On the morning of May 17, Hoffman personally rushed to Italy to send the Combined Fleet home. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The entire fleet was supposed to leave two days earlier, but Hori had to make additional demands on this premise, most of which were luxury goods or consumer durables, so it was delayed for another two days. Speer was very curious about the request that had been forwarded through Cole, and did not understand why the Japanese general was not in a hurry to fight India, but had the leisure to search for European products, especially luxury goods, but Hoffman did not care, and with a stroke of his pen signed the agreement, he sent the order to Rome, which the Italian leader was even more adept at.

As a result, German automobiles, Italian haute coutures, French perfumes and wines, and Swiss clocks and watches flowed into the pockets of the Japanese. Later, everyone finally figured out that except for a small part of it to be taken back to the royal family and dignitaries as a souvenir, most of the rest were rewards from Horiyoshi to his subordinates - only the money came from Germany!

Horikichi really dared to ask for it, the Führer really dared to give it, and everyone's brains couldn't turn around, but it was not reluctant -- the war has been going on until now, the price of luxury goods has been greatly reduced, and the value of art has continued to depreciate, and many things are hoarded and cannot be sold. Keitel is also confused, shouldn't awards and commendations be a state function? This general is not afraid of being investigated after returning home? No German general would dare to do that anyway! Even Chihipai Kol sweated for Horiyoshi's behavior, but the latter didn't seem to care, and easily prevaricated with the word "traditional".

Seeing the elated appearance of the Japanese officers and soldiers, the German and Italian top brass did not bother to pour cold water, because the Panama and Caribbean battles were fought excellently, and even though there were not half Italian warships in it, except for the Aquila, which was transferred to the German Navy, the Italian leaders still boasted about the great victory in the media. The German Navy, on the other hand, seized the rare opportunity to recuperate and held a grand ceremony for awarding and promoting medals.

According to the agreement between Japan and Germany, the war east of 70 degrees east longitude was to be dealt with by Japan, and to the west by Germany and Italy, so there were still several small targets to deal with along the way -- the Seychelles Islands under German jurisdiction, the Maldives under Japanese jurisdiction, and the British Indian Ocean Territory, but these targets were all a gesture for the mighty Japanese fleet, and the Combined Fleet racked its brains to avoid these areas when it came, and of course it would have to go back with great fanfare.

Two days before the departure of the main Japanese fleet, the Madagascar landing force had successfully landed in Dar es Salaam, and the poor British colonial army was crushed at the touch of a button, and in less than half a day, it successfully occupied the port city, and a large number of officers and men continued to land ashore and sweep north; Before them, the transport fleet led by Keno Kurita had set off earlier and was already on standby near Socotra Island - carrying most of the supplies and equipment of the Japanese harvest this time, with a total transport tonnage of more than 1.5 million tons, and the scene was spectacular.

"Looking forward to the good news of the invasion of India, I hope that I can go to the American continent with the general again this autumn and winter......" At the grand departure ceremony, Hoffman shook hands with Horiyoshi and said goodbye. Anyway, such a huge fleet movement can't be hidden, and after discussing with the three countries, they simply hold a large-scale expedition ceremony to encourage morale.

Horikichi smiled slightly: "There will be this opportunity, I look forward to fighting side by side with the German and Italian allies again......"

The news of the German landing in Dar es Salaam completely shook Eisenhower, and even the most sluggish people now understood that the African Allies had reached the most dangerous moment, and that if they did not retreat, they would be in danger of total annihilation. Although the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a clear directive on the retreat 10 days ago, the African theater did not organize a quick retreat, because on the one hand, the limited number of aircraft had to cover the troops' operations, which took up flight time, and on the other hand, it had to give priority to the evacuation of the wounded.

On May 15, the desperate Ike finally relented and decided to abandon all bombing of Germany and devote all aircraft capacity to personnel retreat. The ground troops, which had lost their air cover, were no match for the Germans at all, and in addition, the news that the Germans had landed on the flanks and that they were going to retreat in the theater of operations spread one after another, and their morale plummeted, and the front that had been locked in a stalemate two days ago was lost all at once.

On May 17, under the sharp attack of German armored forces, the African theater lost two lines of defense on the periphery of Nairobi in succession, and the last line of defense was also in danger. What's worse is that the observers found that Germany was supported by a large number of advanced fighters, not only the losses of bombers or transport planes increased greatly, but even the losses of escort fighters were also increasing rapidly, and the US P-47 fighters did not have a significant advantage over the FW-190, but the experience of German and Italian pilots was not comparable to that of the Americans, so this air retreat channel became less secure.

There was a complete uproar in the headquarters, with Americans, British, Australians, New Zealanders, and even Canadians arguing.

