Dulles's request to meet with Ribbentrop was positively responded, but Ribbentrop said that he was currently visiting Ireland, and then would accompany the Führer to Iceland and Denmark for inspection, Germany should at least after January 20, if Dulles wants, he can meet in the window period of January 21 and 27, the specific place and date are up to Dulles, Germany gave three suggestions: Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, and at the same time clearly guaranteed the safety of Dulles's plane.

Although Dulles was anxious about this, he knew that there was no way to hurry, and now that the Germans were waiting to swallow Iceland and Denmark, how could they bother with the armistice agreement with the United States? No matter how reluctant he was, he could only wait, but fortunately, he also had to talk about the "deal" with the Russian side (Eastern Russia), so he decided to meet in Lisbon, Portugal, on January 24.

Ribbentrop really can't spare time? Obviously impossible, after visiting Britain and Ireland, his diplomatic mission has actually ended, but the reason why Hoffman is not ready to let the two meet earlier is nothing more than to be sloppy about the upcoming military operation On January 10, Machar and Ozawa will lead the main force of the refreshed Axis Combined Fleet to set sail for Central America again, and they can deceive the Americans for as long as they can.

Intelligence shows that the newly built warships of the US military have been put into service, and the number and type of ships are unknown, but Hoffman knows how powerful the "dumpling-class" is, and although the intelligence is vague, he believes that the Atlantic Fleet initially has the ability to compete with the Axis. The Americans did not want to risk a decisive battle at sea with the Axis, and neither did Germany, anyway, they could eat the Allies by relying on the army and air force, so why bother? Therefore, he explained that the task of Mashal and Ozawa was very clear, to cover Rommel's troops to launch a strategy, and not to fight a decisive battle unless necessary.

Marchar, Ozawa, and Cranke understood this.

Due to the rapid change of the situation, the South American campaign that Spruance strongly advocated was initially approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the beginning of the non-mainstream to the final one: if the German army only launched an attack from land, the Atlantic Fleet did not have to be dispatched, and only light warships and submarines were used to destroy it; If the Germans were to attack Trinidad and Tobago or Grenada in a big way, the Atlantic Fleet would have to fight back resolutely.

This was a compromise, and the army was initially unhappy, but the presence of the Germans in New Guinea frightened them, which meant that the Aussie and New Zealand front would face a major challenge, and Horikichi had exacerbated this panic by withdrawing the main force of the fleet from the direction of Hawaii and attacking Fiji, New Caledolia and Samoa.

This panic means that the position of the Atlantic Fleet is more prominent, and without the containment of the Pacific Fleet, the Japanese army is now doing whatever it wants on the front line between Australia and New Zealand and the Pacific, and if there is no Atlantic Fleet to contain it, the German army will do whatever it wants in Central America and the Caribbean.

At this stage, the Atlantic Fleet, which lacks strength, is facing two opponents who are stronger than itself, not to mention that it cannot be defeated, and it cannot even achieve a "crushing victory" or a "medium victory." It must "win a big victory" or "no loss," and this is basically impossible to do. No matter how dissatisfied the army is, it cannot but risk its future. In the end, it was grudgingly agreed that the army would defend for another 45 months if it was not necessary, and wait for the navy to expand further.

Since the US military had only a small number of troops and air forces stationed on the islands on the periphery of Australia and New Zealand, and there was no main fleet to cover it, it was very easy for the Japanese army to attack these three territories, and by January 7, the commander of the Eighth Army, Lieutenant General Imamura, who had set off from New Guinea and transferred to the field, had harvested the first target, American Samoa!

Although the nearly 3,000 marines above resisted with all their might, they were not the opponents of the Japanese Army with the cover of the main force of the Combined Fleet, but to the surprise of Horikichi and others, this time the American defenders did not easily collapse and surrender, but stubbornly resisted for 2 days, almost inch by inch of land to fight, and the fortifications in individual key positions of the army were purely gnawed down by the Yamato-class 460mm naval guns, and finally surrendered when there were more than 500 people left. Even so, the Japanese casualties in the rush still exceeded 1,500, equivalent to one-third of the losses in the Hawaiian campaign, but the Hawaiian Japanese army had already solved more than 20,000 American troops.

