Chapter 946 D-Day (8, Updated Yesterday)

pd: I recommend a book called "Lazy Tang" by the Millennium Dragon King. You can read it when you have time...

The United States has not yet recovered from the great grief of Roosevelt's death, and was unexpectedly hit in the face. Fortunately, Hoover's control was effective. The relevant content in "I Accused" was not reported in the American public opinion circles, but "Voice of Europe" caught it This point was widely criticized. On the one hand, the domestic media vigorously refuted the rumors, and on the other hand, the German broadcasters vigorously exaggerated it, causing confusion among the American people.

Most people attribute this to enemy propaganda, but only a few people at the top know that the news is true. Although there are other reasons, it is an indisputable fact that the image of the United States in Sao Paulo, Rio and other regions has plummeted. Fortunately, there were Patton's troops in northern Brazil and the presence of the U.S. Army Aviation and Army in Recife (northeast), the most populous area of ​​Brazil, so the situation did not deteriorate.

It seems to be a coincidence that Lieutenant General Clark, the top commander of the U.S. garrison in Brazil, happened to bring a large number of staff to Recife to inspect the defense, so he was not involved. However, because of Clark's absence, the U.S. military assisting in the defense of Rio did not know what to do. When dealing with things like a coup, it's too late to intervene before you react.

President Truman, who had been formally sworn in, looked gloomy at the plenary meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His first words after sitting down were: "How do you plan to respond to the Brazilian problem?"

Regarding the political situation in Brazil, an emergency cabinet meeting has just been held. Since Vargas was imprisoned and his life and death are unknown, and Montero seized power through a coup, the US authorities directly announced that they would not recognize it. Now Montero has pushed the former Army Minister, General Dutra, who is also pro-German, to serve as the head of state, and he is also the Army Minister and trying to control behind the scenes; therefore, the United States must also support its own Brazilian political leader as soon as possible , at Hull's suggestion, Brazilian Foreign Minister Osvaldo Alanya, who accompanied Clark to Recife for inspection and was always pro-American, was selected.

But the actions of the Americans were obviously much more covert, and Alanya was only acting as president in view of the "emergency situation."

Under this situation, the Brazilian army also began to split. Originally, the Brazilian army was pro-German and the navy was pro-American. When the navy was almost beaten by Germany, the army gained unprecedented momentum. However, in areas controlled by the US military, this Even if some Brazilian army members want to support Dutra and Montero, they have to consider other factors, so they are hesitant to make a public appearance, and some have instead announced cooperation with the US military.

This was by no means the situation Truman wanted. He had a clear understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Brazilian army and believed that they could only do some logistics at best and could never be used in frontal combat. He now has lowered his expectations for the U.S. Army to a very low level. He believes that it must have a scale advantage of at least 2:1. It is completely invincible below 1:1. He heard that the German army is increasing its troops again, and he is worried about the situation in Brazil. .

"The second batch of six divisions is currently being replenished. Once all are in place, we will have about 14 divisions... well... at least 13 divisions."

Originally, the US military had 4 divisions in South America, and later it gradually added 4 divisions. The overall layout is 1 division in Colombia, 2 divisions in Venezuela, 1 division in Guyana, 2 divisions in Recife, Brazil, and Bahia in the east. There is 1 division in Salvador, the state capital, and 1 division near Rio. The overall strength of the troops is just like a long snake formation along the South American coastline. Originally, according to the plan of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, South America must have at least 500,000 troops, and the US military should be present on the borders of all La Plata Group countries for deterrence. But in fact, due to repeated deployments by the navy and constant interruptions by the German army, this task was far from completed.

The current force distribution formation is of course very unsatisfactory, but the terrain of South America dictates that the force can only be allocated in this way - because the traffic conditions in the hinterland of South America cannot support the passage of large troops and heavy equipment, and the US military's logistics needs are particularly heavy. It is simply impossible to survive without the port and the fleet.

As for Eisenhower's sudden change to say 13 divisions, it was because the infantry division structure near Rio had collapsed. The actual loss of personnel may not be much, but it was no longer a force capable of undertaking combat missions.

"We hope to increase our strength to 20 divisions, with 2-3 armored divisions." Eisenhower explained to the map. "Due to the special terrain of Brazil, our army cannot march through the hinterland and can only use amphibious landing operations. We have two attack directions, one is to go directly to Rio; the other is to bypass Rio and go to the rebel states, but no matter which strategy, the navy must first clear out the German fleet on the coast of Brazil. "

Truman couldn't help but frowned. The Navy had stated that it would not be able to take action before the beginning of July, and the Army also said that it would wait for the Navy. Wouldn't this mean that time is dragging on?

During the silence, suddenly a new battle report came from Clark: "After a bloody battle, our 442nd regiment blocked the enemy's pursuit, and repelled three enemy attacks...covered the retreat of the 7th Division. Now it is initially expected that there will be More than 8,000 officers and soldiers have been gathered, and I have led the staff and other powerful troops to move south..."

