"Now let's talk about Africa. www.)”

On a rococo-style embroidered gold sofa in the Château de Chantilly, outside Paris, Winston Churchill, who represented the British Empire at the Allied Strategic Coordination Conference, raised the cigarette in his hand, but his tone was 12 points heavy.

"What's wrong with Africa?"

The tall, thin man sitting across from Churchill asked with a casual rhetoric.

Churchill smiled and said: "Mr. Lansing, as the US Secretary of State, your concept of geography should be above that of ordinary people—you should know very well what the next goal will be after the Chinese occupy the Gulf of Aden." ”

Lansing raised his eyebrows: "To the south is East Africa and South Africa, and to the north is Egypt - what does this have to do with the United States?" ”

"The British Empire hopes that the United States of America, the most important ally, will play its due role in the Afrikan continent and the Indian Ocean, in the spirit of the Anglo-Saxon nation's common hatred and hatred......"

Churchill's flowery rhetoric obviously did not impress Lansing, but he sneered: "It is worthy of Mr. Churchill, as soon as he opens his mouth, it is a beautiful word, but with all due respect, the United States does not want to play any role in Africa and the Indian Ocean for the time being, on the contrary, we expect the Royal Navy to play a greater role in the Pacific Ocean and Australia......"

"I don't think Your Excellency will fail to understand how serious the consequences of losing Egypt are."

Churchill emphasized, slightly aggravated.

Lansing remains unmoved: "No matter how serious the consequences, the United States is not to blame for them – Egypt is about the Suez Canal, and the Suez Canal is about connecting Europe and Asia." Since most of Asia is already in the hands of the Chinese, and now that even the Red Sea is blocked, and the Suez Canal has lost its meaning, what is the meaning of Egypt? If you are worried that the Chinese fleet will use the Suez Canal to enter the Mediterranean, wouldn't it be better to destroy it in advance? ”

Churchill threw up in the sky. smoke, reaching out and pulling the crystal ashtray on the table carved with the graceful ** of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

"We can't do that, because sooner or later we have to counterattack back and go back to Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Singapore, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Beijing, ......"

Lansing's smile was not malicious: "You can't do anything until you defeat the Germans, if you shed your blood in the process of defeating the Germans." You still can't do anything. ”

"Is this your personal opinion, or does President Wilson mean it?"

Churchill's furrowed brow instantly added a bit of melancholy.

"It doesn't make a difference, and it doesn't matter."

Lansing has something to say.

"If I'm not mistaken, Your Excellency brought a deal."

Churchill was a no-brainer. He handed Lansing a cut cigar.

Lansing took the cigarette, but he didn't mean to light it, just played with it in his hand.

"It's not a deal, it's a suggestion."

Churchill spread his hands, tilted his head in the same tone as Lansing had just said, "It makes no difference. ”

"I've heard that the Battle of Arras made the second Somme."

Lansing's words are serious.

As if stabbed by something, Churchill reflexively straightened his neck: "So what? ”

Lansing was smug and complacent: "Is there still hope on the Western Front this year?" ”

Apparently this was the last thing Churchill wanted to talk about at the moment, in the blink of an eye. His mind flew away from the castle and soared towards the front line hundreds of kilometers away......

In the past week, the Battle of Arras, which had achieved major results, took a sharp turn for the worse: the British and French commands were encouraged by the victory of the previous Arras counterattack - or carried away, and despite the strong opposition of Churchill and others, they attempted to take advantage of the new defeat of the German army to launch the "Chain Hammer" operation planned by Lieutenant Colonel Fuller, deputy chief of staff of the British Panzer Corps, in advance, to break through the German defense line in front of Arras in one fell swoop.

However, the Arras assault group, which was originally scheduled to launch a breakthrough operation, has already revealed its strength. In addition, a certain amount of troops were consumed in the counterattack operation, especially the loss of tank troops, which could not be made up in the short term. The assault group had to attack the German lines with insufficient forces. At the same time, the German troops in front of them not only had precautions, but also transferred reserves in time to strengthen the defensive line.

Even so, within 48 hours of the hammer swinging, six British and three French divisions, supported by 300 tanks, advanced 10 to 20 kilometers on a 20-kilometer front, breaking through all three German lines of defense in some sections.

The assault group then engaged three British cavalry divisions as mobile forces, in an attempt to cover enemy lines with cavalry through the gaps.

As soon as the British cavalry reached the breach, they were met with a few German "fast battalions" that had arrived earlier than them—hastily cobbled together "fast battalions" consisting of machine guns, infantry guns, anti-tank gun units, and a handful of armoured vehicles in trucks. The fire was extremely fierce.

Naturally, the unprotected British cavalry, along with the few "fast" tanks that accompanied them, soon suffered heavy losses and stalled in front of the crossfire network constructed by the German "fast battalions".

By the time the three large U.S. infantry divisions, which were the reserve of the assault group, had finally reached the gap where the British cavalry had been blocked through a messy battlefield, several German divisions drawn from other parts had also moved into the gap through the well-developed railway network behind the battlefield. A new line of defense was quickly constructed.

