After talking for 2 hours with Colonel Donovan, the special envoy of the President of the United States, Winston Churchill left 10 Downing Street sullenly.
It's July, and it's a little hot in London, but it's not stuffy at all, the sky is full of blue skies and white clouds, and even the anti-aircraft smog that is so cute in wartime is gone.
Fortunately, the Germans did not want to take advantage of the good weather to send planes to London to drop bombs, and even the Italians, who had once cried for revenge for the Pope, were now not interested in bombing London.
Now not only did the daytime bombing completely stop, but even at night there were no Italian planes to drop bombs.
Because those Italian planes were now sent to Spain to deal with the British fleet trying to approach the Strait of Gibraltar I have to say that the Italians, who were originally careless, have now become serious and difficult.
According to the report of the new commander of the Home Fleet, Admiral Somerville, Admiral Tovey, who had retired due to "merit", the fighters of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy stationed in Madeira are now unable to defeat the Italians at all, and the exchange ratio is usually around 3:1, and the exchange ratio is usually about 3:1 for three British 51s, 40s, Hurricanes or Sea Spitfires to one Italian Fokker Zero The reason for this is not that the performance of the Fokker Zero has suddenly improved significantly, but that the skills of the rookie pilots newly added to the fighter unit are getting worse and worse, and it has reached the point where it is difficult to bear combat missions.
As a result, the battle in Gibraltar was fought very hard.
The Grand Fleet simply did not dare to enter the 600-kilometre radius around the Gibraltar Peninsula during the day, and the fleet could not have galloped 600 kilometres in one night to fire artillery around Gibraltar and then gallop 600 kilometres to escape.
Therefore, the plan to bombard the German railgun positions with naval guns, which had been drawn up before the start of the campaign, was now simply not carried out.
The only thing the British Royal Navy could do was to send camouflage cruisers to lay mines in the Channel area west of the Gibraltar Peninsula after the defeat of the Battle of the Mediterranean, hoping to lay 115,000 mines in the Strait before the fall of the Gibraltar Peninsula.
With these mines, the Italian and French fleets were slightly blocked from rushing out of the strait.
In addition, the main forces of the home fleet commanded by Somerville were attacking the Canary Islands, about 1,000 kilometers from the Gibraltar Peninsula.
Located about 100 kilometers from Africa, this archipelago is theoretically a springboard for a future counterattack by British and American forces in the Mediterranean.
In reality, however, Churchill ordered the capture of the Canary Islands only in order to obtain a seemingly good victory, in order to boost morale, which had been depressed by the fall of the fortress of Gibraltar.
But the process of seizing the islands was not as smooth as expected, and the Spanish Air Force stationed on the island was actually very combat-effective, almost all of their pilots participated in the Spanish Civil War, and they also had the BF109, JU88, and DO17 provided by Germany, as well as two combat records HE112 and Fokker D31, which were not heavily equipped with the Luftwaffe and naval aviation.
In particular, Fokker D31 aircraft played a big role in the Canary Islands.
The aircraft had poor air combat performance, but it could be used as a fighter-bomber, carrying 250 kg of aerial bombs for shallow dive bombing.
Although the accuracy of the bomb delivery is not as good as that of the Ju88, this aircraft is capable of air combat after dropping bombs, and it is also very strong, so it is not easy to shoot down.
As a result, it caused great trouble to the British rookie pilots, and the British aircraft carrier "Hundred-Eyed Giant" was also damaged by bombs dropped by such aircraft, and a 10,000-ton troop carrier was sunk by bombs dropped by D31, causing thousands of British officers and men to fall into the water and go missing However, the Royal Navy of the British Empire eventually overcame all odds, defeated the murderous Spanish Air Force, destroyed the airfield with naval guns, and now that the landing operation had begun, it was expected that a great and crucial victory would soon be achieved.
Churchill arrived at Buckingham Palace in his car, where he was met by King George VI, who had a severe stutter, in his office.
The king looked very melancholy, he had just met with the visiting Empress Olga of Russia and learned of the "harsh" peace conditions proposed by the Germans.
"They want a lot," said the king, with difficulty.
"Mr.
Prime Minister, the Germans want all our African territories, and they want Madeira, Socotra, Bermuda, the Bahamas, British Honduras, and 3 Tejas class aircraft carriers, and they want me" A beautiful girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age, dressed like a princess, stood beside the king and helped King George VI to state the conditions of the Germans in a very angry tone.
