618 turn

Washington, White House. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

The secretary gently pushed open the door and put the coffee in front of the generals, and walked out without daring to leave, but when he brought the door, he still couldn't help but look at the office that was colder than the weather outside, and sighed deeply when the crack in the door was completely covered.

The Pacific Fleet is gone!

There's no worse news than this.

Only three days ago, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was second only to China, with as many as 12 capital ships and 11 old battleships, and they were once regarded as the impregnable wall of the West Coast of the United States, and even after losing as many as eight capital ships after the start of the war, they were still considered to have paid a heavy price even if the enemy could defeat them.

But after only one day, seven hours to be exact, the fleet was almost completely gone, and in addition to two Delaware-class battleships and a few armored cruisers in Australia, the United States was left with only six old Connecticut-class battleships and a few tattered cruisers in the Pacific, which could not even be done on the widely defended west coast.

Battleships must be drawn from the Atlantic immediately!

"Yesterday, Panama was bombed again by warplanes, with the Chinese dropping at least 300 bombs, killing 728 soldiers and slightly damaging the canal locks, but not affecting the passage of ships.

In addition, we have reached an agreement with Great Britain that the USS New York, HMS Texas, USS Indiana, USS Chilshach, and four Omaha-class light cruisers will depart for San Diego three days later, and the two remaining Florida-class battleships of the Atlantic Fleet, the USS Kentucky, are also ready. Secretary of State Jossen handed the report of the two days to President Wilson, who had a somewhat gray face.

"Is there anything else?"

Qiao Sen shook his head: "Britain doesn't want us to withdraw the four capital ships of the Indian Grand Fleet, because if we leave, the Indian Grand Fleet will lose important combat effectiveness, and once Hua breaks through the Indian Ocean into the Persian Gulf, then Germany and Hua will be connected in tandem, and then our losses will be great!" ”

"What about the battleship? The remaining 12 Pennsylvania-class and Northampton-class, all built before the war, can't they be fully delivered? Secretary of State Lansing asked.

"The two Pennsylvania-class battleships and two Northampton-class heavy cruisers we sent to the Indian Grand Fleet are in fact incapacitated, and the reorganization was completed half a month ago, and the rest must wait until June, the Navy can get two Pennsylvania and two Northampton, and the last eight will be delivered at the end of the year.

As for the Mexican-class and Lexington-class, which began construction after the war, the first four ships may be obtained at least until the end of next year.

That's already speed! ”

Wilson rubbed his eyebrows, he finally knew that an industrial power and a military power are two different things, not to mention that even if the United States has strong industrial capacity, it can't afford such consumption, losing 23 warships in one day, including 12 types of capital ships, especially the four Nevada-class that have just been deployed in the Pacific Ocean, and it has been less than a year since they were launched, even if all the shipyards are concentrated to build only one kind of warship, it is impossible to make 12 sharp capital ships like the Nevada class in a short period of time.

Britain's concern is justified, the Indian Grand Fleet is currently the only existence that can counter the aggressive superiority of China in the sea, so those four capital ships cannot be withdrawn, but if they are not withdrawn, the entire United States will only have 8 types of battleships, two of which are still in Australia, while the opponent only has four Hebei-class, two Guam-class and two Beijing-class aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet alone, and most importantly, two aircraft carriers with amazing power in all types!

"What to do? Do we want to throw away Panama and the West Coast? Lansing pointed to the west coast of the map and shouted. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

"It's not that bad." Sitting next to him, William Benson, who had not spoken since the beginning, shook his head, the tiredness and bloodshot in his eyes made the fifty-year-old general a little more haggard, the almost complete destruction of the Pacific Fleet was simply bad news for him, and anyone could see that the first man of the US Navy was already emaciated.

"Lieutenant General Benson is right, although the morale of the Chinese army is very high now, after landing on the west coast across the ocean, it will face the encirclement and suppression of millions of our troops, and even if it can stand on its feet, it will be a huge war of attrition." "Their army is now divided into three parts, according to current intelligence, the northwest has gathered 1.5 million, the south has 1.3 million, Australia has skyrocketed to 400,000, plus the southwest Pacific islands and Panama contain about 400,000, their early mobilization of troops has also reached the limit, the second batch will be able to complete training at least by June."

What's more, if they want to complete such a large landing campaign, they need at least tens of millions of tons of materials and at least 1 million troops, so we can't see the possibility of the Chinese Army appearing on the west coast in the short term. ”

However, this is only our speculation, and no one knows what Li Mo thinks now, so I suggest that the Australian fleet should be redeployed to strengthen the west coast defenses. Jossen said.

