The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Roosevelt believed that if the United States went all out to fight Japan, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom would eventually separate and fight on their own... This is not impossible. Historically, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom almost had a stalemate, because even with the United States fully cooperating in the middle, the United Kingdom was still Focusing on their own interests, they looked for various excuses not to attack France but to attack Italy. In the end, they had no choice: the Soviet Union achieved a decisive victory and threatened to negotiate with Germany, which forced Britain to agree to the Normandy landing and open up the second world war. battlefield.

The British had to do this because the Soviet Union had gained the advantage on the battlefield and indeed had the capital to negotiate with the Germans. Once the Soviet Union and Germany negotiated a peace, the British and American forces would have to bear all the pressure from Germany.

What is ridiculous is that the British were so selfish and ugly on the battlefield, such as the "Ballista Plan" against France, the "Torch Plan", and the "Escape Plan" in Myanmar... However, the movie depicts the British army and generals It was glorified to an outrageous level, for example, the general was the last to retreat, and even after all the soldiers had withdrawn, the general still stayed to help the French.

Roosevelt would not be as short-sighted as Churchill when considering issues and only focused on immediate interests.

What Roosevelt considered was: If the United States did not intervene in Europe, Britain and the Soviet Union would be in danger of defeat or forming a long-term stalemate with Germany and Italy. In this way, even if the United States defeated Japan in the Pacific battlefield, it would eventually have to fight with An exhausted Britain and the Soviet Union went together to conquer the "Third Reich".

If this is the case, then why not unite the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to defeat the most powerful enemy...Germany first?

Of course, the United States is not as great as it appears on the surface. The United States wants to take this opportunity to enhance its international image and pull Britain down from being number one in the world. This is a consideration of long-term interests. And Churchill, who only cared about immediate interests and was greedy, just gave the United States an opportunity, so it was difficult for Britain not to decline.

Montgomery and Eisenhower were at a stalemate, so they had no choice but to report the problem.

There is no doubt that Britain's attempt to attack Sicily was opposed by the United States and the Soviet Union... because everyone could see that Britain was looking for a soft persimmon to pinch and delay time.

For this reason, Churchill embarked on a diplomatic journey.

Churchill opened a map of southern Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa in front of Stalin, pointed to Sicily and said: "Your Excellency, please look here. The Germans have an air fleet here with more than a hundred aircraft, and there are also two Italians." There are more than a hundred aircraft and nearly a hundred ships in the Port of Palermo. At the same time, a German fleet has been added. Although this fleet is in the Port of Bizerte, it is actually using Sicily as a barrier. What's more, Germany has also established a transportation line west of Sicily from Algiers to the French port of Toulon. This transportation line also uses Sicily as a barrier. If we can take Sicily... I know it will What will happen? We can win the North African battlefield, even intimidate Italy, and possibly bring down Mussolini and finally force Italy to withdraw from the Axis powers!"

Stalin patiently watched Churchill's performance, and then replied with a serious expression: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, I think what you said is true. But... after you capture Sicily, will it be unnecessary to land in France?"

Stalin's words hit the nail on the head. Although Sicily was important, the problem was that strategically it was almost a redundant war, because after conquering Sicily, if you wanted to fight Germany decisively, you still had to land in France.

On the contrary, if France is liberated by landing in France, then the Battle of Sicily will not need to be fought, because Mussolini will also be under pressure to step down due to the liberation of France, and Italy will also surrender.

But Churchill came prepared. He nodded and said: "You are right, Your Excellency! But we have also tried to land in France before, but ultimately failed because of inexperience!"

Churchill was talking about the Dieppe landing battle... This battle was actually a response that the British had to make under the strong request of the Soviet Union. Because they had no determination to fight, they were poorly prepared in all aspects. This resulted in the 6,018 people sent by the British. The commando team formed suffered 5,810 casualties, with a casualty rate as high as 96.5%.

And this battle became Churchill's magic weapon.

"During the Dieppe landing battle, we fully realized the difficulty and danger of amphibious landing operations!" Churchill said: "In particular, the British army and the American army have not cooperated before this, so I think we need to do this before large-scale landings. There’s a place where it’s relatively easy and less dangerous to get along, and that’s… Sicily!”

Stalin was speechless after hearing this. Although he knew that this was Churchill's excuse for delaying, he had to admit that what Churchill said made sense.

"What's more!" Churchill continued: "Our landing in Sicily will not reduce the pressure on the Soviet Union. The Germans have transferred an air force from the Soviet Union to Sicily. As the battle deepens, I believe the Germans will Sicily sends more troops!”

Stalin found that he could not refuse this plan, because no matter what, the Allied attack on Sicily would be of benefit to the Soviet Union, although the benefit was not very great.

After convincing Stalin, it will be easier to solve the problem in the United States.

Because the United States does not have a very strong desire to land in France... It would also be good for the United States to continue to drag out the large-scale landing war.

But in fact, the United States had to agree to the British plan, because if the United States wanted to land in France, it had to use Britain as a forward base, which was basically impossible without Britain's consent and active cooperation.

The United States' loss was strategic... Roosevelt's strategy of "Europe first, Asia later" was originally intended to concentrate on defeating Germany, the strongest of the Axis powers, and then turn back to deal with Japan.

But in fact, the US army was led by Britain to Italy, the weakest of the Axis powers. On the other hand, in the Pacific, Japan successfully expanded its influence rapidly in the Pacific because of the US strategy of "Europe first, Asia later".

However, in any case, after discussing with Eisenhower, Roosevelt finally decided to send more troops to North Africa to support the British landing plan in Sicily.

As a result, a large number of US troops and equipment gathered in North Africa along the sea route through the Suez Canal. The shadows of vehicles and transport ships carrying troops and food were everywhere in North Africa, which was originally sparsely populated.