She is the king's eldest daughter, Princess Elizabeth, the future queen of the British Empire, if the British Empire will have a future.
Princess Elizabeth looked very angry, because she and her father had also met with the visiting Empress Olga, who was a relative.
As a result, Olga actually said a peace condition that embarrassed her very much in front of her, and wanted to marry her to a very fierce German Nazi "Your Royal Highness, this is a conspiracy of the German Nazis to rule the world," Churchill pointed out with great indignation that this was actually the bad idea of Princess Elizabeth's uncle, the Duke of Windsor.
George VI felt that his daughter should not be allowed to get too involved in politics that she did not understand, so he waved his hand and let the puffing Princess Elizabeth leave the office.
"Conspiracy" George VI frowned, of course he knew that it was his brother who wanted Elizabeth to find a German husband surnamed Hohenzollern.
In fact, it was a matter of close proximity, and Prince Friedrich was the son of the German Emperor Wilhelm III.
The German Emperor Wilhelm William III was the great-grandson of Queen Victoria of England and now rules the most powerful empire in the world.
"Yes," Churchill said, "the Nazis wanted to use dynastic marriages to control Britain, and then use Empress Olga as a puppet to destroy and annex the Soviet Union."
"Destruction and annexation of the USSR" George VI did not quite understand.
"Yes," Churchill nodded, "according to reliable sources, Archduchess Kira, the wife of German Crown Prince Ferdinand, is the heir to Empress Olga and the future Empress of Russia.
If the Russian Empire were restored with the military support of Germany, the future German Emperor would be able to serve as the Russian Tsar, and Russia and Germany would eventually merge into one."
George VI was stunned and stunned, this thing sounded like a routine two hundred years ago.
"We should refuse peace talks," asked George VI.
"No," said Churchill, shaking his head, "Your Majesty, we should negotiate with the Germans."
"What" George VI looked at Churchill, "difficult, can't you fight anymore" "Your Majesty, the current situation is very difficult, but the Americans will eventually join."
"However, it will take time for the United States to join, and they are still preparing for war, and it may take months."
Until then, we should use the peace talks to delay for a while, and as long as the autumnal equinox can be delayed, Germany will not be able to attack our homeland for the time being. ” As soon as the autumnal equinox passes, the climate of the English Channel is not suitable for forced crossing.
And the night in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Danish Strait will become very bad, and the sea conditions will be very bad, and they will no longer be suitable for aircraft carrier and aircraft activities.
"If you drag on the autumnal equinox, you will have a turnaround" Churchill nodded and promised: "Your Majesty, there will definitely be a turnaround" George VI thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll talk to them." ” Churchill immediately said: "Your Majesty, peace talks should be the responsibility of the Foreign Secretary. ” George VI nodded and agreed to Churchill's request.
Britain's constitutional system is now very mature, and King George VI nominally has full powers in wartime under the Defence Act, but the actual power is still vested in the cabinet.
Churchill also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, after all, the National Defense Act was authorized to the king, if George VI wanted to participate in the peace talks, the cabinet would not be able to stop it, who knows if the king would be persuaded in the end After all, his brother Duke of Windsor advocated peace On the British side, Churchill took control of the negotiations in a few words.
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On the German side, Reich Field Marshal Hersmann was also stepping up his campaign to sabotage the peace.
Three days after attending the Kaiser's coronation, he met again with Hiroshi Oshima and Minoru Genda at the General Staff of Tsosen.
They were also given a final timetable for the start of the war "Now we are negotiating with the British," Hersman said straight to the point, "peace is possible, and if you don't hurry up, you will miss the opportunity, and once His Majesty the Emperor decides to make an armistice with the British, you will not have the opportunity to expand your sphere of influence south."
For once we have an armistice with the British, you will no longer be allowed to occupy the Dutch East Indies, for we are very close friends with the Netherlands.
And our relationship with Britain is likely to turn into an alliance.
If you choose to go south after an armistice in Europe, then you will be able to fight the combined Anglo-German fleet."
Hersman looked at the two stunned Japanese with a very cold gaze and said, "You must make a decision before October whether you want to go south or not, and you must start war no later than December 31, 1941."
Otherwise, all things will change, and if you make the decision to go to war before October, we will provide you with as much assistance as we can, and convince the Netherlands to surrender the Dutch East Indies and compensate with South Africa. ” t1706231537: