"Führer, how will the British reply to the conditions for the amendment?" After the meeting ended, Ribbentrop continued to report to Hoffmann. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"Do you think the British are serious about making peace?"

"I think ......," Ribbentrop, "the black cat is genuinely peaceful, but it is difficult for others to say, at least so far Churchill is still firmly in control of the overall situation, which shows ......"

"It shows that the British still have a little illusion that they are either waiting for the restoration of the strength of the US Navy, or waiting for the restoration of their own strength." Hoffman smiled, "But it doesn't matter, Erwin will be back in Spain in 10 days." ”

"Spain?"

"He went directly to Spain to join the troops, and he didn't have to return to Berlin."

"Oh...... That fleet. ”

"General Ozawa will provide cover, Cranke only needs to be responsible for leading the material fleet back to Italy, and we also have to prepare a new fleet to transport troops to South America, the strength of the Sauken cluster is still a little weaker, and we rarely have a period of naval superiority." Hoffman laughed, "Here's how Churchill replied:

First, if Great Britain were to fight against the United States, the Panama Canal would be under their control, and British Guiana would be able to appropriately acquire part of its territory from Venezuela or Colombia;

Second, the British army in Britain is responsible for disarming the U.S. forces and leaves it to the U.S.-Germany issue to be resolved;

Third, we are committed to starting the withdrawal of our troops three years after the peace agreement is reached, and to complete the withdrawal in one year.

Fourth, South Africa and Rhodesia can maintain the status quo, but the strategies of European countries cannot be stopped. India can negotiate with Japan, but if they lose all their territory before Great Britain declares peace talks, then there is no way to do anything about it;

You can take care of the rest, anyway, I never just pinned my hopes on peace talks. ”

Ribbentrop smiled and nodded: "I see." ”

As soon as he left, Keitel came to report an important military situation: "Today Japan sent another war briefing, saying that this enemy fleet has occupied the Maldives today, and the situation is more dangerous; Tokyo has sent a combined fleet to encircle and suppress it, led by Tsukahara 243 generals; After repeated confirmation and checking, we speculated that this fleet was the remnants of the American fleet that had fought with Crank. ”

"The Americans want to counterattack India?"

"It doesn't seem like it, this strength can't talk about a counteroffensive, but the navy has put forward an idea, will it cooperate with Stalin's counteroffensive in the Middle East?"

Hoffman tapped on the table, which was a nuisance, and asked, "What do you have to do?" ”

"Several targeted defenses were made; First, in view of the fact that the main forces of the Red Army have already attacked the front line in the Caucasus, preparations are made to deploy airborne divisions from Iran to the Middle East; Second, Socotra Island has all been put on alert, and there are currently more than 400 cadets on it, ready to carry out combat missions; Thirdly, the Middle East Air Force has strengthened its strength and intensified its search efforts. ”

Hoffman nodded: "That's okay, let the Americans run again first, see what they want to do, it's the Japanese who are in a hurry now." ”

In fact, Hoffman was wrong, it was not the Japanese who were in a hurry, but Spruance himself, and when Crake led the fleet home, Spruance led the fleet to attack the Japanese defenders in the Maldives. According to the reconnaissance of the aircraft, the defenders of the island were only 500-600 people, and there were more than 30 aircraft, although they did not pose a major threat, but the existence of this point would hinder the way for the fleet to retreat, so they rushed over and took it.

I thought that more than 500 defenders could be bulldozed in one afternoon, but I didn't expect to hit a hard nail.

In the afternoon, the naval guns were suppressed and fired, and as soon as the British Army landed, the Japanese firepower counterattack began, and the beachhead was bombarded in a mess, and even a destroyer that was supported at close range was almost sunk by a miss.

"This is Tom Longfoot!" One of the staff officers suddenly roared.

"What?"

"This is the standard equipment of our army, a 155mm howitzer, nicknamed Tom Longfoot."

"How can a Japanese devil have this equipment?"

"It must have been captured in the African campaign."

"Army bastards!"

The more jaw-dropping thing was still to come, when the British army was advancing inland under artillery fire, the Japanese army suddenly dispatched tanks, and then the confidential staff officer scolded angrily: "Army bastard! Bastard! Bastard! ”

"What's going on again?"

"The British said the tanks were all Shermans."

"Sherman?" Spruance's eyes widened, "Our tanks? ”

"Yes......"

The first attack of the British was repulsed in such a disarray; It was all the way up to 2 regiments, and even Spruance sent the Iowa to support, and finally suppressed the artillery fire on the island. But in this way, it took 2 days, and the British suffered nearly 1,000 casualties, more than the Japanese troops defending the island. After the war, Spruance Sten Island, which was in a heavy mood, checked the battle situation and found clear US military equipment: M1 Garand, Browning heavy machine guns, melon grenades, Sherman tanks, long-legged Tom howitzers, and even American walkie-talkies! And, of course, the German Iron Fist - this guy reimbursed more than 20 British tanks.

