-- London Parliament

Churchill stood on the stage of the parliament, looking at the many members of the parliament, at this time most of the parliamentarians already knew that the Dunkirk retreat failed, only less than 70,000 people were rescued, and in order to rescue these 70,000 troops, the navy alone lost no less than 20 warships, hundreds of other ships, and more than 300 aircraft, no one knew whether the price was worth it, they looked at Churchill, waiting for Churchill to give them an answer. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The corners of Churchill's mouth curled slightly, and he said to everyone with a proud and relaxed face: "Gentlemen, allow me to tell you the good news, just yesterday, our retreat in Dunkirk has been successfully concluded, we rescued 70,000 soldiers in Hitler's fangs, it can be said that these 70,000 people represent Hitler's ambitions have not succeeded, he thinks he can destroy us, and we slapped him with facts, dreaming!" Of course, we should also know that in France close to three million troops are being defeated, but we in England will not be defeated! ”

As he spoke, Churchill waved his arms to strengthen his tone and said, "We will fight to the end." We will fight in France, we will fight in the oceans, we will fight in the air with more and more confidence and more and more power, we will defend the homeland at all costs, we will fight on the beaches, we will fight on the landing sites of the enemy, we will fight in the fields and streets, we will fight in the mountains. We will never surrender, and even if our island, or a large part of it, is conquered and starved - of course, I never believe that this will happen - our imperial subjects abroad, armed and protected by the British fleet, will continue to fight until the new world, in such time as God thinks fit, with all its might, to save and liberate this old world. Long live Britain! Long live freedom!! ”

The British have their own pride, starting from the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Britain has dominated the seas for three hundred and fifty years, every country is looking up at the British flag, the British naval guns are within the range of the British land, such arrogance makes everyone unwilling to admit that Britain is defeated, all the members of parliament applauded together, some people slapped the table and cheered, Churchill looked at such a scene, and let out a long breath in his heart, the parliament has passed the level, and the next step is to rearm the war.

At this time, Britain was very sad, originally in the expectation of Churchill and others, the war took place on the European continent, maybe in France, maybe in Belgium, maybe in Germany, and how could it not happen in Britain itself, so there was almost no military force on the British mainland, and most of his military forces were scattered in various colonies around the world. The cruisers were rarely hit, and the main battleships were all on the periphery to defend the main force of the German Navy, so they were not bitten by Dönitz's wolves, and the Air Force probably had more than a thousand aircraft of all kinds, and a number of radar stations were built, which were the biggest support of the British Air Force.

On the army, there should have been 22 infantry divisions and 1 armored division. Now, with the retreat, there is only less than one-fifth of the combat strength left, the total strength is less than 100,000, the artillery strength has dropped to one-sixth of the original, and the transport vehicles are extremely scarce, but a week ago, Churchill ordered the Secretary of War Anthony Eden to form the Home Defense Volunteer Army, which later became the British Territorial Guard. The British were very supportive of this decision, and the number of soldiers who were conscripted was much larger than the government had originally estimated. At this time, more than 500,000 people have enlisted in the army, and the number is still increasing at a rate of 10,000 every day, but although these people have a large number of personnel, but the equipment is extremely lacking, not only do they not have military uniforms, they can not even match their hats, they can only use epaulettes to prove their identity, and the weapons are even less pitiful, not to mention artillery and armor, even light weapons are not matched, many people are holding private arms brought from their homes, and some people are holding broadswords and halberds that they don't know what era, and people who don't know still think that they are back in the Middle Ages, There are also people who pretend to be armed with wooden rifles and papier-mâché bayonets, and if such a scene is seen by the guerrillas who have been fighting in the Eastern Theater for three years, they must have a deep understanding -- well, fellow countryman, which one of the tuns, the equipment is not good! Not the main force, right?

The British began to prepare for battle, they kept looking east, waiting for the German attack, because Britain is an island country, the German army must land if they want to attack, although Britain has built a lot of fortifications for so many years, but after all, there has been no war for many years, and the fortifications in many places have fallen behind the times, Churchill immediately ordered to start repairing, and the British staff officers thought that Germany would land from the south and east of England, so the main forces were transferred to these places, A large number of naval guns were removed from the old warships as shore defense guns, ranging from 102 mm to 356 mm, but there were very few matching shells, and some coastal positions were equipped with torpedo firing devices. A large number of mines were laid on various possible landing positions, barbed wire and steel frames and anti-tank trenches were erected, and many fake fortifications were built in order to deceive the Germans because of the short time available. They lowered the water pipes to pass off as artillery, built fake pillboxes, and even took out a large number of dummies from fashion stores to pose as troops, and the only good news was that Hitler seemed to have some time before he could solve the French problem once and for all, and he could use this time to make some preparations, such as looking for foreign help.

-- The White House

Roosevelt looked at the map and shook his head and said, "In this case, the French are finished?" ”

Marshall, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, nodded and said, "Yes, the British have retreated, and it is only a matter of time before the French are defeated now, and it is said that Hitler has begun to plan an attack on Britain." ”

"Germany can't get Britain, if Germany gets France and Britain, then he gets most of Europe, even if we say that the Soviets and Germany go to war, plus us, it will be difficult to win, a united Europe is not in the interests of the United States." Roosevelt said solemnly, "Is the British ambassador already here?" ”

"Yes, he is already outside, he seems to be ready to ask us for help, and I should remind you that most of the citizens and parliamentarians are now reluctant to get involved in the war in Europe, in the last big war, we gave too much and received too little, and the citizens want to increase their income and employment more than to go to war in Europe." Roosevelt's good aide, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, said.

