At 7 o'clock in the morning, Churchill, the prime minister of the British Empire, just woke up from his sleep, in recent days, he has been tortured by the war situation in Egypt to eat poorly, sleep poorly, the whole person has lost weight, even with a double chin has a tendency to shrink, this morning is also tossed until almost 3 o'clock before falling asleep in a daze, and in the dream is still worried about the situation in Cairo, so he got up a little later than usual.

Just when he was wearing a nightgown and sleepy-eyed, the piercing telephone rang at an inopportune time, and he hurriedly picked up the phone, already having a sense of foreboding in his heart.

"Prime Minister...... Good morning. "Admiral Pound greeted in a deep voice, "I'm sorry to disturb your rest, I have unfortunate news to report to you, can I come and tell you?" ”

"Ahh Churchill had fully woken up from his sleep, "All right, I'll wait for you here." ”

Churchill hurried to wash up, while quickly asking the adjutant to prepare breakfast for himself, and specially reminded not to add sugar to coffee, although Great Britain's supplies were very tight, but the supply of the Prime Minister's official residence was still guaranteed, he was not to save, but to use the stimulation of ****** to boost his spirits.

Pound reluctantly exchanged a few words with Churchill, and then said something extremely shocking: "Twenty minutes ago, I received a telegram from Admiral Cunningham -- they were attacked by a large number of Japanese planes off the coast of Somalia, suspected to be carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese fleet. ”

"What? Did I hear me right, the Japanese fleet? Churchill looked like he had seen a ghost, and he almost didn't jump out of his seat.

"It's not a joke, it's a telegram from him."

Churchill hadn't taken it over yet. The phone rang again, and the adjutant rushed over to pick it up, and turned his head after only one question: "Prime Minister." Field Marshal Brooke has something important to look for you. ”

Churchill walked over slowly, trying to suppress his uneasiness, and asked in the most calm tone possible: "I am Churchill, what happened?" ”

"100,000 urgent...... An urgent telegram was sent from the Escort Command in Mombasa, Kenya, and earlier at the base on Socotra Island, saying that the Japanese fleet had been spotted. ”

"Boom". Churchill was stunned and asked, "How many?" What is it? Where is it? ”

"At the time of the report, the location was about 300 nautical miles south of Socotra, and it was only said that it was the main force of the Japanese fleet. The details are unknown - the pilot was shot down after reporting the news. "Judging by their position, they are probably less than 200 nautical miles away from Admiral Cunningham's fast column, which is a very dangerous distance. Japanese planes may have been attacking the fleet - but the Navy has not yet reported to me any definite information. ”

Churchill's hands and feet were cold. Trembling all over: "Marshal Pound is here with me, he has informed the news of the fleet, can you get here immediately?" ”

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Churchill returned to his seat and continued to ask Pound: "Where is our nearest plane?" Is it possible to go to support the fleet? ”

"There is a little on the island of Socotra, there are also some on the escort command, and there is also a little on the Ethiopian and Libyan sides, but they are not enough to pose a threat to the Japanese fleet."

"Go and mobilize ......"

Pound reminded him that it wasn't a matter of adjusting the plane. Admiral Cunningham's fleet could be wiped out.

"It's impossible...... Churchill waved his arms angrily and stood up, extremely agitated. His fleet consisted of 1 aircraft carrier, 5 battleships, 6 light and heavy cruisers and 8 destroyers, which was fully capable of fighting the Japanese fleet. ”

"But ......"

"Prime Minister." Brooke came in with a blushing face and handed him a copy of the telegram, "Before I left the door, I received the latest situation report from the Navy, and after intelligence synthesis, the rapid column may encounter all the main forces of the Combined Fleet, including at least 5 aircraft carriers, 9 battleships, 17 light and heavy cruisers, and dozens of destroyers or other types of ships. ”

"Bastard!" Churchill threw the telegram on the table after a cursory glance, "They pressed the entire Combined Fleet up, are the Japanese crazy?" They don't want to go to the islands of Southeast Asia? ”

"The Japanese are really crazy!" Pound also felt incredulous after reading it, "The only thing to be thankful for is that the landing force, under the cover of Admiral Cunningham, is heading west to grab the beach and land, they are not far from the Somali coast, only about 100 nautical miles away, and they can land in only 5-6 hours." ”

"Bang......" Churchill slammed his fist on the table in indignation, and even the coffee cup jumped up, and the adjutant's hard-earned coffee only took a few sips before all splashed out and spilled all over the table. Pound was glad that the landing force was still saved, but Churchill knew that Cairo's troops were finished, and his last hope of saving Egypt was completely dashed.

"Prime Minister, Prime Minister." The two watched as the adjutant scrambled to clean up the table, and at the same time worried about Churchill's mood.