Eisenhower sat in the middle, his beard unshaven and his face haggard, and he said with difficulty: "Everyone, we can't quarrel anymore, the situation is so dangerous now, if we continue to quarrel, everyone will die here, and we must let some of the troops retreat first." ”

"What about the others?"

"This ......," said Eisenhower with difficulty, "the Germans have cut off our way to retreat southward, and it is even more difficult to move westward, and there is no other way but to ...... Only...... Honorable surrender! ”

"We still say the same thing, let's go together, let's die together, we want to surrender, we surrender together-we were sold once in Egypt, and this time we don't want to let us stay and break off!" The two division commanders of Australia and New Zealand suddenly attacked.

"My troops stay behind and cover the escape of you cowards." George Barton slapped the table and said angrily, "Before I change my mind, get out of here!" ”

"George, you can't stay, you're the one named by the president to retreat, this combat experience is important, the armored forces of the United States can't do without you." Eisenhower smiled wryly, "I'd better stay, someone has to take responsibility anyway." ”

"No, the commander-in-chief of the theater of operations cannot be a prisoner!" Several American division commanders were furious and sprayed at the British, "-, you dog-mothers, Lao Tzu came from the United States to rescue, and you repay us like this?" ”

"Or I'll stay." Rear Admiral Hewitt smiled miserably, "Anyway, the warship has long been gone." ”

"No, you are a navy, you can't surrender on behalf of the army." A circle of people unanimously objected.

"Listen to me......," Ramsden, who had not spoken, spoke, "I can stay and lead the troops to surrender, but I have one condition!" ”

"Tell me about it."

"Let the ANZAC be the first to retreat, and the British troops to be the last."

"Why?" Everyone was stunned.

"The Australian and New Zealand divisions were bought by General Montgomery with his life, and I promised him that he would take good care of these two troops, as for the ...... of the British Empire," Ramsden said with a wry smile, "Both Kenya and Tanganyika are British colonies, and we have the unshirkable responsibility to defend the territory......

When he said this, everyone fell silent.

The ANZAC forces were speechless, the British themselves were dejected, and the Americans were equally speechless. Although several American generals were dissatisfied with the second group of retreats, no one was embarrassed to disagree in full view.

"Let's decide for now." Eisenhower glanced around, "Today's deployment is a comprehensive retreat, the first batch of ANZ troops, only transporting people!" The action must be fast! The blocking troops must grit their teeth and resist it. ”

After everyone said yes, they left the conference room with heavy steps. Unbeknownst to Eisenhower, withdrawal was not the most difficult option, but the most embarrassing thing in the domestic public opinion -- all because of the keen attention aroused by the "Voice of Europe":

"Good night, American listeners! We continue to report on the war in Africa.

A few days ago, the heroic German marines landed in Dar es Salaam and successfully copied the flank of the British and American forces in Africa; there are still more than 60,000 British and American allied troops trapped near Nairobi, Kenya, with no reinforcements from outside and no supplies from inside, and only a very unreliable air supply line with a range of 4,000 kilometers.

After several days of fierce fighting, our army destroyed two lines of defense on the periphery of Nairobi, and now the enemy's army was shaken and panicked, and a large number of officers and soldiers surrendered. Our troops captured a large amount of materiel and weapons and equipment, including tanks...... Machine gun...... Artillery...... We once again found a large number of American officers and soldiers of German and Italian descent among the captives, many of whom had been deceived and coerced into going to the battlefield.

One young man sadly told us that his father had been detained in prison by the United States government for no reason, simply because he was a German immigrant, and that he had been forced to serve as a soldier in order to save him and prove his loyalty, and that he was now being taken prisoner.

Once again, we call on the American people of continental European descent, African descent, and Indian descent to stop working for shameless politicians and Jewish financial oligarchs! This war has nothing to do with you! Resolutely refuse to pay taxes! Resolute refusal to serve in the military! If you are already in the military or about to give them your life, in order to save your life, we have the following suggestions:

1. If you encounter our army on the battlefield, you will surrender immediately, and we promise to give you good treatment;

2. Learn the commonly used German or Italian, in case of being captured by our army, mastering German and Italian can be preferential;

3. If you are unable to learn for the time being, please keep a note on your body or keep the leaflet we have distributed - "My father, mother, grandfather, grandmother are Germans, Italians, please forgive me for their sake" and we will be lenient......

All captured officers and soldiers of German and Italian descent have the priority to return to their own nationality, and as long as they sign the application and swear allegiance, they will be immediately released from captivity and can freely settle in the two countries; If they are unwilling to apply for repatriation, they only need to sign a document that they are unwilling to continue to be hostile to the two countries, and the first batch of post-war repatriation ......" (to be continued. )