The Rise of the Third Reich

The U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, flew from Bern to Washington on a Swiss Air Lines Fokker 42 on May 16. In the VIP room of the airport, he was first scratched dozens of times on his arm with a syringe, and some blood was seen - this was to be vaccinated against plague and anthrax. After the vaccination, he met the senior adviser to the president. Hopkins.

Seeing Kennedy with his sleeves rolled up, Hopkins had a sick look on his face and looked a little depressed. Hopkins smiled bitterly: "Another case of plague was discovered in Virginia a few days ago. Now the entire East Coast is nervous. Everyone Everyone needs to be vaccinated. Although it may not be effective, it can at least calm people's minds. "

Although the Japanese's germ warfare was suspended after the Second Battle of Hawaii began, the various bacteria previously deployed in the United States are still exerting their power. Even outside the Southern California epidemic area, patients infected with anthrax and plague appeared from time to time. Plague in particular spreads widely, and two-thirds of the states in the United States have reported the disease.

The U.S. government's response measures, in addition to isolating affected areas and patients, are to inject anthrax and plague vaccines into large areas of the American people. The former uses a non-encapsulated attenuated strain vaccine provided by the Soviet Union, and the effect is actually good (it was produced by the Tbilisi Vaccine and Serum Science Institute of the Soviet Union in 1939).

However, there is no effective vaccine against plague. The currently available vaccines are ineffective and have a short prevention time, requiring frequent injections. Moreover, the plague vaccine has many taboos, such as it cannot be used by pregnant women and lactating women. All in all, it has caused a great headache for the US government and made the American people very angry.

Ambassador Kennedy shook his head, rolled down his sleeves, buttoned them up, and then put on his suit again. Then he sighed and said: "The Germans have not received a vaccine that is effective... Hitler and Hessmann were angry, but the Japanese just refused to give it, so there is nothing good that Europe can do."

Trying to get plague vaccines and specific drugs from Europe was also Ambassador Kennedy's job in Europe. He has many friends in Europe, including Rudolf Hess, Duke Wrangel (the chief minister of the Russian Empire) and the new Caesar of the Roman Empire. If the Germans really have vaccines and specific drugs, Kennedy is sure You can get it - money is certainly not an issue.

However, the vaccine he obtained from Europe was similar to the plague vaccine produced in the United States. They were ineffective attenuated strains and could not treat pneumonic plague.

"Damn it!" Hopkins coughed and walked to the VIP aisle with Kennedy.

The Washington Airport at this time was very small. After exiting the VIP channel, there was the airport exit. A Cadillac was parked on the side of the road. The driver and bodyguard stood beside the car smoking. When he saw Hopkins and Kennedy, he quickly pinched his cigarette butts. Open the car door for them.

The two got into the car, and they didn't have to worry about their conversation being overheard by outsiders. They could finally speak freely.

"Joseph, the president is recruiting you back this time mainly because he wants to ask you a very important question."

Hopkins paused and asked: "I think you know the situation of the ongoing Moscow battle, right?"

"The Soviets have been defeated again." Kennedy sighed. "Moscow has been surrounded. It seems that the Soviet Union is almost finished."

Preserving half of the Soviet Union was Germany's most secret national policy, and only a few top military and political officials such as Hitler, Hessmann, and Schleicher knew it. Kennedy naturally had no way of knowing, but the situation he now grasps is "European integration", "Germany, Britain, France and Russia as one" and "a thousand-year empire from the Atlantic to the Pacific" and so on.

However, the survival of the Soviet Union was not what Roosevelt wanted to know from Kennedy. The United States had diplomatic missions and military delegations in the Soviet Union, and it also had many friends. Roosevelt could have first-hand knowledge of the situation.

"After the Soviet Union is over, we will face the two empires of Germany and Japan." Hopkins said with a somewhat sad tone, "The war in Hawaii is not going well, and the battle on Niihau Island has not gone well so far. It's not over yet. The Japanese soldiers are all devils. They are not afraid of death at all and will not surrender. Even if they face a desperate situation, they will choose to die with us. It's really terrible!

Moreover, our ships were hit by suicide planes, resulting in the loss of 6 escort aircraft carriers and more than 20 destroyers, transport ships and landing ships. How terrible! It looks like... we can't defeat Japan before the Soviet Union collapses. "

While the Soviet Union and Germany were launching a major battle around Moscow, the protracted bloody battle between the United States and Japan in the Hawaiian Islands continued. The personnel losses on both sides were very huge. The American landing troops were caught in a terrible bloody battle on Niihau Island. The battle started in March and lasted until May. Although the US military had controlled 90% of Niihau Island, the eastern part of the island The platform is still controlled by the Japanese army. In the two months of bloody battles, the U.S. landing force suffered heavy casualties, with as many as 24,000 people killed, seriously injured, and missing. It is estimated that the loss in taking Niihau Island will not even be 30,000!

