PS: I wish all readers a happy Mid-Autumn Festival and a family reunion!

On the morning of May 2, the door of the famous Oval Office was tightly closed, and there were only two people inside, one was US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the other was a middle-aged man who was not yet 50 years old but had a very high hairline. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The time for the second congressional question on the afternoon of May 3 was getting closer, but Roosevelt still did not wait for the much-needed good news. Yesterday, the entire northeastern coastal army aviation unit searched for a whole day, and found no trace of the enemy, although everyone knew that the attack group was coming with aircraft carriers, but this huge fleet disappeared as if it had evaporated from the world.

According to the judgment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, if this fleet had escaped wholeheartedly, it should have run 1,200 kilometers by now, although everyone did not give up, but the result of the battle was almost certain. The Raven sent urgent information that the Axis fleet was once again calling at Sangra Sansseemo, but by the time the British sent out heavy bombers to bomb them, the entire fleet had disappeared without a trace.

Arnold instructed the Eighth Air Force to launch a large-scale retaliatory air raid during the day today, and yesterday made various preparations in the day, mobilizing more than 1,000 bombers and corresponding escort troops to prepare for a devastating blow to Berlin, but Roosevelt himself was not very optimistic about the results of the air raid -- the 1,000-plane bombing was carried out many times, and it was very powerful at first, but later the effect became worse and worse, and the losses became greater and greater.

After the large-scale blockade of British sea transportation lines, the transportation of materials and oil was quite difficult, if it were not for the revenge for the bombing of New York, Churchill was reluctant to take out very valuable aviation fuel to squander, a thousand bombing and escort fighter sorties would cost at least 10,000 tons of high-grade fuel, it would be more meaningful to bomb the Azores. At present, the main aircraft for bombing the Azores has been changed from Lancaster to B-17F, and American technicians have installed excess additional fuel tanks called "Azores fuel tanks" in the wings, and the overall fuel capacity that can be carried has been increased from 9,463 liters to 13,671 liters, and the theoretical maximum range has exceeded 7,000 kilometers, which can support the aircraft to safely carry out round-trip bombing missions -- provided that they are not injured.

The good news didn't wait, but there were a lot of troubles:

Yesterday evening, Dewey held a news conference at New York City Hall, where he gave a detailed account of the attack on New York City and the results of the initial rescue efforts, and the entire bombing destroyed New York's most famous landmarks to the fullest, although the casualties were not large, less than 200 in total, and less than 100 casualties except for members of the National Guard. But because the Axis had deliberately bombed the wealthy neighborhoods of Long Island, most of the dead were upper-class family members, and while the core members of the First Consortium family were unharmed, Roosevelt had received several phone calls expressing his dissatisfaction with the government's failure to implement an effective defense.

With the destruction of landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge, New York's municipal operations will be in serious trouble, and now that the downtown area is completely closed, Roosevelt could not imagine what kind of problems he would encounter on the first working day of May 3.

If the casualties of the families of these professional managers and the daily chaos of New York were minor troubles, Dewey's public statements were the real big troubles. At the press conference, the biggest opponent in next year's presidential race mercilessly criticized Roosevelt's national defense policy point by point, criticized New York's terrible defense system in front of reporters and observers, saying that what he saw was "a handful of airplanes, inefficient air defense firepower and command system, extremely poorly trained personnel, and officers who were at a loss." He said that he would urge the military to continue to strengthen air defense and army building, and in order to enhance the effect of the explanation, he even deliberately pulled Marshall, and the poor army chief of staff did not dare to evade it. was speechless when asked by the media at the scene, and only bowed and apologized again and again.

Less than three hours after the national speech, the German side delivered a-for-tat speech, and Goebbels personally went into battle, and Roosevelt knew the whole process very clearly, but he did not have the ability and means to interfere with the people's access to information -- the United States is not Germany, and the more news they don't want the people to know, the more daring reporters dare to reveal it, not to mention that the Germans also use high-power radio stations to openly shoot and send clear telegrams to the media throughout the United States, and it is very difficult to blockade them.

After the Germans had finished speaking, Marshall made a long-distance call to him saying that he would return to Washington tomorrow to discuss a countermeasure, and at the same time told the president with concern that the roads were crowded with private cars fleeing inland, full of frightened middle classes, that the shops in the city were sold out, that people were hoarding things everywhere, and that the price of gas masks had increased five times compared to last week.

