Iron Cross

Ismay's words immediately attracted everyone's attention. Churchill's frown suddenly relaxed and he said with relief: "Please continue speaking, we are all listening carefully."

"In addition to the supply problems the Germans face, we also cannot ignore the impact of terrain features on the advancement of the battle." Ismay gave everyone a shot in the arm, "This is also beneficial to us."

After Ismay's analysis and judgment, everyone realized the fact that there is the famous East African Rift Valley in northern Kenya, and its traffic terrain is not conducive to the operation of heavily armed large corps. Patton led the unarmed soldiers to travel in cars and advance lightly. After making a big circle, heavy equipment will definitely not be able to pass through this area. If you want to attack Kenya from land, you can only make a roundabout way - first, roundabout from Somalia, marching towards Mombasa through the narrow plains in eastern Kenya, and secondly, roundabout from Uganda in the west, and insert into Kenya on the north side of the huge Lake Victoria.

"The Germans will definitely not choose the latter option because they cannot get supplies." Ismay used a pointer to draw the possible advance routes of the German army on the map. "The German army can only attack Kenya through Somalia, and Somalia's own road system is also limited. Very bad. My most optimistic estimate for the Germans is that they will be able to cross the border between Somalia and Kenya in mid to late March, so we still have time. If we have enough naval forces, we can easily contain the German offensive - the east side. The narrow plain passages are all under the deterrent of naval gunfire, and Kenya, which has control of the sea, is very safe.”

"But now we don't have control of the sea." Tovey asked in a low voice, "What should we do in this situation?"

"We also have an advantage - air superiority." Ismay explained, "I found that the Germans hardly interfere with the current African route. It's not that they don't know the significance of this route, but that they can't do anything about it. We can use it. A large number of bombers carried out large-scale bombings on the German supply lines and roads, curbing and delaying their offensive speed, destroying their supply routes, and weakening their offensive capabilities. Even if the Germans gained control of the sea, it would be useless. Carrier-based aircraft could not do anything. Competing with heavy bombers."

Everyone nodded after hearing this.

"If the Axis controls the sea, although we can hardly defend it, it will reduce the threat to Gibraltar to a certain extent - they can only attack in one place. If we get enough power, when the enemy attacks Gibraltar You can even try to land in Somalia and launch a counterattack to contain it; if the enemy's primary goal turns out to be control of the Kenyan coast, then Gibraltar will be saved."

Ismay's words eased the tense atmosphere of the meeting, and everyone finally realized that if there were enough heavy bombers and transport aircraft, not only would the troops in the African theater be able to receive more and more adequate supplies, but there would also be room for air strikes against German troops and supply lines, thereby extending the time for the German army to enter Kenya without limit, forcing the enemy to fight a war of attrition that they are not good at and unwilling to do. The more power Germany invests in Africa, the less power they can use elsewhere.

"And there is another advantage of prolonging the time. It can drive away the Japanese as soon as possible." Ismay asked, "How long can the Japanese fleet stay in the Indian Ocean or the Mediterranean? 2 months? 3 months? Half a year? I don't believe them. Never go back!”

After listening to the analysis, everyone was finally relieved: Gibraltar and the African theater could at least be saved. If the Germans made mistakes in strategic decisions, not only could both places be saved, but there was also hope of counterattacking Egypt - then It means locking the Axis Navy into the cage of the Mediterranean again.

"I think this suggestion is worth considering." Pound immediately expressed his opinion after hearing this.

"I agree too." Tovey had a positive opinion.

"I think this is an ideal response at present." Marshal Brooke concluded, "Should we communicate this idea with the United States first?"

Ismay added: "The top priority is to replenish aircraft, whether heavy bombers, fighters or transport aircraft, there must be no less, the more the better."

Pound immediately took over: "The Americans are moving faster on this point. Their landing force is still being selected and deployed, but the aircraft and escort aircraft carriers have already set off first. They are expected to arrive in Cape Town in 10 days. The fleet has brought the most urgently needed items. The supplies and equipment on the escort carrier are fully equipped with B-25, B-24, B-17, C-47 and other aircraft types. They plan to increase the scale of air transportation by 1-2 times. They believe that regardless of whether the landing is carried out, It is necessary to ensure the supplies of all departments in the African theater, but large-scale air strikes have not been considered, perhaps because the number is insufficient.”

"The United States has informed me that it will suspend the supply of bombers to the Eighth Air Force from February to March, and all of them will be transferred to South Africa." Brooke added, "Therefore, the aircraft transport fleet will set off and arrive in Cape Town one after another."

