Chapter 3: A Different World War II (Part II)

As for the olive branch of peace that the British side is trying to protect, the Kremlin's request is simple and arrogant:

They are demanding to get the whole of Europe!

Well, to be exact, the entire European continent except for the British Isles. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

-- Facing British Foreign Secretary Anthony Murphy. His Excellency Eden's introverted inquiry, Uncle Joseph (Stalin) politely stated that the Bolsheviks' goal at the present stage was "only" the whole of Europe! The British Isles are not yet in target.

So, as long as the fat man at 10 Downing Street no longer wanted to interfere in any continental European affairs, the Soviet Union and Great Britain could still live in peace.

To be more specific, Stalin made the following package of demands on the British side:

First, to withdraw all British troops in France within a time limit, and to provide no more support to the French fascist puppet government;

second, to withdraw the British troops invading Norway within a time limit and to recognize the newly established Norwegian Red Regime;

thirdly, to withdraw the British troops invading Greece within a time limit and to recognize the newly established Greek Red Regime;

Fourth, the peaceful settlement of the Italian question, the withdrawal of the occupation forces from all countries, and the determination of the future by a referendum of the Italians;

- As the Soviet Union occupied the densely populated and economically developed northern Italy, a series of historical cities such as Florence, Milan, and Venice were in its hands, and the population was far larger than that of southern Italy, which was controlled by the United States and British forces. Therefore, if there is a referendum, it will definitely be the result of the coming to power of the Italian Communist Party......

Fifth, a "symbolic" compensation of £300 million to make amends for the victimization of left-wing groups in countries such as France, the Netherlands, Greece and Belgium.

……

To put it mildly, it is: the British barbarians quickly get out of the European continent and go back to your island to play yourself! In this way, you can be spared, well, don't forget to leave the compensation money when you leave, when you broke in and destroyed it before, you also smashed a lot of flowers and plants!

This attitude of treating the British Empire as nothing suddenly made Churchill so angry that he jumped three feet high and almost hit the ceiling. After shouting hysterically and venting his mouth, the fat man completely extinguished his desire to compromise with the Russian Bolsheviks and decided to grit his teeth and fight to the end.

So, on the day of the successful conclusion of the Second Dunkirk Evacuation, Churchill made a speech in Parliament, openly agitating for a declaration of war on the Soviet Union:

“…… At a time when the clutches of Nazi Germany threatened Britain, I made it clear to the Reichstag that I would dedicate nothing but blood, toil, tears and sweat to lead our country through such a very severe test and through a protracted struggle and suffering.

And now, Britain is once again at its most dangerous moment, girls! Gentlemen! I have to continue to ask you, as in the past, to continue to dedicate your blood, toil, tears and sweat to fight to the death against the evil red dictator of the East for our freedom and survival. My answer is: fight on land, at sea, in the air. Fight with all our might, with all the power God has given us, against the darkest and most murderous tyranny in the history of mankind. That's our policy.

What is our goal? I can answer in one word, and that is victory. Win at all costs – defy all terrors, win – no matter how long or hard the road ahead may be. Because you can't survive without victory.

We must be soberly aware that without victory there would be no British Empire, without victory there would be nothing emblematic of the British Empire, and without victory there would be no more centuries of strong demands and impulses that humanity should move towards its own ends.

I took on my task with high spirits and confidence. I am convinced that by uniting our cause, our cause will not be thwarted.

At this critical juncture, I feel that I have the right to ask for support from all sides. I want to say: come on, let's work together and move forward side by side! ”

Although Churchill's fighting spirit and passion in his speech seemed as strong as ever, the applause in the House was sparse.

- No matter how heroic the language is, it cannot hide the paleness of reality, and no amount of enthusiastic incitement can revive the withered heart.

In the course of six years of all-round brutal warfare, the British Empire not only exhausted all its manpower, material and financial resources, but also drained all its energy, courage and perseverance on countless vast battlefields stretching from the Nordic ice fields and the African deserts to the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia.

A whole generation of lads has fallen on the battlefield, even women have been drafted into the army, and the blood of the Anglo-Saxon nation is running dry.

The British have had enough of endless wars, enough of all-pervasive deprivation, and no longer want to continue living such nightmarish days.

As long as the homeland on the island of Great Britain can be as peaceful as ever, to hell with the rest of the imperial glory and the balance of power on the continents!

In the end, the proposal to declare war on the Soviet Union was rejected, and instead someone threw out a proposal to end the state of war, and there was a lot of cheers.

