Navy is optimistic that in the future, the European Combined Fleet, excluding Japan, will mass-produce 28-32 aircraft carriers at its peak. Although the combat effectiveness of the Axis class is only equivalent to 85-90% of the Essex class, the construction period will also be 2 months longer. months, but the advantage lies in the sheer number. Even if this production advantage is discounted, it will definitely overwhelm the United States (they believe that the United Kingdom will soon be destroyed, and they do not consider the United Kingdom to produce for the United States, nor do they consider the United Kingdom to produce as an axis). Of course, no one knows what the planning goals of the United States are. With an annual output of 24 Essex-class ships, if measured by this standard, the Navy is probably a bit optimistic. This is also the reason why Hoffman has the confidence not to make concessions to the United States on the South American issue. If the Americans don't know their taste, they won't even leave Brazil and the Caribbean!
To this end, he used diplomatic channels to inform the Peron government that the Axis camp would provide aircraft carriers to Argentina at an appropriate time in the future. Argentines can now be accepted in advance to come to Europe to participate in aircraft carrier-based aircraft pilot and commander training. The latter nodded repeatedly , praised so much that he quickly selected more than 30 pilots and a group of new naval commanders to go to Europe to participate in training courses.
After the successful revolution of Peron, which took back the Falklands and nationalized foreign capital, both the Peron regime and the people were happy on the surface, but in their hearts they were worried and worried, fearing that the United States would invade the border with troops next month. , this atmosphere reached its peak when the United States sent ground troops into South American countries. There were also rumors in Argentina that the Peron government was about to fall. Peron gritted his teeth and suppressed the political dissidents, killing many people. But after the battles of Newfoundland and Cape Verde, this voice suddenly disappeared.
The United States couldn't even control Newfoundland, which was so close by the Germans, and its noses and eyes were swollen. How could it have the ability to run wild on the Falklands? After hearing the news that two U.S. Army divisions in Cape Verde were finally forced to surrender and join the SS, and that the U.S. fleet fled, Peron laughed three times in the presidential palace. The paper tiger face of the U.S. empire was completely exposed. Now not only are the three younger brothers from Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay hanging around the Argentine eldest brother all day long, trying to find ways to connect with the Germans, even the Peruvian authorities are showing signs of changing sides. With the head of state as an example, Peron also began to follow Argentina's example in treating Argentina's younger brothers in South America - robbing one's own younger brother is nothing, but if you have the ability to lead your younger brother to rob someone else's!
After the destruction of the Brazilian fleet, Argentina, which received some of the spoils, not only had the leading fleet in South America, but also a rapidly modernizing air force and armored grenadiers (Argentina directly called them armored brigades after the reorganization, and compiled 6 of them in one go. Peron demanded at least (ed. 12), if you take into account the German land and air forces on the Falklands and the flag-waving of the small axis camp (referring to the three countries of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay), Argentina has become a South American hegemon, and its trade with Europe has made a lot of money. The domestic economy and people's livelihood have improved, and the Malvinas Islands, which they had been thinking about for a long time, have been recovered. The prestige of the Peron regime has grown to no end. In the minds of the Argentine people, Peron himself is probably second only to the national hero San Martin who led Argentina's independence. Some people say If Peron can maintain this situation for 8-10 years and retire honorably, his status in the future may be higher than that of Saint Martin.
Peron, who was highly successful in politics, was also very happy in love. As a widower, he met Evita, a famous figure in Buenos Aires social circle. The 49-year-old Peron quickly fell in love and publicly took the 25-year-old Evita with him. Vita attended various occasions and shook hands with civilians. Although the upper class was opposed to this relationship, no one dared to say such things outright in front of Peron.
Chile, which had been competing with Argentina for the leadership of South America, has now lowered its tone. The left-wing forces, which have always been up and down, dare not say much for fear that Argentina will fight if they disagree. The United States, which is too busy to take care of itself, will never come to save Chile now, and the right-wing forces The forces were delighted, and one after another Chilean military officers came to Argentina for inspections. In name, they were inspecting military equipment, but in fact the main purpose was to learn how the "revolution" works. Many self-proclaimed mid-level and senior military officers wanted to be Chile's asylum. Long.
Soon Argentina’s three major experiences were summed up by thoughtful people:
1. We must rely on the axis camp to maintain good relations with Germany, strengthen trade exchanges, and raise the anti-American banner after obtaining the endorsement of force;
2. We must follow a populist line, liquidate foreign forces to improve public support (for Chile, we need to liquidate both the United States and the Soviet Union), pay attention to the civilian class, appropriately allocate fields and industries in exchange for public support, and "nationalize" foreign capital and comprador capital in exchange for Supported by national capitalist groups;
3. It is necessary to strengthen national defense and develop the military. When all South American countries have become hedgehogs, will the United States still dare to bite them one by one?
As a result, Chile, which was originally relatively stable, began to undergo a turbulent process.