The next day, Tan Renhao received specific information. The President of the United States did not propose a declaration of war in the House of Representatives, and the proposed War Mobilization Act was rejected by a narrow majority because of the temporary backlash of several important congressmen. A second voice appeared in the United States, that is, the "cruise incident" was not created by German submarines, but that someone was operating behind the scenes.

Although Tan Renhao didn't know what it was like in the United States, he could imagine that there must be chaos in the United States now. In the main war, almost half of the people in the main war and the main war are divided into two parts, and whether or not to participate in the war, or when to participate in the war, has become a topic of debate for most Americans.

In the days that followed, the situation deteriorated further and many things spiraled out of control.

On 29 November, the U.S. Congress adjourned. On this day, there were several ** events in the United States, most of which were for the president, but there were also some who were against the war, and the main opposition to the war was the German-Americans. Some tabloids also ran stories suggesting that the U.S. president was behind the "cruise incident," and the newspapers were quickly shut down.

Tan Renhao did not know that in fact, these anti-war declarations were planned by German intelligence agencies at that time, mainly to encourage anti-war rhetoric among German-Americans, and those tabloids were also secretly controlled by German intelligence services. In order to delay the entry of the United States into the war (in fact, Germany wanted the United States to stay out of the way), German intelligence also bribed several members of parliament who were close to German-Americans, or else. The War Mobilization Act, submitted by the President of the United States, has already been passed in the House of Representatives.

Comparatively speaking, German intelligence agencies were much more efficient in their activities in the United States than those of the Don Empire (at that time, most of the intelligence related to the United States obtained by the Tang Empire's intelligence agencies was actually provided by their German counterparts). Especially after the Tehran Conference, the Allies began to share intelligence within themselves, and the German intelligence agencies provided the Tang Empire with a large amount of American ground intelligence, which was of great help to the Tang Empire in judging the situation of the United States and the combat effectiveness of the US military). War. There are 12.5 million German-Americans, compared to less than 1 million Chinese-Americans. They are mainly concentrated on the West Coast of the United States, while German-Americans are mainly located on the East Coast and the Great Lakes region, which are the most densely populated regions of the United States. Germany's intelligence network in the United States has a history of more than 100 years, especially during World War I, and Germany's intelligence network in the United States was rapidly expanded. At that time, the German intelligence network was informed that if Germany did not agree to an armistice, then the United States would enter the war. And the focus is definitely on the European theater. As a result, Germany was forced to follow the Tang Empire to declare an armistice, otherwise the First World War would not have ended so quickly.

Germany did not want to anger the United States at that time, and keeping the United States out of the matter was the key to solving the problem of Britain and France as soon as possible. If the United States enters the war, then Europe will become a key area for American investment, and Britain and France, which are supported by the United States, will be even more difficult to deal with. Thus, the Kaiser announced the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare (confirmed after the war. This was actually a political manoeuvre by Germany to put pressure on the Don Empire, and not a military order) After that, German submarines were still concentrated on the eastern side of the Atlantic, and did not enter the western side of the Atlantic to attack the merchant fleet. This is enough to prove that Germany still did not want the United States to enter the war at that time, at least not before the first half of '24. Because according to the plans of the German Army, it will not be possible to solve France before the first half of 24.

German policy eventually led the German intelligence services to plan a series of activities in the United States, but it backfired, and when the United States was on the brink of the battlefield, many things were not controlled by the German government.

On 30 November, U.S. Navy escort warships crossed the line again, escorting a convoy of 58 large merchant ships to 30 nautical miles east of the mid-Atlantic line. This time, the German submarine did not exchange fire with the American destroyer and was available in the battle for the day. The warships of both sides finally and inevitably got to work.

