Admiral Jin smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I'm afraid the situation is not as optimistic as you think." Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info South Africa is not in danger on land, but there may be big trouble at sea - German submarines based in Madagascar can break up shipping between us and South Africa; The Axis fleet may take advantage of the temporary superiority in strength to attack, and if the Combined Fleet joins the attack, the enemy will have a clear advantage: they can gather 4-5 aircraft carriers, 8-10 battleships, and even the super-battleship, which will greatly overwhelm our naval forces. Therefore, my suggestion is that if we judge the emergence of the enemy's main naval force, we should avoid the main force engaging as much as possible and wait for the strength to recover. ”

As soon as he said this, Roosevelt's mood that had just improved was completely destroyed, and he couldn't help frowning, but he had to admit that the other party was right: Although Cunningham had been sworn in as the commander of the aircraft carrier formation of the British and American Joint Navy, the strength of the troops could not be changed at once. By mid-June, the two navies had only one medium-sized aircraft carrier (the Unicorn) and two Independence-class light carriers (the USS Cowpens and the USS Monterey) that could be operational in the Atlantic, and by mid-July, there would be only one more Independence-class aircraft carrier (the USS Langley).

Not only did the Allies inferiorize in the number and performance of aircraft carriers, but the strength of battleships was also insufficient, and they were not sure of winning a single battle with the German and Italian navies relying on this configuration, and they were obviously unable to fight against the combined forces of the three countries, including the Combined Fleet. However, although the escort aircraft carriers in which the United States has the upper hand can undertake the task of protecting daily routes, they cannot be used for fleet operations.

Roosevelt pondered for a long time, and finally asked tentatively: "Do you need to bring back the main forces of the Pacific Fleet?" ”

Not only Nimitz, but also Admiral King, Lehi, and Marshall shook their heads and objected to this proposal: The Pacific Fleet's strength is not too strong at present, with only two fleet aircraft carriers, and the transfer of troops back to the Atlantic Ocean can certainly increase the strength of the East Coast and the European direction, but the West Coast and the Pacific Ocean are completely unsightly. In addition to attacking South Africa, the most likely thing for the Combined Fleet is to return to the Far East, and the Pacific Fleet is now no match for the Japanese Navy, and if it is withdrawn again, then all the islands in the western Pacific except Australia and New Zealand will probably fall into the hands of Japan, and even Midway Island may not be able to be defended -- it is equivalent to the US Navy shrinking to Pearl Harbor all at once, and the United States will be completely isolated in the western Pacific, and it will be equally difficult to explain politically.

"The Navy's advice is that we will not draw forces from the Pacific, whether or not the enemy actually attacks South Africa." Admiral Kim said sincerely, "After the Panama Canal is paralyzed, it will take 45-50 days to travel from Australia to the east coast at the earliest, and it will take 2 months to put into operation, which has broken our most pessimistic prediction before the war. ”

Marshall followed: "This is one of the reasons why I considered agreeing to let the Australian and New Zealand troops withdraw from Kenya first." ”

"But if you really go back to the Far East, the pressure on the region will be too great, and we have ample evidence that Japan has received huge amounts of military supplies and equipment from Germany." Donovan cautiously interjected.

Admiral Kim disagreed: "Huge? How many? It will not be more than the amount we give to the British, and now the supply of refined oil products for moonshine is more than 1 million tons per month, and there are countless other materials and equipment. ”

"Not so much, but with a very different meaning." Donovan was afraid that everyone would take it lightly, so he hurriedly said, "Japan's industrial capacity is very poor, and the materials provided by Germany are of far greater significance to Japan than the materials we provide to Britain. Japan's steel production is only 2 million to 3 million tons a year, and Germany's 500,000 tons is equivalent to Japan's extra quarterly output out of thin air, and for Germany or Britain, which have tens of millions of tons of steel production, 500,000 tons is just a small number. Steel is one thing, and even more important is the equipment, there is intelligence that Japan received a large number of tanks and aircraft, the number is unknown, but it should be in thousands. Aircraft aside, the performance of the tanks provided by Germany is all stronger than that of Japan, and it is really measured in thousands, which is almost equivalent to more than half a year's domestic production in Japan. ”

"That's the only way Japan produces tanks?"

"This figure is analyzed by intelligence analysts, and I think it's basically credible. Although it is not possible to penetrate the field survey of Japanese production enterprises at the moment, we believe that Japan's steel production and the large naval tonnage it maintains will not exceed 200 vehicles per month. After halting the shipment of scrap steel to Japan two years ago, it is common sense to assume that steel production will only decline rather than rise. This figure has also been verified in Italy, which produces slightly more steel than Japan, and also has a large navy to maintain and build, so the production of tanks is very low, and it is barely improving with the blood transfusion of the Germans. The only surprise was the Russians, who produced less steel than Germany, but were able to produce more tanks than Germany and were not too far behind. Unfortunately, since the Western Front and the Southern Route were forced to close the Lend-Lease Material Transmission Route, Russia lacked available armor steel, and the defense performance of the tank deteriorated very much. ”

Roosevelt turned his head to Nimitz, who had been directing the war in the Far East and was clearly more vocal.