Roosevelt was worried about the situation of the rain and the wind, coupled with the possible huge fluctuations in the capital market, and the first reaction of the people after the Pearl Harbor incident was anger, but the first reaction after this incident was panic, Roosevelt was considering whether to strengthen the control of public opinion, but this was a very dangerous double-edged sword, and he was really unsure in his heart, so he had to invite Hoover to discuss together.

"I'm afraid that society will be in chaos for a while, after all, the continuous news shock during this period has confused the minds of the people of the whole country......" Hoover sighed and said as if bitter, "and now there are strange rumors circulating everywhere, such as 'The German ministers, marshals and industrialists all have children who are dying one after another, and we are only known here for the Sullivan brothers.......'"

The five Sullivan brothers, descendants of Irish immigrants, typical civilian children, all served on the light cruiser Juno, and all died in the South Pacific campaign last year, causing an uproar after being reported by the media, and the US military specifically emphasized that in the future, the same family member will not be allowed to serve in the same combat unit.

Those who have really been in contact with high-level people, who have traveled abroad, and who have some understanding of the political ecology and high society of the United States and Germany, will not be confused by the contrasts listed by Goebbels, because there are profound differences in national conditions:

Germany is a traditional Junker society, with a strong militaristic tradition, and soldiers enjoy a high political and social status, even if they lose World War I, this tradition has not faded: if a man cannot prove himself on the battlefield, not only does he feel that he can't hold his head up, but also looks down on his friends, partners, subordinates and even his wife, most of the children of upper-class people will choose to serve, and they will go to the front, and the officers, especially the senior officers with "Feng", are military aristocrats inherited for generations, Marshal Manstein, for example, was born into a family of military aristocrats, not only his father was a Prussian general, his uncle was a general, his grandfather was also a Prussian general (he led an army in the Franco-Prussian War), he graduated from a junior military school, and spent time in the army before he became an adult.

The United States is a commercial civil society, businessmen, engineers, lawyers, and doctors are the people who enjoy the highest political and social status in society, and a man's most important ability is to prove himself in the shopping mall, and he will be ridiculed if he can't make money, and officers are in the eyes of many people as "simple-minded, well-developed limbs, simple and rude" image representatives, and most of them are not the choice of successful people, so not only the children of first-class families choose to do business, but even the children of high-ranking generals are rarely willing to continue to follow the road of joining the army. Comparing the leaders of the United States, it can be seen that Coolidge, Hoover, and Roosevelt, who successively became presidents of the United States after World War I, were either lawyers or engineers, while Hindenburg and the Führers, who became leaders of Germany, were soldiers, one was a marshal and the other was a corporal.

It's a pity that only the top elites can understand and understand this truth, and the people will never know it, and even if they do, they can't accept it in their hearts -- the children of the big men in Germany are proud of fighting wars, and the children of our big men in the United States are proud of making money? What kind of reasoning is this?

"Will there be a backlash from the regulation of public opinion?"

Hoover was silent for a long time and only squeezed out one sentence: "It depends on how determined the government is." ”

"For example?"

"To establish a comprehensive and meticulous news censorship system, we cannot just rely on the consciousness of the media or journalists; It is necessary to reduce the use of radios and characterize listening to enemy stations as a serious crime of treason; Encourage the public to expose and monitor the behavior of unstable elements in the community; segregated censorship and surveillance of dissident groups; Secretly sort out and screen immigrants of German, Italian, Irish and other origins, and transfer them from core positions......"

Edgar Hofer's list of remarks made Roosevelt's heart beat and sounded like a harbinger of the transition to a police state.

"I can understand the others, but the last one ......," Roosevelt hesitated, "haven't we sorted out and identified the enemy?" ”

"They are not enemies, they are citizens of the United States, or second- or third-generation European immigrants." Hoover explained, "I'll use an analogy, I have a typical case of a family of German immigrants who moved to the United States after the last war and became a U.S. citizen, the head of the household had served in the Kaiser's army and is now retired, and the son was born after the war, and was raised and educated entirely in the United States, and did not speak much German, and did not find any record of their association with any Nazi groups, but our agents found that the head of the household often listened to German radio at night in an old military uniform with medals, When he heard the news of the German victory, he saluted excitedly...... They have become completely Americanized in terms of identity and life, but the thoughts in their minds are still very dangerous, and their crimes are not enough to commit treason. ”

"It is necessary to learn from the German authorities' approach to social control – all in order to win." Edgar Hoover concluded. (To be continued.) )