"It was probably the closest twelve weeks we were to defeat, and the most painful of the year!"

"I was in Gibraltar at the time, and when I learned that the USS Enterprise had been sunk and saw the battleship Nelson slowly sink after sailing into the harbor, I thought we were finished. But then I told you that it wasn't the worst! ”――

Elms is a war correspondent for Reuters.

In March 1941, there was little good news for the Allies, except for Truk and the Marshall Islands, which had nothing to do with the overall situation. On the fourth day of the North African landing, the aircraft carrier Enterprise and the battleship Nelson sank one after another, once again severely damaging the British and American navies, which were almost paralyzed. So much so that in the weeks that followed, the Bismarck and two Scharnhorst-class battlecruisers almost dominated the Atlantic. If it weren't for the trenches in the Strait of Gibraltar, perhaps Raeder would have been able to control the Mediterranean Sea in advance. In this round of sabotage, the Allies paid a heavy price, with a total of seventeen merchant ships, three troop transports and destroyers sunk. Together with Dönitz's wolf pack, in just a few weeks, the British and Americans lost an aircraft carrier, a battleship, five destroyers, thirty-one merchant ships and three thousand soldiers.

Thankfully, thanks to the efforts of the British and American workers, the battleship USS North Carolina was delivered ahead of schedule on March 6. At the same time, the Prince of Wales, the second ship of the George V-class battleships of the British Royal Navy, will be officially commissioned, and the third ship, the Duke of York, will also be commissioned early in early April. The battleships George V and Warrior, wounded in Operation Catapult, were also repaired on 7 March. Finally, the British Navy also salvaged the sunken Queen Elizabeth and Warweary from Alexandria (the aircraft carrier Tejas could not be repaired) and towed them to the port of Durban, South Africa, for major repairs. At this point, the British Navy gathered the main lineup of seven battleships and four aircraft carriers. In addition, the US Navy transferred the battleship Colorado, five cruisers, and 12 destroyers to Gibraltar, and Britain and the United States once again gathered a total of 12 battleships, 5 aircraft carriers, and 22 cruisers in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, and continued to maintain an all-out encirclement and suppression of the Italian and German navies.

The sinking of the Enterprise deeply stung the US Navy and Army Air Force. The Chinese Navy has already begun to attack the Marshall Islands and the Gilbert Islands, but it is completely powerless to interfere. Roosevelt had no choice but to take a step back and order full support for China in accordance with the support agreement reached between Hopkins and Yang Qiu. The first batch of loans of $500 million and supplies worth $500 million were provided to China. This also means that throughout 1941, the US Navy will not appear in the southwest Pacific Ocean, except for Australia.

This major change finally relieved the US staff headed by Marshall. Without the drag of the Pacific Ocean, they can finally provide maximum strength to Europe! The day after Roosevelt's decision, Marshall signed the second batch of troop reinforcements. It includes 13 army divisions, 600 tanks, 4,000 anti-aircraft guns, 18 warships, and 2,000 B-17 bombers (a total of 2,576 before the war, which is higher than historical due to China's bombing of 7 bombs). 1,200 B-25 bombers (1,767 before the war), 1,872 P-40, P-38, F4F fighters (3,379 in total for the three types of aircraft before the war) were transferred to Europe and North Africa. In the end, the US Army and Navy were unwilling to wait for the new aircraft of the domestic aircraft companies, and immediately formally submitted to the Chinese government the patent for the purchase of the "dual-electric" fighter in accordance with the terms of the covenant.

Marshall's reinforcement was very resolute, but Rommel's advance was just as sharp and fast! After being blocked by the British and Americans at Kiskna in the east of Algeria, he deliberately moved his large forces to Batna in the south, luring two American divisions to intercept them, and then personally led an armored division to attack Mira in the north. Because the Allies did not expect the Germans to dare to go to the coast blockaded by naval guns, it was not until the vanguard appeared on the outskirts of Setif. Only then did he hurriedly intercept it.

The Battle of Setif was the first major battle after the Allied landings in North Africa, with a total of seven divisions committed by both sides. But the result is unforgettable for the US military! Around the Creel Gorge north of Setif, Colonel Menton's 288th Panzer Regiment taught the U.S. 1st Panzer Division a good lesson. In just one day. The 41 No. 4 tanks under his command destroyed a total of 104 U.S. M3 tanks, armored vehicles and trucks, and finally defeated the British 26th Tank Brigade and the Free French 3rd Tank Regiment. Over the next two days, the Allies lost more than 8,000 men. The loss of Setif also allowed Rommel to close to less than 230 kilometers from the Algiers landing site.

