“…… Since 7 a.m. local time, German paratroopers have landed in Barcelona, and Amprat airport has been captured; There is also a fleet off the coast of the port, which is suspected to be about to start landing. ”

A lieutenant colonel finished the report, and several attendants with papers in their hands entered the hall and began to distribute them one by one.

There was silence in the No. 1 Chamber of the Metropolitan Governor's Palace, and everyone in the meeting knew about it on the way here, but the more detailed information was only now known.

"The German people still did it after all."

"Is there only news from the south? What about the north side? ”

"It's been almost two hours, and there's no more news?"

On 29 February, with the approval of the German Society War Committee, Operation "Three Pointed Orchids" was launched as scheduled.

Following the plan drawn up by the General Staff of the Army, the Germans formed Army Group North and Army Group South, corresponding to the northern and southern fronts of the Iberian Peninsula, respectively.

Army Group North consisted of 2 armored divisions, 2 motorized infantry divisions, 1 mountain division, 7 infantry divisions.

Army Group South consisted of 1 armored division, 2 motorized infantry divisions, 3 mountain divisions, 5 infantry divisions, and 1 paratrooper division.

The southern front was the first to fight, with the 7th Parachute Division responsible for capturing the Barcelona airport and disrupting the disposition of the Spanish defenders; Shortly after, the 66th Infantry Division, which sailed through the Gulf of Lion, would land from the sea.

The Germans had no naval presence in the Mediterranean, but after negotiations, some French surface ships provided escort and support in the form of volunteer regiments.

The willingness of the French to help the Germans was largely stimulated by Operation Longbow, and the French navy in particular could be said to have an itch of hatred for the British.

A few retired officers with high prestige formed the French Volunteer Corps, which recruited more than 10,000 volunteers of all kinds—active soldiers, retired soldiers, ordinary people, and many foreigners.

With the half-support and half-acquiescence of the official French Democratic Commune, the legion was formalized, allowing it to raise funds and other propaganda activities in the open.

In addition, more than a dozen warships, including the seaplane carrier Tayster, the heavy cruiser Duprai, and the destroyer Walkland, which survived Operation Longbow, were also ordered to secretly join the volunteer regiment in formation.

The British did not anticipate this at all, and MI6 mistakenly thought that it was nothing more than a loose civilian organization, which could only be counted as a mixed light infantry unit.

Thus, while the fleet of the French Volunteer Corps escorted the German 66th Infantry Division to land in Barcelona, the Royal Navy's H Fleet was still on standby, unbeknownst to the Alexander Naval Base.

The situation on the northern route is different.

The German 1st Mountain Division formally crossed the border later in the day and advanced rapidly towards St. Bastian.

San Bastian is an important port city on Spain's northern border, bordering the Bay of Biscay and only 20 km from the French border.

The 1st Mountain Division was supported by an armored battalion from the 4th Panzer Division, and the Mountain Infantry performed well under the cover of Tank IV, and the Spanish border guards, who thought they were well prepared, were routed in just two and a half hours of engagement.

Somewhat constrained, the government of the French Democratic Commune was divided over whether it should support the German crossing, which was somewhat unacceptable in terms of national sentiment.

After many efforts to mediate, the Commune government finally issued an executive order allowing the German army to use the designated railways and airfields to maintain the logistics of the two major armies in the north and south, but not to operate on French territory without authorization.

As a result, the Germans were unable to assemble in large numbers on the Franco-Spanish border, and the 1st Mountain Division was already at its limit, and the rest of the large forces could only be transported from the Franco-German border by military trains.

Berlin was initially unhappy about this, but they quickly figured it out, and this is not a bad thing.

As a result, the British were in a dilemma, should they carry out air strikes?

If air raids were to bomb railways or airports in France, it would undoubtedly further intensify public opinion among the French. For most of them felt that allowing the Germans to cross the border was not a serious breach of neutrality, and that it would be unreasonable for the British to dare to bomb them.

This is a very typical nationalist mentality – what the country is doing is right and reasonable, as long as it is not too wrong.

"In your opinion, if all goes well, the Germans can advance along the Madrid route at the end of March, and advance on both sides."

