Chapter 898: The Situation Is Turbulent (Continued)

"Führer, how do you respond to the British's revised conditions?" After the meeting, Ribbentrop continued to report to Hoffman.

"Do you think the British are sincere in negotiating peace?"

"I think..." Ribbentrop, "Black Cat is sincere in negotiating peace, but it's hard to say about others. At least Churchill has been firmly in control of the overall situation so far, which shows..."

"It shows that the British still have some illusions. They are either waiting for the US Navy to recover its strength or waiting for their own strength to recover." Hoffman smiled slightly, "But it doesn't matter. Erwin will be able to return to Spain in 10 days."

"Spain?"

"He will go directly to Spain to join the troops and will not return to Berlin."

"Oh... the fleet."

"General Ozawa will provide cover, and Crank will only be responsible for leading the material fleet back to Italy. In addition, we have to prepare a new fleet to transport to South America In terms of military strength, the Shawken Group is still a little weak, and it is rare for us to have a naval advantage. "Hoffman laughed, "Let Churchill reply like this:

First, if Great Britain goes to war with the United States, the Panama Canal can be controlled by them, and British Guiana will obtain some territory from Venezuela or Colombia;

Second, the British Army will be responsible for disarming the US troops stationed in the UK, leaving it to the US and Germany to resolve the issue;

Third, we promise to start withdrawing troops three years after the peace agreement is reached, and complete the withdrawal in one year;

Fourth, South Africa and Rhodesia will maintain the status quo, but I cannot stop the European countries from attacking; India can talk to Japan, but if they lose all their territory before Great Britain announces peace talks, I am also incompetent To do my best;

You can deal with the rest as appropriate. Anyway, I have never relied solely on peace talks. "

Ribbentrop smiled and nodded: "I understand."

He had just left when Keitel came to report important military information: "Today, Japan sent another battle report, saying that the enemy fleet occupied the Maldives today, and the situation is quite dangerous; Tokyo has sent a combined fleet to encircle and suppress it, led by Admiral Tsukahara Jishizo; after repeated confirmation and verification, it is speculated that this fleet is the remnant of the US fleet that fought with Crank. "

"The Americans are going to counterattack India?"

"It doesn't seem like it. This strength is not enough to counterattack. The navy has proposed an idea. Will it cooperate with Stalin to counterattack the Middle East? "

Hoffman knocked on the table. This is a problem Annoying, so he asked: "How do you deal with this?"

"Launched several targeted defenses; first, in view of the fact that the main force of the Red Army has already attacked the Caucasus front line, prepare to deploy the airborne division from Iran to the Middle East; second, all Socotra Island has entered alert, there are currently more than 400 trainees on it, ready to perform combat missions; third, the Middle East Air Force has strengthened its strength and increased its search efforts."

Hoffman nodded: "Okay, let the Americans run for a while first to see what they want to do. Now it is the Japanese who are anxious."

Hoffman was wrong about one thing. It was not the Japanese who were anxious now, but Spruance himself. When Crank led the fleet back to the country, Spruance led the fleet to attack the Japanese defenders in the Maldives. According to the aircraft reconnaissance, the island's defenders were only 500-600 people, and there were only more than 30 aircraft. Although they did not pose a major threat, they would hinder the fleet's retreat, so they rushed over to prepare to take it down. I thought that more than 500 defenders would be a matter of flattening in an afternoon, but I didn't expect to hit a hard nail.

After the suppression fire of the naval guns in the afternoon, the British Army had just landed when the Japanese army's firepower counterattack began. The beachhead was bombarded into a mess, and even a destroyer supporting at close range was hit by a near miss and almost sunk.

"This is Long-legged Tom!" A staff officer suddenly shouted.

"What?"

"This is our army's standard equipment, a 155mm howitzer, nicknamed Long-legged Tom."

"How could the Japanese devils have this equipment?"

"It must have been captured in the African campaign."

"The army is these bastards!"

What's more shocking is yet to come. When the British army was advancing deep into the territory under fire, the Japanese army suddenly sent out tanks to counterattack, and then the confidential staff cursed angrily: "Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!"

"What happened again?"

"The British said that those tanks were all Sherman."

"Sherman?" Spruance's eyes widened, "Our tanks?"

"Yes."

The British were defeated in the first attack under such circumstances; they kept increasing their troops to two regiments, and even the fleet sent the Iowa to support, and finally suppressed the artillery fire on the island. But the battle lasted for two days, and the British suffered nearly 1,000 casualties, more than the Japanese soldiers defending the island. After the war, Spruance went to the island to check the battle situation with a heavy heart. He found all the American equipment: M1 Garand, Browning heavy machine gun, Melon grenade, Sherman tank, Long-legged Tom howitzer, and even American walkie-talkies! Of course, there was also the German Panzerfaust - it was this guy who destroyed more than 20 British tanks.

The British Army troops looked at the Americans with a changed face. If they hadn't been concerned about the navy, they would probably have gone crazy on the spot.

