Just as An Yi started talks with Roosevelt, new changes took place in the situation in Europe.
After France's defeat, Germany intensified its war with Britain to compete for the Atlantic sea lanes. The situation immediately underwent a fundamental reversal. The German navy and air force mastered the most favorable strategic conditions for the British merchant fleet to successfully fight. German submarines did not have to
Sailing from the Gulf of Heligoland to the enemy's sea lines of communication used to consume a lot of fuel and reduce the submarine's combat radius.
Since German submarines do not have to go south or north to detour to the British Isles, they can stay in the combat area for a much longer time. Their attack route has been shortened from 1,500 nautical miles to 500 nautical miles, causing serious problems for the Allied sea traffic.
into huge trouble.
As more than 70 submarines from Nanhua entered service in the German Navy, and in the first year of the war, Germany had another 50 submarines in service, the situation gradually tilted in favor of Germany.
In addition to having a favorable maritime strategy, the German submarine group is also constantly improving its tactics for dealing with convoy convoys. This tactic has relegated the tactics used to deal with individual ships to a secondary status. Now, if a ship
When the submarine discovered the convoy, it sent a call to other ships and monitored the convoy before all incoming submarines formed a formation to carry out a joint attack.
If the convoy convoy enters the range of long-range bombers, long-range bombers will be summoned to attack. Due to the correct tactics, the losses of the Allied convoy convoy increased rapidly, causing serious uneasiness in the British.
Germany's submarine operations are not isolated. They are to a large extent coordinated by surface ships. For surface ships, the location of the new bases in Norway and France is of decisive significance. Submarines can move from these bases very quickly and covertly.
into the ocean. If the British aerial reconnaissance aircraft did not discover them sailing from the base, then the British Navy would have to spend a lot of effort to detect and stop their further actions.
During Germany's attack on France last year, five auxiliary cruisers left German ports and began cruising in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans to conduct raids. By the time the Air Battle of Britain was launched, 38 ships had been sunk, with a total tonnage of 255,000 tons.
At the end of October, the pocket battleship "Admiral Scheer" went to sea for a raiding mission. It first attacked a convoy in the North Atlantic and sank seven ships, and then moved south to the South Atlantic. In just five months, it had already hit
Sunk and intercepted British ships or British chartered ships with a total tonnage of 127,000 tons.
On December 26 last year, the German Navy heavy cruiser "Hipper" encountered 19 unescorted British ships east of the Azores and sank seven of them. The remaining ships took advantage of the thick fog.
Escaped. By the end of last year, the British sadly admitted that 784 of their own and chartered ships from allied and neutral countries had been sunk, with a total tonnage of up to 3.8 million tons, which was a huge blow to Britain.
During the Battle of Britain, the Nazis' continuous air and sea attacks brought tragic consequences to Britain. All southern British cities were devastated, and farmland and water conservancy facilities were also lost, leading to the destruction of industrial and agricultural production.
As a result, there was a serious shortage of food, and Britain had to implement a rationing system to survive.
What is particularly serious is that the bombing of German aviation and the threat of submarines and torpedo boats have reduced all ports on the south coast and east coast of the UK, including the particularly developed Port of London, to ruins and basically interrupted shipping. Ireland remains neutral and cannot provide services.
The ports were for the use of the British, so they could only use the Irish Sea ports at the mouths of the Clyde and Mersey rivers. In this way, when ships sailed in from the ocean and bypassed Ireland from the north, they would inevitably gather in
Together, this opened the door for German submarines and aircraft to complete their attack missions. The burden on many ports has greatly exceeded their throughput capacity, which made it impossible for the ships gathered here to unload, causing port congestion.
Moreover, the most developed transportation areas in British history were actually the south and east, which are now unusable. However, the transportation capacity in the center and north is not large enough to transport unloaded materials quickly. As of October last year, the ports of Liverpool and Burkina Faso
The unloading cycle of ships in the Port of Bristol has doubled, unloading is not fast enough, the escort transport team sails slowly, and sometimes takes long detours, all of which greatly extend the turnover period of the ship, and the existing tonnage cannot be fully utilized.
.Take oil as an example. Fuel oil imported from North America has shrunk to half of the total demand, and the situation is extremely tight.
At the beginning of this year, the attacks of violent storms suddenly intensified, and the threat from the Atlantic Ocean became more and more serious.
Faced with this grim situation, Churchill said: "Battles can be won or lost, adventures can be won or lost, territories can be gained or lost, but the key issue is to control all our forces, enable us to conduct war, and even survive.
, which means we control our ocean routes and allow our ships to freely enter and exit our ports."
Germany now controls the European coastline from the Norwegian Magpin Island in the north to the Pyrenees Mountains in the south. Submarines known as the "Wolf Pack" are very active and can attack from any port or bay along this long coastline.
