As early as the autumn of 1940, in order to better coordinate operations, Winston actively invited Rock to go to England to meet with Winston to discuss how to defeat the Axis powers.
Rock is busy with official duties and has no time to go to London.
At the same time, Rock also felt the need to discuss with Winston face to face, so Rock invited Winston to Pretoria.
Winston is also busy with official duties.
After discussing with Young Smuts, the British Ambassador to Southern Africa, Lord Halifax, decided to hold the meeting on the island of Sal in Cape Verde.
When George V passed away, Winston and Rock took a special plane to London for the funeral. The "African Emperor" once stopped at Sal Island. Winston was deeply impressed by Sal Island.
Sal Island was once a Portuguese colony. After the seizure of the merchant ship "Rich", Sal Island and Boa Vista Island were compensated to southern Africa. The port on Boa Vista Island, Curral, is currently the
The busiest civilian port in the Atlantic Ocean, a military base was built on Sal Island. After the outbreak of the European War, it became one of the home ports of the Atlantic Fleet.
Sal Island covers an area of 216 square kilometers and has an average altitude of 1,332 feet. There is a field airport and a military port on the island, where an air force brigade and an escort fleet, mainly small warships, are stationed for a long time.
In Winston's concept, small warships are probably frigates and trawlers, not even as good as destroyers.
The so-called "small warship" in southern Africa is the 3,000-ton "Durban" light cruiser, which has a displacement twice as large as a Treaty-class destroyer.
There are a total of 12 "Durban" class light cruisers on Sal Island.
"Santa Maria has just become the homeport of the Atlantic Fleet in southern Africa after the outbreak of the European War. Now the Atlantic Fleet has a total of four homeports, namely Walvis Bay, Halifax, Victoria, Brazil, and Sainte Marie on Sal Island.
The Santa Maria Fleet is the weakest of the four home ports." Admiralty Secretary Roger Hayes, as Winston's assistant, arrived at Sal Island with Winston.
As a port, Santa Maria's own conditions are only acceptable. There are many ports like Santa Maria in the Atlantic Ocean, and there are no fewer than ten in the Cape Verde Islands.
During the Portuguese rule, Santa Maria did not receive any attention. The island did not even have a permanent population and was deserted.
After Southern Africa acquired Sal Island, they carried out extensive construction on Sal Island. A ring road was built along the edge of the island, and a port and airport were built around Santa Maria. The current Santa Maria port can dock battleships and aircraft carriers.
Large warships and airports can accommodate long-range heavy bombers taking off and landing.
It was not the 12 "Durbans" that caused Roger Case's collapse, but the fifth ship of the "Normandy" class battleship that was bought by Stoudemire and transformed into the "Rhodes" yacht.
The Rhodes is the largest displacement yacht in the world.
With all weapons and equipment removed, the yacht "Rhodes" still has a displacement of more than 25,000 tons, and the total armor weight alone exceeds 8,000 tons.
Why does your yacht need such thick armor?
It can only be said that southern Africa is not short of oil.
The "Rhodes" has now become a symbol of the Rhodes family in southern Africa. It follows Stoudemire around all year round. Wherever Stoudemire goes, the "Rhodes" goes, even though Stoudemire mostly flies.
, there is no need for the "Rhodes" at all.
More than 300 people work on the "Rhodes", and their only mission is to provide services to Stoudemire.
Now of course we have to add Rock.
The "Rhodes" is now docked in the port of Santa Maria. Even among a large number of large warships, the "Rhodes" is still very eye-catching.
Rock and Winston are now in Santa Maria. The Royal Navy dispatched the newly commissioned battleship "King George V" as Winston's flagship and arrived in Santa Maria with Winston.
The Atlantic Fleet dispatched the aircraft carrier "Madagascar" as Roque's flagship, which is also now in Santa Maria.
Compared with "King George V" and "Madagascar", "Rhodes" is particularly different.
"The only people in the world who have the luxury of being able to transform battleships into yachts are people in southern Africa." As a veteran navy, Roger Keyes was heartbroken.
