At the time of Hoffman's visit to Ireland, the Washington Joint Chiefs of Staff was discussing the war situation, and the atmosphere of the meeting was rather oppressive and bitter.

Clark reported: "The Germans are attacking British Guiana, and the British team there is considering a change of position, and the remaining one division of our army alone is not enough to resist the German attack, but the British do not want to do anything desperately, and only hope that we can retreat from Guyana." ”

"How many German troops did they have to attack Guyana?"

"It's not too much, about 80,000." In fact, this is not accurate, and the number of troops that Mantofil put into the attack did not exceed 50,000, but the technical strength and combat effectiveness displayed frightened the Allies, and now they are generally in a panic known as the "South African Panic"!

"There are a little more than three divisions on the British Guiana side, not to mention the half-hearted British, even if they do not waver and resolutely resist to the end, it is not enough to deal with this kind of war. General Stilwell wanted to use Matthew's army, but Recife was also very important, and it was out of reach for the time being. ”

Stilwell and Ridgway have a clear division of labor, Stilwell, as the supreme commander of the Allied South American Theater, controls the entire South American battlefield, theoretically including Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, and Colombia are all within the scope of the South American Theater, Ridgway is only responsible for managing the US 5th Army, but the most important and core force is still the 240,000 US troops near Recife.

"We suspect that the next target of the German army may be Trinidad and Tobago, or it may be Venezuela, but the former is more likely, and once the German army occupies Trinidad and Tobago, our army's transportation lines in South America will be under great threat."

Nimitz shook his head and explained: "It's not just a major threat, the transport lines are already under great threat, and if the Germans do occupy Trinidad and Tobago, they may cut off the transport lines in the direction of Recife." ”

After the Germans occupied the Guyana front, they built a continuous air defense network centered on the four ports of Georgetown, Paramaribo, Kourou, and St. Louis, which forced the US transport ships to move away from the American coastline and move southeast after crossing the waterway between Granada and Trinidad and Tobago, and the convoy without reliable shore-based cover had to sail more than 2,000 nautical miles longer than the Anglo-Canadian route from Newfoundland to Britain.

Turner's original tactic of "operating during the day and entering ports at night" was no longer feasible, and more and more transport ships and supply ships were sunk by German submarines, and the Navy was transporting almost with tears in its eyes.

"Once the Germans occupy one of the two islands of Trinidad and Tobago or Granada, it means that the Caribbean arc defense line has been broken by the Germans, and this transport line can basically be confirmed to be cut off!"

Dewey frowned and asked, "Did Matthew make a plan to counterattack St. Louis?" ”

"There is indeed such a plan,

But the Navy believes that it is not realistic. Spruance explained unhurriedly, "To land in St. Louis, the land force must be covered by the Atlantic main fleet, and if it fights with the German main fleet during this period, our army will be in a disadvantageous position, and the most critical reason is that in the balance of forces, the two sides have not completely changed the problem of the imbalance in the balance of forces." ”

At present, the Atlantic Fleet has 5 Essex-class aircraft carriers, 1 Iowa-class battleship, 3 Alaska-class battle cruisers, and the backbone force is 5+4 structure; The main force of the Combined Axis Fleet has 5 fleet aircraft carriers (Zeppelin, Jeanbar, Dunkirk and 2 grudge-class armored aircraft carriers) and 8 battleships (4 Veneto-class, Tirpitz, Richelieu, 2 Scharnhorst-class)

Nimitz added: "It's 9 ships, because the Lion has just been commissioned and the Germans have already taken control of her"

The aircraft carriers of the two fleets were basically equal, but the Germans had a significant advantage in the battleship field, and the combat strength of the Alaska-class battle cruisers was only equivalent to that of the Scharnhorst-class, the weakest of the Axis battleships. What's even more troublesome is that in 1945, it was basically impossible for the US military to serve new battleships, but in 1946, it could harvest 2 Iowa-class and 2 Alaska-class in one go.

"But the Germans are said to be able to harvest the Avant-garde in this year (1945) and the Barbarian next year."

When he said this, the top brass of the US Navy did not know that the German army was ready to change the Barbarian into an air defense battleship, and it was still pushed by the standard battleship construction schedule, and in the German timetable, the Barbarian must be put into service in the outfitting stage in June, and the air defense battleship was built much faster than the traditional battleship!

