John was so suspicious because he knew that the British would have mastered the "enigma" code of the Germans. Although this is still a top secret of the British military at www.biquge.info the moment, even Randolph knows nothing about it.

In fact, as early as two months ago, the British had already salvaged part of the rotor of the "Enigma" cipher machine from a sunken German submarine. The "School of Code and Encryption" in Bretchley Park has successfully cracked the German "enigma" code. Now, a secret agency called YService is listening to German radio frequencies 24 hours a day, sending a steady stream of German movements to Churchill's desk.

John also knew that historically, the British military even sacrificed the industrial city of Coventry in order to keep this secret. It was better to sit back and watch the city be razed to the ground by German bombers, leaving thousands homeless, than to organize the evacuation of the local population in advance, so that the Germans would not find out that their code had been broken.

But John thought about it again, it was only the end of August, and Hitler himself had not given up his plans to land in Great Britain. The British must have had some unavoidable reason for sending troops to Egypt at this time. Could it be that something new has happened in North Africa?

"Is there anything new about the Italians?" John asked curiously.

In his previous life, John's memories of the battlefields in North Africa were limited to the Battle of El Alamein and Operation Torch. If you want to talk about the "fox squirrel war" between Rommel and Montgomery, he can count them all. But he knew very little about the more than half-year-long rivalry between Italy and Britain in North Africa before 1941. In later generations, many historical books recorded this period only lightly: "The Italian army was easily defeated by the British army".

"The governor of French West Africa has been replaced, and the new governor has sworn allegiance to the Vichy government. The Italian 5th Army Corps, which was fighting the French on the Western Front, transferred 5 divisions to reinforce the 10th Army Corps deployed on the border of Libya and Egypt. Randolph said with a sad brow: "The Italian army on the western border of Egypt now has ten full divisions plus a brigade and five tank regiments, more than 215,000 men. Lieutenant General O'Connor (commander of the British Western Desert Army Group in the Middle East Theater) had only two divisions and 65 tanks. ”

I see, John nodded secretly. If you add the 250,000 Italian troops in Ethiopia, the ratio of British and Italian forces has almost reached 1:10. The "inferiority" of the British in North Africa was so obvious that it was no wonder that they were so eager to send more troops to Egypt. If the Suez Canal fails, their supply lines connecting the Middle East and the Far East are in danger of being cut off completely.

At this time, John could only console Randolph that the commander of the Italian 10th Army, Field Marshal Itano Balbo, had been killed by overexcited Italian anti-aircraft gunners (Balbo himself was a legendary flying hero known all over the world, and Chicago's Balbo Avenue was named after him). In June 1940, the plane he was flying in was beaten down by the Italians' own anti-aircraft guns). Now that his successor, Marshal Graziani, had just taken office, it was unlikely that the Italian army would launch a large-scale offensive for the time being.

His words didn't do much though. In 1940, Italy's military strength was still a bit bluffing. At least on paper, their naval and air forces are still above the Germans. Otherwise, Hitler would not have had to make such a great effort to win over Mussolini.

John stayed patiently with Randolph, and after listening to him sigh for a long time, Mrs. Churchill sent to inform them that Ambassador Kennedy and his wife had arrived, and let them go to the small ballroom.

John hadn't had much deal with the nouveau riche Kennedy Sr. before, but Mrs. Kennedy, who came from a famous family, was an acquaintance in their circle. Her father, Mr. Fitzgerald, was an important member of the "Irish Gang" in American politics and held the mayor's seat as mayor of Boston for a long time. (In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Irish Americans controlled the municipal systems of many large cities, such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago, and were very powerful at the local level.) ）

"Congratulations, John. I heard Jennifer say that Adele was about to have a baby again...... "As soon as we met, Mrs. Kennedy began to enthusiastically teach John about her parenting scriptures. In this case, John had no choice but to listen patiently.

First, this eldest sister is the wife of William's cousin, Jennifer's best friend, and she is 13 years older than him. People show concern for Adele as a world friend, and he has no reason not to give the other party.

Second, when it comes to having children, the other party does have enough right to speak. Mrs. Kennedy not only gave birth to four sons and five daughters in her lifetime, but also had a knack for physical recovery and maintenance, and lived in good health until 1995, when she was 104 years old.

Thirdly, the hostess, Mrs. Churchill, also took part in the subject with great interest, and John was even more difficult to dodge. But John always felt that Mrs. Churchill's words were a bit of a message to Randolph and Pamela, who was helping out.

He glanced at Randolph with "sympathy", it seems that as the only son in the family, Randolph is facing a lot of pressure in this regard.

By the time the hands of the clock pointed to 7 o'clock, Churchill finally returned. While wiping the sweat from his head with a large handkerchief, he apologized to everyone for being "late". After a round of pleasantries, the dinner officially began.

The menu that night was average, with canned and preserved food accounting for more than half of the meal, and John even felt that it was not as good as eating at the Cook owner's shop at noon. However, on this occasion, eating is just a formality, and it doesn't matter what you eat, why you eat it and who you eat it with is the key.

Ostensibly, the meal was a thank-you dinner for Mrs. Churchill to express her gratitude to John and the Vanderbilt Education Fund, and Churchill was merely a "guest".

During the banquet, Churchill did not dominate the crowd and completely handed over control of the scene to his wife. Except at the beginning when he and Mrs. Churchill offered John a glass of wine to express his personal gratitude for the "great good deeds" of John and his family, Churchill had been eating attentively. It was only when the ladies spoke about the 24 per cent luxury tax that the government had recently introduced on fur, silk stockings and cosmetics that he paused to make a few comments.

Although the overall atmosphere of the evening was very much like a normal family gathering among friends. But everyone knew in their hearts that Churchill was not here to eat smoked pork and pickled cucumbers, or to hear people talk about the luxury tax and the recent performances of the ENSA Theatre Troupe.

Sure enough, after dinner, the main topic finally came. Churchill offered to invite John and the Kennedy ambassadors to the library for a drink with their father and son.