After receiving the battle plan sent by Manstein, Keitel, Zeitzler and others were taken aback, he never expected that the appetite of the front-line commanders was so great that 1-2 Red Army fronts could not look at it, and actually had the idea of swallowing all the Red Army forces on the Southern Front in one breath -- this was the rhythm of the war to destroy the country?

Hoffman pondered for a moment and asked, "Are the troops, equipment, and supplies enough?" Don't reach out and ask me for this or that, then it's troublesome. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"No, I just said that for the time being, we should not draw troops from the Eastern Front...... It doesn't matter if you smoke a few hundred planes. Zeitzler knew that Hoffmann was concerned about the Iceland landing campaign, "The General Staff also has an army group as a reserve, and the Navy has six marine brigades here, and in addition to the reinforcements to be sent to South America, the follow-up forces to deal with the Iceland landing should be enough." And I believe that Marshal Manstein must have quite a few reserves ready, and the strength of the Wehrmacht and the Russian Liberation Army alone exceeded 1 million. ”

"That's good, for the time being there is no need to draw more troops from the Eastern Front, and the Northern Front and the Finns will say another word, let them strengthen a few more divisions to hold back the Red Army in the direction of Moscow." Hoffman commanded, "Supplies and rations are to be allocated according to normal standards. ”

"Sauken, Mandolfer, and Hintz jointly submitted an offensive plan, and if it is implemented, it will be a three-front operation, although the command and coordination of the campaign is not difficult, but the pressure on logistics scheduling and material support is still not small." Keitel suggested, "Is it better to stop or postpone one of them?" ”

"Originally, I didn't plan to be so fast here with Stalin, he bumped into it himself." Hoffman pondered for a moment and said, "But the other two battlefields can't be pushed, now is the period when we have a rare naval advantage over Britain and the United States, and the Japanese Combined Fleet has postponed the second westward expedition for some reason, so the time window must be seized, and this is what happens after gritting your teeth and getting through." ”

Keitel knew that the Führer had made up his mind, so he stopped advising him, but concentrated on reporting on the SEAL campaign: "The fleet has arrived in Spain, and it is expected that the attack will be launched in 5-6 days, that is, about May 30, according to the campaign arrangement, the first stage will be a suppressive attack on Iceland by aircraft carriers, and then land early in the morning, with the first batch of 20,000 troops. ”

"How many carrier-based aircraft have been prepared?"

"4 large aircraft carriers: Zeppelin, Hyuga, Dunkirk and the newly commissioned Xiafei (comprehensive aircraft carrier nature), and all 8 Rhine-class escort aircraft carriers, the shelling fleet is still equipped with 4 Veneto-class and Tirpitz, and the Ise and Gneisenau, which have returned from South America, are undergoing rapid repairs and are expected to be put into battle in a week."

"This strength is enough to suppress the Icelandic direction, and I hope that the landing force will not lose too much." Hoffman thought for a moment, "Tell Manstein that I approved their battle plan, and on the premise of steady and steady fighting, even if they can't destroy so many enemy troops, it doesn't matter, what we have is time and Stalin to wear out slowly." ”

"Führer, urgent military situation in the Middle East direction: The Socotra reconnaissance plane discovered the US fleet, which has a convoy of more than 40 transport ships, and the main force is four light air carriers, which were located more than 700 kilometers northwest of Goa, 1,500 kilometers away from Socotra Island, and 1,200 kilometers away from the Middle East Air Fleet. As he spoke, Senior General Jeshunek reported important information.

"What do you think the enemy is going to do next?"

"More than 80% of the probability is to go to Karachi to land reinforcements of the British army."

"Do you think you can hit them?"

"This ......," Jeshunek hesitated, "it may not be possible to fight at sea, but if they do go to Karachi, we have a way to deal with them, which is only 900 kilometers away from the Middle East Air Force." ”

"In this case, the British will attack the fuel fleet in the Persian Gulf...... Moreover, if the Japanese army were to control Karachi in the future, do you think it would be in the interests of the Empire? ”

"I ......," Jeshunek was stunned, he had not thought about it all along. Take a closer look at the map and figure out the taste, with Karachi as the radius of 1,000 kilometers, the entire Gulf of Oman is under control, if the line is drawn at 1,200 kilometers, then Bandar Abbas, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Makarst and other important cities are all within the shroud. Although 1,200 km is too far for tactical bombers, people must have forward-thinking, after this war, will 1,200 km be far? Any heavy bomber can get there.

"What do you mean?"

"The north-west and south-east of India are not the same people, they are not Hindu, they even have their own leaders, I think ......"

"You want to take it yourself?"

