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Chapter 1738 Take advantage of the fire to rob

Not long after An Yi lay down, he was woken up in a daze. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

An Yi was about to get angry, but Shen Fengdao's anxious voice sounded in his ears: "Xiao Yi, there is an urgent telegram from the European side, and the British really did it"

"The French Navy—"

An Yi sat up with a spirit, motioned to Shen Fengdao not to speak first, put on his clothes and pants a few times, went to the bathroom and hurriedly washed his face, and then came to the living room below with Shen Fengdao, only to see that Minister of National Security Du Yi was already waiting there.

Du Yi saw An Yi and quickly stood up respectfully.

"Tell me what's going on in Europe!"

An Yi didn't expect Du Yi to come in person, speculating that things should have an eyebrow, and hurriedly motioned for Du Yi to sit down, he casually found a seat opposite him and sat down, and the waiter of the exclusive East Fence Garden had quickly made tea for An Yi and Shen Fengdao and sent it to him.

Xiao Nanhai's service personnel are all selected from the previous graduates of the Boy Scout Academy, with strong political ideology, unified management by the Central Security Bureau, generally each garden is equipped with two people, responsible for cleaning, serving tea and water and pruning the flowers and plants in the garden, in principle, male leaders are assigned to male waiters, female leaders are assigned to female waitresses, if you want to make an exception, you must get An Yi's personal approval.

After the waiter stepped back, Du Yicai said with admiration:

"Chairman, I admire you more and more! As early as last year, when the war broke out in Europe, you immediately sent to France a special strong team of armed dumping and purchase of the French Navy's obsolete active ships, appointed Admiral Esteva, who had obtained our nationality, as the head of the delegation, and Vice Admiral Benvigé, chief of staff of the Navy, and deputy head of the regiment. The Golden Peony Project', and there are many internal lines arranged within the navy, and now it seems that in addition to the great success of the 'Golden Peony Project', the French warships are probably about to fall into our hands. ”

An Yi took a sip of tea, feeling refreshed and drowsy. He smiled and waved his hand to Du Yi: "Don't make sycophants!" Tell me what's going on in Europe first, or I'll be in a state of flux! ”

Du Yi smiled and nodded, and subconsciously looked around the living room to determine if it was safe.

Shen Fengdao smiled dumbly, pointed to his ears, and signaled that he was fine, Du Yi then remembered Shen Fengdao's kung fu of listening to the wind and identifying the position, and even the movement of ants within a hundred meters may not be able to hide from his ears, not to mention hiding people, and said at the moment:

"No further news has yet to come, and we still have time, so please allow me to explain to the Chairman the movements of the French Navy from last year to this year, so that the Chairman can have a more intuitive impression and facilitate analysis and judgment.

"After the outbreak of the European war, the French Navy and the British Navy had a honeymoon period, and in September last year, the two pocket battleships 'Deutschland' and 'Count Spee', which the German Navy had carried out the task of breaking diplomatic relations, secretly entered the Atlantic, and in order to capture the two ships, the French Atlantic Fleet was reorganized into several attack formations, and the battleships 'Provence', the 'Cedina', 'Tourya', and 'Foch' three treaty-type heavy cruisers and twelve super destroyers were organized into the first detachment, which were specially used for interception' Count Spee' and escorted convoys on several important routes to the Azores, Cape Verde and the Gulf of Guinea.

"In October, the French Navy temporarily transferred some ships to the South Atlantic to form a "fleet" to search for German surface raiders in the tropical waters between Morocco and Bermuda. The fleet consisted of the battleships Lorraine, the heavy cruisers Algiers, Dipracis and the 10th Super Destroyer Detachment, based in Dakar in North Africa. Later, the German "Count Spee" was sunk by British warships at the mouth of the La Plata River in South America, and the four super destroyers of the fleet also captured a German *** smuggling ship "Santa Fe" with a displacement of 4,627 tons. This was the first result of the French naval war.

"In January of this year, the heavy cruisers 'Sufflen' and 'Colbert' and four destroyers formed the French Navy's Y Fleet, which was responsible for striking the remaining German raiders in the South Atlantic in the waters between Dakar and Bocquet, Brazil, and at this time, in order to prevent the fall of the mainland, the French government began to consciously transfer the gold reserves of the Banque de France, as well as the gold deposited by Belgium and Poland, to French colonies around the world, from January 20 to February 7,' The Tourville Heavy Cruiser was responsible for transporting a ship laden with gold to Beirut, Lebanon. Shortly after the golden ship arrived in Beirut, news came that the British Navy's Eastern Fleet had been completely wiped out in the Indian Ocean.

