Chapter 966 Black Cat (Continued)

Beginning on July 5, 1944, Eden went to The Hague to negotiate an armistice agreement with Germany. Before the negotiations, Britain had taken the lead in reaching an agreement with France and Italy. The two sides also basically reached an agreement with Germany. In order to build mutual trust, the two sides also fulfilled part of the agreement in advance: Britain and Germany stopped air strikes on each other (in fact, Britain ran out of oil, so Germany agreed to stop air strikes), and the United Kingdom delivered two newly completed Rendezvous-class ships. aircraft carriers (HMS Vengeful and HMS Indefatigable) and repatriated more than 300 captured German pilots. Germany repatriated the first batch of 50,000 British troops and agreed to open food purchase permissions.

These measures greatly showed the relaxation of Anglo-German relations. After the black cat’s speech and the arrival of the food ship in the UK, British society basically stabilized, but there are still three problems between Britain and Germany:

The first is the Pakistan issue. This is what the British are most concerned about. Although the British are quite tempted by the conditions proposed by Japan, they still hope that Germany will come forward to help lower the price.

The second is the issue of American prisoners. The British side believes that these are not German war prisoners, but American troops detained by the US military for participating in British internal affairs. The implication is that this group of people is considering gaining benefits from the United States. Hoffman obviously will not agree to allow these 100,000 people to return to the United States.

The third is a package of issues for overseas territories such as South Africa, Newfoundland, and British Guiana.

On July 9, news came from Tokyo that the Japanese base camp was willing to make appropriate concessions on the Pakistan issue. After Cole’s mediation, the revised conditions included:

1. The 5 Axis-class aircraft carriers were changed to 4 Giant-class aircraft carriers (the United Kingdom started construction of 6 ships in total, 2 of which were stipulated for Italy, and the remaining 4 were stipulated for Japan), but Japan required payment alternately with Italy (i.e., the first ship to Italy, the second to Japan, the third to Italy...and so on);

2. The 10 million tons of steel will be changed to 5 million tons, but the proportion of special steel will increase to 60%;

3. The 5 million tons of oil was canceled (because Britain does not produce oil) and replaced by the delivery of 300 Lancasters and 200 Mosquito bombers;

4. The delivery time of all equipment, warships, and supplies was reduced from 3 years to 2 years, starting from August 15, 1944.

Aiden wanted to make another counteroffer, but Ribbentrop told him in a very tough manner: "This is the last condition of the Japanese side and cannot be changed, otherwise they will immediately seize Pakistan - the gold stored there." Japan has enough silver and other supplies to buy these supplies from us.”

Aiden had no choice but to agree.

The second one seems a bit unanswerable as well. Because these 100,000 US troops were not captured by the German army, it is neither appropriate nor reasonable to hand them over to the Germans for management. The US has issued a threat not to allow the UK to hand over US troops stationed in the UK to Berlin, otherwise it will face retaliation from Washington. Once released, Going back is also a problem. Attlee originally hoped to use these prisoners of war in exchange for some practical benefits from the United States, but now it seems not ideal.

Hoffman finally made his opinion: These American prisoners of war are still detained in the UK and are under dual management by the British troops and the German troops that will be stationed in the UK. They will neither be handed over to the United States nor to Germany. They will be released after the peace between Germany and the United States is achieved. The United Kingdom and the United States continue to discuss the release method and determine the ownership of benefits.

After repeated discussions, this opinion was finally accepted.

The last one is an out-and-out trouble spot. There are currently 100,000 US troops, nearly 30,000 British troops, more than 20,000 Australian and New Zealand troops and 150,000 South African troops in South Africa, totaling more than 300,000 troops. Due to the coercion of the United States, the 30,000 British troops in South Africa have sworn allegiance to the British government. The South African Federation, represented by Jan Christian Smuts (the rank of British Field Marshal), also refuses to recognize the orthodox status of the London government.

Hoffman's decision was simple: knock South Africa down.

Due to the shortage of troops and logistical resources, the German army did not continue to advance after taking Madagascar and only left some troops in German East and West Africa. This gave the South African government a breathing space and allowed the US military to seize the opportunity to transport 100,000 troops. and stepped up efforts to arm the South African troops, but with the end of the Eastern Front campaign, the German army could finally free up its hands.

Ribbentrop was preoccupied with only one question: How should the London government behave in the campaign against South Africa?

He said to Eden: "If South Africa is defeated by German troops, German boys are killed, and Germany's strategic resources are consumed, how will the head of state explain to the people at home?"

"Didn't you also occupy the Eastern countries after driving away Stalin's forces?"

Ribbentrop asked rhetorically: "All the newly independent governments are affiliated or follow our lines, or do we do the same in South Africa?"

"This..." Aiden didn't dare to take this issue. Once he took over, South Africa would become a dependent state of Germany instead of being controlled by Britain. However, it is unrealistic for Britain to send its own troops to attack and occupy South Africa - Britain The army is not so strong, nor can it withstand such protracted consumption.

In a word: It is impossible for Britain to get South Africa from Germany without paying a price.

With no choice but to ask, he could only ask: "Do you have any constructive suggestions?"

Ribbentrop's first suggestion was to expand the territory of French Rhodesia: the German and French governments communicated properly and moved more than 2 million African indigenous people from Madagascar to French Rhodesia.

Rhodesia is divided into Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia. Northern Rhodesia basically includes Zambia and Malawi. Germany took all of Malawi and the northeastern corner of Zambia, and incorporated them into German East Africa. Then, part of Zambia became the Jewish state, and the Jews from German territory were moved to settle in the Jewish state.

At the same time, in order to combat British power, Hoffman proposed the slogan "March to Rhodesia" to European countries.

All the major European powers, except Germany, began to grab Rhodesian territory: Portugal robbed about 100,000 square kilometers of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) near Mozambique to form Portuguese East Africa; Italy used Ethiopian troops and Germany to open up Channel, snatched nearly 70,000 square kilometers of land, and formed an area of ​​150,000 square kilometers during the negotiations with Britain, forming Italian Rhodesia; Belgium snatched about 50,000 square kilometers of land in the northwest corner of Zambia, together Incorporated into the Belgian Congo; France used troops from French West Africa and Central Africa to move south to grab nearly 70,000 square kilometers of land. Now Germany supports it to expand it to 180,000 square kilometers, almost all of the remaining Southern Rhodesia. Take most of it away - this is also one of the conditions for the armistice between Britain and France

After this division, approximately 120,000 square kilometers of land remain in Southern Rhodesia.