The Rise of the Third Reich

On the morning of April 17, 1942, the pro-German Joseph Kennedy, who had only been re-activated by Roosevelt as ambassador to Berlin in December 1941, reluctantly arrived at the magnificent German diplomacy with a freshly printed ultimatum. Ministry Building.

As a descendant of an Irish Catholic and a father who had fled to the United States to work as a child laborer due to the famine in Ireland, Joseph Kennedy did not have the slightest fondness for Britain. When he became the ambassador to the United Kingdom, he advocated "selling out" the United Kingdom. As a result, he was dismissed by the pro-British Roosevelt. Until the end of December 1941, in order to temporarily stabilize Germany, Roosevelt sent this pro-German Irishman as ambassador to Germany.

And Kennedy, who was good at business but quite clumsy in politics and diplomacy, thought until a few days ago that he was going to do something big that would benefit both the United States and Europe - he wanted to promote an "America for Americans" and A "European Europe" non-aggression pact.

To put it bluntly, even if the United States gives up Iceland and the Azores, it will no longer support the United Kingdom. Germany will no longer support Japan, and at the same time completely blockade the British Isles, and stop letting thousands of hateful British people go to Canada...

Such an agreement is also welcomed by the vast majority of Germans, so Kennedy lived a very prosperous life in Germany. He was a guest of the Chancellery, the Imperial Residence, Charlottenburg Palace and Potsdam Palace.

However, just as the agreement was about to be reached, President Roosevelt suddenly announced the resumption of the export of Lend-Lease supplies to Britain, and also announced that a convoy would be conducted to prevent the so-called Japanese battleships from breaking diplomatic ties in the Atlantic.

As a result, the Germans really pissed off the Germans. They actually pretended to be Japanese battleships and sank the South Dakota and Indiana, and also killed the commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Moreover, Germany later sent troops to Dutch Guiana, which could be regarded as stepping on the tail of the paper tiger of US imperialism. President Roosevelt did not even give a chance for peace talks, and directly asked Congress to pass an ultimatum.

The ultimatum means that there is no room for negotiation, and there will be no "Iceland, Azov Islands for Guyana" agreement.

Kennedy finally understood that he and most Americans had been fooled by Roosevelt. This American president did not want peace at all. He wanted to fight Germany from the beginning!

Now it depends on whether Germany is willing to do its best to avoid a protracted war with the United States.

…

"It's an ultimatum. The United States requires us to withdraw from Guyana within 24 hours, otherwise it will declare war." Hitler said in a gloomy tone.

In the headquarters conference room in the Ministry of National Defense building, the atmosphere today was actually a bit depressing. Although Hitler had previously agreed to Hessmann's plan to have German battleships pretend to be Japanese battleships to attack the American and British convoys, he did not give up the idea of ​​dividing the world equally with the United States.

In his opinion, if the United States knows how powerful Germany is by fighting, and then taking Dutch Guiana as a bargaining chip, he can negotiate a peace with the United States in which "the Americas belong to the United States and Europe belongs to Germany."

But Roosevelt directly threw an ultimatum over! Obviously, entering Dutch Guiana was a bit of a miscalculation.

"If the Americans want to fight, let's fight!" Hersman didn't care. He had long known that a war with the United States was inevitable.

Hersman said: "I now control at least 70% of the Atlantic Ocean, and transportation between Britain and the United States is already very difficult. Last time, less than 20 of the more than 100 British ships escorted by the U.S. Atlantic Fleet arrived in Liverpool."

The reason why there are still ships slipping through the net is because Germany currently does not have the strength to completely block the Atlantic Ocean. Although the European Combined Fleet is powerful, it still has some shortcomings.

First, the number of aircraft carriers is not enough. The only ones that can really cope with the war are the two "Zeppelin" class ships.

Second, the German battleships were all "big ships carrying small guns." Even the 406mm cannon had insufficient destructive power because of the use of "high-speed flicks." In the last "Battle of the Sea of ​​Fog", the Ludendorff's 406mm main gun had no decisive effect. Although the "South Dakota" was quickly turned into a floating iron coffin, it was impossible to sink it. It was easy. Three battleships surrounded it for nearly half an hour without sinking it. In the end, the destroyer was sent to fire several torpedoes before it was sunk. It doesn't have the majesty of the Japanese battleship Yamato, which can take down an American battleship in just a few clicks.