The Battle of Setif once again showed the shortcomings of the American army's poor tactics and experience. In order to contain Rommel. Ensuring the safety of the landing grounds, the British and the Americans, while increasing their troops in North Africa, ordered Wavell's Egyptian corps to attack Benghazi.

At this time, Yang Qiu's role in allowing Bai Chongxi to attack East Africa was finally manifested. After Zhu Jiande wiped out nearly half of the 600,000 Italian East African Legions, and the rest were all rushed to Somalia and southern Ethiopia, Wavell's Egyptian Legion finally had no worries. Eleven infantry divisions and three armored brigades were immediately dispatched to storm the Syrian town of Benghazi. Cunningham also lost no time in mobilizing three heavy cruisers and two American New York-class battleships to bombard the harbor. Because this place was very close to the oil fields sold by Jin Bihui, Hitler, who was worried that the "future resources" would be robbed by Britain and the United States, was "dizzy" again, and despite Rommel's protests, he strictly ordered him to ensure the safety of Benghazi first, and also deliberately transferred General Kleister to North Africa as the commander of the army group.

This infuriated Rommel, who immediately called the General Staff and asked to be transferred back to Europe. After Hitler heard the news, as long as he appeased this beloved general, he promised that he would immediately discuss with Mussolini, and then send three German armored divisions, five German infantry divisions, and ten Italian infantry divisions to support him, so as to completely "drive Britain and the United States into the sea", which slightly discouraged Rommel. However, he also knew that Benghazi was very important, and once Benghazi was lost, he would be attacked on his back, so he had to turn around and deal with Wavell's Egyptian army first.

Eisenhower, who was in charge of the North African landings, was relieved to learn that Rommel had turned around. But the U.S. military has not yet completely gained a foothold in North Africa, and there is bad news in Europe! On 8 March, 700,000 German troops suddenly attacked Yugoslavia and officially entered the Balkans. Prime Minister Peter II and Prime Minister Simovich immediately appealed to the Central Powers for help, and at the same time, they had been opposed to them, and the Yugoslav GC International, led by Tito, also turned to the invasion in an all-out way, and hoped for the support of the Soviet government. But take into account their own circumstances. Fearing that Germany would be caught between two fronts, Stalin refused to provide assistance. This move infuriated the radicals led by Tito, who immediately rejected the proposal of the Moscow Party Central Committee to "abandon resistance and preserve the living forces." ", announced the joining of the Yugoslav Resistance Army headed by Peter II, and vowed to lead the Yugoslav people to fight to the last moment!

This incident also became the fuse for the complete collapse of GC International. In the face of national interests, this organization, which was once regarded as a savior by the broad proletariat of the world, and regarded by the Soviet Union as a "political cash machine", has finally come to an end.

Tito's initiative to join brought Yugoslavia together. This is also great news for the Alliance. With a population of 15 million, Britain and the United States, who were worried about not being able to find "cannon fodder", were overjoyed and immediately supported them in a high-profile manner. Moreover, on the second day of the German offensive, the US military sent 200 transport planes to transport a large number of weapons and equipment from Greek airspace to Belgrade. Out of post-war considerations, Yang Qiu also instructed Bai Chongxi to send transport planes to provide Tito with necessary assistance such as weapons and medicines, and for the first time sent "military observers" to him to help him form his own resistance army.

But at this time. Poor news came from distant Central Asia. On March 4, the Soviets assembled four tank divisions and twenty infantry divisions, totaling 300,000 troops, from Aktobinsk (present-day Aktobe, Kazakhstan) under the command of Rokossovsky. Launch a counteroffensive on the Irguz River, where the Chinese Defense Forces are stationed. Although the air force provided immediate support, the poor bombing effect due to the wind and snow, coupled with the misjudgment of the front-line commanders, led to the encirclement of two infantry divisions stationed on the Great Boktebay Mountain. More than 20,000 soldiers held out in a position of more than minus 20 degrees Celsius for five days and five nights. Eventually, due to poor supplies, they had to break through to the Irguz River to the east. In the end, more than 6,000 soldiers who served in the blocking mission were killed in battle. Among them were also a major general, division commander, and 19 senior officers who died in the line of duty. More than 5,000 people were taken prisoner, and nearly half of the more than 7,000 people who finally broke out of the siege and returned to the Irguz River were frostbitten.

