Southern Africa doesn’t bother hedging its bets.
France and Belgium are betting on both sides because they have no ability to dictate the direction of the war. They can only sit back and do whatever they want. Even if they become victorious in the end, their gains will be limited.
Roque hopes that Southern Africa will replace Britain and France and formulate the post-war international order, so Roque will firmly choose allies and would rather not make money from the Germans.
Like the United States, who tries both ways. Doesn’t Winston know that?
Don’t the British hate it when France and Belgium are hedging their bets?
The British in another time and space had no choice and eventually became vassals of the United States step by step.
There is southern Africa in this time and space, and Winston will not hug the lap of an American no matter what.
At least southern Africa never abandoned the United Kingdom during the two world wars.
The 35th Division is located on the outskirts of Sicape, less than 20 kilometers away from the port of Sicape. If the Germans or Italians break through the defenses of the Cyprus Squadron and land in Sicape, then the 35th Division is fully capable of landing the landing troops.
Destroyed on the beach.
Of course this possibility is very small.
Even if the Germans or Italians break through the defense lines of the Cyprus Squadron, they will still face attacks from the Cyprus Air Force.
Air Force Commander Major General Summerfield is equally confident in protecting Cyprus’ airspace.
The 15 aviation groups in Southern Africa include nine fighter groups, five torpedo bomber groups, and a long-range bomber group.
It can be seen from the configuration that the Cyprus Air Force is mainly defensive and has certain ground and sea attack capabilities. Don’t forget that the Cyprus Squadron also has an aircraft carrier converted from a supply ship. Even if Fat Bald Head takes all of Italy’s
Even if all the planes are sent over, Cyprus can withstand it.
The Italian Air Force still has some strength.
This "certain" fully demonstrates the strength level of the Italian Air Force.
"The Italians lack landing ships and it is difficult to send tanks ashore. Germany and Italy do not have amphibious tanks. They only send light infantry to land. Facing our Leopard tanks is asking for death." Anthony is looking forward to the Italians coming.
Well, it's a pity that most Italians don't have this ability.
Even without the support of "Leopard" tanks, it would be difficult for the Italian army to defeat the 35th Division.
The rifles equipped by the 35th Division are all semi-automatic Nyasaland rifles. Light machine guns and individual grenade launchers are assigned to the squad level. Heavy machine guns and mortars are assigned to the company level. Each squad has at least one precision shooter.
Shooter, unless the Italians move the anti-tank guns ashore, the anti-tank rifles now popular in Europe can only pose a threat to the "Alligator" armored vehicles of the 35th Division at close range.
Don't worry about the "Leopard" tank. Even if it is fired at close range, the anti-tank rifle cannot penetrate the armor of the "Leopard" tank.
"We need to hoard more reserves." Arthur was also worried.
Anthony's expression is wonderful.
Behind Arthur, the Viscount of Cyprus, were Rock, Stoudemire, and Ada, the Finance Minister of Southern Africa.
Nyasaland Company and Rhodesian Company, one focuses on heavy industry and the other focuses on light industry. Coupled with the deployment of Aida, Cyprus now has stockpiles of supplies that are enough to satisfy the Cyprus garrison and the consumption of Cypriots for more than a year.
It was only after Anthony came to Cyprus that he learned that there are countless war-preparation warehouses for storing supplies in Trudos Mountain in the south of Cyprus. The mountainsides of many mountains have even been completely hollowed out. As Anthony knew, the war-preparation warehouses used to store oil alone were
There are six, and those who don’t know don’t know how many there are.
In this regard, Arthur perfectly copied Rock's caution and hoarded as many war preparation supplies as possible.
Cyprus has always been the bridgehead for major Southern African companies in the Mediterranean. Many supplies sold from Southern Africa to Europe are transited through Cyprus, so it is not easy to obtain various supplies.
"Is the morale of the troops okay?" Arthur did not forget that he came to express condolences.
"Very good!" Anthony was very satisfied. Even good words are not enough to describe it.
Just in front of Arthur and Anthony, a football match was going on. The hundreds of officers and soldiers of the 35th Division who were watching the match had no position. They cheered for whichever side was lagging behind.
We are all our own people, and there is no need to distinguish them too clearly. Southern Africans actually prefer more competitive sports, but now we are in a wartime state. In order to avoid injuries, football has become the best choice.
There are many sports that are more intense than football, such as rugby, boxing, and racing, all of which are popular in southern Africa.
The soldiers of the 35th Division are well-fed, and their logistics treatment is in full compliance with the wartime standards of the Southern African Defense Forces. All kinds of materials are supplied in unlimited quantities. Cyprus is inherently beautiful, and the officers and soldiers of the 35th Division do not feel the approaching war at all. Life in Cyprus is deplorable.
Than traveling.
While the 35th Division was playing football, the German troops had occupied Paris.
