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Chapter 1755 Anglo-American looking for help

At 8:30 a.m., a group of planes flying from the direction of the Philippines appeared over the South China Sea. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The two fighter groups of the South China Air Force, which had been on standby for a long time, flew head-on and soon joined up with the US Army's escort air force, one behind the other, protecting the guests and flying in the direction of Xinjing.

At nine o'clock, the three squadrons of 45 fighters that served as the guide planes successfully arrived above the Xinjing airfield, and all the A28 fighters, the bulky fuselage was painted with new silver-gray paint, and they swept low above the heads of the crowd in a neat trapezoidal formation, and at the same time pulled out a long period of colored smoke at the tail of the plane, which was extremely dazzling.

The deafening roar of the engine made the atmosphere of the scene boil all of a sudden, and a burst of enthusiastic cheers broke out.

The officers and soldiers of the military band played harder, and the song "My Heart is Eternal" quickly brought the atmosphere of the scene to the first. Journalists from South China, Europe and the United States took wonderful photos and video materials in a timely manner.

At 9:05 a.m., the guests' planes landed one by one on the runway.

After a squadron of U.S. Army Air Corps P40 fighters and two DC-3 airliners landed, three more squadrons of A27 fighters, dragging striking colored smoke, flew from the distant sky.

Forty-five A27 fighters, with the squadron as a unit, continuously performed thrilling maneuvers such as diving, pulling, flipping, and turning, causing bursts of exclamation and cheers.

The plane was still gliding slowly, and US Secretary of State Hull, who was sitting in the cabin, asked the commander of the US Army Air Corps beside him: "General Arnold, I see that you just stood in front of the porthole for a long time, observing the situation of the South China fighters escorting the escort, what do you think of the performance of their planes?" ”

"Very surprising!"

Major General Arnold said with a twinkle in his eyes: "It is clear that these two fighters are significantly superior to the P37 and P40 fighters that we equip our troops. In particular, although the group of aircraft in front as a guide looked extremely bulky, its firepower was extremely fierce, and when I looked closely, it was actually equipped with eight aviation machine guns, and the threat to the enemy's fighters could be imagined. ”

"What about the latter model?" Hull asked with interest.

"It's also very good!"

Arnold said without doubt: "Obviously, it is a fighter that is very suitable for aerial dogfighting, with a slender fuselage, a cantilevered low monowing layout, and a way to increase the length of the fuselage to improve the longitudinal stability of the aircraft. ”

"yes!"

Former Chief of Staff of the Navy, William Brown. Admiral Silai leaned over with interest and said:

"According to the intelligence department, because this year is the year 2600, the new carrier-based fighter launched by the Navy is named the Zero fighter. The aircraft performed well in the Battle of the Maldives in March, and later in the Battle of the Western Indian Ocean, it once again defeated the Royal Navy's carrier-based fighters, forcing the British to retreat to South Africa and rely on land-based fighters to protect the fleet.

"At present, our Navy is equipped with F2A carrier-based fighters, but this carrier-based fighter cannot compete with the Army's P37 at all. And the P37 is the introduction of the South China A25 fighter technology production, I heard that the A25 is very difficult to deal with the Falcon fighter of the Air Force, and the zero battle is much more advanced than the Falcon fighter!

"Peace has been going on for too long, and our aircraft manufacturers urgently need experience in designing advanced fighters and engines to quickly close the gap between us and the world's largest navy, and Nanhua is a good object worth learning!"

The head of the General Staff College, Admiral McNair, nodded: "Not only fighters and engines, but many aspects need to be communicated. Our army has not fought for a long time, and until now we do not know how the troops should be formed under the new technical conditions? How are we going to use tanks, how aviation is going to work with ground forces, etc.

"Our opponent is most likely the Japanese army, and the one who has the most dealings with the *** army in the world is precisely the An Jia army. This is a very feudal army, but its founder is now the leader of the South China Republic, so it is necessary for us to drop everything and learn from them! ”

Hull's topic attracted the attention of a group of military and political officials, and as the plane taxied slowly on the runway, Deputy Finance Minister Harry . White walked over and said very worriedly:

"I'm a little worried that the other person will not be able to satisfy his greedy appetite. See, we have successively provided $50 million to the Nanjing government, but they have also asked us to increase the intensity of the aid. Unlike South China's national debt, what they need is free aid!

"According to what we know, the Chiang Kai-shek regime is not short of money at the present time due to the ongoing trade between the Nanking government and South China, and I have reason to suspect that they are using it elsewhere!"

"Gentlemen, in the current situation, we are not afraid to spend money!"

