Chapter 62: Between the Peace and the War (8)

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The Combined Fleet's policy of encircling Hawaii without attacking it did not mean that it would not move in other directions: the southwest Pacific region was the focus of the Japanese attack.

By April, the Japanese army launched a fierce offensive in the southwest Pacific, Vanuatu was lost on all fronts, and the Japanese troops were directed at New Caledonia, to add insult to injury, the German army that arrived in New Guinea also launched a powerful offensive, driving Australia, New Zealand, and the United States allied troops into the sea to face the Japanese army, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States still had a little firepower advantage, but against the German troops who had just completed the South African campaign and retreated, they had no advantage at all, and they were defeated and retreated, and soon lost the territory controlled by the direction of New Guinea.

Clark's estimate was right: under the premise of no sea and air superiority, the Allies had to have three times the strength of the German army to equalize, although the Australian army was relatively capable of fighting, but Australia only had so many troops after all, and no matter how much it could fight, it could not withstand the battle-hardened and battle-winning German army.

By April, the territory that the US military could still control in the western Pacific was only the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia, and the rest of the islands were basically occupied by Japan. On the one hand, it had to carry out a blockade in the Caribbean Sea, and it was simply unable to provide enough submarines, so the submarine replenishment of Australia and New Zealand could only be temporarily interrupted, and more than 20 submarines were lost within half a year, and the number of replenishments was less than 5, and the containment of Japan's Southeast Asian routes was getting lower and lower.

At such a critical moment, the Australian and New Zealand authorities also gritted their teeth and carried out a general mobilization, using the surplus materials and reservists to rearm three divisions, which can be regarded as making up for the losses of the army, and finally the arms transported by the US military to Australia and New Zealand were still relatively sufficient, and Australia itself still has a basic production line of bullets and shells, and at the same time, the level of machinery and ship repair is also acceptable, so as not to cut off the supply.

Even so, in the face of the aggressive offensive of the Axis, the idea of Australia and New Zealand began to waver: should it be completely announced to change the court and defect to the London authorities? On more than one occasion in command of the South African campaign, Edward VIII sent olive branches to ANZ, and used the fate of South Africa as a counterexample to "educate" the ANZ authorities: the Americans are unreliable, and even if they are, they are not justified militarily.

However, unlike South Africa, Australia and New Zealand also face Japan, and Germany is now very ambiguous about Australia and New Zealand: it opposes Japan's involvement in Australia and New Zealand, and is unwilling to confront Japan for Australia and New Zealand, and at the same time opposes Australia and New Zealand remaining in the US system. This makes Australia and New Zealand feel more troublesome.

As far as Australia and New Zealand are concerned, of course, they want to be able to maintain a neutral relationship with the United States while being close to Europe, isolate Japan, and play a role in restoring the political balance together with the United Kingdom, but this desire far exceeds their strength and the current situation, so for the time being, they can only go all the way to the dark with the United States first.

Of course, there is also a big gap in Germany's Australia-New Zealand policy: Germany said that it would be happy to see Horiyoshi and Dewey both propose the idea of exchanging New Zealand for Hawaii, and once Japan and the United States make such a deal, New Zealand will certainly lose it, but Australia, which has cold lips and teeth, will definitely feel a deep sense of crisis and control it in its hands, and in Hoffman's eyes, Australia is much more important than New Zealand, and if he can get Australia at a relatively small price, he does not mind that Japan and the United States will make a deal for New Zealand to exchange Hawaii.

Hoffman even hoped that Japan and the United States would come up with an agreement to betray New Zealand, so that they could unswervingly push Australia over, but Japan and the United States have not yet discussed this at all.

Relations between Japan and Germany were also undergoing subtle changes at this time, and throughout the first quarter of 1945, Japan did not pay any more fees or precious metals except for some tropical products, but it did hand over New Guinea and several other submarine bases as agreed, and at the same time considered handing over the newly occupied Samoa to Germany to offset part of the costs, but there was no happy word about the question of the ownership of southern Indochina, which Germany had intervened to mediate.

In this regard, Germany did not deliberately embarrass or show impatience, and the products that should be given to Japan were delivered as agreed, but it adopted an attitude of prevarication or delay in Japan's new equipment and technical requirements.

Both sides were well aware that the apparent cooling of the relationship was due to Japan's demand for rocket technology and its unwillingness to pay for it, which led to a single domestic strategy, which was to sell southern Indochina to France as part of the settlement of Germany's debts, and at the same time Germany would add rocket technology as a partner.

The problem is that Germany has sold rocket technology to France for more than 10 billion marks, and it is simply impossible to give up for nothing for the sake of a southern Indochina, and it is not Germany who wants this region. Japan was unwilling to come up with other territory or money, so the Indochina issue was also stuck. After the end of the Caribbean War, the relative strength of the Japanese navy tended to rise, and Tokyo thought that it could be tougher to speak to Germany, and Gu Masayuki had expressed this tendency to Cole, but Cole refused to accept it, and the scene was deadlocked.

As a high-level who has personally visited and seen in Germany, he has a clear understanding of Germany's strength, not to mention that Germany's naval strength will soon recover in a year, and Japan's so-called strength advantage can only exist for a short time, that is, Japan can maintain its advantage for a longer time, and it can't restrain Germany. The power of the European Union alone is enough to counter the United States and Russia.

From the Tokyo gang, he sniffed out dangerous information, and even Ishihara and Yamamoto, who were moderate and rational, seemed fluttering because of the recent success, so he was extremely dissatisfied with the performance of the US military, but you fought a decent counterattack or won a battle, and if this continues, the self-aggrandizing Japan will explode itself sooner or later. After the Caribbean campaign was over, he knew that no matter how much he released water, he would not be able to let the United States win, so he could only plan for the country first and use other methods to remind these overly optimistic figures.

Halfway through the voyage, he received a telegram from home that a new proposal had been made for the Japanese-occupied Galapagos Islands and Germany's rocket technology because of the jam in southern Indochina.

Although the two sides did not sign a formal agreement, the islands were owned by Germany in the Gentlemen's Agreement, in exchange for the German army's combat support and material replenishment of the Japanese army on the Hawaiian front. Now the country wants to turn around and refuse to admit that it is a moth, which is a very dangerous signal in Horiyoshi's view.

"Sir, how do you reply to this telegram?" Chiaki Matsuda asked.

"Who made the suggestion?"

"The telegram didn't say it explicitly."

"Telegram: Japan-Germany cooperation has been tested for a long time, the island belongs, there has long been a tacit understanding, after the other party has fulfilled the contract, our side wants to abandon the contract, and its heart can be blamed for not knowing who made the proposal, and this person should be immediately deposed and never used!"

"That's it?"

"That's it!"

Everyone in the base camp who received Hori's Yoshiden looked at each other, because the opinion was put forward by the Minister of the Interior at the Imperial Council a few days ago, saying that it was my own opinion to solve the problem of rocket technology and southern Indochina, and it was a personal idea, but everyone knew that this was Hirohito's true idea, and now Horiyoshi came to "immediately depose and never use it", how should this matter be rectified?

King Minoru Higashikunomiya smiled bitterly at the telegram: "Hori-kun is about to go to power, but I'm afraid that the political arena in Tokyo will not be able to live in peace, how is this good?" ”

Everyone frowned and couldn't say a word, and Ishihara finally said in a sullen voice: "Let Takeda attack strengthen the guard."

(End of chapter)