Because the entire battlefield was full of trenches and craters, it was difficult for heavy artillery to move forward quickly, and even light field artillery could not keep up with the infantry in time. Although the tank units attached to the assault group benefited from Fuller's new tactics and had a smaller battle loss rate than in the previous Battle of the Somme, a large part of them were also unusable due to craters and trenches and mechanical problems, and a small number of tanks that were still usable were scattered on a 20-kilometer-long line of fire, making it difficult to regroup in a short period of time.

As a result, the US infantry had to force the German machine gun position with flesh and blood without heavy artillery, few field artillery, and almost no tank support, and the results can be imagined.

In the next few days, the British and French troops successively invested four more divisions, replaced several American infantry regiments with heavy losses, and with the support of dozens of tanks that they had painstakingly collected, they stormed the gap again, and after paying the price of tens of thousands of dead and wounded, they only occupied the first trench line of the new German defense line in some sections.

As German reserves arrived, a second and third lines of defense were soon erected behind the gap, each with a full line of three trenches, and a heavy rain two days earlier had turned the battlefield into a quagmire, in which everything was trapped and could not move......

"Don't ...... to move"

As soon as you open your mouth. Churchill realized that he was distracted, and hurriedly filled the gap: "Temporary"

Lansing put the cigar cigarette in his hand on the side of the ashtray, shook his head slowly, and said: "There is no hope for such a war, and you can't ask the Americans to be like you." Turning a blind eye to meaningless mass sacrifices, coupled with self-deception. ”

Without waiting for Churchill to speak, Lansing immediately turned to the topic: "The deal is simple, trade your navy for our army." ”

"How?"

Churchill was clearly interested.

Lansing was "willing to take the bait": "Before Germany withdraws from the war, you are destined not to be able to piece together a decent fleet to counterattack the Indian Ocean, but it is better to lend us your surplus naval forces and solve key problems in the Pacific first—for example." Hawaii. ”

"Hawaii?"

Churchill narrowed, it wasn't in his plan.

Lansing did not hesitate: "Yes, Hawaii - to the United States, without Hawaii, there is no Pacific." ”

"Even if you say that, the Royal Navy doesn't have extra troops."

Churchill played the scoundrel.

Lansing smiled: "We all know that there is a ready-made fleet in the Mediterranean right now, which was originally used against the Turks. It shouldn't be needed now. ”

"They will be needed for future Balkan campaigns."

Churchill continued to be a scoundrel.

Lansing sneered: "If you have enough troops to launch the Balkan campaign, why ask us to send troops to Africa?" ”

"Not for the time being does not mean that there will be no in the future."

Churchill made up his mind to be a scoundrel to the end.

Lan Xin couldn't help but sneer, "Very good." You can sit there and wait for the future until your blood is drained, but don't expect America to go to hell with you. ”

The cruel words have already been said for this part, and the stubborn Churchill had to relent: "I must remind you that the Mediterranean fleet you are talking about is a combined Anglo-French fleet......"

"As long as the United States and Britain stand firmly on the same side, the French will have no choice."

Lansing is confident.

Churchill bowed his head for a long time, and finally gave in: "So, what do we get out of this deal?" ”

Lansing winked triumphantly: "An additional 6 to 7 divisions can be used anywhere along the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts." ”

"Isn't it okay in the Indian Ocean?"

Churchill was not reconciled.

"Absolutely not."

Lansing was resolute.

"How's South Africa going?"

"Nope."

"What about the Red Sea?"

"Nope."

“……”

After a brief exchange of eyes, Churchill gave up.

"I personally can't give you any promises on this deal. But I'm worried, are you really ready to reclaim Hawaii? ”

"Nope."

Lansing's answer was terrifyingly resolute, and before Churchill's anger erupted, he promptly explained: "But we have to try, and it is worth it when the enemy's eyes are focused on the Indian Ocean and the South-West Pacific." ”

Churchill frowned: "Such an attempt is dangerous. ”

"Before the carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese people flew to Pearl Harbor. We generally believe that such an attempt is not only dangerous, it is simply absurd. ”

Churchill was still not at ease: "Your new Great White Fleet will take a long time to complete, why don't you wait until you have enough strength to build up before launching a counteroffensive?" ”

Lan Xin spread his hands: "The enemy will not sleep in bed and watch us accumulate strength, the situation is already very dangerous, they have controlled nearly unlimited resources, it just takes time to digest, and the war will only benefit them if it drags on for a long time." I also have a question: once Russia falls and China and Germany meet, do you think it will be possible to defeat Germany? ”

"It's not possible – but I don't think the alliance between China and Germany is unbreakable."

Lansing looked up at the sky and smiled: "Only God knows what to do—if you really want to break this alliance, you still have to start with Germany first, President Wilson is very interested in knowing, how do you plan to answer Germany's temptation for peace?" ”

…… To be continued.