Chapter 62: The Anger of the Great Commander (II)

The situation on the Pacific side is not very good, but the situation on the Atlantic side is even more worrying. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

-- After several twists and turns, repeated reversals, and repeated defeats, the French Red and White Civil War, which lasted for more than a year, ended in the victory of the Red Elements. After paying a terrible price, the Red Camp completely occupied the European part of France, drove all the foreign intervention forces and the remnants of the French White Army to the sea, and De Gaulle and Marshal Petain were driven together to Corsica as companions.

More than 100,000 more British troops died on the battlefields of France, and in addition to seriously dragging down the Spanish and Portuguese who participated in the intervention: in retaliation for the intervention of the Spaniards and the Portuguese in the French Civil War, an international column formed by the Soviet Red Army and the entire European socialist camp had crossed the Pyrenees and marched into the Iberian Peninsula. The remnants of the left-wing republics of the Spanish Civil War also took the opportunity to launch rebellions in Catalonia and the Basque Country. The Führer Franco, who had just lost most of his regular army in France, was almost in a desperate situation of collapse for a while.

In the face of the ever-changing European continent, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill repeatedly begged the United States to declare war on the Soviet Union as soon as possible and let the hundreds of thousands of US troops stationed in southern Italy join this "holy war" against the "red devil," but the White House was still undecided about this -- Truman was not Hideki Tojo after all, and he could continue to gamble on the fortunes of the country when the country was already mired in a quagmire of war, and recklessly jump into another bigger fire pit.

The only thing to celebrate is that Switzerland, which has always prided itself as a permanently neutral country, declared war on the Soviet Union last month and joined the anti-Soviet alliance led by Britain. The reason for Switzerland's entry into the war was that the Soviet government demanded Nazi gold from Swiss banks on the basis of captured documents and confessions from German prisoners, but the Swiss forcefully refused. So Stalin did not hesitate to launch a "Soviet punishment" against the Swiss mountain people......

-- It is well known that throughout World War II, Switzerland, which prided itself as a permanently neutral country, had close ties with Nazi Germany. It was not only the Swiss banks that laundered money and acted as payment channels for Germany, but the country itself also contributed greatly to Hitler's war. From 1941 to 1942, 60% of the Swiss arms industry, 50% of the optical industry, and 40% of the mechanical production were produced for the Germans, and the remuneration was the gold that Germany plundered from all over Europe, and even a month before the German surrender, the Swiss were selling submachine guns to Germany!

In order to win over Switzerland as a "quasi-ally," Nazi Germany deposited most of its plundered wealth in Swiss banks, amounting to nearly 1,000 tons of gold alone -- during World War II, almost all of the wealth accumulated by the occupied European countries over the years was wiped out by the Germans. At the very least, the gold from the national coffers of various countries was moved back to their homeland by the Nazi German army, and then flowed into Swiss banks for various reasons.

In addition, Switzerland was an accomplice of Nazi Germany in the persecution of Jews during World War II, which had openly refused entry to German Jews long before the outbreak of World War II, and has since expanded to include Jews throughout Europe. Because many Jewish billionaires had deposited their property in Swiss banks to avoid being swallowed by Nazi Germany. Unexpectedly, the Swiss government took the opportunity to join forces with the Nazis and stuffed these Jewish depositors into death camps! When they died in the gas chambers of the Nazi concentration camps, the Swiss laughed at their property in Swiss banks. A large part of the gold and silver jewelry that Nazi Germany obtained from the dead in the concentration camps was melted down and minted into gold bars and silver ingots, which were deposited in Swiss banks. In addition, there is a large number of precious works of art that have been stolen from museums and private collectors in various European countries......

Of course, with so many benefits of Nazi Germany, the Swiss also had to do things for Nazi Germany, mainly to help Hitler obtain foreign exchange and buy important materials for the Nazis to maintain the war on the world market, such as the metal chromium, which was indispensable for the manufacture of armor-piercing shells at that time, and tungsten, which improved the strength of tank armor. In fact, without Switzerland as a foreign exchange channel, Nazi Germany, isolated by the whole world, would not have been able to sustain the war for a long time.

In addition to government-to-government dealings, Swiss banks also kept private property for a number of high-ranking Nazi officials. When Germany was about to fall, many Nazi leaders transferred their looted ill-gotten gains to the vaults of Swiss banks, in a vain attempt to escape the victorious powers by relying on the protection of the Swiss Bank Secrecy Act after the war. In the end, it was all swallowed by the Swiss as they had been Jewish depositors, and it was a mouthful of oil.

