Roosevelt was far more far-sighted than Churchill. He knew that although the French were defeated, they would certainly not be willing to sacrifice their lives for Mustache. Therefore, he always opposed Vichy France as a target to avoid irritating the French and making them want to retaliate against the allies.
And fought for the Germans wholeheartedly. His strategy indeed had a certain effect. Although the Vichy French army, especially the navy, once attacked the port of Toulon out of revenge for the British and later
A team of British bombers "accidentally bombed" a French reservoir and participated in the war against Britain. However, thinking that they were helping the Germans who had destroyed their own country, everyone's fighting spirit was inevitably greatly affected. They found that the Allies
After the navy and air force tried their best to avoid fighting with themselves, the French's self-esteem was satisfied, so they stopped going all out and began to work hard, which undoubtedly greatly reduced the pressure on the Allies.
Roosevelt knew that the lifeblood of Vichy France was being tightened by Germany. If they wanted to defect, they would be suppressed soon. But as long as they could do this, it would be a big plus for the Allies. Otherwise, such a
If the great powers in the past firmly contributed to the mustache, then this
The victory of World War II is far away. Also out of considerations of not irritating the French, the US military gave up Dakar, which was slightly closer and easier to win, and chose the Moroccan Province of the Arab Federation, which is
Casablanca, the capital and largest seaport of Krim's birthplace
Although they are allies rather than vassals like Vichy France, the mentality of Spain and Portugal, the "Two Iberian Bears", is similar, and there is a tacit understanding between the two "governments" and their allies. The U.S. Atlantic Fleet
Although the main force passed through the islands of Spain and Portugal on the way, it arrived outside the port of Casablanca without any bloodshed and directly issued an ultimatum to the defenders in the port, ordering them to surrender immediately.
In the view of the American coach Eisenhower, Krim, the leader of the Arab Federation, is currently far away in the Middle East to fight against rebellion, and there is no time to return in such a hurry. The defenders of Casablanca have no spiritual support, with hundreds of combat ships and several battleships.
With a powerful fleet and a huge landing force of more than 300,000 people, it would be easy to capture Casablanca. If the defenders still had sense, they should surrender voluntarily, lest they risk their lives.
However, the defenders of Casablanca responded with silence. The US military immediately launched a fierce artillery bombardment on the Casablanca Fortress, but the enemy's counterattack was far sharper than they originally expected. What the Americans did not know was that the British sank in Alexandria.
Although the battleship was salvaged too late and the equipment and personnel in Alexandria were insufficient. It took too long and the repairs had to be given up. However, with the help of German technicians, the Arab Federation still managed to salvage the battleship.
More than a dozen naval guns, including four battleship main guns, were rescued. These guns were all transported thousands of miles by sea under Krim's order to the fortress of Casablanca, Morocco, which greatly enhanced Casablanca's ability to resist enemies from the sea.
It is particularly worth mentioning that in order to further win over Krim, Mustache sent people to help him improve the fortifications and train artillery, making the defense of Casablanca Fortress even stronger than when the French occupied it.
Under the premise that the calibers of both sides are similar, even a battleship will not be able to get away with bombarding the fortress. And not long after, a German bomber wing stationed in Casablanca also took off to launch a counterattack against the US fleet, which was a huge blow to those without aircraft carriers.
The US fleet caused a lot of trouble. In less than a day, the US military had a
Heavy cruisers, 2 destroyers (after one was sunk, they were ordered to withdraw from the fortress gun range, otherwise the losses would be much greater.) and 2 minesweepers were sunk successively, and 1 battleship and 2 battleships were sunk.
The light cruiser was severely damaged, 1 battleship and 1 light cruiser were slightly damaged, but the Casablanca Fortress remained intact.
The U.S. military has always cherished the lives of its soldiers. Seeing that bombardment from the sea was ineffective, Eisenhower immediately decided to choose another location to land the army ashore first, and then let them capture Casablanca from behind. In fact, this attack method was the most effective against the fortress in history.
Even famous fortresses like Sevastopol Fortress can't withstand it, let alone Casablanca, which has a much weaker defense.
However, the Americans did not expect that Krim had bought a 280 mm caliber K5 train gun from Mustache. Not only did this big guy have a super long range, but its accuracy was surprisingly high, even for targets 45 kilometers away.
It can also hit accurately. However, the commander of the US Army's 2nd Army, Friedenda, made another fatal mistake. He only focused on transporting supplies ashore.
Instead of ordering the troops to advance quickly, the Moroccans were given time to bring in the train guns. As a result, the K5 train guns accurately fired high-explosive cannons weighing more than 250 kilograms from outside the range of the US artillery.
The U.S. military caused huge casualties, and it took the U.S. military more than a month to finally complete the landing, which gave Krim time to lead his army back west.
If it had been the time of the uprising, the Krem rebels, who were walking only on their feet, would not have been able to rush back to their hometown of Morocco from the Arabian Peninsula during this period of time. However, after entering the axis, they could rely on Italy's shipping power to make it in a short time.
In just ten days, he transported his most elite Moroccan regiment of 100,000 troops to Tunisia, and then rushed back to his hometown by train. They had enough time to repair and prepare for battle[
As early as when Krim set off from Jerusalem, he had already issued a general mobilization order to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia via telegram, and it was quickly conveyed. When he arrived in Casablanca, there were more than 10 troops assembled under his command.
Thousands of field troops plus the same number of local garrisons, there are more than 200,000 mobilization troops, and in ten days at most, this number will increase to more than 600,000, which means that Krim will have 800,000 troops at that time.
And this is not the limit
The mobilization ability of Muslim countries has always been super strong. Even agricultural countries can often achieve mobilization ratios close to those of industrialized countries (just look at the mobilization ability of Ma Jiajun, and it is not a country.), but due to insufficient organizational "ness"
, in history they are often synonymous with the mob.
However, once the Muslim army has a wise commander, its potential combat effectiveness can be fully released, and Kerim is such an outstanding commander who has been silent for decades. At the time, the Spanish, French, Italians and British
Everyone has already tasted its awesomeness, now it’s the Americans’ turn (To be continued...)