Hull shook his head disappreciatively: "I'm afraid that China and South China will completely fall to the Axis powers!" At present, the European continent has almost been occupied by Germany and Italy of the Axis group, and half of Asia *** is occupied, at this time, if Germany mediates from it, with *** withdrawal from Chinese mainland as a condition, South China and China are therefore allied with Germany, Japan, and Italy, then Eurasia will completely fall, and the Axis countries will have the upper hand in terms of population and resources.

"Even if the United States now ranks first in the world in terms of gross industrial output, but the other side does not give us the time and opportunity to transform, or simply fights with us, takes advantage of the advantages of the continent, fights with us and fights to the end, it is tantamount to a terrible disaster for the United States of America, and the end of the war will be far away, and finally lose the war because of the exhaustion of manpower, which no one wants to see!"

Milton, director of the Far East Department of the State Council, said suddenly: "You say, if we explain the terms of Hitler's peace to Britain to the warlord-turned-leader, what will he choose?" And *** people, if they get a similar notification, will they turn against Germany because of this? ”

"Judging by the reaction of the Germans, this is very unlikely!"

Assistant Secretary of State Serge said: "No one would believe that a dignified deputy head of state, the successor in line to the throne of the Third Reich, would be hot-headed and personally go to a hostile country to act as an emissary for negotiations." Germany can bite back and say that this is our conspiracy to divide and divide. The letter of the Germans, typed out on a typewriter, we do not have any evidence, this is not a private act of Hess. ”

Seeing the plane slowly stopping, Hull took Madame's hand and said, "Honey, our destination has arrived!" The climate here is hot, and the sunscreen you buy in New York can come in handy. ”

Mrs. Hull smiled: "Where is it that you say so seriously!" Aren't there millions of Jews, a million French, hundreds of thousands of White Russians, and more than 100,000 Australian expatriates living on this land now? I have seen in newspapers and magazines the two wives of South China President An Yi, they have delicate skin and beautiful appearances, it is hard to believe that they are already mothers of several children! ”

"Don't you know, my dear? Nanhua's perfumes and cosmetics are very good, and the 'Dream' series I bought for you is a product of Nanhua, and it is said that this cosmetics are commonly used by An Yi's wife. ”

After Hull finished speaking, he stood up and said to a cadre of military and political officials: "Everyone get ready, we are about to officially start a state visit to South China!" The terms of peace proposed by the Germans, our British friends will definitely try to inform South China and the government, as for what consequences can be achieved, do not get your hopes up, after all, in the game at the national level, everything is based on interests! ”

The dignitaries and generals stopped talking and talking, and looked out of the portholes.

Seeing the wide concrete floor outside the apron, colorful flags flying and crowds gathering, everyone had a happy smile on their faces. The South China side received the delegation with such a high standard of treatment, and it seems that the top management of South China is also full of expectations for this visit.

The people stood up one after another, followed Hull and his wife, and walked towards the hatch, MacArthur fell behind, took Eisenhower's hand, and whispered: "What is the attitude of China towards South China?" ”

Ten years ago, when he graduated from the Army Military Academy and his future was uncertain, MacArthur was transferred to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, and then served as an assistant to MacArthur, who served as Chief of Staff of the US Army, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. After MacArthur's term as Army Chief of Staff expired and he was transferred to the position of military adviser to Philippine President Quezon, Eisenhower also went to the Philippines to serve as MacArthur's senior assistant. With the large-scale expansion of the U.S. Army, Eisenhower strongly asked to return to the United States, but MacArthur saw that he could not keep it, so he found Eisenhower the position of logistics planner.

Eisenhower actually complained in his heart that MacArthur forced him to stay in the Philippines for several years, although he said that he could be reimbursed for his double salary plus all expenses, and his life was very comfortable, but it also delayed the way to rise. However, he still has a lot of respect for MacArthur, a hero in the US military, and quietly told the bottom line of the trip:

"We will try our best to meet the requests made by Nanhua. Judging from the current situation, the other party obviously has no good impression of ***, although there are quite entanglements with Germany, but they do not trust each other, and it is more of an exchange of interests. Therefore, we can do what it likes and try to consume as many troops as possible, so that the United States will win enough peaceful environment to arm the navy and army. ”

MacArthur nodded thoughtfully, no more.

......

As the cabin door opened, the salute began to sound, and then the traditional Chinese folk music also sounded, and the airport was full of dragon and lion dances, gongs and drums.

There is no doubt that the welcome ceremony was grand, lively and at the same time full of Chinese color.

An Yi was dressed in a festive red round-necked brocade button-down Tang jacket with a black silk trousers, and Ou Chuer and Feng Jieyun were also dressed in custom-made court dresses, looking glamorous.

After a cordial meeting, two young scouts, a man and a woman, presented flowers to Hull and his wife, welcomed the guests to Nanhua, and then brought red scarves to the guests.

