Hoffman's signs of wanting to pull the Irish were obvious, and he did so without scruples, and the Italians, the French, the British, and the Americans knew it, and the Irish knew it even better. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Ribbentrop and others persuaded Hoffman many times, telling him that it was difficult to negotiate between Britain and Germany, and that the Northern Ireland issue alone could become a thorn in the Anglo-German negotiations, and that Edward VIII might not be able to accept the consequences, and that it was the Irish question that was most criticized by the British centrists for peace negotiations. But Hoffman was unwavering about this, he knew too well what virtue the Britons were, they had been a-stirring stick in Europe for 200 years, how could they get it without restrictions? He could find a way to keep some territory for the British in the Indian subcontinent and find a way to find them a colony in South America, but at the same time, he also needed to find a dog leash for the British in Europe to prevent the British from making trouble in the EU in the future.

The necessary flexibility is still needed, and the German Foreign Office has also added that it believes that the question of the ownership of Northern Ireland should not be changed by force, and recommends that a referendum be held in Northern Ireland after the end of the war to decide whether to join Ireland or remain in Great Britain. This statement is very tactful: the Irish think that the people above are all residents of their own people, and the so-called referendum is not just a formality? Some people in Britain believe that there are many pro-British factions in Northern Ireland, and coupled with the administrative and military rights reserved by the United Kingdom, there is a great chance that the referendum will be manipulated even if it is forced to do so.

So the balance of the Irish was tilted back in favor of the Axis, and when the German tsunami plan was successful and occupied the Azores, especially after the Combined Fleet went westward and the Axis Combined Navy defeated the British and American fleets, the signs of pro-Axis Ireland became more obvious, and the United States stopped aiding Ireland at this time - the supplies to Britain were too busy, so how could they care about Ireland? Replenishment in Irish ports was also not a priority, and for the Allies, Ireland had lost its strategic significance, and as long as Ireland did not openly surrender to the Axis, it would be a victory. Ireland did declare neutrality on several occasions and refused German arms aid, much to the Allies' relief.

Could this delicate tipping point begin to be breached in April 1944, as Marshal Brooke had predicted? When Churchill was still thinking, Menzies's phone came in, saying that there was something important to report, and Churchill wanted him to say it on the phone, but when he saw that everyone behind him pricked up their ears and eavesdropped, he thought that Menzies must be allowed to come over, otherwise the high-level speculation will be chaotic in the future.

"What's the bad news?"

Menzies reported with a blank face: "Just sent news from the inside line in France that the SS Irish division has appeared near the port of Brest!" ”

"What?" Churchill was stunned, "Is the news accurate?" ”

"It's being verified through other channels, and there are still ......" As if there wasn't enough bad news, Menzies added, "Two days ago, there were indeed 4 German capital ships in A Coruña, Spain for resupply, and our people don't know if it contains the other 2 aircraft carriers, but he saw German planes." ”

"Boom", the conference room seemed to explode, and it was all messed up.

Ireland has a defence force, a total of 40,000 troops, and 200,000 reservists, always using British-made weapons, nominally neutral, but everyone knows what the Irish are inclined to. But it was not the Irish Wehrmacht who was in trouble, but the SS Irish divisions.

After Hoffman issued the declaration on the question of belonging to Northern Ireland, many people in Ireland secretly went to Germany to join the SS, either to France, or through the Netherlands and Belgium, but the final destination was all Germany, and it was inevitable that there were pro-British Irish undercover agents, so Menzies could obtain information relatively easily.

In order to recruit these volunteers, the SS deliberately formed the SS-13 Irish Division, which historically belonged to the Holy Sword Division (Croatian Greens), which was a good hand at scourging the people, and its results in fighting were completely poor, and in the end it turned back. Hoffmann knew too well what the virtues of this force were, and while giving the SS-13 number to the Irish, he refused to set up a sword division, and only agreed to set up a similar security unit for them to serve under Mussolini to encircle and suppress Tito, who was worried that there were not enough troops, how could he not have a thug who came to the door?

In addition to the SS-13, the SS-14\15 numbers are also different from history, and they were originally intended to be given to Ukrainian and Latvian volunteers, respectively. Since Ukraine, Latvia and other countries began to form independent defense forces after the promulgation of the Eastern Policy, Hoffman was ready to let them join the defense forces to which they belonged, and the Ukrainians easily agreed to it. But dealing with the Latvian volunteers ran into problems, and not only did Himmler repeatedly express his desire to stay, but the Latvians themselves strongly demanded to remain in the SS, saying that they would "loyally fight for the Führer until the last moment."

