After listening to Roosevelt's introduction to Admiral Kim's strategy, Lehi sighed: "I'm afraid Admiral Kim's full concern didn't tell you. ”

"He's trying to hide the truth from me? Or do you have reservations about me? Roosevelt raised his eyebrows, visibly upset, "Why did he do that?" ”

"Probably not, I'm afraid he hasn't figured out how to deal with it yet. He's a very controlling person, and doesn't allow too much to be out of his control, perhaps thinking of the best of both worlds. Lehi walked over to the map, pointed to a dot and said, "Intelligence officers show that the Germans are making big moves here soon......

Roosevelt looked up and saw that it was Gibraltar: "Do you think Gibraltar will soon fall?" ”

"Spain has been determined to provide all kinds of convenience to the Germans, and I estimate that Gibraltar will not last more ......than a month under the siege of the German army, navy and air force," Lehi slapped his hand again in the middle of the Mediterranean, "and there is a whole combined fleet here, can you imagine them all rushing into the Atlantic?" ”

Roosevelt was stunned, and a terrible scene instantly conjured up in his mind: if Germany broke the blockade of Gibraltar and the Combined Fleet and the Italian Navy rushed into the Atlantic, not only would the Atlantic be turned upside down, but even the entire east coast would tremble under the cannons of the Japanese super-battleships (he had no idea that the Yamato-class would not be able to pass through the Suez Canal) - no matter how many warships the British had, it would be difficult to compete with the entire naval power of the Triple Axis, even with the Atlantic Fleet.

"We must support and even defend Gibraltar?"

"Can't do it!"

"Can't do it?" Roosevelt was stunned, "How is this possible, at least it can delay the time of collapse or loss." ”

"It's a very difficult thing to do." Lehi explained, "There are two ways to defend the fortress of Gibraltar: first, to have the right to control the sea, to destroy the surrounding forces with malicious intentions towards the fortress and to provide a steady supply to the fort guards; Second, to have air supremacy and contain the enemy's attack on the fortress. Neither of these can be done now. ”

Roosevelt thought quickly: Since the Italian Navy and the Combined Fleet were located in the Mediterranean, it would indeed be too difficult to fight for sea supremacy -- if the Allied Navy was sure to defeat the Axis Navy in the Mediterranean, it would be better to abandon Gibraltar and let the enemy fight, at least so that they could stay away from the Axis land bases.

"Then fight for air supremacy......," Roosevelt said, "and I can send enough planes and pilots to Gibraltar." ”

"I can't get it! Even if the plane was actually delivered to the defenders, it didn't take long for it to become a pile of scrap metal. Lehi patiently explained to Roosevelt, "Gibraltar has no strategic depth, only a bunch of batteries and an airfield, the capacity of which is extremely limited, and the enemy can destroy and block the airfield with artillery, and it can be done at night." As soon as the war starts, the land airfield will be destroyed. Only the placement of aircraft carriers near Gibraltar is promising...... The problem was that no matter where the aircraft carrier was deployed, the Axis powers could find it and strike it - because there were German airfields all around, and I couldn't find an aircraft carrier that could withstand land-based attack aircraft. ”

"Isn't that helpless?"

"I could only think of one solution, but I didn't have time."

"Tell me about it."

"Draw Portugal into the alliance, and then deploy enough military forces in the country to use Portugal to coordinate the defense of Gibraltar."

Roosevelt smiled bitterly: "Let's not talk about whether Portugal can agree, even if we agree right now, it will be too late for us to send military forces over." Even if Portugal joins the League, how likely he is to survive the German land attack - the road itself will not work. ”

Roosevelt asked suspiciously, "Then why didn't Admiral King point it out to me?" I'm not an unreasonable person, and I can understand the military difficulties - how easy is the axis to sweep half the world? ”

"Because he is afraid that you will force some military tactics for some political reasons."

"For example?"

"You ordered him to send escort aircraft carriers to support Gibraltar, and to take off fighters from above to delay the German attack as much as possible. In the eyes of many people, escort aircraft carriers are relatively cheap, and even if they are lost, they do not feel distressed, and if they have to be sacrificed for some strategic purpose, they belong to the category of sacrifice. ”

Only then did it dawn on Roosevelt why Admiral King reacted so violently when he heard the British asking for 20 escort aircraft carriers -- like a cat with its tail stepped on.

"What's wrong with this strategy? Doesn't work? ”

"Maybe it works." Lehi sighed, "But there are as few as 800-900 people on an escort aircraft carrier, and as many as thousands, if we want to support Gibraltar, we need to be mentally prepared to pay 15-20 escort aircraft carriers to sink." ”

Roosevelt froze: he didn't care about 15 or 20 ships, but tens of thousands of naval officers and men...... He shuddered for no apparent reason. The North Sea Battle lost 3,500 gold admirals began to slap the table and curse, if it is really confused off the coast of Gibraltar and lost tens of thousands of navies, it is estimated that the navy will riot, right?