"Due to a major hole in the defense of the Indian Ocean by the Allies, the entire Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, and the vast area of East Africa, from the Mali Peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope, are all under the threat of the *** navy. In this case, the British Navy demanded that the French Navy must quickly fulfill its obligations as an ally. Since Italy had not yet declared war on Britain and France at that time, the French Navy urgently transferred two fleets in the Mediterranean, plus the fleet and the Y fleet, as well as the aircraft carriers "Jean-Bar" and "Chauffeur", and with the battleship "Richelieu" that had just entered service as the flagship, the French Navy Indian Ocean Fleet was formally formed, based on the port of Tuamasina in Madagascar, and launched active defensive operations in the western Indian Ocean region to prevent the occupation of the French colony of Madagascar and the Atlantic Ocean through the Cape of Good Hope.

"The island of Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, with an area of nearly 600,000 square kilometers, and the total area is more than 80,000 square kilometers larger than that of Siam, which we have included in the country.

"Originally, everything was normal, at the end of March, after the main warships of the French Navy were stationed, they immediately aimed at the possible attack of the *** Navy, and established a relatively complete naval observation post on the Indian Ocean on the island of Kotra, Seychelles, Agalega Islands, and Maskelyn Islands, and established communication to guard against a possible attack by the *** Navy. But in May, when Germany launched a blitzkrieg against France, and France was losing ground, relations between Britain and France became delicate.

"By 25 June, the armistice between France and Germany and Italy came into effect, and at that time, in addition to the Indian Ocean Fleet, which was isolated overseas, France had five fleets deployed on its own territory, in the Mediterranean, in North Africa, and in Great Britain: 1. The North Atlantic Fleet at Plymouth, England. The fleet was headed by the battleship Condorcet and was accompanied by the light cruiser Duguet Ruan, six small destroyers of 600 tons, eight 1,500-ton submarines, and more than 200 small minesweepers and anti-submarine vessels.

"II. The deployment of the Middle East Fleet in Alexandria, Egypt. The fleet is led by the cruiser Lamotte Biguet as its flagship and is accompanied by four destroyers and eight submarines. This fleet, together with the British battlefleet, was anchored to protect the Suez Canal and French Syria.

"III. The Mediterranean Fleet. The fleet was based in Oran at the western end of the Mediterranean and its military port of Myrskbier, with the battleship 'Voltaire' as its flagship, the cruiser 'La Motte Biget' and the seaplane carrier 'Commander Tarst', six super destroyers, 10 submarines, and more than 60 other ships in two squadrons. The Algiers detachment is equipped with the cruiser "Primogue" as its flagship, and is equipped with the high-speed mine-laying cruiser "Pluto" and six destroyers, eight submarines, and more than 40 other logistics supply vessels.

"IV. North African Fleet. Based in Casablanca, Morocco, and the military port of Dakar in Senegal, the fleet is flagship of the battleship Diderot, equipped with 2 light cruisers, 10 destroyers, and 12 submarines.

"V. The French Continental Fleet. The fleet was stationed in the southern French seaport of Toulon, with the battleship "France" as the flagship, and was equipped with the cruisers "Marseillaise" and "Primogue", 8 small and medium-sized destroyers, 15 submarines, and 90 other ships. In addition, there are the battleships 'Brittany', the heavy cruiser 'Algiers', the aircraft carrier 'Béarne', and the cruisers 'Joan of Arc' and 'Ebertin' scattered throughout the Atlantic coast of America."

An Yi listened attentively, and the general distribution of the French Navy had already appeared in his mind, and he couldn't help but smile and said: "Looking at these layouts, it seems that these fleets are not as powerful as the Indian Ocean Fleet combined!" It is estimated that the British are bogeyed with rats, and they don't know what to do for a while! ”

"That's right!"

Du Yi nodded: "Since the French Navy sank in the waters of Annam the year before last, it has immediately accelerated the construction of warships in major shipyards, and up to now, the Indian Ocean Fleet has the French battleship 'Richelieu', the super-dreadnought ships 'Provence' and 'Lorraine', and the dreadnought 'Lone'.

"Among the two aircraft carriers, the 'Jean-Bar' is a converted battleship, and the 'Xiafei' is a professional aircraft carrier, and there is nothing to say about performance. In addition, 7 of the eight heavy cruisers of the French Navy, all 6 'Lagalinier-class' light cruisers, and the 'De Grasse' light cruiser, 52 super destroyers, air defense destroyers and destroyers, 46 submarines, and more than 300 various logistics, baggage, maintenance and supply vessels, such a huge force made it difficult for the British to sleep well.