This exacerbated Horikichi's worries and sounded the alarm for Imamura: it is still so tricky to have an absolute advantage in Samoa, and it will definitely be even more difficult to swallow Australia and New Zealand. In view of the continuous operation of the Combined Fleet since the Battle of Midway, Horikichi considered a short break after taking Fiji, and some warships went to Truk to replenish supplies and carry out field maintenance of warships.

On the one hand, this high-pressure situation made Eisenhower's hair gray in Sydney, and on the other hand, it also caused a fierce quarrel in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Some people say that this is an axis feint, and the essence is to cover the German attack on Central America and the Caribbean; Some people say that this is the situation in which the axis is about to join forces in the Pacific, and that Central America and the Caribbean are the containment and feints; Others say that the axis is about to open on both sides, that is, Germany and Japan are about to open the double line and close it, so as not to give their side a chance to breathe.

This also made Dewey and Dulles feel a lot of pressure, and after Japan rejected the U.S. counter-proposal and insisted on getting the Hawaiian Islands, Dewey knew that peace with Japan was impossible for the time being; Peace with Germany, on the other hand, depended on the results of Dulles's contacts with Ribbentrop half a month later, and now there were three major problems between virtue and Germany:

The number one problem is Newfoundland. Regarding the question of Britain's upcoming referendum on Northern Ireland and Newfoundland's ownership, the United States is very often, and losing Northern Ireland means that Great Britain will definitely get compensation from Newfoundland, and with the current posture of the European Joint Forces and the European Union, once Newfoundland joins the UK, it means that Europe will directly put the gun on the head of the United States in the future, which is absolutely intolerable. However, Dulles was more pragmatic in that he proposed a compromise in which the United States recognized Newfoundland as part of Great Britain, but did not garrison troops except for civilian police, and in exchange for a reciprocal commitment (in fact, in lieu of Canada's commitment) not to station troops on Prince Edward Island.

The second big problem is Panama. The intention of the President of the State to internationalize the Panama issue is almost well known to passers-by, and the United States is temporarily powerless to resist because of its weak position on the battlefield, but there is one thing that the United States insists on, even if the Panama issue is internationalized, it should not involve the issue of stationing troops, and the United States can promise not to station troops in Panama, and the European Union or the United Nations cannot station troops in Panama, and this is the bottom line of the United States.

The third issue concerns the ownership of the islands in the Caribbean. The attitude of the United States has softened considerably compared with two months ago, and it has agreed to return the colonies and overseas territories of Britain, France, and the Netherlands in the region, but Germany, Italy, Japan, and other countries that have no interests in the region will not be allowed to take over.

This is a change of diplomatic thinking that Dulles painstakingly planned after becoming secretary of state, and it is also the main issue that he urgently needs to communicate with Ribbentrop, which is a big step back from Dewey's original position on secret peace talks, although he is very unwilling to retreat, but he has to withdraw from the South American Campaign, the South African Campaign, and the Hawaiian Campaign, and the three defeats are like three resounding slaps in the face of the United States, and the face cannot be held up.

As a pragmatic statesman, Dulles knew that this would not satisfy Germany's appetites, and he intended to make partial concessions in other areas that were not obvious: the United States promised to return the gold of the Banque de France; The United States recognizes the territorial changes in South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, and actually recognizes the new European order; He admitted that he was concerned with the change in US assets, and even planned to pay $10,020 billion in bribes to Germany.

$20 billion looks like a lot, but in fact it is not as good as the military spending of the United States in three months, but it is not enough to call it reparations, and it has to be put another way, and it is called a development fund, a cooperation fund, or a government loan, and if Germany does not repay it, that will be a matter for the future.

The situation on the battlefield is getting worse day by day, fighting and winning battles, talking and talking, and seeing the noose around his neck getting tighter and tighter day by day, what can he do? He's desperate too

Dewey has some regrets about being the president, he is only 42 years old, if he does not become president, he can work in the governor, senator and other positions for a while, and then watch some fun, but unfortunately at the beginning, Li Lingzhi was dizzy, rushed in, and embarked on the whole road of no return.

Dulles was a little more optimistic than he was, because he was in the prime of statesmanship, hoping to open a new path for the United States through his good offices and writing, and he had the full impression of Germany's re-emergence from the ashes, and he thought that the United States would not be much worse off no matter how bad it was.