"Moreover, Gibraltar was on the edge of Spain, and the Germans could fight at any time - a strategy that could only delay the final fall of the fortress, but not the final fate."

"What's the point of that?"

"It means a lot - the more time drags on, the better it will be for us, because the Combined Fleet cannot stay in the Mediterranean forever. If we don't want the Combined Fleet to enter the Atlantic, the only way is to keep sending vital forces up to plug the gap until others get tired of it or can't hold it anymore......"

"That's really...... What a ......" Roosevelt said two "yes" in a row, and he was really speechless, and then asked, "In that case, why can't he just say it to me?" ”

"Because he knows that I will definitely report to you......" Lehi smiled bitterly, "He is the boss of the navy, and there cannot be anything beyond his control." ”

"So he played a little bit of a trick with me." Roosevelt muttered, "I guess I don't like my strong support for the British." ”

Although Admiral Kim was a little unkind, Lehi didn't want to fall into such a trivial matter, it didn't make sense, he only said to the mud: "So he is a military strategist at most, and you are the political leader." ”

Roosevelt's depressed mood improved a lot: "The British call us to escort aircraft carriers, do you give it or not?" ”

"Since the five ships have been promised, they should be delivered, but you must not be under any illusion that the British will never use these escort aircraft carriers to support Gibraltar. Don't look at Churchill, the fat man, who now swears by it, bragging that it is solid and foolproof, and that when it comes to an emergency, they will pull down their faces and speak directly to us - did you say yes or no? They have done a lot of such inauthentic things in the past few years. ”

"This ......," said Roosevelt, who now had his turn to make a mistake, laughed at himself, "am I a wronged president in the eyes of others?" ”

"This is different, you look at the overall situation, Admiral Kim is responsible for the navy -- no naval commander has ever become famous by sacrificing a lot of his subordinates, and judging from the feelings and job requirements, Admiral Kim would rather risk being attacked on the east coast than rashly give the navy's vital forces to the enemy to kill or wound, after all, it is possible in the front, but there are real casualties in the back."

"But if the East Coast is really attacked, of course I will be attacked by the people, but his responsibility will definitely not run."

"This is a familiar phrase -- a very good reason that Britain has always used to impress us, and I have heard it a lot in the past few years: that the control of the European continent by Germany would be detrimental to the United States, and that the victory of Britain by Germany would pose a real threat to us." "England is now a house on fire," said Lehi, "and he yells that we will help him put out the fire - or the fire will burn down our house, but God, our house is across the river from his house." ”

This sentence is an extension of Roosevelt's speech when the Lend-Lease Plan was passed by Congress, when Roosevelt said that when his neighbor's house was on fire, he should lend them fire hoses instead of bargaining over price. Of course, Lehi did not say this to satirize his backstage boss, but to try to tell Roosevelt that it was okay to borrow a fire hose or even send a fire hose, and that if he had to risk his life to rush into the fire to save people, the nature of the matter would be different.

"It's a dangerous view – even though it's right and marketable." Roosevelt sighed, "I understand the soldiers, really, I'm sorry for their sacrifices over this time, but I don't regret it - can the fire police not go in and save people because the fire is in danger?" That's his job! The United States is the guardian of justice and freedom on this planet, and it is our natural mission to defend a free world, and this mission requires all Americans to do their best. If the country needs him to give his life, he should sacrifice it with a smile. ”

If Hoffman hears Roosevelt's words, he must hug him and cry: Bosom friend! In this war, everyone gave everything for the country, even if it was sacrificed - what is not the essence of National Socialism?

Lehi understood Roosevelt's subtext, and he was silent for a minute, and then quietly shifted the topic to something else: "So Admiral Kim is also reluctant to report such a solution, especially one that is easy to fall into a dilemma." He must have been waiting for the Combined Fleet to return to the Far East, although none of us knew when the Japanese would return. Speaking of which, the crux of the problem lies in the fact that the North African landings did not last in the first place, and if we had a territory in Morocco and Algeria at present, it would not be a matter at all to defend Gibraltar. In the final analysis, it should have been ignored in the first place to forcibly land in North Africa, and it was a big deal to kill more people, and now they are forced to pay a greater price in order to die fewer people. ”

Roosevelt glanced at Lehi with satisfaction: it took less than a minute for this henchman to adjust his position and views to a high degree of consistency with his own, and he was really a smart man, and he had always liked to deal with smart people...... (To be continued.) )