, destroying British sea transport of food, soldiers and merchandise.
Germany, which had already been strengthened by Nanhua submarines and integrated European power, has also doubled its productivity. Last year, Germany's production rate of new submarines was 10 per month, and this year it has increased to 20 per month. These submarines include 500 tons
There are two types: the 740-ton model and the 740-ton model. The former has a cruising range of 11,000 nautical miles and the latter has a cruising range of 15,000 nautical miles, posing a serious threat to British maritime transportation.
In addition to the destruction by submarines, there were also air strikes carried out by long-range aircraft in the open ocean.
Among these aircraft, the "Devourer" FW210, developed with B17 four-engine long-range bomber technology provided by Germany, and the "Condor" FW200 bomber independently developed by Germany are the most threatening. Both long-range bombers have a range of more than 3,500 kilometers.
, you can take off from Brest or Bordeaux, circle over the British Isles for a week, refuel in Norway, and then return the next day.
Due to a serious lack of escort ships, Britain had to form a huge transport fleet including forty or fifty ships. Germany's long-range aircraft could attack these transport fleets and individual ships at will during the journey, and they could also notify the submarines of their position to stand by.
, in order to gather the wolves for encirclement and suppression.
Since the invasion of Denmark last year, in less than a year, German submarines have sunk a total of 4.5 million tons of ships from Britain, its allies and neutral countries. In addition, more than 1 million ships have been sunk by surface ships, aviation and mines.
tons. During this period, the average loss of German submarines was only two per month. The number of submarines expanded extremely rapidly. The British felt more and more pressure. The losses of ships far exceeded the newly produced ships, while the United States had a huge
resources can only take effect slowly.
Because of this, Hitler believed that Britain's resistance had been severely weakened. Once the war in the Middle East and North Africa ended, it could be concluded that the Axis powers had achieved decisive victory in Africa and Europe. In addition, the victory of the Japanese army in the Australian continent Moving forward, the situation in the Pacific region is also looking good.
Under such circumstances, at 9 a.m. on April 11, Berlin time, Hitler cursed at the Berlin Reichstag that "Roosevelt was the chief culprit in obstructing world peace" and "declared war on behalf of the German people against that cripple and the country he led." Subsequently, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania and other axis countries successively declared war on the United States.
Mayflower Hotel, Presidential Suite.
An Yi walked around the room with a solemn look on his face.
After a night's rest, An Yi got up and had breakfast in the hotel's cafeteria. An Yi received the news from Shen Fengdao that Germany had declared war on the United States. An Yi initially thought this might be a late April Fool's Day joke. But This news was later confirmed from several newspapers provided inside the hotel.
An Yi was very puzzled and couldn't figure out which play Hitler was singing.
You must know that Yin Jinan and Zhou Chongan are currently stranded in Europe, responsible for packaging the Chinese cultural relics returned by Germany and France and returning them to the country. Yin Jilan has a good personal relationship with Hitler and often visits the Prime Minister's Office. Logically speaking, such important news should be They should have received the news in advance. Furthermore, given Heydrich's current position within the Nazi Party, "Nail" would not be in the dark about it, but why was there no news?
If it is possible to know in advance that Germany is declaring war on the United States, then this trip to the United States must be carefully considered.
With Germany's declaration of war, it is inevitable that the United States will declare war on Germany. When Churchill arrives, the leaders of the two countries ask themselves to declare war on Germany at the meeting of the Big Three. What should we do? Today's international situation is already a situation where we are either friends or enemies. If he insisted on not declaring war on Germany, would it arouse Roosevelt's resentment?
"Dong dong——"
Just when An Yi was deep in thought, a dull knock on the door came.
"Please come in!"
An Yi said hello and returned to the sofa to sit down. Soon Shen Fengdao walked in with a middle-aged man with a steady temperament and wearing a suit.
Colonel Dai Zhiyao, head of the CIA's U.S. branch, studied at Jiangnan University of Technology. He joined the army during the First Songhu Battle. After the Great Wall Anti-Japanese War, he entered the Southwest Institute of Political Science and Law as a lieutenant for further study in international relations. Before going to the United States in 35 years, he served as a non-commissioned officer in the Syrian government. The school's intelligence major underwent half a year of training. After arriving in the United States, he entered Harvard Law School for further study. During this period, he interned at the branch of the Fourth Department in the United States and gradually entered the leadership. Last year, when the former minister returned to China, he began to take on the responsibility of the Fourth Department. Leading the US branch.
