Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 2191 Everything Is Designed
As early as the autumn of 1940, in order to better coordinate operations, Winston actively invited Rock to meet with Winston in the UK to discuss how to defeat the Axis powers.

Rock is busy with business and has no time to go to London.

At the same time, Rock also deeply felt the need to discuss with Winston face to face, so Rock invited Winston to Pretoria.

Winston was equally busy.

The British ambassador to Southern Africa, Lord Halifax, consulted with Jan Smudge and decided to hold the meeting on the island of Sal in Cape Verde.

When George V passed away, Winston and Roque took a special plane to London for the funeral. The "African King" once stopped at Sal Island, and Winston was very impressed with Sal Island.

Sal Island used to be a colony of Portugal. After the "Rich" merchant ship was seized, Sal Island and Boavista Island were compensated to southern Africa. The port of Curral on Boavista Island is currently the The busiest civilian port in the Atlantic Ocean, a military base was built on Sal Island. After the outbreak of the European War, it became one of the home ports of the Atlantic Fleet.

Sal Island has an area of ​​216 square kilometers and an average altitude of 1332 feet. There are field airports and military ports on the island. An air force brigade is stationed for a long time, and an escort fleet mainly consisting of small warships.

In Winston's concept, a small warship is probably of the level of a frigate or a fishing trawler, not even a destroyer.

The so-called "small warships" in southern Africa are the 3000-ton "Durban" light cruisers, which have twice the displacement of treaty-class destroyers.

There are a total of 12 "Durban" class light cruisers on Sal Island.

"Santa Maria has just become the home port of the Southern African Atlantic Fleet after the outbreak of the European War. Now the Atlantic Fleet has a total of four home ports, namely Walvis Bay, Halifax, Victoria, Brazil, and Santa Maria on Sal Island. Asia, the Santa Maria Fleet, is the weakest of the four home ports." Roger Hayes, the Secretary of the Navy, as Winston's assistant, arrived at Sal Island with Winston.

As a port, Santa Maria's own conditions are only acceptable. There are many ports like Santa Maria in the Atlantic Ocean, and there are no less than ten Cape Verde Islands.

During the Portuguese rule, Santa Maria did not receive any attention, and the island did not even have a permanent population, and it was deserted.

After Southern Africa got Sal Island, construction was carried out on Sal Island, a road around the island was built along the edge of the island, and a port and airport were built around Santa Maria. Now the port of Santa Maria can dock ships including battleships and aircraft carriers. Large warships, airports for long-range heavy bombers to take off and land,
What caused Roger Case to collapse was not the 12 "Durbans", but the fifth ship of the "Normandy" class battleship that was bought by Stoudemire and transformed into the "Rhodes" yacht.

"Rhodes" is the largest yacht in the world.

With all weapons and equipment removed, the "Rhodes" yacht still has a displacement of more than 25000 tons, and the total weight of the armor alone exceeds 8000 tons.

You are a yacht, why do you need such thick armor?
It can only be said that there is no shortage of oil in southern Africa.

The "Rhodes" has now become a symbol of the Rhodes family in southern Africa. It has been running around with Stoudemire all year round. Wherever Stoudemire goes, the "Rhodes" will go, even though Stoudemire takes planes more often. , There is no use of the "Rhodes" at all.

More than 300 people worked on the "Rhodes" and their sole mission was to provide services to Stoudemire.

Now, of course, Roque must be added.

Now the "Rhodes" is docked in the port of Santa Maria. Even among a large number of large warships, the "Rhodes" is still very eye-catching.

Rock and Winston are both in Santa Maria now, and the Royal Navy dispatched the newly commissioned battleship "George V" as Winston's flagship, and arrived in Santa Maria with Winston.

The Atlantic Fleet dispatched the "Madagascar" aircraft carrier as Rock's flagship, and it is also in Santa Maria now.

Compared with "George V" and "Madagascar", the "Rhodes" is particularly different.

"The whole world is probably as luxurious as southern Africans, who can transform battleships into yachts—" As an old navy, Roger Case was heartbroken.