On June 13, the French government declared Paris an undefended city. On the 18th, on the same day that Pétain announced that France would cease resistance, the German army occupied Paris.
Before the German army occupied Paris, there was a fierce quarrel between Winston and Weygand.
Winston hoped that France would fight to the end.
During the Spanish Civil War that broke out four years ago, in the face of the superior forces of the Falangists and Italy, the citizens of Madrid were united and fought an arduous battle to defend Madrid. Can't the Parisians follow the example of the Madrid people and also fight a battle to defend Paris?
Wei Gang obviously didn't want this.
At that time Pétain had not announced the end of French resistance.
However, Wei Gang had lost command of his troops and was disheartened about France's prospects.
Winston emphasized: Even if France surrenders, Britain will fight to the end.
Wei Gang smiled bitterly: You French people do have a good anti-tank trench.
The "anti-tank trenches" Weigang mentioned refer to the English Channel.
No matter how many German tanks there are, it is impossible for them to cross the English Channel. This is where the British have confidence.
After Germany occupied Paris, Winston proposed sending the air force to bomb the German troops in Paris.
Wei Gang also rejected this proposal.
The reason is that he does not want to cause greater harm to the residents of Paris.
The Parisians behaved equally excessively.
When the news spread that the British Air Force was about to bomb the Paris Airport, the Parisians actually parked their cars on the tarmac of the Paris Airport to prevent the British Air Force from bombing the Paris Airport. After Winston found out, he could only do nothing.
At this time, Parisians are quite united.
Wei Gang's reasons are equally good.
According to Wei Gang, the current sporadic military operations can no longer stop the German army from advancing.
Since the war began, Germany has formed 55 new divisions and produced 4,000 to 5,000 heavy tanks. The Allies have now basically lost the ability to fight the Germans.
Winston expressed serious doubts about the figure of 4,000 to 5,000 heavy tanks. The Germans did not have such industrial capabilities. Weygand counted all German tanks. According to the intelligence held by the British, the number of heavy tanks owned by Germany was
Less than one-tenth of the total.
Wei Gang's weakness doesn't end there.
After Operation Sickle began, approximately 400 German pilots were captured by the Allies. These pilots were guarded by the French until the French ceased resistance.
After Operation Dynamo, in order to prevent these German pilots from returning to Germany, Winston suggested that these pilots be handed over to British custody.
Wei just agreed to Winston's request.
But soon, Petain came to power, Weygand left office, and these German pilots returned to active service. Many of them would participate in the upcoming air battle over Britain.
After Pétain announced that France would cease resistance, Winston was completely disappointed with France and turned his hope to southern Africa and the United States.
Almost every day, Winston would talk to Rock and US President Roosevelt, hoping that there would be a war between southern Africa and the United States as soon as possible.
Roque has promised that Southern Africa will join the war as soon as possible and actively prepare to participate in the war.
Roosevelt's attitude was ambiguous. He himself was inclined to join the war. However, the U.S. government had very little influence on American capital. U.S. companies used the slogan of "free trade" to increase trade with Germany, which made Winston very angry.
.
Some French people are still insisting.
De Gaulle did not surrender, nor did Paul Reynaud, nor did Admiral François Darlan.
On the 18th, Pétain announced that France would cease resistance. On the same day, de Gaulle formed the Free France in London and called on the French to continue fighting the Germans.
On the 22nd, Germany and France signed an armistice agreement, and the Vichy government was established.
At this time, Free France and Maintain France both hoped to get the support of François Darlan, so that they could get a complete French fleet.
At this time, the French Navy had one aircraft carrier, three battleships, seven battlecruisers, 12 cruisers, more than 50 destroyers, and 101 submarines, making it the most powerful fleet in the Mediterranean.
In other words, whoever gets the French navy will control the Mediterranean.
Therefore, the Free France led by de Gaulle and the Vichy government led by Pétain made overtures to François Darlan.
Among them, the Vichy government was more sincere.
De Gaulle's telegram to Darlan was seriously affected by the Royal Navy. De Gaulle hoped that the French Navy could fight side by side with the Royal Navy to fight against Germany.
In order to better coordinate operations, de Gaulle hoped that the French Navy could accept the command of the Royal Navy.
This is inconsistent with François Darlan's requirements.
De Gaulle still didn't know Darlan well enough. Darlan had a bad impression of Britain, which could even be described as disgust. Darlan would never accept the command of the Royal Navy.
Relatively speaking, the Vichy government's proposal is more in line with the interests of the French navy.
In order to win over Darlan, Mustache promised to respect the neutrality of the French navy and would not annex the French navy.
At this time, Darlan had begun to tilt toward the Vichy government intellectually.
It was against this background that Fleet H of the British Navy approached the French Navy's military port of Mers-el-Kebir in North Africa, ready to use force at any time to remove potential threats from the French Navy.