In the face of a wave of opposition in Parliament, Prime Minister Churchill's face was unusually pale. If he really had enough prestige, he might have been pondering whether to follow the example of Cromwell and Napoleon, and send troops to dissolve Parliament by force.

But alas, he didn't. The British soldiers did not like Churchill and resented him because of a series of defeats.

-- From the decline of the first-class power before the war to the point of being a follower of the United States, and at the same time facing the terror of the Soviet Union at the forefront.

Tossed the British Empire to such a miserable state, Churchill, the prime minister, is really to blame.

Once the wartime state is over and the National Defense Law becomes invalid, then the countdown to the resignation of him, the wartime prime minister, may also begin.

By this time, Prime Minister Churchill, who had no help in his arms, found himself looking to have only one last straw left.

So, he turned his head and turned his expectant gaze to the West, the "arsenal of democracies" on the other side of the Atlantic......

But are the Yankees in the United States really willing to pay for the European hegemony of the British Empire with their blood and money?

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Across the ocean, the United States

Since the outbreak of the Pacific War, the United States has been involved in the whirlpool of World War II for four years.

Because the war never reached the United States, Americans were far more comfortable during the war than in Europe, which was full of death and want. New York's Broadway is still bustling, and Florida's beaches are still bustling.

But no matter what, the protracted war attrition still has a certain impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. The limited ration of gasoline has made it impossible for Americans to drive comfortably. The wartime market regulations made it possible to find only green frozen chicken and potatoes, and the children's favorite sweets were always hard to find, as were butter, beef jerky and fruit – it was okay to eat well, but not to eat well. Unless there is a special relationship, it is difficult to buy high-end foods such as oysters and lobster, no matter how much dollar money you come up with.

Because the army conscripted too many young men, more and more women appeared in factories to make up for the shortage of labor. President Roosevelt's wife made several public speeches during the war, calling on women to come out of their homes and contribute to their families and countries with their hands.

In general, the Americans at this time did not have obvious war-weariness and still wholeheartedly supported the country to win the anti-fascist war.

But what if the enemy ceases to be fascists?

Washington, White House

Although it was the dead of night, Cordell. Secretary Hull still had a folder in his hand and walked outside the door of the Oval Office.

Looking at the orange light coming out of the crack in the door, he coughed softly, then knocked on the door.

“…… Come on in. Mr. Hull! ”

What came from inside the door was no longer the kind voice of the "giant in a wheelchair", but another slightly unfamiliar answer.

Yes, the most famous American ruler of the twentieth century, the culmination of the divine light of modern mankind, Franklin, who was crippled but strong-willed. President Roosevelt had died of illness not long ago. Sitting in this office now is President Truman.

A lucky man who rushed to power as vice president, a hard-line right-wing conservative, and a good-looking young man.

In general, President Truman did not understand much of President Roosevelt's grand global strategic plan, nor did he like the government team left by President Roosevelt, but because of his shallow foundation and lack of popularity, he had to hold his nose and continue to reluctantly cooperate with the "old ministers" of the previous dynasty.

Then, in the process of cooperation, because of the divergence of each other's concepts, various contradictions and conflicts have been constantly arising.

If it were a time of peace, such bumps and bumps would not be a big deal. But in the current war years, it is very fatal - millions of US troops are fighting to the death on various battlefields around the world, and any misjudgment of the White House may bury thousands of young lives!

Recently, due to the various conflicting opinions of President Truman and the entire ruling team, a series of strategic decisions of the White House have been messed up, and many plans have not been implemented in a sense. For example, after the complete elimination of the Nazis in Germany, the Soviet Union should have been urged to declare war on Japan as soon as possible...... But if President Truman had insisted on going his own way, the Soviet Union would have declared war on the United States!

My God! He really seems to see Britain as a close ally to be supported at all costs!

As for the great significance of the dismantling of the British and French colonial system for the United States of America, Truman forgot about it, and even though many people tried their best to persuade him and analyze the pros and cons, he still insisted that the White House should stand with 10 Downing Street and face the Kremlin side by side!

And even to not even pay lip service to the fact that Eisenhower's army was going to be real on the Roman front!

Damn it, what good is it for the United States to help the British maintain their colonies and to go to war with the USSR in Europe for the sake of the British?

Although all of them paid lip service to the Bolshevik "red plague" and were wary of it, in reality the vast majority of people in the White House, with the exception of President Truman, understood that after the victory over the Axis powers, the next real enemy of the United States of America was Britain, well, and perhaps France.