"Don't you know Cecil yet? Even if that guy converted a 'city' class aircraft carrier into a yacht, it wouldn't be surprising." Winston knew Stoudemire very well.

"Southern Africa already has ten large aircraft carriers. The information collected by the military shows that there are at least [-] more warships under construction in the shipyards in Southern Africa. We also need to make plans to build more aircraft carriers." Roger Case took the opportunity to make a request. Compared with the federal government of Southern Africa, the British government's support for the navy is obviously insufficient.

After the "islands for destroyers" program started, Southern Africa has transferred nearly [-] light cruisers and destroyers to the British government.

With these light cruisers and destroyers, the escort force of the British Navy has greatly increased, the safety of the waterway has been effectively guaranteed, and the attack frequency of German submarines has gradually decreased.

Southern Africa not only harvested more islands, but also replaced all the small warships manufactured between World War I and World War II with new ones, and everyone was happy.

Of course, the "joy" here is more for the southern African navy.

For the Royal Navy, the result was a bit bitter.

No one can tell why, the Royal Navy has been reduced to the extent of using second-hand goods!
“Southern Africa has too many resources, and this is an advantage that we do not have.” Winston now finally admits that allowing southern Africa to self-government was a huge mistake for the British Empire.

Unfortunately, it has been irreparable.

"If we can take back the Australian iron ore mining rights, then—" Roger Case was eager to try.

"—Impossible. Compared with the Australian iron ore, the oil field in Port Elizabeth is more important." Winston shook his head, the past is too painful to recall.

The Australian iron ore mining rights belong to the Matilda family, the Locke family, and the Rhodes family. If the United Kingdom wants to take back the Australian iron ore mining rights, it may completely lose Australia.

Port Elizabeth pained Winston even more.

But who can be blamed? When Port Elizabeth was sold to Rock, no one thought that there was a huge amount of oil under the desert of Port Elizabeth——

While Winston and Roger Case were envious of the resources in southern Africa, Roque and de Gaulle were discussing the French version of "islands for destroyers".

Free France needs a navy.

After "Operation Ballista", the French navy completely fell to Vichy France, and Charles de Gaulle didn't even have a single ship.

Southern Africa has ships, even if there is no extra, with its strong manufacturing capacity, Southern Africa can start construction at any time.

De Gaulle also coveted the fifty warships in the southern African shipyard.

"French Indochina!" De Gaulle made a generous offer, offering a condition that Rock could not refuse: "If the Southern African Federal Government helps the Free France to establish a navy, then after the war, the Free France will transfer all French power in Asia to the South. Africa."

The French Indochina that de Gaulle said covers an area of ​​747 square kilometers.

Unlike North and West Africa, French Indochina chose to join Vichy France.

After World War I, France's strength became weaker and weaker, and its control over French Indochina was far inferior to that before World War I.

The current situation in East Asia is very complicated. Japan, the United States, and southern Africa all have strong power in East Asia. Compared with the above three countries, France is weaker. Trembling is not enough to describe the embarrassment of the French.

After the start of "Operation Ballista", French Indochina, which obeyed the orders of Vichy France, opened its borders to Japan and acquiesced in the entry of Japanese troops into French Indochina. This behavior has seriously threatened British Malaya and the Changi Naval Base. safety.

Prior to this, if Japan wanted to attack the Changi Naval Base, the fleet had to depart from the Japanese mainland, which was a long way from the Changi Naval Base, and the probability of success was extremely low.

Now the Japanese combined fleet can use French Indochina, which is only about 700 kilometers away from the Changi Naval Base. If the combined fleet departs at night, it can arrive at the Changi Naval Base before dawn.

Roque and de Gaulle were very angry at the behavior of French Indochina, so there was a French version of "islands for destroyers".

"Andre, tell me what you think. What kind of navy do you want?" Rock is interested in French Indochina. Free France is doomed to lose French Indochina, and Southern Africa can take over.

The spell Indochina is probably the part of the three countries of the South China Peninsula in another time and space, and the port that France rented from the Qing government.

The port will definitely be returned in the future. The Indochina Peninsula has huge development value. After Southern Africa takes over, the security of the Changi Naval Base will be guaranteed.

