Iron Cross

"Good man" is the latest popular term among the French people to praise the old and frail French supreme leader from the bottom of their hearts. Because Pétain reached an agreement with Germany, recovered most of the occupied territories - on the condition that Germany agreed to free passage in France and its colonial territories; took back more than 1 million French prisoners of war - on the condition that the French armed forces were controlled within 500,000, and the rest were all demobilized; recovered Syria - France paid the fleet and some other costs; solved the ubiquitous unemployment problem - France produced military supplies for Germany, and Germany paid at a fair price.

The French looked back and found that the failure of the war was not particularly terrible. Except for the loss of Alsace and Lorraine, they were almost unscathed. While batches of British and American soldiers were either killed on the battlefield or entered German prisoner-of-war camps, millions of French soldiers returned safely from the prisoner-of-war camps.

No matter what kind of criticism the French people held about the government, including Charles de Gaulle, no French politician dared to oppose the reunion of French prisoners of war with their families. The French media was trying hard to promote a number - France was the country with the smallest loss of personnel among the major participants in the war. Now even the death toll in the United States has exceeded that of France, and the end of the war now seems far from over. After this news was published, everyone felt relieved: Thank God, France finally didn't have to die more people in this damn war.

Therefore, cooperation with Germany not only did not attract criticism for Pétain, but was instead touted by some media as "the only way for France to revive." The French top leaders saw clearly that French farmers and industrial capitalists had made great profits from exporting agricultural products and industrial products to Germany. Apart from other things, there was almost no civilian textile, printing and dyeing and clothing industry in Germany. The clothes, hats, shoes and boots of 80 million German people, except for military clothes, were all provided by French and Italians - how big a business was this? Western European capitalists trembled with excitement when they thought of the European continental common market with a population of 300-400 million, plus the vast African and Middle Eastern colonies and resource supply areas described by Germany.

After the domestic political situation in France stabilized, the unemployment problem that had plagued France for many years began to improve. Fewer and fewer people defected to "Free France", and some even secretly left "Free France" and returned to their homeland. The resistance forces in France also shrank. In this scenario, it was completely impossible to expect the French to fight to the death for the interests of the Allies. Roosevelt's choice of Spain was not a whim.

After Roosevelt finished speaking, he looked at Hull expectantly, hoping to hear the voice of approval or agreement from this old friend and old partner.

"I fully agree with your expectation of facing the European continent and directly attacking the heartland of Germany, but..." Hull thought for several minutes and said, "I think it will be difficult for Spain to undertake this task. First of all, Spain has not been invaded by Germany at present, and there is not enough motivation to join us; secondly, Spain's military strength is much weaker than Germany. Once there is any sign of our landing in Spain, Spain will be attacked by Germany before the reinforcements arrive; the last and most important point that cannot be ignored is that Spain is not a democratic system. Their political system and political atmosphere are closer to Germany than to us. Franco is a political leader supported by Hitler and Mussolini. They have a special historical origin..."

"You mean, if Franco gets close to us, he will lose his supporters and followers?"

"Yes, in the current situation where Germany has the upper hand, he faces great internal pressure-Spain has already had a coup, and it is very likely to be under external pressure. "Although Franco has different political views from us, he is still a wise and rational politician. What if a radical comes to power? And the Portuguese regime, we must consider the chain reaction. "

Hull talked about practical difficulties. As Secretary of State, he has more experience in handling international affairs than Roosevelt. His words made the latter nod repeatedly involuntarily: "Maybe your idea is right, I am a little naive."

Hull shook his head: "In fact, there is one more thing I don't want to say but have to say. The rash decision to terminate the Torch Plan and land in Egypt was actually a big mistake. Now this mistake is more and more obvious. We are forced to pay a greater sacrifice and price to reduce losses. "

Roosevelt was silent. He regretted it in his heart: If he had ignored the little defense force of Germany in the French colonies and insisted on landing in North Africa, the worst case would be the death of tens of thousands of people and the loss of some warships. As a result, many people have died and warships have been lost, but the strategic situation has greatly deteriorated.

"I think the most urgent thing is to help the British stabilize their position." Seeing that Roosevelt didn't say anything, Hull stopped dwelling on the scar - he had worked with Roosevelt for many years and knew when to stop. He turned to other opinions, "Churchill was frightened by the losses of the JW-51A fleet and the J fleet, and was a little flustered in the face of the challenge of the Tirpitz. Can you consider giving him more support?"