In another time and space history, Switzerland took advantage of the outbreak of the Cold War and the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union to easily pass the test after World War II, escaped the victims' accountability, cleared its name, and was able to sit back and enjoy this huge amount of ill-gotten wealth with peace of mind, becoming a famous and wealthy country in the world.

But in this time and space, with the establishment of the French Red Regime and the occupation of Northern Italy by the Soviet Army, the whole of Switzerland has been surrounded by the socialist camp on all sides, and there is no longer room to move and use strength, and there is no even a port to communicate with the outside world and obtain assistance.

In spite of this, in the face of the ultimatum of the Soviet Union and the entire socialist camp, the Swiss still gritted their teeth and chose to categorically refuse: First, before this, Switzerland had openly stood with the anti-Soviet forces of Britain, Spain and other countries, provided logistical support to the intervention forces in the French battlefield, and even organized a "volunteer army" to enter France to participate in the war, and had already formed a deep hatred with the European socialist camp. Even if we turn back and kneel down now, we may not necessarily be able to gain understanding, but we may lose the support of Britain and the United States, and the gains outweigh the losses.

Second, the Soviets demanded that Switzerland not only hand over thousands of tons of gold that had been hidden at the time of the fall of the fascist regimes in Nazi Germany and Italy, but also that Switzerland hand over all the secret accounts of Nazi officials and the hidden property that originally belonged to the Jews, and that all the accounts should be thoroughly disclosed to the officials sent to the Soviet Union to facilitate auditing and auditing, and to ensure that Swiss banks would not be fraudulent. In addition, a large fine large enough to drain the Swiss treasury would have to be paid for the reconstruction of the socialist countries of Europe, and the Soviet Union had to station troops in Switzerland to supervise it.

In short, after such a series of combinations, all kinds of money laundering and reselling activities operated by Switzerland during World War II are equivalent to doing all in vain, and even have to pay a lot of money backwards, which is equivalent to losing without a fight, and directly falling into the status of a defeated country - how can Swiss bankers endure this?

-- Actually, for Stalin, who now has the two major artifacts of the Japanese government's money printing machine and the "Chrono Vending Machine", and wants everything (Sophie, to be exact), this little bit of Swiss gold is a piece of cake to describe as a piece of cake. However, for Switzerland, the "white nail" deeply rooted in the belly of the socialist camp, it must be pulled out, otherwise God knows what kind of moth will be provoked in the future.

As for the special status of a permanently neutral country? Hey, you can really be neutral when you call yourself neutral? We have to admit it!

You can't just claim to be neutral and everyone will have to save face and not beat you - there has never been such a cheap thing since ancient times!

On the other hand, the Swiss, who coveted the ill-gotten gains of the Nazis, did not know whether they were self-deceptive or greedy, but they were very firm in their belief that although the "red devils" were very strong in Europe today, they would certainly not last long. After the United States frees up its hands from the Pacific theater and organizes 10 million free division of the Free King to land in Europe, both the Soviet Union and the Red elements of various countries will be quickly crushed by the huge US military.

Although Switzerland is not a large country, it has a tradition of sending mercenaries since ancient times, and it is sitting on the natural dangers of the Alps, as long as it is willing to pay a certain price, it is enough to resist the siege of the Soviet Red Army and the Red elements of various countries in a short time, and hold out until the moment when the situation in Europe reverses.

As a result, the Swiss, who wanted money and did not want their lives, categorically rejected the ultimatum of the Soviets and bravely embarked on the road of death to face the whole of Europe......

Naturally, Churchill and Truman praised the Swiss for this heroic feat, and mobilized the newspapers and radio to praise them, hoping that they would live up to expectations and take up the great task of confronting the specter of the Bolsheviks in Europe, and reproduce the heroic demeanor of the medieval Swiss mercenary and archer Wilhelm Dyer...... Belch? What is the indication and assistance? That's too embarrassing. Switzerland is a landlocked country, and now it is surrounded on all sides by pro-Soviet forces, and even if the United States and Britain want to transport something, they will not find a way! Naturally, it can only be based on moral support.