"A battleship that can serve as a flagship, four heavy cruisers, four aircraft carriers, at least 20 light cruisers, fifty destroyers, and the same number of submarines." Charles de Gaulle opened his mouth wide, and what Free France paid was the French Nominal title to Indochina.

What Southern Africa paid was real money.

"Andre, let's be more pragmatic. Even if Free France owns the warships you mentioned, it doesn't have the sailors needed to operate those warships." Rock laughed dumbfounded, and this is not what he dreamed of.

The British "islands for destroyers", whether it is Malta, Ceylon, or Aden, are all under the actual control of the United Kingdom. After "lease" to Southern Africa, Southern Africa can take over immediately.

French Indochina is not yet part of Free France, and there are still Japanese military activities in the territory. If Southern Africa wants to get French Indochina, it has to send troops to fight it down bit by bit.

So with a light promise, he wanted to get a fleet from southern Africa that was strong enough to make Free France a maritime power. De Gaulle was also really romantic.

"My lord, the area of ​​French Indochina is close to 75 square kilometers." De Gaulle didn't blush at all. 75 square kilometers sounds huge, but it's actually about the same as Madagascar.

Think how France lost Madagascar?
Even after losing the battleship "France", France still failed to keep Madagascar, not to mention gaining nothing, and losing all face internationally.

In fact, everything is traceable.

If Southern Africa really wanted French Indochina, the process was almost predictable.

When the war is over, French Indochina will rebel like Madagascar.

France, which has just experienced the catastrophe of war, must be unable to counter the rebellion.

So we can only sit back and see that Indochina is independent.

Then French Indochina might join an organization in the name of a regional alliance, which has now become a small international alliance.

Even if France does not recognize it at this time, it will completely lose French Indochina.

Rock didn't speak, but smiled and looked at De Gaulle with peaceful eyes.

De Gaulle looked calmly, without any embarrassment.

"Andre, if Free France is willing to transfer power in Asia, then the Federal Government of Southern Africa will consider reducing and exempting part of France's borrowing interest--the borrowing interest during the last World War." Rock's conditions are more stringent.

France has not yet paid off its loans during the last world war.

After the establishment of Free France, it has owed nearly one billion rand in loans.

Adding up the two loans, France has to pay more than [-] million rand in interest every year.

Although de Gaulle did not want to admit the loan during the last world war, he had to accept it.

If it is not accepted, Free France will not be able to get even a penny of loans from Southern Africa.

The troops trained by the Free France in southern Africa can all be paid for by the Free France.

Therefore, Roque can consider reducing part of the interest, which is already very good for de Gaulle.

"My lord, the gold of Free France is still in the vaults of Pretoria—" De Gaulle pushed for better terms.

"The gold in the Pretoria vault is a mortgage—" Rock would not budge. If there was no mortgage, even if Free France recognized the loan during the last world war, Southern Africa would not let go.

If there is no mortgage, what if the war is lost?
When the time comes, de Gaulle will find a small island to live in seclusion for fear of slapping his ass, and the loss in southern Africa will be great.

So collateral is a must.

"Then I'll take French Indochina as collateral—" De Gaulle began to ramble again.

"French Indochina is not yet the property of the Free France—" Roque also disagreed, wanting to play empty-handed white wolf, Roque is a big expert, de Gaulle should not play big swords in front of Guan Gong's door.

On March 3, with the arrival of US President Roosevelt, all the leaders of the allied countries, as well as the leaders who might join the allies, were all present, and the Saar Conference officially started.

The core agenda of the meeting was to discuss how to deal with the 1941 war.

Before the meeting started, Roque and Winston had many exchanges, and the two agreed that directing Germany's attack target to Russia is in the best interest of the current Allied Forces.

In order to achieve this goal, Greece must give up, so that Germany and Italy can go north without any scruples.

Of course, the Germans and Italians cannot succeed too smoothly. The Allied forces must act in Greece and then "forced to give up". It is best to delay the war until the end of the autumn, so that the Russians will not lose too quickly. .

(End of this chapter)