Chapter 935 The Sunset of the Empire (Part 2, Additional Chapters for 7,200 Votes)

Only Turner, who was neither a party nor high enough, did not know about this, but General Kim, who was hospitalized, had entrusted Turner with full authority to act on his behalf, so this could not be hidden from him. Turner was a smart man, and he understood it as soon as he saw this scene. He was just surprised: Churchill actually wanted to stage a coup in this situation? How could he be so crazy?

"To be honest, I don't think Prime Minister Churchill's idea of ​​stabilizing the political situation will ultimately succeed. We only have more than 100,000 troops in the British Isles and they are deployed in different locations. There are 3 million troops in the British mainland, and even the more elite ones have more than 1 million. , We are weak in terms of strength. Now that shipping is cut off, these 100,000 people alone cannot control the whole of Great Britain. There is only one thing we must realize: if Britain really surrenders, these 100,000 people will not be able to save it." He said, "Since we are destined to lose more than 100,000 people, it is better to use them to delay for a while. It is very important to us."

Li Hai pondered: "After the news comes out, regardless of success or failure, it will become the target of public criticism from both the government and the public."

Truman nodded. He had thought of the consequences. Everyone had the same idea: Truman dared to support Churchill in a coup? Will he also stage a coup in the United States in the future? This is a dangerous precedent.

He has gone to Hopkins to verify the situation. The other party first confirmed that this happened, but expressed his different opinions: "This is a last resort. I hope you will be cautious."

Marshall asked: "Can the British include this clause in the peace conditions? They can cease the war and take away the equipment, but they cannot detain our people. Let these 100,000 people return home."

"I think it's very difficult. The Germans won't agree." Li Hai shook his head. "The key now is not to let Hitler get those two armored aircraft carriers. Even if we can't get them, we can't let the Germans get them."

"Why did the British let Germany get those warships? Just because they sank an aircraft carrier in the Battle of Iceland?" Marshall asked, "Can't the Royal Navy learn from the Germans to have some backbone and have a rainbow?"

"Rainbow" was the code name for the collective self-sinking of the German High Seas Fleet in Spaka Bay. For this self-sinking, Germany ultimately paid a heavy price - all domestic civilian ships were collected. The incident was so famous that Marshall, who was in charge of the Army, still remembered it.

"The British wouldn't do this. They are from a bad background. How could they do something like self-sinking? In addition, they sank not one German aircraft carrier, but two." Turner added, "One German aircraft carrier After heavy damage, it was sunk by a British submarine on its way back - the poor Royal Navy finally achieved its only victory, and it was achieved by submarine. Of course, this submarine was also finished. "

Because the Hinata was seriously injured, the German navy decided to return home via the North Sea instead of returning to the Mediterranean for repairs. However, it was torpedoed and sunk by a British submarine on the way - what a bad luck! Fortunately, Britain is about to surrender. As the commander of the Navy, Hoffman issued a death order. The British must get the two armored aircraft carriers!

Li Hai is very sensitive to the balance of naval power: the current main force of the Atlantic Fleet is 3 fleet aircraft carriers and 3 battleships, and by August it will be 5 aircraft carriers and 3 battleships. Germany currently has 5 aircraft carriers and 8 battleships, and it is expected that by August There will be no new battleships. If the United States can get these British battleships, the balance of naval strength in the Atlantic will be greatly reduced or even equalized. If Germany gets these battleships, it will be in big trouble. Although he was not optimistic about the coup itself, he believed that it was necessary to delay it for a period of time, even if Britain could not survive in the end and let Churchill bring four battleships to the United States or Canada, or just two aircraft carriers to North America. OK.

To put it another way, it would be better if Churchill tried to sink it!

"If we can't get these warships, can our military step in or let British patriots sink them?"

"It's difficult. The British are very careful about these warships. When the situation is the most tense, they are unwilling to mobilize the anti-aircraft guns, fighter jets and defense forces that protect them. It is almost impossible to take action..."

Truman now feels a little regretful: If he had known that the Germans would lose 2 aircraft carriers and only have 2 regular aircraft carriers left, the Nimitz fleet should not have withdrawn so early. They should have fought hard again, even if the fight ended 1:1, the Germans There is only one aircraft carrier left in the direction of Iceland. In addition, let the Army Aviation and the Royal Air Force fight again. Maybe the Battle of Iceland can barely achieve a life-or-death outcome. After this month, we have two local aircraft carriers and two British aircraft carriers, and our naval power has suddenly regained its strength!

He didn't know that Germany had arranged a second wave of reinforcements in the Mediterranean, but it was just useless after winning the battle.

Of course, this is just an afterthought. How can there be so many delicious regret medicines in the world?

Truman suppressed the frustration in his heart and turned to consider other issues: The situation in Brazil is now extremely urgent, and strong measures must be taken to attract some attention to Churchill and reduce the pressure - it is barely a dead horse to be used as a living horse doctor.

Li Hai guessed what he was thinking and reminded: "The president also said that out of consideration of relations between the United States and Canada and Britain and the United States, he personally did not want Churchill to come to Canada to organize a government in exile."

