Winters in Washington are much warmer than those in northern U.S. cities.

But in the Oval Office of the White House, there was a solemn atmosphere.

Roosevelt's goal was achieved, the American battleship "Arizona" and two destroyers escorting the British convoy were sunk, the "Pennsylvania" was severely damaged, and the American Navy officers and men suffered more than 2,000 casualties. Now, the American crowd is outraged, and calls for a declaration of war with Germany and Austria have finally prevailed. Of course, the American newspapers were uniformly distorted in portraying the American fleet as innocent victims, and the "evil" German fleet had little reason to "sneak attack" the "defenseless and just" American fleet.

However, the powerful and terrifying attack power of the German-Austrian fleet in the naval battle made this conspirator who had been encouraging the United States to actively participate in the war in Europe feel a little hesitant, the United States was not ready for war, the army force had just expanded to 570,000 men, the navy lacked capital ships, although it had 7 aircraft carriers, but the battleships in service were some very slow, old and outdated things.

In a decisive naval battle against the British, the destruction of a third of the main naval forces of the British, in particular, the sinking of four aircraft carriers, with little losses of their own, is what is terrifying. Roosevelt thought to himself that all the forces of the U.S. Navy combined could not do this.

"We are not ready now, and if we go to war now, even the Navy will not be able to guarantee the safety of the American coast!" Secretary of the Navy Knox said without worry.

"But we have to get involved. Isn't it? Roosevelt looked up, "Frank, we've had enough of the lack of colonial markets in the Great Economic Crisis. The British used tariff barriers to close off their colonial markets around the world, which was the main reason for the sluggish economic recovery in the United States. If it weren't for this war, we would still be struggling with a recession. We need a huge global market for our industrial goods, but the old colonial system is holding back the development of the United States. Think about it, the Germans now control almost all of Europe and Africa, if we get East and Southeast Asia, how will we deal with the next economic crisis?! ”

"Does the U.S. really need to dominate the global market?"

"Of course. This is a question of expanding our living space. Roosevelt looked up, "We're even involved." The possibility of defeat is slim, but if Germany and Austria are allowed to rule the world, the United States is doomed to decline. ”

Vice President Wallace, seeing that Roosevelt had made up his mind to go to war, opened his mouth but said nothing. He is well aware of the actual situation in the United States. The so-called "Roosevelt's New Deal" did not lead to the economic recovery of the United States, and in fact the American economy would soon fall into recession again if it were not for the outbreak of war.

Roosevelt had actually moved the majority of congressmen to agree to the United States' participation in the war, but it was only because he was concerned about the isolation of the people at home, but now that the American public opinion has expressed its willingness to participate in the war, if it drags on any longer, I don't know what kind of changes will happen.

The news of America's entry into the war was not a surprise to Heldon, who only glanced at it casually when the American declaration of war was transferred from the Foreign Office to the Hofburg Imperial Palace. Tell the secretary to file the file.

He had no mercy for the British. A qiē is to blame, with the strength of the British. should not be involved in this war. But the politicians' ambitions to dominate Europe have dragged Britain into the abyss. Without this war, the British Empire would still be a world power, but now they will soon be reduced to a third-rate state.

There may also be the ability to bully the Argentine...... This may be an opportunity to drag South America into this war as well.

Lechelton was not very interested in the plan to land in Britain and lost his superiority at sea. Britain is a meat worm, and there is not much of a threat anymore. The Americans are the biggest enemy, and as long as Germany and Austria can maintain their superiority in the sea and air, the Americans will not dare to run to the British Isles lightly.

It was not a good idea to attack Britain now, relatively speaking, to use the naval blockade, to gradually weaken British power, to the maxim of war in line with the maxim of war at the lowest cost. With the current supplies of the British, it is not bad to be able to starve to death, and if they want to restore their naval strength, with British resources, they simply cannot do this. Minimal resources, which is also the greatest weakness of all island nations.

