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Text Chapter 963 The situation has changed

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    In early November 1940, the entire world was echoing Washington's declaration of war.  From Beijing to London, the eyes of the world are slowly moving along with the Stars and Stripes.  Roosevelt was obviously very well prepared for this day. Just two days after the United States declared war, Brazil and Mexico announced that they would join the alliance. The American Alliance also issued a statement hoping to restore peace. Even Manuel, the former Philippine president in exile in the United States.  -Quezondu was pulled out and declared war on the three countries in the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the Republic of the Philippines.

    At the same time, the Atlantic Fleet aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, battleship USS New York and USS Texas, along with four cruisers, 45 merchant ships and 50 old destroyers from the last European War, sailed from the Chesapeake  Bay and stationed at the Portsmouth base in the UK, which will be handed over to the Royal Navy.  The huge American fleet shocked the Atlantic Ocean, especially the fifty destroyers, which made Redel nervous all over.  But he didn't know that Churchill actually pinched his nose and swallowed this deal.  After originally exchanging jurisdiction over the Chagos Islands and Kuwait for China's territorial sea-class frigates, the British Royal Navy no longer wanted these old warships. However, Roosevelt linked this deal to the United States' declaration of war, and the Soviet Union's sale to Germany.  Only then did they bite the bullet and use eight islands and eight air force bases in the Atlantic Ocean to buy these old warships.

    Even Churchill found this transaction disgusting, because Yang Qiu was quite sincere. At least the two dozen frigates sold were equipped with sonar and anti-submarine weapons. The fifty destroyers provided by the United States, not to mention sonar, even had depth bombs.  They are all temporarily installed  "Come on, you are already betraying your country anyway, and you don't need more selling points. The British Empire has a strong family background. No matter how much I mess up, I will not be able to mess up the most important India and South Africa." Churchill laughed at himself while actively stationing the US military.  prepare for.  In order to please Roosevelt, he first removed most of the pictorials that originally filled the streets with China and Britain working together to fight against the enemy, and replaced them with posters showing Uncle Sam wearing a stars-and-stripes hat shaking hands with British children. Then he opened bases and built military camps in the mainland and Casablanca.  The establishment of a dedicated office also required the War Department to be prepared to receive American soldiers.

    Although Beijing is somewhat dissatisfied with this snobbish approach, it is normal.  Apart from a small number of air service regiments to assist Britain, all China can bring to Britain is morale and weapons, while what the United States can bring is super industrial capabilities and millions of troops armed to the teeth.

    Which one is more importantDon't you understand, Fatty Qiu?

    In the end, he ignored the hungry citizens at home and transported the first batch of 100,000 tons of oil, 50,000 tons of wheat, and a large amount of other materials sent by the United States in accordance with the Lend-Lease Act to La Coruna.  Leave it to Franco.  There is no way, in order to prevent Spain from falling to Hitler, and for the sake of Gibraltar, the people in the country continue to be hungry.

    Roosevelt¡¯s declaration of war indeed shocked the world. Even Yang Qiu admitted that it was far more sensational than the Cairo Declaration signed by China and Britain at that time!  This also caused many countries to have careful thoughts. De Gaulle began to strike a balance between China, the United States and Britain.  Trying to get the maximum benefit from the three countries.

    Of course Hitler was furious and thought of an important question that he had never seriously thought about before Where are his allies?

    Ribbentrop "saved" the Reich Foreign Ministry. Less than seventy-two hours after the United States declared war, it formally signed an alliance agreement with Italy and Japan in Berlin.  It also brought Romania, Hungary and Slovakia into the mix.  But what makes Germany angry is that Moscow, which had previously taken the initiative to sign a military alliance agreement, suddenly changed its mind.  Because there was no news about the Soviet Union in the U.S. declaration of war, Stalin was full of illusions again

    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of you when we¡¯re empty!¡± The Axis Group was finally established, but Hitler, who learned that Moscow was wavering, was not happy.  But now he also knows that he missed the opportunity.  I could only endure the toothache and decided to wait until the US military arrived.  First hit Britain hard.  The F¨¹hrer was troubled, so Goering of course had to step forward and immediately organize the largest bombing group since the beginning of the war, targeting Coventry, northwest of London, the British tank and aircraft manufacturing base.

    At 7 o'clock in the evening on November 14, the first batch of 118 German bombers visited Coventry, which had a population of only 250,000.  Historically, Churchill knew in advance that the Germans were going to bomb Coventry, but in order to keep the top-secret "Super Decoder", he could only watch the city being destroyed in pain.  But this time, the development of the decoder had just made progress, so he had no idea.  In the end, during the seven-hour bombing, tens of thousands of houses were reduced to ashes, and the entire city became a silent tomb.