Spruance wrote in his combat diary: ...The Japanese were not afraid of death. They took our weapons and forcibly extended what I thought was a few hours of battle to two days and caused 1,000 of our deaths. There were many casualties, and in the end, not a single Japanese soldier surrendered. Even the wounded soldiers rushed forward, sounded grenades, and died together with our troops, shouting the slogan "It's a black card, take it on board!" so that our commander had to order The medical soldiers should not rescue each other. I suddenly realized the bleak prospects of the Indian campaign. I wondered whether it was appropriate to send these two British divisions to India...

On May 17, the TF44 fleet made a false shot and did not attack Ceylon as the Japanese expected. Instead, it advanced northwestward, preparing to go to Karachi.

"Sir, the US military has occupied the Maldives and the defenders are all in pieces. However, today's reconnaissance on Ceylon Island shows that the US fleet has disappeared."

Tsukahara led the fleet just passed Palawan Island in the Philippines, and it was still at least a week before they reached the Indian Ocean. After looking at the map, he asked: "What do you think? Is this a sub-large South African smuggling or is it the Americans who are taking advantage of it?"

South African smuggling is a vivid name for the British army's material supplies in India. After the Japanese army took control of the Indian Ocean, the source of material supplies for the British army in India was cut off. In order to import materials to the defenders, the British used single transport ships, destroyers and even submarines to smuggle them to avoid the Japanese army. Of course, some of the blockades were intercepted. The Japanese navy, who knew the inside story, called it smuggling from South Africa. They believed that the British were more confused than the original defenders of Guadalcanal. However, the basic supplies of the British army, such as food, could be solved in India, but Equipment, ammunition and spare parts need to be transported out of the country, but as the Japanese-controlled area continues to expand and the British-controlled area shrinks step by step, the time and distance for smuggling in South Africa are getting longer and longer, and it is becoming more and more dangerous. The only one that can still be used now The only remaining port is Karachi.

The strange thing is that the German army clearly has an air force in the Middle East, but it has never bombed Karachi. The British aircraft deployed in Karachi have not bombed transport ships passing through the Persian Gulf. This is a rare tacit understanding.

"You can't take advantage of the situation, so a large fleet is just to attack a few undefendable islands?" Tsukahara laughed, "If the enemy is not coming to attack Ceylon, they must be heading to Karachi. Order to speed up, let's go to India The islands are blocked."

"Are you also going to the Second Air Battle?"

"Tell Tsunoda to cross the Sunda Strait around the Java Sea and stand by near the Cocos Islands to prepare for interception."

"You think the enemy is going to Australia?"

"Going to Australia is the best choice. It can also deliver aircraft carriers to the US Pacific Fleet, so that the enemy ships trapped in Pearl Harbor can come out and move around, so as not to be blocked by our break-up fleet again. The Americans are killing two birds with one stone. They just I didn’t expect Commander Horikichi to be so determined to use all the main forces of the combined fleet to fight.”

"The Germans have dispatched a large number of reconnaissance aircraft to search the Arabian Sea. They will report any news immediately. In addition, pilots trained on Socotra Island have also entered combat readiness."

"The Germans are quite interesting. In fact, I feel very embarrassed about postponing the second Western Expedition. I must explain it to the German side." Everyone thought, General Tsukahara is a kind person after all.

While Shaoken was making various deployments in the American Republic, the Brazilian Army Chief of Staff General Montero's order for the expeditionary force to attack had been issued, but the order aroused controversy as soon as it was issued:

The Brazilian Expeditionary Force has already assembled in Rio de Janeiro. More than 80% of the soldiers are between 22 and 25 years old and have two to three years of service experience. The core force includes three infantry regiments: the 1st Infantry Regiment "Sampaio" and the 6th Infantry Regiment. Corps "Ipiranga" and the 11th Infantry Regiment "Ti****tis", the divisional artillery consists of three artillery battalions equipped with 12 105mm howitzers each, and 12 155mm howitzers (Long Leg Tom) The 4th Artillery Battalion, directly under the unit also has the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron equipped with M-8 "Greyhound" armored vehicles, the 9th Engineer Battalion, the 1st Sanitary Battalion, the 1st Transportation Company, a total of 25,334 people, and the combat force reaches 15,069 people. . According to the agreement, the US 751st Tank Battalion and the 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion will provide support to the expeditionary force during the battle, and this time preparations have been completed as agreed.

Vargas believed that this force might not be able to defeat the Germans.

"This is our best unit, and we also have US aviation support. If they can't fight, how can we counter the rebellion?"

"Didn't the Americans say they were coming?"

"If the Americans talk about July, won't the Germans increase their troops?" Montero looked calm. "If the Americans say in July that it won't be possible until September or October, what are you going to do?"

Everyone was speechless.

"Your Excellency, let them move out, if you don't want to lose 3 more states." Montero said softly and hard at the same time, "There are 4 La Plata Group divisions or brigades on the border ready to move. If we don't do it, we won't have time. ”

At his insistence, on May 18, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force lined up to hold a swearing-in ceremony in the capital, and embarked on the road to counter the rebellion under the welcome of the people.