The submarine command of the German Navy has long known about this convoy of ground transport vessels, codenamed "AT-42". The fleet carried a much-needed amount of war material for Britain, with fifteen tankers carrying a total of 380,000 tons of aviation gasoline (which was the fuel that the British Air Force had to obtain). Otherwise, the British Air Force will be grounded at the end of December), twelve ro-ro freighters carrying 1,200 tanks and 2,000 artillery pieces (this is a batch of equipment urgently needed by the French Army, without which the French Army is likely to lose the South Belgian campaign before the year), and other bulk carriers carrying hundreds of thousands of tons of ammunition, food, winter uniforms, guns and other military supplies. These materials are directly related to the military operations of Britain and France in the first and third months of the year, and even to the direction of the European battlefield on the Western Front in the next six months, and to the survival of France.

The German Navy will never let go of this big fish. A submarine that crossed the median line and advanced to the southeast of Newfoundland spotted the convoy as early as 27 November and followed it ever since. On November 30, the flotilla passed through the mid-Atlantic line, and the submarine immediately sent a telegram calling other submarines operating nearby to prepare to encircle and suppress the "AT-42" after dark that night.

The German Navy Submarine Command did not receive any order to stop the attack, and it was also determined that the American escort warship had returned, so the German Navy submarine commander gave the order to attack. Eighteen well-maneuvered submarines took part in the night raid, but no one knew that the eight destroyers heading west during the day were not destroyers of the United States Navy, but a British fleet carrying extremely important supplies to the United States (carrying gold, the gold that Britain used to pay for the purchase of arms). At the time, the German submarine in charge of surveillance did not recognize (perhaps not at all) the flag of the small fleet, but took it for granted that it was a returning American warship.

The battle lasted from 8 to 4 a.m. local time, and after the loss of four submarines, the "wolf pack" retreated. In the fierce fighting at night, at least 32 merchant ships were sunk. Or they were forced to return due to serious injuries. Most of the other merchant ships abandoned the voyage eastward and instead turned around and returned to the ports of the United States (and Canada), with only three fast tankers arriving at the British ports. It was a very successful "wolf pack" attack, but at the same time, four destroyers were torpedoed during the battle, three of them sank, and the other destroyer with a torpedo did not sink. And that torpedo didn't explode!

The results may not be anything compared to the consequences of this breach of diplomatic relations (actually). The results of this breach of diplomatic relations will still have a huge impact on the Western Front in Europe, especially on the combat operations of the French army in the early 24 years).

On December 1, just before the resumption of the US Congress, the torpedo that hit the American destroyer, but did not explode, was urgently sent back to Washington. If that's a gift, it's the best gift a U.S. president has ever received before Christmas, right now. He had conclusive evidence of the German Navy's attack on American warships, a formal reason for declaring war, and a magic weapon to convince the American senators.

On the same day, the US president met separately with four senators with extensive influence (the German intelligence service only learned about this matter the next day, while the intelligence service of the Tang Empire received the information on the afternoon of the 2nd). This time, the American media did not rush to carry out propaganda, but hid the matter. To make matters worse, the German submarine that fired the torpedo was sunk, that is. The German Navy did not know that one of their unexploded torpedoes had fallen into the hands of the Americans, and was about to become a pretext for the United States to enter the war. Therefore, the German side did not take any precautions, believing that the US president's meeting with the senators alone was only to gain support.

On the 2nd, the U.S. Congress resumed. In the morning of the same day. The President of the United States went to the Senate and gave a two-and-a-half-hour speech. The results were already known, and after this speech, most of the senators sided with the president, and the War Mobilization Act was passed into law. Three days later, the President of the United States convened a plenary session of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and put forward a request for a declaration of war between the German Empire and the Tang Empire, and at the time of the vote, two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives voted in favor. In the afternoon of the same day, the President of the United States delivered a "fireside address." Officially declared war on the Don Empire with the German Empire. The United States officially entered the Second Global War.