    Before Churchill could wipe away his tears, more serious bad news came from Alexandria!

    After breaking up with Zhu Binhou, Cunningham has been looking for opportunities to continue attacking the remaining two Italian battleships.  Because he failed to return in time, he was sneaked into the empty sea near Alexandria by an Italian submarine.  On the night when he returned with his fleet, the Italian Navy frogmen operatedThe "Pig" manual torpedo used the fleet's track as it entered the port to follow behind and avoid the anti-submarine net, and then attached four "Pig" warheads to the battleship Warspite, the battleship Malaya, the aircraft carrier Glory and London.  On the heavy cruiser No. 1. Since the British sailors were celebrating the victory of Taranto at the time, they did not notice the action at all. As a result, all four warships were bombed and sunk

    ??It doesn¡¯t matter if it only loses four warships. As long as the U.S. Atlantic Fleet shakes its sleeves, it can be replenished within a few days.  But the problem is, before Cunningham could react, the enraged old fox Campioni suddenly appeared with two surviving Andrea Doria-class battleships, three heavy cruisers and nineteen destroyers.  In Malta.  Twenty 320mm main guns, carrying the fury of the Italian Navy, tilted seven hundred shells towards Malta!  Before the British battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Avenger stationed in Gibraltar arrived, two thousand Italian airborne troops and five thousand Italian troops launched a fierce attack on Malta, trying to seize the island of Malta

    Cunningham didn¡¯t expect that!  Churchill didn¡¯t expect that!  Yang Qiu didn¡¯t expect it!  Not even Hitler thought of it!  Mussolini actually had the guts to attack Malta alone.  Due to lack of preparation, only 4,000 British troops were stationed on the island of Malta.  The Italian army, who thought they were easy to bully, was attacked head-on. The tenacious British soldiers used fortress artillery to continuously fight back. On the contrary, the Italian army lacked fighting spirit and entered the battle in a hurry, so it was quickly defeated.  The Italian paratroopers who finally landed on the island were even more miserable.  As many as two hundred people fell to their deaths due to the wrong wind direction when airborne.

    This news scared Hitler to death!  Unexpectedly, Mussolini actually bypassed him and went to attack Malta by himself.  Isn't this just a warning?  !  If Cunningham strengthens his defense, wouldn't his Mediterranean be doomed?  So he received the news and asked the air force to attack overnight to help Italy capture Malta.  Although it was rushed into battle, the German army had studied China's Guam campaign in detail and conducted extensive training on Malta after proposing the Greater Mediterranean Plan as early as September.

    The elite German airborne troops set off from Paris.  Then refuel at Rome airport before finally flying to Malta.  It is unimaginable that even Yang Qiu would not dare to ask the airborne troops to carry out airborne operations after flying for several hours continuously. The previous Guam landings were only airborne rather than airborne!  And because of the rush.  The German army only had a small amount of heavy equipment, most of which was still being transported overnight by train. The gliders transporting heavy equipment were still in Paris and had not yet taken off.  When the German paratroopers appeared in the sky over Malta, it was no surprise that they suffered heavy losses.  However, adversity inspired the German army's will to fight. The first batch of more than 2,000 paratroopers who successfully landed on the island blocked two waves of British encirclement and suppression.  In order to cover the airborne troops, Hitler, G?ring and Raeder personally called Mussoniri three times in a row and asked the Italian air force in Sardinia to use all its strength to block the British fleet coming from Gibraltar.

    The Battle of Gibraltar broke out suddenly without warning.  It was probably because Taranto unleashed Italy's real firepower that the Sardinian Air Force and Campioni's fleet blocked the reinforcements headed by two British battleships. More than twenty JU87s rushed in from Germany also exploded.  Damaging Queen Elizabeth forced the two battleships to retreat.  As more and more German planes arrived.  Cunningham, who had lost three battleships and one aircraft carrier in a few days, had no choice but to ask Zhu Binhou for help again.  But on the day he learned that Alexandria was attacked, Zhu Binhou simply did not even return to Djibouti.  Went directly to Somalia to support the Horn of North Africa.  So after receiving the request for help, he just pretended to send three destroyers to help The anxious Cunningham almost wanted to drag out the two Anhai-class battleships being maintained in the Alexandria dock.

    Although Britain continues to use transport aircraft to increase its troops.  However, as more and more German aircraft arrived in Sicily, air superiority was gradually controlled by the German army.  In just a few days, the total strength of both sides increased to 40,000. The German army alone invested 10,000 airborne troops and 8,000 mountain infantry. Italy also gritted its teeth and invested 10,000 soldiers.  By November 27, Campioni's fleet finally destroyed the British position in Mellieha Bay with the help of German dive bombers. Three thousand German army soldiers landed here with a large amount of heavy equipment.