"The French fleet, the British sea power and the Axis sea power occupy a pivotal position, for the British, the French fleet is like a sword hanging over the head, threatening the safety of the British sea transport routes at all times, the total tonnage of the German navy is like a drop in the bucket for the British, and the Italian fleet is not to be feared, but if France joins the Axis side, then Germany will undoubtedly achieve hegemony in the Mediterranean, directly threatening the lifeline of Britain in the Atlantic."

An Yi said with some sighs: "Darlang, this person is blind, it is difficult to become a climate!" After the defeat of France, Darlan, as the commander-in-chief of the French navy, could have boarded the ship alone, concentrated ships all over the world, went to Madagascar, and with the help of France's vast gold reserves and powerful fleet, fought in tandem with the British, and with the support of the British, became the leader of the war of resistance and the future liberator of France - or, like de Gaulle, proclaimed himself as the savior of France, and won the fame and honor that he ardently longed for all his life.

Unfortunately, Darlan was a politician after all, and he did not realize his power, believing that if he left his homeland, he would lose all power, and after Petain promised to support him as the consul of France, the vain admiral was moved and happily assumed the post of deputy prime minister and minister of the navy in the Vichy government. Although Darlan repeatedly assured that the independent status of the French navy would never be dominated by Nazi Germany, because of his consistent anti-British stance, the British were deeply suspicious, and friction between the two navies was almost inevitable. ”

Du Yi smiled slightly: "If it is led by other people, the British will not be relieved, before the British did not have the upper hand over France in the number of warships, so they have been taking a cautious wait-and-see attitude, and the French seem to be happy to see this situation, so that they can be left and right between the Axis and the Allies, and increase France's influence in the world."

However, this is the wishful thinking of the French. Since the invasion of eastern India, the US government finally could not sit still, they believed that the Pacific region was no longer safe, and the Atlantic Ocean must no longer fall into the hands of the Nazis, coupled with the victorious retreat of the British army in Dunkirk, which made the American people restore confidence in the British to defend the homeland. At the beginning of last month, the US Congress finally passed a bill to sell to the British the battleships "Florida," "Wyoming," "Arkansas," and "Mexico," two "Washington"-class heavy cruisers, six "Ohama"-class cruisers, and 80 old destroyers that had been mothballed after the last European war. The Americans tried to arm the British in exchange for time to grow themselves.

The British have lent to the United States for 99 years the naval and air bases they have built around the world for 99 years, as a bulwark against Nazi and militarist attacks. At the same time, Churchill also gave Newfoundland, Zealand, and Bermuda as gifts to the United States, and an additional 12 military bases in the Caribbean, the South Pacific, and British Guiana.

"Churchill saw the situation very clearly, for the British, France was only the first line of defense, the second line was English seafood, and if the British mainland fell, the British government would withdraw to Canada to continue the resistance. The purpose of giving Newfoundland and Bermuda to the United States is to protect the security of Canada's east coast, and after sending out Sealand, the United States will not sit idly by and watch the loss of Australia, plus the military bases in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, will induce the United States to divide its troops to defend it, shelter Britain from the wind and rain, and even drag the United States directly into the war!

"Earlier this month, when the ships bought from the United States returned to England, the British suddenly became emboldened, after all signs indicated that they would take action against the French around them. In the middle of the night yesterday, the British government issued an ultimatum to the Vichy government of France, as well as to the French fleet of the French navy that had taken refuge in the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, and British ports, proposing three options: one was to continue the war against Germany and Italy with the British; The second is to reduce the crew, under the supervision of the British, ships from all over the country will sail to British ports, and the British government will keep the ships on behalf of them until the end of the war; The third is to sink the ship and maintain the honor of the French Navy. If all three options were rejected, Britain would take drastic coercive measures against the French ships.

"The Vichy cabinet of France held an emergency meeting and reached a unanimous decision: in order to preserve the traditions of the French navy, it was necessary to take a tough attitude towards the British, and force must be reciprocated by force. However, General de Gaulle, the former French undersecretary of defense and the army, sent a telegram to the navy, believing that the French army had failed, that the navy was the only hope for France, and that only by standing firmly with the British could it be the hope for the rejuvenation of the country and the nation. However, the Vichy government of France had already sentenced de Gaulle to death in absentia for treason in the name of a military tribunal, and the navy and the colonial governments regarded de Gaulle as a traitor, and De Gaulle's appeal had no effect."