In this era, the gentlemen of England had the largest colonial territory in the world. One-quarter of the world's population is a subject of the British Empire, and one-fifth of the earth's land area is the territory of the British Empire. From the British Isles to The Gambia, Newfoundland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Myanmar, India, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Malta and countless islands, the British Empire is part of 24 time zones on Earth, so it is known as the "Empire on which the sun never sets". The international order under British hegemony has been called "Peace under Britain", which provides a clear picture of the global influence of this vast empire. In contrast, the great conquerors of the past, whether Alexander the Great, Caesar, or Genghis Khan, could only look at the ocean and sigh.

The British economist Jevons once proudly described the economic influence of the British Empire as follows: "...... The plains of North America and Russia are our cornfields, Canada and the Baltic Sea are our lumberyards, Australia is our pastures, Peru is our silver mines, South Africa and Australia are our gold mines, India and China are our tea bases, the East Indies provide us with sugar cane, coffee, and spices, and the southern United States is our cotton plantations...... "Even after entering the 20th century, new core strategic resources such as oil, iron, aluminum, lead, zinc, copper, nickel, The production base of raw materials such as rubber was also mostly controlled by the British Empire.

Raw materials from the colonies of the British Empire were shipped to factories in the British Isles, and vast territories around the world provided a unique trading market for their industrial products. Without a complete dismantling of it, the hegemony of the United States of America is simply impossible.

As for the real all-out struggle with the Soviets, it should at least be after the two old colonial empires of Britain and France were dismantled, right?

Hull very much understands and supports the above views, while President Roosevelt's shadow and think tank Harry. Hopkins thinks so.

But this was not the case with President Truman, who seemed to really think that the United States was already the leader of the democratic liberal camp and needed to give full aid to the British in their fight against the Bolshevik "red plague" that swept across Europe...... That's true, but the problem is that it's too far ahead of its time!

In order to facilitate the United States of America to accept the legacy of the British Empire more fully in the future, it is true that this English-speaking colonial empire should not collapse now, but the United States must not help too much, otherwise it will be self-inflicted if the British Empire is revived.

Due to the conflict between the two views, the White House's European policy during this period was almost paralyzed, and all kinds of quarrels were one after another, which was really a headache...... Of course, Secretary of State Hull also had to admit that the strategic plan left by President Roosevelt was far from perfect, and even went bankrupt many times. In particular, the miscalculations of the Soviet Union and Japan were even more serious.

Although many intelligence analysts can't understand this, and even have a nervous breakdown and shout something "It's not me who is wrong!" It's the world that's wrong! Or rolling his eyes and muttering something "reality is more outrageous than fiction"...... But reality is reality, and it is useless to refuse to admit it.

Sighing again, squeezing the aforementioned thoughts out of his mind, Cordell. Secretary Hull pushed open the door, walked in, closed the door, and saw President Truman and Harry. Special Assistant Hopkins was standing in front of a map of Europe, arguing about something.

“…… Look at it, how terrible! From Amsterdam to Brussels, to Paris and Orleans, then to Tours and Nantes, and then presumably Lyon and Marseille! The flood of Bolshevik armor pierced the whole of France in just two months, like a sharp blade cutting through butter!

Then, in Northern Europe, the Soviets not only occupied Finland, but also brazenly invaded the previously neutral Kingdom of Sweden, turning it into an evil red regime. What is the difference between such an outrageous and unreasonable aggression and Hitler's previous invasions of Poland and the Czech Republic?

Now, the Soviets are extending their clutches to Norway again, and the whole of Scandinavia is about to be dyed red! ”

President Truman drew several thick arrows on the map with a red pencil and then said excitedly, "...... The British had already lost the war to contain the Bolsheviks. Now it is our turn to fulfill our obligations as allies and save freedom and democracy in the civilized world of Europe! ”

“…… Ahem, Mr. President, with all due respect, neither the USSR nor the UK have yet declared war on each other, so legally speaking, the fighting that broke out in the Low Countries and France in the previous months can only be regarded as a local armed conflict...... The United States does not have any obligations as allies to fulfill......"

Hopkins coughed and said, his face unusually haggard - this Roosevelt president's brain trust has been in poor health for many years, has been battling the disease, since 1941, every month doctors have predicted that he only has a few weeks to live, but he always gets back up, until President Roosevelt has died, he still continues to hold on to his sick body, and run the affairs of the state with the successor President Truman.

Although President Truman did not like Hopkins's left-liberal ideas, he had to admit his ability and resourcefulness.

