The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff convened in a solemn manner, and Army Chief of Staff Marshall, on behalf of the military, briefed President Roosevelt on the latest situation of the war: The British and American troops, including the 2nd Armored Division commanded by George Patton, the British 78th Infantry Division, and a large part of the surviving naval personnel of the Fast Column, had finally found their exact whereabouts -- after four days and three nights on foot, they were in contact with the British troops in Somalia who had come to search, The radio was then used to send the report back to the country in a timely manner.

Although many people were rescued, the overall situation was very bad, and the 2nd Panzer Division, for example, had its commander killed in battle and lost a third of its officers above the rank of major, thanks to Patton's charisma and perseverance, and the improvised command had played a major role in it. The situation of the British 78th Infantry Division was even worse than that of the Second Armored Division, the overall structure was completely disrupted, and in the end, all British soldiers and naval officers and sailors were mixed into the American army, so that all the personnel added up were not as good as a complete Second Armored Division. Of course, Patton is convinced that there are still some troops who have lost their way off the coast of Somalia, and it is imperative to find them.

The surviving troops were in a very unsatisfactory state: the two divisions had lost all their heavy equipment and a large number of officers and men, and some of the soldiers suffered from various symptoms due to fear, hunger, and unaccustomed to water and soil, and some people died every day, and even a small number of officers and men who had broken down and could not hold on committed suicide in despair halfway, and there were still more than 1,000 lightly wounded in the troops, hoping to get medical rescue as soon as possible, but the telegram did not mention the seriously wounded at all. The speculation was almost all killed - and in fact the speculation was correct.

The Somali side has said it will do its best to help these forces, but their capacity is too limited to accommodate such a large number of troops. Food, medicine, and all kinds of supplies are very problematic, and the sooner the better, send an urgent telegram asking for support.

"What do you guys have to do?"

"The Kenyan side has been coordinated to airlift the supplies needed from Somalia by plane as soon as possible, but the escort command has indicated that they do not have enough aircraft and want to temporarily use carrier-based aircraft from the aircraft carrier - the fleet just arrived in Mombasa today," Marshall reported. ”

Roosevelt turned to Nimitz and asked, "Can carrier-based aircraft perform this function?" ”

"Theoretically, both the SBD and the TBF can carry some cargo after emergency modifications." Nimitz thought for a moment, "But then the fleet's attack power will be weakened." ”

Roosevelt pondered for a moment. Admiral Kim said: "The fleet's immediate priority now is not to fight, but to cover the landing force to go ashore as soon as possible, so that there are fighters capable of taking on air defense tasks." Let the rest of the carrier-based aircraft take off to Kenya, save people, and then rescue some of the wounded back to Mombasa according to the situation. ”

The second news was reported by Admiral Nimitz: Army units in the Pacific Theater of Operations, under the command of MacArthur, captured Lae two days ahead of schedule. More than 10,000 enemy troops were killed. The U.S.-Australian coalition has also suffered 4,000 casualties, and the assault on Bougainville Island may be accelerated, but in any case no earlier than January 15. In addition, the casualties of the army forces attacking Bougainville Island are approaching 2,000, and it is expected that the casualties will probably be no less than in the direction of Lae when the island is finally conquered.

The general public did not expect such a fierce resistance of the Japanese army and the number of casualties of the army, and everyone thought that it was absolutely necessary for the president to send two divisions to reinforce the Pacific theater, but before the situation on the battlefield could be discussed, Admiral King's adjutant suddenly handed over a telegram of 100,000 urgent. After reading it, Admiral Kim stood up in shock. The right hand holding the copy of the telegram trembled slightly, and he could not say a word.

Everyone's faces have changed drastically, and it must not be good news that can make Admiral Jin change color so violently. Sure enough, Nimitz took the telegram from Admiral King's hand and said in a very sad tone: "I just received news from the British side that two infantry divisions that were preparing to reinforce the Pacific Theater were attacked by the Japanese fleet in the southern Indian Ocean, and the entire fleet and two infantry divisions were ...... Nearly wiped out!"

"Bang!" With a bang, Roosevelt's fist slammed on the table, "How did the Japanese grasp the accurate whereabouts of the fleet?" Our passwords or intelligence were leaked? ”

"It's not." Admiral Kim, who was relieved, shook his head, "The fleet reported that it suspected that an enemy submarine was tracking, and it was impossible to find it after racking its brains, and it is estimated that the submarine indicated the direction for the Japanese fleet." ”

"Could it be that the fast column also failed for that reason?" Roosevelt immediately sensitively thought of the question.

"There is no clear evidence, but it is very likely - without accurate information, it will be difficult to accurately capture a fleet on the vast sea." Admiral Kim said, "However, whether or not this is the reason, it is best to change all passwords." ”

Everyone's hearts tightened: not only were the two infantry divisions that the Pacific Theater had been waiting for were gone, but the current situation in the Indian Ocean would be completely unresolved for a while......