Now that the strategic focus is about to shift to East Asia, the Japanese have been arrogant for a year and a half, and it is time to teach them a lesson.

He was admitted to the Austro-Hungarian Naval Hospital in Pola.

"How? Why are you hurt again?! Cheng Yaoheng carried a bunch of fruits to the hospital to visit this old comrade-in-arms.

"Nothing, a piece of shrapnel stuck in the shoulder." Sa Shijun said, "There is no way, we will be bombed when we see enemy planes." How is the Guangxi now? ”

"It's not good, it takes at least three months to fix it." Cheng Yaoheng said that the "Guangxi" was seriously damaged, and Admiral Lukins persuaded the Chinese Navy to give up, but Sa Shijun commanded all the officers and men of the ship to take the risk of sinking the warship at any time, and insisted on struggling to drive the seriously injured "Guangxi" back to the Saint-Nazaire shipyard.

"I heard that the Austrians are finally ready to go to war with the Japanese?"

"The campaign plan is being formulated, and the Austro-Hungarian side wants to wait until the four new aircraft carriers complete sea trials before starting operations, which will take a few months, you can recuperate with peace of mind, and the repair of the 'Guangxi' is being watched by the people of the Ship Bureau to catch up with the construction period." Cheng Yaoheng said, "The country has also started a counteroffensive recently, and the National Defense Army has recovered Xuzhou after fierce fighting!" ”

"It's a pity that we can't help much, the domestic military and civilians are stubbornly resisting, and we have been staying in Europe." Sa Shijun said sullenly.

"It can't be said that the whole war was a game of chess, and the Germans and Austrians were always focused on Europe, but we will soon be able to go back and believe that we will be able to defeat Japan in the end."

"The Austrians are very timid, and they have to wait for the new ships to enter service, just to crush Japan with their industrial advantages, their tactics have no technical content, they just rely on the strength of the man, simple and rude." Sa Shijun said that the procrastination of the Austro-Hungarian navy made him very unhappy.

"Alas, strength is also a skill, and we also want to have a hard-fought battle with the Japanese, but unfortunately, the strength is always lacking. In today's wars, tactics and everything are secondary, and the gap in military strength between countries is getting wider and wider. Cheng Yaoheng said, "In the final analysis, it is the industrial strength that determines the victory." ”

In the winter, the Russian battlefield came to a standstill, and in the summer the Germans moved into the Kuban line, and finally managed to keep the Maikop field, which was very important to them, and after losing the source of crude oil from the Baku field, Germany had to count on half of the oil supply. In the Middle East, the German-Austrian forces have occupied the entire Arabian Peninsula and are intensifying production after acquiring the fields of Mosul and Basra.

The Ottoman Empire had largely dissolved, and all that the Sultan was able to control was the area around the Sea of Marmara, and the Kurds, with the support of Austria-Hungary, achieved self-government and fought with the Anatolian People's Army for control of the mountainous regions of eastern Anatolia. Turkey's Social Workers' Party-led People's Army, which has captured much of Anatolia, is already engaged in heavy fighting with Ottoman forces around Ankara.

Germany and Austria began to intensify the development of a war plan for the Far East, and later the Italians joined in. The Austro-Hungarian Navy planned to dispatch six aircraft carriers, while the German side initially promised to dispatch only two aircraft carriers, but as the project of the two modified "Prussian" class aircraft carriers progressed smoothly, the German Navy finally agreed to send four aircraft carriers.

In Mussolini's view, the German-Austrian navy was enough to crush the combined Japanese fleet, so the leader agreed to send a fleet consisting of two converted aircraft carriers and two battleships to follow the German-Austrian fleet.

This winter seemed to be peaceful, and after the declaration of war in the United States, the British, as if they had taken another shot in the arm, plucked up their courage and continued to resist. And Germany and Austria and the United States are accumulating strength, and there is no big fight.

However, such days will certainly not last long. (To be continued) R580