Seeing the lack of confidence of his subordinates, Hoffman desperately cheered them up: "Don't be intimidated by the influence of the United States in South America, the influence of the United States there is more economic, political, and cultural, but the military influence is the worst, the further south you go, the less military presence there is, and the British have very little defense force on Malvinas Island - only a fraction of Madagascar." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info travel from Spain to the Falklands is not much closer than from the United States. Although Brazil claims to be the largest power in South America, its military strength is very insufficient, with only 100,000 standing troops and 300,000 reserve armies. ”

"If this military power were placed in Europe, the Romanians or the Hungarians could easily solve them. It is certainly not realistic for us to fully occupy South America, but defeating the Brazilian Army is easy - five divisions are enough to bulldoze them. But I'm not going to send so many troops, one or at most two Marine brigades to the Falklands and Argentina, and then planes and instructors, and then I'm going to arm Argentina enough to overwhelm the poor military power of the Brazilians. ”

There is no disagreement about this: even though Brazil has a larger population than Argentina, Brazil is ethnically complex, with a large number of Japanese and German ethnic groups, and is far less pure than Argentina - 93% white, and very pro-European, especially Italy and Spain, both countries with close ties to Argentina, so Brazil's demographic advantage is easily offset. Conversely, multi-ethnic Brazil is likely to fall apart if it is hit hard.

"The Malvinas Islands are currently under British occupation, and we will take them and return them to Argentina, but they will become our military bases in wartime. It is not very strategic in peacetime, but the Argentines take it very seriously, and the recognition of their sovereignty over the Falklands is the cornerstone of the strengthening of relations between the two countries, and the Argentines will follow us with all their hearts. If there is such a base, with the assistance of the Argentines, it will be enough to turn South America upside down. Hoffman smiled, "The level of our instructors is by no means the same level as the level of American instructors, and the Argentines armed by us can easily deal with the Brazilians, unless the Americans send a large number of troops to Brazil." ”

At present, the Argentine Navy has 2 dreadnoughts, 3 heavy cruisers and 2 armored cruisers, while the Brazilian Navy only has 2 older dreadnoughts and 2 light cruisers, and the main focus is on escorting, not to mention that it is not enough for the German Navy to fight, and it is not even qualified to fight with Argentina alone. Originally, the last time Machar led a fleet to South America to break diplomatic relations, he had this intention, but in the end it was forcibly interrupted by Spruance's fleet, which also paid a heavy enough price.

This time, Hoffmann was determined to send a strong force, and if the combined German-Italian fleet were to be dispatched, not to mention Brazil, the entire South American navy would not be enough to fight.

"That'...... What about the US Navy? ”

"Let them come out and fight with them, everyone has a good fight, and the Americans cannot be given the opportunity to accumulate warships at home calmly." Hoffman laughed, "Now that we have some advantages in sea power, we must give them bloodletting often...... Unless Roosevelt was willing to be a shrunken turtle. Don't keep thinking that we will suffer if we stand alone against the United States and not let the US Navy divert to the Pacific. Germany will be the locomotive of the European Union in the future, it will be the leader, and it will not even have the courage and determination to resist the United States independently, what do other countries think? Once the U.S. Navy cannot be mobilized between the two oceans, the Japanese will only launch an even more frantic attack in India, which will benefit us in the final analysis. ”

This reason is really powerful, a few people, you look at me, I look at you, and in the end they don't speak, the chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, Yeshunek, and the chief of the Army General Staff, Zeitzler, have not been able to interject, and now they are even more completely silent, although Schneywind still wanted to say something, but was stopped by Keitel with his eyes, signaling him to listen to the Führer first.

Yodel asked, "What if the Americans don't come out to fight?" ”

"That would be great, the prestige that the United States has accumulated from the Monroe Doctrine is about to be completely wiped out -- could it be that Roosevelt doesn't want to be re-elected? Don't want to finish this term well? Hoffman laughed, "The United States has its own national conditions, and it is not something that Roosevelt can easily reverse......

"As for time and troops, gentlemen, I know what you are worried about, and it will not be rushed." Hoffman confidently said, "I intend to give you two months to prepare, and on July 15 I will set out from Italy, this time not Gibraltar and the Azores, but through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, and put on the posture of attacking South Africa or assisting in the attack on India, in fact, I will make a false shot, bypassing the south of South Africa and going straight to the Malvinas Islands." It would take a month for the Americans to reach the war zone even if they reacted as quickly as possible, by which time we would have already occupied the island and consolidated our defenses. No matter how smooth it is, at most 1 Marine Brigade and some equipment will be lost, and the Navy will not be in serious trouble. But once successful, the rewards can be substantial. ”

"Führer, you just said that you want to support this Juan Peron, and that he will soon carry out a coup d'état, and that it will be too late to leave again in July?"