Faced with the biggest defeat since the beginning of the war, Rokossovsky's ferocious counteroffensive also caused the Beijing General Staff to temporarily freeze the landing in the Ryukyus. Army Commander Long Yun and Deputy Chief of General Staff Liu Mingzhao also immediately went to the front line to take up their seats.

"The Germans attacked Yugoslavia, and Tito threw himself into the arms of the capitalists!"

"This traitor!"

"No, he shouldn't be accused of that. He is a comrade of our international column, and I believe that he made this difficult decision in order to protect the country. ”

"I heard that the general secretary refused to support Yugoslavia, and instead China provided weapons and medicine to Tito and his Yugoslav comrades."

"It should be believed and not deceived by the propaganda of the capitalists. General Secretary Stalin needs to solve the threat from the east first, so I am sure that as long as it can hold out until the counteroffensive, the Red Army will definitely return. ”

"Okay, okay, stop arguing. Ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of our meeting today is what we should do next! ”

In Lleida, a small town in the western part of the Spanish province of Catalonia, fifty or sixty representatives from the left-wing bloc gathered in the gloomy basement. Among them were the Spanish GCD, the Confederation of Workers, the Basque, Galician and Catalan separatist guerrillas, and the anarchists who had been stranded in Spain by the international columns. The growing scale of the Eurasian war has made these guys who were hunted down by Franco like ground mice active again. From the beginning of the German occupation of France, all kinds of sabotage, assassinations, raids and guerrillas were revived in Spain. However, because Britain and the United States resolutely supported Franco out of their own interests, and Franco himself was supported by Germany, and even Moscow refused to support it anymore because of itself, they were like a group of clowns caught in the middle of the lions, ruthlessly abandoned by all sides, or "gifted" back and forth as political bargaining chips.

This situation is unbearable for them, and it also causes these people's hearts to become more and more distorted! Seeing that there was no hope of restoring, the news suddenly came that Britain and the United States had landed in North Africa and that two capital ships had been sunk. The ignorant also knew that Gibraltar's status had risen to an infinite high for Britain and the United States at the moment, so their minds were alive again. Trying to find a way to get the Anglo-American to recognize them.

"Of course it's impossible!" Liu Xianghui sat quietly next to him, putting on a thoughtful expression, looking at this group of people and sneering in his heart.

He was originally a naval intelligence officer arranged by the Military Intelligence Bureau in France, and during the Spanish Civil War, he was ordered to infiltrate the international column in the name of a worker in France.

As the mainstay of blocking the Soviet Union's penetration into Asia, the GC ideology that broke out in Europe later. In fact, the impact in China is also very large. And because of the direct confrontation between the geographical borders, a considerable number of people have joined the organization, many of whom are intellectuals. Even during the first Sino-Soviet war in Afghanistan, many people in China received instructions from the Soviet Union to act as the vanguard of counter-persecution and opposition to capital China. It was not until the Soviets formally invaded Iran, threatened the country's oil security, and then invaded the northwest, that a huge wave of reflection broke out, and everyone drew a line with the Soviet Union.

In fact, the reason why the president let the Soviet Union act first may not have been because he did not have the idea of letting these people see the true face of the Soviet Union clearly.

So at that time, there were many Chinese and international students in Europe who accepted the idea of GC. Because of the bravery, alertness, and proficiency in mechanical maintenance. He soon became the backbone of the international column. After the war, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp by Franco, along with the Chinese who participated in the civil war. Fortunately, the relationship between China and Franco was good at that time, and a large number of weapons were sold, so in the name of exchanging wanted criminals, all the Chinese were escorted back to China. Some of them have repented, and some are still in captivity, and he has deliberately spent several years in prison as a false escape. I returned to Spain to find my old comrades-in-arms.

Because of this legendary experience, he made a small name in the Spanish Resistance. In addition, after he came to Spain, he has been smuggling and processing pig bristles from China (China is the largest exporter of pig bristles and is one of the strategic resources at that time). In just a few years, a lot of money has been made. The money was used by him to support the left-wing guerrillas, or to win over the relationship. In the end, relying on charity and iron-clad support, he gradually became an important core member of the Catalan guerrillas.

This time, his mission is to assassinate Franco!

This matter seems to him. It is not only to harm Britain and the United States, but also to help Britain and the United States.