"It's too late." William Benson sighed: "This morning, the Chinese Navy warships have shelled the Colon Islands, they did not plan to attack Panama at all, but went to the Colon Islands, and now the battleships gathered there are at least four battleships and two aircraft carriers, in addition, we have received news before, most of the Marshall Islands and Gilbert Islands have been lost, the next target of the Chinese Marines will be the Lane Islands, the passage back to the west coast from Australia has been cut off, and it can only be a waste to let Claxton come back at this time." ”

"So we recommend ......." Lieutenant General Foreman-Morrison, Secretary of the Army, took over the words: "From now on, in addition to sending the main army to the west coast to strengthen the defenses, the gradual retreat from cities such as San Francisco and Seattle has begun. ”

"No, you can't do that!" President Wilson waved his hand: "Foreman, do you know how many people are going to be involved?" How much panic will it cause? ”

"Your Majesty, we have no choice!" William Benson took a deep breath: "Now even if we transfer all the Atlantic Fleet to the Pacific Ocean, we only have 6 capital ships, which can only maintain a limited defense, so we must hold out until June anyway, when we can have 10 capital ships and at least 3 motherships, although the attack is insufficient, it can basically defend the west coast security, so we need to buy time, and ......." ”

Before he could finish speaking, President Wilson suddenly stretched out his hand and interrupted: "Everyone, what about Europe?" Britain and France want us to send at least 1 million to 2 million more troops, because Russia is in trouble lately, and they need us to make up for the losses of Russia. ”

William Benson and Foreman glanced at each other and shook their heads: "Your Majesty, please forgive us, now we must first consider the security of the West Coast, according to our calculations, from California to Canada, at least more than 4 million troops are needed, and our total number of troops before the war was only 350,000, of which 250,000 were sent to Australia, and the additional 300,000 volunteers were also sent there, although we called up 5 million troops after the declaration of war, But the first batch of 400,000 has already been sent to Europe and India, the second batch of 1.5 million will be able to complete the training within this month, but they need to go to Panama and the west first, and the third batch we have 3 million, but it will be at least until June, and they will also be sent to the west coast first! ”

"We can't send troops to Europe anymore, not only can we not send troops, we should immediately contact the Canadian government and ask them to stop sending troops to Europe as well." Foreman said heavily: "The North American continent is suffering from a serious external threat!" ”

"We need to do everything we can to defend against ...... from the Pacific."

"Wait."

Wilson suddenly interrupted Jossen's words and said word by word: "Tell me, why are we still defending ......!" ”

Why are we still defending .......

This sentence immediately made everyone speechless, except for the loss of 8 capital ships at the beginning of the war, the United States seems to have entered a strange circle of defense, even if it replenishes 4 Nevada-class battleships, when the number of capital ships once exceeded the enemy, the first thing that comes to mind is defense.

The United States has fallen into a huge and bitter situation, and there is no way to even undo it! What now?

When everyone was deep in thought, the secretary appeared in the room again, this time he breathed slightly fast, clenched his fists and said excitedly: "Mr. President, there is a turning point in Europe, we have taken Saint-Miel!" ”

The secretary's excitement froze on his cheeks, because he didn't see the excitement brought by the news, but saw the wry smile on everyone's lips.

God and the United States played a huge joke!

On February 10, after 77 days of brutal fighting and 430,000 casualties, the Allied forces broke through the German St. Miyère Line in one fell swoop and successfully entered the fortress of Verdun, which had been almost shattered by the German bombing.

Although the battle is far from over, no one can deny that this is a heavy blow to Germany, the cost of the death of as many as 230,000 elite soldiers, directly made Moltke Jr. a scapegoat to step down, replaced by Erich von Falkingham, in order to save the defeat and prevent the Allied coalition from continuing to threaten Belgium and Lorraine with Verdun, Kaiser Wilhelm II even sent the imperial prince to conquer, and began to use gas bombs on a large scale in the Verdun area, the Battle of Saint-Miel entered the second phase.

Although the sacrifice was large, this was undoubtedly a major turning point in the European theater, but for the United States, the news was too late!

If the victory of San Miel had occurred before the Battle of the Gulf of Panama, Wilson would certainly have sent an army to Europe at any cost in the hope of defeating Germany as soon as possible and gathering all the forces of the Entente to deal with China, but after the fiasco in the Gulf of Panama, the US strategy began to change dramatically, and it had to give priority to the security of the West Coast.

