If it had been before, for example, when France had just surrendered, Churchill would have given the order to "fight" without hesitation, not to mention just Ireland, even if it was the French, he would have done the same. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 However, the situation has changed dramatically compared to three years ago, and the British Empire does not have the capital and strength to squander and make enemies for itself. Besides, Ireland was cautious, and although it was unhappy with the British Empire, it did not accept German military advisers and weapons, and according to internal pro-British personnel, there was no official channel for exporting intelligence to Germany -- it was inevitable in private, and Britain itself was not doing it.

Churchill sighed and asked Brooke: "Is it feasible from a purely military point of view to land in Ireland with our troops stationed heavily and our fleet on the outside?" ”

"It makes sense logically." Brooke walked to the map and gestured, "You see, now that the German fleet has withstood the TF46 fleet, the waters west of Ireland are undoubtedly very safe, and the Germans can land in a large circle in the western ports of Ireland, do you think the Irish will resist?" Maybe they won't be able to ask for it! As long as there are 50,000 landing troops, and then 3-4 days to deploy the air force, Ireland will be firmly held in the hands of the Germans, and in the future, the Germans will continue to increase troops to Ireland without hindrance, and even transport those damned railway guns, what do you say? ”

The railway cannon or something is obviously Brooke's overthinking, how can he have the ability to send the railway cannon on the ship if he doesn't disassemble it? However, if there is such an opportunity and strength to send all the railway guns up, it would be better to simply send a few more ordinary tanks and planes, but Ireland will not resist the German invasion is obviously a terrible prospect. Because there is a precedent for this: most people in Ireland are pro-German, but there are also many pro-British factions, since the pro-German people can go to Germany to join the SS, naturally some people go to Northern Ireland or Britain to join the British army, especially some people in the Irish Wehrmacht run to join the British army in response to "resist Nazi tyranny".

Not only is the Irish government the only one of the 27 Commonwealth countries to claim neutrality, but they are also openly enforcing double standards: the SS pretended to be deaf and dumb, but all those who joined the British army were treated as deserters and placed on the charge of "defection" -- the Irish government dealt with more than 5,000 such deserters after the victory in World War II, depriving them of the right to work in public positions and enjoy the relevant state allowances.

Although Brooke said this, his advice was not to take the risk: "We ought to first send a note to the Irish government telling them that we will not stand idly by if they cannot resist the German invasion; Then, as part of our military strategy, we should keep an eye on the Irish coastline, and as soon as we find that the Germans are beginning to land in large numbers, whether it be an SS Irish division or some other unit, we will immediately move our troops into Dublin; Also, we need a whole new administrative team......"

The last sentence indicated Brooke's desire to prop up the puppet regime, and Churchill nodded with a heavy heart, and then said: "Send the message to Cunningham and General Nimitz, tell them the unfavorable situation, and prepare the troops in Northern Ireland to attack." ”

"Intelligence says that the Germans still have 6 aircraft carriers?" Nimitz was shocked when he received the telegram, this is too much, the German Navy is so scary now.

"There are four ships that must be escort aircraft carriers, which are not a big threat, and I estimate that most of them are trying to cover the landing. Now I can't tell what the other 2 aircraft carriers mean. Cunningham frowned, apparently he was also caught off guard, "There are two possibilities. First, these two aircraft carriers joined the enemy fleet in front of them and coordinated to launch a strong attack on our forces and eliminate all interference with the landing; Second, these two aircraft carriers were used to cover the landing in the direction of Ireland, and the Germans were confident that they could stare at us with the three aircraft carriers in front of them, and the other two aircraft carriers were used to cover the landing of the army. ”

"You mean, the Germans are going to land in Ireland anyway? Are they so sure? ”

"I guess, there is too little intelligence and information right now to judge." Cunningham said bitterly, "If the Germans have control of the sea, why don't they land?" To defeat the British Empire, they had to land to be useful, and now that the best landing site is under our control, the Germans naturally have to settle for the next best thing, and I think the German commanders are very good at improvising, or they did two plans at the beginning. ”

"Rumor has it that the German commander was Rommel?"

"Yes, I've heard that it was he who led his troops to land near El Alamein and eventually buried Montgomery......"

"And how about breaking the German superiority at sea?" Nimitz also sighed, he believed that the courage of the German army was accustomed to the results of the naval battle in the South Atlantic, and Spruance failed to eat the opponent's detachment under the premise of dominating the situation and was defeated, which undoubtedly emboldened the Germans.

"Hard to eat?" Cunningham shook his head, "I'm not optimistic, the opponent may get land-based assistance in the offensive state, 3vs3 is very dangerous, and 3 vs. 5 is even more uncertain." ”

"Let the other side attack us."