"Support? He asked me for the Independence aircraft carrier. I have agreed to lend it to him temporarily, and let two heavy cruisers and two cruisers accompany the Independence to Britain for support."

"You can also give him the Pennsylvania."

Roosevelt raised his head in astonishment: "This is the last remaining battleship in the Atlantic Fleet. If we transfer it again, if a lunatic sends an armored ship to sail sideways on the east coast, we will have no power to fight back. "

"No! We have enough aircraft, and the battleship USS Iowa is about to be commissioned. We can temporarily stay on the east coast to perform security functions and complete sea trials."

"Okay, you've convinced me, I'll call Admiral Jin immediately."

"President, I have said so much, but the key thing is to ask you to send a telegram to Prime Minister Churchill - about Gibraltar." Hull said sincerely, "No matter what Franco's excuse is, at least the solution he proposed is feasible. The discussion was that if Gibraltar must be lost, it would be much better in the hands of Spain than in the hands of Germany.”

No wonder Hull not only agreed to give the Independence to the British, but also went the extra mile to give the Pennsylvania to the British. It turned out that his starting point and position were here - to use this method to force Churchill to submit. Roosevelt narrowed his eyes and thought for a while, and felt that the strategy was feasible. At least he could listen to what Churchill thought. However, he still asked uneasily: "What if he firmly disagrees?"

"If you don't agree, find another way." Hull sighed. "The aid should still be given to him. Let's not try to link the aid to Gibraltar. This is not conducive to consolidating his prestige. But we must be clear that the United States will not save Gibraltar. With more strength, these supports are used to deal with Tirpitz and cannot be diverted to other places. "

Roosevelt nodded. Admiral King and Marshall had told him long ago that without sufficient naval assistance, Gibraltar was a dead end. No matter how much force was invested, it would not be enough for the Germans to fight. And the navy now dare not send - the navy After some calculations, they believed that the Atlantic Fleet and the existing strength of the British Navy could not defeat the navy with its axis in the Mediterranean. Moreover, the British Home Fleet did not dare to go south in full, and there was still the Tirpitz watching in the north.

"I have an immature suggestion about launching an attack on the European continent. How about Norway?" Hull explained. "By taking Norway, we will liberate Britain's flanks and at the same time obtain a stable route to aid the Soviet Union, and even You can go east into Sweden to cut off the Germans’ iron ore supply channels, and you can also deploy more aircraft in southern Norway to directly attack Germany’s heartland.”

Roosevelt's eyes lit up. He immediately thought of the Arctic route and the Tirpitz. He couldn't help but think of the pitiful appearance of Princess Martha of Norway in front of his eyes. He nodded and said: "It's a very constructive opinion. Maybe it should be brought to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for discussion."

However, the strong wishes of Hull and Roosevelt were quickly thwarted. Two hours later, Churchill sent a reply from London. On the one hand, he thanked the United States for its naval support to Britain but at the same time firmly refused to hand over Gibraltar to Spain. suggestions, and made it clear that "Unless Spain is willing to abandon neutrality and immediately join the Allied camp, Great Britain will never hand over Gibraltar to Spain for safekeeping in time of war." Then he rambled on about a lot of reasons for not agreeing to hand it over to Spain. , and ended with the words "...I firmly believe that we can hold Gibraltar and use this fortress to thwart the German attack attempts."

Roosevelt frowned. He noticed a wording in the telegram - keep it! This shows that the British still have no desire to give up colonial rule, and do not agree to hand over Gibraltar, a key strategic hub, to others. Thinking about it, Churchill also did not agree to return Hong Kong to China after the war in order to further solicit help from China. He couldn't help but feel a little angry.

"Look, we're trying so hard to figure out a way out for him, but he's so stubborn."

"I don't know what he thinks, but this is obviously not a positive attitude to fight for more power." Hull sighed, "I hope Gibraltar's defense is strong enough to withstand the German onslaught."

"He will pay the price for this." Roosevelt gritted his teeth and picked up the phone. "Get Admiral King and find a way to tell our senior naval officers sent to the UK to reject all orders to rescue Gibraltar - the American people are for Fight to defend freedom, not to defend some country’s colonies!”