Two quarters of an hour passed in a flash, and Room 1 roughly analyzed the route of the German army if the north and south were to advance simultaneously, as well as the next strategic direction.

"Pay close attention, in my opinion, the day when the United States will go to war with Germany is not far off." A colonel touched his beard and said.

"I think so too, I'm afraid...... These are the days. Cheng Han, who was present in person, also held the same view.

"The German advance into Iberia was just an opportunity." Zhou Changfeng glanced at the people present, and then said: "If you want to intervene, you have to find a stronghold to gain a foothold, and you can't rely on the British Isles alone. ”

"There's another thing I'm worried about personally." Lin Xi, who looked serious, said: "Many years ago, the whole world mistakenly thought that the Russians would be a great help to fight the Germans, but everyone was wrong. It is now possible that the combined efforts of Britain and the United States could not force the Germans to submit. ”

"Indeed." Cheng Han nodded, "If they send troops to return from a big defeat in the Franco, they may be reluctant to give up European interests." ”

"This ......" an air force brigadier general next to him frowned when he heard this, "This situation is really a bit bad, if you run into a wall in the west, you will come to the east to fight with us?" If that were the case, then this battle would not be over in two or three years. ”

"You don't have to think in such a bad direction." Zhou Changfeng waved his hand and said with a smile: "If you don't die in the west, you will die when you come to the east?" First, there is no feud, and the second is not extinction. ”

He pondered for a while, and then said: "Obviously it won't be like this, the military, politics, and economy are linked, and the pressure on us will indeed increase, but it is not worth desperately going bankrupt to make profits, and the Americans will probably simply dominate the American continent after hitting a wall at both ends." ”

Whether the federal government intended it or not, the sinking of two American merchant ships had previously pushed public sentiment to a peak, but after this period of fermentation, it is now showing signs of fatigue and the heat is declining.

If the upper echelons of the United States have made up their minds to enter the war, then now is the more appropriate moment.

In addition, in view of the fact that many rare guests also attended today, which is rare, everyone did not rush to dismiss the meeting, but continued to discuss a series of trends in the United States.

The defeat in the Battle of Tarawa undoubtedly disappointed the American people, and the gloom that clouded people's hearts became even thicker.

It was not advisable to change the generals, but now that the war had come to an end, President Franklin did not hesitate to give the order to remove Admiral Hasborne Kimmel from his post.

Haspen may not have missed much, but unfortunately he is not strong enough to command the Pacific Fleet to defeat the strong, so he must leave the position of commander.

What is needed now is someone who can turn the tide! Someone who can crush the vast offensive of the Chinese!

Is there such a wizard in the naval sequence? No one could guarantee it, but President Franklin was sure that he had identified an inconspicuous figure among dozens of admirals.

In the mid-nineteenth century, a German immigrant crossed the Atlantic to the American continent and settled in Texas.

His son, Bernard, suffered from lung and heart disease, a terminal illness that was frowned upon at the time. However, Anna, the eldest daughter of a local butcher, insisted on marrying Bernard, and their marriage was not favored from the beginning.

Tragically, Bernard died suddenly less than half a year after his marriage, leaving behind a young wife who was only 20 years old and pregnant. The following spring, Anna gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Chester William Nimitz.

As a child, Chester lived a difficult life, often going to various places to work to support the family, mowing the lawn, delivering meat, chopping wood, and so on.

One day when he was fifteen years old, two West Point graduates stayed at the hotel where Chester worked, and Chester's crisp uniforms and neat demeanor were so appealing to the teenagers that Chester wrote to the local congressman asking him to introduce him to the military school......

Forty years later, the young man who had written a letter with a quill on a wooden table full of hope was now a rear admiral, taking on the important post of director of the Navigation Bureau.

On the evening of March 1, a call from the Admiralty reached Chester Nimitz's home in San Francisco.

Admiral Harold Stark, Secretary of the Navy, said in a very strange tone: "The President has decided that you will go to Pearl Harbor and command the Pacific Fleet there. ”

"......" Chester, who was holding the microphone, was so shocked that he couldn't speak, and the fatigue of being busy all day disappeared without a trace in an instant.

That's impossible! There are five, ten, twenty admirals who are older than themselves!

