Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 2180

When the war broke out, all the gold reserves of the British government, as well as convertible investments, plus the rand they owned, totaled 45 billion.

After the outbreak of the war, Britain increased its exports of luxury goods to the United States, including whiskey, fine wool textiles, ceramics and so on.

The attitude of Americans towards British goods at this time is still quite sought after.

In this way, Britain gained an additional roughly $16 billion in the first 20 months of the war.

Southern Africa does not recognize the dollar.

To order supplies from southern Africa, the UK needs to pay rand or pounds.

Southern Africa doesn’t even recognize the pound anymore, because after the outbreak of the European War, the pound started a new round of depreciation, and now the exchange rate with the rand has dropped to 0.9:1——

By November 1940, British orders from southern Africa had reached 11 aircraft, and the British government hoped to continue to purchase at least 11000 more.

At the same time, in order to spend the dollars it earned, Britain ordered about 2000 aircraft from the United States.

This is also one of the important reasons why Britain was able to win the British Air Battle.

Another important reason is naturally the help of the Southern African Air Force.

In November, Winston set up a procurement committee to be responsible for external procurement.

The person in charge of the procurement committee is Arthur Purvis, and his famous saying is: We are now on a desolate island, and even though the rations are insufficient, we have to rely on this ration for a few more days.

The first thing Arthur Pavis did after he took office was to discuss the possibility of "exchanging destroyers for islands" with the Federal Government of Southern Africa.

The United Kingdom now has very few bargaining chips left. The islands that once spread all over the world and now have few remaining islands are almost the last chips of the United Kingdom.

Arthur Purvis is a decent man, and I hope southern Africa will show respect to the United Kingdom.

Therefore, the plan proposed by Arthur Pavis is to exchange the jurisdiction of the island for the military supplies in charge of the south by means of lease.

Destroyer is just a nickname.

The lease is of course conditional.

Similar to the conditions in France.

The lease term is 99 years. After the expiry date, if the federal government of Southern Africa is willing to continue the lease, the British government must not refuse, nor can it increase the price——

Considering that the British government was once the suzerain of southern Africa, the conditions should be more relaxed, and the above conditions can be modified when the contract is renewed for the third time.

Of course, that must also be under the premise that both the Federal Government of Southern Africa and the British Government agree.

For Winston, this decision was helpless.

But it is necessary.

As British Chancellor of the Exchequer Kingsley Wood said: We must order all supplies as possible, and leave future financial problems to "the living God" to solve.

When Rock saw this sentence, he couldn't help but burst into a big hole.

The British are still very reserved.

The meaning of this sentence is similar to "I don't care about the flood after I die".

Coming to Pretoria to negotiate on behalf of the United Kingdom was Sir Frederick Phillips.

When Phillips arrived in Pretoria, he brought with him a letter from Winston to Rock.

This ill-fated letter had been reviewed by the British Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Ministry of Finance successively, and approved by the War Cabinet before it came to Rock.

In his letter, Winston stated the current situation in Britain and explained his outlook for 1941.

Winston hopes that southern Africa can increase its support for Britain. In order to increase the enthusiasm of southern Africa, Winston even promised in the letter that he would give up the Royal Navy's power in the Indian Ocean.

Of course, this comes at a price. Britain's surrender of the Indian Ocean means that the activities of the southern African navy in the Atlantic Ocean will be dominated by the Royal Navy.

Winston included an annex to the letter, which listed all the losses suffered by Britain after the outbreak of the war. In the five weeks before November alone, the total tonnage of ships lost by Britain reached 11 tons.

In the letter, Winston reminded Rock that the Japanese army had formed five divisions of overseas expeditionary forces, ready to launch an attack on South Asia at any time. Once the war in South Asia broke out, the interests of southern Africa in Asia would inevitably be affected.

With regard to unified procurement, Winston hopes that Southern Africa will provide Britain with at least 2000 combat aircraft every month, of which the number of heavy bombers must not be less than 1500.

This made Rock very relieved that Winston finally realized the role of heavy bombers.

Regarding ships, Winston hopes that Southern Africa will sell all the ships it produces to Britain after retaining the ships it needs.

Whether it is a warship or a civilian vessel.

In addition to the navy, the British government plans to form 50 to 60 divisions. Most of the equipment needed by these troops needs to be provided by southern African military enterprises.

Finally, regarding the payment, Winston wrote in an almost begging tone: If Great Britain loses all property that can be sold in this war, so that Great Britain wins the victory with blood and saves civilization, but becomes impoverished , that would be wrong in principle, and the consequences would be unfavorable to both Southern Africa and Great Britain.

