Chapter 953 D-Day (14)

The June 1944 coup was the most complicated period in the history of the British Empire. Conspiracies, deals, collusion, ambitions, escapes, divisions, crusade, coups, restoration, sacrifices, revenge, etc. were condensed into the short scene of D-Day like a quick shot. A short period of more than 20 hours.

The plot is full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and suspense. Even the best novelist cannot create such a wonderful script.

Later generations of historians have spent countless brain cells but have never been able to get a full picture of the whole incident, because only a few people such as Churchill, Attlee, and Eden knew the full story, but they all kept silent about this period of history and kept the secrets secret It has always been rotten in my heart. After all these politicians gave up and returned to the West, other people who experienced it could not tell the whole story - even the hundreds of congressmen and Queen Elizabeth who were detained at the airport and the participants in the incident did not know what the true nature of the incident was and what it was like. variant version.

Of course, all kinds of tricks are unavoidable. The major families of the British Empire, together with the king and the prime minister, took off from the British mainland and entered Canada in a leisurely manner. Such a thorough route and a large number of personnel were unimaginable without advance arrangements. Everyone knew it. There are many shady stories, but everyone’s focus is not on this, but on where Great Britain will go in the future.

When he learned that the British "coup" had failed, that the commandos had unfortunately "accidentally killed" Marshal Pound, and that Churchill and King George VI had flown to Canada, Truman's entire face turned pale - he had lost the bet.

Not only did he fail to get the two aircraft carriers he had been thinking about, he also lost completely politically. At the subsequent emergency meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he sat on his chair without saying a word, not knowing what to do. manage. The armistice between the British Empire and the Soviet Union means that the war in Europe is basically over. The terrifying military strength of the Third Reich will be displayed in a more violent form, and the ultimate weapon that senior officials have high hopes for will have to wait for at least another 12 months. .

The rest of the people also sighed again and again. Although the loss of the 100,000 British troops was expected, and even the fall of the entire British Empire was also expected, when they thought of the tens of thousands of aircraft and millions of troops hoarded by the Germans in Western Europe, they were so destroyed. After being liberated, everyone still felt shuddering. After five minutes of silence with big eyes and small eyes, General Jin, who had just returned to work after recovering from illness, struggled to squeeze out a sentence from his throat: "Your Excellency, do you want to implement the occupation plan for Canada?"

Everyone shook their heads: The coup and hostage-taking by the troops stationed in the UK was a bad start. If Canada is occupied by armed forces again, it will cause greater unrest. What will the Australian, New Zealand and South African authorities think? What do other small countries that are dependent on the United States think? It is very simple to occupy Canada militarily. Canada's defense force is not strong, and the U.S. Army has a complete predetermined plan locked in a safe, which can be executed directly as long as it is taken out.

"I think Prime Minister Churchill's government-in-exile should now be recognized... It should be clear now: the British Empire is in Canada, and Canada is not the British Empire." Hull said slowly.

This sentence confused everyone, and Hull had to explain it again: "What I mean is that we should admit that George VI is still the king of the British Empire, and Churchill is still the prime minister of the British Empire. They are the orthodox ones, and London is not It is a pseudo-regime. At the same time, we must make it clear that Canada is not part of the British Empire.” (Note, if you still don’t understand, please refer to a certain political slogan.)

Truman's eyes lit up, and he had room for maneuver in terms of propaganda: because the British mainland wanted to surrender to the Germans, they even launched a coup to try to imprison the king and prime minister. In order to persist in the resistance, the two had to join forces to take the lead in the attack, and were accidentally injured during the operation. Marshal Pound, even if he failed in the end and ran away, there was still room for explanation. In this way, public opinion will be much easier to grasp

The long-term strategy of the U.S. government has always been based on one basis: not allowing any foreign power to control Canada or Mexico. This is not only the consensus of the military and political circles, but also the consensus of the people across the United States. During World War I, the United States racked its brains to join the Allied camp. Although the trigger was the sinking of an American passenger ship by a German submarine, what actually unified its thinking was the Zimmermann telegram that the United States exaggerated and exaggerated (in 1917, German Foreign Minister Al Tur-Zimmermann sent a secret message to the German Ambassador to Mexico, instructing him to use the southern territory of the United States to lure Mexico into the alliance in order to delay the United States from sending troops to Europe)

Now the same situation is before the US government.

Hull added: "In this case, Canada should form two sets of governments, one is the Canadian Dominion government, and the other is the British Empire government. Of course, they can share the same head of state."

Everyone nodded. This is an opinion. Although it contains elements of self-deception, it is better than having no reason or basis. It is more reliable than de Gaulle's "Free France" - now the Free French regime has moved to the city one step ahead of schedule. French Guiana is hanging on.

