Port of Salina Cruz, Mexico.

On a light rainy day at the end of July, the pier was bustling with local vendors in big straw hats selling handicrafts, cocoa beans, cigarettes, sweets, chocolates and other small goods. The largest commercial port and oil export port in southwestern Mexico can be seen by all kinds of people, Indians, Europeans and even Asians, and the harbor is anchored with freighters of different styles from various countries, including Chilean, German, British, Turkish, and even Japanese, and the clouds of war seem to be far from drifting here.

Just after noon, a loud whistle came from the harbor, and the merchants on the dock looked forward to see two warships flying the German flag and the German navy flag slowly sailing into the harbor, and behind them, the majestic cruise ships and cargo ships sailed into the harbor one after another, and finally docked at the dock area on the north side of the harbor.

Seeing this scene, the Mexican hawkers rushed towards the place where the big ship was moored, and before they knew that a large group of heavily armed Mexican military police had sealed off the dock area, the hawkers had to watch from a distance who was going to use such a big pomp.

After the ramp of the cruise ship was lowered, the first to disembark were several German sailors in dark blue naval uniforms, and at this time, the people on the dock could already see that the ship's gangway was full of German ** men wearing light gray summer military uniforms, domed steel helmets, rifles and bags. It's just that the skin color of the faces under the steel helmet is not European white, and their arms are just as swarthy.

There are a lot of blacks in the United States, and most Mexicans have seen them, but it is the first time that most Mexicans here have seen such groups and wearing German uniforms. The vendors had completely forgotten that they were here to sell their wares, and one by one they stood on their tiptoes and looked curiously.

The black soldiers descended from the gangway slowly but in a very orderly manner, and then a group of more than 100 people gathered on the pier near the gangway. After counting their soldiers, the black officers shouted in German:

"Stand ...... Correct! Rightward...... Turn! Walk in unison...... Walk! ”

Roar! Wow!

The black soldiers, who had just been unhurried, stunned the spectators in the distance with their uniform movements, and then. The big leather boots made a neat and pleasant footstep on the stone pier, and all the soldiers stared indifferently ahead, their chests held high, as if they were participating in a military parade.

The Mexican military police who had stopped around the dock quickly made a way, and the onlookers outside retreated a few meters away, then watched with great curiosity and surprise at the black soldiers who were lining up from the dock to the train station.

"They're also Germans?"

"It doesn't seem to be!"

"But they're wearing German clothes!"

"Probably the German colonial army!"

"Oh......"

For the next period of time, such fleets arrived every two or three days, and the soldiers of the German African colonial army naturally did not buy anything from the Mexican petty traders on the docks. So most of the Mexican vendors gathered around the train station — hoping to sell their wares to the black soldiers sitting in the wagons before the train left—who were not paid as much as the German Home Army, but who still had some pocket money to buy cigarettes and candy to support their families.

Since late July, the port of Salina Cruz, located in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, has gradually become the busiest dual-use port on the west coast of Mexico, for the simple reason that the Americans have deployed a large number of submarines in the Gulf of Mexico and sent minelayers to mine the main ports on the east coast of Mexico at night.

If a shipload of cargo is sunk by a torpedo or a mine, the loss is only money, but if it is a troop carrier full of soldiers. I am afraid that every attack will become a great tragedy. Thereupon. The German Navy's troop carriers took a safer route, a detour through South America and then Chile to Mexico's west coast ports, a route that took nearly a week longer but was escorted by the Allied Navy. The loss rate has dropped to about three percent. By mid-August, more than 500,000 troops had been brought in from the German mainland and the African colonies, and only one troop carrier sank in an attack by an American submarine.

On the other hand, the Americans lost a total of more than 70 submarines and more than 30 minelayers in the month after the start of the war, and although it is undeniable that the powerful shipbuilding industry of the United States was enough to make up for these losses in a short period of time, the lost skilled sailors could not be cultivated in a month or two.