While the landing troops suffered heavy casualties, the losses of the US aviation forces were also considerable. Whether it was the air raids by U.S. military aircraft on various Japanese airfields in the Hawaiian Islands or the counterattacks by Japanese military aircraft against the U.S. fleet, a large number of pilots on both sides were consumed. Although the Americans did not suffer in terms of exchange ratio, most of the Americans' losses were carrier-based pilots, while most of Japan's losses were shore-based pilots. There is still a big gap in gold content.

After both sides suffered a cumulative loss of two to three thousand pilots (pilots), the Japanese army, which had lost most of its aircraft inventory in the Hawaiian Islands, launched a "kamikaze attack" in late April and early May, although it did not sink the aircraft. Sykes-class aircraft carriers and American battleships, but they still twice severely damaged the 31st Task Force that was supporting the landing force operations.

In addition, the impact of the suicide plane also cast a huge psychological shadow on the US military. And everyone knows that Japan also has a powerful combined fleet.

The Japanese combined fleet will appear near the Hawaiian Islands at any time and deal a fatal blow to the attacking US fleet!

Therefore, the US military, which has been fighting fiercely on the front line in Hawaii for three months, is now living in fear every day.

And now Germany is about to defeat the Soviet Union. By then, the United States may face the dilemma of fierce fighting in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This is very dangerous for the United States!

"Does the president want to know about the possibility of peace with Germany?" Kennedy asked.

"No," Hopkins shook his head. "The president knows that it is very difficult to negotiate peace with Germany." He paused, "The president wants to know if you have the idea of ​​becoming the Vice President of the United States of America?"

"What? What?" Kennedy was stunned again and again, "Vice President...me?"

It is already May 1944. According to the domestic election rules in the United States, the United States will hold a presidential election in November 1944 to elect the next President of the United States.

Before the US presidential election, there are intra-party primaries for the Republican and Democratic parties. Since Roosevelt had given up the idea of ​​being re-elected as President of the United States for the fourth time, Harry Truman is now the big winner in the Democratic Party primaries in the United States. It is expected that he will represent the Democratic Party and compete with the Republican-backed candidate Dewey for the next president.

However, Truman has not yet chosen his running mate, the vice presidential candidate.

"Yes." Hopkins smiled, "Joseph, you won't refuse this opportunity, will you?"

Of course Kennedy would not refuse. Everyone in the Washington political circle knows that this Irish-born tycoon is an "official junkie" who wants to make a name for himself in politics.

The vice president is definitely a position that can make Kennedy rise to the top in one fell swoop - as long as he helps Truman be elected president, then in 4 or 8 years, he has a great chance of winning the Democratic party primary to challenge the U.S. president.

Becoming the President of the United States was, of course, the biggest dream in Kennedy's life as an official fan.

"But why me?" Kennedy was not knocked unconscious by the suddenly falling "Vice President", but asked the reason.

Hopkins shrugged and said: "Because you have a lot of friends in Europe, which is very critical for the United States. We need a vice president who can deal with Europe... This can make up for Truman's weakness on diplomatic issues. And , this is also an arrangement that people across the ocean want to see, so you are the best candidate for vice president now."

In the eyes of Europe's Nazi and fascist leaders, Kennedy was definitely a "good American" and pro-European. If he can become president or vice president, it will undoubtedly greatly facilitate peace negotiations between Europe and the United States.

Of course, many people in the United States also know that Kennedy was a "pro-Nazi" political figure. Before the United States entered the war, he was criticized for making anti-British and pro-German remarks...but now it seems that his views at the time were definitely right.

The United States' intervention in Europe's war has indeed brought unnecessary harm to itself.

Therefore, the current mainstream public opinion in the United States is to "return to the pre-war period", that is, to return to the state before the war began. Just let the United States be the local bully in the Americas, and the United States will not interfere in other places.

Therefore, the 1944 presidential election was very unfavorable to the Democratic Party, which brought the United States into war. Dewey, who had advocated "isolationism" in the 1940 election, became the favorite.

If Roosevelt wanted to help Truman win the presidency, he had to arrange a vice president for Truman who could make peace with the Europeans. After much deliberation, only Kennedy, a "pro-Nazi" Democrat, was qualified.