“…… A 'local armed conflict' where even the atomic bomb was dropped? Truman snorted mockingly, and at the same time turned his head occasionally, and then noticed that there was another person in the office—and for some reason, Secretary Hull had been standing silently in front of the wall since he entered the door, and for a long time he had been silent, as if he were organizing the words, as if something was beyond his ability to think.

“…… Why don't you open your mouth? Is there something troublesome? Mr. Hull. President Truman asked.

“…… There is indeed a problem. Hull was as careful as he could with the wording," ...... Churchill suffered a serious setback in Parliament. In response to the continued advance of the Russians, he not only sought our support, but also made several absurd proposals, such as the establishment of a German government in exile......"

“…… German government-in-exile? What exactly was Prime Minister Churchill thinking? President Truman was slightly stunned when he heard this, then turned back to his seat and said with a serious expression: "...... Can you tell me more about what that's going on? ”

Then, listening to Secretary Hull's stammering description, both Truman and Hopkins' mouths opened wider and wider.

- There is no other reason, Prime Minister Churchill's brain hole this time is really too big!

Obviously, the red iron currents on the European continent and the brewing tide of cabinet collapse on the island of Great Britain seem to have given this fat man signs of insanity, and under the bad situation of internal and external pressure, Churchill threw out the following bizarre "anti-Suchize" to the White House:

The first is to make King Vittorio of Italy. Emmanuele III regained his throne and established an "orthodox royal government" in the American-controlled half of Rome or further south in Naples, using the traditional influence of the royal family to compete with the Red regime in northern Italy.

The second was to try to lure General Franco, who was in Spain, into the war and sent Spanish troops into the French battlefield to fend off the Soviet Red Army.

If these two pieces of advice are barely within the realm of normal thinking logic, although they are uncomfortable eating flies, then the next one is simply a madman's whisper - on the eve of the fall of Berlin by the Soviet Red Army and the fall of Nazi Germany, a series of Nazi backbones such as Goebbels and Goering fled to the Netherlands and were then captured by the British army, and Dönitz also surrendered to the British army on the high seas on a submarine, and the group is now reunited in British prisoner of war camps. Churchill, who was in a hurry to go to the hospital, actually hit them with the idea at the moment, and was ready to release these people with the consent of the United States, form a German government-in-exile in London, and lead the "anti-Soviet guerrillas" in Germany itself!

Even the new head of the German government-in-exile, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, had been pre-arranged – Nazi Germany's deputy head of state, Hess, who had flown to Britain four years earlier and was detained in an attempt to negotiate peace, is still in their prison. Hess had a relatively clean resume compared to other notorious Nazi leaders, and now he was the natural procurator of Germany's new head of government-in-exile......

This is an idea that breaks through the human imagination...... How so? Indeed, the Third German Reich has only been around for a few months, and there are still many remnants of the Nazis across Europe. If the United States and Britain had changed course and supported their restoration of German power, and had provided arms and funds to the remnants of the Nazis in Germany through various espionage channels, it would indeed have caused a lot of trouble for the Soviets.

But the question is, if this is the case, all the anti-fascist war propaganda of the previous years of the Allies will become a complete joke - do you really think that as long as Hitler is removed, the remaining German Nazis will not be fascists? No matter how much you fool the public, you can't play like this!

Thinking of this, Hopkins couldn't help but glance at a copy of the "Captain America" comic that was thrown next to the sofa: In this popular comic, Hitler is certainly the image of the big devil, but Goebbels and Goering, aren't these guys demons crawling out of hell?

“…… A bunch of ridiculous ideas! Churchill was crazy! We can't go crazy with him! ”

Even President Harry Truman, the most reactionary of the three, rejected Churchill's crazy idea of "supporting the Nazis" and, incidentally, all other ideas. But before Secretary of State Hull and Hopkins could breathe a sigh of relief, they heard Truman change his words again, "...... But it is also urgent to curb the expansion of Soviet power and help our British allies! Is there any good countermeasure? ”

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How to contain the USSR with nuclear weapons? How to help the stormy British Empire?

These two problems really gave Hopkins, who claimed to be a smart man, a headache, especially when he could not directly start a war against the Soviet Union.

Indeed, the current strategic situation in Europe is really too bad for the United States, and most of the best parts of Europe have been cut off by the Soviet Union, which has swallowed up the fattest war dividends in one go. The United States and Britain were left with only a tasteless piece of chicken ribs in southern Italy, as well as a few islands in southern Greece, and although France was still in the midst of a civil war, after the Soviet armored cluster entered Paris, the outcome was already a foregone conclusion.