    Knowing that he was almost in trouble, Mussonili also added another 20,000 troops, and also brought several fortress guns and a large amount of cement building materials.  Finally, after thirteen days of hand-to-hand fighting, the German-Italian forces finally captured the island of Malta, which guarded the throat of the Mediterranean Sea, at the cost of losing 412 aircraft, three destroyers, four submarines, and more than 8,000 soldiers.

    When the news came out, Churchill was worried about the death of his heir. Even Roosevelt was alarmed and asked the navy to immediately support the British Mediterranean Fleet.

    The battleship USS New York, the battleship USS Texas, and the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, which arrived in Portsmouth shortly after, had to make an emergency departure to Alexandria to take over Cunningham's garrison.  However, the U.S. Navy, which participated in the war for the first time, obviously underestimated the strength of the German Air Force. Just as the fleet passed Malta, it was suddenly intercepted by more than 60 German aircraft.  Although the American pilots resisted vigorously, they and the German veteransThe comparison is really too young, and the F4F carrier-based fighter is not as good as the BF109C in terms of speed and comprehensive capabilities. What's more, the German army also dispatched the FW190 to participate in the war for the first time.  In the end, the Yorktown aircraft carrier had to withdraw to command Gibraltar because its deck was hit by a bomb and caught fire. The two battleships that luckily passed through were too scared to retreat after arriving in Alexandria.

    Sea power in the Mediterranean has temporarily fallen into the hands of the Axis powers.

    Yang Qiu was shocked when he heard the news. He did not expect that the Battle of Malta would break out in this way.  But I have to admit that luck is indeed still on Germany's side.  If Cunningham hadn't lost three battleships in one night, and if Mussolini hadn't randomly grabbed credit, Hitler might have faced the island of Malta where tens of thousands of British and American troops were stationed.

    However, after suffering a hidden loss, he no longer wants to worry about the Mediterranean for the time being. His focus is still on the Soviet Union and Japan!

    In order to prevent Stalin and Roosevelt from flirting with each other, on November 18, just four days after the bombing of Coventry, the Chinese Air Force concentrated 527 H-7 long-range bombers and set off from Urgench in Turkmenistan to attack the Georgian Air Force for the first time.  Bilisi carried out massive night bombings.  Compared with Coventry, this bombing was larger and more destructive.  In the same seven-hour bombing, the Chinese Air Force dropped a total of 2,600 tons of new aluminum-magnesium hybrid high-explosive incendiary bombs at the cost of 41 aircraft!  According to post-war statistics, new explosives killed more than 5,000 people and injured more than 20,000 people. More than 30,000 houses and buildings were collapsed or burned. No living and industrial facilities, including power plants, were spared, and some were shot down.  More than 70 Soviet aircraft of various types destroyed seven oil depots and ammunition depots.

    Five days later, the last bombing after the winter in Central Asia fell on the Ural Industrial Zone.  A total of 1,862 bombers departed from Petropavlovsk, Chelinograd (today's Asnata) and Alkalyk, taking advantage of the Soviet army's lack of radar and night fighters to attack Chelyabinsk.  , Yekaterinburg launched a major bombing code-named "Winter Thunder".  The entire bombing process was originally intended to last ten days, but was reduced to six days due to snowfall.  Although it was shortened by four days, the bombing still destroyed 100,000 buildings of various types and killed and injured more than 80,000 people. However, it also lost 212 aircraft of various types, setting the largest number of losses in a single battle since the war began.

    For Moscow, the loss of manpower, buildings and factories is secondary. What really made Stalin uneasy was that the accuracy of the Chinese Air Force during the entire bombing process was simply outrageous!  Even many mines hidden in the mountains have not escaped!  This had to remind him of Ivan Mir and Kuibyshev who had escaped and were still missing.  If they hadn't leaked the industrial plan, how could the Chinese Air Force have found sparsely populated mining areas at night in an environment of more than 20 degrees below zero?

    As the most important industrial base in the Second Five-Year Plan of the Soviet Union, the Ural Industrial Zone with Orenburg, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg as its core suffered heavy losses in this bombing. The entire Soviet industry  Ability reduced by 20%!

    Faced with an almost irresistible and ferocious air offensive, Stalin could only order to use winter to completely evacuate the Ural Industrial Zone and move it to the more distant Moscow region.

    In the last years of 1940, things were changing.  As the United States declared war, the war slowly entered its most brutal stage.  (To be continued)
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