Chapter 475: Mediterranean Storm (32)
Head south along Trafalgar Square in London and you'll find Whitehall Street. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć ļ½ļ½ļ½ļ½
The street is flanked by the offices of key British government departments such as Royal Square, the Prime Minister's Office, the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury. At the southern end of the street are British symbolic buildings such as the British Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
Opposite the British Foreign Office building, is a Spartan building. Underneath this heavily guarded building was the British Wartime Cabinet Command Post.
The underground command post was just one street away from the Prime Minister's House at 10 Downing Street, and was the only reinforced concrete basement owned by the British government at the time.
The underground command post has a total of 21 large and small rooms, which are divided into multiple functional parts, such as the cabinet conference room, Churchill's office and bedroom, the American and British hotline room, the general headquarters, and the guardhouse.
Since his victory in the general election in May 1940, Churchill has lived in this underground command post. The British wartime cabinet formed by Churchill was mainly composed of two ministries: military and political officials.
Here, the servicemen formed the Council of Defense and the Council of Chiefs of Staff. The former is responsible for strategic decision-making, while the latter is responsible for inter-service coordination, the formulation of operational plans, and the command of the three services, with the participation of the chiefs of staff of the services.
The General Council of the House of Representatives, composed of civil servants, is responsible for domestic affairs such as the defence of the homeland, the supply of logistics, and the livelihood of the British people, and its members are ministers from all relevant departments of the government. There are more than 30 people in the two teams, and they often live and eat here.
Today, the entire wartime Cabinet gathered in the Cabinet Room.
Including Churchill, none of the personnel had a wasted expression or saliva shouting anything to protest and say that they would teach the East Chinese a lesson.
Because they all know that although they belong to the same Chinese regime, the Donghua Empire is not the Republic of China. In the past, the British Empire wanted to take control of the Republic of China, but the Donghua Empire turned to the British Empire and used force to deal with it.
The strength of the Donghua Empire can be said to be completely based on the robbed overseas colonies of the British Empire, and it is through the nutrients of the overseas colonies of the British Empire that the Donghua Empire has repeatedly eaten the bone marrow of the British Empire.
Now, the unfed demon of the Donghua Empire has finally revealed its greedy and ferocious face, and is about to launch the deadliest blow to the British Empire.
The map of the world that hung on the wall in front of the conference room was the only one left in India, Jayka, Dominica, Grenada, Anguilla, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, Montserrat, the Pitcairn Islands, St. Helena, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Churchill now did not know which overseas colonies of the British Empire Cheng Gong were eyeing again, but he knew that Britain could no longer back down.
Originally, it was thought that by handing over the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar to the Donghua Empire, Donghua could be drawn into the camp of the Central Powers. Even if Donghua is unwilling to declare war on Germany, it should also declare war on Japan.
Now, it seems, he was wrong. And it's quite out of the blue.
The Donghua Empire clearly regarded the British Empire as their only enemy. However, he, the British wartime prime minister, did not see the true face of the Donghua Empire clearly.
Perhaps, when the British Empire sent troops to intervene in the war in Eastern Australia, it had already formed an indissoluble enmity with this new Chinese country.
"Gentlemen, if you have any suggestions, please feel free."
Churchill broke the dull atmosphere of the conference room with a voice as he struck a match to bake the cigar wrapper, and said in a slow tone: "Against the Donghua Empire, whether we are fighting or enduring, there must be a clear result today." ā
"On the 15th of this month, German Field Marshal Raeder visited the Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy in Donghua. Whether or not this matter is related to the anti-British activities that the Donghua Empire is carrying out in the local area, I think we must carefully consider it. ā
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden was the first to put forward his point with a solemn expression: "If this is a conspiracy against the British Empire jointly planned by the East China Empire and Germany, who can guarantee that the Germans will not take the opportunity to attack us in the event of a military conflict with the East China Empire?" ā
"If the Donghua Empire really joins forces with the Germans to deal with us, perhaps surrender is our only option."