The meeting fell silent, and after a long time, Marshall spoke: "In view of the strength of the enemy and our weakness in the Indian Ocean, in order to avoid unnecessary losses, it is recommended that all ships and warships be suspended." ”

Everyone nodded helplessly: this is not a good way, but it is the only way to take it at the moment.

War Minister Stimson reported on the war situation in North Africa and the Middle East: "The current situation is that the main German army has surrounded the city of Cairo, and the British commander-in-chief of the Middle East theater, Admiral Alexander, has fled with more than 10,000 men to Aswan in southern Egypt, and there are still 2 Dominions in Cairo. Now the British are arguing up and down, the commander of the Cairo city defense, Ramsden, and the commander of the two divisions accused Alexander of abandoning his troops and abandoning the city and fleeing, while Alexander defended that this was to realize the arranged retreat plan, he first led more than 30,000 local troops to retreat, and then Ramsden led the rest of the troops to retreat subsequently. He defended that it was fortunate that he had taken the opportunity to command the retreat, otherwise there would have been more troops surrounded. It was difficult to say who was who at once, and Prime Minister Churchill also had a headache. ”

"Scandal! No compromise on scandal! Admiral King was furious, "Churchill is shameless enough, and there is someone more shameless than him - what is there to say, wouldn't it be clear that Alexander should fly back and hold out with these two divisions to the end?" ”

Marshall also despised Alexander's character: this behavior was not even half that of Montgomery, "the British had planned to establish a unified command in East Africa to continue the fight against the Germans, and they were also prepared to make Alexander commander-in-chief......"

"No! I can't trust him, I can't trust him, to be exact, I can't trust all the British people now! Stimson turned his gaze to Roosevelt, "I suggest Ike come to this position, Africa is now our troops, and the British are a group of defeated soldiers...... Even George was better suited than them - he at least saved the landing force. ”

Roosevelt nodded: "Please coordinate with the British side as soon as possible, let General Eisenhower be the supreme commander of the African theater of operations, General Patton will be his deputy, senior British officers on the Kenyan side can be the chief of staff of the theater, General Hewitt will be the commander of the navy, and General Clark will return home first to form a new batch of troops, which will be responsible for commanding all the battles east of the Suez Canal." ”

Stimson continued to report on the situation in the Middle East: "The situation in this direction is not optimistic, Rommel led two armored divisions to rush forward, and has entered Iraq, less than 400 kilometers from Mosul and Baghdad in a straight line, and only more than 600 kilometers from Basra in southern Iraq, and we judge that the first goal of the Germans is to seize the oil fields. ”

"Do the British still have troops in Iraq?"

"They also have a 10th Army in Iraq and Persia, commanded by Admiral Wilson, but the strength is very poor, the main combat force has only 6 divisions, including 2 British divisions, 4 Indian divisions, all infantry divisions, few tanks, no morale, equipment and combat effectiveness are no match for the Germans. It was expected that the Germans would be able to provide Rommel with a steady stream of support after the Cairo problem was resolved. ”

"Now only Stalin's troops can enter Persia?"

"Yes, President!" Secretary of State Hull, who had not spoken, sighed, "If we want to keep Persia, we have to bring in the Russians, and if they have enough troops, they can also launch a counterattack on the Persian-Iraqi border, but then Turkey will become a big problem." ”

"Turkey?"

"Turkey and the Russians have a historical feud with each other, and they have always been highly wary of the southward movement of Russian power, and this suspicion and hostility have grown up after Britain and Russia took control of the Turkish political situation in the early days, and now the situation is even more serious. Our ambassador in Istanbul reported that after the occupation of Cyprus by the Germans and their advance into Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, Turkey had been encircled from both the west and the south, and that Cyprus in particular posed a great threat to Turkey, and that the entire territory of Turkey would be under German threat if bombers were placed on it, not to mention that the Germans now had control of the sea in the eastern Mediterranean and could launch a landing attack on Turkey at any time and place. Moreover, Turkey and Germany were allies in the last war, and Germany had close ties, and the pro-German and anti-Russian forces in the country were very strong, and if the British were forced to withdraw from the Middle East, they would most likely fall to the Germans. ”

"What is Stalin's opinion?"

"First, I hope that we will persuade Turkey to join the allies, and at worst to remain neutral; Second, he asked us to step up our support, he urgently needed 2,000 planes and 1,000 tanks, as well as a list of supplies...... If these conditions were met, he would send an army group of 150,000 troops into Persia, including at least six tank brigades. If there were 150,000 Red Army plus 100,000 British troops, they might be able to compete with the Germans, whose strength was estimated to be between 12 and 150,000, and because the Germans had to deal with the threat of our troops in the direction of Africa, it was estimated that they could only draw up a maximum of 7-100,000 men to attack Persia. ”

Faced with such a momentous decision, Roosevelt fell into deep thought...... (To be continued.) )