"That's too naked, and I want the Iranians to find a way to keep this land for the British first, for example, Pakistan."

"Partition of India and Pakistan?" Keitel and Zeitzler blurted out.

"It depends on whether the British are fighting or not, and if they are bulldozed before we can make a move, I can't help." "I don't want to embarrass the Japanese, but they must know that a place as big as the Indian subcontinent should not be swallowed by their family, at least save some face for the British Empire......"

Everyone laughed, and saving some face for the British Empire was superficial, but in essence it was to save some face for the Third Reich -- Japan could not be allowed to threaten the export of crude oil from the Persian Gulf.

"Of course, if Japan and Germany finally have the misfortune to go to war one day, then under the threat of the Japanese Navy, this route will certainly not be maintained, so I propose to start the construction of a large-scale oil pipeline from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, linking the crude oil production capacities of Baku, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and so on.

Everyone suddenly realized why the Führer did not allow the Turks to get their hands on the three Transcaucasian countries - not only Baku's oil, but also the Middle East's oil in times of emergency!

"But I believe that Admiral Hori is a smart man, and as long as he is in power, he will not have such non-divisive thoughts in his lifetime, and as for the future, it will not be a matter for our generation of politicians to worry about.

"And this information?"

"Tell the Japanese 24 hours later, and ......," Hoffman muttered for a moment, "inform the British, I give them a little cheap, and they can't give nothing in return, right?" ”

An hour later, Marshal Pound received information: "The German side informed us through secret channels about the exact location of the Indian fleet. ”

Pound's face changed drastically, and he staggered to his feet: "And then?" ”

"As a sincere peace, they promise not to attack our army, but ......"

"But what, we need to provide a reciprocal return."

"Reciprocal returns?" Field Marshal Brooke paused for a moment, "We just don't attack the German army in the Middle East." ”

Pound shook his head: "That's not enough, let the 40 freighters surrender to the Germans after the unloading is completed, but the Germans will return the crew to us." ”

"You?" "It's not just our ships, it's the Americans, and besides, don't you keep them for the army to retreat?" ”

"What happened to the Americans?" Pound glanced at him, "If my guess is right, the encirclement fleet of the Combined Fleet will come soon, and dragging the fleet is just a burden, as for retreating, as long as I dare to reveal a word, tomorrow Mountbatten's little white face will dare to get on the boat and run away." ”

Not only Pound, but also Brooke and Portal, all expressed dissatisfaction with Mountbatten's appointment as commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in India, believing that he would not be able to fight at all, and if it weren't for the fact that Slim and other army leaders had deprived him of his power, he didn't know what he would be able to do.

"Would you rather these surviving soldiers end up being sunk by the Japanese on ships?"

"That's still cheap Germans, at least people can survive."

"Do you want to report back to the Prime Minister?" Fraser reminded in a whisper.

"He's a! From the last war to this war, how many officers and men of the Royal Navy did he trap? Pound scolded with a foul word, "Report to Mr. Aiden and Mr. Attlee, and then talk to Your Majesty." Of course, it is necessary to be tactful in informing them, and do not think that we are making deals with the Germans behind the back of the government, which is for the benefit of the British Empire as a whole. ”

As soon as this sentence was said, everyone was silent, and during World War I, Qiu Fatzi landed in the Dardanelles Strait, and suffered many casualties; Not to mention the big war, the Royal Navy was all wiped out. The three nodded with a heavy heart, acquiescing to Pound's approach, which had deteriorated since Cunningham's death. Marshal Pang De, who used to be known as the fat man and the brainless fan of the fat man, suddenly turned black and became the flag bearer of the fallen hill, and everyone knew it.

Spruance was extremely clever in the delivery of supplies to the Indian fleet, and after taking the Maldives, he only protected the huge fleet and drove a section in the direction of Karachi before turning around, in his words, "If you really go in, it is likely that you will be blocked by the Japanese and will not be able to get out", stay on the outer edge, and may retreat in time.

"Sir, how can the convoy return without our cover?"

"Return." He shook his head, "There is no hope, except for some warships with fast speed, other ships can only sink themselves or be sunk by the Germans inside, so I explained those escort destroyers and escort aircraft carriers, and return as soon as we arrive at the port, we are running out of time"

"This ...... The enemy isn't that fast, is he? ”

"Although there is no definite information, I have a hunch that the combined fleet will arrive in another 3-5 days, leaving us with time to run away."

The surrounding staff officers were speechless for a while.

But Spruance's speculation was still a little too optimistic, and in no three days, let alone five days, in another day, the Tsukahara fleet, which had already arrived in the Andaman Islands, would arrive at the spot where the reconnaissance planes had made contact.

Time is running out for the TF44 fleet......