However, no matter how dissatisfied with the rapid expansion of Soviet power, the bureaucrats in the White House and the plutocracy on Wall Street have few cards to play.

Unlike the history of another world, the Soviet Union in this world was much more powerful and wealthy in World War II. With the exception of a small number of purely symbolic "gift of friendship," Uncle Joseph (referring to Stalin) did not need to rely on American aid to fight the war. During the war, the United States and the Soviet Union did maintain trade ties, but the number and scale were simply insignificant, and it was impossible for the White House to use the bargaining chip of American aid to manipulate the Russian woolly bear.

As for aiding the anti-Soviet forces in European countries, the White House has actually been doing it in recent months, but unfortunately it has achieved very little. At present, the whole of Europe is trembling under the shock of the Soviet steel torrent, and the mushroom cloud rising off the coast of the Netherlands makes everyone tremble.

In fact, according to Hopkins's idea, when it was already known that the Soviet Union had the atomic bomb, Churchill still insisted on arming against the Soviet Union, which was simply sitting on an explosive bag and playing with fire! Unlike the United States, there is no vast Atlantic Ocean between the British mainland and the Soviet Red Army, and the narrow English Channel is not used at all. In case Uncle Joseph was in a bad mood one day, he drank a few more sips of vodka, and then slapped his head and ordered to drop a bunch of nuclear bombs directly to England...... Ulla! All the troubles are solved! There is no more British Empire!

-- Not long ago, Hopkins had just read a report from the British naval base of Scapa Bay on which the American medical team described the terrible condition of radiation sickness as a result of the atomic bombing: experts said that there was no cure for the disease, and that even the best doctors in the United States could only watch the officers and men of the Royal Navy festering their skin and decaying their internal organs, and finally dying of extreme misery with the stench of rancid and pus.

I don't know whether it should be brave or crazy to go head-on with an adversary with such a nuclear weapon, especially when the British don't have an atomic bomb in their own hands - the United States of America will never hand over the nuclear bomb they have just developed anyway.

Seriously, it is really difficult for Hopkins to understand how the poor and backward Russians in his impression came up with such a high-tech thing as the atomic bomb - indeed, the basic principles of the atomic bomb are not secrets, and they can be found in the public press before the war.

However, the key technical obstacle to the creation of the atomic bomb was never the design and manufacture of the atomic bomb itself, but the separation of sufficient quantities of enriched uranium, as long as so many weapons-grade uranium and plutonium could be obtained, even an ordinary electrical engineer could make a nuclear bomb.

But the problem is that with the technical conditions of the World War II era, it is difficult to accumulate so many nuclear materials, but it is difficult to reach the sky - the "Manhattan Project" carried out by the United States lasted three years, hired 200,000 workers, and spent a total of 2 billion US dollars (the US dollar at that time was much more valuable than the green ticket in the future, the cost of a submachine gun was only 10 US dollars, and the total savings of the Kuomintang government after the end of the Anti-Japanese War were only 900 million US dollars), and they did not hesitate to use the silver from the treasury as a winding wire to make giant electromagnets, and finally built only three nuclear bombs...... One of them was already used for test explosions in July, and now only two remain.

And the Soviets just smashed the atomic bombs on the heads of the British, and now they already have two, and they don't know how much inventory they have.

Of course, the two atomic bombs that exploded off the coast of the Netherlands may also be the entire Soviet nuclear arsenal. At the moment, Stalin may be holding a non-existent atomic bomb and using an empty guise to scare people. But who would dare to gamble on such a misjudgment that would lead to the destruction of the country and the extinction of the species?

Well, Churchill really seems to be willing to gamble, but the United States of America really didn't need to go crazy with him, even the British were about to abandon him.

It is difficult to contain the nuclear-armed Soviet Union, but how to help the down-and-out British is even more troublesome - this is not just a problem that can be solved by aiding dozens or hundreds of ships of supplies, but it needs to be really helped to stabilize the territory of the colonial empire, even if only temporarily.

For the British Empire, the vast colonies of the globe were both a source of wealth and a source of all troubles – in the twentieth century, when nationalism was awakening sharply, anti-colonial movements were growing in every corner of the globe.

