Chapter 872: Divide in Half

Roosevelt wanted to hurl the stack of documents in his hand across the room, to slam them into the face of the official in the corner who had so obsequiously reminded him of the files he had forgotten to look at. He glared at the man, his eyes behind his glasses flashing with murderous light. The official knew he had spoken at the wrong time and could only lower his head, playing the ostrich.

It wasn’t entirely his fault. He had submitted the report on the Chinese theater’s resistance against Japanese aggression to Roosevelt several days ago, but the president had chosen to ignore it. The Chinese army had been waiting for supplies for a very, very long time, but they still hadn’t received the materials and equipment they wanted.

The Chinese special envoy, the First Lady of China who had traveled halfway around the world to safely reach the United States, had, just yesterday, exhausted all pleasantries and had nearly broken down in tears. This had finally made the American official determined to help America’s Far Eastern friend, China, at this meeting.

Had Roosevelt forgotten this aid request from China? Of course not. In fact, a few days ago, when the report had first reached the President’s office, he had carefully read its contents. Compared to allies like the Soviet Union and Britain, who were like lions opening their great maws, the Chinese request was, in contrast, very pragmatic and humble.

The report had analyzed in detail the rout of the Chinese army on the main front, the “Defeat in the Far East” that had cost them a great deal of territory. The Japanese bombers’ risky raid on the industrial zone between Wuhan and Hanyang was indeed a stroke of genius. This time, the Japanese tactical planning had been excellent, their strategic vision unique—piling snow on top of China’s already fragile industry.

It was for this reason that the Chinese side hoped the United States would provide 1 billion rounds of ammunition, as well as 300,000 rifles and 50,000 machine guns as aid. If possible, they also needed the United States to provide no fewer than 200 fighter planes to protect China’s wartime provisional capital, Chongqing, and the arsenals between Wuhan and Hanyang.

This request, compared to the British and Soviets who would ask for dozens of warships and tens of thousands of tanks at the drop of a hat, was already the “conscience of the industry.” But the U.S. government was now settling accounts with the Roosevelt administration for its recent spendthrift behavior. Congress was nitpicking over every item of aid to the Allies, so China’s aid request had also been suppressed by Roosevelt.

The American resurgence in the Pacific theater had indeed silenced some of the isolationists who had been urging the United States to withdraw from the war. That the war could continue, and that the United States would by no means lose it, had now become the consensus of almost all Americans. The crisis of the Roosevelt administration having to step down in a ceasefire was averted, and Nimitz was also being molded by the Roosevelt administration into an American hero.

But in contrast, the number one ally that the United States was heavily aiding, the Soviet Union, was suffering a complete rout on the main front, losing city after city in a thousand-mile retreat. Now Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad were all besieged by the German army. The situation was grim to the extreme.

Another ally, Britain, which had done nothing but ask for things since the beginning of the war, was also being defeated in grand style. Not to mention losing its homeland, that small island of Iceland was simply no different from a black hole. The United States shipped a large amount of supplies out of port every day, but it could not feed this Pixiu called “the Iceland base.”

And so, a portion of the American people began to reflect. They believed that neither the Soviets nor the British were truly fighting for the Americans. Instead of giving the materials to these idiots who couldn’t win a war, it would be better to arm the Americans themselves. These Americans felt that by arming 2 million American soldiers and sending them to the battlefield, they could change the current situation on every front.

The views of these people had received the support of pro-Soviet, pro-British, and other officials. They advocated that the Americans should expand their army on a larger scale and participate in the war, to personally win this war that concerned their future international status.

Under the interference of this trend of thought, the amount of American aid to the Soviet Union, Britain, and China, after several months of continuous growth, had declined slightly. The United States had conscripted 500,000 men, and everyone, from top to bottom, was planning where to send these 500,000 men to defeat the enemy.

The German-Soviet war was the main battlefield that was currently tying down the largest part of the German army. The supplies there could not be easily reduced. Once the Soviet Union was defeated, the German army would be freed from the shadow of the war and would enter a stage of peaceful development even earlier than the United States. This was absolutely unacceptable for the United States, so the aid to the Soviet Union could not be easily reduced.

Based on this fundamental reason, the corresponding problem of saving supplies had to be dealt with from Britain’s Iceland base and the Chinese theater in the Far East. Roosevelt, forced by necessity, had selectively forgotten China’s aid request. It was something that couldn’t be helped.

So he could only open his mouth and slowly conclude this meeting. “The Japanese army in the Chinese theater is already unable to launch an offensive, so let’s put the matter of aid over there on hold for a while. As for the British side, reduce the transport of supplies by half… and give full support to the Soviet theater. That’s all we can do for now.”