But don't be too frustrated, the Poles were able to win the Battle of Warsaw under the onslaught of the Soviet Red Army, creating the "miracle of the Vistula". Today's Swiss are not necessarily unable to defeat the Soviet Union's ironclad torrent and create a "miracle of the Alps".

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Although the end of Switzerland, a permanently neutral country, to enter the war should be regarded as a big surprise for the United States and Britain in a bad situation. However, from a real global strategic point of view, the actual military significance of whether a small guy like Switzerland participates in the war or not is probably very limited.

Not to mention that it is difficult to reverse the decline of the American and British camps, even if it is only to delay the footsteps of the Soviet Red Army for a longer time.

According to the calculations made by the American staff officers, in the face of a massive siege by the Soviet Red Army in isolation, the Swiss are expected to hold out for six months in the most optimistic scenario, and the most pessimistic is that the war will be decided in two to three months. And whether the war lasted six months or three months, the United States did not have the strength to send enough support to the Swiss before they were defeated......

For the United States of America, which aspires to dominate the world, there is still only one key to unraveling the current mess.

That is to defeat the Japanese! Defeat the Japanese at all costs! Beat the Japanese as fast as you can!

However, it is not easy to do this, especially since the US military in Japan has just suffered a major rout.

In any case, the most important thing at the moment is to quickly continue to increase troops on the battlefield in Japan, which is a consensus that both the Pentagon and the White House can agree. However, even with the speed of the United States' launching of three liberships a day, and the world's great capacity, it could only replenish 200,000 to 300,000 new troops from the west coast to the Japanese battlefield every month, otherwise this logistics supply line across the Pacific would be dragged down and collapsed.

In addition, there is a more important and troublesome question: where will the new soldiers come from without affecting wartime production?

-- By the fourth year of the war, the mobilization of the United States of America had almost reached its limit. Like the French in the late years of World War I, the young men who can be made up in the United States today are either in factories, on the front lines, or in graves.

And it is not reliable to count on allies, Britain itself has died for a generation, and it is already up to South Africans and Canadians to defend the capital, London. Almost all white Australians have been conscripted into concentration camps and mass graves, and New Zealand's men have basically been conscripted into military camps -- New Zealand, which had a population of only 2 million before the war, has been conscripted by the Allies before and after more than 200,000 strong men, and most of them have been wiped out, and more than 100,000 civilians have died in the war, and even the Maori natives have been pulled to fill the guns of the Japanese army.

So after going around and around in a big circle, President Truman found that after all, he could only find a way from the American continent, first of all, to put pressure on Brazil, which had already entered the war, so that this South American power could not continue to send only one division to North Africa to pretend, but would conscript at least hundreds of thousands of people to serve as cannon fodder in the Pacific theater. The second is to get diplomats to use both hard and soft tactics to find ways to "persuade" Chile, Peru, and Mexico to declare war on Japan. Finally, it is necessary to further explore the potential of domestic human resources, such as conscription from Indian reserves, while increasing the proportion of black conscription.

In addition, the Japanese immigrants in the country who were kept under surveillance in desert concentration camps could also be exploited. Previously, the U.S. government had not bothered much about them, just for the sake of political propaganda, and formed a Japanese-American infantry regiment, although these Japanese-American troops were actually very strong in combat and fought very the European battlefield, but the number was too small, and the overall situation was better than nothing. Now that even the best white people are bleeding and dying in the hundreds of thousands and millions, it is natural that those Japanese immigrants can no longer be left to bask in the desert - it may be too risky to arm them and transfer them to Japan to deal with their compatriots in their mother country. But it would be more feasible to get them to North Africa and Italy and replace the white and black forces there......

Of course, although these above-mentioned measures look like the way of the head, after all, they are far from quenching their thirst. In Chief of Staff Marshall's view, if it wants to make some achievements in the Pacific theater immediately, the army that has just suffered heavy losses may be powerless, and it will take a long time just to replenish the front line with troops and ordnance materials. All that can be done is either for the Pacific Fleet to make a big move, or for another big kill weapon thrown at Japan.

President Truman agreed in principle with the proposal to throw nuclear weapons on Japan again, but he also had his own difficulties: "...... The Pentagon had previously proposed a plan to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima, which at the time was home to Japan's die-hard army and central government, and the navy was not far from Kure Harbor, where a nuclear explosion with a large enough yield could wipe them out, or at least inflict devastating damage.

