"Marshal, how are you talking with the Americans?"

On the evening of June 15th, Adolf. During dinner with Hersmann, Hitler asked about Hersmann's meeting with Hull and Hopkins.

"The Americans are against us." Hersman said, fiddling with his glass. "Oppose our abrogation of the Treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain, Sèvres, Lausanne and Trianon and, above all, Trianon! The Americans will openly make statements strongly against the abrogation of the treaty! It is clear that the Americans do not intend to watch our Germany, replace Great Britain, as the master of the world. ”

"Isn't there a strong isolationist sentiment in the United States?" Ribbentrop interjected.

"There was a strong sense of isolationism before we defeated France," Hersmann said with a shrug, "but that has changed...... Leader, you should know that public opinion is very easy to manipulate. ”

"What do you mean," Hitler asked in thought, "the inevitability of war between us and the United States?" ”

"Nor can the same be said," Hersman said, "it depends on the Soviet Union." If the Soviet Union had not been co-opted by Britain and the United States, it would have been impossible for the United States to go to war with us. Because the United States simply cannot afford the casualties of fighting us. ”

But it was impossible for the USSR to join the camp of Germany! Germany's policy towards the Soviet Union could only be containment, not co-optation. That is, the possibility of the USSR being co-opted by the United States is always present.

Hitler was silent for a moment, just frowning at a plate of vegetable salad placed in front of him. It took a long time for this sentence to come out: "Today, the Japanese Foreign Minister also said that their actions in French Indochina were strongly opposed by the United States. Between the United States and Japan, there is a high probability of a war in the future. Therefore, Japan wanted to form an alliance with the Soviet Union...... Japan hoped that the USSR would join our side. ”

"But the Soviet Union was too expensive, and we couldn't afford it." Hersman said mockingly, "No one can satisfy the appetites of these Russians, their appetites are too great." ”

"But the Japanese intend to divide the East Asian continent with them." "Japan sees that as their lifeline," Ribbentrop said. ”

"Ignore this brainless request," Hersman said without even thinking about it, "with Japan's current national strength, if it falls into the East Asian continent, there will not be much power left to go south, what do we need this ally for?" ”

Germany's purpose in wooing Japan was nothing more than to contain the United States, but there was a huge difference in strength between Japan and the United States, and Japan had to go all out, and there was simply no spare strength to use troops on the East Asian continent at the same time. Moreover, the current East Asian continent has been developing more or less steadily for more than a decade, and although it has experienced some turbulence during this period, its overall power is still rising.

Moreover, the East Asian continent has also obtained a lot of advanced weapons and industrial equipment through barter trade -- not only barter with Germany (Germany needs non-ferrous metals such as tungsten ore and manganese ore from the East Asian continent), but also barter with Japan on a very large scale. From the 30s to the present, the East Asian continent has been the largest market for Japanese machinery and steel exports, with a cumulative transaction value of more than 1 billion ounces of silver!

Although the scale of industrial construction on the East Asian continent is generally not very large, and the technology is not advanced, it is already capable of supporting a large-scale, low-intensity and very long land war. If they had received assistance from the Soviet Union, they could well have dragged Japan down in a long war.

This is also the reason why Japan did not dare to take action for a long time, and also wanted to exert pressure on the Soviet Union through Germany, in the hope of achieving the partition of the East Asian continent between Japan and the Soviet Union.

Hersman smiled coldly and said, "If those Japanese were really sure, they should have intervened last year." ”

"At that time they were not ready for war," Ribbentrop chimed in.

Hersman sneered: "The 500,000 Japanese Army, which had the level of equipment and training of the European armies of the last world war, did not dare to do it, which is already very revealing. ”

Shaking his head, he continued: "And most of the coal, iron ore and non-ferrous metals consumed by Japanese industry are imported from the East Asian continent. As soon as the war began, Japan's raw material imports would immediately go into trouble. If they can't win a quick victory, Japan will turn to Britain and the United States, which can provide them with raw materials. Therefore, on the East Asian continent, we should continue to align ourselves with the Soviet Union in order to force Japan to continue to conflict with Britain and the United States in the south. ”

Hersmann's strategy against Japan was very simple, that is, to force Japan to go south to find trouble with Britain and the United States. If this goal is not achieved, then there is no point in forming an alliance with Japan or promoting the "Soviet-Japanese Non-Aggression Pact."

