Chapter 1027

In the office of the president of the White House in Washington, D.C., President Roosevelt sat in his wheelchair and looked at the staff he called. These people were all high-ranking officials in the United States, including think tank Marshall and Eisenhower... And the current chief of the Royal Navy, Dudley pound.

"Mr. President, it is not a wise thing to send so many troops to Italy without any external support to fight a hopeless war." General Bradley pointed to the Strait of gibraltarian and said to Roosevelt, "even if there are 100000 troops, they will have to wander at sea for a long time. After landing in Italy, they need to go to the front line immediately. They can't stop the German army. It's all the same who leads. "

General Eisenhower nodded to one side and agreed with his colleagues: "from a purely military point of view, it is very irrational to join the army in Italy. We're sending prisoners of war to German concentration camps, and we're sending 100000 at a time. These people are isolated and helpless. They don't even have the basic logistic support. When they run out of ammunition, they are no different from the troops 200 years ago. "

A general representing the U.S. Navy added: "Mr. President, if the Germans are not idiots, they will close the Strait after an attack on gibraltarian. We have no way to compete with the German forces for a distant Strait within the attack range of the German Navy and the German land-based air force, even if we are to transfer troops from the Pacific Ocean, I can't do it either. "

Dudley pound, the British Royal Navy, who had not spoken for a long time, nodded and said: "I have to admit that the fighting capacity of the German army is totally different from that of the Japanese army. The quality of the armored forces and aircraft is at least ten times that of the Japanese army, and the number of them is much more than that of the Japanese Army... In this case, an adventure may pass through the Strait of gibraltarian, It's absolutely impossible to supply through there a second time. "

He didn't say a word in his heart. He even felt that if the Germans were tough enough, it would be the result once and for all to open up the Strait of gibraltarian and let the Americans enter Italy and then wipe them out. Judging by the fighting capacity of the Germans on the eastern front, even if the Americans transport 200000 people to Italy, they will be sent to sea within a few weeks.

"Generals, I think that if we can fight in Italy, the German Italian North African Army, which relies on local supplies, will lose its ability to continue to attack because its supplies are cut off." Marshall said, "in the end, they will be driven back to their hometown because of lack of weapons and ammunition. The situation of the whole Middle East war will be reversed. I think the whole Middle East will fight for it with 70000 soldiers. This is really within a reasonable range, isn't it? "

The reality is always so cruel. Everyone in this room knows very well that they sent these 70000 American infantry and all their military supplies to Italy to kill them. As long as the loss of these troops is valuable, the allies will be able to regain the initiative in the whole Middle East, which is the core purpose of the whole plan.

As for Italy, it will be scorched, all the ports and airports will be destroyed by the U.S. military and Mussolini in the rout, and the railway lines will also be destroyed by bombing... After this battle, Italy can only focus on reconstruction in a short time - and will Italy finally get the benefits they want, the people in this room, Who cares?

"Strictly select the soldiers who will take part in the mission this time. Brother and brother can't take part in the troops sent to Italy at the same time. If so, transfer one of them immediately. " After thinking about it, General Eisenhower made up his mind to do so. He would use the lives of nearly 100000 troops to exchange for a real victory in the Middle East battlefield.

If we analyze it from a military point of view, it will be a great victory to change the historical process: in North Africa, the total number of the l group army of Rommel and the K group army of schelner is more than 300000, plus the troops under general Garibaldi of Italy, the number will double. It is obviously a very cost-effective business to use 100000 US troops to wipe out 600000 German Italian allied forces.

But will everything be what the Americans want? Obviously not. How can such a huge operation not be noticed by the Germans? Even the Americans feel uncertain about the confidentiality of intelligence. Otherwise, they would not have held another meeting to decide whether or not to use Italy to fight a turnaround war.

