The Third Reich in Desperation

They thought that the quality of the gun oil sold by the head of state was not very good, so they changed the gun oil for the new gun on their own initiative.Unexpectedly, it was actually the head of state who had already considered the temperature factor that they had ignored, so he chose that kind of gun oil! 46

Main text Chapter 233 Competing for Navia

On November 1939, 11, while the Finnish Defense Forces were fighting with the Soviet Army, the British Army and the German Army, which Finland placed high hopes on for help, each had their own little calculations.

In London, England, the important information brought back by Times reporter George was sent to the war cabinet, causing a storm.

This information, apparently deliberately leaked by the Soviet Union, shows that the battleship "Peter the Great" that left a deep impression on the British Empire actually came out of a German dock.

An advanced battleship independently produced by the Soviet Union will not make the British Empire feel really threatened, at most it is a disease of scabies.After all, it was not easy geographically for the Soviet navy to cross the Baltic Sea, cross the Skagerrak Strait, and finally engage the British fleet.

But if the "Peter the Great" was produced in Germany, the threat would be great!

First of all, this shows that the Germans did not give up the development of the navy as it appeared on the surface.At least, they already have shipbuilding technology no less than that of the British Royal Navy!If they really do not intend to challenge the power of the Royal Navy as stated in the statement, why should they develop such powerful warship technology?

And if the German navy had a large number of powerful warships like the "Peter the Great", the threat to the British home fleet would be obvious.At least geographically, the "meeting" between the German Navy and the British Royal Navy was much easier.

On the other hand, the fact that the Soviet fleet has advanced German-made battleships is enough to show that there is a certain interest relationship between the German government and the Soviets.

One is a country declared war by the British and French allied forces, and the other is a socialist country that is ideologically opposed to Britain and France.If the relationship between the two is too good, it is not good news for Britain.

"Gentlemen! We can't continue to sit still." Churchill, who has been in trouble recently, looked around the crowd and took the lead in proposing: "Instead of hoping that the Soviet Union will not join hands with Germany to deal with us after defeating Finland, it is better to take the initiative. Create a situation in our favor."

Looking at Churchill, who has become more and more powerful recently, Chamberlain, who is still sitting as the British Prime Minister, feels sore in his heart, and the expression on his face is not very good-looking: "I don't think the Germans will sincerely cooperate with the Soviets. On the contrary, I feel that this Finnish war is more like the Soviet government alone, and has little to do with Germany. Besides..."

"We can no longer do things based on our feelings!" Churchill presumptuously interrupted Chamberlain, the imperial prime minister, and stared at him conceitedly: "The biggest difference between you and me is that you always rely on the Germans to make choices that are beneficial to us. , and I set out to create a better situation on my own. Since your way of doing things has caused serious harm, I personally think that it is time to change the way!"

"Not bad! You can't be passive anymore."

"The former British Empire has always been manipulating others and adjudicating the situation in Europe. None of this can be achieved by waiting!"

"Take the initiative! Reshape the former glory......."

A group of admiralty generals who had already agreed to support Churchill firmly, all raised their voices for Churchill.

Churchill interrupted forcefully, and the high-profile voices of the generals made Chamberlain stunned for a while.

But before he could react and reorganize his words, Fatty Qiu spoke again.

"As one of the two permanent members of the League of Nations, the British Empire is obliged to rescue Finland, which is being invaded by the Soviet army. In addition, I suggest that France, which is also a permanent member of the Council, form a capable and powerful expeditionary force by way of Norway and Sweden on the Navia Peninsula are stationed in the territory of Finland to fight with the Finnish army."

Form an expeditionary force again? !

Chamberlain was a little surprised by what Churchill said.The 10-division expeditionary force sent to France is already the vast majority of the main force in the British mainland.It can be said that almost all the elite British troops have now been transported to French territory.Now to form a new expeditionary force, the quality can only reach mediocre.

This is not what Chamberlain is most worried about. With a sigh, he raised his head worriedly, and met Churchill's fanatical eyes: "We can form an expeditionary force, but we can work on an expedition and go all the way to Finland. The preparations here The work cannot be resolved in a short period of time. Besides, Norway and Sweden are sovereign countries that strictly abide by neutrality. Asking them to allow the expeditionary force to pass through is really..."

yes!The two Nordic countries have never liked to intervene in European wars.A group of generals who had previously shouted at the rhythm of Churchill realized that there was a big problem with the plan of their Secretary of the Navy. What if the other two countries did not allow the expeditionary force to use it?

After waving his hand, Churchill sneered meaningfully: "Allow? Of course they won't allow it. All I want is to be rejected by them!"

Hearing this, Chamberlain took a deep breath: "Don't tell me you want..."

A crazy idea appeared in Chamberlain's mind.To be honest, he was very reluctant to believe that Churchill would think so.But in fact, things seemed to be developing in the direction he least expected.

"What you should consider is not what I think, but what the German head of state thinks!" Although Reinhardt made many ironic jokes, Churchill finally calmed down and weighed it again, and still felt that this person would not As harmless as it looks on the surface.

In Churchill's eyes, the threat of the German head of state has always existed.If he really does not do business all day long as he appears in the public news, how can he explain the horrible development of Germany in the past 20 years?

"Führer of Germany, you mean Reinhard Heydrich?" Obviously Chamberlain was not as optimistic about the German head of state he had dealt with as Churchill: "What can he come up with?"

"Didn't you find out that those aspects that he doesn't care about and never intervene are all developing in a direction that is beneficial to Germany. Even if he doesn't care, Germany will benefit!"

