On June 22, 1942, Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov arrived in Washington, D.C., on a plane via the North Pacific and Alaska. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThis was the first time that the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the socialist Soviet Union, as a representative of the allies of the United States, arrived in Washington, the political center of the capitalist world, on a diplomatic visit.

"Comrade People's Commissar, welcome!" On the South Lawn of the White House, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was in a wheelchair, greeted Molotov in an apparently learned Russian dialect.

"On behalf of the 180 million Soviet people, I wish you good health, Mr. President." Molotov spoke nonsense in an ebullient tone - how could Roosevelt be healthy like this?

"Haha," Roosevelt laughed with his head tilted, then pointed to the main entrance of the White House, "Comrade People's Commissar, let's go in and talk...... It's June, and the sun in Washington can be very strong. ”

It was a bit hot in Washington in late June, and Molotov, who came from the north, was uncomfortable. And the temperature inside the White House is not much cooler, and it is equally sultry. But Molotov still had to dress up in a thick suit, sit on a chair covered with fluffy flannel and a little hot buttocks, and talk to the supreme leader of capitalism with a smile.

The visit was actually unplanned, and Molotov was supposed to visit Washington in the hotter months of July or August to discuss autumn and winter operations - by that time the great Soviet Red Army would have liberated Warsaw!

However, the plan could not keep up with the changes, and after the battle of Legionovo-Vovomin, everyone knew that Warsaw would not be so easy to liberate. The Soviet Red Army was bound to encounter an unprecedented bloody battle under the city of Warsaw, and Molotov came for this.

"Mr. President," Molotov said without beating around the bush, but straight to the point, "we suffered a defeat in the area of Legiono-Vovomin, northeast of Warsaw, where 1 army group was crushed and several hundred tanks and 20,000 soldiers were lost!" And the losses of the aircraft are also very large, in the past ten days, the Red Air Force has lost more than 10% of its strength, which is a very serious loss. This shows that Nazi Germany was stronger than we thought, and we probably underestimated their power. ”

His words were immediately translated into English by the translators who were present.

"You need more help, do you?" Roosevelt also didn't talk nonsense with Molotov, but asked directly, "What is needed, just say it." ”

Roosevelt was not pretending to be bold, but the Polish campaign had proved the value of the Soviet Union by fighting so far -- not to mention that the Soviet Red Army was not strong in combat, and it maintained an offensive state for more than ten days, advancing from the Bug River to the city of Warsaw, and also uprooting more than a dozen German "ring defense fortresses." Even if it was defeated in the battle of Legiono-Vovomin, the losses were not very large, the defeated troops did not completely collapse, and the offensive state of the Soviet troops was not broken. can fight with German Superman like this, that is, the Soviet Red Army, and the British army that is replaced by Qiu Fat Man goes up to fight, and now most of them let Germany fight with their heads.

Moreover, the Soviet Red Army was not particularly awesome. If Warsaw had now been liberated, and there was a great tendency to bulldoze Berlin and sweep the Atlantic through Paris, then Roosevelt would not have considered a large amount of aid to the Soviet Union.

From the analysis of the current Polish battlefield, Roosevelt and his staff believed that the Soviet Union was a country that could inflict huge casualties on Germany. If the United States could provide adequate assistance, then the Soviet Union would be able to bleed Germany until Germany could no longer support it. Therefore, on the issue of aiding the Soviet Union, Roosevelt will not be too stingy now, and aid is not money, which is nothing. Taking the lives of German supermen is a big deal, as long as the Soviets can kill the Germans in large numbers, it is easy to say that they will be able to provide assistance or something.

"Mr. President, we urgently need your P51 fighter jets, as many as possible, to cover Moscow, Leningrad and other large cities from the threat of German high-altitude bombers, and also to use them to support the Battle of Warsaw."

Molotov was also not polite and immediately made a request.

"No problem, I'll provide it right away." Roosevelt said, "The P51 squadrons that have now been deployed to the Soviet Union can all fight with the Red Air Force, and some fighter wings can be transferred from Britain to the Soviet Union." We will also send new planes to the USSR as soon as possible, and give you 500 P51s first, is it enough? ”

"It's enough for the time being, but these planes need to be transported to the Soviet Union through the Atlantic and North Pacific waterways, and we don't know how long these two Soviet lifelines will last."

