Chapter 1007: Nothing Necessary Anymore

Things were not actually that complicated. After the German bombers had paid a visit to the Allied airbase on Iceland, the American side was left desperately trying to figure out what else they could possibly do in this war. Defeating Japan was clearly no longer in doubt; the various victories being reported from the front didn’t need to be faked.

But attacking the Axis powers had become exceedingly troublesome. The Germans had built their Atlantic Wall into an impenetrable fortress, leaving the American high command with the distinct feeling of a dog trying to bite a hedgehog—there was simply no way in. And the bombing of Iceland had also made any further action against Norway fraught with difficulty.

And so, a critical question was laid before the Americans: where, exactly, could they fight the Germans and achieve the greatest victory? After some thought, almost everyone’s conclusion pointed to a single answer: nowhere.

That’s right, nowhere. The Atlantic Wall Germany had built was something America could not break through in a short time. In North Africa, the German-Italian joint forces were routing the Anglo-American forces. The situation on the German-Soviet front was even more worrying to the American high command. The Iceland bombing plan had been drawn up precisely to alleviate the pressure on the Eastern Front…

The facts had already proven that the plan to bomb Norway had not fundamentally solved the problem of the pressure on the Eastern Front. America had to find a new way to help the Soviet Union stabilize its defense line once and for all.

And so, they had looked everywhere. Only by engaging the Axis in a head-on battle in the Middle East was there a possibility of truly diverting the German army’s attention. And this battle also had to, as much as possible, avoid a direct confrontation with the German army. After all, to want to defeat the German army that had crossed the Suez Canal was no easy matter.

“This is really too difficult… We have to attack the Axis forces, but we also have to avoid the most elite German troops… How are we supposed to fight this war?” At the meeting to study this matter, an American general lamented, shaking his head and complaining.

Sitting next to him was the famous American general, General Bradley. This genius had just returned from an inspection in Africa. He glanced at his portly colleague beside him, and then with a somewhat indifferent look, he glanced at his other colleague, Marshall, on the other side.

“The plan to reinforce the Middle East with a hundred thousand infantry has been going on for so long, and our forces deployed near the Saudi oil fields are still pitifully small. At the very least, to expect these troops to resist Rommel’s offensive is really too much to ask,” an officer in charge of supplying the American troops in the Middle East said with a sigh, his voice lacking confidence. “Although we know Rommel’s forces are not that large, they are all battle-hardened elites, and their supply is better than ours…”

“Instead of counting on Mountbatten to create a miracle and crush Rommel in the Middle East, we would be better off studying how to stop the German offensive there. At the very least, to save those Middle Eastern oil fields is the truly important thing,” another general said, agreeing with the majority. He believed that to send the hard-won, newly equipped American soldiers to a distant battlefield to die was a very unworthy thing.

Roosevelt sat in his wheelchair, tapping his fingers on the armrest. He knew that many of the officers present were not in his camp. In this kind of perfunctory discussion, many were using dissenting opinions to try and drag down the supporters of President Roosevelt.

To expect the Allied forces in the Middle East to defeat Rommel’s Afrika Korps, Roosevelt also knew, was a very unrealistic thing. If there had been even a sliver of a chance, Patton and Montgomery would not have been so utterly defeated on the North African front. Now the German army’s supply lines were shorter, their forces were stronger, and there was no reason for them to lose to the declining Allied forces in the Middle East.

Although the United States, relying on Britain and its own massive transport fleet, had sent more than 70,000 American troops and all kinds of equipment to the Middle East, it was still not enough to stop the German advance. At a time like this, it was necessary to draw up a more reasonable operational plan to delay the collapse of the Middle East. And the content of this meeting was, in fact, just that.

“I have communicated with General Bradley. He has also seen General Patton and General Mountbatten over in the Middle East. He understands the situation there better than I do,” Marshall said, looking at the pale-faced President Roosevelt. He softly interrupted the endless bickering of all the others. “I have a plan that is relatively feasible. Why don’t we all discuss this?”

If the entire United States were to be compared to the state of Shu in the Three Kingdoms, then General Marshall was undoubtedly the incarnation of Zhuge Liang. This man, who was known as the “brains” of the American high command, was the military advisor and assistant to Eisenhower and even Roosevelt. Half of America’s plans had come from his hand. It was no exaggeration to say that he had helped the America of another timeline to win World War II.