Churchill immediately analyzed it for the Prime Minister based on his own point of view: "Why did Germany ignore the Soviet-Finnish war, and still have the mind to organize some entertainment parades? The root cause is the interests. We have declared war on Germany on the Western Front. It will inevitably cause them to withdraw a large number of troops on the Eastern Front. At this time, if the Soviet Army, which poses a threat to Germany on the Eastern Front, goes north and fights with the Finnish troops, then Germany’s military pressure on the Eastern Front will be greatly reduced.”

"According to what you said, the Germans are happy to see the Soviet Union and Finland entangled, and hope that the Finnish army can last as long as possible." Chamberlain nodded, which was regarded as an approval of Churchill's preliminary analysis.

"Yes!" Churchill replied without doubt: "I guess, the German government is calm on the surface, and even found time to hold a large-scale entertainment parade. Its real purpose may be to cover up their secret support to Finland. According to the available information Look, the Germans seem to have a certain degree of friendly cooperation with the Soviet Union, and they are unwilling to offend the Soviet Union. However, they don’t want the Soviet Union to win the Finnish battlefield quickly, so they secretly help the Finnish army.”

This is the first time Chamberlain has heard this kind of analysis. Although it is a bit bizarre, it is also completely logical.

In order to divert the attention of the League of Nations, the Soviet Union disclosed to the British reporter George the collusion between the Germans and them, trying to let the capitalist countries such as Britain and France deal with Germany first.On the surface, the German head of state pretended to be very unscrupulous, but secretly provided various assistance for the Finnish and Soviet troops in combat.

If this is the case, then these two seemingly incompatible countries are cooperating secretly while plotting against each other secretly.

Thinking of this, Chamberlain breathed a sigh of relief.The enemy is not monolithic, which is good news. 46

Main text Chapter 234 Competing for Navia

wrong!That would be unreasonable.

Germany hopes that Finland can drag the Soviet Union as much as possible, so why does Britain send an expeditionary force to help the Germans work?

After sorting out his thoughts, Chamberlain looked at Churchill suspiciously and said, "Since you have analyzed this far, why do you still advocate sending an expeditionary force to support Finland? Isn't this going against the interests of the British Empire?"

"That's why I said, don't keep thinking about what I think, and analyze what the Germans want as much as possible." Churchill spread his hands, and reminded the belated Chamberlain with some helplessness: "Of course we won't Satisfy German interests with the blood of British soldiers, on the contrary, we have to thwart the Germans as much as possible!"

Thwart the Germans?The more Chamberlain was reminded by Churchill, the more confused he became. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that sending an expeditionary force was helping Germany. How could he stop it?

Looking at the incomprehensible Chamberlain, Churchill finally understood why he was played around by Reinhardt before.With such an IQ, how could it be the evil, insidious, cunning and insidious opponent of Reinhardt in his mind.

"Didn't you say it yourself before, Norway and Sweden will not allow the expeditionary forces to settle down on their land." Churchill didn't bother to play tricks with a person with a low IQ, so he simply described his plan in one breath: "Finland, we naturally They will not really rescue them, but use this name to send troops to occupy Norway’s ports and iron mines, and use this to deter Sweden and prohibit them from exporting iron ore to Germany.”

Germany is a resource-poor country.The main sources of iron ore are the Ruhr industrial area and Sweden.Although Reinhardt imported a large amount of iron ore reserves before the war, but if he relied on the pre-war reserves alone, he would be empty sooner or later.

Historically, 1500 million tons of the 1100 million tons of iron ore consumed by Germany during the war were imported from Sweden.

Therefore, Swedish iron ore is very important to Germany.Without Swedish iron ore, there would be no German armored forces.

In winter, the iron ore will be transported by rail to the Norwegian port of Narvik, and then shipped to Germany, the entire route happens to be within Norwegian territorial waters.Once the war breaks out, German merchant ships need to sail freely in the territorial waters of neutral Norway to get important supplies.

From this point of view, Norway's neutrality is actually a disguised form of support for Germany.

It was precisely because of this that Churchill and the generals of the Admiralty made a plan to stop the German ships in Narvik Bray, and then sent troops to seize Narvik.Finally, use this as a base to seize another channel for German iron ore transportation, Luleou Port.

"No! Absolutely not!" Chamberlain, who has always been in the dovish camp, shook his head violently: "The price of launching a war against a neutral country is too high. Especially since we are still a permanent member of the League of Nations, we must not commit such violations of the League of Nations." Come to the purpose."

The dignified Prime Minister of the British Empire is actually so sticky about small matters, so cunning and indecisive, he does great things without sacrificing his life!

Churchill couldn't believe that someone like Chamberlain could sit in the position of prime minister for so many years. He really deserves it?

"It's not difficult." After all, the other party is still the prime minister, and Churchill can only follow the advice: "We responded to Finland's request and sent troops to defend Finland's independence as representatives of the League of Nations. If the Norwegian government does not agree, We can hold high the banner of rescue Finland and forcibly "borrow". And this process of forcibly borrowing is the process of our occupation of Norway!"

"But we can't form a strong expeditionary force in a short period of time. What if our last army fails to occupy Norway? Then we will be accused of violating neutral countries for nothing!" Chamberlain still couldn't feel relieved.

After all, Norway and Sweden have formed horns, abiding by the principle of neutrality and always guarding against enemies outside the Navia Peninsula.In other words, the defense center of the Norwegian army is only along the coast.As for the border with Sweden on the road, only a symbolic small number of border patrol forces need to be retained.

Then, in order to capture Norway, the British army must win at least one landing battle and gain a foothold in a certain coastal area of ​​Norway.But the risk of the landing battle was too great, and the British army could not produce an elite force to carry out the landing battle, so how could Chamberlain rest assured.