After being reinforced by 150,000 native troops and 400,000 African colonial troops, the German Expeditionary Force under the command of Admiral Ollie and the Mexican army under the command of Field Marshal Villa began attacking the other two states of the southern United States, California and Arizona, on August 14, and captured Los Angeles, a major city in the southwestern United States, on the 17th. By the 19th, five German-African colonial divisions and one German armored brigade had launched the Battle of Las Vegas. The fearless efforts of the brave African soldiers on the battlefield were appreciated by the German and Mexican commanders, and also terrified the American officers and soldiers on the other side.

In addition, after a week's rest, Goodry began to advance toward Louisiana, while Rommel's Panzer Division captured Oklahoma City with Mexican infantry, and all five southern states of the United States fell on August 20.

The ground forces were in the limelight, and the Luftwaffe was not idle, and by mid-August there were more than 1,200 Dornier DD long-range bombers deployed in the southern United States, Guadeloupe, and Newfoundland. Almost every day, one or two large aircraft groups bombed important industrial areas and oil fields in the United States, and nearly 50,000 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary bombs dealt a very serious blow to the industry that Americans have always been proud of: the Baltimore city was almost razed, the surrounding factories were operating at less than 5 percent, the situation in New York was even worse, the once bustling financial districts, ports, and Broadway were all wiped out by German bombs, and the whole city was waiting for the end of its life like an old man in the wind and candles, while Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Detroit were also in danger of being destroyed by bombs and incendiary bombs, and only the industrial areas of Minnesota and St. Paul, far from the German air bases, were not bombed for the time being.

When the southern Houston oil producing and refining areas were occupied by the Germans, the U.S. government was not facing an oil crisis for a while, but the war potential was undoubtedly greatly weakened. As a result, the U.S. government had to readjust its deployment. On the one hand, they accepted that the British and Canadian governments sent ground troops to fight in the United States, and on the other hand, they demanded that Russia attack Germany by land in accordance with the secret agreement between the two countries, so as to achieve the goal of containing the German army and diverting the attention of the German high-level.

The Russian Empress quickly politely refused the Americans' request, and although the Americans provided tens of millions of dollars in financial and material aid to Russia, Germany at this time was far from being able to defend itself in the rear - together with Oli's Royal Combat Army and the German 5th Army, which was later transferred to the front, the German Army only sent less than half of its regular troops, and there were still nearly 500,000 regular troops stationed in the country. In just one week, more than 2 million well-trained reservists who had participated in the European war will join the battle sequence, in addition to nearly 500,000 well-trained African colonial troops, and the sophisticated equipment of the German Army, this formidable enemy Russia cannot afford to provoke.

Disappointed, the U.S. government had no choice but to pin its hopes on its own two-ocean fleet.

On 4 August, after a three-week voyage, the U.S. Pacific Fleet finally returned to the West Coast of its homeland, where its former home port of San Diego had been badly damaged by heavy Luftwaffe bombardment, and German and Mexican ground forces had approached the port city, so the fleet had to temporarily anchor in San Francisco, which was inferior in all respects to San Diego and Norfolk. However, there is also a large naval base. Before deciding where to go, there is a good option for the US Pacific Fleet on the West Coast.

August 7, San Francisco, USA.

The gentle breeze was mixed with the foul smell of something burnt. There was a sickly noise in the bustling downtown area, the whining of fire trucks, the cries of women and children, and the extremely miserable choking of old men.

Smoke rose from the city, and outside the narrow Kinmen Strait, a fleet with the Stars and Stripes on its mast did not know whether to advance or retreat, and the sailors standing by the railing had anger and grief in their eyes.