Now that he had spoken and had a new plan, everyone else naturally shut their mouths. To talk big and to actually have the ability were two completely different states. Of the generals sitting around this conference table, most could only represent the interests of their various parties and wage a war of words. To speak at a time like this would be to expose their own ignorance in handling difficult problems. No one would do such a foolish thing.

“General Bradley and I are in agreement that to launch a direct counter-attack on Rommel’s Afrika Korps is a matter where the gains do not make up for the losses. It would disrupt General Mountbatten’s defensive deployment in his retreat, and it would also increase our losses, accelerating our defeat,” Marshall said, repeating the original words of those who had just been arguing, as his opening.

He then continued, speaking to Roosevelt at the head of the table, “But, what if we were to change our opponent? Apart from Germany, is it possible for our American army to defeat the armies of other countries?”

As he asked this question, he looked at the several generals who were representing the Army at this meeting. These few immediately puffed out their chests and guaranteed, “Of course! If we’re not fighting the German army, then the combat effectiveness of the Army is still trustworthy! For example, our combat results in the Pacific against Japan are the best proof!”

“After the Germans captured Alexandria, they then broke through the Suez Canal defense line. Their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated, but it also, in fact, has reached its limit!” he said, pointing to the map on the table and explaining the problem to Roosevelt. “Rommel has not crossed the deserts of Saudi Arabia. This proves that he is still short on fuel, and lacks the support of his home country’s strength!”

He then smiled and, staring at Roosevelt, said, “But, not long ago, the Axis themselves had delivered their weak underbelly right to our eyes! Now we know what to do to use a chain reaction to deal a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Axis!”

“A weak underbelly? What weak underbelly?” Roosevelt was taken aback for a moment, then looked at Marshall in confusion. He was very satisfied with this subordinate of his. At the very least, in the Pacific theater, the successive victories of the American army were inseparable from Marshall’s central coordination, and his insistence on the “Pacific First, Atlantic Second” strategic policy.

“Not long ago, Turkey crossed the border, attempting to attack Syria and other regions controlled by the exiled French government. The result was that their attack was easily repulsed, and our losses were so small they weren’t even worth reporting…” Bradley said with a smile, picking up where Roosevelt had left off. “If I hadn’t personally gone to Africa, then this matter would not even have alarmed anyone here.”

Marshall nodded and then continued, “Originally, we all thought it was just a small-scale border skirmish. After all, to this day, neither side has any intention of further opening a new front… but after some investigation, we discovered that that was an offensive launched by Turkey!”

An offensive? And it had only produced the scale of a border conflict? Roosevelt’s eyes lit up, and he immediately grasped the key to the problem. He looked at General Marshall and asked, “Then, if we were to launch a counter-attack on the Axis on the Turkish border, how much strength would we need to commit?”

Marshall smiled slightly and then, looking at the complex terrain of Turkey, he finally chose a relatively conservative number. “The Germans have deployed some troops there. I think if we were to defeat them along with these troops, we would need at least 7 divisions… about 180,000 men.”

“Do we have that many troops in the Middle East, Generals?” Roosevelt asked, no longer speaking to Marshall, but turning his gaze to all the generals present. “Can we, in the Middle East, mobilize nearly 200,000 troops?”

“The local armed forces that can coordinate with our actions are about 50,000. From the British and Indian side, the forces that can be provided are between 100,000 and 120,000. Our own troops over there, if you count all of them, are over 100,000… But, Mr. President, these troops cannot all be transferred. We must leave a certain amount of force on the main front to deal with a German attack. So the number of troops that can be transferred is only a little over 100,000,” a general said, answering Roosevelt’s question after consulting with his colleagues on his left and right.

“General Bradley, if General Patton were to be transferred from India to Baghdad to command an offensive against Turkey… to avoid the German army as much as possible, and to only annihilate the Turkish forces… would 100,000 men be enough?” Roosevelt asked another question. But this time, he was asking General Bradley, and him alone.

And so everyone, including General Marshall, focused their gaze on Bradley, who had not immediately answered. The American general then, with great confidence, replied to Roosevelt’s question, “Mr. President, if we were to lose this battle, then there would be no need to fight for any interests with the Germans ever again.”

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