Therefore, Hitler tried to help the German Navy design a battleship in the days after the "Battle of the Sea of ​​Fog", and wanted to replace the main gun of the H41-class battleship under construction with a 480mm caliber. In the end, of course, Hessmann blocked it. It would be great if the 420mm H41 class could be put into service as scheduled. If it were to be replaced with 480mm, the H41 class would not be able to serve until 1946.

In addition, there are problems with the seaworthiness of four Italian "Veneto" classes in the European Combined Fleet. Because this class of battleship is tailor-made for the Mediterranean, when it reaches the windy and rough North Atlantic, it has to wait and see the sky. The time it can operate at sea is shorter than that of German and French battleships.

However, the three French "Richelieu" class have now returned to the factory for overhaul due to the problem of the main gun exploding. If this problem is not solved, who would dare to take them to the battlefield?

Therefore, the United Kingdom and the United States can still take advantage of the bad weather and high sea conditions in the North Atlantic to deliver some supplies to the British mainland.

To completely and completely blockade the British mainland, the only way is to control the island of Ireland among the three British islands.

"As long as the island of Ireland is captured, a pro-German government will definitely appear in the UK." Hersman then confidently assured, "Now the Wehrmacht is ready to capture the island of Ireland. Even if the United States declares war on us, there will be no The problem is, as long as we win Ireland and Britain, we will not be defeated by the United States."

He paused and then said: "And the United States is not at war with Germany, but at war with the entire European Community! They Americans can own the Americas, but we Europeans can't own Europe? The United States is at war with Iceland, The occupation of the Azores is an invasion of all of Europe."

Although Hitler's government wanted to avoid war, the Wehrmacht General Staff controlled by Hersmann had been preparing for war with the United States. The preparation for war is not only military and economic, but also includes preparation for political propaganda. In terms of political propaganda, "Europe for Europeans" has been a planned theme for a long time.

"Is this a battle for living space between Americans and Europeans?" Adolf Hitler asked.

"Leader, this is a war between Europeans and Americans!" Herschmann corrected Hitler with a smile. "We should now let people all over the world, including the American people, know that the European Community has no ambitions for the Americas. We We just want a united and strong Europe. As for Guyana... we are going to help the Guyanese people build an independent nation. We are going to Guyana to liberate Guyana, not to conquer Guyana.”

"Liberation..." Of course Hitler knew that this word meant toll, and he thought for a while, "This word probably means in the ears of Americans that we have to compete with them for the liberation market in South America."

Hersman shrugged, "I think this is inevitable. A strong United States and a unified Europe will inevitably start a struggle in South America. This is determined by the national conditions of South American countries and the politics of the Atlantic Ocean. Even if we withdraw now Guyana and the United States will not give up their stance of interfering in Europe and opposing European unity.”

In fact, the same thing applies to Germany. As long as Germany unifies Europe, it will inevitably intervene in Latin America. The distance between Latin America and Europe is actually not that far, and the relationship between Latin American countries and Europe has always been close. It can be said that they are the semicolon of European civilization.

In addition, most countries in Latin America are independent countries and are not colonies of the United States. Such a structure has advantages and disadvantages for the United States. The advantage is that the United States can always keep a distance from those chaotic Latin American countries and obtain economic benefits without falling into the internal disputes of Latin American countries. On the negative side, the United States' control over Latin American countries is not tight enough, leaving many opportunities for external forces to intervene.

Hersman paused and then said: "Although we will definitely interfere in Latin American affairs in the future. But now we should let the Americans and Europeans know that as long as the United States agrees to guarantee Guyana's independence and freedom and withdraw from Iceland and Asia So we can withdraw from Guyana, so we should respond in the name of the European Community rather than reject the American ultimatum.”

"Response?" Foreign Minister Ribbentrop frowned and said, "Reich Marshal, there is no diplomatic response to the ultimatum. Either reject it, accept it, or ignore it."

"But we should still respond in a low-key manner and try to negotiate on the surface."

Hersman pondered and said: "It's not really about negotiating with the United States, but it's a means of propaganda war. Maybe the Pope can come forward and ask the presidents of Brazil and Argentina to mediate."

Brazil and Argentina are both Catholic countries. Regardless of whether the rulers are pro-German or not, they will not refuse the Pope's request for mediation. They will always have to do some superficial work. And in this way, at least the people of Latin America will know Germany's intentions.

Some Americans may also be dissatisfied with the Roosevelt government because the government firmly rejected the proposal to "exchange Guyana for Iceland and the Azores". After all, Roosevelt was a democratically elected president, and a few percentage points of voter defection was enough to stop his rule in his third term.