Rock thought for a long time after reading the letter.

At about 3500 words and 15 pages including attachments, the letter is the longest of the numerous correspondence between Winston and Rock.

Rock knew that the situation in Britain was serious, but he didn't expect it to be this serious.

But this is also what Rock hopes.

If Britain does not weaken, when will southern Africa come to the fore?
The matter of "replacing destroyers with islands" is not something Rock can decide alone. Even if it is symbolic, Rock has to report to Congress for approval.

Just last month, Roque was re-elected as prime minister again with a nearly full vote.

This is not something to be proud of, because also in October, Roosevelt was elected President of the United States for the third time.

Unlike the previous two campaigns, Roosevelt's campaign this time was thrilling.

After the outbreak of the European War, Roosevelt once hoped that the United States would join the war as soon as possible, but was strongly obstructed by the opposition forces in the United States, and ultimately failed.

After the start of this election, the Republican presidential candidate Wendell Wilkie repeated the old story: electing Roosevelt meant sending their sons, brothers and lovers to the grave.

For this reason, Roosevelt had to publicly declare: Your children will not be sent to participate in any foreign war... The purpose of our defense is to defend.

Roosevelt's statement clearly shows that the United States will not join the war in the short term.

This is a good thing for Southern Africa, and even better for the United Kingdom.

If the United States joins the war, the allies are not necessarily the only option for the United States.

Now the United States, as Roosevelt said, is going all out to strengthen its homeland defenses to prevent Germany from landing across the Atlantic once Britain surrenders.

Although this possibility is relatively small, no one can guarantee that Mustache will turn all his energy to Africa after unifying Europe.

Of course, Rock still consulted with Henry and Stoudemire before submitting it to Congress for consideration.

"Roosevelt also received a personal letter from Winston. London did not pin all its hopes on us. If the United States agrees to the British proposal, then that will mean that the United States will participate in the war to a limited extent." Henry told the Americans The vigilance of China is extremely high. If the United States and Germany join forces, then southern Africa will also have to retreat to the African continent.

It is only retreating to the African continent. It is difficult for the United States and Germany to spread the flames of war to southern Africa. That means the death of millions or even tens of millions of soldiers. The war may last for ten years or even longer.

Even the United States cannot afford such consumption.

Southern Africa is more likely to stick to the end.

"When the Americans find that trade alone cannot bring more benefits to the United States, the Americans will get involved sooner or later—" Stoudemire looks down on the Americans. The performance of the US military during the Cuban Civil War is still different from that of the Southern African National Defense Forces far.

"So we have to meet London's requirements before the Americans." Henry frowned, and the current situation seemed to suddenly be beneficial to the British.

"No, the conditions put forward by the Americans will only be harsher than ours—" Rock has a well-thought-out plan, and the relationship between Britain and the United States has never been monolithic.

Rock doesn't know yet.

In his letter to Roosevelt, Winston also hoped that the United States could give more assistance to Britain.

Roosevelt's reply made Winston very dissatisfied.

The Americans demanded a cash transaction, and even Winston's suggestion of "destroyers for islands" had little interest.

Considering that the British government's ability to pay has encountered great difficulties, the United States requires the United Kingdom to ship part of its gold reserves to the United States as a payment guarantee, which makes Winston feel very humiliated.

British Empire--

I don't know when it started, but it has fallen to the point where it is today!

Compared to Americans, southern Africa is fine.

At least Southern Africa is very interested in those uninhabited islands in the UK that are scattered all over the world and cannot generate much economic value.

For the UK, the economy is now the number one criterion for measuring all issues.

"Should we also be harsher?" Stoudemire is willing to add insult to injury and kill you while you are sick. This is Rock's mantra.

"Britain is exchanging the interests of the Pacific region for the support of the United States. We might as well—" Henry is also insidious, taking advantage of the fire.

In exchange for greater support from Southern Africa, Winston offered to give the Indian Ocean to Southern Africa.

For the United States, Winston's bargaining chip is the Pacific Ocean. As long as the United States increases its support for the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom will share the interests of the United States in the Pacific Ocean.

This promise is more symbolic to the Americans. Since the end of the last world war, Britain's sphere of influence in the Pacific has been gradually shrinking. Now the most fierce battles in the Pacific are Japan and the United States, and even southern Africa cannot intervene. .

Or that Southern Africa doesn't want to get involved.

The United States' strategy for Europe is to watch the fire from the other side and reap the benefits of the fisherman.

The same is true for the United States and Japan in southern Africa.

(End of this chapter)