Chapter 458: Changing Posts
"Churchill bomb vest? This is ridiculous! Who would wear a vest full of explosives to die with others? This kind of thing is completely useless. And why is it named after my last name?"
At 10 Downing Street, Churchill, who was about to set off to meet with US President Roosevelt in Akinsha Bay, Newfoundland, received a report from MI6 on the Afghan issue. The report mentioned a strange weapon named after his last name - Churchill already knew that MI6 was secretly cooperating with German and American agents in Afghanistan.
The British Prime Minister certainly agreed to this cooperation. After all, the interests of Britain, the United States and Germany in Afghanistan are the same. If they all want to pit the Russians, there is nothing they can't cooperate with. Moreover, the Soviet Union is not a fuel-saving lamp. Even if Britain, the United States and Germany collude to do bad things, it is difficult to stop the Red Army from liberating Afghanistan.
Kandahar was captured by the Soviet Red Army on April 23, and the fall of Kabul happened in the past few days. The Afghan Royal Government had moved to the Panjshi Valley, which is in a dangerous terrain, a few days ago, and was ready to persist in a protracted war there for a long time.
Under such circumstances, if the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany do not cooperate with each other, the day when red flags are planted all over Afghanistan will not be too far away.
"Prime Minister, this is not named by us, but by the Germans..." Admiral Dill, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, shook his head in confusion, "I really don't know how the Germans could think of such a crazy weapon?"
"That's because they know that the war will end with Germany's disastrous defeat!" Churchill said angrily, "If Hitler and Hessmann don't want to go to the gallows, they will have to wear this bomb vest for the final resistance."
Fat Churchill paused and asked again: "Is there any other important news?"
Foreign Minister Eden frowned and reported, "The new Roman Pope has been elected, the former Austrian Cardinal Theodore Inzenir, called Mark II."
"I knew it was him a long time ago," Churchill snorted, "Did he issue an encyclical against us?"
"Not yet, but it will be issued sooner or later." Eden sighed.
Mark II is clearly a pope supported by Germany, who has always been pro-Nazi, and now of course he is looking for trouble with the British Empire. And the British plane did kill the previous pope...
Eden said: "Prime Minister, I guess after the papal encyclical is published, Spain will take advantage of the situation to declare war on us."
Spain is a country with great Catholic influence. The British who sent bombers to drop bombs to kill the pope are undoubtedly anti-Christian devils in the eyes of devout Spanish Catholics! Therefore, after Pius XII was martyred (being killed by the devil's bomb is of course martyrdom, and he will be canonized as a saint in a while), all the pro-British factions in Spain dared not speak, otherwise they would be suspected of being devil's accomplices and Bolsheviks!
So Franco now has no obstacles in leading Spain to declare war on Britain, and he now believes that Germany and Italy will win.
"No need to wait for them to declare war," Churchill hummed, "We break off diplomatic relations with the Franco government and recognize Juan Negrin's Spanish Republican Government in Exile."
The Spanish Republican Government in Exile is the republican faction in the Spanish Civil War. After the failure of the civil war, they fled to France, and after France surrendered, they fled to Mexico City.
Churchill went on to say: "In this way, we can help the Spanish government in exile to recover the Canary Islands."
The United Kingdom has now occupied the Madeira Islands with the tacit consent of the Portuguese government, but Spain has made a gesture to defend the Canary Islands, deploying aircraft and a large number of ground forces there, and it seems that it is not so easy to take it down. Therefore, after occupying the Madeira Islands, the United Kingdom did not move to the Canary Islands immediately, but deployed troops to prepare for a landing battle.
By the end of May 1941, the British army had assembled an infantry division in the Madeira Islands, and deployed a large number of Wellington bombers and Bristol "Beaufort" torpedo bombers and P-51 fighters with a longer range in the Madeira Islands. It already has the ability to attack the Canary Islands, and now it only needs an excuse.
In addition, the British army's defense on the Gibraltar Peninsula has also been strengthened a lot compared to March. The number of defenders has exceeded 30,000, and many 7.2-inch howitzers (183mm) and 25-pound field guns (87.6mm) that can be deployed in a mobile manner have been added.
"What's the situation in Crete and Tobruk?" Churchill frowned and asked again.
"There is no change yet," Admiral Dill replied, "but there are rumors that the Greek royal family is secretly contacting Germany to surrender. If they surrender, the Greek army on Crete may surrender as well..."
