Casablanca is a very beautiful city. It has a pleasant climate, evergreen trees all year round, rich products, and a developed economy. It has long been famous in North Africa.
Casablanca has now been turned into a military camp, where the leaders of the three countries gathered, each carrying a large staff team and security personnel.
All staff members were housed in a hotel converted from a castle on the outskirts of the city.
There are several villas around the hotel, which are prepared for Rock and Winston.
The security personnel were scattered in the outer area around the villa. After Rock arrived, the entire area had been sealed off. A barbed wire fence was installed at the intersection. Armored vehicles and tanks were parked behind the barbed wire, as well as machine gun positions made of sandbags and anti-aircraft machine guns.
Naturally, it is also essential, although it is almost impossible for Axis bombers to appear over Casablanca.
The content of the second day of the meeting was to open up the second battlefield in Europe.
Winston's attitude remained firm. He stubbornly believed that it was not yet time to open a second battlefield. This was strongly opposed by Molotov.
"When Rommel was entrenched in North Africa, the Allied forces in North Africa refused to open a second battlefield - now that the North African Army has failed, what excuse do you have?" Molotov was furious. He was fed up with Winston's delay.
In yesterday's meeting, the UK did not give Russia enough support.
Yesterday both Roark and Roosevelt promised more aid to Russia.
Even de Gaulle agreed to send the "Normandy" Air Group to Russia to directly participate in the war, but Winston said nothing.
At the most critical moment of the Russian battlefield, Britain once fully supported Russia and sent various weapons, equipment and strategic materials to Russia for free.
Winston really had no intention of asking for money.
After the end of World War I, the newly born Russian government stated that it would not recognize the debts owed by the Russian Empire. As a result, Britain suffered heavy losses. Winston did not forget this hatred.
After the end of the Moscow Defense War, Britain quietly reduced its aid to Russia. Russia had not yet felt it at that time. Because the Americans joined in, the aid Russia received did not decrease.
After the Battle of Volgograd, the situation on the Russian battlefield became clearer and victory was tilting towards Russia. Winston decided to further reduce aid to Russia, on the one hand to reduce losses, and on the other hand in the hope that Russia and Germany would continue to consume.
It's better to die together.
"Do you think the North African Army is easy to defeat? We did win the North African Campaign, but our losses were also huge. At least within this year, we will not be able to open a second battlefield in France." Winston was firm, Roosevelt was
Hoping to land in Sicily, the Russians wanted the Allies to attack the French coast.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Allied landings in France pose a greater threat to Germany and are more conducive to reducing the pressure on Russia.
Molotov must choose the option that is most beneficial to Russia.
"Ha, you have trained millions of troops. There are three million troops in the UK doing nothing all day long. They should be ashamed -" Molotov's words were slightly more lethal, and southern Africa was also accidentally injured.
After Southern Africa declared war on Germany, it immediately dispatched the First Army to the British mainland to strengthen defenses, helping Britain successfully win the Great Air War of Britain.
The German army was unable to cross the English Channel, and Mustache was forced to shift its attack direction to Russia. The pressure on the British side was greatly reduced.
After the Russo-German War broke out, Big Beard repeatedly requested the Allied forces to land on the coast of France or directly on German soil and launch attacks from behind Germany.
Winston has always refused the bearded request on the grounds that preparations have not been completed, and the Russians' endurance has reached its limit.
What Molotov said is true. The British mainland has accumulated more than 3 million troops, but it has remained on hold for two years. This is indeed abnormal.
But Rock is not ashamed at all.
The Southern African Air Force has at least been carrying out bombing missions, and the Americans are really doing nothing.
There are also US military units in the UK, especially the US Air Force, which are quite powerful.
The Allied bombing intensity of military targets in Germany was much smaller than that of Japan. After the Pearl Harbor incident, Southern Africa transferred most of its strategic bombing forces from the British mainland to East Asia, and the intensity of bombing of Germany was much reduced. Berlin is now
It was only bombed once.
Winston understands Rock's decision. After all, there are many Chinese in southern Africa, and Rock's hatred of the Japanese is much higher than that of Germany.