"Coup d'état?" Hoffman smiled slightly, "That's the Argentine's own business, let's just see, we don't have to participate, if this person can't even do a coup d'état, what's the use of supporting him?" ”

Everyone nodded, and the uneasy mood calmed down a lot - the logic of the whole thing was very clear, first there was a change of power and policy within Argentina, and then there was a German projection of power, and the coordination was seamless. It seems that the Führer's plans, although imaginative, are not lacking in caution.

Hoffmann enumerated the advantages with a pomp: "As long as the island is captured, it will become our outpost in the South Atlantic, like the Azores - joint attack aircraft and special mines will once again remind the Americans of the bitter memory of air strikes." The Falklands are more advantageous than the Azores in that they are very close to the Argentine mainland, it is far easier to transport construction materials to the island than to transport supplies from Spain to the Azores, the Argentine land-based airfield can smoothly cover the island, we will have a completely reliable rear, and the national passion of the Argentines is an important factor that cannot be ignored in accelerating the construction of the island. ”

Hoffman remembers the Anglo-Argentine battle of the Maflats Islands vividly: this island is the lifeblood of Argentine nationalists, and whoever can help Argentina get it is the eternal friend of the Argentines, and as long as Germany can do it, the Argentines will risk their lives to help.

"What if the Americans come and don't fight, just deploy in Brazil and confront us? Isn't it that the forces are all pinned down? ”

"That's good! The fleet depends on Argentina for supplies nearby, and the Falklands can have a calm construction time, and the Americans don't have to think about the route south of Brazil, and the supplies and energy from Chile and Argentina are constantly transported to Madagascar, and the island is used as the middle to transfer back to Europe - the Indian Ocean route is much safer than the Atlantic route, and ......," Hoffman added, "I have made an appointment with General Horikichi that when the Indian strategy is over, the Combined Fleet will go west again, and then it should be the time for a general attack on the British Empire, without the help of the United States, Can Churchill's Royal Navy, with few ships, hold the British Isles? If the power of the United States is contained by us in the South Atlantic, it will not be able to control the North Atlantic. ”

Hoffman also has his own explanation for the situation that everyone is worried about fighting a war of attrition with the Americans and then being crushed by the United States.

"The United States is very industrially powerful, perhaps more developed than the three Axis countries combined, but industrial development does not necessarily equal victory. Otherwise, during the American Revolution, Britain had the most developed industry, the most powerful navy, and the most complete army, why did the American group of natives succeed in the rebellion; Another example is the Napoleonic period, Napoleon had the advantages and industry of all Europe, why did he sink in Moscow? The United States is not for the sake of the people, but for the interests of the capitalists and politicians, they are all waiting for a return, only pay no gain, only sacrifice without victory, how long can they hold out? We cannot allow the United States to calmly develop an advantage, and we must continue to consume its strength. Even if it can't hit the mainland and core of the United States for the time being, it can hit his periphery and weaken his wings. ”

Keitel added: "I think the best possible thing for the Americans is to provide military supplies to Brazil so that Brazilians and Argentines go to war." ”

"The battle between these two world enemies was not won so quickly...... Hoffman said meaningfully, "even if Argentina did not resist enough and eventually lost, what does it matter to us?" It is normal for the United States to win, and it is a big loss of face to lose, and we have nothing to lose! It's like fighting in the enemy's house, everyone fights and smashes things, as long as we get out of the way, who will suffer in the end? ”

Everyone laughed, applauding the vivid metaphor of the Führer, which was more convincing than arguments of political and military significance, and the meeting finally unified the mind, and stipulated that Joddle and Schnywynd should jointly draw up a battle plan, which was called the Springboard.

The Supreme High Command generally believed that the loss of the plan, if any, would not be too great, and that the Kungunir plan and the Panama plan, which were more risky than this, had been carried out, and the loss of some marine brigades and equipment was completely bearable.

Schnewand immediately calculated the number of troops: if July 15 is the day of the campaign, the Italian Navy's Harrier Eagle should have been commissioned and completed sea trials, the Zeppelin aircraft carrier can be repaired and put into service, the battleships lightly damaged in the Caribbean Sea campaign will be basically repaired, and the Xiafei supplementary aircraft carrier will almost be put into service, even if the Reich battleship cannot be commissioned by then, the German-Italian combined fleet can still assemble 3 aircraft carriers, 7 battleships (battle cruisers) - 3 Italian ships (3 Veneto class ships), Strong forces including 4 German ships (Bismarck, Richelieu, Strasbourg and Gneisenau). (To be continued.) )