879 U.S. Siege Network A U.S. Crisis

Washington, White House.

Colonel Caton, the presidential adjutant, gently pushed open the door, placed a folder in front of President Roosevelt with trembling hands, looked at the pale and haggard president, sighed softly, and was about to turn away. At this time, the president's hoarse voice sounded: "Colonel, Britain and France have been defeated, haven't they?" ”

Hearing this, all the people in the Oval Office held their breath and cast expectant glances at Colonel Caton. Hopefully hear a negative answer. Colonel Caton sighed deeply: "Mr. President, in fact, Britain and France only lost a medium-sized battle...... "The colonel used as much a relaxed tone as possible to make the just-ended Jean. The process and results of the Battle of Brouch were explained to the dignitaries gathered in the president's office.

Yes, just lost a medium-sized campaign, and in terms of both the number of armies involved and the duration of the engagement, let. The Battle of Bulu was indeed not a large-scale battle. But as everyone in this office knows, this is a pivotal battle! Otherwise, they wouldn't have stayed up all night praying and waiting for the outcome of the battle!

It's just that God didn't hear Roosevelt's prayers, and it is possible that Hitler prayed more religiously. So, let's. The victors of the Battle of Blu were Germany and China. And for the United States, there is no worse news than this.

Even if the previous series of bad news such as the heavy damage of the Pacific Fleet, the fall of Hawaii, the landing of Japan in Central America and the fall of most of Panama were added together and multiplied by two, it did not let . The outcome of the Battle of Bloo is even more troubling. Well, to be precise, it's not a worry but a frightening heart!

The series of blows that the United States had suffered before, although severe, were not fatal. After all, the opponent is Japan, which is weak in national strength, and as long as the United States survives the first few months of the war and arms itself, tiny Japan cannot be an opponent of the United States.

But Germany is different! Just a few days ago, the country, which has the world's most powerful military and technological strength, as well as the second largest industrial manufacturing capacity, was tied to Europe by Britain and France. Moreover, the cage in Germany consisted of an impregnable Maginot Line and millions of well-armed and well-trained Anglo-French troops. Although the German and Chinese armies were better equipped and more experienced, no one would have thought that they could defeat millions of Anglo-French forces at a pittance cost. This is the unanimous view of all experts on American affairs, and it is also the view of President Roosevelt.

But this view is obviously extremely wrong! In just a few days, the Germans and Chinese sent more than a dozen divisions through a poorly defended forest area, and then slaughtered the armored forces of the British and French forces, and suddenly attacked the back of the British and French forces, and surrounded the 1.5 million troops together with the more than 1 million German troops attacking from the front. Judging by the current situation, the defeat of Britain and France is only a matter of time, maybe next week, maybe next month. If the British Empire still wants to resist to the death, it is possible that the war will drag on in July. And then...... It's America's turn!

Now it is necessary to strengthen the east coast of the United States, no, to strengthen the defense of the entire east coast of North America!

"Mr. President, we have equipped and trained 5 million troops in these months! Among them were one heavy armored division and ten light armored divisions. MacArthur, the chief of the Army General Staff, seemed to want to add a little optimism to the conference room, and took out a summary of the Army's training that had been prepared long ago and handed it to President Roosevelt, who had a gloomy face.

"What tanks are our armoured divisions equipped with?" Roosevelt took the papers, flipped through them, and asked, "Can they defeat the Germans' No. 4 heavy tank?" ”

MacArthur shook his head: "There are two main models of tanks we are equipped with now, namely the M3 'Stuart' light tank and the M3 'Grant' tank. Lee's medium tank. Where' Grant. The Lee's medium tank was armed with a 75mm howitzer on its body. This gun was originally intended to be used against the German tanks No. 2 and No. 3 ......"

"In other words, it can't deal with the German heavy tank No. 4! So what will our 5 million army do if they encounter those No. 4 tanks? Roosevelt asked.

"Our 1918 76.2mm anti-aircraft gun posed a threat to Tank IV at close range, and the Army is currently trying to put this gun on the territory of the M3 Grant Lee tank and make it into a self-propelled gun for emergency purposes. In addition, the army has also asked the 90mm anti-aircraft gun under development to be put into production as soon as possible, and to design tank guns and anti-tank guns on the basis of them, believing that this series of guns is enough to deal with the No. 4 tank. In addition, the army plans to develop a tank destroyer with a 90mm caliber tank gun...... It was expected that by the first half of 1940 we would have enough tank destroyers to deal with Tank IV.