"Yes! The Royal Navy's victory over the German Navy was not a problem, but the Royal Navy currently had no countermeasures against the missile ships of the Donghua Empire. ā
"In addition to missile ships, their jet supersonic fighters in the Donghua Empire are also insoluble for our Royal Air Force."
"Our anti-submarine technology and equipment have so far not been able to deal with the Donghua submarine."
"The navy and air force of the Donghua Empire are indeed strong, but, gentlemen, the navy and air force alone cannot land on the British Isles. If the Donghua Empire dares to launch a landing battlefield against the British Empire, we can let them know what a meat grinder is! ā
"Hehe, the Donghua Empire may not dare to start a large-scale war in the past because of the lack of population. However, they now have the African Union, and the African Liberation Army under the AU flag can give the Donghua Empire sufficient land resources. ā
āā¦ā¦ā
Listening to the arguments of the cabinet members, Churchill's face became more and more cold.
The view of the majority of the cabinet members is basically the same, that is, passive fear of war. It seemed that once the Donghua Empire declared war on Britain, the British Empire would fall.
Churchill knocked heavily on the table, then stood up, glanced majestically at the table with more than 30 cabinet dignitaries, and said in a deep voice: "The British Empire has never been afraid of war!" In this world, no one can defeat the great British Empire!
Because we must win! Victory at all costs. No matter how difficult and terrifying, we must strive for victory, no matter how far and bumpy the road is, we must strive for victory. We cannot survive without victory! ā
"If Germany and the East China Empire attack together, we have no hope of victory."
Privy Chancellor Anderson smiled bitterly and sighed: "There is no one who does not want the British Empire to be victorious, the problem is that the existential crisis we are facing now cannot be solved by blood, passion and courage alone." ā
The Minister of Production, Littleton, replied with an extremely serious expression: "The most critical to the defense of the homeland is the navy. I do not propose the outbreak of war with the Donghua Empire until our Royal Navy does not have effective means of solving the anti-ship missiles of the Donghua Empire Navy. Because the navy and air force of the Donghua Empire have enough strength to turn the British Isles into three isolated islands! ā
"The hope of the British Empire is in the United States!"
Attlee, Deputy Prime Minister and Dominion Minister, slowly stood up and said solemnly: "The dignity of the British Empire must not be humiliated again and again by the East Chinese!" There are all kinds of indications that the Donghua Empire and Germany are conspiring to collude. I suggest that we prepare for both.
First, it is necessary to immediately begin preparations for anti-landing, anti-ship, and air defense operations; The second is to immediately start the relocation plan for evacuees to the United States. In the face of the alliance of the two great powers of Donghua and Germany, the British Empire alone could never be defeated. So we could move most of our workers and industrial resources to the United States, leaving a small number of troops to fight guerrilla warfare on our homeland. ā
"If you lose your land, you will lose your land, and if you lose your land, you will lose your land."
Churchill muttered to himself: "Stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of no firewood!" ā
Although he really wanted the British Royal Navy and the Donghua Royal Navy to have a dignified naval showdown, reason told him that if he had a hard encounter with the Donghua Royal Navy now, it would definitely be the British Empire that would suffer.
The Royal Navy of Donghua is just relying on the ship-based missiles they invented, which can launch over-the-horizon attacks.
Wait for the British Empire to overcome the technical problems of missiles, and then ask the damned Donghua Empire to repay the blood debt.
As long as there is no obvious generation gap in equipment technology, with the world-class naval quality and literacy of the British Royal Navy, it can completely fight with the Donghua Empire!
Perhaps, it is the wisest choice of the British Empire to avoid the enemy, to merge the essence of the British Empire's war with the United States and Canada, to defeat the Japanese monkeys on the North American continent first, and then to rely on the powerful industrial capacity of the United States to seek a counterattack in Europe. (To be continued.) )