Late October to early November. On the African battlefield, Allied general Montgomery won a victory against Axis general Rommel, which was proclaimed by the British as El Alamein's victory. However, according to the battle reports, the Allied victory was actually not very brilliant, and it remains to be seen whether the Axis forces can be completely defeated.

From November 8 to November 10, the American, British, and Canadian allies landed in French North Africa and engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the French forces of Vissy. The confused French army did not know why to fight at all, and fought a battle with the Allies in a confused way with the support of "face".

The total strength of the two sides is more than 300,000, and the total number of casualties of the two armies is less than 3,000. The intensity of the war is nothing more than that.

Eventually, Vichy French commander-in-chief Darlan ordered to abandon resistance, and the Allies occupied Casablanca on 11 November.

The thinking of the French is eccentric, at least Li Guang can't analyze the reason. Dar Langdu had already given the order to give up resistance, but the French Navy did not join the Allies, and it is said that the French Navy was still indignant because of the British Royal Navy's ballista operation against the French Navy two years earlier.

As a result, the French fleet that had been in North Africa ran back to the port of Toulon, a military port on the French mainland.

Common sense considers that since France has surrendered to Germany since it has returned to Toulon, then this fleet is afraid that it will surrender to Germany. However, the French were very special and did not surrender to Germany. In the end, under the pressure of the German soldiers, the battleship sank by itself.

More than a hundred warships sank into the sea sadly. The French Navy, once the fourth largest in the world, disappeared.

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These two battles once again increased Li Guang's sense of urgency. In particular, the occupation of Casablanca by the Allied forces made a historical term pop up in Li Guang's mind - the Casablanca Conference.

He knows too little about the history of World War II, and in the past few years, Li Guang has repeatedly sorted out the historical process he knows, but he has no memory of the Casablanca meeting. And when he learned about the name of the place in the Allied war reports. A little bit of the Casablanca meeting suddenly came to mind. Yes, it was at the beginning of '43 that the heads of state of Britain and the United States convened the Casablanca Conference.

Memory is too strange, if there is no battle report from the Allies, Li Guang must not be able to remember this historical term.

One thing Li Guang remembers most about the Casablanca Conference is that Churchill and Roosevelt made it clear at this meeting: to demand the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. As for other details, Li Guang could no longer search for them in his mind.

At this time, the Casablanca conference had not yet taken place, but according to the current trend, the inertia of history still seems to be irreversible. After thinking about it for a long time, Li Guang came to a conclusion that could not be confirmed: the allies dared to demand the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers at the Casablanca conference. Indirectly, Britain and the United States are still thinking of Europe first and then Asia.

The news from Chairman Chiang also made Li Guang worry again.

Chairman Chiang strongly urged the British and Chinese troops to cooperate in a counteroffensive against Burma. At present, the country relies only on American aircraft to transport limited supplies. For the Chinese army, which is in economic difficulties, it is still a drop in the bucket. More importantly, this kind of air transportation is simply unable to transport the heavy equipment that the Chinese army urgently needs. And Britain is not at all concerned about counterattacking Burma now. Prevarication.

Naturally, the Naval Resistance Army absolutely supported Chairman Chiang's proposal. Driving the Japanese army out of Burma was not only beneficial to China's anti-Japanese cause. It is also conducive to the immigration national policy of the Haitang Kingdom.

Li Guang made a promise to Chairman Chiang. Once the British and Chinese forces reached an agreement, the Naval Resistance Army would land in Burma without any strings attached, attack from the back of the Japanese army, and cut off the rear route of the Japanese army. As for the specific landing site, the General Staff of the Naval Resistance Army is still collecting intelligence from various sources and is still planning.

No strings attached. Nevertheless, an agreement was negotiated. In the second half of '42, especially at the end of the year, Chairman Chiang launched the propaganda of "100,000 young people and 100,000 troops" and sent a large number of students and young people to India. Handed over to the U.S. military for training.

The importance of these young students to China goes without saying. With China's current level of education, these young people with a secondary school education level or above (some universities and elementary schools) are undoubtedly the backbone of the country's post-war economic construction. And now, when the country and the nation are in danger, young students are going to the battlefield in large numbers.

For such a group of student soldiers with great potential, there is no doubt that the Naval Resistance Army wants to absorb them very much. However, with Su Qing's operation in Myanmar, he may be able to dig up a few hundred people, and no matter how many people there are, it will definitely cause contradictions.

For this reason, Premier Yuan made a special trip to Chongqing and had an exchange with Chairman Chiang. In the end, an agreement was reached that the Naval Resistance Army could select 5,000 students from this batch of student soldiers. The condition is that the Naval Resistance Army must obey the command of the Chinese army when the Allied forces counterattack Burma, and the number of troops sent shall not be less than 50,000.