In fact, the Combined Axis Fleet really became a combined European fleet: out of 14 capital ships, Germany itself provided only 4, Italy provided 4, France provided 3, Britain provided 3, and if you count the Savage and the Avantgarde, Britain can provide 5 warships!

"Damn the British," Dewey cursed secretly.

Assuming that all these British ships are now in the hands of the United States, the aircraft carriers of both sides will become 8:3, the battleships will become 6:8, and the strategic posture of the US Navy will be completely reversed.

"We have four more Essex-class carriers by the end of February." Turner said expressionlessly, "When these four warships are commissioned, the chance of victory will be greater." ”

MacArthur shook his head in disagreement: "Now that the situation of the war has deteriorated very much, I am afraid that we cannot calmly wait for the gathering of forces, and besides, if our warships will increase, won't the enemy warships increase?" If we keep waiting, we will never find the right time. ”

MacArthur guessed correctly on this point, Germany will have 2 Yunlong-class aircraft in service in December, considering that Italy contributed 4 aircraft carriers in a row and all were sunk, plus the 2 giant-class from Britain were delayed due to making way for Japan, in order to close German-Italian relations, the first German-made Yunlong-class aircraft carrier was named Sicily, and it was agreed that if it still survived after the war, it would belong to Italy (otherwise it would be delivered to the other), and at least 1 more will be given to Italy after the completion of the construction of the Axis class. The Trieste, which can be called, can also be called others, such as the Apennines.

None of the above did include the part that Italy had to build itself (although it used part of the resources and technical strength of Germany), which Hoffmann agreed, considering that Italy was still needed to support Germany in various matters, and even generously offered to give one more, and then a batch of submarines, which the Italians were very satisfied with.

"Although the main force of naval warfare at present is aircraft carriers, and battleships are not decisive, we do not have the upper hand in the field of aircraft carriers, and what is more troublesome is that the level of our carrier-based aircraft pilots is not as good as that of our opponents, and the power in Mitchell's hands is barely made up by including all the surviving pilots of the Pacific Fleet, and there is another factor that has to be considered," Spruance said slowly, "the Japanese Combined Fleet. If we fight too hard with the Germans, the Atlantic Fleet loses too much, let alone 1945, even 1946 or even 1947, don't think about a counteroffensive, once the Japanese have 2 years to consolidate the defense of the Hawaiian Islands, I am afraid that we will have to pay an unbearable price in the future. ”

Dewey's eyebrows jumped: "At what cost?" ”

"The specific plan hasn't been made yet, but I've applied the plan of Plan C+" Turner sighed, "If Japan occupies Hawaii and has more than a year to consolidate its defenses, we may have to dispatch 1,520 fleet carriers, 4,050 escort carriers, and then use 15.2 million army forces to attack in turn, and the loss may exceed 60%."

"Wait," Dulles, who had been listening with a frown, suddenly interrupted Turner, "Can you please elaborate on this C+ plan?" ”

Then Turner outlined the plan for attacking the Azores.

"Why such a great force and such heavy losses?" Dulles frowned, "Although I don't understand military affairs, as far as I know, the Japanese army doesn't seem to have such a strong force to attack us, right?" Why is it necessary to change the offensive of our army with such a large balance of forces? I can understand the difference in the combat effectiveness of our army and the German army, and the difference in combat effectiveness with the Japanese army is also so big? When did Japan become so capable of fighting? ”

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to answer Mr. Secretary's question, and Dewey silently applauded in his heart: he felt that the current group of soldiers had become a little indecisive after many setbacks, or rather, a lack of confidence.

Nimitz sighed: "Although I am very reluctant to admit it, the current strength of the Japanese Navy is stronger than our army, and in terms of coordination strength and combat capability, it also overwhelms the European Combined Fleet; As for the Japanese Army, although it cannot be compared with the German army, it has also received great assistance and support from the German army, and the Japanese troops attacking Molokai and Maui this time, except for rifles, are almost all European British Spitfires, Churchill tanks, and Cromwell tanks; German armored vehicles, landing craft, Tiger tanks; French light artillery; There are even Russian T34 tanks and our country's Browning heavy machine guns and Sherman tanks"