During the three days from 2 to 5 December, the US media overwhelmingly reported on the frenzied actions of the German and Tang Empire's submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The trampling on the lives of American citizens, as well as the brazen attacks on American warships, are a blatant challenge to the prestige of the United States. The whole world of public opinion was clamoring for war, and those who had been against it before had disappeared without a trace.

Within three days, the three most important intelligence networks of the German intelligence services in the United States were destroyed by the American counterintelligence agencies (there was no F at that time, and F was formed after the war), hundreds of intelligence personnel mysteriously disappeared (it was confirmed after the war that all of these German spies were secretly executed), and thousands of American citizens involved in intelligence activities were detained, and some of them were soon sentenced to death on charges of "treason" and "espionage" (during the war, spies can be executed immediately). Thousands of other interested U.S. citizens have been interrogated and surveilled. More than half of Germany's intelligence network in the United States was lost in one fell swoop, and it was not until more than a year later that German intelligence services resumed their intelligence network in the United States. Perhaps, this loss was much more serious than the loss of an army group by the Germans on the battlefield!

After the United States declared war, Germans and Chinese Americans were surveilled, interrogated, and detained more than 3 million people, and the United States even established hundreds of concentration camps to detain tens of millions of German and Chinese citizens. This is the biggest scandal of the U.S. government, and is it still worthy of wearing the two high hats of "democracy" and "freedom" that a country that has always flaunted democracy and freedom would adopt such brutal policies for its own citizens?

On December 4, the Tang Empire's submarine also encountered a U.S. patrol fleet on the west side of the North Pacific median line, and a skirmish broke out. Although both sides were damaged, no warships or submarines were sunk. This became the justification for the United States to declare war on the Don Empire. Of course, this reason may not be important, because after the United States and Germany declared war on each other, according to the Tehran Declaration, the Tang Empire and other Allied members would immediately declare war on the United States.

When the United States officially declared war, Zhoushan was just before dawn. The President of the United States issued a declaration of war through a public radio channel, so the intelligence services of the Tang Empire quickly intercepted the news (half an hour earlier, the United States had also transmitted a declaration of war to the Tang Empire through the Brazilian government, but when this declaration of war was sent to the Tang Empire, it was already the afternoon of the 5th). The Command Intelligence of the Navy immediately broadcast the declaration of war of the President of the United States.

Everyone was listening attentively to the radio, and Tan Renhao was smoking non-stop. The war declaration was read out in Chinese by a middle-aged man, with a deep voice that matched the mood of the time.

"It's time to come or it's coming!" Hao Dongjue sat down, the most important part had been broadcast, and now he was broadcasting the announcement of the imperial government. "As you predicted, the war broke out on December 5."

Tan Renhao smiled bitterly and didn't speak, he felt that his guess was too accurate, if he had such good luck, then he should buy a few lottery tickets.

"It seems that the American fleet is already on its way to kill!" Hao Dongjue glanced at the sky that was lighting up outside, "The time chosen by the President of the United States is really accurate, it is only dawn on our side now, and it should be around eight o'clock in the morning on the side of Iwo Jima, which is the best time for bombing." ”

"Don't worry, if the Yankees go to trouble the Second Task Force, Lei Shaoqing won't let them have good fruits to eat." Tan Renhao stood up, "Now I'm more worried about the First Task Force, I don't know if Jiang Zhongmin has already put the fleet into a combat state." ”

"The position of the first task force is further back, and the US Navy will not pick a difficult way to deal with it, right?"

Tan Renhao smiled and did not speak, if the US intelligence work is in place, then it is very likely that the first task force will trouble the first task force, because Lei Shaoqing is an experienced fleet commander, and the quality of the officers and men of the second task force is even better. On the contrary, the 1st Task Force is the real soft persimmon.

****

This may be the last update of the day. Brothers, the flickering preparations have exploded, and for the last four days, you can't do it without fighting. Now that Flicker has promised to help the brothers save up enough for a monthly pass, the brothers have the ammo in hand ready and fight Flicker until the last moment. The Imperial Navy never says never!