Chapter 483 The Dawn of Peace?

The British Empire will not make peace with Germany, Hersman is very sure. At least, it will not really make peace with Germany before Britain loses most of its fleet and is surrounded and blockaded by the German Navy.

Because what is happening between Britain and Germany now is not a regional armed conflict that is irrelevant to the overall situation, but a war for world hegemony. In such a war, there is no such thing as "decent peace" or "surrender and lose half".

If Britain makes peace with Germany under the current situation, then there is no doubt that Britain will lose world hegemony forever and become a second-rate country - although the trend of Britain becoming a second-rate country is irreversible, 46 million British people who are accustomed to the glory of the British Empire will not give up easily, after all, it is always difficult to go from luxury to simplicity.

Therefore, if Germany wants to make peace with Britain, the obstacle it faces is not Winston Churchill, who is stubborn and may be an American spy, but 46 million unwilling British people.

Moreover, the Second World War has not yet shown its extremely cruel side. Although the British lost 200,000 to 300,000 troops (not counting the Indians and the black uncles), most of them were captured and taken to prisoner-of-war camps and treated relatively well. The indiscriminate bombing of the British mainland that should have happened did not happen because of Hessman. If it were not for the shortage of supplies caused by the German submarines, aircraft and disguised attack ships, most of the British people would not feel the damage of the war at all.

In this case, how can we expect the British to admit defeat and give up world hegemony?

"Your Majesty, although I don't think peace will come under the current circumstances," Hessman looked at William III, who was full of white hair and looked very old, "I don't object to contacting the British."

Although Hessman did not want to make peace with Britain, he knew that Hitler had always had such an idea, and he had established a secret peace channel with the British. It was just because William II, who had just passed away, had some grievances against Britain that he could not carry out a peace movement in a big way.

But now the old emperor who had grievances against Britain is dead, and a new emperor who is willing to make peace with Britain has been replaced. Then, as the leader of the Junker Officers Corps, Hessmann could not oppose the claims of both the Emperor and the Cabinet at the same time.

"Can we ask Queen Olga to go to England?" William III asked tentatively. "If we can establish direct contact with George VI, perhaps we can accelerate the reconciliation process between Britain and Germany."

"Of course," Hessmann nodded and smiled, "Queen Olga is a very suitable candidate, and Churchill has no way to stop her from meeting the King of England."

Queen Olga is not Rudolf Hess. She is the Russian Empress once recognized by the British government, and a relative of King George VI of England, and she is not a member of the German government or military. Churchill cannot arrest her like Hess, and cannot even stop her from meeting George VI.

In the eyes of William III and Hitler, the biggest obstacle to the peace talks between Britain and Germany is a small group of political elites headed by Prime Minister Churchill. As long as they can convince the King of England, the war will end soon - according to the British "National Defense Act", the King has full power, and the Churchill Cabinet is just authorized by the King. So in theory, King George VI could have stopped the "abuse" of Churchill's cabinet.

"So... what conditions should we use to make peace with Britain?" William III continued to ask.

"First, Britain should hand over all its territories in Africa, withdraw its troops from the Arabian Peninsula, return Iceland and the Faroe Islands to Denmark, return Gibraltar to Spain, and then hand over Madeira, Socotra, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and British Honduras to us. Secondly, Britain must join the European Customs Union. Thirdly, Princess Elizabeth of Britain must marry Prince Friedrich. In addition, Britain must hand over three "Glorious" class aircraft carriers."

The conditions proposed by Hirschman did not seem to be harsh. India and India still belonged to Britain, Malaya, Singapore and Burma also belonged to Britain, and Canada, Australia and New Zealand also belonged to the British Empire.

However, these peace conditions were not the end of the decline of the empire for Britain, but the beginning of a new round of decline. Because Britain, which lost the war, had no ability to keep the remaining colonies from falling apart. In the original history, Britain, as a victorious country, eventually lost the British Empire. If Britain became the defeated party and relied on Germany's protection, it would only be a matter of time before it was extorted and cut off by Germany bit by bit, and finally lost the empire.

Therefore, unless there was no other way, any British politician with a brain would not consider making peace with Germany. As for the ordinary people in Britain, they still don't know that the British Royal Navy is retreating step by step and is about to lose control of the sea.