An Yi interrupted Du Yi's words: "Geng Guang analyzes that de Gaulle and Petain, the head of the Vichy government, should be singing a double reed. Before the war, De Gaulle was only a division commander of a tank division, and he had just been promoted to the rank of major general, and there were so many lieutenant generals and generals in the army, how could it be his turn to take the post of deputy chief of defense and the army? Judging from past history, every time de Gaulle was promoted, there was a shadow of Petain behind him, and this time it was particularly obvious; after Petain was appointed vice premier and defense minister by Renault on 18 May, he immediately brought de Gaulle, who had lost the war, to the War Department to serve as deputy secretary of the army, and then privately appointed de Gaulle as vice minister of defense without the consent of Prime Minister Renault and the cabinet. In peacetime, these positions are usually filled by senior admirals, but in wartime, everything is so natural!

Subsequently, de Gaulle was sent by Petain to England, where he appeared as a hardliner in the government, and insisted on moving the French government to French North Africa and fighting Germany to the end. During his time in the UK, de Gaulle frequented the UK's high-level social circles, laying a solid foundation for his gradual increase in popularity. On his return to France, de Gaulle disappeared for several days, but our intelligence officers confirmed that he remained with Petain during this time and did not leave. When he reappeared to the world, he was sending General Spears back to London. When he arrived at the airport, just as the plane started, he suddenly started running with the plane. De Gaulle was tall and long-legged and caught up with the plane in a few steps, and General Spears was stunned at first, and then suddenly realized that he quickly grabbed de Gaulle's arm with his hand. According to what our intelligence officers at the airport witnessed at the scene, when the plane took off, de Gaulle's legs kicked in the air, and the other French officials who saw him off at the airport were stunned.

That evening, Petain begged Germany to surrender, and at six o'clock the next afternoon de Gaulle made a radio address to France in the BBC studio, in which he said: I am de Gaulle, and I am in London. I call upon the French officers and men who are currently on British territory and who are or may come in the future to the French officers and men, armed or unarmed, to all the engineers and skilled workers of all military factories who are and may come to British territory in the future, and to contact me. Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance should never be extinguished and will never be extinguished. In this way, de Gaulle founded the 'Free France' movement!

"Geng Guang and I thought that when the Germans bypassed the Maginot Line and Petain returned from Spain, he had fully foreseen the possible defeat of France, so he made clever arrangements for his protégé de Gaulle to start anew. This had several advantages: first, the defeat of France was inevitable, and if the Axis powers were to win a complete victory, the Germans might take over a large amount of territory, and perhaps they would be given additional favor to France, allowing it to become independent, and thus the French nation would be preserved and continued; Second, if the Allies were victorious, the 'Free France' forces led by de Gaulle would not be considered a defeated country, and France would continue to be a 'faithful' ally of Great Britain, and the status of a great power would be preserved, which would be a relatively good result, but not an optimistic result at the moment; The Free France's movement coexisted, and no matter how fierce the Axis and Allies fought fiercely, they would not poison the people of France and its colonies, avoiding unnecessary loss of population, and laying a solid foundation for the future rise and revival of France.

"It can be said that Petain is not a simple person, he has considered almost all aspects of the situation clearly, he does not hesitate to humiliate himself, skillfully maneuver with the Germans, and his tenacity is rare in his life!"

Du Yi and Shen Fengdao were dumbfounded when they heard this, and after a while, Du Yi sighed and said: "I'm afraid this is the truth of the matter, I was still wondering, how the French government with a puddle of sludge, there was such a figure as Charles de Gaulle, it is hard to imagine, it turns out that everything is controlled by Petain behind the scenes." In this way, even if Britain succeeds in turning the tables in the future, Petain's life safety will be guaranteed, right? ”

"It should be!"

An Yi didn't know the history of these Frenchmen, and said with some uncertainty. In fact, in real history, after the end of the Second World War, Petain was tried for treason, convicted and sentenced to death, but then De Gaulle commuted his sentence to life imprisonment on the grounds of his old age and the exploits of the First World War, and spent his old age in a villa and estate in the Mediterranean, before dying peacefully seven years later.

Du Yi returned to the truth and continued to explain: "At four o'clock this morning, the British Navy first carried out a surprise attack on the French ships anchored in Portsmouth and Plymouth, and the British troops, who had absolute superiority, tried to forcibly board the warships, but were resolutely resisted by the French Navy, killing and wounding more than 100 British troops, sinking three warships, and causing a certain degree of damage to port facilities. Annoyed, the British used torpedoes, shore defense guns, and naval guns, and all the French ships in the port were sunk, and only 900 of the 19,000 French sailors survived.