"Don't you know Cecil? It's not surprising that he converted a City-class aircraft carrier into a yacht." Winston knew Stoudemire very well.
"Southern Africa already has ten large aircraft carriers. Intelligence collected by the military shows that at least fifty more warships are being built in shipyards in Southern Africa. It is also necessary for us to make plans to build more aircraft carriers." Roger
Keyes took the opportunity to make a request. Compared with the southern African federal government, the British government's support for the navy was obviously insufficient.
After the launch of the "island-for-destroyer" program, Southern Africa has transferred nearly 80 light cruisers and destroyers to the British government.
With these light cruisers and destroyers, the British Navy's escort force has greatly increased, the safety of the waterway has been effectively guaranteed, and the frequency of German submarine attacks has gradually decreased.
Southern Africa not only harvested more islands, but also replaced all the small warships built between World War I and before World War II with new ones, and everyone was happy.
Of course, the "joy" here is more for the southern African navy.
For the Royal Navy, this result is a bit bitter.
No one can explain why, the Royal Navy has been reduced to using second-hand goods!
"Southern Africa has too many resources, which is an advantage we do not have." Winston finally admitted that allowing southern Africa to be autonomous was a huge mistake for the British Empire.
It's a pity that it can't be undone.
"If we can take back the mining rights of Australian iron ore, then" Roger Case is eager to give it a try.
"Impossible. Compared with the Australian iron ore, the oil fields in Port Elizabeth are more important." Winston shook his head. The past is too painful to look back on.
The mining rights of Australian iron ores belong to the Matilda family, the Locke family, and the Rhodes family. If the UK wants to take back the mining rights of Australian iron ores, it may lose Australia completely.
Port Elizabeth was even more distressing to Winston.
But who can blame it? When Port Elizabeth was sold to Rock, no one thought that there was a huge amount of oil hidden under the desert in Port Elizabeth.
While Winston and Roger Keyes were envious of the resources possessed by southern Africa, Roque and de Gaulle were discussing the French version of "islands for destroyers."
Free France needed a navy.
After "Operation Ballista", the French navy completely turned to Vichy France, and de Gaulle did not even have a single ship under his command.
There are ships in Southern Africa. Even if there are no surplus, Southern Africa can start construction at any time with its strong manufacturing capabilities.
De Gaulle also coveted the fifty warships in the southern African shipyards.
"French Indochina!" De Gaulle made a generous offer that Roque could not refuse: "If the federal government of Southern Africa helps Free France establish a navy, then after the war, Free France will transfer all French power in Asia to the South
Africa."
The French Indochina that de Gaulle mentioned covers an area of 747,391 square kilometers.
Unlike North Africa and West Africa, French Indochina chose to join Vichy France.
After World War I, France's strength became increasingly weaker, and its control over French Indochina was far less than before World War I.
The situation in East Asia is very complicated now. Japan, the United States, and Southern Africa all have strong power in East Asia. France is weak compared to the above three countries. Even trembling is not enough to describe the French people's embarrassment.
After the start of "Operation Ballista", French Indochina, which took orders from Vichy France, opened its borders to Japan and tacitly allowed Japanese troops to enter French Indochina. This behavior has seriously threatened British Malaya and the Changi Naval Base.
of safety.
Prior to this, if Japan wanted to attack Changi Naval Base, its fleet had to set off from the Japanese mainland. It was a long way from Changi Naval Base and the probability of success was extremely low.
Now the Japanese Combined Fleet can use French Indochina, which is only about 700 kilometers away from Changi Naval Base. If the Combined Fleet sets off at night, it can arrive at Changi Naval Base before dawn.
Roque and de Gaulle were very angry about the behavior of French Indochina, so they had the French version of "islands for destroyers".
"Andre, tell me what you think, what kind of navy do you want?" Roque is interested in French Indochina. Free France is destined to lose French Indochina, and Southern Africa can take over.
Magic Indochina is probably the area of the Three Kingdoms of the Indochina in another time and space, as well as the port that France forcibly rented from the Qing government.
