Stingson frowned and asked, "How much strength does the navy still have?" ”

"The British have 2 aircraft carriers, the Unicorn and the Hornet, and 2 George V-class battleships; We have 4 aircraft carriers on our side, namely the Bunker Hill, the Wasp, the San Jacinto and the Franklin (except for San Jacinto which is the Independence class, the rest are Essex class), of which the Franklin just completed sea trials in January to join the fleet, but there are only 2 battleships, and then 1 heavy cruiser is not, and there are only a few anti-aircraft light cruisers......"

"Hiss......" Stingson gasped and cried out in a lost voice, "Why do you only have so many troops?" ”

That's why Turner made the fleet retreat first despite the infamy, and sometimes it was more difficult to survive than to die. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 "Things will be a little better in March, when the Ticonderoga (Essex-class) and Wisconsin (Iowa class) will be in service; Further improvements will take place in May, with the USS Hancock and USS Bennington (Essex-class) and USS Missouri (Iowa-class) ready for service. However, there are other problems, when we calculate the balance of power between us and the enemy, we included all 2 battleships and 2 armored aircraft carriers of Great Britain. Now that this is happening, I guess the British don't necessarily want to. ”

Although Stimson does not understand the navy, he can still do simple arithmetic, and now the strength of the Atlantic Fleet is not very sufficient, and the situation will not completely change until June, but if the Royal Navy is neutral or joins the axis, the US Navy will still be pressed and beaten even if it gets a batch of new warships in June, not to mention that there is an aggressive Japan in the Pacific Ocean?

"Assuming that there is no such thing, General Cunningham's response is appropriate, and we only need to send a part of the fleet to South Africa." Mitchell smiled bitterly, "According to my idea, against the German fleet with 2 fleet aircraft carriers and 1 battle cruiser as the core, we can transfer 2 Essex-class, 1 Independence-class, 1 Unicorn plus 1 battleship is enough to deal with it, even according to the 1:1 battle loss exchange, we should still have 2 aircraft carriers left, and then we can let the remaining fleet go to the Far East." ”

According to Nimitz's idea: even if the mood of the British is taken care of, it is a big deal to give the Ticonderoga, which was commissioned in March, to the other side, so that there will be 3 aircraft carriers in the North Atlantic direction at that time, the attack is insufficient, and the defense is still very solid; And it is safer for the southbound fleet to rush to the Far East for reinforcements after eating the enemy, but now it does not dare to move at all. If the Royal Navy does not move, it will not be able to raise troops for the southward movement - it will be too much pumped, and the North Atlantic direction will be stretched; Pumped less, the South Atlantic is stretched.

It is not only the South African direction that will be affected, but also the African campaign that Nimitz is planning. Considering that there are British colonies in West Africa, and the British Army is still the troops to be used in the landing campaign, how can they cooperate now? In the past, Britain and the United States were iron buddies who fought to the death, one desperately sent supplies and equipment to Britain, and the other desperately sent warships, troops, technology and workers to the United States.

No one said such stupid words as "the president didn't communicate well with Prime Minister Churchill", if it was Wallace alone, without Dewey's later incidents, maybe it would have been dealt with in this way, but now it is good, the independent commission of inquiry will be established, the British and British ships have been executed, and it will be difficult to restore it to the same as before......

After deliberating for a long time, everyone finally decided that it was not advisable to take risks, and that it was better to send a few submarines and shore-based aviation to intercept it.

Originally, the discussion on this topic had come to an end, but Mitchell muttered and added: "Sign the minutes, say that the joint staff committee discussed and decided together, and write clearly what reasons, considerations, and judgments were made on what basis, in case there are mad dogs in Congress in the future that bite us and say that we are conniving with the enemy, even if we are suspended, there is an explanation, and keep a few more copies of the minutes......"

Everyone smiled bitterly, and several colonel-level officers who attended the meeting together were so sad that tears were about to fall - the commanders were forced to do this, and only if they could win the battle could they have ghosts.

On 7 February, Congress approved the formation of an independent commission of inquiry chaired by Truman, and within the first hour after the resolution was passed, not only were all the recent archives and materials of the Joint Chiefs of Staff all seized, but all the middle- and low-ranking officers who had attended the meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the early stage, and even the guards on duty outside were summoned notices.

Truman, who took office, was so energetic that he began to interrogate the suspects overnight, despite his fatigue, and gave them stern instructions to write down what they were doing during this period, their views on protection payments, and their contacts with the three generals, and to recall whether there was an abnormal decision-making process within the Joint Chiefs of Staff......