Given the good fighting of the Latvians and the fact that they had historically fulfilled their promise to fight until the last moment - some of the Latvian SS troops fought until 1959, Hoffman was also a little reluctant to push them out. In the end, after coordination, he canceled the original planned SS-19 (Latvian 2nd Division) number, and injected all volunteers from the two units into the SS-15 to form an independent SS Latvian division, and no longer form the Latvian SS in the future, except for the replenishment of troops.

Naturally, the Latvian authorities were grateful, and the volunteers who remained in the SS were satisfied. On the third day after the call-up order, enough volunteers were recruited, and the number of applicants continued to pour in, and in the end, an additional 1,200 people had to be recruited in the name of the reserve. The SS-14 was given the designation to the Estonian division (historical number SS-20), and the reason is the same.

However, only Latvia and Estonia have SS units in the three Baltic states, and Lithuania does not. In fact, there were fewer volunteers in the country, mainly because of the Aryan ethnicity - both Latvians and Estonians were considered Oriental Aryans, but Lithuanians were not, and a small number of Lithuanian volunteers (more than 2,000 people) eventually joined the Lithuanian Defense Forces after coordination.

As a result, the SS-13, 14, and 15 divisions became the Foreign SS, and the SS-16, 17, and 18 were German divisions (Hoffmann promised Himmler to expand the army by 4 divisions, referring to the 12th, 16th, 17th, and 18th divisions).

The SS-16 Division National Leader Division has a general evaluation in history, although the weapons are very good, but they do not have real swords and guns to fight tough battles, and there is a lack of experienced commanders. The reason for this situation is inseparable from Himmler's ambitions, he tried to control this force for his own use and focused on appointing private individuals, Hoffman did not allow this to happen, and because the war on the Eastern Front was smooth and the SS losses were small, so SS-16\17\18 and SS-12, the backbone officers were drawn from several veteran divisions such as the Guard Banner, the Reich, the Skeleton, and the North, plus the formation of high-quality reserve forces, and the combat effectiveness naturally could not

I thought that 18 divisions was the limit of the SS in 1944, but I didn't expect that the SS-19\20 army was faster than several German divisions, and the source was not at all expected, these were two American divisions - SS-19 America 1st Division and SS-20 America 2nd Division.

By April 1944, the SS had 20 divisions in full operation (with some smaller units, such as the Walloon Brigade), and with the exception of the SS-17\18 two German and Irish divisions that had not yet been organized, almost all of them were in service on the Eastern Front, and even two American divisions were under the command of the Eastern Army.

In order to solve the problem of the ideological style and combat effectiveness of the American division, Hoffman instructed them to rest on the ground in Russia for a month, and asked the Propaganda Department to send people to brainwash them again -- the survivors of the Great Purge, the surviving Gulags, representatives of various Soviet minorities, representatives of comrades-in-arms of the Russian Liberation Army, and the old, weak, sick and disabled in Russia who had been ruthlessly abandoned by Stalin because of hunger, took turns to tell their personal experiences, and finally arranged for them to visit the site of the Katyn Forest Massacre and several prisons of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so that they could be educated from childhood." The officers and men of the "terrible nature of Bolshevism" had a vivid experience lesson, and they realized that the contents and problems mentioned in the United States not only existed vividly, but even surpassed them.

"With such a brutal country, the United States still wants to join forces with it to send supplies and arms to fight us? Roosevelt and Stalin were in cahoots! ”

The sense of justice and morale of the SS American division burst instantly, and in the words of Field Marshal Weickers, commander of Army Group East: "The Americans are very good, much stronger than the rumors I have heard, except for the style of wasting ammunition as always, everything else is remarkable, who is spreading rumors that they will not be able to walk without trucks and jeeps?" ”

Now that the SS Irish division had appeared in the port of Brest, and the news of the movements of the other fleets could not help but stimulate the nerves of everyone - did the Germans really intend to land in Ireland?

Field Marshal Pound, who had not spoken, suddenly pointed out another possibility: "Will the Germans hold off General Nimitz's fleet with their main fleet, and then force their landing in Ireland with other warships?" And maybe this Irish division was the first step for the Germans to throw stones and ask for directions? As long as the Irish Wehrmacht did not fight this force, it would be able to easily receive the landing of the German army in large formations after it had taken control of the key points. ”

The more Pound said this, the more Churchill thought about it, the more he felt a little dangerous, and turned his head and asked Brooke: "How many troops do we have in Northern Ireland?" Should preventive controls be initiated? ”

"Northern Ireland now has about 400,000 troops, including 2 armored divisions, and it is not particularly difficult to assault and control, but ......," Brooke interjected, "in case it is just a feint, we will completely push Ireland away, and it will be difficult for 400,000 to defend the entire island of Ireland, and it will be even more difficult without naval superiority......"

To bet or not? The crowd fell into deep thought.