The Rise of the Third Reich

After conversing with Colonel Donovan, the special envoy of the US President, for two hours, Winston Churchill left No. 10 Downing Street gloomily. It's July now, and the weather in London is a bit hot, but not stuffy at all. The sky is full of blue and white clouds, and even the smog that was so popular during the war and can provide air defense is gone.

Fortunately, the Germans did not want to take advantage of the good weather to send planes to drop bombs on London. Even the Italians, who once clamored to avenge the Pope, now have little interest in bombing London. Not only had daytime bombing now completely stopped, there were no Italian planes to drop bombs at night. Because those Italian planes are now sent to Spain to deal with the British fleet trying to approach the Strait of Gibraltar...

I have to say that the originally casual Italians have now become serious and difficult to deal with. According to the report of the new Home Fleet Commander Admiral Somerville (Admiral Tovey retired due to "merit"), the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy fighter jets stationed in Madeira Islands are now unable to defeat the Italian Fokker Zeros. The exchange ratio is usually around 3:1... It takes three British P51s, P40s, Hurricanes or Spitfires to exchange for one Italian Fokker Zero!

The reason for this is not that the performance of the Fokker Zero has suddenly improved significantly, but that the skills of the rookie pilots newly added to the fighter force are getting worse and worse, and they have reached the point where it is difficult to afford combat missions.

Therefore, the Battle of Gibraltar was very difficult. The Grand Fleet simply did not dare to enter the 600 kilometers around the Gibraltar Peninsula during the day, and it was impossible for the fleet to gallop 600 kilometers in one night to fire artillery near Gibraltar, and then gallop 600 kilometers to escape.

Therefore, the plan made before the start of the battle to bombard the German rail gun positions with naval guns could not be implemented at all now. All the British Royal Navy can do is send camouflage cruisers (the British began to refit camouflage cruisers after the failure of the Mediterranean Campaign) to lay mines in the Strait area west of the Gibraltar Peninsula, hoping to deploy 10,000-1.5 million troops in the Strait before the Gibraltar Peninsula falls. Thousands of mines. Use these mines to slightly block the Italian and French fleets from rushing out of the strait.

In addition, the main force of the Home Fleet commanded by Somerville is also attacking the Canary Islands, about 1,000 kilometers away from the Gibraltar Peninsula. This archipelago is about 100 kilometers away from Africa and is theoretically a springboard for future British and American military counterattacks in the Mediterranean. But in fact, Churchill only ordered the capture of the Canary Islands in order to obtain a seemingly good victory and to boost morale that had been depressed due to the fall of Gibraltar Fortress.

However, the process of seizing the islands was not as smooth as expected. The Spanish Air Force stationed on the islands was actually very combat effective. Almost all of their pilots had participated in the Spanish Civil War. They also had BF-117s provided by Germany, and two types of aircraft without large numbers. Equipped with the He-112 and Fokker D.31 of the German Luftwaffe and Naval Aviation.

In particular, the Fokker D.31 aircraft played a great role in the Canary Islands. The air combat performance of this aircraft is unsatisfactory, but it can be used as a fighter-bomber and can carry 250 kilograms of aerial bombs for shallow dive bombing. Although the accuracy of bomb delivery is not as good as that of the Ju88, this aircraft can engage in air combat after dropping bombs, and it is also very sturdy and unlikely to be shot down. This caused a lot of trouble for the British rookie pilots! The deck of the British aircraft carrier HMS "Hundred Eyes" was damaged by bombs dropped by this kind of aircraft, and a 10,000-ton troop carrier was sunk by bombs dropped by D.31, causing thousands of British officers and soldiers to fall into the water. Missing!

However, the Royal Navy of the British Empire finally overcame various difficulties and defeated the ferocious Spanish Air Force - destroying the airport with naval guns! Now that the landing operation has begun, it is estimated that a great and crucial victory will be achieved soon.

Churchill's car arrived at Buckingham Palace, and King George VI, who had a serious stutter, received him in his office. The king looked very melancholy. He had just met with the Russian Queen Olga who was visiting Britain and learned about the "harsh" peace conditions proposed by the Germans.

"They... they want... want a lot!" the king said with difficulty.

"Mr. Prime Minister, the Germans want all of our African territories, as well as Madeira, Socotra, Bermuda, the Bahamas, British Honduras, three Tejas-class aircraft carriers, and... Want me!"

A beautiful girl of fifteen or sixteen years old, dressed like a princess, stood beside the king and helped King George VI tell the German conditions in a very angry tone.