The dumping and exploitation of goods by the suzerainty country also caused a very serious disaster to the colonial and semi-colonial countries - for details, you can refer to the realistic novel "Three or Five Buckets Overcharged" during the Republic of China...... The colonies of India, Burma, South Africa, and West Africa were expropriated to an appalling extent by the British colonizers, and the flames of resistance of all kinds rose one after another and never went out.

In the era of World War II, when the British Empire was extremely weakened, these flames that had been simmering for a long time burst out like a volcanic eruption!

Looking at the bleak state of Britain's colonies on the world map, Hopkins felt as hopeless as his terminally ill self.

Burma and Malaya had been occupied by the Japanese for several years, and most of Australia had been planted with the sun flag. After MacArthur escaped from the Philippines, he then commanded the Allied forces in Australia to continue fighting with the Japanese for several years, and his morale became lower and lower, and his territory became smaller and smaller, and now there were only a few strongholds left such as Melbourne, the southernmost tip of the Australian mainland.

And India, the most brilliant jewel in the crown of the British Empire, has been reduced to a great battlefield. Although the Japanese only occupied the island of Sri Lanka, they sent the rebel leader of the Congress Party to the Indian subcontinent. Chandra. Bose, however, succeeded in triggering a great anti-British uprising throughout India. Hyderabad, Kashmir and other princely states have become self-reliant, the warlike Sikhs have rebuilt their kingdom of Khalistan in Punjab, and even weak chickens such as Nepal, Afghanistan, and Iran can't help but extend their black hands to the rich Indian subcontinent.

The Soviet Union did not need a way to transport American aid into the country, so Britain and the Soviet Union did not join forces to carve up Iran during World War II. On the contrary, with the acquiescence of the Soviet Union, the King of Iran even sent troops to the east in an attempt to get a piece of the Indian colonial collapse.

Because the British Royal Navy was never able to completely defeat the Japanese Combined Fleet and regain control of the Indian Ocean, let alone have the spare strength to send a large number of reinforcements to India, the British colonial rule in India was also crumbling like a candle in the wind. Even South Africa has a different idea.

Looking at the world, the British colonies that are still relatively stable in the ruling order are only Black Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East. But the tropical plantations of the former were of limited significance for sustaining the war, and the latter had nothing but sand and oil. However, neither the Soviet Union nor the United States lacked oil, and even had a surplus to supply Europe, and Japan, which occupied the Dutch East Indies colony, was not short of oil, and the remaining colored people were too poor and backward to use much oil......

In short, getting the U.S. military to help Britain suppress the colonial revolt was a thankless and-possibly notorious chore. And no matter how you look at it, there is no need to do it. More crucially, doesn't the United States of America itself have trouble to solve?

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“…… Mr. President, before we think about how to contain the Soviet Union and help Britain, let's think about how to defeat Japan. ”

After listening to Hopkins's answer, which he held back for a long time, President Truman couldn't help but feel a sense of depression.

Oh! Nasty Japanese!

Not only dragged the United States into the war, but also disrupted the entire strategic plan of the United States of America!

-- Since its entry into this world war, the reason why the United States of America has been slow to devote large forces to Europe and allow the Soviet Union to dominate Europe is constrained by another key factor in addition to political considerations: the Pacific theater of confrontation with the Japanese Empire!

Since the attack on Pearl Harbor, defeating Japan and forcing it to surrender unconditionally has become the strongest desire of all Americans.

And this is also the direct goal of the United States to enter the war, and to abandon and ignore this goal is absolutely politically incorrect!

Even in the capacity of the President of the United States, this cannot be contrary to the aspirations of the public at large.

President Roosevelt, who served four consecutive terms, could not do it, and President Truman did not.

Although as early as the end of 1941, when the United States had just entered the war, President Roosevelt made a speech in Congress, persuading congressmen not to focus only on Japan, a clown-like opponent, but to turn to Europe, and launched a strategic policy of "Europe first and then Asia".

But the problem is that President Roosevelt apparently underestimated the difficulty and ferocity of Japan's "clown-like adversary" – the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Philippines, the sweep through Southeast Asia, the fall of New Guinea, the assault on the Indian Ocean, the landing on Australia...... As one dazzling sun flag after another rose on the map, the Japanese samurai's knives slashed from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, shattering the face of the United States Navy and Army.

