Exhausted, Roosevelt was almost physically supported in the final stage, and was pushed out of the venue in a wheelchair, and as soon as he disappeared out of the eyes of the congressmen, he could no longer support it, and almost passed out, but fortunately, the chief of staff prepared a doctor in advance, and after an emergency examination, he thought that Roosevelt was in a bad state and needed to be hospitalized to recuperate, and it was not suitable to bear too much pressure in the short term, let alone carry out heavy work. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"It's best to take a break from work for 1-2 months." This is the preliminary conclusion of the doctor.

Hoover nodded with a gloomy face and admonished, "This information must be kept completely confidential. ”

"I can hold on, I can't be out of my post for a long time, that would cause unnecessary trouble." Roosevelt said in a weak tone, "There are more important things to be done." ”

At this questioning meeting, Roosevelt dragged his sick body, used strategy, and used his political credibility to forcibly protect the soldiers, and in the face of the congressmen's accusations about the failure of the military operation, he took all the responsibility alone, and did not blame the soldiers in private.

"The first is to immediately organize the retreat of Ike's troops, to South Africa, how much can be withdrawn, focus on keeping people, not caring about equipment; The second is to transfer the equipment of the Eighth Air Force to the British, withdraw the personnel, and use experienced fighter pilots to serve as instructors to train new cadets; The third thing ......" Roosevelt grabbed Marshall and said in a weak voice, "Speed up the construction of territorial air defense, focus on the air defense of large cities on the east coast, and no longer be bombed!" And then...... The Joint Chiefs of Staff should consider how to keep South Africa and communicate with Prime Minister Churchill......"

After explaining this, Roosevelt seemed to let go of his thoughts, exhausted all his energy, tilted his head and fainted directly, so startled that everyone almost didn't scream, and finally advanced to the hospital in an atmosphere of high secrecy. According to the normal logic of power in the United States, once the president has a special situation, the vice president needs to hold power, but under the hint of Hopkins, everyone agreed in the hospital secret room: this is strictly kept secret, unless Roosevelt's state is not good after three days. A distribution of power was quickly formed, and during the president's absence, political affairs were handled by Hull, Hopkins, and Hoover; Military affairs are handled by the high-level of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after reaching a consensus at the top level.

Henry Agad Wallace is the current vice president of the United States, and although Roosevelt supported him as vice president, he had poor relations with other top brass and was so mysterious that no one wanted him to climb on top of him, even if it was only for a few days.

Unbeknownst to everyone, the day after Roosevelt was questioned by Congress, his brother-in-law, Winston Churchill, the wartime prime minister of the British Empire, was also bombarded by parliamentarians, and everyone's opinions were mainly concentrated in three aspects:

First, why agree to hand over the Tej-class aircraft carriers and the George V-class battleships to the unified command of the US Navy, who is to blame for the whole thing now that the losses are so heavy?

Second, what does the government plan to do when the United States proposes to emigrate 100,000 British engineers and skilled shipbuilders?

Thirdly, Madagascar is lost, South Africa is in danger, and where is the way out for the future of the British Empire? Can the war be won?

This was in fact a general outburst of emotions about the successive defeats in the North African Campaign, the Indian Ocean Campaign, the Middle East Campaign, and the North Sea Campaign. Everyone is sensible: Strictly speaking, the defeat of these battles is not directly related to the prime minister, but the most dominant figure, who is not responsible for him? Do you want Brooke or Pound to carry the black pot?

Churchill seemed to have aged ten years overnight, muffling on his pipe, and thinking for a long time before hesitating to answer.

"The loan of capital ships to the United States was a package agreement for the conduct of the North African campaign, in order to alleviate the temporary shortage of forces of the American Pacific Fleet, and then to relieve the crisis in the direction of the Atlantic—a difficult situation that was directed at us rather than against the United States. Without the material support of the United States, we will soon collapse, and without us, the United States will lose only a springboard for a counterattack on the European continent. Churchill reluctantly explained, "It is always difficult to refuse our demands on the United States, both in terms of status and strength." ”

"As for the unified command of the American side, it is also caused by the defeat of the Cunningham fleet in India and the serious losses caused by the failure of the German army to seize the Azores in the North Sea Campaign, and the American side requires them to have unified command." Churchill spread his hands, "When a team loses in a row, it must want to change the coach or captain for luck, so I chose Spruance and Fletcher." Please note that these two generals are not obscure figures, they have won major battles at Midway, and there is no problem with their ability...... As for the outcome of the battle, it is not something we could have predicted. If you have to evaluate, it can only be said that there are no victorious generals in the world......"