"At half past four in the morning, the British Navy in Alexandria also launched a surprise attack on the French ships docked at the military port. The French navy, informed by the Vichy government and the Admiralty, had already prepared to fight back, using battleship guns, submarines and torpedo boats, to launch an attack on the British warships, sinking a cruiser and a destroyer. The British used a large number of fortress guns and depth charges, and all the French surface ships in Alexandria were sunk, and the whereabouts of the submarines were unknown.

"At present, the main fleet of the British, stationed in the Strait of Gibraltar, is approaching the sea near Oran, and a major war is about to break out. The Vichy government has sent a telegram accusing the British government of treachery, saying that France has never done anything sorry for Britain, but first Dunkirk was ruthlessly abandoned by the British, and then when Paris was in danger, it refused to provide France as an ally with fighter planes to ensure air supremacy. ”

An Yi asked with some surprise: "Did the Vichy government declare war on Britain?" ”

"Nope!"

Du Yi shrugged his shoulders: "According to the information provided by the inside line of our installation of the Vichy government, at ten o'clock this morning, the foreign minister of the Vichy government, Reival, and the Minister of Defense, Darlain, approached Petain and asked for a declaration of war on Britain. Darlan's voice shook almost the whole building, he almost shouted 'We have been betrayed by the British, we have been shamelessly betrayed, the blood of the officers and men of the Navy has stained the North Sea and the Mediterranean red', Reival preached 'we must attack to meet the British attack', Darlan suggested that the Indian Ocean Fleet should be immediately transferred back to attack the British fleet at Cape Town and Port Elizabeth in South Africa, and then return to Gibraltar to cooperate with the Italian Navy to relieve the crisis in the Mediterranean. But Petain wanted to remain calm and unwilling to join the navy in the war against his former allies, and he described the British attack as 'Churchill's loss of mind', and the Vichy government remained silent! ”

"Look how well Petain is the tortoise!"

An Yi couldn't help laughing: "Now I'm almost ninety percent sure that Petain is cooperating with de Gaulle!" For France, which had already been defeated, the victory was finally achieved with the help of Britain and the United States, and then France could restore its status as a great power, regain control of the huge colonial empire, and even gain enough benefits by weakening Germany, so Petain was not willing to completely fall out with the British in any case. Again, if the French navy were to join forces with Germany and Italy, the fall of the British mainland would be almost inevitable, and now I wonder if Petain had a headache with this hand in his hand. In any case, Rear Admiral de Gaulle could not command the lieutenant generals and admirals of the navy, and the only way Petain could think of was to quickly weaken the power of the navy! ”

"That's right!"

Du Yi gave An Yi a thumbs up, and then said: "After Darlan and Petain broke up, he immediately returned to the Admiralty and gave an order to the Indian Ocean Fleet, asking the fleet to obey his command and immediately launch an attack on the British ports of Port Elizabeth and Cape Town in South Africa, with absolute strength, to break the British sea ***, and if necessary, even occupy the ports of South Africa, so as to declare the strength of the French Navy!"

"Pétain also telegraphed Admiral Jean de la Bow, commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, almost in no particular order, to explain the terrible consequences of the Indian Ocean Fleet's northward movement, saying that if such a large force were in the hands of careerists, it would be disastrous for the French people, and that the peace that had been so hard won would be broken, and that Admiral Jean de la Bode must not fire on the British, and that whoever did not obey the order would swear that he would be brought to the judgment seat and that he would never forgive his sins!"

An Yi nodded: "This should be a message from someone we arranged for the Indian Ocean Fleet, right?" ”

"Yes!"

Du Yi said: "There are many Jews in the French navy, and with our help, they have formed a huge network of relationships in the army. The future of France is uncertain, and they all desperately need to find a way out, and we who are friendly to the Jews are naturally the best choice. At the same time, our navy was originally built on the skeleton of the French navy, so it was relatively easy to gain the approval of French naval officers.

"Now our men are working on Admiral Jean de la Borde, and at the same time bribing the captain below. So far, we've controlled about half of the captains. After the outbreak of war last year, we sent a small number of the families of admirals and soldiers to South China through our connections, and after the Germans were stationed in the northern and central regions of France, we sent the remaining family members back to South China by special plane through the hands of the Germans. ”

An Yi just wanted to praise a few words, Wu Zhefu hurriedly walked in, holding a telegram in his hand, his face was full of joy, An Yi's chest jumped with a "bang", and his heart said: Could it be that the matter has been done?

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The history of the conquest of the French Navy is refabricated, and most of the historical facts are true, but through clever combinations, changes have appeared in favor of South China! Tomorrow I will talk about the whereabouts of up to 6,000 tons of gold for the French, hehe!

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