"In addition, we should continue to recognize the exile governments of other European countries that arrived early, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc. and allow them to carry out activities in Canada." Hull thought for a moment, "The British Empire is the most important Yes, I also suggest that the four British divisions and some Royal Navy personnel in the United States be sent to Canada, and then send them some light warships to enrich Canada’s defense capabilities. At the same time, we should send more troops to Canada.”

These four British divisions were all unarmed soldiers of the British Army who came from the strategic airlift return plane. They were fully armed in the United States.

Marshall asked, "How many will need to be sent?"

"The minimum number of troops required to control an emergency should it occur."

"That requires 8-10 divisions and at least 1,000-1,500 aircraft."

Truman nodded: "Just make the deployment according to the upper limit of the requirement."

"Will Canadians object?"

"As long as Churchill agrees." Hull said slyly, "With the invitation of the British Empire, we enter its dominion, and the British Empire government obviously needs our support now. Therefore, I suggest that the President visit George VI and Prime Minister Churchill. We expressed our condolences to them for their arrival, and at the same time declared our determination to resist together to the end. The Prime Minister is a smart man and will not understand."

Truman nodded: Hull's suggestion is feasible.

"In addition, Dominion governments and military forces elsewhere are asked to continue to pay allegiance to King George VI."

Everyone quickly understood the meaning of this: Only by maintaining the British Empire can the United States continue to interfere and promote its presence in other regions. If Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa all pledge allegiance to London, how can the United States still play? Only by allowing them to continue to be loyal to Canada can the next step be taken. As for the remaining British-Indian troops in India's reverse direction, after they lost the Battle of Delhi, everyone thought they were finished and did not even mention them.

"How many troops do we have in the Pacific now? Can we control the situation between Australia and New Zealand?"

"It should be possible. Including the Marine Corps and the Army, we have a total of 19 divisions in the Pacific: 4 in Hawaii, 1 in the Aleutian Islands, 2 in the Solomon Islands direction, 2 in the New Guinea direction, Samoa-Vanuatu-Fiji - 2 in New Caledonia, 2 in New Zealand, and 6 in Australia; there are a total of more than 13,000 Army aviation aircraft, and there are currently 2 divisions on the road, one is deployed in Australia, and the other will be deployed in New Zealand. "Marshall smiled bitterly, "The problem now is that the navy is not strong enough."

Speaking of this matter, Admiral Jin also looked helpless: "Except for the light warships of the Australia and New Zealand fleet, the Pacific Fleet only had 2 battleships and 14 escort aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbor. Without a regular aircraft carrier, it could only barely perform escort missions. "

"The most dangerous thing now is not Australia and New Zealand, but South Africa and Brazil." Eisenhower interjected, "Our army in South Africa has 100,000 troops, Australia and New Zealand each have one division, the British army has two divisions, and there are 150,000 troops. The South African Division has a total of 300,000 troops. However, after the armistice on the Eastern Front, Germany has a surplus of troops and logistics and can deploy a large number of troops to attack Africa. This is very disadvantageous for us. As for Brazil, the final deployment of our army has not yet been completed. The enemy troops are also increasing in number, and now there are two Brazilian regimes.”

Everyone sighed: now there are two Russias, two Britains, and two Brazils, and they don’t know how many more are waiting for them...

Turner suddenly walked in and told everyone: "General Nimitz sent an urgent message. In view of the current situation, he suggested launching an offensive campaign in Brazil immediately."

"Why?" Truman couldn't help but be surprised, "Haven't the two new aircraft carriers not yet completed all sea trials?"

Turner explained: "The two British aircraft carriers will soon be included in the axis fleet sequence. When the sea trials are completed next month, the German fleet will have more than twice the capital ship advantage over us. In this way, even if we dispatch to Brazil It’s too late to have enough troops, so we must take the lead and attack quickly.”

"What's his goal?"

"Using the existing 3 aircraft carriers and 3 battleships of the Atlantic Fleet as the main force, they will eat up the German squadron currently in the Brazilian waters - according to intelligence, they have a total of 3 aircraft carriers and 3 battleships." Turner said, "It is rare. 1:1 opportunity.”

“But the audition?”

"General Nimitz believes that it is almost done. There are still some final subjects that can be acted upon in the final stage. The top priority is to do it quickly."

Truman turned his inquiring gaze to General King. The latter thought for a while and nodded slightly: "I think it's okay. Before the main force of the German army comes to Brazil, and the British warships have not fallen into German hands, we can attack It’s good for disrupting the enemy’s rhythm.”

"That's it, what's the time?"

"About a week later, the battle will be completed before the end of June." Turner explained, "There will only be a naval battle, and there will be no time to bring in the army."