Chapter 750: Churchill Can’t Run Away

December 22, 8 a.m., HSD White House.

General Lacey, the presidential chief of staff, and General Marshall, chief of staff of the Army, jogged all the way to the door of the Oval Office. The fat presidential adjutant Colonel Caton was guarding the door. When he saw the two generals, he immediately opened the "hornless" door of the presidential office.

"Mr. President, General Lacey and General Marshall are here," Colonel Caton reported.

"Let them in." Roosevelt's hoarse, low, majestic voice came out.

The two generals straightened their military uniforms and quickly walked into the office. In the office, in addition to President Roosevelt, there were also presidential adviser Hopkins and a man in his fifties who wore a well-dressed suit and behaved a bit like a banker. Admiral Lacey recognized him as Joseph Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland.

Why is he back? The President's Chief of Staff was surprised. As a close confidant of Roosevelt, General Lacey certainly knew that Kennedy, a rich man, had a special mission in Switzerland.

"Daniel, George, this is Ambassador Kennedy. You must have met him, right?" Roosevelt greeted the two generals with a smile. "He will be participating in today's conversation."

Kennedy actually wanted to participate in a conversation between the president and two military bosses!

Full of questions, the two admirals greeted the president, Kennedy, and Hopkins, and then took their seats.

"Mr. President, we have just received a report that at 5 a.m. London time today, the Germans have launched a large-scale offensive on the island of Ireland!" General Lacey immediately reported the news he had just received after sitting down.

"Oh." Roosevelt nodded slightly. He already knew the news. "How big is the scale of the attack?"

"More than 3,000 aircraft sorties bombed airports in Ireland, Wales and northwest Scotland." Admiral Lacey said, "The number of artillery prepared for artillery fire is estimated to be 3,000-3,500, as well as a large number of rocket launchers. In addition, the Germans In the first wave of the offensive, a large number of Tiger tanks and an unknown 150mm caliber heavy assault gun were invested.”

"Can't you hold on?" the President of the United States asked.

"Most areas cannot be defended." General Marshall took over the question, "But the British have already prepared for the worst. They will shrink after the German army breaks through the defense line in central Ireland. Then they will retreat to Belfast, North Down, Cashelreagh and Ards, and with the peninsula area east of Strangford Lagoon as its final stronghold.”

Areas such as Belfast, North Down, Castlereagh and Ards are a small area of ​​land near Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, and close to the North Channel. The peninsula east of Strangford Lagoon is one of the most dangerous terrains.

"But there's no point in defending like that, is there?" Roosevelt asked again.

"It doesn't have much military significance." Marshall replied. "Once the British army loses most of the island of Ireland, the Germans can deploy bombers, torpedo ships and torpedo boats in the northern part of the island, and they can also lay mines in the North Channel. "

"Can the UK be completely blocked?" Ambassador Kennedy interjected.

"Before next year's spring equinox, the British still have Scapa Flow," Admiral Lacey smiled bitterly, "so Britain still has its last breath!"

"Britain must be dragged down!" Roosevelt said, "This is very important to the United States!"

"Delay?" General Lacey glanced at Ambassador Kennedy and thought: The president must have two plans, and secret negotiations with the Germans must be underway.

The United Kingdom is a huge bargaining chip in the hands of the United States... and it is also a bargaining chip that is easy for the United States to grasp. Therefore, President Roosevelt must be unwilling to hand over the British mainland immediately.

Of course, using the resistance of the British mainland to consume the strength of the German army must be another plan. The British mainland has a population of more than 40 million, and it has been fully mobilized and armed. Therefore, it is entirely possible to draw millions of British people to fight a war of attrition with the German army!

It doesn’t matter how many millions of Germans the British kill. As long as they can contain one or two million, the Germans may be short of troops on the Eastern Front battlefield. This will give the Soviets an opportunity!

"President, if the British are determined to resist, it will certainly not be easy for the Germans to take over the British mainland." Admiral Marshall frowned and said, "But the war-weariness among the British people is very high, and the rulers of the British Empire do not seem to have Determined to die with the Germans. They... still have somewhere to go."

With a Canada, Fatty Qiu, the big leaders of the British reactionaries, would naturally not consider waiting for their doom in the basement of King Charles Street in London. And if the big leaders of the resistance faction have all escaped, then the British working people who were abandoned on the mainland are not stupid. How can they be willing to smash 46 million in total?

"Then leave some of them with nowhere to go!" Roosevelt said flatly, "King George VI can come to Canada, but a certain ex-Navy man can't come!"

A certain ex-Navy man was, of course, Churchill!

George VI was just a puppet controlled by Churchill, and he couldn't play any tricks in Canada. But it would be hard to tell if Churchill came. He had stockpiled hundreds of thousands of anthrax bombs in Canada.