Crete and Tobruk Fortress have now become two isolated strongholds that are almost isolated. The British have no other way to go there except to take the risk of going there by submarine. Reinforcements are naturally out of the question. They can only watch the British army there become weaker and weaker because of the siege, and finally become prisoners of Germany and Italy.
"Make a plan to disarm the Greek army on Crete when the Greeks surrender."
After issuing this seemingly difficult order, British Prime Minister Churchill left his prime minister's residence and boarded a train to Liverpool. He will transfer to the battleship "Prince of Wales" at Liverpool Port and go to Akinsha Bay on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to have a historic meeting with US President Roosevelt.
Although the British Prime Minister took a powerful battleship to Ajinsha Bay, which was surrounded by a gray and desolate scene, this long-term meeting took place on a treaty cruiser "Ogu" with a standard displacement of less than 10,000 tons. "Star".
Because the President of the United States "Roosevelt" was riding on this slender American heavy cruiser.
The Prime Minister of the British Empire must first go to the "Augusta" to meet the President of the United States, and then Roosevelt returns to the "Prince of Wales". This itinerary seems to have shown that the status between Britain and the United States is completely different from that of the last world war.
At 11 a.m. on June 1, Churchill, accompanied by First Sea Lord Marshal Pound, boarded the "Augusta". Roosevelt, supported by his son James Roosevelt, stood on the deck of the heavy cruiser, looking tall and majestic. Roosevelt shook hands with the chubby British prime minister, who was a head shorter than him, in front of a crowd of reporters. The British Prime Minister was wearing a blue navy uniform. He bent his back and looked up at Roosevelt solemnly and happily. He did not look like a number one person. So much so that the reporters who took pictures of them couldn't help but think of the word "changing of the guard" in their minds.
The concept of "changing of the guard" is exactly what President Roosevelt wanted to convey to the American people through the meeting at Ajinsha Bay - now the United States, not Germany, will replace the United Kingdom to lead the world!
After the reporters' photography work ended, the standing US President immediately returned to his original appearance as a cripple, got into a wheelchair, and was pushed by his son to leave the back deck with Churchill.
The formal talks will be held in the officer's lounge of the "Augusta", and the core content of the talks is only one, which is the United States' participation in the war!
If the United States, the candidate world hegemon, wants to "take office", it will inevitably have a bloody war, otherwise the world will be ruled by Germany. As the second largest economy in the world, the United States will not have a good life in the future.
"Mr. Prime Minister, I think you know very well that without the Soviet Union's participation in the war, we would not be able to defeat Germany."
After the pleasantries and flattery between the two sides, the US president got straight to the point and talked about the important role of the Soviet Union.
Roosevelt went on to tell Churchill, "I also invited Stalin, but he was not willing to come and discuss with us the issue of defeating Germany. In fact, he ignored me at all."
Unlike the historical "Ajinsha Bay Meeting", the Soviet-German war has not yet broken out. Moreover, Germany and Italy also won the Mediterranean battle and gained control of the oil-producing areas in the Middle East!
So now the United States and Britain are begging the Soviet Union, not the Soviet Union begging the United States for help.
"The initiative lies with Stalin!" Churchill said while puffing on his cigar. "But without Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union would not be able to defeat Germany." He emphasized his tone, "If Britain loses India now, then Britain will support compromise with Germany. People will become the majority.”
Roosevelt nodded, he understood Churchill's difficulties. Although Churchill was determined to fight to the end, the British people may not have such ideas. Once Britain is sure that it will lose its world empire, they will have no morale to continue fighting.
"Okay, the Soviet Union cannot invade India! We will clearly convey this opinion to the Soviet Union." Roosevelt nodded and said, "If Stalin insists on having his own way, then he will have to face the Germans alone in the near future."
He paused, and then said: "Stalin asked us, the United States, to join the war first, and then the Soviet Union would find an opportunity to join."
"So are you ready to join?" Churchill asked immediately. "Mr. President, you know that the Germans will soon launch a new offensive at sea... If we cannot win, the next battle will be the defense of the homeland. If you cannot join by then, then I, the Prime Minister, will It’s possible that I won’t be able to do it anymore!”
Britain is an island country and has been founded on the navy since ancient times. If the Royal Navy really kneels down, then the morale of the British people will collapse. How can they still have the courage to fight against the Nazi and fascist war machines alone?
Roosevelt nodded and said: "I am working hard to push the United States to enter the war, but it will not be easy...All I can do at the moment is to provoke our enemies and let them provoke the conflict first. This is why I came to Ajinsha Bay Purpose."
"President, what are you going to do?"
"I prepared a Declaration, a Declaration that would outrage the Germans," Roosevelt said.