By the end of February 1940, the Soviet-Finnish war was coming to an end, and the Finnish authorities were close to collapse and had no choice but to turn to other countries for help. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Such a request for assistance was immediately agreed by Britain and France, and Britain immediately began to build up troops, but what happened next was something that Britain did not expect.

As Finland's neighbors, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland have declared their neutrality, and at this time these small countries are not willing to participate in this matter, if the Soviet Union is provoked because of this matter, the huge Soviet Union will crush them as easily as crushing an ant.

However, this did not necessarily mean that aid to Finland from Britain and France would be cut off, and the support forces formed by Britain were ready to go.

Subsequently, Finland made a request to Sweden and Norway for the two countries to authorize the innocent passage of British support forces through their territory.

German Propaganda Minister Goebbels immediately issued a warning to the Scandinavian countries, warning the relevant neutral countries to 'restrain their public opinion', and directly warned Sweden not to try to help Finland, once helping Finland or allowing the troops of certain countries to lend their territory to help Finland, it will immediately be regarded as Sweden's declaration of war on Germany, then Germany will immediately make relevant responses, and the two countries will directly enter a state of war, and all the consequences will be borne by the Swedish government.

Such a statement by Germany is tantamount to declaring to the whole world that they stand with the Soviet Union and are a military alliance!

Their implicit military alliance officially surfaced at this moment, and Molotov, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR, expressed his satisfaction at Germany's approach and openly declared that the Soviet Union would cherish the goodwill and friendship from Germany.

Faced with an aggressive Soviet-German alliance, the French finally had to take a stand, and on March 1 issued a proclamation declaring that Germany would launch an attack on the countries of Scandinavia, hoping that these countries would not be deceived by German appearances. They must have a firm belief that Britain and France will protect their security, and demand that the relevant countries immediately open their borders and allow British troops to pass through to aid Finland.

The small country is caught between the two major powers, and it is almost forced to the point where they have to choose a side, but they simply do not have the courage to make a choice at this time.

At this time, the Germans will attack the Scandinavian countries, which looks like a lie told by France in order to allow Britain to support Finland, because Germany has just gone through the war and annexed Poland, and Germany will not have the leisure time to attack such a few places that are not of great strategic use.

The constant changes in the world situation made the United States on the other side of the Atlantic a little unable to sit still, and US President Roosevelt immediately ordered US Secretary of State Sumner? Wells traveled to Europe to find out what the major European countries were thinking about the future, whether there was a possibility of curtailing the confrontation, and whether they were willing to sit back at the negotiating table.

But when the Sumner? When Wells actually set off for Europe, Roosevelt privately contacted the German Führer Heydrich through the German Embassy in the United States, asking whether Germany would expand the war and whether it would really launch an attack on the Scandinavian countries, as France had said.

Who was Roosevelt?

The more turbulent Europe became, the more it helped him realize his ambitions, and he sent his secretary of state to Europe in what appeared to be a peaceful solution, but in reality it was just a show so that the American public, with isolationist sentiments, would not doubt the direction of his policies.

Heydrich understood the importance of the United States, but he didn't know how to answer Roosevelt, but fortunately, Li Ling was by his side at that time, discussing with him the question of the direction of German scientific research, and Heydrich began to ask how to answer on the spot.

And the answer given by Li Ling was so clear: "Tell Roosevelt that we will not make any other choice except war!" ”

Subsequently, Heydrich urgently contacted Stalin, hoping that the Soviet Union would end the war with Finland as soon as possible, because Germany was going to take action against some countries!

On March 3, the Soviet side demanded that the two sides enter into peace talks to end the war, but Finland must cede part of the land.

In the afternoon of the same day, Finland agreed to the Soviet Union's demands and hoped for an immediate ceasefire between the two sides.

It looked like it was supposed to be over, but things didn't turn out as they seemed.

On the very night of the Soviets' peace talks, just two hours after Finland agreed to the Soviet demands, the Soviets suddenly rejected Finland's request for an immediate ceasefire! The war continues!

The war lasted another full week, and on March 10, Finland and the Soviet Union finally signed a formal ceasefire agreement, and the Soviet-Finnish war finally came to an end.

Also on the same day, the US government suddenly announced the lifting of the arms embargo, allowing any country to purchase weapons and equipment from the United States at a reasonable price.

On March 11, the United States received arms orders from the British, French and German governments almost simultaneously.

On March 12, the U.S. Congress approved the export of a total of 50 P-40 fighter jets to Britain and France, as well as 12 B-17 bombers and eight Pratt & Whitney R-1690-E Hornet nine-cylinder air-cooled star engines to Germany.

Such a decision by the United States seems to want to maintain neutrality as much as possible, and Roosevelt did say so when he approved the bill in Congress, but in fact, Roosevelt knew very well that the role of fighters as defensive weapons in war was far from being comparable to that of heavy bombers with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers like the B-17!

What Roosevelt wanted to see was a head-on collision between Germany, the Soviet Union, and Britain and France!

In fact, when Germany offered to buy B-17 bombers and their engines, Roosevelt made his attitude clear to Heydrich directly in private: he wanted the German government to prove the usefulness of buying these planes!

Soon, just 4 days after the US Congress approved the sale of B-17 heavy bombers to Germany, Germany suddenly sent a fleet of 30 JU-88 bombers to attack the Scarper Bay naval base, sinking the British Royal Navy heavy cruiser Norfolk on the spot!

Three days later, in response, the British sent 30 Wheatley bombers and 20 Hampden bombers to bomb a German seaplane base.

This was the first time that Britain and Germany carried out air raids on each other's military bases, and the smell of war on the continent of Europa was getting stronger and stronger, and the time was March 19, 1940, and there were only 12 short days before Germany launched the 'Weiser Exercise Plan'!