"Well, I understand that while we can't go against the people's minds, we can guide, right? Maybe it's time to revise our neutrality bill. Roosevelt said indifferently that in his heart, the hearts of the people could be manipulated, and it was.

Since ancient times, the people's will is a false proposition, the so-called public opinion in ancient China should be accurately said to be the mind of scholars and landlords, and in modern Western countries, the so-called public opinion is more suitable for the mind of the capitalists, after all, all public opinion is in the hands of these people, who can control public opinion, who will control public opinion. Roosevelt had already figured out how to get the capitalists to act according to their own ideas, after all, capitalists are profit-seeking.

When Barthes, the British ambassador outside, saw Roosevelt, he immediately took the initiative to stretch out his hand and said, "Dear President Roosevelt, I am so happy to meet you." ”

Roosevelt shook his hand and said, "I already know a little about your intentions, the United States is a peace-loving and freedom-loving country, let's not waste time, the war in Europe has touched the hearts of every peace-loving person, I want to know the current situation in Britain." ”

Bart shook his head and said, "Although we have successfully rescued tens of thousands of troops from Dunkirk, the loss is really nothing, now we are reorganizing the army, we British can protect ourselves, but the manufacture of weapons takes time, so we came to ask for help." ”

Roosevelt smiled and nodded, "That's fine, of course, but you know our neutrality bill, we can't sell weapons to you directly." ”

As early as 1935, on the eve of Italy's invasion of Ethiopia, the United States Congress passed a neutrality bill, which declared: "It shall be illegal to import arms, ammunition, and means of warfare from any point in the United States or any other possessions of the United States to the ports of belligerents, or to any port of neutral powers, for the purpose of trans-shipment to or for use by belligerents." In other words, the United States will not be allowed to sell weapons to belligerents, in fact, such bills are not uncommon in the world, some neutral countries will have such bills, but the United States, as a great power, passed such a bill is worth playing, this bill was amended a year later, saying that as long as the president declares a state of war anywhere except the Americas, the sale of weapons will be banned, except for oil and steel, This is one of the reasons why China and Japan have not officially declared war on each other from the Tohoku Incident in 1931 to the full-scale war in 1937.

Barthes also knew about this bill, you must know that Britain, France and Germany have declared war on each other for almost a year, and now it is not in a state of war, even he, an old man of diplomacy, is a little speechless, but he still said: "Mr. President, of course I know about this bill, but I have to remind you that if Britain is forced to compromise under German pressure, then the Soviet-German alliance will sweep the whole world, and the wave of fascism and redism will swallow up all freedom." Even the United States, which is geographically privileged, is not immune to it. ”

Roosevelt nodded in agreement and said, "I agree with your statement, but the law is the law, although I am the president, I can't cross the law, but as far as I know, Egypt did not declare war with Germany, if the Egyptian government buys weapons from us, I think it can be passed." ”

Egypt, which is the same ancient country as China, was destroyed by the Roman Empire as early as the 4th-7th centuries AD, and then successively ruled by Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Macedonia, Arabia and Turkey, in 1789, Napoleon was born, so that Egypt planted the French flag, and even briefly became independent for a few decades soon after, but in 1882, it was occupied by the British and became a British protectorate. According to the Anglo-Egyptian intergovernmental agreement, Britain can send troops to Egypt at any time to protect British interests in Egypt, so there is basically no difference between handing over weapons to Egypt and handing over weapons to Britain.

"It would be great if that were the case, and I believe that the light will always triumph over the darkness!" ”

After Bart left, Hull told Roosevelt, "The existence of the Neutrality Act is really not good for the current situation, and we need to speed up our lobbying to Congress." ”

Roosevelt said confidently: "The war in the East has only been three years, and the Japanese order has made those people half full, and now that the war in Europe has begun, don't those people be red-eyed?" Let's start with a budget and calculate how many orders would be generated if this war were to be fought for four years, like the last one.... By the way, I heard that this time the Germans used a new type of submarine? ”

Marshall, who was next to him, nodded and said, "Yes, our intelligence officers are already trying to get detailed data on this submarine, but it may be difficult, this submarine does not know how capable it is in the ocean, but in this Anglo-German engagement, it can be seen that it is difficult to fight with the current anti-submarine technology." ”

Roosevelt waved his hand and said, "This is a nightmare for the British, but not ours, we not only want to get the technology and countermeasures of German submarines militarily, but more importantly, we must be prepared to get economic benefits, if the Germans use submarines to attack British shipping, then we can take the opportunity to expand our influence." ”

Marshall and Hull nodded approvingly, no one really regarded the British as their allies, let alone the two countries had not really formed an alliance.

Roosevelt said to Hull, "Speaking of the Neutrality Act, it is still very difficult for us to think about abolishing it, and I think it can be amended again, for example, we can sell arms, but we are not responsible for transportation, what do you think?" ”

Marshall thought for a moment and said, "This is indeed very beneficial to Britain, and can force Germany to use the broken engagement, but for the eastern battlefield, I am afraid it will only benefit Japan." ”

Roosevelt said nonchalantly, "Don't worry about China, they're resilient, and they've been playing well lately." ”

Marshall corrected and said, "Mr. President, we should note that at this time the Chinese red armed forces that appeared on the battlefield in the east, they are getting stronger and stronger, and the battle that is happening in Shandong now is their battle with the Japanese army, and Chiang's government army has almost no influence in northern China. ”

At this moment, Roosevelt's secretary Miess came up with a telegram and said, "Mr. President, a telegram has just arrived from China. ”

Roosevelt took it, glanced at it, handed it to Marshall, and said, "You are not wrong at all, we must face up to the rise of the Red Power in China, especially their relations with the Soviet Union and Germany. This is extremely important for our strategic deployment. (To be continued.) )