Although the strategic bombing force in southern Africa is decreasing due to the addition of the US Air Force, the strategic bombing force in the UK has not been weakened.
Winston has great expectations for the United States Air Force.
But what Winston never expected was that the U.S. Air Force had not bombed Germany since arriving in Britain. So far, not a single U.S. bomber had participated in the mission, which made Winston very dissatisfied.
The Americans' reasons were also very strong. Their planes and pilots had to cross the Atlantic to come to Britain. They needed time to adjust, and they had to learn the advanced combat methods of southern Africa and Britain.
"Well, I have reached an agreement with the Prime Minister. In two months, the U.S. Air Force will bomb military targets in Germany during the day." Roosevelt looked resolute, and the U.S. military was about to show off its skills.
Not only will the U.S. Air Force begin to dispatch, but the U.S. Army will also land in Sicily, opening up the second—no, the third battlefield—in Europe.
Although it landed in Sicily, the threat to Germany was relatively small.
But it is still more powerful than a certain country's attack in the Balkans.
The recovery of Crete in southern Africa once made the Russians very happy.
The Russians were not happy for too long. Then the southern Africans began to carry out large-scale construction in Crete. They built airports and docks, built railways and roads, and the entire cities of Pombia and Heraklion were demolished and rebuilt according to the exact regulations.
Southern African Standard.
Standard cities in Southern Africa have complete supporting facilities. Building a city cannot be completed in a day or two. It requires a long time and huge funds. This naturally makes it impossible to continue to expand the results.
From the Russian point of view, this is also a matter of delaying time.
But because Russia still needs help from southern Africa, Molotov did not dare to make irresponsible remarks in front of Roque.
It doesn't matter to Winston.
Anyway, even if it tries to please Winston, the British government will not give more aid to Russia.
Then just be straightforward and state Russia's attitude straightforwardly.
"Strategic bombing alone will not make the Germans surrender. Ground troops must be sent to kill all the Germans -" Molotov still had a good attitude towards Roosevelt, who was the sponsor.
De Gaulle will not interfere in this regard. He is in a very bad mood today.
Rock also just learned that after Roosevelt arrived in Casablanca, he made two appointments with De Gaulle, but was rejected by De Gaulle both times.
De Gaulle really had a clear grudge. He knew that Roosevelt didn't like him, so he chose Giraud between him and Giraud, so he didn't want to see Roosevelt.
Roosevelt was not angry even if he lost face. Americans are like this. It is already a waste to bet on both sides, and they can give up any face for the sake of profit.
Just before today's meeting began, Roosevelt hoped that Roque could help ease the relationship between de Gaulle and Roosevelt.
Roque's answer was simple. As long as the U.S. government supported De Gaulle with the same intensity as it supported Giraud, then De Gaulle would immediately take the initiative to visit Roosevelt.
Roque doesn't ask for favoritism, just a bowl of water that's even.
At the same time, Roque also just learned that de Gaulle and Giraud had not communicated in private for more than two months, and they were almost strangers.
This is very bad. One is the president of Free France and the other is the commander-in-chief. If the relationship between them is not good, it will have a bad impact.
So after the meeting the next day, Roque took the initiative to invite de Gaulle to dinner.
De Gaulle happily attended the appointment.
"What's going on between you and General Giraud?" Roque didn't mention Roosevelt and didn't give Roosevelt a chance to bribe De Gaulle. France is very important to southern Africa.
"We have different opinions on many issues and have serious differences, but this will not affect our cooperation. Our most important task now is to defeat the Axis powers and win the final victory." De Gaulle is very clear-headed and will not put his personal emotions aside.
Bring it into work.
"For example?" Rock asked carefully.
"Mainly in Vichy France -" De Gaulle hesitated before speaking, not wanting to talk to Roque about this matter.
The relationship between Vichy France and Free France is an internal affair of France. No ambitious French person is willing to have other countries interfere in their internal affairs, not even in southern Africa.
"I heard that Marshal Pétain revoked your death sentence." Roque and Pétain used to have a good relationship, but unfortunately they are now growing apart.
In the last world war, Roque also fought alongside Pétain, and the two kept in touch after the war.