She is the King's eldest daughter, Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen of the British Empire...if the British Empire still has a future.

Princess Elizabeth looked very angry because she and her father also met the visiting Empress Olga (they were relatives). As a result, Olga actually told her a very embarrassing peace condition in front of her... She was going to marry a very fierce German Nazi!

"Your Royal Highness, this is a conspiracy by the German Nazis to rule the world!" Churchill pointed out angrily - this was actually a bad idea from Princess Elizabeth's uncle, the Duke of Windsor.

At this time, George VI felt that his daughter should not be too involved in politics that she could not understand, so he waved his hand and asked the angry Princess Elizabeth to leave the office.

"Conspiracy?" George VI frowned. Of course he knew that his brother wanted to find Elizabeth a German husband named Hohenzollern. In fact, this was a well-matched match. Prince Friedrich was the son of the German Emperor Wilhelm III. The German Emperor Wilhelm III was the grandson of Queen Victoria of England, and now rules the most powerful empire in the world.

"Yes," Churchill said, "The Nazis wanted to use dynastic marriages to control Britain, and then use Queen Olga as a puppet to destroy and annex the Soviet Union!"

"Destroy...and annex the Soviet Union?" George VI didn't quite understand.

"Yes!" Churchill nodded, "According to reliable information, Archduchess Kira, the wife of German Crown Prince Ferdinand, is the heir to Empress Olga and the future Empress of Russia. If the Russian Empire is restored with the military support of Germany, then in the future The German Emperor will be able to concurrently serve as the Russian Tsar...Russia and Germany will eventually merge into one!"

King George VI was stunned again and again. This thing sounded like a routine from two hundred years ago.

"Should we...should we refuse peace talks?" asked George VI.

"No," Churchill shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, we should negotiate with the Germans!"

"What?" George VI looked at Churchill, "Is it difficult? Could it be that... we can no longer fight?"

"Your Majesty, the current situation is very difficult, but the Americans will eventually join." Churchill said, "However, it will take time for the United States to join. They are still preparing for war, which may take several months. Before that, we should use peace talks Delay for a while... As long as we can delay the autumnal equinox, Germany will not be able to attack our homeland for the time being. "

Once the autumnal equinox passes, the climate in the English Channel is no longer suitable for forced crossing. Moreover, the nighttime conditions in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Denmark Strait will become very poor, and the sea conditions will be very bad, making them no longer suitable for aircraft carriers and aircraft activities.

"If you delay...after the autumnal equinox...will things turn around?"

Churchill nodded and promised: "Your Majesty, there will definitely be a turn for the better!"

King George VI thought for a while and said: "Okay... okay, I... we will talk to them."

Churchill immediately said: "Your Majesty, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs should be responsible for peace negotiations."

King George VI nodded and agreed to Churchill's request. Now the British constitutional system is very mature. As King George VI, he nominally has full power (in wartime according to the Defense Act), but the actual power still has to be handed over to the cabinet.

Churchill was relieved. After all, the Defense Bill was authorized to the king. If George VI wanted to participate in the peace talks, the cabinet would be unstoppable. Who knows whether the king would be persuaded in the end? After all, his brother, the Duke of Windsor, advocates peace...

…

On the British side, Churchill took control of the negotiations in a few words. On the German side, Reich Marshal Hersmann was also stepping up his efforts to undermine the peace movement.

Three days after he attended the Kaiser's coronation ceremony, he met with Oshima Hiroshi and Genda Minoru again at the General Staff Headquarters in Zosen. They also gave them the final timetable for the start of the war!

"We are negotiating with Britain now!" Hessmann told the two men straight to the point. "Peace is possible. If you don't hurry up, you will miss the opportunity! Once His Majesty the Emperor decides to armistice with Britain, you will There is no chance to go south to expand the sphere of influence.

Because once we have an armistice with Britain, you will not be allowed to occupy the Dutch East Indies again! Because we are very close friends with the Netherlands. And our relationship with the UK is likely to transform into an alliance. If you choose to go south after an armistice is achieved in Europe, then you will likely fight the British and German combined fleets! "

Hersman looked at the two stunned Japanese with a very cold look and said: "You must make a decision before October whether to go south, and the time to launch the war cannot be later than December 31, 1941. Otherwise, you must make a decision before October. Everything will change! If you decide to go to war before October, we will provide you with assistance as much as possible and persuade the Netherlands to hand over the Dutch East Indies (will use South Africa as compensation)."