During the last world war, Britain did not start to implement material control until the third year of the war, and then French fries and fried fish became British national dishes.
This time the British were smarter. Before Germany even attacked Poland, the British had already begun secret preparations, and then started to implement a material rationing system as soon as Britain declared war.
Facts have proved that the rationing system is very important. During the North African Campaign, the Mediterranean shipping lanes were cut off. The materials collected by the British in Asia had to detour through Cape Town before reaching the British mainland. This had a huge impact on the supply of materials in the British mainland. Fortunately, there were southern
With the help of Africa and the United States, Britain survived the most difficult stage.
The help from southern Africa and the United States is not free. The British government has racked its brains and can only ensure that the supply of supplies will not be cut off. The cafeterias in London have been closed since two years ago. When people are hungry
, no longer concerned about appearance.
Therefore, Gavin's casual words directly caused the British officer to break his defense. He glared at Gavin fiercely, and obscene words started to pour out.
"Hey, His Excellency Gavin Locke, what are you doing here?" A girl in a lieutenant's uniform suddenly jumped between Gavin and the officer, performing an exaggerated British military salute.
That's right, Gavin is a colonel, and a lieutenant must salute.
"Nice to meet you, Your Royal Highness, you look great in uniform!" Gavin responded casually. This girl is amazing. She will become the longest reigning in the UK and the longest reigning in the world in the future.
The long queen.
Her Majesty the Queen is still very young. She is not yet 20 years old and just became a soldier last year.
This can also explain why Gavin met Her Royal Highness the Eldest Princess here.
The King of England can let his daughter join the army, but he will never let his daughter crawl in the trenches with the front-line soldiers.
"It's a pity that it can only be worn for a while. If possible, I really want to go to North Africa and see what a real war is like." The eldest princess was instantly depressed. The teenage girl was still a little emotional.
Gavin looked at the dumbfounded British officer next to him and wondered whether he should continue to complete the registration process.
"Come in quickly. General Mountbatten asked about you just now. If you don't come again, the general will send a car to pick you up." The eldest princess stood on the steps and greeted Gavin with her arms crossed, a bright smile on her face.
Blooming roses.
Before Gavin could respond, the officer in charge of registration was immediately dumbfounded.
It's a pity that the eldest princess only has Gavin in her eyes at the moment and doesn't care about anyone else. Admiral Cunningham, who arrived at the same time, turned into a miserable background wall.
"Colonel Gavin, didn't Marshal Smuts come with you?" Cunningham's words made the British officers who were busy saluting feel ashamed.
Why did he ask just now?
Which general did you come with?
The contrast between this character is quite big.
"The marshal is feeling a little unwell. He will visit you tomorrow -" Gavin saluted proactively. This reason is very appropriate. They are all old guys, and they are not normal unless they have something wrong with their health.
"I should go visit him. We haven't seen each other for many years." Cunningham has been serving in the Mediterranean for a long time, and Smuts has been in southern Africa all year round. It is indeed not easy for the two to meet.
Cunningham was now in his sixties. Gai Wen respected the old and loved the young, and took the initiative to reach out to support him, but did not really touch Cunningham's body.
Cunningham doesn't need it either. The Admiral of the Navy needs a tough image, and he needs help to reach every level.
Gavin ignored the red-faced officer, not because he was deliberately indifferent, but because he really didn't take it to heart.
Gold stars were shining in the banquet hall. They were either generals or marshals. Gavin, the colonel, was not the most special. The most special thing was the eldest princess. She only had the rank of lieutenant. Anyone who was serving the dishes here was at least a captain.
Among a large number of marshals and generals, Louis Mountbatten, who was just promoted to admiral last year, is particularly conspicuous. He just turned 44 this year. When the world war broke out, he was only a colonel. Now he has become an admiral. He can ride on a rocket.
It can't rise so fast.
It doesn’t matter if you rise quickly, the key positions are still very important. The British version of Operation Overlord was originally created by Louis Mountbatten.
This man's resume is even more amazing than Pétain's. In 1939, Mountbatten was appointed captain of the destroyer "Kelly". In 1941, during operations in the Mediterranean, the "Kelly" was sunk. Mountbatten was lucky to survive, and was immediately appointed captain of the "Kelly" destroyer.
