After Truman finished speaking, he slapped the sand table: "I can't control the affairs of Europe for the Germans, and if I can't manage the affairs of South America anymore, how will the American people think of us in the future?" Gentlemen, we have been officials for a few years, more than ten years, and it doesn't matter whether we sit in this position or not, but our reputation is hundreds of years. www.biquge.info If future generations compile the history of the United States and say that South America was gradually mastered during the administration of President Monroe, and finally lost in the hands of Truman as vice president and General Marshall as chief of the general staff, what will future generations think of us, and can our family hold its head up? ”

These words were extremely serious, and Marshall's face changed greatly, and he stood up and said respectfully: "Yes, Your Excellency." ”

Lehi and Admiral Kim looked at each other and nodded, and Turner said, "Tomorrow, no!" Starting tonight, the Navy has mobilized ships to prepare for the delivery. ”

Everyone can see that the new vice president has a very clear attitude on South America and an extremely tough personality, so it is no wonder that he will attack Wallace for treason to his face. At the same time, the concept is also very pragmatic, at the beginning Wallace said that he would give up Britain He thought it was inappropriate, and now it is his turn to take power, in the face of the rapid turn of the situation, he will no longer stick to the old words of aiding Britain and not aiding Britain, and directly intends to withdraw from Europe.

"What to do in the direction of the Pacific Fleet?

"It will take another year for the Panama Canal to be navigated, we may have another year of torment in the Pacific Ocean, and a large number of warships will not be commissioned until the end of the year, and it will not be until the spring of 1945 when the combat effectiveness is truly fully formed, so the time is just right."

"That's good, let's arrange it this way, wait for General Spruance to escort the British to complete the mission and go to Australia as soon as possible, leave the ships and supplies to the Pacific side, and let him bring the backbone officers back, Australia and New Zealand cannot afford to lose, otherwise we will fight on two fronts." Truman advised: "You should pay more attention to the matter of territorial defense on the east coast, and we must do everything possible to do a good job of radar stations, antiaircraft guns, and jets, and we must pay close attention to the training of the military, especially pilots, and we must also pay close attention to the study of new weapons such as rockets. ”

"But military spending?"

"The aid to Britain is suspended, and the aid to the Soviet Union is estimated to be stopped soon, and this part of the cost can be used first, and then go to the Congress to make up the procedures, and see if you can save a little more money in other aspects. For example, if strategic transportation is not needed, can this part of the large aircraft manufacturing be reduced? Truman thought for a moment and added, "For example, those damn aviation cannons, destroy them when they should be destroyed, don't lie on the books to fill the number, and concentrate on imitating British products in the future, but you must strictly control the quality." The military has sorted out and eliminated the unreasonable, inefficient, and wasteful models in the current equipment manufacturing, and reported to me the tricky ones that can't be cut, no matter whose relationship they have, and I will deal with them! are all about to be defeated and ruined, and who dares to make a fortune? In a word, I don't want to pursue the bad things in the past, but who will dare to give me eye medicine in the future, I asked Director Hoover to ask him to go to prison! ”

These words were extremely strong, and everyone's hearts were excited.

Finally, Lehi tentatively asks about the "political solution to the European question."

"It is not impossible to negotiate peace with Germany, but last time the conditions were very immature, and the differences between the two sides were too great to be negotiated at all. And as Great Britain is now, the whole house is crumbling, and as long as Hitler is not stupid, he will not talk to us unless there is a new idea. Truman kicked the ball back, "Or do you have any good suggestions?" ”

Lehi gritted his teeth and said, "I'm wondering if I can exchange South Africa?" This was the idea he put forward after reporting to Roosevelt, who verbally said that he could consider it, and suggested that he communicate with Truman, and Lehi took advantage of today's opportunity to bring it up.

"South Africa?" Truman fell into a thoughtful state, and his right hand couldn't help but flick a few times on the table.

"In the current situation, there is no longer any way to support South Africa in the short term, and there is a tendency to gradually isolate South Africa, which has always been relatively close to Europe and London, and the Dutch have played an inglorious role in it," Lehi explained. If the German side agrees, South Africa can be exchanged for German interests in South America......"

"That's a good idea, you can go into more detail."

Lehi gritted his teeth and explained: "The Falkland Islands are recognized as Argentine, and the nationalized industries of South American countries require the countries to return them to their original owners, and of course the United States can pay for compensation." Let the original owner choose whether to take the money or the property. Although this money is an additional financial burden, I hope that the Diet will understand that if it is solved by military means, it will cost more money than ransom. South America retains certain commercial rights to Germany. South Africa would henceforth remain under the framework of Great Britain and could not be directly occupied by Germany. The commercial benefits of Africa should be shared by American capital. ”

Lehi's current offer is undoubtedly a big step back from Joseph's last condition, and the exchange of South American commercial interests for South Africa, and the exchange of South American commercial interests for African commercial interests, seems to be much more balanced. Everyone nodded in their hearts, but their faces remained silent - soldiers cannot interfere in politics. Strictly speaking, Lehi is overstepping his words when he says this, but it is always relatively better for him to hold the title of chief of staff of the president.