He took a sip of Swiss wine and continued: "And it is impossible for the Soviet Union to join the League." Even if they were to join, the concessions would only be made by us and Japan, how could it be the Soviet Union? This Yosuke Matsuoka's mind must not be very clear. ”

Hitler listened to Hersmann's words and fell silent again, and after a while he said to Ribbentrop in a commanding tone: "Go and tell the Japanese that I and the Italian leaders welcome Japan into the League." We would also exhort France to recognize the independence of French Indochina. As for the USSR...... We can broker a Japan-Soviet non-aggression pact, which will be based on not changing the current status quo on the East Asian continent. ”

After Hitler finished speaking, he glanced at Hersmann again. Hersman hurriedly added: "One more thing can be added: We and the Soviet Union are both big countries in the socialist camp, and we can exert influence on the ******** that also belong to the socialist camp to bring about the signing of a non-aggression pact between the two sides, so as to ensure the adequate supply of various war resources such as coal mines, iron ore, non-ferrous metals, and grain during Japan's southward advance." ”

……

While Hitler and Hersmann were discussing how to use Japan to make trouble for the United States, the Americans had the same plan. U.S. Secretary of State Hull and Commerce Secretary Hopkins are meeting with Prince Paul, regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, at the U.S. Consulate General in Geneva.

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was not in fact a direct product of the First World War, but was formed after the surrender of Germany and Austria-Hungary in December 1918 as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenia, a United Kingdom. However, all ethnic groups in the country except the Serbs opposed the United Kingdom, so in January 1929, the then King Alexander I dissolved Parliament, abolished the constitution, banned the activities of all political parties, including the Bolshevik Party, imposed strict censorship, and changed the country from the United Kingdom to a unified kingdom and changed the name of the country to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

But such changes and repressive measures provoked an even greater backlash, and on April 20, 1929, the extreme Croatian nationalist organization Ustasha was founded in Sofia, Bulgaria, with the intention of using terror to win Croatia's independence. On October 9, 1934, the group successfully assassinated King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in Marseille, France.

At this time, Alexander I's successor, Peter II, was too old to rule the country, so he was regent by his uncle, Prince Paul, who met with Hull and Hopkins today.

"Your Royal Highness, President Roosevelt and the American people stand firmly on the side of the Yugoslav people, and any attempt to dismember Yugoslavia will be resolutely opposed by the United States. All actions of the Yugoslav people to resist the German offensive will be assisted by the United States......"

Listening to the inspiring speech of US Secretary of State Hull, Prince Paul of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia had a gloomy and terrible face, as if he had heard the death sentence of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia!

"Mr. Secretary, Mr. Minister," said Prince Paul, after a long silence, said with difficulty, "I think you are aware of the independent aspirations of the Croats and Slovenes, who have been fighting against us Serbs since 1919, by peaceful and violent means. This should never have happened, and without the dismemberment of Greater Hungary by the Treaty of Trianon, the Kingdom of Serbia would have been much more prosperous and stable than it is now. Now that Germany has become the master of the European continent, they want to abolish the Trianon Treaty, which is a good thing for the Croats, the Slovenes and us Serbs...... Why should you, the United States, oppose it? Do you want to see Croats, Serbs and Slovenes plunged into endless killing of each other? ”

Hull and Hopkins looked at each other with some surprise - Yugoslavia also had clear-headed politicians who knew that it was impossible to rule the entire kingdom of Yugoslavia by the strength of the Serbs. Therefore, it is necessary to give up some territories that do not belong to the Serbs in the first place, such as Croatia and Slovenia.

In fact, these two territories were never ruled by the Serbs, the union of Croatia and Hungary existed for more than 800 years, and the Slovenes were ruled by the Habsburgs for more than 400 years. If none of the Habsburgs, with their blood, feudal law and religious blessings, had the right to rule Croatia and Slovenia, then what was the right of the Obrenović dynasty, a shepherd-turned, Orthodox Church (both Croatian and Slovenian Catholics) to rule Croatia and Slovenia?

"And letting Croatia and Slovenia leave Yugoslavia is also in line with the principle of national self-determination that you, the United States, have always advocated." Prince Paul looked at the two American politicians as if he were hoping for their kindness - the nationalist sentiment in Greater Serbia was so strong that if the United States and Britain tried to fan the flames again, then the government led by Prince Paul would probably be overthrown by the Serbs. When the time comes, the situation in Yugoslavia will be completely out of control!

But the prince soon fell into despair, and the US Secretary of State did not mention "national self-determination" at all, but told him in a cold tone: "The US government is not only looking at the present, it is also looking at the future." Any country that submits to the ground on the pretext that it will easily be defeated will gain less sympathy from the world than a country that rises up to resist, even if that resistance lasts only a few weeks. ”

Prince Paul understood what Hull meant, that this was in fact forcing Yugoslavia to rebel against Germany, otherwise it would be punished in a future peace treaty!

The prince shook his head resolutely: "You big country is so cruel. You talk about our future, but you are far away. (To be continued.) )