Dai Zhiyao solemnly saluted An Yi. After An Yi nodded in response, Shen Fengdao explained:
"Xiao Dai came in as a special correspondent of the New York Post and did not attract much attention. Our intelligence officers from the Ministry of National Security and the Intelligence Department of the General Staff appeared as counselors and military attaches to the embassy, so it was not convenient to visit at this sensitive moment. , so it’s up to him to explain the situation.”
An Yi would attend every farewell party for students who went to all over the world, especially the intelligence officers who focused on training, and would personally receive them. He had a certain impression of Dai Zhiyao, and then personally made tea for the two of them, and then asked: " Tell me, what's going on?"
Dai Zhiyao reported: "The news of Germany's declaration of war on the United States reached the United States at five o'clock this morning. Even with the intelligence spying capabilities of the Americans, they knew nothing about it. There is a five-hour time difference between Berlin and Washington. Many people in
The printed newspaper had to temporarily withdraw the news and publish this important news as a front-page headline, which quickly caused a sensation.
"At nine o'clock in the morning, President Roosevelt urgently convened a meeting with Secretary of State Hull, Secretary of War Stimson, Secretary of the Navy Knox, Secretary of the Interior Ickes, Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau Jr. and other officials. At this meeting, the U.S. government was very likely to retaliate.
A declaration of war is then submitted to the House of Representatives and the Senate. Once passed by Congress, the United States and Germany will be in a state of war!"
An Yi nodded and asked: "According to estimates, at what time at the latest will this declaration of war be submitted to the U.S. Congress?"
Dai Zhiyao looked at his watch: "It takes a certain amount of time to convene the statutory members, so the final review by Congress may be late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Try to get the results before the newspapers officially finalize their editions. In this way, when the newspapers come out tomorrow, the American people will
Know that war has been declared against Germany and other Axis powers."
An Yi sighed and said: "This declaration of war comes at a really bad time. Our diplomacy suddenly fell into complete passivity! I don't understand what Hitler was thinking. Didn't he know that he would declare war with the United States before taking over the British Isles?"
The serious consequences? Roosevelt was worried about a reason to send the US military to fight in the Middle East and Africa, so he eagerly sent it to his door. Now, the advantages that the Axis powers had established in North Africa and the Middle East were about to be put to waste in the blink of an eye.
Flowing water!”
"This may be related to ***'s appeal!"
Dai Zhiyao said: "The Communist Party of China declared war on Britain, the United States, and China at the same time. It eliminated a large number of British troops in Malaya, Burma, and East India. At the same time, it also contained the British troops in East Africa and South Africa in the Middle East and Madagascar.
A true three-front battle. The Pacific War is currently raging, and the Nazis also want Germany to share part of the U.S. military. If Hitler does not agree, then the "Germany, Italy, and Japan Tripartite Alliance Treaty" will become a dead letter.
"As the leading country in this treaty, Germany does not want to see internal divisions and must make some sacrifices. Moreover, Germany's current situation in the Middle East and North Africa is gratifying, and unrestricted submarine warfare has sunk a large number of allied transport ships.
, Hitler is becoming increasingly arrogant, and it is not surprising that he made this arbitrary decision under the repeated requests of the Communist Party."
Shen Fengdao analyzed: "Under the current situation, even if the United States makes the decision to send troops, it will not be able to provide direct support to the Middle East and North Africa for the time being. Because the Western Indian Ocean is still in the hands of the Japanese army, the United States wants to assist North Africa and the Middle East from East Africa.
Madagascar must be recovered first. This period of time is enough for the Axis powers to achieve a decisive victory! As long as oil from Libya and Egypt is continuously sent to Germany through oil pipelines, Germany will be invincible in this war.
Well, I think this is also an important reason why Hitler dared to make a bet."
"That's it..."
An Yi thought about it carefully and realized that it was indeed the case. He rolled his eyes and nodded slightly:
"In this way, it is not necessarily a bad thing for Germany and the United States to declare war on each other. At least with the United States as a powerful opponent, Hitler does not dare to provoke us in the Middle East! And with the US military being restrained in North Africa and the Middle East, the investment in Australia
The troop strength will be relatively reduced, and the Japanese army will achieve greater results. It is not necessarily possible to completely overthrow the Australian regime and expel British power from the Pacific."
"That's right!"
Dai Zhiyao said with a smile: "Unfortunately, in the next few days, President Roosevelt will have to coordinate the war against Germany, determine whether the strategy is to put Europe first before Asia or first Asia then Europe, and unify the thinking of the Democratic and Republican parties, so that they can move forward
The envoy will probably have to wait for British Prime Minister Churchill to arrive before the meeting can continue!"
"No problem!"
An Yi waved his hand: "I just took this time to travel around the United States. After Churchill arrives in the United States, he will definitely have some consultations with President Roosevelt first, and then he will have a joint meeting with me. I can also take the opportunity to relax.
one time."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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