“As for the next direction of the American counter-attack, it is still set on the Pacific theater of the war against Japan!” Marshall stood up, walked to the side of the map, and pointed to the Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands on it. “I suggest we first transport our troops to Australia, eliminate the Japanese forces there, and then attack the Solomon Islands from the flank!”

Australia… for Roosevelt, that was another memory he was reluctant to recall. Less than a year ago, he had used his diplomatic power to force the British royal family to give up its claim to Australia, handing it over to Northern Britain. Now he had to slap himself in the face and quietly snatch it back.

To use hundreds of thousands of troops to eliminate the Japanese forces that had been scattered into small groups due to an overextended front, and then to retake all of Australia from the Germans, even though there wasn’t a single German there—it was truly a grand strategic counter-offensive.

Roosevelt once again let out a helpless sigh. He found that in this past year, the number of times he had let out a helpless sigh was increasing. If one were to choose a representative expression for the presidents of the various American governments, then the four on Mount Rushmore would clearly be “resolute, optimistic, active, and enterprising,” while he, Roosevelt, would be left with only “sighing.”

I hope that my persistence, for so long, has been correct. I hope that in the very, very distant future, I can be understood by the American people, Roosevelt prayed in his heart. He then collected his thoughts and said to Marshall, “I agree with your view. Let’s first help our British allies and retake the territory of Australia!”

While the conference room in Washington was discussing how to stab Japan, Akado was also, with his aides and Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, studying how to make use of the chess piece of Turkey.

“The plan to transport troops to Turkey is proceeding in an orderly manner. Three infantry divisions are already packed and ready to go. Although they are not elites, they have also drawn at least 2,000 veterans with combat experience,” Brauchitsch, who had more of a say in military matters, said. After he had finished introducing the progress of the plan to transport troops to Turkey, he returned to his seat.

The officials and aides in the conference room generally had completely opposite opinions on the use of Turkey. At this moment, the Middle East strategy faction, as well as several official representatives who were relatively close to the Jews, spoke up. “We should support Turkey’s southward advance. The demands they have made, many of our country’s entrepreneurs will find a way to meet. Once we have captured the Middle Eastern oil-producing region, victory will also follow.”

The Jews supported solving the Middle East first. Of course, they hoped that Germany would take the Middle East first and help them establish the “Jewish state” that the Führer had promised. This plan had also been proposed by the North African Field Marshal, Rommel, and to some extent represented Italy’s will.

But the Germanic industrial faction, represented by Field Marshal von Brauchitsch and other German native capitalists, was more in favor of a northward advance from Turkey, a surprise attack on the Baku oil fields, and a complete occupation of the Caucasus. These people immediately began to clamor, opposing the opinions of the previous group. “To meddle in the Middle East is to fight for the Axis. To go north to Baku is the Third Reich’s own strategy. Are you still aides of the Third Reich or not?”

Akado sat at the head of the table, his hands clasped, silent as a statue. He actually felt that both of these opinions were overly optimistic. With just a little analysis, one would know that the country of Turkey was simply not as powerful as everyone imagined.

During the First World War, Turkey had indeed allied with Germany. With German support, it had marched on the Middle East with a million men, but in the end, it had achieved nothing and had even turned to Britain and France. With that kind of ability, to count on Turkey to attack the Middle East was doomed to be an unrealistic fantasy.

What’s more, after the First World War, in order to get out of the predicament of an oil shortage, the prophet Akado had thrown out the big cake of the Middle Eastern oil fields. The Middle East had been dominated by Britain and America, its industrial transport infrastructure had been perfected, and its combat effectiveness had more than doubled… And Turkey was still the same backward Turkey.

On the other hand, to have Turkey attack the Soviet Union to the north, to provoke the Baku defense zone, which had already been strengthened by the Soviet Union. Just look at the situation in Stalingrad to know—for a place like the Caucasus, which had made even the Germans break their teeth, to count on Turkey to chew on it was nothing more than the legendary “sending a head a thousand miles.”

What made Akado not know whether to laugh or cry was that the Turks still felt good about themselves. After being bogged down in a quagmire of war in their northwestern Balkan occupied territories, they had actually boasted at an Axis foreign policy meeting, clearly stating the conditions for Turkey’s participation in the war: Turkey would send a million troops to help Germany sweep through the Middle East and the Caucasus, but Turkey wanted half of the oil share in these places…

At that time, a ridiculous image had appeared in Akado’s mind: a small, unarmed boy boasting to two hardened robbers who had just committed murder, “I’ll help you kill the police, but I want half of the money from the bank robbery!”

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