The Rise of the Third Reich

December 22, 8 a.m., HSD White House.

General Lacey, Chief of Staff to the President, and General Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army, jogged all the way to the door of the Oval Office. Colonel Caton, the fat presidential adjutant, was guarding the door. When he saw the two generals, he immediately opened the "hornless" door of the presidential office.

"Mr. President, General Lacey and General Marshall are here," Colonel Caton reported.

"Let them in." Roosevelt's hoarse, low, majestic voice came out.

The two generals straightened their military uniforms and quickly walked into the office. In the office, in addition to President Roosevelt, there were also presidential adviser Hopkins and a man in his fifties who wore a well-dressed suit and behaved a bit like a banker. Admiral Lacey recognized him as Joseph Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland.

Why is he back? The President's Chief of Staff was surprised. As a close confidant of Roosevelt, General Lacey certainly knew that Kennedy, a rich man, had a special mission in Switzerland.

"Daniel, George, this is Ambassador Kennedy. You must have met him, right?" Roosevelt greeted the two generals with a smile. "He will be participating in today's conversation."

Kennedy actually wanted to participate in a conversation between the president and two military bosses!

Full of questions, the two admirals greeted the president, Kennedy, and Hopkins, and then took their seats.

"Mr. President, we have just received a report that at 5 a.m. London time today, the Germans have launched a large-scale offensive on the island of Ireland!" General Lacey immediately reported the news he had just received after sitting down.

"Oh." Roosevelt nodded slightly. He already knew the news. "How big is the scale of the attack?"

"More than 3,000 aircraft sorties bombed airports in Ireland, Wales and northwest Scotland." Admiral Lacey said, "The number of artillery prepared for artillery fire is estimated to be 3,000-3,500, as well as a large number of rocket launchers. In addition, the Germans In the first wave of the offensive, a large number of Tiger tanks and an unknown 150mm caliber heavy assault gun were invested.”

"Can't you hold on?" the President of the United States asked.

"Most areas cannot be defended." General Marshall took over the question, "But the British have already prepared for the worst. They will shrink after the German army breaks through the defense line in central Ireland. Then they will retreat to Belfast, North Down, Cashelreagh and Ards, and with the peninsula area east of Strangford Lagoon as its final stronghold.”

Areas such as Belfast, North Down, Castlereagh and Ards are a small area of ​​land near Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, and close to the North Channel. The peninsula east of Strangford Lagoon is one of the most dangerous terrains.

"But there's no point in that kind of defense, is there?" Roosevelt asked again.

"It doesn't have much military significance." Marshall replied. "Once the British army loses most of the island of Ireland, the Germans can deploy bombers, torpedo ships and torpedo boats in the northern part of the island, and they can also lay mines in the North Channel. "

"Can the UK be completely blocked?" Ambassador Kennedy interjected.

"Before next year's spring equinox, the British still have Scapa Flow," Admiral Lacey smiled bitterly, "so Britain still has its last breath!"

"Britain must be dragged down!" Roosevelt said, "This is very important to the United States!"

"Delay?" General Lacey glanced at Ambassador Kennedy and thought: The president must have two plans, and secret negotiations with the Germans must be underway.

The United Kingdom is a huge bargaining chip in the hands of the United States... and it is also a bargaining chip that is easy for the United States to grasp. Therefore, President Roosevelt must be unwilling to hand over the British mainland immediately.

Of course, using the resistance of the British mainland to consume the strength of the German army must be another plan. The British mainland has a population of more than 40 million, and it has been fully mobilized and armed. Therefore, it is entirely possible to draw millions of British people to fight a war of attrition with the German army!

It doesn’t matter how many millions of Germans the British kill. As long as they can contain one or two million, the Germans may be short of troops on the Eastern Front battlefield. This will give the Soviets an opportunity!

"President, if the British are determined to resist, it will certainly not be easy for the Germans to take over the British mainland." Admiral Marshall frowned and said, "But the war-weariness among the British people is very high, and the rulers of the British Empire do not seem to have Determined to die with the Germans. They... still have somewhere to go."

With a Canada, Fatty Qiu, the big leaders of the British reactionaries, would naturally not consider waiting for their doom in the basement of King Charles Street in London. And if the big leaders of the resistance faction have all escaped, then the British working people who were abandoned on the mainland are not stupid. How can they be willing to smash 46 million in total?

"Then leave some of them with nowhere to go!" Roosevelt said flatly, "King George VI can come to Canada, but a certain ex-Navy man can't come!"

A certain ex-Navy man was, of course, Churchill!

George VI was just a puppet controlled by Churchill, and he couldn't play any tricks in Canada. But it would be hard to tell if Churchill came. He had stockpiled hundreds of thousands of anthrax bombs in Canada.