General Lacey and Marshall were both surprised when they heard Roosevelt's words. The two admirals looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

At this time, President Roosevelt's think tank Harry Hopkins spoke up: "The president has already made arrangements for a former navy personnel to stay in the UK. What the army and navy need to consider now is how to help the British defend their homeland... until the last man and bullet! Of course, in this great battle to defend the UK, the United States will also make sacrifices, which is the price that must be paid to defend the free world."

Now Admiral Lacey and Marshall understood everything. Roosevelt asked them to discuss how many Americans were needed to be buried with the British Empire - this was a must. If there were no Americans buried with him, Churchill would not be able to continue the fight no matter how powerful he was, and he could not even keep the prime minister's throne under his buttocks.

…

"Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Hull, the US Secretary of State, and Mr. Donovan, the Director of the US Strategic Intelligence Agency, have arrived."

At 11 p.m. on December 22, when British Prime Minister Churchill returned to 10 Downing Street from the headquarters in the basement of King Charles Street with a daze, Hull and Donovan, who had risked their lives by plane from the United States, had already arrived for a while. Churchill left behind a bunch of military affairs that gave him a headache and hurried back to Downing Street just to meet the two.

"Tell them to wait for me in the small dining room and prepare some dinner." Churchill ordered and went to his office first. There were direct telephones to Buckingham Palace and Fort William. He needed to report today's battle situation to Princess Elizabeth who stayed in London and George VI who was in Fort William.

The battle situation was of course very bad. If all the tanks, planes and fuel loaded by the NR21 fleet had been transported to the UK, there would still be fighting on the island of Ireland. Unfortunately, the NR21 fleet only brought 10.8 American rice barrels.

Therefore, the European coalition's offensive was successful on the first day. The British army's defense line in central Ireland was torn open by the opponent with two large holes of more than 20 kilometers. In order to avoid collapse, General Alexander has issued an order to shrink the entire line.

"Mr. Prime Minister, how is the situation?"

After talking to the king and the princess on the phone, Churchill met two American guests in the small dining room. The US Secretary of State seemed very anxious and asked about the situation on the front line as soon as they met.

"Not very good." Churchill replied, "It is very likely to retreat to the Belfast defense circle."

The so-called Belfast defense circle is Belfast, North Down, Castlereagh and Ards. This is the planned last line of defense of the British army on the island of Ireland.

"When will it retreat to the Belfast defense circle?" Hull asked with concern.

"5-10 days." Churchill seemed a little worried. At this time, the waiter at 10 Downing Street began to serve Churchill and the two American guests.

There was unpalatable butter shrimp paste, meatballs made of chopped pig heart, liver and pork, fried unknown fish, tender ribeye steak (the only edible food in the eyes of American guests), and whiskey with lime juice.

Churchill didn't eat much of the food, but drank a lot of wine and smoked a super long cigar.

"American friends, Britain is in urgent need of your help now." Churchill said while drinking, "Otherwise, the mainland will be difficult to defend."

"We will do our best." Hull said immediately, "The new transport fleet has set off secretly, including the newly commissioned Essex aircraft carrier, which is equipped with 60 P47C fighters and 60 M10 tank destroyers, as well as 2,000 tons of ammunition and 2,000 tons of C3 fuel. There are also 16 flat-deck destroyers converted into fast transport ships, each of which can carry 500 tons of C3 fuel."

The Americans seemed to have spent a lot of money to support Britain, and even the newly commissioned aircraft carrier Essex was used as a transport ship. However, the Essex is an aircraft carrier, not a transport ship. Its full load displacement of 35,000 to 6,000 tons can only hold a few thousand tons of cargo, less than 10,000 tons. This is when it only carries 12 F6F-3 carrier-based fighters.

"Thank you very much," Churchill nodded and said, "With your strong support, Britain will definitely be able to hold on."

"More equipment, fuel and soldiers will arrive soon." Hull said, "The Aquitania and Berengaria are now loading in Boston Harbor and will set sail soon. The two aircraft carriers will be loaded with 120 latest P47Cs and 80 M10s and 5,000 tons of ammunition. In addition, there are already 12 T2 tankers each carrying 10,000 tons of C3 fuel, flying the flags of neutral countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, and Mexico, sailing in the North Atlantic."

"Thank you very much, it's great." Churchill seemed to be in a much better mood, with a lot of smiles on his face.

"Mr. Prime Minister," seeing that the atmosphere was about the same, Donovan, director of the US Strategic Intelligence Agency, suddenly interrupted and said, "In order to promote the unity of our two countries and let the American people realize the importance of supporting the British resistance, Mr. President hopes to invite the King of England to visit the United States at an appropriate time."