Iron Cross

"Do we have enough strength to carry out this campaign?"

"It depends on how we estimate it." John Tovey took stock of the assets in hand for the Prime Minister. "If the battle is launched in early April, without considering the deployment of the local fleet, we can get three aircraft carriers - HMS Victory, HMS Victory, HMS Formidable (both of the Illustrious class returned from the Pacific Theater), HMS Indomitable (just restored in the United States), four battleships: Duke of York, HMS Anson (both of the George V class returned from the Pacific Theater), Elizabeth and Warrior (both Elizabeth-class) can build the African fleet with them as the core.”

Both the Elizabeth and the Warrior were sunk and stranded by Italian torpedoes in Alexandria, Egypt, at the end of 1941. One is expected to be repaired in the United States at the end of February, and the other is expected to be repaired at Simonstown, South Africa in early March - due to the Indian Ocean War. The Allied forces lost a large number of battleships, so they put extra effort into repairing the warships. They almost worked overtime to complete the work ahead of the historical schedule.

"If we add the support forces of the Atlantic Fleet, we will have greater strength - they also have two battleships, the USS Nevada (Nevada class) and the USS Tennessee (Tennessee class), which will also be modernized and refitted in early March. In addition, they can also provide 2 additional heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 4 escort aircraft carriers and all transport ships, and then they can also use the many small frigates of the South African Navy.”

The USS Nevada and USS Tennessee actually ended their modernization process ahead of schedule because of the need for troops on the front line.

"This force is actually not small." Pound said a rare truth. "In terms of scale alone, it has even exceeded the original strength of the Torch Project. If the Japanese navy is excluded, the Italian and German navies combined cannot defeat them. Our..."

Everyone was silent, and the Americans probably thought so too, so they forced the British to launch an attack.

"The problem is that the Japanese navy is still there." Tovey analyzed. "If we consider them, we are still weak in terms of naval strength, unless we bring over the local fleet."

"This is impossible. They still have to keep an eye on the Germans. The strength of the Home Fleet has been reduced to the minimum and can no longer be mobilized." Pound immediately rejected the idea, "We are not going to fight a decisive battle with the Axis Navy. That’s not in line with our goals and interests.”

"Waiting is not an option. Who knows when the Japanese navy will return to Nanyang? Delaying it will only lead to the complete annihilation of the Kenyan Army."

"The prime minister's primary goal is to hold on to Gibraltar." Marshal Brooke explained to everyone, "This is the key chain that prevents the enemy from rushing to the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic route maintains the maritime lifeline of the British Empire."

Everyone suddenly realized that this was the key difference between the British and American leaders: the Prime Minister wanted to keep Gibraltar, because the west of Gibraltar is the lifeline of Great Britain; while the Americans wanted to keep the African army because it was the most precious seed of the US Army. Then there was even greater silence: losing Malta would not affect the overall situation, losing Gibraltar would completely lose the Mediterranean, and the Axis attack on Gibraltar seemed to be a certainty. After careful discussion, everyone felt that the Americans could not be blamed for not caring about Gibraltar. Perhaps they had decided that Gibraltar could not be saved.

"Can this fleet be deployed to the Mediterranean?" Churchill asked.

"No, no, no!" Tovey said anxiously, "We can't put it in the Mediterranean."

Just kidding, if this amount of troops were put into the Mediterranean to directly confront the navies of the three Axis countries, there would not even be a 20% chance of winning.

"What about the strength of the local fleet?" Churchill still refused to give up.

"This..." Tovey thought for a while and said hesitantly, "It depends on how the Germans fight. We will have an advantage if they fight a landing battle, but what if the Germans come from Spain to fight a land war?"

This is an answer that avoids important matters - it does not directly answer the question about the outcome of the battle with the Axis Navy. It only expresses doubts about Gibraltar's future status: if it fights a landing war, it can be defended with confidence, but if it fights a land war, it may not be defended.

Everyone agreed with this view. After years of operation and difficult terrain, Gibraltar has the strongest fortress and coastal defense system. If it can still get support from the local fleet, the Axis Navy will definitely suffer heavy losses if it dares to launch a landing operation. But the problem is that Germany does not necessarily have to attack by sea. They also have to attack from Spain, so the navy will not be effective.

"Will the Germans use the Spanish route to attack?" Churchill also felt that the ground war could not prevent the Germans. "Will Franco completely fall to the Germans?"

"It's hard to say whether Spain will tear off the pretense of neutrality." Brooke hesitated and explained awkwardly, "We can't tell what Franco is thinking, but at least there is no sign of it yet."