Captain of the aircraft carrier "Glorious".
In October 1941, Mountbatten was personally appointed by Winston as the head of the "Joint Operations Command", responsible for formulating plans for joint amphibious landing operations. Mountbatten was promoted to Commodore.
While serving as the head of the "Joint Operations Command", Mountbatten planned several unsuccessful landing operations. Although the operations failed, Mountbatten's official career was prosperous and he was promoted to lieutenant general the next year.
And he is also a lieutenant general of the navy, army and air force.
In October last year, Mountbatten was appointed commander of the British Southeast Asian Theater and was promoted to admiral.
So theoretically Mountbatten should be in India now, not in London.
"Be careful, the admiral is very dissatisfied with the situation in the Southeast Asian battlefield." The eldest princess is not yet an adult, and her elbows have begun to turn outward.
Don't think blindly, the eldest princess already has someone in mind.
In 1939, the eldest princess met Prince Philip who was studying there at the Naval Academy. The two fell in love at first sight. At that time, the eldest princess was 13 years old and Philip was 18 years old. Both of them were distant cousins. Their great-great-grandmothers were both Queen Victoria.
Gavin had a headache, and now he understood why Yang Smuts didn't come to the banquet.
The federal government of Southern Africa has indeed offended a lot of people in the past two years.
"Our rule in the Far East is getting out of control. India was once hailed as the most dazzling jewel in the king's crown, but now it has become the shame of the empire. The Indians are carrying out a non-violent non-cooperation movement. In training, the most standard actions of Indian soldiers are
With hands raised in surrender, the Malay Peninsula is also in a mess. It is absolutely unimaginable to you that the officials sent by our British Empire to the Malay Peninsula dare not leave the Lion City - oh, the Lion City is now spiraling out of control." Mountbatten gushed.
Absolutely, rather than complaining, it is better to say that I am passing the blame.
Mountbatten is now the supreme commander of the British army in Asia.
If the situation is really as he said, then Mountbatten is the first person responsible.
"Haven't we already invaded Japan?" A Czech marshal was surprised. This man was so experienced that he didn't need makeup to play Santa Claus.
"It was the southern African army and the American soldiers who invaded the Japanese mainland. Our task was to hide and seek with the Japanese in the jungle. We did not have an advantage in this aspect. The Japanese were too short. The fabric we needed to make shorts, the Japanese
You can make a pair of trousers." Mountbatten was still in the mood to joke, but it seemed that the Japanese had not taught him enough lessons.
This joke is not funny either.
The surrounding generals and marshals all laughed as if they had heard the funniest joke ever.
This scene made Gavin shake his head slightly.
It's normal. There are too many generals and marshals in exile in London, and they all count on the British army to help them regain power.
"Gavin, Colonel Gavin Locke, can you remind Marshal Angel to install an extra phone line in his office? I have to say, Marshal Angel's phone is really difficult to get through." Mountbatten finally found Gavin.
"Good evening, General. Although I want to help, I'm sorry, but it's difficult for me to get through to Shuai An." Gavin still took care of Mountbatten's face appropriately. Angel didn't answer Mountbatten's call, not necessarily because of it.
The line is busy.
Mountbatten is one of the most controversial figures in modern British history. Many of the things he did were considered to be grandstanding and too vain.
While serving as the captain of the "Kelly", Mountbatten participated in the North Sea escort with the "Kelly". During this period, Mountbatten invented a naval camouflage color called "Mountbatten Pink".
This is a bit miraculous. During another escort operation, Mountbatten suddenly discovered a pink merchant ship disappearing on the sunset sea in the evening. So he was inspired to paint the "Kelly" pink.
Yes, "Mountbatten Pink" is a camouflage color with only one color, and it is a flirty pink. This was probably done because the Axis pilots were worried that they would not be able to see clearly in the sky.
The principle is very simple. In the setting sun, the sea water is illuminated by the setting sun and sunset. The water and sky are the same color, and everything within sight is pink.
Therefore, the "Kelly" painted "Mountbatten Pink" can only be dispatched in the evening, and it must appear to the west of the German warships in order to perfectly integrate with the environment.
Now you understand why the "Kelly" sank in the Mediterranean.
Because the home port of the Mediterranean Fleet is east of Italy.