In addition, we had many other ways to deal with the German tank four, such as using high-powered anti-tank mines, anti-tank grenades. Oh, and airplanes, we can also use dive bombers against tanks, the Germans and Chinese did just that, and the Army Aviation plans to introduce SBD dive bombers from the Navy against tanks. ”

At this point, MacArthur paused, and glanced at Admiral Leahy, Chief of Naval Operations, beside him. He accentuated his tone and said, "However, in my personal opinion, the best way to deal with the German Army is to keep them off the coast of North America!" They can't be allowed to set foot on North American soil! ”

Roosevelt shook his head, looked at Chief of Naval Operations Leahy, and asked in a low voice, "William, is there a way we can prevent Hitler from coming to North America to spread wilderness?" ”

Admiral Leahy sighed and shook his head bitterly: "Mr. President, I'm afraid there is nothing the Navy can do about it. The Atlantic Fleet is now an empty shelf, without a single aircraft carrier, only a few battleships, and all of them are products of the pre-Washington Naval Treaty, which simply cannot deal with the Germans' Zhenyuan' class, the French's Richelieu' class, and Italy's Vittorio. Veneto class, and even King George V class of the British! ”

"The Navy fears that the fleets of Britain and France will soon fall into the hands of Germany and be used to attack the United States!" Roosevelt gasped and stared at Admiral Leahy with wide eyes.

"Mr. President, this is obvious! According to the information currently coming back from Europe, Hitler is trying to get the French fleet! If possible, he would also like to get his hands on the British naval fleet...... And as long as he gave Mussolini a little of the North African colonies he had seized from Britain and France, he would surely still have the help of the Italian fleet! In the worst-case scenario, we will even face the entire European Navy at the same time! There may be more than 20 battleships, more than 15 aircraft carriers, hundreds of other military ships and tens of millions of tons of transports! ”

Admiral Leahy's answer lowered the mood in the office a little more. This analysis, although pessimistic to the extreme, is entirely possible! Let. After the Battle of Blou, the main force of the entire Anglo-French army was already meat on the chopping block, and if nothing else, it would be wiped out in two or three weeks! And during this time, it is impossible for France to conjure up a sufficiently heavy army to defend Paris! Therefore, the surrender of France was only a matter of time, and once France surrendered, their fleet naturally fell into the hands of Hitler. As for Italy, they have long been a signatory to the Iron Alliance! Having missed the war in Europe, Mussolini must have regretted it! If Hitler had given Mussolini a little of his abundant booty, the fascist leader would have followed Hitler in attacking the United States. Even if the British fleet refused to give in the end, with the navies of Germany, France and Italy, it was enough to make the American Atlantic Fleet, which had long been a shelf goods, unable to eat and walk away.

Moreover, whether it is Britain, France, Germany, or Italy, they all have considerable merchant tonnage! In particular, the gross tonnage of the British merchant ship is as high as 60 million tons! And the width of the Atlantic Ocean cannot be compared with the Pacific Ocean, so Hitler's army does not need to be like China and Japan because of insufficient shipping capacity to launch a large-scale "war of aggression against the United States"!

"What to do? Can we just watch the end of the world come? Roosevelt looked at his elite and shouted.

"It's not that bad, Mr. President." Sitting in the corner is the commander of the U.S. Army Air Corps and Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Henry Brown. Lieutenant General Arnold shook his head, his eyes bloodshot and tired, but not haggard, and he did not seem to have lost confidence in the situation completely.

"Although our naval surface ships and army ground forces are not yet a match for the Germans, our army aviation and naval aviation are enough to fight the German naval aviation! In the six months since last November, the Army Air Corps has recruited tens of thousands of young Americans with aircraft pilots for training, and most of them are now able to fly planes for combat. And during these months, we also received about 6,000 combat aircraft of various models from aircraft factories across the United States. These include the P37 and P38 fighters, which have excellent performance, and in addition, a P-39 fighter has also rolled off the assembly line and began to equip the army air force. According to our analysis, the performance of this aircraft is basically comparable to that of the German BF-109, and only slightly worse than the FW-190.

And Pratt. Earlier this year, the Whitney Company also designed a 2,100 hp star engine! The Navy is preparing to incorporate the engine into the F4 family of fighters, and the Army Air Force has asked several airlines to use the engine to design new aircraft. By the end of this year at the latest, the design work will be ready for production early next year, and our aircraft will be able to catch up with Germany in terms of performance. ”

"General Arnold, if Hitler launches an invasion of the United States within 3 months, will the Army Air Corps be able to defeat the Germans?" Roosevelt asked, looking expectantly at Arnold.