Nimitz thought about it for a moment and said: "If the Pacific Fleet does not withdraw, relying on General MacArthur's troops, there is a high probability that the islands near the line of Australia and New Zealand can be defended - I mean the island of New Guinea and the line of Lae, but the Solomon Islands are very problematic, and the islands of Bougainville and Munda are more difficult to hold than Kuah because they have not yet established a complete defense system." ”

"In the short term, I would suggest setting a low target, which is to hold on to New Guinea and abandon it if necessary." Nimitz cautiously said, "The closer we are to Australia and New Zealand, the more we can rely on the support of land-based air forces, and only then can we have air supremacy and sea supremacy, and then we can hold on to the islands." We paid a heavy price in the previous seizure of the islands, and in turn Japan will have to pay a heavy price if it wants to retake the islands. I have decided to take command of Australia in the near future, and to ensure that this vital front line is maintained for the United States. ”

Roosevelt nodded, apparently convinced, and said to himself: "I hope that the Japanese fleet will really go back to the Far East and not continue to make trouble for us in South Africa......"

The crowd looked helplessly, nodded solemnly, and echoed - it was a great shame and irony to pin their hopes on some of the enemy's actions!

Just now Donovan talked about the aid channel to Russia, Roosevelt frowned again and asked, "Has their food crisis been solved?" ”

This matter was coordinated by Hull, and he sighed: "I can only say that it is temporarily relieved, and it is still very early to solve the fundamental solution." Britain received 100,000 tons of Stalin's grain from India through the Afghan route, but the poor transportation conditions in Central Asia made it difficult for this batch of supplies to be transported; We gave Stalin about 50,000 tons by sea, not because we didn't want to give more, but because of the capacity limitations; Then we learned through secret channels that Stalin had made a secret deal with the Japanese, and had obtained an unknown quantity of grain from Manchuria - but it was the fastest one. ”

When they heard about the "secret deal", everyone had different expressions on their faces: Japan and the Soviet Union were now neutral countries with each other, and it made perfect sense to make a deal de jure sense, but in the case of the Axis and the Allies, this kind of transaction always exuded a strong conspiracy flavor.

"Is there a conspiracy against us?"

"Not for the time being, the Russians don't want to say more, only say that they spend money to buy, but our people tell that it's not so simple." Hull also became slumped when he said that he said, "It's not satisfying to ask the Japanese to buy it, but at least it's logical, but ...... In addition......"

"What other shameless deeds we don't know about?" Roosevelt took a deep breath.

"Russia has sent troops to China's Xinjiang to grab grain! I heard that a lot of people died! Involving factors such as local warlords in China and complicated internal relations, the relationship between the two countries is very tense now, and Chiang has sent me several telegrams, hoping that we can uphold justice, I did not say much about the overall situation, but only calmed his emotions, saying that we are morally on China's side, but at present Russia is an important ally and needs to be considerate of each other. Hull sighed, "And then some time ago the Russians made a statement that they decided to dissolve the Comintern...... Chiang was encouraged by this incident as the beginning of the total demise of the Bolsheviks, and his royal literati became active, and the media linked the two isolated events together and continued to attack the Bolsheviks in China. Our observers believe that this is a prelude to a further escalation of contradictions between the two parties. ”

"He was more concerned about the destruction of the Bolsheviks than we are, so why didn't he see him so concerned about driving out the Japanese from his own land?" Roosevelt sneered, "The contradictions escalate, and then they fight another small civil war like they did a few years ago?" I am so sorry for the United States, what kind of allies we have on our shoulders - the hypocrisy of the British! The Russians are brutal! The Chinese are stupid! The worst thing is that they are still disobedient! To tell you the truth, I'd rather have an Italy now, if not to fight, at least not to get into so much trouble. ”

Everyone looked at each other, and Hull could only smile bitterly.

Transporting supplies to the Russians was a major problem, and the United States itself was now having a big problem transporting supplies - after the Panama Canal was cut off, all ships had to go around Cape Horn to pass, which greatly increased the time and risk of exposure to submarines, so Marshall proposed a change in the mode of transportation: the goods produced on the East Coast were transported to the West Coast through the main railway artery across the mainland, and then from the West Coast to the Pacific Ocean.

Smart businessmen have seen the necessity of a change in transportation, so after the attack on New York, all other stocks fell sharply, with only military and railroad stocks bucking the trend, and railroads even more sharply than military. (To be continued.) )