The Third Reich in Desperation

"The countries allied to the Soviet Union can provide a large amount of cheap labor, and at the same time can greatly improve the geostrategic situation of the empire."

"There are also Baku oil-producing areas in the Soviet Union, and ores in the Caucasus... We will have inexhaustible and inexhaustible rich resources within a hundred years!"

"Then, we can spend it with any other country in the world. Because we will have more capital and wealth than any country outside the alliance, any alliance outside the alliance!"

"At that time, let alone the United States, even Japan, which is now in full swing, can be eliminated together. What's more, there will be a full-scale war between the United States and Japan soon!"

US and Japan at war? !

Keitel was surprised again by the words of the head of state.

"My head of state..." Keitel became more and more shocked, and asked Reinhard hesitantly: "The US government has always adhered to the policy of neutrality, and Japan's military power has been severely restrained in Asia. From this From the perspective of both countries, it seems unlikely that they will go to war with the other side."

"So it's up to us." Reinhardt said with a playful smile: "We have to help them create an opportunity to go to war. For example, defeat the United Kingdom as soon as possible to make the Japanese jealous, and then successfully counterattack the Soviet Union and relieve the Japanese Kwantung Army. The pressure on the head."

"In particular, the sooner we completely defeat Britain, the less the Japanese Navy's mission will be reduced," Reinhardt emphasized.

Faced with the head of state's sudden reduction of the burden on the Japanese army, Keitel was a little confused.

The outside world may not be clear, but it is no secret that the head of state hates Japan at the top of the German army.

Will the head of state kindly help the Japanese army?Which year is this a joke! ?

Sure enough, Reinhard immediately continued speaking.

"Think about it, without the naval squadron of the British Empire as an opponent, which country is left that can still be targeted by the Japanese navy in the entire Atlantic?"

Reinhardt smiled with great interest: "The Japanese navy has the third largest strength in the world, second only to us and the United States. And our navy is completely out of touch with them. The Japanese navy, which has always been at odds with the army, has to establish If you don’t lose to the army’s meritorious service, which country can you use your knife on?”

Body 662 Battle of London

When the Duke of Hamilton was alone and picked up by a transport plane sent by Germany, the situation on the north bank of the Thames was already bad enough.

Lord Gort promoted some army officers, promoted them by one or two ranks on average, and then placed them in the National Guard to command larger units.

Regarding these promoted officers, Gott said that he is completely optimistic about them, and hopes that they will continue to work hard in their new positions, continue to display the spirit of not being afraid of death, and being a responsible and responsible cannon fodder.

Hamilton had heard a rumored story of a National Guardsman asking his new army chief: "May I ask this fight, are we going to be here long?"

"The Prime Minister ordered that we stand to the last man." The officer, to the soldiers of the National Guard.

Finally, the soldier lamented, "Oh, so it won't be long."

Although this is just a cold joke, it reflects the morale of the British troops stationed on the north bank of the Thames.

In addition to the British army, the 2 troops left by the Free French on the Thames were all old, weak, sick and disabled.De Gaulle pulled all the main forces to station on the Isle of Man.All that remained in London were those troops which he had not been able to take with him.

As long as it is a normal commander, he will choose to take away the better troops and leave the worst troops as supplementary troops that cannot be taken away.

This also led to the fact that the combat effectiveness of the 2 Free French Army on the north bank of the Thames was not much higher than that of the National Guard, and its defense was extremely fragile.

There is no doubt that this is a line of defense made of paper.

It seems that the British and French allied forces used the Thames River to establish a natural defense line, relying on the dangerous terrain to blow up bridges and garrison.

But in fact, both Gott and de Gaulle have transported their elite troops away.Before the defense of London started, the top leaders of Britain and Free France were ready to abandon the capital.

Of course, Churchill's slogan of vowing to live and die with London still rings in my ears.But the only ones who really believe that London can hold on are the ignorant civilians who can't be more ignorant.

To a certain extent, how long London can hold on depends on how much time the Duke of Hamilton can delay under the guise of peaceful negotiations.

After all, London's Thames River defense line is full of loopholes, and the most obvious big mistake alone has already accounted for three major points!

One is a strategic error.After the outbreak of the Anglo-German War, Churchill realized that Britain's war against the Allied Powers could only be a war of attrition, but the strategic principle he put forward was to fight defensively.Before the Battle of London, the British army concentrated its forces in Greenwich, a suburb of London, for passive defense, sticking to the wild as if waiting to die.

And when the German army entered the city of London, the London garrison was ordered by Gott to not take the initiative to attack, but to adopt the bad strategy of dividing troops and guarding. Each unit was responsible for a wide frontal defense, lacking in-depth equipment and insufficient preparation Team.When the Germans attacked, they concentrated their tanks and focused on one point under the opening of the artillery and planes, causing the British troops to be beaten passively everywhere.In the fierce battle, some troops proposed a plan to take the initiative to attack, but they were not approved.