"Mr. President, if the Germans had landed directly on the east coast of the United States, the Army Air Corps and Naval Aviation would have been able to defeat them! But ......" Vice Admiral Arnold and Admiral Leahy, the chief of naval operations on the side, glanced at each other, and Admiral Leahy sighed and took over the topic: "Mr. President, in fact, the possibility of the Germans landing directly on the east coast is very small, because although they have sea supremacy, the Germans have no advantage in the air on the east coast. Their six or seven aircraft carriers can carry at most 500 carrier-based aircraft, and we can concentrate more than 2,000 combat aircraft in any state on the east coast within 24 hours after the long-range reconnaissance planes discover Germany's huge fleet! Although the Germans had a slight advantage in performance, they had no chance of winning in the face of a fourfold numerical superiority. ”

"That's true, the performance of our aircraft is not much different from that of Germany, so relying on aircraft carriers alone, the German army has no way to gain air supremacy, and without air supremacy, the German transport ships simply do not dare to approach the east coast of the United States." Vice Admiral Arnold added: "Both the Army Staff and the Naval Operations Department believed that the Germans would first look for a springboard near U.S. territory, where a large number of combat aircraft and troops would be deployed, and then seek an opportunity to invade." ”

"Springboard?" Roosevelt furrowed his eyebrows and muttered, "Will it be Canada or Mexico?" ”

"There are only two feasible invasion routes from the Atlantic direction, one is to use Canada as a springboard to invade the northeastern United States. The second is to invade from the Caribbean and occupy the islands of Cuba, Haiti, Dominica, and Puerto Rico, so that the passage into the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico can be opened, and at the same time, enough airfields can be established on these islands for the deployment of the powerful Luftwaffe. After a pause, the Chief of Naval Operations suggested: "Mr. President, we must now preemptively defend the important islands in the Caribbean before Germany, and at the same time ...... Enter Canada! The sooner the better! ”

"Entering Canada?" Roosevelt was stunned and asked, "How do you get in?" Sending troops to invade like Hitler? ”

"Your Excellency, we have no choice!" MacArthur took a deep breath: "If the Germans had invaded Canada first, their No. 4 tank would have been able to drive directly from Montreal along the road all the way to downtown New York!" It will be the end of American history! Of course, it would be great if the Canadians could agree to the entry of the American army and stand with us against the fascist army, if not, they would have to invade...... Moreover, the Manhattan project is currently progressing smoothly, and the United States will be able to possess the atomic bomb by the end of April next year at the earliest! When the time comes, all will be fine, at least all of North America will live in the air of freedom, and the Canadians will thank the United States for its bravery and selflessness......"

Before MacArthur could finish speaking, President Roosevelt stretched out his hand and interrupted: "Douglas, you don't have to tell me this, this kind of thing is what I want to say to those congressmen in Congress!" ”

The president's face became even more gloomy, and during this time he was discovered by the congressmen because of his previous secret peace talks with Japan, and as a result, he attended hearings on Capitol Hill for several weeks, and at last, with his unparalleled eloquence, convinced most of the congressmen that the purpose of his administration's contacts with Japan was to protect the interests of the United States.

Of course, it is also perfectly legitimate for the US government to negotiate with the enemy! It is only that the final treaty must be ratified by the US Congress before it can enter into force. However, to launch an invasion of Canada, it is necessary to obtain prior authorization from the U.S. Congress, so this is a bit of a problem. It would be nice if the Dominion of Canada could invite American troops to come in......

"Mr. President, I am not in favor of an immediate invasion of Canada." Harry. Hopkins then took over: "If we invade Canada now, we will push all of Britain over to the side of Germany." According to what we have so far, there is still a disagreement within Britain as to whether or not to resist, and the compromisers, led by Chamberlain, believed that as long as Germany did not invade Britain itself and allowed Britain to remain neutral in a future war, then Britain could consider accepting a humiliating peace. And the resistance faction, led by Churchill, the Secretary of the Admiralty, insisted on fighting Germany to the end! If the homeland could not be saved, they withdrew to Canada with the British royal family and the fleet, and continued to resist the fascists with the United States. If we had invaded Canada at this time, we would undoubtedly have helped the British compromisers and hastened the process of British surrender. ”

Roosevelt nodded slightly, "Harry is right, let the Canadian matter go first." Depending on the situation on the British side, we will first deploy in the West Indies...... In addition to Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. dependency, Cuba, Haiti, Dominica and Jamaica are also pro-American governments. Let the State Department go and talk to their leaders and ask them to invite us to be stationed in ...... You can also give a little bit of assistance or something. At this, Roosevelt's face showed a hint of distress. We can deploy defenses on those islands, but to hold them, I'm afraid we won't be able to do without a strong naval fleet! Admiral Leahy, when will the Atlantic Fleet return to combat effectiveness? ”

Admiral Leahy shook his head with a wry smile: "Mr. President, the U.S. Navy can only exert very limited combat effectiveness before the Essex-class aircraft carrier is launched. At present, we only have the USS Enterprise, USS Yorktown, and USS Hornet, and all three of these carriers are deployed in the Pacific Ocean, and now the Panama Canal is controlled by the Japanese, so there is no way for them to return to the East Coast. At present, only two battleships in the Atlantic Fleet, the USS Colorado and the USS Wyoming, are still considered a fighting force, but it is simply unrealistic to rely on them to defend the entire East Coast. ”

When everyone was at a loss, Colonel Caton reappeared in the office, this time his face was still blue, and he knew at a glance that it was not good news. "Mr. President, just received information that the Japanese Combined Fleet has been dispatched again!".