In Washington, D.C., in the White House presidential office, President Roosevelt sat in a wheelchair and watched the staff he had gathered, all of whom were high-ranking officials in the United States, including the thinkers Marshall and Eisenhower...... and Dudley Pound, the current Admiral of the Royal Navy.

"Mr. President, to send so many troops to Italy without any outside support to fight a war with no chance of winning...... This is not a sensible thing to do. General Bradley pointed to the Strait of Gibraltar and said to Roosevelt: "Even if there are 100,000 troops, these troops will have to drift at sea for a long time, and after landing in Italy, they need to go to the front line immediately." It was impossible for them to stop the Germans, and whoever commanded the end was the same. ”

General Eisenhower also nodded his head and agreed with his colleague: "From a purely military point of view, it is very irrational to throw troops into Italy. We were sending prisoners of war to the Germans' concentration camps, and 100,000 in one go. These people are isolated, they don't even have basic logistics, and when they run out of ammunition, they are no different from the troops they were 200 years ago. ”

A general representing the U.S. Navy added: "Mr. President, if the Germans are not idiots, then after one attack on Gibraltar, they will close this strait, and we will not be able to compete with the Germans for a distant strait within the strike range of the German Navy and German land-based aviation, even if we draw forces from the Pacific." ”

Dudley Pound, who had been standing there without speaking, also nodded and said: "I have to admit that the combat capability of the German army and the Japanese army are completely different levels, and the mass of armored forces and aircraft is at least ten times that of the Japanese army, and the number of them greatly exceeds that of the Japanese army...... In this case, it is absolutely impossible to venture through the Strait of Gibraltar for one adventure, and replenish supplies there a second. ”

There was a sentence he didn't say in his heart, and he even felt that if the Germans were ruthless enough, then directly opening the Strait of Gibraltar, letting the Americans into Italy, and then annihilating them in one fell swoop would be the result once and for all. Assessed by the Germans' combat effectiveness on the Eastern Front, the Americans, even if they transported 200,000 men to land in Italy, would be sent to sea within a few weeks.

"Generals, I think that if we can make a fuss in Italy, then the German-Italian North African Corps, which relies on local supplies, will be cut off from supplies and eventually lose the ability to continue the offensive. Marshall began, "Eventually, they will be driven back to their hometown by us because of the lack of weapons and ammunition." The whole Middle East war will be turned around because of this, and I think it is reasonable to fight for the whole of the Middle East with 70,000 soldiers, isn't it?"

The reality is always so cruel, and everyone in this room knows very well that they sent these 70,000 American infantrymen and all the military supplies to Italy, and they were simply sending them to death. As long as the losses of these forces are valuable, then the Allies can regain the initiative throughout the Middle East, which is the core purpose of the whole plan.

As for Italy, it will be scorched, all the ports and airports will be blown up and destroyed by the American army and Mussolini in the rout, and the railway lines will be destroyed by bombing...... After this battle, the whole of Italy can only focus on reconstruction in a short time - and whether Italy will eventually get the benefits they want, who cares about the people in this room?

"The soldiers who participated in the mission this time were strictly screened, and the elder brother and younger brother could not participate in the troops sent to Italy at the same time. If there is such a situation, immediately transfer one of them. General Eisenhower thought about it and made up his mind to do so, and he wanted to trade the lives of nearly 100,000 troops for a real victory in the Middle East.

From a purely military point of view, it would have been a great victory that changed the course of history: Rommel's Army Group L and Schellner's Army Group K in North Africa numbered more than 300,000 men, and the number of troops under General Garibaldi of Italy was doubled. Using 100,000 U.S. troops to achieve the goal of annihilating 600,000 German-Italian troops is obviously a very cost-effective business.

But will everything go the way the Americans want? Obviously unlikely. How could the Germans not be aware of such a huge operation? Even the Americans themselves felt uncertain about the work of keeping intelligence secret. Otherwise, they would not have convened another meeting to determine whether or not Italy should be used to fight a war that would turn around.

The British undoubtedly wanted the Americans to make a move in Italy, because after this battle, everything could turn for the better: the Germans would be completely defeated in North Africa, Britain would be able to retake large swathes of the colonies, and Germany, which was suffering from the enemy, would have to weaken the Atlantic barrier to deal with the Italian crisis, which was the perfect time to recover the British mainland.

"Beware of Italy, if they deliberately pretend to cooperate with us and trick us into falling into the net, it all seems to make sense. General Bradley was also very jealous of intelligence issues, after all, the pervasive intelligence network of the Germans was unguardable, and many seemingly very covert Allied operations were detected by those German spies. And this time the operation against Italy, apparently, in terms of secrecy, was not so hidden.

"The Italians have been integrated into the industrial production of the whole of Europe, and I really doubt that the Italians are really stupid enough to have the intention of seceding from the Axis powers...... Eisenhower also felt that the defection of the Italians was very problematic, at least in the political and economic fields, Italy's betrayal of the Axis powers was completely more costly.

At this time, President Roosevelt suddenly opened his mouth, and compared to these generals here, he can be described as a real expert in the field of politics. He is the only person in this room who understands Mussolini best: "Gentlemen, it is precisely because Italy is increasingly integrated into the economic and political systems of the Axis countries that it is gradually losing its true independence...... This is not what Mussolini wanted to see, so these things are the reason why Italy cannot do without the Axis and why Italy is determined to leave the Axis. ”

Mussolini wanted to use Germany's war as an opportunity to fulfill his ambition to revitalize the Kingdom of Italy into the Roman Empire. He wanted to be the great leader and founder of the new Roman Empire, not to be a minion of the Third Reich, not an obscure minion of the Axis powers. If a person does not have the slightest intention of surrendering in his political position, then he will never make any compromise when considering problems, and Mussolini is such a person, a speculator with strong political ideals.

He surrendered to the force of the Third Reich because he had no choice, and when Germany swept through France and defeated Britain, he could only hide his good wishes for the establishment of the Roman Empire. So when the Americans came to him and offered him another option that he didn't have to give into, he immediately wavered.

In this matter, he was clearly seen by Roosevelt, because Roosevelt had seen too many, many people like Mussolini. However, Roosevelt immediately added: "But the relations between Italy and Germany do affect a large part of the Italians, and we must pay attention to this influence and find ways to eliminate these adverse effects on us." ”

"The intelligence that came back showed that Mussolini's control over the Italian Navy was still relatively strong, so it was relatively certain that the Italian Navy helped raid the Strait of Gibraltar. The admiral of the U.S. Navy pointed to the report on the table and said: "As long as their shelling starts on time, it will be almost smooth until the landing in Italy......

"Accompanying the escort ships of the fleet, when the time comes, the entire Mediterranean will be blocked, Alexandria and Greece will be shelled, and the supply lines of the German army in North Africa will be cut off. He pointed to various locations on the map, then sighed helplessly and continued: "The tricky problem is that there are German airfields on Malta and Crete, and there may be interference during the blockade mission, and the losses will be very huge. ”

This is also the reason why the Allied warships that went to the Mediterranean, there were almost no large ships. These warships will be blockaded in the Mediterranean, and most of them may be lost in this area as the war progresses. Therefore, in order to reduce losses as much as possible, the Allies used most of the destroyers and cruisers as escort ships into the Mediterranean.

The general scenario of the battle plan was that the main forces of the British Royal Navy and the main forces of the American Atlantic Fleet would escort the convoy to the Strait of Gibraltar, and then hand over the convoy to the Italian Navy to take over, and then the main fleet would return home. This transport fleet, with a small number of cruisers and destroyers, would fight in the Mediterranean until the total force is destroyed or the U.S. forces successfully reconquest the Middle East and North Africa.

"Since there is no problem, let's start implementing this plan! Everyone, the first large-scale U.S. Army action plan against Germany is about to begin, please work together to win this war for the future of the United States!" Roosevelt looked at the generals in front of him, who had decided the fate of the U.S. army, which had already exceeded three million, and said in a calm tone.

"Yes, Mr. President!" said all in the room, with the exception of Admiral Dudley Pound of the British Royal Navy.