The port will definitely be returned in the future. Indochina has huge development value. After Southern Africa takes over, the security of Changi Naval Base will be guaranteed.
"A battleship that can serve as a flagship, four heavy cruisers, four aircraft carriers, at least 20 light cruisers, as well as fifty destroyers, and the same number of submarines." De Gaulle's lion opened his mouth. Free France paid for the French
Notional title to Indochina.
What Southern Africa has paid is real money.
"Andre, be pragmatic. Even if Free France has the warships you mentioned, it does not have the sailors needed for those warships." Roque laughed dumbly. This was not the way to go in his dreams.
Britain's "island exchange for destroyers", whether it is Malta, Ceylon or Aden, is under actual British control. After being "leased" to Southern Africa, Southern Africa can take over immediately.
French Indochina does not yet belong to Free France, and there are still Japanese military activities within the territory. If Southern Africa wants to get French Indochina, it must send troops to conquer it bit by bit.
So with a light promise, he wanted to get a fleet from southern Africa that was powerful enough to make Free France a maritime power. De Gaulle was also really romantic.
"My Lord, the area of French Indochina is close to 750,000 square kilometers." De Gaulle did not blush at all. 750,000 square kilometers sounds huge, but in fact it is about the same as Madagascar.
Think about how France lost Madagascar?
Even after losing the battleship "France", France still failed to save Madagascar, gained nothing, and lost face internationally.
In fact, everything is traceable.
If southern Africa really wants French Indochina, the process is almost predictable.
When the war is over, French Indochina will break out in rebellion like Madagascar.
France, which had just experienced the catastrophe of war, was certainly unable to suppress the rebellion.
So we can only sit back and let French Indochina become independent.
Later, French Indochina may join an organization in the name of a regional alliance, which has now become a small international alliance.
Even if France does not recognize it at this time, it will completely lose French Indochina.
Roque said nothing and looked at de Gaulle with a peaceful look.
De Gaulle's eyes were calm, without the slightest trace of embarrassment.
"André, if Free France is willing to transfer its power in Asia, then the Southern African federal government will consider exempting part of France's borrowing interest during the last World War." The conditions proposed by Roque are even more harsh.
France has still not repaid its loans from the last World War.
After the establishment of Free France, it already owed nearly one billion rand in loans.
Adding up the two loans, France has to pay more than 100 million rand in interest every year.
Although de Gaulle did not want to admit the loans during the last world war, he had to accept them.
If it does not accept it, then Free France will not be able to get even a penny of loans from southern Africa.
The troops trained by the Free French in southern Africa were all paid for by the Free French.
Therefore, if Roque can consider deducting part of the interest, it is already a great honor to de Gaulle.
"My lord, the gold of Free France is still in the vaults of Pretoria." De Gaulle tried hard to fight for better conditions.
"The gold in the vaults of Pretoria is a mortgage." Roque refused to give in. Without the mortgage, even if Free France recognized the loan during the last world war, Southern Africa would not let go.
If there is no mortgage, what if the war is lost?
When De Gaulle is afraid of having his butt slapped, he can just find a small island to live in seclusion, and the losses in southern Africa will be huge.
So a mortgage is necessary.
"Then I will use French Indochina as collateral." De Gaulle started wandering again.
"French Indochina is not the property of Free France yet." Roque also disagreed. He wanted to play with nothing but a white wolf. Roque was a great expert, so de Gaulle should not play tricks on others.
On March 15, with the arrival of U.S. President Roosevelt and the leaders of all allied countries, as well as leaders of potential allies, the Saarland Conference officially began.
The core agenda of the meeting was to discuss how to respond to the 1941 war.
Before the meeting began, Rock and Winston communicated many times, and both agreed that directing Germany's attack targets toward Russia would be in the best interest of the Allied Forces.
In order to achieve this goal, Greece must give up, so that Germany and Italy can move northward without any scruples.
Of course, we cannot let the Germans and Italians succeed too smoothly. The Allies must show off in Greece and then be "forced to give up". It is best to delay the war until the end of the autumn, so that the Russians will not lose too quickly.