Truman nodded: "The situation is like this now. If we make some adjustments, if Prime Minister Churchill can bring 4 battleships, no, 2 aircraft carriers, we should welcome it."

The others looked at it and silently agreed.

Truman made the final decision: "Then it's decided. Notify the troops to accept Churchill's order, but don't get involved too deeply, and don't give any obvious hints, let alone kill the British."

Marshall wanted to say something, but he felt bitter and couldn't say it.

"The key is to solve the Brazilian problem. Four divisions have landed, and General Nimitz's fleet has also arrived at the Caribbean Sea. Where do you think we should start?"

"The Army plans to reinforce 6 divisions (including 1 armored division), but it was originally scheduled to arrive in Recife and Rio. Now the route is threatened by the German army and needs the assistance of the Navy."

"The Navy's plan is to let the Army stand by in Venezuela and Guyana first, and General Nimitz will fight the German army after the new aircraft carrier is officially formed and joins the fleet." Since Admiral King was not there, Turner explained the Navy's plan. Although Li Hai was from the Navy, combat was not his strong point. "Intelligence shows that the German army in South America is a squadron composed of 2 aircraft carriers and 2 battleships. We hope to be stronger to avoid unnecessary losses."

Truman nodded slightly: After a series of failures, the Navy and the Army are now more cautious, and no one dares to say that they will definitely be able to defeat the opponent. The Army believed that to ensure victory, it was necessary to gather a 3:1 superior force, while the Navy believed that it was necessary to at least surpass the opponent in fleet size to have a chance of winning.

"How do you decide on the time?"

"The six divisions will be dispatched by the end of June, just in time for the Navy fleet to be integrated and act in unison." Marshall explained, "The trouble is the Army Aviation, which has suffered a series of setbacks in the past two years. The forces prepared for South America were lost in the Icelandic Campaign. General Arnold was so anxious that his hair turned completely white."

Speaking of the Army Aviation, Truman also sighed: the Army Aviation was one of the few troops that had always dared to fight and fight in the past few years. In Europe, they carried out strategic air strikes despite losses, and later they launched repeated attacks in the African Campaign, the Caribbean Campaign, the Bermuda Campaign, the Newfoundland Campaign, the Icelandic Campaign, and the transatlantic strategic transport. The Army Aviation crews that were lost successively exceeded 10,000 (more than two-thirds of which were heavy bombers or transport aircraft), not including losses in the Far East, the Pacific, and India (Hump Route).

This Icelandic campaign was the first time that disobedience or passive sabotage occurred. With the mediation of many parties, the situation was finally handled by "making a big deal small and a small deal small". Those who disobeyed orders were transferred to the Pacific front after receiving warnings or demotions. At present, the Army Aviation Organization and aircraft can be easily supplemented, but the loss of skilled pilots is not easy to make up. The Joint Chiefs of Staff has done statistics - the survival rate of the front-line crews serving in the Army Aviation before the war was less than 10%, except for those who were transferred to ground forces or retired due to illness or injury, of which 7% were retired from the front line as instructors. In other words, the intact rate of Army Aviation officers and soldiers serving before the war was only 3%! (Of course, many people did not die, but lived in prisoner-of-war camps)

"Let the Navy Aviation share some of the burden." Truman turned his head and said to Turner, "At least the Navy Aviation in the Caribbean should assist in completing combat missions, and the defense of Bermuda Island has also been handed over to the Navy."

Turner gritted his teeth and agreed.

The only good news is that the aircraft models have developed rapidly: by early June, the number of pilots who completed the Meteor jet training finally exceeded 1,000, including 800 from the Army Aviation (including 300 from the UK) and 200 from the Navy Aviation; the monthly production of jets reached 600 aircraft/month; the Navy Aviation carried out a large-scale replacement of the main carrier-based aircraft, and some carrier-based fighter formations were replaced with F4Us, and the old SBDs and TBFs finally began to be replaced by BTDs. The one-month preparation period mentioned by Turner is not only for warships, but also for the replacement of aircraft groups - this is the fastest time after desperate compression.

The fleet reconnaissance aircraft that had been criticized for a long time finally had a place to go: the water reconnaissance aircraft was replaced by the Seahawk urgently produced by Curtiss, which had greatly improved its performance compared to the previous Seagull and Kingfisher, with a maximum speed of over 500 kilometers per hour and a range of nearly 1,800 kilometers (with auxiliary fuel tanks). Although it was still a little behind the Ar-372 water reconnaissance aircraft commonly used by Japan and Germany, the gap was greatly narrowed; the shipboard reconnaissance aircraft used the F6F reconnaissance two-seat model, with a maximum speed of 547 kilometers per hour, a range of 2,000 kilometers with auxiliary fuel tanks, and could take off from escort aircraft carriers without auxiliary fuel tanks. The idea of ​​the US carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft was somewhat different from that of Japan and Germany - it did not pursue a long range, but was equipped with a sea search radar with an effective range of 80 kilometers, which could effectively help observers reduce their workload.

"That's it, I'll send my opinions to London later, and I'll visit the president in the afternoon, his condition is very unstable."