Iron Cross

Listening to Admiral Jin talk about the joint military-to-military and military-diplomatic strategy, one feels as if the man in front of him is not the top leader of the navy, but rather the chief of joint staff of the three services - a role that the United States has never had, Li said. The sea will try its best to play it, but it will always be thankless.

"Really need 15 divisions?"

"At least 10 are needed." Admiral Jin counted on his fingers. "It takes 2 divisions to go to Guyana, at least 3-4 divisions to Brazil, 2-3 divisions to land on the Falklands, and then 2-3 divisions to go to Guyana." The reserve force of 1-2 divisions is based on the fact that Germany will not continue to increase its troops.”

"Can the Germans continue to increase their troops?"

"It is not difficult to form 1-2 divisions. We have calculated that if it is a German armored division plus an infantry division, even if it starts from Europe, it will require about 300,000 tons of transportation capacity. Considering that Argentina can provide food, fuel, etc. locally, the Germans It can carry more equipment and logistics supplies, and Hitler can still squeeze out this capacity." Admiral Jin analyzed, "It takes only 2 months to go from Europe to the Falklands, even if it takes the long route around the Suez Canal. Enough. In fact, the German army does not necessarily need to mobilize troops from Europe. After the African campaign, they have many troops in Africa. The distance to transport them to Argentina is only about 2,000 nautical miles more than transporting them back to Germany, so it does not increase the burden. "

Admiral Jin guessed this very accurately. Guderian's Africa Army had about 150,000 troops left after the African campaign. Maintaining such a large force was both wasteful and unnecessary. According to Hoffman's request, a part of the army (about 60,000) and Guderian himself returned to the country, and the defense of parts of Africa was handed over to the Italians. Mussolini happily sent troops to take over Ethiopia and part of Sudan, and the North Sudan was annexed to Egypt and was jointly defended by its national defense forces. Other territories, such as Uganda and part of Zambia, were handed over to the French army. Other undecided territories were left to European countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc. to send expeditionary forces to divide them among themselves. .

Germany will fulfill its promise not to compete with other countries for the remaining African territories, including Rhodesia. In order to reassure other countries that Germany will not be behind the scenes, the German army hastily returned its troops to German East Africa - including Tanganyika, In Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and other places, top leaders of the National Socialist Party were engaged in overt and covert fights for the position of governor-general of German East Africa. Hoffmann had not yet decided who would fill the position. The strategic location of German East Africa was very important. In view of the fact that the complete colonial and governance system was not yet complete, Hoffmann finally considered leaving about 3 divisions and more than 50,000 troops here.

In addition to the start of construction in German East Africa, according to Hoffmann's instructions, the German government released the first batch of about 4,000 Jewish residents who "behaved well, contributed actively, and conscientiously reformed" and about 200 Jewish policemen from the country in advance. Build Jewish settlements in Zambia according to the Zambian plan. The Jews in the settlements were not only able to exercise self-government, but also had lightly armed guards in the form of militia. The German government stated that once such large settlements exceed 20 or the total number of Jewish residents exceeds 50,000, the Jewish state can be officially established. Out of gratitude to the Führer and the German government - I don't know whether it is true or not - in addition to the Jewish six-pointed star flag, the German flag and a large portrait of the Führer can also be seen in the settlement.

According to the "official" statement, these Jews completed their atonement through forced labor and began a new life. This fertile and resource-rich land was a gift from the head of state to the Jewish nation, and the establishment of an independent country was the Jewish nation's desire for thousands of years - for The Zionist Organization itself is debating whether to establish a state in Zambia and is in a state of division.

Although the Jews were submissive and as pure as lambs in front of the iron fist of the Führer, they were extremely ferocious in the face of the black natives. They not only drove away the blacks near the settlements, but also tried to establish an apartheid country like the Boers.

As for the other 30,000 people - mainly the 7th Armored Division and the 92nd Infantry Division, the task assigned to them by Hoffman is to go to South America to carry out the second phase of the "Pearl of Peace" project. Together with the first batch, they have arrived in Argentina. Together with the 2 Marine Brigades on the Falklands, they formed the South American Expeditionary Force. In terms of commander, he rejected numerous recommendations of generals and admirals, promoted Major General Manteuffel, commander of the 7th Armored Division, who had outstanding performance in the African campaign, to one level, and selected him as the commander of the expeditionary force. The entire South American Expeditionary Force Also known as the "Manteuffel Battle Cluster". Although Hoffman wanted to send more troops to South America, the long supply line restricted this idea. The supply of the 30,000 Manteuffel Cluster and the corresponding air force was almost reaching its limit.

After Peron established a stable regime and signed the "Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance", the Manteuffel cluster gathered and prepared to set off - Peron was not stupid at all. He knew what he was doing. Without the strong support of Germany, how could he dare to fight with Germany? Are Britain and the United States challenging each other? How dare you confiscate British and American assets worth billions of dollars? For Argentina, whose total army strength is less than 150,000, once 30,000 German troops, especially an elite armored division, are stationed there, let alone the army strength of Brazil or Chile, there is nothing to be afraid of even 100,000 US troops. ——He had served as a military attaché in Italy, and had witnessed the devastating performance of the German army on the European battlefield, and was quite superstitious about its strength.

Although Admiral King guessed that the Germans still had follow-up forces, he also estimated a reasonable number of people - 1 armored division and 1 infantry division. He even estimated that the Germans did not need to come from Europe, 20,000 miles away, and Africa and Madagascar, 10,000 kilometers away, were sufficient to provide support. However, his judgment in two aspects was still not accurate. First, the Germans did not need 300,000 tons of transportation capacity to transport this amount of troops. In fact, it was not necessary to even reduce it by 20%, because the Germans were not as delicate as the US military, and their armored divisions were not equipped with as many heavy equipment as the US military. Second, the arrival of the German follow-up troops was not the two months he thought, but faster - the reinforcement fleet could depart from Madagascar around October 1.

"How does the Navy plan to deal with this situation? You can't just sit there and do nothing."

"Surface ships are not enough, and air forces can't reach them. The only ones available are probably the submarine forces deployed in South Africa - they can launch a fatal attack on the German army's fragile logistics supply lines." Admiral Jin added, "I want to remind you that in the next 3-4 months, South Africa's shipping and material inputs will be cut off!"

Hearing this, everyone's face suddenly became ugly...