General Lacey and Marshall were both surprised when they heard Roosevelt's words. The two admirals looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

At this moment, Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's think tank, spoke: "The President has already made arrangements for a former Navy personnel to stay in the UK. What the Army and Navy have to consider now is how to help the British." Defend their homeland...until the last man is fired! Of course, in this great battle for the British homeland, the United States will also pay sacrifices, and that is the price that must be paid to defend the free world."

Admiral Lacey and Marshall now understood that Roosevelt came to them to discuss how many Americans needed to be buried with the British Empire - this was necessary. If there were no Americans buried with them, Churchill would not be able to survive no matter how powerful he was. , He can't even keep the position of Prime Minister under his own butt.

…

"Mr. Prime Minister, Secretary of State Mr. Hull and Director of the Office of Strategic Services Mr. Donovan have arrived."

At 11 o'clock in the evening on December 22, when British Prime Minister Churchill returned to No. 10 Downing Street from the headquarters underground on King Charles Street in a daze, Hull and Donovan, who had taken the risk of taking a flight from the United States, had already arrived. For a while - Churchill abandoned a bunch of military affairs that gave him a terrible headache and hurried back to Downing Street just to meet the two of them.

"Ask them to wait for me in the small dining room and prepare some dinner." Churchill ordered and went to his office first. There were direct telephone calls to Buckingham Palace and Fort William, and he needed to report today's war situation to Princess Elizabeth, who was staying in London, and King George VI, who was in Fort William.

The war situation is of course very bad. If all the tanks, aircraft and fuel carried by the NR21 fleet arrive in the UK, then the battle on the island of Ireland will still continue. It is a pity that the NR21 fleet only transported 10.8 American rice buckets.

Therefore, the European coalition's offensive was successful on the first day. The British army's defense line in central Ireland was torn open by the opponent in two large holes of more than 20 kilometers. In order to avoid collapse, General Alexander had issued an order to shrink the entire line. .

"Mr. Prime Minister, how is the situation?"

After talking on the phone with the king and princess, Churchill met two American guests in the small dining room. The US Secretary of State seemed very anxious and asked about the war situation on the front line as soon as they met.

"Not very well," Churchill replied, "probably falling back to the Belfast perimeter."

The so-called Belfast Defense Circle refers to the area around Belfast, North Down, Cashelreagh and Ards. This is the planned last line of defense for the British Army on the island of Ireland.

"When will the Belfast defense perimeter be retreated?" Hull asked with concern.

"About 5-10 days." Churchill looked a little sad. At this time, the waiter at No. 10 Downing Street began to serve Churchill and the two American visitors.

There were unpalatable buttery shrimp paste, meatballs made with minced pig heart, liver and pork, fried unknown fish, and a tender rib-eye steak (the only thing that American guests could eat). food), and whiskey with lime juice.

Churchill didn't eat much, just drank heavily and smoked an extra-long cigar.

"American friends, Britain urgently needs your help now." Churchill said while drinking. "Otherwise, it will be difficult to defend the homeland."

"We will go all out." Herr immediately said, "The new transport fleet has secretly set off. The fleet includes the newly commissioned USS Essex aircraft carrier, which is equipped with 60 P47C fighter jets and 60 M10 tank destroyers, as well as 2,000 tons of ammunition and 2,000 tons of C3 fuel. There are also 16 flat-deck destroyers converted into fast transport ships, each of which can carry 500 tons of C3 fuel.”

The Americans seem to have spent a lot of money to support Britain. Even the newly commissioned aircraft carrier Essex has been used as a transport ship. However, the Essex is an aircraft carrier after all, not a transport ship, and its full load displacement of 35,000 to 6,000 tons can only carry a few thousand tons of less than 10,000 tons of cargo. This is despite carrying only 12 F6F-3 carrier-based fighter jets.

"Thank you so much," Churchill nodded and said, "With your strong support, Britain will definitely be able to persevere."

"More equipment, fuel and soldiers will arrive soon." Hull said, "The Aquitania and the Berengaria are being loaded in Boston Harbor and will set sail soon. The aircraft carrier will carry 120 of the latest P47Cs, 80 M10s, and 5,000 tons of ammunition. In addition, there are already 12 T2 tankers carrying 10,000 tons of C3 fuel each sailing in the North Atlantic under the flags of neutral countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, and Mexico. superior."

"Thank you so much, that's great." Churchill seemed to be in a much better mood, with a lot of smiles on his face.

"Mr. Prime Minister," seeing that the atmosphere was about the same, Donovan, Director of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, suddenly interjected, "In order to promote the unity of our two countries and make the American people realize the importance of supporting the British resistance, Mr. President would like to invite the British King Visit the United States in due course.”