Undoubtedly, the British side would like the Americans to take action in Italy, because after this battle, there may be a corresponding turn for the better: the Germans will lose the battle in North Africa, and Britain will be able to recapture a large number of colonies, Germany, which is suffering from the enemy, will only be able to weaken the Atlantic barrier to deal with the Italian crisis - it will be a good time to recover Britain at that time.

"Be careful of Italy. If they deliberately pretend to cooperate with us and deceive us into falling into the trap, it seems to make sense." General Bradley is also very afraid of intelligence problems. After all, the German intelligence network is so pervasive that people can't guard against it. Many seemingly very covert allied operations are detected by those German spies. This time, the operation against Italy is obviously not so secretive in terms of confidentiality.

"Italians have been integrated into the industrial production of the whole Europe. I really doubt whether Italians are really stupid to have the intention to leave the axis..." Eisenhower also thinks that the Italian defection is very problematic. At least in the political and economic fields, Italy's betrayal of the axis is not worth the loss. At this time, President Roosevelt suddenly opened his mouth. Compared with these generals here, he is a real expert in the field of politics. Only he is the person who understands Mussolini most in this room: "gentlemen, because Italy is more and more integrated into the economic and political system of the axis powers, it is also gradually losing its real independence... This is not what Mussolini wants to see, so these things are the reasons why Italy cannot leave the axis powers, and also the reasons why Italy is determined to leave the axis powers." Mussolini hoped to take advantage of the opportunity of the war launched by Germany to complete his ambition of revitalizing the kingdom of Italy into the Roman Empire. He wanted to be a great leader and creator of the New Roman Empire, not a follower of the third empire, not an unknown follower of the axis powers. A person does not have the slightest sense of submission in his political position, and he will never compromise when he considers problems. Mussolini is such a person, a speculator with strong political ideals. He surrendered to the force of the Third Empire because he had no choice. When Germany swept France and defeated Britain, he could only hide his good wish to build a Roman Empire in his heart. So when the Americans came to him and offered him another choice that he didn't have to bow to, he immediately wavered. In this case, he was clearly seen by Roosevelt, because Roosevelt met too many people, such as Mussolini. However, Roosevelt immediately added: "however, the relationship between Italy and Germany has indeed affected a large number of Italians. We should pay attention to the influence in this regard and try to eliminate these adverse effects on us."“ The intelligence that comes back shows that Mussolini has relatively strong control over the Italian Navy, so it is relatively certain that the Italian Navy will help to raid the Strait of gibraltarian. " The general of the U.S. Navy pointed to the report on the table and said: "as long as their shelling starts on time, it will almost go on smoothly until they land in Italy..." "with the convoy of the fleet, they will block the whole Mediterranean area, shelling Alexandria and Greece, and cutting off the supply lines of the German forces in North Africa." He pointed to the various positions on the map, then sighed helplessly, and continued: "the more difficult problem is that there are German airports on Maltese island and Crete Island. When carrying out the blockade mission, they may encounter interference, and the loss will be very huge." That's why there are few large ships on allied warships going to the Mediterranean. These warships will be blocked in the Mediterranean, most of them may be lost in this area as the war goes on. Therefore, in order to reduce the losses as much as possible, the allies will mostly use destroyers and cruisers as escort ships to enter the Mediterranean Sea. The general situation of the operation plan is that the main force of the Royal Navy and the main force of the Atlantic Fleet of the United States will escort the transport fleet to the Strait of gibraltarian, then hand over the transport fleet to the Italian Navy, and then the main fleet will return. This transport fleet and a small number of cruisers and destroyers will fight in the Mediterranean until the total annihilation or the successful recovery of the Middle East and North Africa“ Now that there is no problem, let's carry out the plan! Ladies and gentlemen, the first large-scale US Army action plan against Germany is about to begin. Please work together to win this war for the future of the United States! " Roosevelt looked at the generals in front of him who decided the fate of more than three million troops in the United States, and said in a gentle tone“ Yes! Mr. President In the room, except for Dudley pound, the general of the Royal Navy, all agreed loudly.