Harold on the other end of the phone sighed lightly, all of this was the result of the president's disapproval.

According to the results of the vote for the "most capable commander", Halsey came first, followed by Ingersoll, and Chester-Nimitz did not enter the stream at all.

"Are you ready? The president wants you to take office as soon as possible, and the Chinese will not wait for us. Harold asked.

"Of course, Mr. Minister!"

After hanging up the phone, Chester stared at his wife, Catherine, who was buttering the bread, and hesitated for a few seconds before he spoke, "I have to go, to Hawaii." ”

Catherine and Chester's acquaintance was very dramatic, Chester was originally going on a date with Catherine's sister, but the sister was absent for something, so the sister who temporarily topped the bag met Chester and got married.

"Hawaii? What happened? She asked, surprised.

"I'm going to be the commander of the Pacific Fleet." Chester replied with some distress.

He was a little embarrassed to think that he was going to replace his hapless old friend Hasben Kimmel.

Catherine, with a worried face, whispered, "But we lost the last battle......"

"Defeat is only temporary, and I will do my best."

"When will you be back?"

Chester shook his head and said, "I don't know, maybe only God knows." ”

Unlike my wife's worries, the children cheered - my dad was the commander of the Pacific Fleet, which was enough to make the friends feel alive.

Chester called his assistant and subordinates to explain what the Navigation Bureau had to do, and then drove straight to the airport.

That night, a B-17 bomber took off in the dark and soon disappeared into the western night......

It was destined to be a sleepless night.

The defeat at the Battle of Tarawa meant that it was impossible to stop the Ming army beyond the Gilbert Islands, and the best route between the United States and Australia was cut off.

If you want to get from Hawaii to Australia, you have to make a detour to Fiji and Samoa, passing north of New Zealand, and there is a part of the voyage in the choppy westerly wind belt, which is a big trouble for merchant ships, time-consuming and more dangerous.

The United States did not want to give up Australia, and the battle of Keynes gave everyone a glimmer of hope, so the intensity of military aid to Australia has only increased.

The 1st Red Division, also known as the 1st Infantry Division, boarded and sailed in San Francisco, and they would become the third U.S. divisional unit to be deployed to Australia.

On the morning of March 2, when the command of the Pacific Fleet welcomed a new commander......

In the Kandavu Strait south of the Fiji Islands, the Lixiajia-2 ocean-going submarine is slowly sailing at periscope depth, adjusting its ambush position.

Captain Ling Su leaned in front of the periscope and kept giving instructions.

"Settle."

"Good...... Stop the car! ”

"Qin Zixiao!"

"Yes!" A bare-chested second lieutenant replied loudly.

"The water listens to the situation."

"Forty-five degrees in azimuth, the propeller noise is slight."

The Lishagar II was ordered to carry out reconnaissance missions to probe the situation of enemy forces in Fiji and Samoa.

As a result, after a few laps, when he was about to return home, he found a large merchant fleet heading here.

After weighing, everyone decided to launch an ambush and go back empty-handed to be honest.

So they floated up at night and sailed with diesel engines, seized a favorable ambush position, and waited for the unaware merchant fleet to throw themselves into the net.

The LS-16 merchant fleet consisted of 13 merchant ships and 4 destroyers, loaded with aircraft, aluminum, steel, aero star engines, cutting machines, gasoline and other important strategic materials.

The Battle of Tarawa had not yet begun when they set sail from Los Angeles, and now they had to temporarily change course and take a long detour to Sydney.

At 7:29 a.m., the crew of the USS Atwood spotted four white unidentified tracks on the right side of the sea.

"What's that?"

"Oh shit! Torpedo! ”

"Captain! Torpedo! On our right! ”

Because of the rush and the fact that it was far away from the dangerous sea area marked on the charts for the activities of the Ming submarines, the LS-16 fleet did not use a zigzag sailing method to increase the difficulty of the submarine attack.

The eight-thousand-ton Atwood swerved awkwardly to the left, and the crew's eyes widened and their hearts were in their throats.

The first track passed in front of the bow, so did the second, but the next ......

"Knock !!"

A flash of light burst out under the water, followed by a column of water that rushed up dozens of meters high.

Just five seconds later, a second explosion followed.

(End of chapter)