In the eyes of ordinary people, Spain is of course hard-core pro-Axis, otherwise it would not send volunteers, the Blue Division, to the Eastern Front. However, the British were keenly aware that Franco seemed more like an opportunist. In order to stabilize the Spaniards, the United Kingdom made concessions in many aspects, allowing them to make a lot of money. The United States was also worried about the wavering of Spain's neutral attitude, and was constantly thinking of ways to do Spain's work - in the process of Jewish transactions. The Spanish channel is semi-publicly supported by the U.S. official in order to allow the Spaniards to reap benefits. However, the old grievances between the United States and Spain and the Spanish-American War are not so easy to resolve.

Eden, who had been silent, interrupted and said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will make the greatest concessions and efforts on the issue of Spanish neutrality, and may even consider compensating Spain with some colonies in Africa, but I cannot guarantee that Franco will remain neutral after the Germans gain the upper hand. We all know that he is a shrewd and calculating speculator. There is nothing he dare not sell except his own interests. Our ambassador has vaguely inquired about his thoughts, and the price is very high - he wants Gibraltar, but he can sign a treaty with us and hand it over after the war."

Everyone was indignant: Franco They will seize the opportunity and gain the upper hand no matter which side

"The key is that even if we agree to hand over Gibraltar, he will only agree to neutrality. We can't give him more benefits. Even if we are willing to give it to him, he dare not ask for it, because Spain will not join the Allies in the most optimistic situation-his troops can't stop the Germans." Attlee sighed, "I suggest that we should strengthen the defense as much as possible, but we must also be prepared for the loss of Gibraltar."

Everyone was sad. Once Gibraltar was lost, the Axis naval forces in the Mediterranean could rush into the Atlantic without any scruples.

Churchill forced a smile: "We will do our best to defend and do everything possible to buy time for the Allies. But taking a step back, even if Gibraltar is lost, it is not the end of the world. I believe that President Roosevelt will never sit idly by. He will definitely dispatch more naval forces to the Atlantic to support us, and perhaps take the opportunity to eliminate the Axis naval forces."

The participants nodded solemnly, but in that case, all the hopes of the British Empire can only be placed on the United States.

After discussing for a long time, Churchill still couldn't make up his mind and was always in a state of hesitation: he wanted to keep Gibraltar, but he couldn't give up the African theater of war - Britain could accept losing the African theater of war, but the Americans would not. Now everything depends on the United States, so Roosevelt's request cannot be simply rejected.

"How should we respond to the US's request for the Kenya campaign? They have clearly stated that they can withdraw all the forces of the Atlantic Fleet, but the Pacific Fleet will not be mobilized." Seeing that there was no conclusion, Brooke got anxious and stood up and asked directly.

The Americans were so anxious for a reason, because most of the African theater was the U.S. Army, and there were two armored divisions that had been trained with great difficulty; it was not wrong for Roosevelt to make such a decision, because his navy could not spare more strength, and he could not send all the navy to the Indian Ocean to save tens of thousands of people. He had to let Britain take on part of the military responsibility. If Britain did not even have this responsibility, he really could not convince the people at home to continue to support Britain; Brooke's anxiety was also reasonable. Several British warships had set off from the Pacific to the United States for supplies, and the relevant decisions could not be delayed indefinitely - it takes time to make up your mind, and it takes more time to complete the plan, formulate the combat plan, and mobilize forces and materials. "

Everyone was silent, and Churchill refused to say anything for a long time.

"Prime Minister, gentlemen, I think we can agree to the Americans' request. The situation may not be as pessimistic as we estimated..." Lieutenant General Hastings-Ismay, Chief of Staff of the Secretary of Defense, who had not expressed his opinion, suddenly stood up when he saw that the meeting was deadlocked, and clearly expressed his views that were inconsistent with everyone's opinions.

Churchill's eyes lit up: "Tell me what you think. ”

Ismay walked to the map, holding up his pointer and talking freely: “Although the current offensive momentum of the German African Army is very strong, it is not so easy for them to reach Kenya. Guderian’s armored forces were so powerful in Sudan because he had obtained a water supply line accompanied by inland ships on the Nile River. The end of this supply line was at the border between Sudan and Ethiopia. The further he went, the longer the supply line became, and the greater the loss. Another important supply line available to the German army was to reach the port of French Somaliland by sea, and then use the railway from French Somaliland to Addis Ababa, but even so, his logistics system was at most enough to support his occupation of the entire Ethiopia. "

"I wonder if you have noticed this reality. Every tank and every shell of the German army needs to be transported from the mainland. The transportation distance to Ethiopia is more than 8,000 kilometers - this distance is almost the same as the distance from Brazil to South Africa, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the distance from the east coast of the United States to South Africa. How long can the Germans support such a fragile and long supply line?"