In the command room of the flagship "South Dakota", General Robert Koontz looked at San Francisco beyond recognition with a grim face, although he knew that the German army had been attacking by land, sea and air since the beginning of the war, but he did not expect that even San Francisco, which was more than 600 kilometers away from the southern border, would be subjected to fierce air attacks. The military port of San Diego, which is adjacent to Mexico, has been captured by German and Mexican troops. He and the Pacific Fleet had lost their home port on the west coast, and the naval base in San Francisco, which had been thought to be usable, now seemed to be within the bombing range of the Luftwaffe.

An hour later, the Pacific Fleet under the command of General Koontz neither entered nor left, but only swam on the surface of the sea over and over again, and the decision to enter or leave was not up to him, in fact, in the Department of Naval Operations in Washington, senior generals were hotly discussing the issue, whether to go north to Seattle or south to Panama represented two ways for this fleet to meet the Atlantic Fleet - from the Arctic Ocean into the Atlantic Ocean or through the Panama Canal into the Caribbean Sea. There are pros and cons to both approaches, as well as risks, knowing that the mighty German Atlantic Fleet is enough to handle either fleet alone.

Not long after, a German reconnaissance plane with a single wing and twin engines appeared over San Francisco, and the German pilots on it obviously noticed the fleet outside the harbor, and then began to circle over and over again, until three F48 fighters taking off from the "Langley" aircraft carrier took off, and the German plane turned around and flew south.

"Looks like we can't stay here longer!" General Koontz sighed, "Send a signal to the San Francisco Naval Base and ask them to send ships to bring fresh water, vegetables and fuel out, and the fleet will go north at cruising speed!" ”

Reluctantly, the American sailors bid farewell to the Golden Gate Strait and San Francisco with their ships, but after 24 hours, they had to turn around and head south on the sea, because Washington sent a secret telegram asking General Koontz and the Pacific Fleet to adopt Plan B, that is, to go to Panama, and the Atlantic Fleet stationed in Norfolk would also carry out corresponding actions in the near future to finally achieve the goal of the rendezvous of the two oceanic fleets.

Washington made such a decision because, not long ago, the German North Sea Fleet swaggered away from home to join the German and British fleets stationed at Pascaflo, a powerful fleet of 40 light ships with 5 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers, and 40 light ships had entered the Atlantic, and it was estimated that it would join the German Atlantic Fleet in a week, and according to reliable information, the German Mediterranean Fleet and the main Turkish fleet were also preparing to go to the Atlantic. At that time, even the U.S. two-ocean fleet will have a hard time competing with the Allied Grand Fleet, which has air superiority.

Another very important reason is that the German Atlantic Fleet, which appeared a few days ago in the waters off the Bahamas and Cuba, began shelling military fortifications and ports off the coast of Cuba in the early hours of 8 August. Although the United States did not directly rule Cuba at this time, the current Cuban regime was also single-handedly supported by the United States, and the United States still has army and naval forces in Cuba and occupies the Guantanamo Bay naval base, and Cuba at present can be said to be half a colony of the United States.

On the same day, an American submarine lurking near Guadeloupe spotted a German fleet centered on three super-large landing ships, which also confirmed the speculation of American intelligence that German troops were about to land in Cuba!

However, the thousands of US troops and more than a dozen small and medium-sized ships stationed in Cuba were not capable of resisting the German Atlantic Fleet at all, and the Cuban armed police force was probably vulnerable to the German marines.

Once Cuba falls into the hands of the Germans, the northern gate of the Caribbean Sea will probably have to say nothing to the American ships that come out of the Panama Canal and cross the Caribbean Sea into the Atlantic, and Cuba is only separated from the US mainland by the Florida Strait, which is more than 200 kilometers wide, and the consequences of allowing the Germans to build an air base there are unimaginable.

As a result, the US Naval Operations Department had to issue an order that the two oceanic fleets must meet in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico as soon as possible and engage the German Navy in a life-and-death battle in the waters near Cuba. To this end, the US submarine forces blockading the Gulf of Mexico will rush to Cuban waters as soon as possible to fully cooperate with the main fleet's operations.