Someone whispered, "Why not...... Isn't the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet a succession of battles? ”

Churchill pretended not to hear this, and continued: "Although we put the capital ship under American command, Britain was duly compensated:

First, the pilots of the carrier-based aircraft on several aircraft carriers are all played by Americans, and although we have lost four Tej-class aircraft carriers, we have not lost a single pilot for this, so we still retain a relatively complete carrier-based aircraft fleet.

Second, the United States has agreed to provide us with 10 escort aircraft carriers and thousands of high-performance fighters, most of which have been received so far, and they are better equipped than our own.

Third, the United States has increased its material aid to us, after the loss of Middle East oil sources, Britain is completely dependent on the United States in the supply of refined oil products, in the past few months, the Americans have provided us with more than 3 million tons of refined oil, which is a very large and considerable figure, supporting our consumption, so that the strategic reserves only fell by 500,000 tons, without these oils, the oil depot reserves are now nearly exhausted;

Fourth, the British and American governments have reached an agreement that the navies of the two sides in the Atlantic Ocean will form a coalition force, with Admiral Ingersoll as the commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet, and Admiral Cunningham as the commander of the core aircraft carrier fleet.

Last but not least, President Roosevelt promised to compensate our capital ships for one Essex-class fleet carrier and one Independence-class light aircraft carrier in the short term, and more than five aircraft carriers in the long term, and the first light aircraft carrier has been handed over to the Royal Navy and is currently undergoing sea trials in the United States......"

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then looked at Churchill with deep meaning: Isn't it rumored that Cunningham and the prime minister are at odds and have been left out in the cold? How did you suddenly reactivate and occupy such an important position? Besides, Cunningham now has a broken leg and has to rely on people to push wheelchairs in and out, and such a general can also serve as the commander of the aircraft carrier fleet?

Churchill smiled awkwardly and explained: "General Cunningham has been in poor health since returning from Africa, so he has been arranged to take up an idle post to recuperate, and now he has recovered his health, and I have a strong desire to return to the battlefield, so that the experienced admiral cannot be idle, at the strong request of the US government, the cabinet decided to make him the deputy commander of the British and American combined fleet and the commander of the aircraft carrier group......

Hearing this, Attlee on the side couldn't help but roll his eyes - he knew what the so-called "I have a strong will" was about, if it weren't for Nimitz's letter, Cunningham, a stubborn old man, would not have bothered to deal with the prime minister, and if it wasn't for the US Navy's explicit request, Churchill would not have used Cunningham again...... The two are now reconciled on the surface, but he knows the inside story well and knows how reluctant this relationship is to repair.

"Gentlemen, don't just look at how much we have lost, the United States has lost more for us, think of the merchant ships that were sunk by submarines, think of the capital ships that were sunk by the Germans, think of the US Army that was sent to the Indian Ocean and died in the end......"

Everyone was silent, although the United States spared no effort to support Britain in the consideration of competing for world hegemony, but the Americans did pay a great sacrifice, and in the case of warships, their losses were more and greater.

"As for the second question...... Churchill said with a wry smile, "immigration is not the best solution, but the best solution to the existing difficulties." The resources of the British Empire were extremely limited, and there was a relative surplus of shipbuilders, and the United States was rich in resources and had many slipways, but could not find enough workers, so this immigration was mutually beneficial......"

"Aren't we going to continue building warships? Won't those revenge and lion level be made? ”

"Made? Why not make it? Churchill's eyes widened, "2 Lion-class battleships, 1 avant-garde-class battleship, 2 Revenge-class fleet aircraft carriers, and 6 Giant-class light aircraft carriers will be built one after another at the fastest speed, even if 100,000 workers are transported, we still can still find enough manpower to build, the Americans are not asking for our skilled workers in vain, they will provide all kinds of materials to help us speed up construction, such as the 16-inch guns used on the battleships, they said they would provide finished products, such as special steel, Boilers will find a way to help us speed things up. ”

"According to the estimate, I hope to complete the construction of two Revenge-class ships by January 1944, and one Lion-class by March, and the rest of the warships will be completed in 1944 as much as possible, and some will be delayed until 1945. After careful calculation, Churchill said, "The United States has launched a huge shipbuilding program to build 36 aircraft carriers a year, and President Roosevelt promised to provide us with one-third to one-quarter, but I estimate that it will actually be more." (To be continued.) )