Churchill, who was dizzy from the impact of various opinions, finally caught the dawn given by Ismay in the darkness. Of course, he was unwilling to let it go. After thinking for a while, he slowly said: "Lieutenant General Ismay, I now grant you the temporary admiral, full responsibility for planning this operation and communicating directly with the senior US military officials. You can select the personnel you think are capable to cooperate with the completion of the plan, but before that, you must reach an agreement with General Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the African theater, and obtain his support. We will consider the implementation according to the schedule of late March, and then decide which plan to choose based on the situation of the Japanese Navy's stay or departure. The most urgent task is to increase the transportation of materials and maximize the power of air transport."

Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force Admiral Charles Frederick Algernon Porter interrupted, "Then...what about the strategic air strikes against Germany?"

"We can only reduce the scale. In fact, it's no big deal to suspend it for 1-2 months. It's just right to give the Eighth Air Force a break." Marshal Brooke said in a helpless tone, "They have lost too many people in recent months. They are almost unable to hold on."

Everyone nodded to show their understanding. In fact, many people laughed in their hearts: Americans are good at everything. They are rich and generous. They don't blink an eye when losing ships, weapons, and equipment, but they just can't let people die. Before and after the Indian Ocean Campaign, less than 100,000 people were lost, and the United States was in an uproar. The newspapers denounced it one after another, forcing President Roosevelt to give a speech to appease the people. Look at Stalin who lost millions, the German head of state who lost a million, and the British Empire who lost hundreds of thousands, but the country was still as stable as Mount Tai.

In the final analysis, Americans have seen too little of the world-this is a global war, not the Mexican-American War!

Of course, the Americans also felt aggrieved: this war lasted only more than a year, and the death toll was five times that of the last war, making it the second deadliest war in American history - second only to the bloody Civil War. If we talk about economic losses, it is probably the sum of all the wars since the founding of the United States.

This meeting set a record for the British War Cabinet, lasting from 7 pm to 7 am, a full 12 hours.

At the same time as the meeting was adjourned, Vice Admiral Kumets, who had gathered all his forces, decided that the Norwegian cruiser fleet would conduct a large-scale search to the west. Due to bad weather, the Ar-272s could not take off, so he could only rely on the radars of each ship to cooperate with visual search. Since there were only four destroyers left in the entire fleet, it was agreed that the Lützow and Tirpitz would each take one, and the Hipper would rush to the front with two destroyers.

Late last night, after receiving the information that the JW-51B escort warship would speed up to reinforce, the JW-51A fleet immediately turned back. At noon, its main position was 60 kilometers southwest of Bear Island, less than 70 nautical miles away from the German fleet. The Germans did not expect the British to go back so quickly. Although they had the speed advantage, they had not caught the main force of the transport fleet. Only the British minesweeper Woodberry, which had fallen behind, met the Hipper by chance in the middle of the journey. As a result, it was beaten and sank to the bottom of the sea.

On February 4, the weather was still bad. Kumetz, who had not been able to find the exact target, felt great pressure. For a while, he thought that the British fleet had drilled out of his search network. But the Hipper sent a clear telegram: "After interrogating the surviving sailors on the Woodberry, they received the order to retreat at the beginning, and the entire fleet should have turned around and retreated..." Based on this, Kumetz believed that the British fleet was still nearby and was determined to continue to advance and increase the search efforts to the west and south.

Hoffman stayed at the naval headquarters for a day, but got nothing. He left in a bad mood.

On February 5, the weather improved slightly. The visibility was still low, but luck suddenly began to favor the Germans. The destroyer Z4, which had been in the forefront of the attack with Hipper, found a signal suspected to be a British ship on the radar. It immediately rushed over to investigate and then saw the target clearly: two severely damaged British escort warships staggered forward accompanied by a British frigate and a minesweeper. They were the British warships that were severely damaged in the battle a few days ago. One was the Sheffield and the other was the Onslow. The maximum speed was less than 17 knots. At this time, the British army had not yet noticed the arrival of the German destroyer.

Considering that the other side was still on the scene despite being severely damaged, Z4 did not dare to act rashly. It quietly followed behind and sent signals to remind other friendly ships to come and join. At 11 a.m., Z4 was finally discovered by the British frigate. After discovering that there was only one German warship following it, they wanted to destroy it with the help of two severely damaged warships, but Z4 cleverly avoided their pursuit. Whenever the Sheffield turned around, it would stay away from it. Once the enemy continued to escape, it would stick to them, follow behind them at a leisurely speed and report its position.