In particular, the two earth-shattering naval battles of Noumea almost completely annihilated the main forces of the US Pacific Fleet in each case. And the amazing performance of the two super battleships of the Japanese Navy, Yamato and Musashi, has made naval and ship experts all over the world lose their glasses - the shipborne radar seems to be able to scan a range of nearly 1,000 kilometers at most! The alloy armor is so thick that sixteen-inch armor-piercing shells and submarine-launched torpedoes can't penetrate it! The "uranium alloy armor-piercing shell" used in the main gun is not only hard, but also spontaneously combustible after a hit...... What's even more unscientific is that they are obviously two super battleships with wide bodies and fat bodies, but they can run at an ultra-high speed of 42 knots, even faster than many torpedoes! Are you a battleship or a rowing boat?!

In order to take out these two demonic Japanese battleships, the US Navy has worked hard to find out all kinds of brain-opening ideas.

From pigeon bombs to giant ship ramming, from frogman sneak attacks to saturation bombing...... Unfortunately, all attempts have failed so far. On the contrary, in the recent period, the Japanese had two new battleships of the same class launched into service, which were named Mino and Shinano......

- As the number of "diabolical Japanese battleships" doubled, so did the nightmare for the Pacific Fleet of the US Navy.

All in all, after such two near-total annihilation defeats, coupled with a series of piecemeal fights before and after, the backbone of the US Navy has been basically broken -- for the United States, the world's factory with abundant resources and industrial strength, the loss of warships and aircraft has never been the focus, but the deaths and injuries of 200,000 well-trained and experienced naval officers and men are the most painful and irreplaceable losses for the United States: the Navy is no better than the Army, but a technical branch, It is impossible to exert the power of a battleship with only one blood, and it requires at least a moderate level of education and a long period of rigorous training to be considered a qualified sailor. And the modern navy has even higher requirements for the quality of officers.

In other words, in the hands of a group of newcomers, it is difficult for even the most powerful warship to exert 100% strength.

As a result, the U.S. Navy's manpower was nearly depleted due to the depletion of qualified sailors and captains, and even the most critical battleships and aircraft carriers could only be operated by sailors requisitioned from merchant ships. As for the secondary ships such as destroyers and landing ships, they are full of countless novice rookies and landlubbers, and all kinds of strange accidents and mistakes emerge one after another, and their performance on the battlefield makes people have to cast a contemptuous look.

What is even worse is that the repeated crushing defeats in the Pacific theater not only made the US Navy lose face in front of world public opinion, but also completely bankrupted President Roosevelt's strategic attempt to "put Europe first and then Asia." Although the United States also imposed very strict wartime press restrictions, there were well-informed people at all times, and rumors were still circulating in society that the Japanese were going to land in San Francisco or send super battleships to bombard ports along the coastline.

Next, even Capitol Hill was shocked by the magnitude of the defeat. Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, on the one hand, are passionately demanding revenge and giving the green light to various plans to rebuild the Navy; On the one hand, it also requires the Pentagon to ensure the "absolute security" of the US mainland - even if the Japanese army does land on the US mainland, the army must be able to withstand the shelling of the Japanese fleet and push the damned Japanese dwarfs into the sea!

In desperation, President Roosevelt had no choice but to change the strategy of "Europe first and then Asia" based on the long-term vision of the postwar period to "Asia first and then Europe" in the face of the actual war situation, and a large amount of resources originally intended to be used to open up a second battlefield in Europe had to be diverted to China, turning them into immobile coastal batteries, anti-aircraft shelters, and land fortresses. At the same time, in order to be able to deal with the Japanese Combined Fleet, especially the two demonic super battleships, astronomical precious resources were invested in a bottomless abyss-like naval reconstruction plan...... Then they were all shot to the bottom of the sea again.

In addition, it is not only the navy in the Pacific theater that consumes resources, but the US Army in the Pacific theater is also not a fuel-efficient lamp. Because of the near-blank industrial power of the Australian mainland, in order for General MacArthur's troops to continue to defend against the Japanese invasion, every liter of gasoline, every plane, and every tank he needed had to be transported all the way from the United States mainland - except for wheat, mutton, and the Australian lads who were not afraid of death, Australia could hardly provide MacArthur with anything he wanted. If it had been replaced by China's Eighth Route Army guerrillas, they might have been able to persist in fighting under such conditions, but MacArthur could not do such a thing, and could only count on the transportation and supply of the American mainland.

- There are two ways to get from the arsenals of the United States to the Australian front, either from bypassing the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and going through the southern Indian Ocean; Either bypass New Zealand and go to the South Pacific...... Each of these roads was a long journey, and what was even worse was that under the threat of German U-boats and the Japanese Combined Fleet, no matter which one became an out-and-out death route, an average of at least twenty "free ships" were captured or sunk on these two routes every month!