"The other party? Why did he have to come? What if they don't come? ”

"They'll come." Nimitz walked over to the map and drew a route, "If we go back the way we came by this route, what do you think will happen to the Germans?" ”

Nimitz's route is almost the same as the route of the march that quickly slipped into the Danish Strait, but now it is in the opposite direction. Looking at this route, Cunningham suddenly understood the other party's thoughts: if TF46 goes like this now, the German fleet must pounce and take the initiative to intercept, otherwise once TF46 bypasses Greenland, it will be equivalent to the failure of the German blockade. And the risk of the next step of the German army that failed to block it is very high, they are likely to not be able to catch the TF46, for the German army that wants to land, and even the landing force is sent out, this is the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.

The TF46 could go around in a semi-arc circle to avoid the Azores and return to the sea west of Ireland, and once the TF found an opportunity, it would be enough to send the German landing fleet to the bottom of the sea in just one afternoon - the landing force was gone, and what was the use of the Germans having another advantage at sea? The warship could not sail ashore again.

Moreover, Cunningham knew that Nimitz's step was also a hidden murderous intention: since the German fleet has a problem with short legs, it means that its pursuit ability is insufficient, once the TF46 is allowed to run, the fuel consumption of the German fleet that is forced to catch up will be accelerated, and the 4 Veneto-class ships will soon be forced to return due to fuel exhaustion, and the German fleet is obviously impossible to return at will before catching the US fleet, and this aircraft carrier group will only have 1 Tirpitz to escort the escort, which objectively provides convenience for the TF46 to fight back. In terms of fuel, the TF46 can support twice as long as the Germans, and that's the advantage!

Cunningham calculated that if both sides excluded land-based forces, their superiority in the number of carrier-based aircraft would be more fully utilized. Of course, no one can guarantee the matter of fighting, and the greater the number of victories, but not the greater the number of victories.

Obviously, Nimitz was gambling that the German fleet would not dare to make the decision to let the TF46 roam at will, and that once the TF slipped away, the German army's operations would be halted at least or face annihilation, and even if the German army could not be destroyed, it would be good to delay the enemy's landing operation - isn't the Allies now the most lacking in time? As long as it survives May, the new warships will be able to overwhelm the axis after they are commissioned, and then the US warships will be commissioned faster and faster, and the advantages will become more and more obvious.

"Take a gamble?"

"I can only gamble, I hope you and I can have better luck."

"Okay, I'll report back to the country, and I have to get their support."

In the early morning of April 18, after listening to Pound's report on the concept of the next battle plan of TF46, Churchill's face was cloudy and he asked: "How likely is it to do this?" ”

"There are four possibilities, the first is that the main force of the enemy fleet is heavily damaged and our losses are not large, then the enemy landing fleet is forced to retreat for fear of our attack; Second, if the enemy and our fleet do not engage each other, and our fleet re-enters the depths of the Atlantic Ocean to become a guerrilla fleet, the enemy's landing operation will be forced to be postponed. Thirdly, if our fleet is heavily damaged and the enemy suffers little losses, the landing is imperative, not only in Ireland, but also in Iceland; Fourth, if both the enemy and our fleets are defeated, the enemy's landing action cannot be predicted. ”

"What are the possibilities? In particular, how sure is the first possibility? ”

"I think the second option is the most likely, maybe more than 40%; As for the confrontation between the enemy and our fleet, I think the battle situation will start in five or five, and our own side will have a slight upper hand, after all, we have the initiative to choose. "As for the worst-case scenario, if the British and American navies are evenly matched or even have a slight advantage, they will not be able to defeat the Germans." So, Your Excellency, I don't think there is any hope for the two countries in the short term, so consider a political solution. ”

Churchill's heart suddenly cooled, and he turned his head unwillingly to ask Fraser: "If you were commanding TF46, what better strategy would you have?" ”

"Sorry, I didn't." The latter shook his head, "I think General Nimitz is quite interesting, at least willing to fight the Germans in order to help us." What if Nimitz runs straight back to the United States and sells us, seeing that the Germans have the upper hand, and mobilizing the enemy under the pretext of mobilizing enemy troops, I am most afraid of it now. With their personalities, it is not necessarily impossible to do it, otherwise, how did those two SS American divisions come from? ”

After hearing this, Churchill almost spurted out a mouthful of old blood, and was speechless for a while, and finally he waved his hand weakly: "Let the fleet carry out the order, whether it is dead or alive depends on this one." ”

And all the people were silent.

Churchill thought for a moment and told Pound: "Cunningham, don't be sold by the Americans!" If necessary, he will bring me the fleet back alone! ”