Nanhua's red scarf has a special meaning, it is a corner of the military flag, representing sacrifice and loyalty, and only qualified scouts can wear it.

Subsequently, An Yi accompanied Hull to the review stand, and in the roaring salute, the military band played the national anthems of the two countries, representing the national flags of the two countries, and rose on the flagpole facing the review stand.

At the end of the salute, An Yi accompanied Hull and reviewed the honor guard of the three services.

Finally, Hull gave an impassioned speech to the reporters' cameras, camera lenses, and microphones of radio broadcasting equipment.

"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, I am in a very happy mood and very excited today. I am very honored to be able to receive such a warm welcome in Xinjing, Nanhua, thousands of miles away from home, because today's grand event is the most direct embodiment of the friendship between Nanhua and the United States, and this visit means that the friendship between the United States and Nanhua has entered a new stage......

Hull's speech, which lasted a quarter of an hour, was neither long nor short, and ended at the right time, just when people were applauding the breakthrough in relations between the United States and South China.

Hull shook hands with the diplomats and trade representatives of various countries at the scene, and then left the airport under the strict protection of the South Chinese army and police forces, and rode in the same limousine with the wife of the Secretary of State, while the other delegation members got into other vehicles and went to the State Guesthouse to rest.

At noon, An Yi will hold a banquet in Xiaonanhai to entertain the guests.

In the afternoon and evening, An Yi will also accompany guests to visit Xinjing Heavy Machinery Factory, Xinjing Military Airport and Xinjing University, find a restaurant on the streets of Xinjing, and visit a night market near Hoan Kiem Lake, so that guests can truly experience all that Nanhua has to offer.

Tomorrow morning, Premier Xu Ziliang will hold another welcoming ceremony in the square in front of the Government Council, which will be attended by Jiang Yunshan, secretary general of the central government, Wu Tingyan, minister of foreign affairs, Zhou Chongan, minister of finance, Yang Fei, deputy chief of general staff, and Chang Baofang, director of the General Logistics Department.

......

Just as the South China side warmly welcomed the visit of US Secretary of State Hull, the Germans set off a new storm in Europe.

Earlier this month, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Romania, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria were all allowed to join the Axis powers, and Germany stationed heavy troops on the Yugoslav border and exerted diplomatic pressure to force Yugoslavia to join the Axis Treaty without a fight.

Prince Paul, the regent of Yugoslavia, succumbed to a German attack in the early hours of September 12, but this action was deeply unpopular with the Serbian people and military who opposed the Axis accession, and only one day later, the Serbian officers who opposed the Axis joined the Axis launched a military coup, and King Peter II took the place of Prince Paul and took charge of the government.

On 13 September, the German government issued an ultimatum to Yugoslavia, demanding respect for the agreement signed between Prince Paul and the German side, but the Yugoslav military government refused.

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was established after the last European war with the support of the British, most of the weapons and supplies of its army belong to the heritage of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is an old antique of the last century, the artillery has long been outdated, still drawn by horses, there is a lack of anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns, the infantry does not have enough automatic weapons, there is no motorized unit, and there are only two tank battalions with a total of 110 Renault FT-17 tanks.

In addition, the Yugoslav Air Force had a total of 416 self-made IK-3s and German, Italian, French, and British-made biplanes, only half of which could pose a threat to the Luftwaffe's advanced fighters.

After full mobilization, the Yugoslav army has a total of 28 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions and 32 independent brigades to fight, when the German army launched the offensive, its troops were still under the support of the British motorized construction, the only thing that can be relied on at present is that the Yugoslav army has a total of 1.2 million troops available to deal with the German invasion, plus it is a local battle, it will not be defeated too quickly.

The Yugoslav Army, with the help of British advisers, was organized into three armies and coastal guards, the Third Army, which included the Third Army and the Fifth Army, defended the Albanian border, the Second Army, which consisted of the First, Second and Sixth Corps, defended the Danube Gorge and the Drava River, and the First Army, which included the Fourth and Seventh Corps, which included many Croatian soldiers, defended the Croatian region.

At 7 o'clock in the morning of 14 September, the Luftwaffe, which had already secretly moved westward, began to strike at Yugoslavia.

First of all, the Yugoslav capital Belgrade was saturated bombing, more than 600 planes took off from the airfields in Austria and Romania, a quarter of which were JU87 Stuka dive bombers under the escort of fighters to attack, the dive bombers isolated the Yugoslav air defense forces, and the medium bombers mainly included Dornier DO17 bombers and JU88 bombers, which concentrated on bombing urban areas.

The Ju91 Avenger bomber and its BF111 Destroyer fighter jets did not join the Balkan campaign, but remained in France and Belgium to undertake bombing missions against the British, forcing the British government to be distracted.