Now, however, with the end of the previous phase of the war, the main force of the Japanese Army has moved eastward to the Gifu and Nagoya areas, and has amassed more than half a million troops on that plain. After the end of the latest military operation, the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy basically withdrew from Kure Port, which had been damaged by air raids, and moved to the most intact Sasebo Military Port. And their government moved from Hiroshima to Kyoto to show its legitimacy.

If you look at the map, you can see that Nagoya, Kyoto, and Sasebo are so far apart that it is impossible to strike them with a single nuclear bomb. Moreover, the air power of the Japanese army has also become more powerful, not to mention whether the bomber formation of our army carrying atomic bombs can successfully break through the interception of Japanese aircraft and ground anti-aircraft fire. Even if an air attack and nuclear explosion can really be carried out, which of these three targets should be hit first?

Unfortunately, the number of nuclear bombs currently available to the United States is very limited, and the third batch of atomic bombs that Japan plans to produce is still under intense construction, and it is feared that it will not be able to be sent to the front line before this fall. Of the three atomic bombs that have already been produced at the Oak Ridge plant, one has already been shipped to Britain to deter the Soviet Union, and the other has been shipped to South Africa and is about to be dropped on India. In the entire Pacific theater, we have only one ready-to-use atomic bomb, which is currently stored at Pearl Harbor, and it is impossible to use it to bombard several targets at the same time......"

Pointing to a bunch of the latest markings drawn in colored pencils on the map of the Japanese archipelago theater, President Truman spoke to Chief of Staff Marshall, "...... The question of which target in Japan should be bombed with this nuclear bomb is still being discussed for the time being, and no final conclusion has yet been reached. But don't worry, by the autumn of this year, our army will have 12 atomic bombs to put into the battlefield, which is enough to blow up the unrepentant Japanese! ”

He smirked and waved his fist, "...... As for the navy...... The Pacific Fleet has now completed its recuperation and replenishment at Pearl Harbor, and Admiral Halsey is preparing for a major operation in a few weeks. But it's a pity that the target of the attack was not the mainland of the Japanese Empire, but here! The president pointed to the pinpoint-like string of small islands south of the Japanese archipelago on a map of the western Pacific," ...... Mariana Islands! ”

“…… Mariana Islands? Is this to recover Guam and Wake Island and wash away the humiliation of the early days of the war? Or to secure sea transport lines? ”

“…… It's both! However, the most important thing was to completely cut off Japan's own ties with the Japanese occupation zone in the South Seas. ”

President Truman replied, "...... After the surrender of Japanese forces in the Philippines and Taiwan, the current Japanese Empire has been cut into two parts, north and south, far from each other, and it is difficult to echo each other, leaving only the Mariana Islands as a thin line connecting them...... Admiral Halsey's plan was to cut it off, divide the enemy, and at the same time use it as a bait to lure out as much as possible the main force of the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy, and force the enemy to engage in a decisive battle with our Pacific Fleet, which has superior forces, on the ocean-going sea without the cover of shore-based aviation......"

“…… It sounds good, but even if everything follows Halsey's judgment and leads to victory according to the predicted scenario, then he will have to spend a long time organizing the landing campaign, setting traps, and maneuvering with the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy. In the past few months, hasn't Patton's army continued to fight on its own in the Japanese theater of war? ”

Chief of Staff Marshall touched his chin and said, "...... At present, Patton's troops are already at a disadvantage, and the morale and supply situation is also very bad. ”

“…… Yes, I'm sorry. But don't worry too much, during the planning of the Battle of the Mariana Islands, the United States will still do their best to send troops, munitions, and supplies to the Japanese front. Moreover, the Japanese are not omnipotent gods, they have just recaptured so many completely destroyed lands, and the mere resettlement of refugees and the restoration of order will empty their stockpiles and put them in unprecedented trouble......"

President Truman confidently said, "...... There is a limit to the distance of a modern army's attack, and the latest Japanese counteroffensive has also reached its limit, and Patton has no need to worry about him being pushed into the sea at all. Even if the exhausted Japanese army continued to attack, the result would only be another eastern version of the Battle of the Marne...... Let's cheer up! No matter how many hardships and hardships it takes, the ultimate victory will surely belong to the United States! ”

-- Regrettably, on the Japanese front, the "red Japanese army," which had just recovered a large part of the country, showed no sign of being in a predicament......