Help, because if Spain continues to be neutral. Then the pressure on North Africa and Egypt will be too great. The current German army is like a pressure cooker, if it cannot dilute the German army as soon as possible and open up a new battlefield, it will certainly rapidly increase its troops in North Africa, seeking the possibility of defeating the inexperienced American army in one fell swoop. Therefore, only by taking advantage of the Balkan Peninsula in the east and Spain in the west, relying on the width and depth of the battlefield, can the millions of German troops be diluted. Even if the two places lose on the surface, Britain and the United States will definitely do their best to support the local partisans and drag down the German army because they need "cannon fodder". Moreover, Vichy France was neutral, and if the Germans were to attack Spain, it was bound to occupy France in its entirety. In this way, it was tantamount to giving part of France's power to the Allies in vain.

The harm is that supporting the Balkans will exhaust a lot of British and American financial resources, and Spain can only fight on their own because of Gibraltar. In this way, the battlefield seemed to be wider, diluting the strength of the German army, but in fact more materials and troops were invested. Britain and the United States are not stupid, Spain can't keep it, then it is equivalent to losing the Mediterranean, and this war will be over. So as long as he provoked Spain, Roosevelt would no longer dare to slow down, and he had to go all out, even if he pulled recruits to death, he had to fill this meat grinder!

"Britain and the United States will not support us, what those capitalists need is Franco."

"Yes, in order to win over Franco, the British gave him a lot of arms and supplies, and also provided bank loans."

"We can go to Comrade Picasso, who has a great reputation in Britain and America. Right! And then there's Romeli, who is Prime Minister Churchill's nephew, and maybe we can contact Prime Minister Churchill through him. (Romelly Churchill, Churchill's nephew, took part in the International Column in the Spanish Civil War and was repatriated to England after the war).

While he was secretly thinking about the success or failure of the mission, the left-wing members around him had already begun to discuss. But these unrealistic things made him shake his head secretly, and finally had to pull the man next to him.

If he is the money bag of the Catalan guerrillas, then the man named Andrew Wagsey, with a big beard and bloodshot eyes, who is addicted to opium, is the number one thug of the guerrillas. In the past year alone, there have been more than dozens of assassinations and attacks carried out by his hands, in which at least five officers and a dozen soldiers of the National Army have been killed by his own hands, and hundreds of innocent people have been killed. Because of his "outstanding" work, he is now the most important officer in the Left Alliance.

But everyone didn't know that in fact, he had been secretly controlled by Liu Xianghui. In the past ten years, with the help of China, Liu Xianghui has continued to use special drugs, hypnosis, suggestion and other means to make him his "downline", and also used a lot of money to help him climb to this position. Of course, Wagshi himself doesn't know these things, he just subconsciously regards Liu Xianghui as his most important confidant and staff, or a "brother" who shares life and death.

Receiving a hint, Wagsi, who always carried a submachine gun on his back, stood up. Because of his burly figure, he immediately attracted all attention. "You guys are so careful! Why don't Britain and the United States need us? Just because we've been making a little fuss! In my opinion, this problem is easy to solve. Those damned Falangists, who were calling every day to join the Nazi camp, were still forming troops to help the Germans, just because Franco hadn't agreed yet. Then as soon as we assassinate Franco, they will immediately join the Nazi camp. At that time, the British will have to rely on us! ”

"Assassination of Franco? God, there were many, many soldiers around him. And if we kill him, we will only give Hitler an excuse to invade. We couldn't stop so many German troops. As soon as Wagsi's words came out, someone immediately came. Of course, some people think this method is good, but it is not easy to assassinate Franco, and the protective force around him is very strong.

Liu Xianghui continued to be a "spectator", and his skin color made it inappropriate for him to be involved, so this matter could only be handled by Wagersi.

"Then kill his lackey Sunel!" Again, Wagsi's words were astonishing.

Sunel is Spain's interior minister and the most important player under Franco. And he had been in contact with Germany lately, and if he could be killed, it would anger the Falangists, and perhaps encourage them to openly join the Nazis. What's more, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Interior, Sunel has used the military and police to suppress the left-wing coalition in recent years, and at least hundreds of thousands of "comrades" and supporters have died at his hands!

Killing such a person will not have any psychological burden on everyone.

"But is it really Sunel who was assassinated?" Liu Xianghui looked at them and slowly cracked a corner of his lips...... (To be continued......)