The posture is so big, the intensity is fierce, the tone is serious, and the attitude is so fierce that everyone is dumbfounded, and at first the Republicans were happy to think that Roosevelt had lost his eyes again, how did he nominate what a fool to come up? Shouldn't we push left and right, cover up and get by? This kind of scene now, according to a Soviet source in the State Council, is just as pompous as the pomp of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during Stalin's father's purge -- except that there was no torture to extract confessions.

But slowly they realized that something was wrong, and that Truman, the kid, was absolutely deliberate, and he was harboring evil intentions -- deliberately stirring up the disgust and resentment of the soldiers against this commission of inquiry. Everyone knows that Truman has always been in charge of auditing in the military, and his style of doing things has long been known to people in normal times, but it is certainly not normal to suddenly become like this. Moreover, Truman's position at that meeting was very clear -- attacking Wallace for shaking the morale of the army and treason, and impeaching him. All of a sudden, there is only one explanation for the drastic change in style - someone behind him is forcing him, who is it? Republicans and Dewey!

So the stunned scene after scene appeared: all the officers they inquired about, regardless of rank, said that they did not know, did not know, and had never heard of the section on protection money, "The commanders will still discuss this?" Are you crazy? "Is it so troublesome for the chief to betray the country? Wouldn't it be over by directly telling the Japanese the position of the fleet and the deployment of troops? And so on.

The funniest thing is that the adjutant who interrogated Admiral Kim and asked him what Admiral Kim usually does, and he clearly explained when Admiral Kim gets up, when he goes out, when he sees a doctor, and when he eats, and he almost replies to Admiral Kim how many times a day he poops, but when he asks about the key content, he says, "I don't know." ”

"How could you not know?"

"How could I possibly know?" The adjutant asked rhetorically, "He is my commander, what meetings he holds, what decisions he makes, what content he discusses, and what can he tell me?" I'm not the president of the United States, so why should he report to me? ”

"What about the documents you asked him to sign?"

"No, haven't you all checked the files, I can't remember, they are all in the files."

"You always say a few words when you talk about small talk, don't you?"

"Don't say it! Say nothing! The adjutant stalked, "How can someone with such a strong sense of secrecy as the chief say this?" Rather, let me exercise more and learn more other skills, and don't become an officer in the future, so as not to be angry with the parliamentarians in the future! ”

"You!" This clearly refers to the monk scolding the bald donkey, and the parliamentarians are angry and have no choice.

Time passed, and the personnel checked it all over, and they all said in unison about the protection fee: "I don't know!" "I don't believe it! "Impossible! Finally, a logistics officer reported: "The commander asked for 30 ships to be prepared, and the cargo should be loaded as evenly as possible, and every kind of material should be on every ship." ”

The investigative committee decided to dig deeper, but after a while they couldn't dig it up.

"The reason for this is easy to guess, the Soviets must have broken it up and used a single transport ship to rush the blockade line, no one knew that something would happen to that ship, this arrangement is the most appropriate, and occasionally a few sunk lines will not lead to the complete loss of one or two types of materials."

On 10 February, exhausted commissioners approached the Soviet ambassador and military attache to the United States and asked them to talk about protection payments.

The ambassador said that he was not very clear, and that it was usually the military attachés who were responsible for the contact, and the military attaché said: "I know a little bit about the 40 percent figure." ”

"Could you please talk about it in detail, we will keep it completely confidential."

"Of course, after the materials were intercepted in December, we proposed an alternative, suggesting that you change the place of delivery to the Aleutian Islands, and then we will send the crew to transport the materials back to China, and return to China without the formation of the fleet, and the single ship will use the cover of night and weather to break through ......," the military attache said unhurriedly, "At that time, we said that the proportion of 40% was made by us with reference to the losses on the Anglo-Canadian route, and we thought that there would probably be a loss of this number, but no one has tried to make it high or low." ”

"Then why settle on the Aleutians? Wouldn't it be better for us to transport it directly and disband the formation? ”

"Isn't this a concern you've always had?"

"What's the concern?"

"There is a high risk that Japanese warships or submarines will be sunk by doing so, and your country will lose a lot of personnel. And your country attaches the most importance to the lives of its citizens, and I am afraid that this will find an excuse to cut off the transportation lines. In order to dispel your country's concerns, of course, the only way to do this is to send the Soviet people, who are not afraid of death, to carry out the last most dangerous voyage...... "Of course, the military attache is telling nonsense with his eyes open, but he has received supreme instructions, and even if he dies, he cannot reveal half a word about the truth of this matter, so how can he tell the Investigative Committee?"

Now the investigation committee is completely blind: the side has no evidence to find here, and the Soviet side has completely denied it, so it can't be verified by the Japanese side, right?

Roosevelt was very happy when he heard the news: "Harry really has a way!" ”

Hopkins whispered a few words in his ear, and he nodded: "Turner's people are finally looking for this matter, let Harry interrogate him tomorrow, it's time to make a conclusion......"