As soon as the news broke, the accusations against Nimitz were immediately gone, but the next more pressing challenge lay ahead:

Should India be saved? How to save? If it is not saved, what if India is lost? It is estimated that the British Empire will not be able to fight, can the United States still rely on its own strength to fight? If you want to fight on your own, the 130 billion national defense budget is not too much, but too little. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Of course, it is also possible that Germany and Italy are going to attack South Africa -- although there is no definite evidence, Director Donovan believes that there is a clear division between Japan and Germany regarding the area of operations, and India should be the dividing line between Japan and Germany, and the reason why German troops appear in the Indian direction is nothing more than a return for the combined fleet to support Europe. But this conclusion is only speculation, there is no clear evidence, only the whereabouts of these warships and their follow-up will determine the final outcome.

In the midst of the noise, everyone first set a small target -- 100 billion yuan, and at the same time proposed to add 4.7 billion yuan to this year's military budget to make up for the president's demand for large-scale construction of warships. The lawmakers felt that since the money had already been spent in the current fiscal year, there was no need to postpone it to the next year.

Roosevelt understood the reason: raising this year's base and lowering next year's figure is not a small amount of money, but it just seems to make the budget increase less ugly.

As soon as the budget communication meeting ended, the president, with a gloomy face, immediately announced the convening of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At the beginning of the meeting, he first lightly criticized General Kim and Arnold for being too angry and undignified today.

The two men immediately accepted with pleasure and sincerity, and the president had to listen to what he said in reverse--he only criticized the lack of manners, implicitly admitting that what they said was correct, but that they should choose a better way of expressing it.

"What do you think of the enemy's reinforcement fleet?"

Admiral King said: "This issue is very troublesome now, it is the Italians who have been dispatched, and the German fleet has not seen it, and further monitoring and accurate intelligence are needed to draw conclusions." ”

"What if we go to India?"

"That's basically no way to fight back." Marshall sighed, "Mountbatten can't care about transiting through London, and directly sent a telegram asking for help to my desk, the situation in India is terrible, and the speed of the fall is faster than that of China!" ”

Following the occupation of Madras by the Japanese, Yamashita threw all three infantry divisions into the attack in one go, and quickly advanced into the hinterland of South India, further occupying Bangalore in Karnataka, eliminating or forcing the landing of the other 4 brigades of the 11th Army, and at the same time allowing the Germans to attack north of Madras and crushing 3 brigades. Now, in terms of organization, the 11th Army has been wiped out except for three brigades in the far south.

The Anglo-Indian troops drawn from the 14th Army, which had rushed south from the north, stopped their southward advance and temporarily stayed in the north to stabilize the defensive line, but they were also in constant fear.

"In addition to the military defeat, the Japanese army also supported the puppet regime of the Indian National Government, and used the slogan of Indian independence and national independence to deceive people, attracting a large number of people, and many captured Indian officers and soldiers were transformed into Indian puppet armies and accomplices of the Japanese army." Marshall sighed, "The National Army may not be very combative, but it is more destructive, in a sense, more destructive than the Russian Liberation Army." ”

"Is Prime Minister Churchill still refusing to grant India independence?"

Secretary of State Hull shook his head: "He didn't dare to mention this, now the domestic political situation in Britain is turbulent, opposition parliamentarians are chasing and beating, trying to force Winston to step down, and what's more, the news of the transfer of shipyard workers is known to the general public, coupled with the blockade and breaking of diplomatic relations by the German army some time ago, his popularity and support have fallen all the way, and it is miserable." ”

"The people don't agree with the transfer?" Roosevelt raised his eyebrows, "Don't they understand the value of doing this?" ”

"There are two main objections of the people: first, why should all British people who wish to be transferred should be emigrated to the American continent if they were restricted to shipyard workers; Second, they said that they were shipyard workers, but many of the leading figures who were obviously not shipyard workers also took this opportunity to blend in with the retreating ranks, believing that there was fraud in them. ”

Everyone smiled bitterly: The British thought it was quite beautiful, and all of them were transferred to the United States? Then it's time for the American people to fry! Going to Canada? That's not good, Canada is the place that the United States will control in the future, if there are really so many British, how can it be convenient to start? As for the families who are not shipyard workers who have blended in, the matter is definitely true, and the American side can only pretend to be deaf and dumb. However, the Germans did not accept this set, and unscrupulously sent messages through radio and leaflets, and used various media means to attack the image of Churchill's cabinet, but they succeeded every time.

With regard to India's independence, every British statesman should be able to see that this is an irreversible trend, and the reason why they refuse to let it go is simply that no one wants to bear the reputation of "imperial gravedigger".