"What about Japan?" Truman asked.

"Japan must continue to fight, otherwise we will not be able to give an account to the American people." Lehi thought for a moment and said, "We can offer to give up supporting Stalin." Now that the Soviet Union has counterattacked into the Caucasus, the pressure on the German Eastern Front is probably not small. ”

Truman shook his head: "I'm afraid this condition is not enough, and I have to add a little more." ”

After thinking about it, everyone really couldn't give the Germans a tradable benefit.

"After we defeated Japan, the Indian territory continued to be divided into parts of the territory of Britain under the support of Germany, and the commercial interests of the Far East were given to the Germans. In addition, we can consider agreeing to Germany's sale of some armaments to Japan, but the quantity and type should be confirmed with us first, and the United States must have the same right to purchase them. Truman considered it and put forward this proposal, and everyone was shocked, and this condition seemed to be nothing on the surface, but in fact it could be called very humiliating -- it was clearly admitted that not only could not defeat Germany, but also that Germany did not dare to sell weapons to Japan.

"You don't have to sacrifice so much." Lehi whispered to Truman about the Manhattan Project, and blinked, "This is what the President authorized me to tell you, and Wallace didn't know about it." ”

"Good, good, then wait another year or more, I can afford to wait!" Truman took a deep breath, "Gentlemen, the only world powers in the future will be Germany and the United States. It is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for 10 years, we must be patient for the time being, and find ways to accumulate strength, and I believe that there will be a new soldier and a new president who will lead the American people to finally win the battle against Germany. ”

After Truman left, the Joint Chiefs of Staff immediately took action, on the one hand, to draw up the manpower and troops to go to Brazil, and on the other hand, to prepare for the adjustment of armaments. Since Truman emphasized the situation in South America so much and specifically stated that there should be armored forces, Marshall did not dare to fool around, so he prepared to send Patton out, and the army first dispatched 4 divisions, and then considered the follow-up troops, Arnold promised to replenish Brazil with planes first, and then 300-400 medium bombers and fighters. Admiral Kim was not going to let Nimitz do the task of escorting the army to South America to land, but planned to hand it over to Mitchell, whose task was to complete the reorganization of the main aircraft carrier formation as soon as possible and let the two new aircraft carriers form combat effectiveness as soon as possible.

In terms of armaments, several bigwigs discussed for an afternoon, and with the help of the General Staff and the Armaments Bureau, they cut down more than 300 models that were not important or did not have outstanding performance in one go, including fighter planes such as the Boachai P-39, 40, 43, and 63, and bombers that were outdated or with poor performance such as the A-31, 35, B-18, and 32, and SB2C.

Of course, the project always has pressure, for example, Grumman's F7F Tiger Cat heavy carrier-based fighter-bomber was originally designed to be developed for the Midway-class large aircraft carrier, and now the Midway-class is completely suspended, plus the F7F performance is not good and heavy (11.7 tons), and the modified model is directly cut, but the company's F8F Panda carrier-based fighter project is required to be accelerated, and the Navy believes that "the carrier-based fighter still has to be Grumman" without an in-depth assessment of other opponents. Just as the dive bomber must be a product of the Douglas company", especially this time Nimitz reported that the German army has a high-performance high-altitude carrier-based fighter jet, which further aggravated the naval panic, so Admiral King demanded that Grumman must complete the prototype design and test flight by the end of June.

Jets are the top priority in armament development, and the fact that Great Britain was beaten by jet groups that came and went high this time shocked the entire top level of the Joint Staff Committee, and even more terrifying than rockets, because the rockets were finished in a while, while German jets continued to attack, making more than 1,000 sorties a day -- they could not tell the difference between the Me-262 and the Ar-234, so they went crazy and threw themselves into the jet development program.

The U.S. Army and Navy have always taken their own paths in aircraft development, and the jet field is no exception. The Navy had fewer jet programs than the Army, but they were launched early, the first of which was the McDonald's XFD-1 program (FH-1 Phantom fighter) in January 1943, and Admiral King demanded that the tests be completed and finalized in 1945. In addition, three fighter jets, Vought's XF6U-1 Pirate, McDonald's XF2D-1 Banshee, and North America's XFJ-1 Fury, were also selected to carry out parallel research to prevent the failure of betting on a single model.