The first three waves of bombardment, each with a quarter of an hour break and the last wave lasting twenty minutes, resulted in the entire city being blown up in nearly an hour and a half, and the Germans concentrated their bombardment of government buildings in the city center. Medium bomber battle groups continued to bomb throughout the day, while dive bombers switched to bombing airfields.

The bombing disrupted the communication system between the Yugoslav top command and the army, and although some senior generals avoided the first round of bombing in time, the coordination and control of the army was no longer possible.

Having destroyed the enemy's nerve centers, the Luftwaffe moved on to attacking other targets, such as enemy airfields, communications systems, and troop concentrations, as well as providing air support for army operations.

When the German Army began to set foot on Yugoslav soil, the main forces of the Yugoslav Air Force, including anti-aircraft fire and fighters, had been destroyed by the Luftwaffe, but it still had sixty-four German-made Do-17 bombers, which were purchased by Yugoslavia during the Franco-German War and produced by themselves, and this only bombing force belonged to the Third Bombardment Aviation Regiment, including two bombing groups - the 63rd Bombardment Group stationed at Petrovac Airport near Skopje and the 64th Bombardment Group, Stationed in Mileshevo, near Pristina.

During the battle, three more bombers of this type were urgently produced at the aircraft factory in Kraljevo, two of which were handed over to the Air Force on the 15th, and one was delivered on the 16th.

In the course of the ongoing operation, the Luftwaffe again eliminated 26 such aircraft, and on September 16 and 17, the seven surviving Do-17 bombers flew to the Nikask airfield, where they evacuated King Peter II of Yugoslavia and government officials to Greece, and the country's gold reserves were transported to Greece by these seven aircraft.

The Germans rushed at Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, from three directions. On the morning of 14 September, the 1st Panzer Group under the command of Kleist set out from the northwest of Sofia in western Bulgaria and broke through the defensive line near Pirot, in which the 14th Panzer Corps, led by the 11th Panzer Division, followed the German 5th Panzer Division, the German 294th Infantry Division and the German 4th Mountain Division to the northwest of the city of Niš, although there were many road obstacles and the stubborn resistance of the Yugoslav Fifth Army, the 11th Panzer Division was still supported by strong artillery fire and air force, on the first day of the battle. Already broke through the enemy lines.

The Yugoslav command was shocked by the success of this German operation, and quickly ordered the troops in the Moravian area to retreat, but the retreat could not be carried out on time before 15 September, and the German tanks entered the city of Niš and immediately drove towards Belgrade, northwest of Niš, which was very advantageous for the Germans, because the armored forces could advance along the Moravian valley towards the Yugoslav capital.

The Yugoslav Fifth Army, south of Palacin and southwest of Kragujevac, tried to stop the German offensive, but was quickly routed and more than 5,000 men were captured.

On 16 September, the 54th Panzer Corps pursued the enemy retreating to Belgrade through the Moral River Valley, and the next day the German attack suddenly pointed to the southern flank of the retreating Yugoslav Sixth Army, and on the night of 17 September, the tanks of the 1st Panzer Group reached less than 65 kilometers southeast of Belgrade, and the two Yugoslav corps did not attempt to cut off the German supply line from the border to this place for 200 kilometers due to a misunderstanding.

Guderian's army on the northern route broke through the Yugoslav border area from the south of Hungary and penetrated into Belgrade, while Manstein's army on the western route set out from Timișoara, Romania, and attacked the capital of Yugoslavia in the shortest route.

The Yugoslav army was so shocked by the speed of the march of the German army that on 20 September, the military and political officials in Belgrade, in order to avoid unnecessary casualties, announced their unconditional surrender. Subsequently, von. Kleist's 1st Panzer Group was stationed in Belgrade from the south, the Greater German Motorized Brigade from the north, and the 11th Panzer Division entered the capital city at 6 a.m. the next morning.

At this point, the race for the capture of Belgrade ended with the convergence of the three attacking forces, after which the Germans quickly moved south, pursued and completely destroyed the Yugoslav army.

The Germans suffered very little losses in the offensive operation, with fewer than 600 casualties during the eight-day operation, of which 151 were killed, 392 wounded and 15 missing. The Germans captured between 250,000 and 350,000 Yugoslavs, including a number of Serbs, Croats, Hungarians, and Macedonians, and the Italians captured more than 30,000.

The Balkan Campaign was another brilliant victory of the German army after the French Campaign, which greatly promoted the strength of the troubled Britain and the United States to compromise with China, the Soviet Union, South China and other countries.

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: It's the New Year, and the guests at home are full of trivial things, and there is no feeling at all when coding words! If you are not satisfied, please understand!

In the next few chapters, the time schedule will be accelerated, and the big battle will be entered as soon as possible.