Roosevelt waved his hand in frustration: "We don't have to worry about India's affairs, this is not something that can be rescued by one or two troops, there must be a package of systematic solutions, and I need to emphasize one point now: The four dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa have a decisive impact on the war and cannot be separated from our grasp, so we ......"

Everyone couldn't help but roll their eyes: the British Empire's colonies in Africa and the Middle East have almost been lost, and India is not in danger, and the only thing to rely on is these four major dominions, and now the president is going to take them all in one go - the United States is the gravedigger of the British Empire!

"How can the enemy defend against South Africa if it attacks it?"

"There is no problem with the army, we have sent two armies to South Africa, plus the original strength and South Africa's own armed forces, we can roughly form an army of 500,000 troops." Marshall's initial remarks relieved Roosevelt, but then the "but" made him nervous again: "But the naval force is not good, and if the enemy continues to blockade, the South African side will eventually collapse if it does not have sufficient supplies, and the navy cannot be moved at will." ”

Roosevelt nodded: The main force of the British and American aircraft carrier formations is still in the North Atlantic, and it has just broken the blockade of the British Isles by the German Navy, and it is indeed impossible to transfer to South Africa in a short time, even if the ships can stand it, the personnel need to rest.

At present, there is really nothing to brag about in the country, so I have to take out this matter of breaking the blockade of the British Isles and talk about it again to unite the people's hearts. The reason why Roosevelt was reluctant to blame Nimitz was that the Pacific Fleet had finally captured Tarawa and seized the Gilbert Islands, and whether it would be lost or not was a matter of the future, and at least for the time being, there was a big victory, which he could give an account of -- he had just approved the propaganda and agitation plan. Nimitz and the bloody 3rd Marine Division are the heroes he is ready to arrange, how can he destroy this model?

"The fleet cannot always run behind the Germans, we must seize the strategic initiative." Roosevelt turned to Admiral King and asked, "Has General Turner's B+ plan been revised?" Can it be taken out and executed? ”

As soon as he heard about the B+ plan, Admiral Kim's face was a little strange, and finally he reluctantly opened his mouth: "This plan is very troublesome now, and the navy has discussed it again, and it has been decided to revise the B+ plan to plan C before implementation." ”

"What's the problem? Is it that planes and aircraft carriers are not enough? "I'm not asking for it this month or next month, and I want to be ready for the new fiscal year." And then, as you all know, I'm going to announce my candidacy for the next presidential race on Christmas Eve, and the government has to show the voters something positive, and the capture of the Gilbert Islands is a good victory, but it's not ...... enough."

Admiral Kim's head involuntarily lowered a little, and his voice was much lowered, and after a long time, he explained helplessly: "I understand Your Excellency's wishes very well, but the problem encountered now is exactly the trouble caused by the Battle of Gilbert, and I hope to be solved before ......"

Roosevelt was a little disappointed, he hoped that a big victory would help him kick off the campaign, but Admiral King said so, and he didn't want to embarrass the latter, so he generously said: "That's nothing, it's okay to postpone it for a few months, the campaign won't end until October 1944, and it's okay if the good news comes later, just don't come." I'd love to know what the trouble is, though. ”

Admiral King recounted Nimitz's war report to the Navy:

In this attack on Tarawa, the main force of the Pacific Fleet poured out, and the defenders resisted desperately without any reinforcements, and fought a bloody battle, blocking us for a whole week. The 3rd Marine Division suffered more than one-third of its total losses, and considering that the division's civilian personnel, logistics units, and other parts did not participate in the landing at all, the casualty rate in the actual landing was close to 50 percent, which was equivalent to the casualties of the 1st Marine Division on Kuah Island that day......

The area of Tarawa Island is not large, but the fortifications on it are extremely ingenious and strong, which can withstand the power of most of the artillery and aerial bombs below the medium caliber, and the offensive campaign has used more than 20,000 tons of various explosives, and the actual effect is not more than 5%, and a large number of underground fortifications are destroyed only by firing at close range...... For example, after the North Carolina ran aground, naval guns were used to fire armor-piercing shells at close range. The Japanese army fought with our troops one fortification after another, one trench after another, and when the battle was deadlocked, our troops advanced less than 200 yards a day.

In addition to the normal guards, the Japanese army used simple hand-held rockets called "iron fists", which were inexpensive, easy to use, and powerful, and had a miraculous effect on anti-tanks, and this time it lost nearly 200 vehicles, including tanks and armored vehicles, and more than 80% of them were destroyed by the hands of this weapon.

Admiral Kim reluctantly added: "The Iron Fist was provided by Germany, the suicide rocket is obviously also a German product, and the upcoming attack on the Azores island has more Germans, more advanced equipment, more favorable defensive conditions, and worse, it will be easier for the German army to reinforce the Azores than the Tarawa defenders are isolated." (To be continued.) )