Students are harder to convince than peasants. Although the Maritime Resistance Army has already made a prestige, it is obviously difficult for all these young students to join the nationality of the Haitang State. Even if Haitang recognizes dual citizenship, many students are skeptical.

Therefore, the Naval Resistance Army promised to let these people come and go freely after the war.

It is absolutely cost-effective to have 50,000 well-trained troops to go to war in exchange for 5,000 student soldiers, and to come and go freely after the war. The chairman's accounts are well calculated.

As far as the Maritime Resistance Force is concerned, it is only a serious shortage of technical troops, and there is an urgent need for such student soldiers. However, even if the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee does not agree to these conditions, it is the duty of the Maritime Resistance Force to send troops to Burma. This is a fight for the descendants of Yan and Huang, not just for Haitang.

After Su Qing's screening, the Naval Resistance Army received 5,000 student soldiers before the end of the year. You must know that the Navy Resistance Force now selects submariners, navies, pilots, armored troops, artillerymen, and engineers, and now has quite perfect recruitment requirements.

This can solve a great dilemma for the Maritime Resistance Force. You must know that there is still a shortage of personnel in all technical arms of the Navy, especially the pilots of the Air Force, who are now seriously lacking in talent. At the beginning of '42, there were about 300 pilots in the Navy, but by the end of '42, there were only 500 pilots, including cadets and rookies.

In the future, when the Kaga aircraft carrier is repaired, Li Guang will not even be able to find enough manpower, and of course, he will not be able to find qualified soldiers. Let the battleships and other personnel, this strange phenomenon is estimated to only appear in the Haitang Kingdom.

These 5,000 student soldiers were enough to pick out 500 recruits who were suitable to be pilots. More than 300 submariners. All other technical units have also been replenished.

When these personnel come in handy, the strength of the Maritime Resistance Army will definitely reach a higher level.

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In the second half of '42, in the most critical major battles in the world, except for the complete victory of the naval resistance army in Ceylon, other battles were still going on bloodily. On the Soviet-German battlefield, the battles for the defense of Leningrad and the defense of Stalingrad were fought with great brutality. In the Central Pacific Theater, the U.S. and Japanese forces fought quite Kuah Island and New Guinea.

The expansion of the war situation in the central Pacific is beneficial to the overall strategy of China and the Haitang Kingdom.

And the two battles in Africa show only one thing: the Allies have gained superiority in the African and Middle East theaters. However, it is very debatable whether such a situation is beneficial for China and the Haitang Kingdom.

You must know that since the outbreak of the Pacific War, the diplomacy and military operations of the Haitang Kingdom have been working towards one goal - to reverse the US strategy of putting Europe first and then Asia.

The expansion of the scale of the war in the Central Pacific also shows that the efforts of the Haitang Kingdom have been effective. However, the Allied victory in Africa at El Alamein and the Allied landing in North Africa show that the United States is still continuing the strategy of "Europe first and Asia later." As for Britain's lack of enthusiasm for a counter-attack on Burma, it is even more indicative that Britain is still adhering to the strategy of Europe first and then Asia.

You must know that in the North African landing operation, the United States and Britain used more than 10 aircraft carriers, 9 battleships, 9 heavy cruisers, and more than 600 other ships. Although most of the aircraft carriers are escort aircraft carriers and light aircraft carriers, there are only two or three regular aircraft carriers. But it is still undeniable that this is a huge force. In contrast, the US Navy in the Pacific theater is much weaker.

The industrial capacity of the United States has shown its might, but the material and military strength are still insufficient relative to the world war situation. The more allocated to the Atlantic theater, the less the Pacific theater.

And this is exactly the strategy that Li Guang wants to reverse.

The current situation is that Haitang and Britain are wrestling, Haitang wants to pull the US strategy to the Pacific theater, and the British army wants to keep the US strategic direction in the Atlantic.

We must not watch Britain or the Atlantic theater divert a large amount of US military resources. Don't look at these resources that can't fall into the hands of Haitang Kingdom, as long as they can be tilted towards the Pacific Battlefield, it will be the greatest benefit to Haitang Kingdom.

Therefore, Li Guang must once again exert more efforts to force the United States to once again increase its input of manpower and material resources in the Pacific theater.

And this afterburner must be in time before the Casablanca conference. Intuitively, Li Guang decided that this meeting between the heads of state of the United States and Britain will definitely continue to consolidate their consensus on the "strategy of Europe first and Asia second."

However, Li Guangzhen did not know the specific time of the Casablanca meeting. And this kind of news about the safety of the highest-ranking officials of the United States and Britain is still difficult to obtain with the ability of the Naval Resistance Army.

Therefore, Li Guang can only seize the time. (To be continued......)

PS: Thanks to August for tipping the monthly pass.