Molotov paused, and then said, "So we still want to produce such aircraft and engines in the Soviet Union, but our technology and equipment are still somewhat backward." ”

Of course, this is also a reasonable request, and now there is no problem with the shipping lanes in the North Pacific, but the transportation routes in the North Atlantic are always under the threat of the European Combined Fleet, and once the North Atlantic routes are cut off, the supplies sent to the Soviet Union will be reduced by at least 60%.

"There is no problem at all," Roosevelt nodded, "and we immediately sent equipment and specialists to the Soviet Union." ”

The technology used in the production of the Merlin engine used in the P51 had already been transferred to American companies, so Roosevelt was now able to get American companies to transfer the production technology of the Merlin Grayback Falcon series engines to the Soviet Union.

"In addition, we need technology for the production of anti-tank guns and advanced armor-piercing shells." Molotov made one more request.

"No problem, I'll provide it right away." Roosevelt still said yes.

"We also hope that you and Britain will launch a strategic bombing campaign against Germany's extreme allies as soon as possible," Molotov said, "and that this is a necessary means of defeating Germany." ”

"Didn't we already bomb the Kirkuk and Khuzestan fields?" U.S. Secretary of State Cordell. Hull seemed to know that Molotov was giving the United States a problem, and said with a frown.

"The target of strategic bombing is not only the oil fields," Molotov said slowly, in a very serious tone, "and it should include the big cities of Germany, France, Italy!" ”

"We're bombing there." Hull replied.

"You are harassing there," Molotov corrected, "I know how the British did it, sending ten eight Mosquito planes a day to drop tons of bombs and hundreds of thousands of leaflets, causing almost negligible damage." If you really want to defeat the Nazis from the air, then you should use a large number of heavy bombers like the B-17, dropping hundreds of tons of bombs at a time. ”

"But the losses in this way are too great, and the territorial air defense of the Germans is very strong...... "learned from the interpreter the request of the Soviets, and the American president, who was responsive, frowned. The bombardment of Kirkuk and Khuzestan worked well (judging by the photos), but the losses were too heavy.

Molotov shrugged and said: "According to the study of our air force experts, the main reason for the heavy losses in our bombing of Kirkuk and Khuzestan is that the targets of the air strikes were predictable, which allowed the Nazis to deploy a large number of fighter units in advance." If we expand the target of air strikes to all the large cities under Nazi rule, then the limited fighter force of the Germans is not quite enough. ”

Roosevelt and Hull looked at each other, and Hull said, "If we were to launch a massive air raid on Nazi Europe, we would have to use the Soviet Union and Britain as the starting point." The first is that Britain did not dare to launch a large-scale strategic bombing because it feared retaliation from Germany on its homeland......"

As Hull spoke, the interpreter next to him translated his words into Russian at the same time, and when he said a word, the translator translated a sentence. When Molotov heard "fear of German retaliation", he interrupted with laughter: "The Germans have so many strategic bombers? They don't have it at all! They only have tactical bombers, so there is simply no possibility of large-scale retaliation. ”

Only when his words were translated into English did US Secretary of State Hull continue: "The second difficulty is that we have no way to break through the naval blockade of the Germans and get enough supplies to Britain and the USSR...... Although the B-17 aircraft could fly to the UK on their own, it required a lot of fuel, spare parts and bombs to get these aircraft into battle. A B-17 mission needs to consume about 10-15 tons of various materials, and if there are 1,000 B-17 missions over Europe every day, then 15,000 tons of materials will be consumed. And this is just a day's consumption, and not counting the consumption of escort fighters. ”

In fact, this was the main reason why Britain and the United States were unable to launch strategic bombing against Germany for a long time -- strategic bombing was a war of attrition, and 1,000 sorties of B-17 sorties a day might not be able to defeat Germany's air defense. And the consumption of 15,000 tons a day will quickly deplete the already tight reserves of the British.

"Then send supplies to Britain and our country," Molotov said, "if you and the British navy are not enough to break the blockade of the German navy, then our Soviet navy can be dispatched!" ”

Roosevelt and Hull looked at each other, and they knew that the Soviets now had a few super-battleships at their disposal, and that this was indeed a naval force that had the potential to change the balance of power at sea in the Atlantic.

Roosevelt nodded and said, "If the Red Navy can attack, then there will be no problem." However, the strategic bombing of Germany still requires a process of preparation, and it will take time for our aircraft to be deployed. Until then, I would like to hear the good news of the liberation of Warsaw. ”

Molotov smiled, "Mr. President, there will be good news." Our mighty Red Army will launch an offensive on Warsaw in a few days! (To be continued.) )