The British Army Corps saw that the faces of the Americans had changed, and if they hadn't worried that this was the Navy, they would probably have been furious on the spot.

Spruance wrote in his combat diary: ...... The Japanese were not afraid of death one by one, took our weapons, and forcibly extended this battle, which I thought was a few hours, to 2 days and caused more than 1,000 casualties to us, and in the end, not a single Japanese soldier surrendered, and even the wounded soldiers all shouted the slogan "It's dark in the sky, and the grenades were loaded......

On 17 May, the TF44 fleet did not attack Ceylon as the Japanese had expected, but advanced northwest to Karachi.

"Sir, the U.S. military occupies the Maldives, and the defenders are all in pieces, but today's Ceylon reconnaissance shows that the U.S. fleet has disappeared." Tsukahara had only just passed through the Philippine island of Palawan and was at least a week away from the Indian Ocean, when he nodded and asked, "What do you guys think?" Is this the sub-large South African smuggling or is the Americans taking advantage of the fire? ”

South African smuggling is the image of the British army's supply of Indian supplies, after the Japanese army controlled the Indian Ocean, the source of supplies for the British army in India was cut off, in order to import materials to the defenders, the British side smuggled with a single transport ship, destroyer and even submarine to avoid the Japanese blockade, of course, there are always intercepted, the Japanese navy who knows the inside story will call this called South African smuggling, thinking that the British are more confused than the original defense of Kuah Island, but the British situation is better than the Japanese army, the basic materials India can solve, only part of the equipment, Ammunition and spare parts need to be transported, but with the expansion of the Japanese-controlled area and the shrinking of the British-controlled area, the smuggling time and distance in South Africa are getting longer and more dangerous, and now the only point that can be used is Karachi.

The strange thing is that the German army obviously has an air force in the Middle East, but it never comes to bomb Karachi, and the tacit understanding that the British planes deployed in Karachi will not bomb the transport ships passing through the Persian Gulf, which is a rare tacit understanding.

"It's impossible to rob while the fire is burning, and such a large fleet is just to hit a few undefended islands?" Tsukahara laughed, "If the enemy didn't come to fight Ceylon, then he must have gone to Karachi." Order, speed up, let's go to the Indies to the first line of plugging. ”

"What about the Second Air Battle? Do you want to go too? ”

"No, tell Tsunoda to cross the Sunda Strait around the Java Sea, and stand by near the Cocos Islands, ready to intercept."

"Do you think the enemy will go to Australia?"

"Going to Australia is the best option, and it can also send aircraft carriers to the US Pacific Fleet, so that the fleet trapped in Pearl Harbor can come out to move, so as not to be blocked by our broken fleet. The Americans killed two birds with one stone, they just didn't expect that Commander Horikichi was so determined to take out all the main forces of the combined fleet to fight. ”

"The Germans have dispatched a large number of reconnaissance planes to search the Arabian Sea, and they will inform us as soon as they have news, and the pilots trained on Socotra have also entered combat readiness."

"Okay, the Germans are still interesting enough, in fact, I feel very embarrassed to carry out the Second Western Expedition, and I must explain it to the German side." Everyone thought to themselves, General Tsukahara is a kind person

While Sauken was making various deployments in the American Republic, the order of the Chief of the General Staff of the Brazilian Army, Admiral Montero, to ask the expeditionary force to attack, was issued, but this order caused controversy as soon as it was issued:

The Brazilian Expeditionary Force was assembled in Rio de Janeiro at this time, with more than eighty percent of its soldiers between the ages of 22 and 25 and two to three years of experience, and its core force consisted of three infantry regiments: the 1st Infantry Regiment "Sampaio", the 6th Infantry Regiment "Ipiranga" and the 11th Regiment "Tiradentis", the division's artillery was composed of three artillery battalions each equipped with 12 105mm howitzers, and the 4th Artillery Battalion equipped with 12 155mm howitzers (Tom Longfoot), and the direct unit was also equipped with M-8" The 1st Reconnaissance Squad, the 9th Engineer Battalion, the 1st Sanitary Battalion, and the 1st Transport Company of the Greyhound armored vehicles totaled 25,334 people, and the combat unit reached 15,069 people. According to the agreement, the 751st Tank Battalion and the 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion of the United States will provide support to the expeditionary force during the battle, and this time they are also prepared as agreed.

Vargas believed that this force might not be able to defeat the Germans.

"This is our best troops, and we also have the assistance of the US military aviation, if they can't fight, what area will we use to quell the rebellion?"

"Didn't the Americans say they came?"

"When the Americans say July, won't the Germans increase their troops?" Montero's face was calm, "If the Americans say no, in July, it will be September, October, what are you going to do?" ”

Everyone was speechless.

"Sir, let them go, if you don't want to lose 3 more states." Montero's words were soft and hard, "There are 4 divisions or brigades of the La Plata Group on the border, and we don't have time to do it again." ”

At his insistence, on May 18, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force held a swearing-in ceremony in the capital, and embarked on the journey of counterinsurgency with the Brazilian people cheering off.