"What other fleet can we have to take care of these armies? In addition to our troops, there were also the 2nd Armored Division of the United States, a total of more than 30,000 people, and we could not afford to lose them. "Even if they can't land in Egypt, East Africa will be a useful help in our resistance to German aggression -- after the Germans occupy Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya will be their next targets." ”

Pound shook his head in embarrassment: "The strength of the slow fleet is not strong, there are only 2 aircraft carriers (Hundred-Eyed Giant and Fury), 2 escort aircraft carriers, 2 old battleships (New York and Texas), and some old cruisers and destroyers, if it is really the main force of the combined fleet, they are by no means opponents, and we basically have no naval strength in addition." ”

"Why didn't Cunningham bring the Hundred-Eyed Giant and the Fury in the first place? If these two aircraft carriers were here, we would not be so embarrassed at all, and maybe there would be room for a war with the Japanese. Churchill slammed the table and roared.

Pound and Brooke, look at me, I look at you, they all feel that the prime minister's fire is unreasonable: Operation Torch has a total of 110,000 troops, and the fast column only took away more than 30,000, and the big head is actually still behind, Cunningham has brought 5 of the 7 battleships and almost all of the light and heavy cruisers in order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the fast column, and also brought 1 aircraft carrier. Instead of reprimanding Cunningham for not taking 2 aircraft carriers, it is better to be glad that the slow fleet is far away from the fast column, otherwise how to deal with it once the main Japanese fleet pounces?

When he was nerve-wracking, a stream of telegrams poured into the prime minister's residence, and Cunningham reported on the situation and decisions after the first air raid, and in the face of the results of "two battleships and one aircraft carrier were sunk, and three battleships were damaged", the three of them seemed to have been punched in the chest, and they were speechless for a long time.

Pound made a rare defense for Cunningham: "It's not his fault, he is also for the balance of strength of the two columns in front and behind - if I have to say that I am wrong, it is wrong that I should not have divided the troops, and the whole fleet and the landing force should have gone to Egypt in the first place, instead of being divided into two groups and forced to disperse the forces so that the Japanese could break them individually." ”

Churchill was speechless when he said this, and he gave the order to let the fleet reinforce as soon as possible and even to divide the troops to advance, and Pound vaguely blamed himself in these words, but he must not let this black pot carry his back.

Brooke said coldly: "I don't see it that way, fortunately, the troops were divided, and we at least kept the 80,000 troops, otherwise the 110,000 army would have been served by the Japanese." In my opinion, the biggest responsibility is that there is a problem with the Indian Ocean alert system, otherwise how could the Japanese fleet cross thousands of nautical miles without being detected? ”

The problem was so big and too many that Churchill clutched at the few hairs on the top of his head in anguish: "Now is not the time to hold accountable, I just ask, two, what do we do next?" The British Empire is now at stake. ”

"Is there a response to the request of the Soviet Red Army to launch a diversionary offensive?"

As soon as Churchill talked about this, he felt annoyed: Stalin had promised to launch a fierce offensive on the Eastern Front to divert the attention of the German army, but he did not expect the German army to enter Alexander and force Montgomery to surrender at great speed, and seeing that the British army in Egypt was gone, the offensive plan jointly drawn up by Zhukov and Vasilevsky became a piece of waste paper before Stalin could seriously study it -- and now the Russians turned around and questioned whether the British army was capable of continuing to hold on to the Middle East and Persia. In this regard, Churchill did not dare to say that the batch of supplies for Russia had already become the trophies of the Germans, so he could only continue to prevaricate the Soviet ambassador with empty checks to reassure the other party.

An even bigger problem lay ahead: although Egypt was still more than 1,500 kilometers away, Persia was located in the soft underbelly of Russia, and when the Persian authorities showed their pro-Axis stance, Russia and Britain did not hesitate to invade the country and overthrow the old regime, and now that German power is back in place, if Turkey, which has always remained neutral, is ready to change its attitude, the situation in the Middle East will have a chain reaction. Stalin was also concerned about this: on the one hand, he was half-convinced about the battle against Manstein, and on the other hand, he was thinking about what to do after Britain lost the Middle East.

"Perhaps, we should carefully consider the next step, we have been led by the nose by the Germans for too long."

"There is still a priority." Pound and Brooke exchanged glances, "What about the troops of the slow column?" They are now in a dilemma, it is a luxury to reinforce Egypt in the short term, and they can't let them drift at sea for long, or arrange for them to go to Madagascar? ”

Churchill thought carefully: "It is not appropriate to go to Madagascar, there is not enough to accommodate so many troops, and it would be too bad if this isolated island outside the mainland was surrounded by Japanese and German forces under the premise that the navy did not have an advantage, so it would be better to return to South Africa first." ”

"Prime Minister, Admiral Cunningham sent a farewell message, and the fast column is over......" The adjutant hurriedly rushed in to report.

The three of them were stunned, as if they were petrified. (To be continued.) )