February 15 was a day to add insult to injury.

The news of the end of the U.S. Pacific Fleet made the South Americans, who had been swaying and hesitating from side to side, no threat, and Ecuador used the excuse of the United States to occupy the Colón Islands, attack and then declare war on the Allies.

On the same day, the Second Battle of Cologne began, with the support of 2 aircraft carriers and 4 battleships (Hebei-class to go home to recuperate), 8 cruisers and 20 destroyers, the 5th Marine Division of the Chinese Marine Corps, 50,000 officers and men, inspired by the Navy's victory in the Gulf of Panama, launched a fierce attack on Isabela Island, the main island of the Colon Islands, which had lost the protection of the fleet, and it took only 24 hours to establish a solid landing site, and at the same time, the Navy also recovered the port of Black Bacrizo on San Cristobal Island, and began to build an air force airfield here.

On 18 February, Peru announced its membership in the Allies after Ecuador had declared war on the Entente, and sent two old battleships to join the Ecuadorian Navy on the Colón Islands.

On the 19th, the United States and Canada began to stop sending troops to Europe, while the United States mobilized again, announcing that it would arm 4 million soldiers again.

On the 20th, large-scale anti-war demonstrations broke out in the United States, which eventually turned into conflicts, with Germans, Chinese in the United States, and Mexicans suffering severe persecution, with a total of 627 people killed and nearly 10,000 injured in two days.

On 22 July, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs solemnly protested against the US Government's act of brutalizing the ordinary people of the Allied Countries, and announced the detailed process of the victory in the Gulf of Panama, showing reporters photos of two Nevada-class battleships that had been dragged back to Pearl Harbor with great difficulty after 15 days of hard work.

On the 23rd, after receiving an urgent mission, two Xiqin-class heavy aircraft carriers of the First Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire arrived off the coast of San Francisco and bombed the continental United States for the first time, although only less than 400 people were injured, but it seriously dealt a blow to American confidence, and the migration wave that appeared on the east coast in October last year came to the west coast.

On the 25th, the Ministry of Defense of the Chinese Empire announced the end of the main battle on the Malay Peninsula. On the same day, the Kingdom of Brunei, which had acquired Sarawak and Sabah, declared war on the Allies by joining the Alliance.

On the 26th, the Malay government announced that it would accept China's leadership and join the allies to jointly build a prosperous Asia.

On the 27th, Laos and Cambodia, which had the support of Hua and Siam, announced their independence from Vietnam, established an autonomous government, and joined the alliance.

On the 29th, Vietnam surrendered to China, ceding all the area north of Haiphong, becoming the first country to surrender among the Entente countries. On the same day, the establishment of the Autonomous Government of North Vietnam was announced. So far, Vietnam, which once ruled most of the southeastern peninsula with the help of France, has lost more than 70% of its land.

On the 30th, the Battle of Cologne ended, and 27560 US Army soldiers who had lost support laid down their arms and announced their surrender.

After the loss of the Colón Islands again, not only was the important southwest passage in the Pacific Ocean completely cut off, but also a good opportunity for the Chinese General Staff to intervene in Central and South America, officially announcing the establishment of the Central and South American Theater Command on San Cristobal Island, and at the same time sending two Beijing-class quick battleships, six Yangtze River-class light cruisers, and 16 destroyers to join the navies of Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia to form a joint American fleet based in the ports of Black Bacrizo and Guayaquil.

The fleet will aim to cut off the route from Australia to the west coast of the United States in the Gulf of Panama and ensure the security of Central and South America.

The next day, when Li Mo suggested the reopening of South American routes, the Chinese Navy mobilized 500 ocean-going freighters to deliver supplies to Honolulu without interruption, while army soldiers who had just completed their training were stationed in the Zhoushan Islands, where they underwent a three-month sea-crossing training.

On March 3, the bad news came to the United States again, 5,000 Chinese and 20,000 Japanese soldiers suddenly appeared in Alaska, and in just five days, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands were cut off from the United States.

Just as the European theater with the Battle of San Miel as the core entered the second stage, the Pacific theater also entered a major turning point at the same time.

: Apologize, dizzy, really out of state, under the transition of this chapter, the next chapter begins the journey!

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。 (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for your recommendation, and your support is my big motivation. )RO！ ~！