Pétain was also an idealistic person, and the reasons for his cooperation with Germany were complicated and not entirely aiding others.
"After the war is over, I will also revoke the death penalty of Marshal Pétain." De Gaulle reciprocated the favor, and the French still had a tacit understanding.
During the last World War, de Gaulle served under Pétain, and the two were alumni, both graduating from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy.
"Winston decided to postpone the landing in France. What do you think?" Roque didn't want de Gaulle to get too close to Winston. Of course, he couldn't fall out with each other. The Allies still needed to be united.
"I understand, but Lord, I hope you can understand that when the Allied forces land in France, I hope that the Free French Army can first set foot on French territory." De Gaulle could understand Winston. France would recover one day sooner or later.
Recovering it in one day will not make much difference, and it will not change the fact that France has become a second-rate country.
France stopped resisting, and the impact was too bad. An old imperialist country with huge overseas colonies, and the winner of the last world war, actually gave up resistance and went to bed early. It was simply a shame.
If the French government did not surrender, but withdrew to North Africa to continue fighting Germany, the situation would not be so bad.
After all, in the minds of many people, de Gaulle's status was too low, inferior to Giraud, and he could not represent France.
"Of course, the Free French Army has the strength and should do this -" Roque supported de Gaulle's request, but this still required the consent of Roosevelt and Winston.
After all, American soldiers entered the war under the banner of saving Europe.
Britain will not miss the opportunity to "save France".
This meal was quite relaxed and enjoyable. The relationship between Free France and Southern Africa was on display here. De Gaulle and Roque were flattering each other and trying to win over each other. The atmosphere was absolutely harmonious.
Winston was also having dinner with Roosevelt in another villa, and Giraud was also present.
"The performance of the Italians on the Russian battlefield was just accidental. The Italian army in the North African battlefield was the Italian army under normal circumstances." Giraud dismissed the Italian army, although in the process of defeating the North African Army, Giraud had almost no performance.
Chance.
In the final battle against the North African Army, Giraud was the commander-in-chief of the Free French Army, but the command of the battle was in the hands of Patton, so Giraud had to do it alone.
However, this does not prevent Giraud from looking down on the Italians. If the Allied forces are given to Giraud, Giraud will be confident of defeating the North African Army.
Of course it must be the current Allies.
If it had been the North African Allied Forces during the Wavell period, Giraud probably wouldn't have been able to save Egypt.
During the Battle of France, Giraud participated in the battle against Germany, but also had little opportunity to perform, so that his name did not even appear.
"If the Allies decide to land in Sicily, the Free French Army can participate in the attack. We have been looking forward to crossing the Mediterranean one day earlier and giving the Germans and Italians a greater blow." Giraud actively requested a fight, and the strength of the Free French Army
not bad.
After handing over two "Richelieu" class battleships to the Free French Navy in southern Africa, Free France also established a complete army of sea, land and air force, and it was quite powerful. Within the Allied Forces, it was second only to South Africa, Britain and the United States.
Pay attention to this ranking.
Needless to say, the strength of the Southern African army is not as large as that of the British Army. There is no dispute about its combat effectiveness. It is a solid Allied force—even the best in the world.
After the United States entered the war, it embarked on an explosion mode. The navy, army, and air force expanded rapidly. However, without the support of the record, Roosevelt himself did not have much confidence.
Not to mention, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of the Philippines completely exposed the combat effectiveness of the US military, and the Bataan Death March slapped the Americans hard in the face.
You can’t even beat Japan, so what else is there to say——
Although in the Malay Campaign, the British army suffered a complete defeat when faced with the crazy attack of the Japanese army, after all, southern Africa participated in the war in time, and the British army did not surrender.
"Have you communicated with President de Gaulle?" Roosevelt was also worried about the relationship between Giraud and de Gaulle.
It's normal to have differences, but it's really rare for the relationship to be as bad as that between De Gaulle and Giraud.
"I am the commander-in-chief of the Free French Army. How the Free French Army fights does not need to be communicated with General de Gaulle." Giraud was expressionless. It would be damned if the relationship could be good with this attitude.