But in order to win this war, the Pentagon still continued to transfuse blood to the Australian battlefield regardless of sacrifices and losses.

However, despite having invested so much blood at any cost, he has an absolute advantage on paper. But Rao is like this, the US army still can't defeat the Japanese! It's just that it barely stopped the decline in the early stage of the war and entered the stage of strategic stalemate! The Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, a demonically stubborn and cunning opponent, still did not suffer any decisive defeat. It's still powerful, and it's waiting to fight back!

The US Pacific Fleet obviously had absolute numerical superiority, but it was repeatedly attacked by the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy for four years in a row, and it was defeated again and again, and 200,000 officers and men were buried under the blue waves, and its morale fell to the bottom, and it could only barely hold the line in New Zealand, which made the Pentagon very troubled.

As a result, the United States is firmly contained in its home and Pacific power, and is basically unable to launch any large-scale offensive in Europe.

As a result, after four years of entering the war, the Americans found that their record was truly dismal. Except for a little success in North Africa, where the British defeated Rommel the "Desert Fox" and wiped out the German and Italian African armies, there has never been a frontal victory against any enemy: the German Nazis were killed by the Soviet Red Army, the Italians gave up resistance in their own coups, and the Japanese are still rejoicing......

As a result, Americans' self-esteem and morale have suffered a serious setback, and a considerable number of Americans have begun to believe in frustration that despite their country's enormous productivity and mobilization capacity, the combat effectiveness of the US military is really disappointing...... Although the atomic bomb was built, which had been spent heavily on research for several years, the US Air Force could not find a bomber that could fly directly from Hawaii to Tokyo, so it could not drop it on the Japanese archipelago.

And if the precious atomic bomb is used to destroy the Japanese army's front-line island bases, it will be too wasteful - the atomic bomb is not a cabbage, there are only two left in total after the test explosion, and the cost of each one is more than one island of the Japanese, and the next one is not known to be built in the year of the monkey!

In short, when the Pacific theater is deadlocked and the European theater cannot be opened, even if President Truman is a hardcore conservative (in fact, he is only more to the right than Roosevelt, and far from McCarthy in the future), he does not dare to directly confront the Soviet Union's steel torrent in Europe without solving the Japanese problem. And the U.S. Army, which lacked self-confidence, also failed to withstand the courage and self-confidence of the Soviets.

Under these circumstances, although very reluctant, President Truman had to admit that he really had to temporarily abandon Europe, first Asia and then Europe, and regard the defeat of Japan and the control and seizure of the Asia-Pacific region as the primary goal......

What's even worse is that now the Japanese fascists have not been defeated, but the allies are already fighting and killing each other. If the United States really jumped on the British chariot and led to an all-out war between the Western camp led by Britain and the United States and the Eastern camp led by the Soviet Union, and even forced the Soviet Union to form an alliance with Japan, then defeating Japan and washing away the shame of the attack on Pearl Harbor would really become a dream that would never be realized.

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“…… All right! I see, Mr. Hopkins, things in Europe can only go with him for the time being, and now the key is to defeat the Japanese! ”

After a moment of silence, President Truman let out a long sigh, got up and rolled up the map of Europe hanging on the wall, then took out a military map of the Pacific Theater from a drawer and spread it out on his desk. Compared with the familiar Europe, the Pacific theater appeared vast and boundless, and there were a string of unfamiliar island names everywhere, which made President Truman frown for a while, and felt dazzled and dizzy.

“…… The next counteroffensive in the Pacific theater...... How's the preparation going? Will MacArthur be able to hold out in Australia? ”

After looking at the map for a while, Truman turned to Hopkins and asked, "...... For the past two days, I've been focusing on the situation in Europe......"

“…… MacArthur had just won a battle near Melbourne, and Mr. President, he said he could continue the fight as long as the logistics were sufficient. ”

Hopkins stepped forward, pointed to the map of the Pacific theater of operations, and said, "...... The Pacific Fleet also sent a telegram claiming that they were ready to launch the Third Battle of Noumea early next month! The minimum goal was to try to sink one or two Japanese battleships. ……”

“…… Those two diabolical Japanese battleships? Uh, no, it's four now......"

Truman scratched his hair, "...... Hey, it's been four years since the war began! Mr. Hopkins, this decisive battle is very high, please let someone evaluate it as soon as possible. If it is necessary and possible to use those two atomic bombs, do not be stingy. Any weapon is made for use, and the United States needs a victory too much! No matter what the cost, we must also break the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese Combined Fleet......"