For example, a main regiment of the British Army guarding Shawhot Square once suggested to the London City Defense Command that when the German army was besieging the flanking National Guards, they should take advantage of the opportunity of the German army's large-scale offensive to concentrate all the mobile forces of the British Army. , Take the initiative to attack the garrison of the three-nation coalition forces of Germany, France and Norway, and threaten the enemy's rear to gain the initiative.

However, this surprisingly successful battle plan was not approved because Gott was determined to evacuate London and did not want to make mistakes, which made the main positions in south London even more critical.

This kind of strategic thinking mistake of not focusing on fighting the London Defense War because he wanted to escape to the island of Ireland has been implemented throughout the entire London Defense War.

The second is the gap in military power.When Greenwich first fell, the total strength of the troops staying in London was about 19, but a large part of them were incomplete troops that had just been withdrawn from the Greenwich battlefield. There were very few regular British Army soldiers, and most of the National Guards were untrained. Didn't even fire a gun.

According to the statistics of the chief of staff in Gort's command: Among the London defenders, combat soldiers who can directly fight the enemy accounted for only 30%, and the militiamen accounted for nearly 70% of the National Guard.

Moreover, the British army lost most of the heavy weapons and equipment in Dunkirk before, and then lost a small part of the remaining heavy weapons and equipment along the coast of the English Channel.As a result, the artillery they can still collect now is not even as strong as an integrated artillery regiment of the German army.

When the war burned to the south bank of the River Thames, the Royal Air Force's fighter planes were also completely lost, and the few remaining fighter planes had also been transferred to the airport in Northern Ireland to avoid the battle.

As for the home fleet of the British Royal Navy, almost all the main ships were blown up, and the remaining patrol fleet has withdrawn to various ports on the island of Ireland, and is also avoiding the battle.

The Allied Powers expedition to Britain consisted of 21 divisions plus a strengthened Norwegian combat unit. Now, except for the 7 German divisions that were transferred back to China as the first batch, the remaining 14 divisions are still in combat, with a total strength of more than 15. Ten thousand people are the main combat troops of various countries, and most of them are composed of well-trained veterans with strong combat effectiveness.

In addition, the Allied forces also have obvious advantages in weapons and equipment. During combat, they have heavy weapons and equipment such as diving tanks and artillery, and they also have bombing support from aircraft.

Especially the troops sent by Vichy France and Norway are basically the elite divisions in their country.

Finally, there are deficiencies in fortifications.

Although the fortifications in the outskirts of London have been in operation for more than a year, most of them do not meet the actual combat requirements.Some of the reinforced concrete fortifications built on the positions in the Greenwich area were even buried with soil, and some bunkers still had the problem that the doors could not be opened.And those temporarily built machine gun bunkers have large holes, which are easy to be discovered by the enemy and then concentrate their firepower to destroy them.Although the fortifications located in the outskirts are constructed of reinforced concrete, they are exposed and densely packed in a small area, which is completely impractical.

To make matters worse, most of the troops Gott used on the defense line were the worst such troops.

These British and French soldiers with the lowest combat effectiveness were treated as abandoned sons, cannon fodder, and consumables from the very beginning.

The most important thing is that due to the hasty deployment, the London City Defense Command did not distribute fortification distribution maps to all the National Guard troops. In addition, it is difficult to find the fortifications and a large number of residential buildings mixed together, so some troops are here. On the ground of several square kilometers, I was tired of running around looking for fortifications.

However, the National Self-Defense Forces had a chaotic organization and it was difficult to count, so they had to fill in front of the defense line one by one.

As a result, the Thames River defense line became a piece of garbage defense line made of paper, and no one had any hope for him.

Text 663 Unintentional Peace Talks

"Dear German Head of State, the conditions you offer are simply impossible to be accepted by our government!"

If you want to ask what is the feeling of being unable to fight and not being able to kill the other party, then the Duke of Hamilton, the British negotiating ambassador, is in this state now.

The so-called non-speculation is more than half a sentence, and Reinhardt obviously has no intention of peace talks. This can be easily seen from the terms of the peace talks he set for Hamilton.

Unlike Hitler's previous desperate advocacy that the Saxons and Germans were a family that loved each other, Reinhardt, the head of the Third Reich, never regarded the British as an ally that he could join forces with the Soviet Union.

Generally speaking, both parties to peace negotiations will offer a relatively high condition at the beginning to bargain.This point is nothing new.

The point is that the horse that Reinhardt offered this time is no longer a problem that can be solved by bargaining!

When the Duke of Hamilton arrived in Berlin and finally met the head of the Third Reich, and claimed that he hoped for peace talks, Reinhardt did not hesitate to open his own peace terms.