"I believe you can do it. You are the first heir to the Marquis of Nyasaland." Mountbatten spoke eloquently. He must have known that the title system had been abolished in southern Africa.
It doesn't matter how we discuss it in private.
It would have been inappropriate to say that in public at a War Office dinner.
Moreover, these words also have the meaning of provocation.
Speaking of messing things up, Mountbatten was a master of the British Empire, and it was he who hatched the famous "Mountbatten Plan."
"Please come with me, Colonel Gavin. I have some issues that require your coordination." Cunningham became Mountbatten's accomplice and wanted to take Gavin away.
As the British Lord of the Admiralty, Cunningham had to undertake a lot of work, a considerable part of which required the cooperation of the southern African army.
Such as escort.
Today's escorts cannot rely solely on battleships. What is more important is air escorts.
The strongest British domestic air force is not the United Kingdom or the United States, but the Southern African Air Force, which sent an expeditionary force early.
To mobilize the Southern African Air Force.
Or if you want to get help from the Southern African Air Force, Gavin will definitely speak better than Cunningham.
"Marshal, I also have some work that requires Colonel Gavin's cooperation." Mountbatten's expression was sincere, but it was a pity that Gavin had already seen his true face.
This is not your attitude of asking for help.
"Your office is in the Far East, what does it have to do with Colonel Gavin?" Cunningham did not give Mountbatten face.
Although they were both naval personnel, Cunningham was not used to Mountbatten's problems. When Mountbatten was serving in the Mediterranean, Cunningham was already the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet.
"Marshal, as the British Lord of the Admiralty, I need to remind you that you should pay more attention to the Far East." Mountbatten was not afraid of Cunningham. He was no longer the destroyer captain three years ago.
"That's the Prime Minister's job, and my job is the Navy." Cunningham said this and turned away.
Gavin happily gave Mountbatten a helpless smile and followed Cunningham Shiran away.
The eldest princess has already slipped away.
In such a big scene, no one cares about her as a little lieutenant.
No matter how beautiful or cute you are, it won’t do!
In the large conference room on the second floor of the Ministry of War, there is a huge and carefully crafted sand table placed in the center. There is a ladder next to the sand table. To see the full view of the sand table, you have to climb up the ladder.
Cunningham was old and it was too dangerous to climb high and low, so he used a stick more than two meters long to point out the country on the sand table.
"Based on our experience at Dunkirk, even if we mobilize all available ships, a landing operation of one million people will take at least six to eight weeks to complete." Cunningham is under great pressure, and the Allied forces are now delivering
Although the capabilities have been greatly improved compared to the Dunkirk evacuation period, the number of soldiers and supplies that need to be transported has also doubled, and it is too late to calculate the time.
During the Dunkirk evacuation, the British and French allied forces simply threw away the individual weapons they carried in order to outrun the Germans. Many officers and soldiers boarded the ship empty-handed, occupying limited space and maximizing transport capacity.
The Allies are now equipped with a large number of heavy weapons and equipment. Each division has more than a thousand vehicles, plus more than a thousand artillery and light and heavy machine guns, hundreds of tanks, and various other materials such as weapons and ammunition are calculated in tons.
If all the millions of troops were of Southern African standards, they would have nearly 250,000 vehicles of various types.
An ordinary 5,000-ton merchant ship can pull up to 200 cars.
250,000 cars would require a 5,000-ton merchant ship to make 1,250 round trips.
This is just a car. If it were replaced by a tank weighing dozens of tons, it would be good to be able to pull 20 vehicles at a time.
"Southern Africa will do its best to send all the transport ships that can be mobilized." Gavin does not write blank checks and does what he says.
"How many?" Cunningham asked probingly.
Gavin smiled and said nothing.
The British government must be very aware of how many transport ships there are in southern Africa. The transport ships are not submarines. They are so big that anyone can see them floating on the sea.
But how much it can mobilize depends on the mobilization ability of the southern African federal government.
When Britain carried out the Dunkirk evacuation, even the fishing boats were used, and they really came out in full force.
Southern Africa will definitely not send fishing boats. If they can come over, they must at least be ocean-going cargo ships, or simply warships.
When Cunningham served as commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet held joint exercises with the Cyprus Squadron every year.
Cunningham was deeply impressed by the landing craft equipped by the Cyprus Squadron.