"... These brave and fearless people won an important victory for the British Empire with their sacrifices, and without victory there would be no more of what the British Empire symbolizes, and without victory there would be no strong demands and impulses for centuries. In the battlefield of human conflict, never have so many people attributed so much honor to so few people. It is because of their existence that we are inspired and full of confidence. I am sure that as long as everyone unites and is more courageous, our cause will not be frustrated!"

When Queen Olga sailed into the Port of Liverpool on the Swedish cruise ship Gothenburg, British Prime Minister Churchill's speech was heard over and over again from the speakers on the port pier. The content of the speech was about "Victory at the Battle of Shetland" and "The Daredevils".

During this period, Germany had an emperor die and a new emperor was crowned. Therefore, Goebbels’ propaganda system was busy boasting about the emperor and did not have much energy to boast about the German version of the “Victory of Shetland”. As a result, in the propaganda war It fell behind. So much so that not many Europeans cared about Germany's major victories at sea.

On the British side, under the orders of Churchill, propaganda agencies went to great lengths to promote the various heroic deeds of the "Fearless Death Squadrons" in the Battle of Shetland. In addition, the Shetland Islands were indeed not occupied by Germany. As a result, most British people believed that their invincible Royal Navy had truly achieved a "Jutland-style victory."

…

With a "click" sound, Churchill turned off the radio in his office, then slowly turned around, smiled bitterly at the visiting White House Intelligence Coordinator Colonel Donovan, and said: "If everything I say is true, , that would be great!”

"Mr. Prime Minister, your words will become true. As long as our two countries unite, our cause will not be frustrated... President Roosevelt also firmly believes in this!" Donovan said to Churchill in a very firm tone.

The purpose of his coming to the UK was to cheer up Churchill and the British cabinet - Roosevelt certainly knew how the Battle of Shetland turned out. The United States has a squadron in Iceland and also deploys many PBY Catalina seaplanes. Some of these planes were shot down by the Germans because they were too close to the battlefield. Some PBY Catalina seaplanes participated in the search and rescue of British pilots who crashed into the sea, and rescued dozens of Britons who had completely suffered a mental breakdown.

Therefore, Roosevelt was very aware of the cruel reality that the "HMS Hood" was sunk, the "Prince of Wales" was smashed, and the "Ark Royal" had sunk to the bottom of the sea.

Of course, the ordinary American people do not know these things. If they knew, they would be afraid, and the anti-German sentiment that had finally been raised would be replaced by anti-war sentiment. Therefore, the propaganda caliber of the Battle of Shetland in the United States was the same as in the United Kingdom.

However, Roosevelt still had no way to get Congress to vote to declare war on Germany. Although the Germans shot down several American seaplanes near the Faroe Islands and Shetland Islands, resulting in the death or disappearance of twenty or thirty Americans, most members of the U.S. Congress believed that the voters who voted for them did not Would you understand why the Navy would go so close to Norway to defend the United States? Moreover, most ignorant American voters will not understand what the Anglo-German armistice means to the United States!

Therefore, Roosevelt could only send his crony Donovan to the UK again to cheer up Churchill, and at the same time discuss how to allow the UK to continue to fight alone.

"Mr. Prime Minister, the President has agreed to lease the Utah to you." Donovan forced a smile, and then told Churchill some good news. "In addition, the president is also prepared to lease the newly built Long Island escort aircraft carrier to you, and the five Revenge-class escort aircraft carriers under construction will also be leased to you after they are completed."

Take out 1 battleship and 6 aircraft carriers at a time! Roosevelt's hand was really big enough. However, Churchill's brows were still furrowed. He smiled slightly and said to Colonel Donovan: "The Russian Empress who is not worthy of the name has arrived in the UK... She was in Berlin to attend the coronation of Kaiser Wilhelm III. I think , She came here on the entrustment of Kaiser Wilhelm III and German Chancellor Hitler! Because of her status, I cannot prevent her from meeting the king, Colonel, I think you know what this means?"

Donovan was stunned for a moment, "Prime Minister, is the UK going to start peace negotiations with Germany?"

Churchill nodded slowly and said: "This is inevitable... We lost the battle in Shetland, and it is only a matter of time before we lose Gibraltar. Under such circumstances, there will definitely be people in the UK who want to seek a decent solution." Peace, and I cannot completely block the channels for peace. What I can do now is to join in and control the process of peace negotiations.”