Marshall was very annoyed by this situation. The German army, which was less than 10,000, actually defeated an entire division and retreated hastily, but was still rescued by the 442nd Regiment. The contrast between the two was a bit shocking.

Truman was very happy: "This regiment is good, well done! Everyone from the commander to the soldiers should be commended. What kind of army is this?"

"This..." Everyone was awkwardly silent for a while.

"What's wrong?" Truman saw that everyone looked wrong and asked doubtfully.

The 442nd Regiment was originally formed by the 100th Battalion of the Hawaiian Independent Infantry. These officers and soldiers originally served in the 298th and 299th National Guard Infantry Battalions of Hawaii. Almost all of them were Japanese Americans. After the Pearl Harbor Incident, they were in a very embarrassing situation and the US military was disbanded. Neither was it, nor was it retained. In the end, they were sent to form the Independent 100th Battalion. They were originally doing some logistics support work, but they all strongly expressed their intention to go to the front line. Coupled with the exclusion of Japanese officers and soldiers by other troops, in the end the Army system had no choice. , gathered all Japanese officers and soldiers together and formed a separate regiment, designated the 442nd Army Regiment. 85% of the soldiers and middle- and low-level officers are of Japanese descent. Only captains and above and some technical arms have more other ethnic groups.

After this regiment was formed, no division was willing to accept it, so it has always existed independently. The Army neither dared to send them to the Pacific battlefield to fight Japan, nor could they be sent to Europe for fear of causing chaos. It happened that Clark, who had excellent diplomatic skills, was willing to have them, so they became a unit directly under the Fifth Army. Unlike other senior American officers, Clark liked them very much. He believed that they were hard-working and tenacious, and they were rare and excellent troops. He even proposed to let them serve as headquarters guards. Although the matter failed in the end due to the dissuasion of others, it was obvious that Clark gave them a lot of confidence and encouragement.

After hearing the whole story, Truman slammed the table: "Japanese and Germans who have become citizens of the United States of America, sworn allegiance to the country and the Constitution, and are now willing to dedicate themselves to the country and the people on the battlefield, are all our compatriots, and the war is at hand. , I hope that the military will not have racist prejudices and will not tie its own hands and feet. After the military merits of this unit are verified, they will be rewarded by the President."

"yes!"

Truman explained why he awarded the Presidential Commendation: "Now the Germans are very arrogant. They formed an American SS division and dared to use it to fight Stalin. They called it 'defending social justice and freedom,' although we don't have many axes." I am heartbroken, but if we let German troops fight Japan and use Japanese troops to fight Germany, wouldn’t it be a huge political victory?”

"I suggest you adopt a more active strategy. When the navy is temporarily unable to occupy the sea area, the army advances step by step and fights steadily. Even if it cannot regain Sao Paulo and Rio, it must at least contain the destructive power in these two areas. It cannot continue to spread." Truman said, "I know that there are still German reinforcements coming, but our army's reinforcements are also on the road in a steady stream. They are extremely precious every day and every hour. That kind of division is far smaller than their enemy. I don’t want to see the battle reports that the 442nd Regiment was easily defeated again. Why can’t others do what the 442nd Regiment can do? If you can’t defeat the 442nd Regiment, why should we say that we can easily do so once the German-American armistice ceases? Sweep Japan - Japan has thousands of 442 regiments waiting for us on the west coast of the Pacific! "

While Truman was upset about the situation in Brazil, Count Ciano was also pacing back and forth in his room upset. Historically, after the complete failure of the North African campaign, Ciano tried to contact the Allies, but anti-German sentiment grew. Finally, Mussolini dismissed him as foreign minister and became a nominal ambassador to the Holy See. But now, with Axis winning one after another, Italy is in good shape and Ciano is firmly in his position. The entire cabinet was his supporters or staff.

As Hoffman said, Mussolini only devoted 1-2 hours a day to deal with national issues, and the rest, no matter how big or small, was left to Ciano, which gave Ciano a special feeling.

On the one hand, Mussolini promoted and re-employed him, not only clarifying his status as heir, but also marrying his daughter Ada to Ciano. The two separated a few years ago, but just reconciled a year ago - the reason was of course that Ciano was cheating on others outside, but Ciano was just having fun, and compared to the long-term support of his father-in-law, he was simply a saint. Besides, Italy is such a romantic place. Everyone laughs at the affairs of the upper class and no one takes them seriously.

On the other hand, Ciano saw Mussolini's problems very clearly: vanity, exaggeration, arrogance that was unrealistic, and a corrupt personal life. Normally, everyone would just laugh about things like this with their father-in-law. Anyway, Ciano would often stand up and wipe his ass in the end. But today’s mess and butt are not easy to clean.

"Count, from what you said, I think the head of state has reached the point where he can't bear it any longer. If this continues, Italy will be in catastrophe."

"I know it, I know it..." Ciano sighed, "What can I do? I promised the head of state, but they won't listen..."

"That's because your location invalidates the guarantee. You have to use another location..."