文明破晓 (English Translation)

— "This world needs a more advanced form of civilization"

Who is the Oriole (8)

Volume 7: World War II · Chapter 60

On December 18, 1941, before Hitler's special plane even landed at the airport in Florida, he could already see the swastika flags held high by the waiting crowd. As the plane came to a halt and Hitler appeared at the cabin exit, he saw American flags and swastika flags being held up together by the crowd waiting on the open ground next to the tarmac. Hitler had a strong sense of aesthetics, and in his eyes, these two flags combined at this moment created a strangely harmonious feeling.

Among immigrants in the United States, Anglo-Saxons had the highest proportion, followed by Germanic people from Northern Europe. Now that Germany had undoubtedly become the representative of the Germanic people, the immigrants from Northern Europe enthusiastically expressed their welcome to Hitler.

Hitler finally had the opportunity to come to the United States, and he immediately delivered a speech at the airport with peace as the main theme. The welcoming crowd responded to Hitler with enthusiastic cheers.

Soon, Hitler was escorted by American officials to Mar-a-Lago. Mar-a-Lago was built between 1924 and 1927 by Marjorie Merriweather Post, the heiress of the General Foods Corporation. The estate was positioned as a future winter retreat for American presidents, while also serving to host foreign dignitaries and high-ranking officials.

Now that the Allied summit could finally be held, Marjorie, the General Foods heiress, received Hitler and his party very enthusiastically at the entrance of the manor. After exchanging a few words with Hitler, Marjorie, who was quite a good judge of character, determined that although this Nazi German head of state who terrified Europe was not a mama's boy, his deep love for his mother, who possessed traditional morals, led him to admire women, especially mature and elegant ones.

As the heiress of General Foods, Marjorie was quite skilled at handling men with this psychology. Just as Marjorie began to use a few small tricks within a completely reasonable range, a blonde, blue-eyed woman walked up to Hitler and began talking with Marjorie.

As women, there was no need for verbal conflict; just eye contact and movements were enough for both sides to clearly understand each other's position and attitude. Without even asking for her name, Marjorie thought of a name from the information she had read: Carin von Göring, the wife of the current Reich Marshal of Nazi Germany, Göring.

Marjorie did not think that Frau Göring had an affair with Hitler because the attitude between Frau Göring and Hitler was very intimate and unconcealed. The relationship between these two, to use lines from a Chinese movie, was like that of siblings with different fathers and mothers. Seeing that her brother might be bullied by a bad woman, the sister immediately stepped forward to protect her brother.

Although she had a confrontational impulse based on being a woman towards Carin von Göring, Marjorie actually appreciated such a relationship. Men all thought they were the protectors of the family and the leaders of the world. In fact, in the eyes of women, men were a bunch of childish, simple, savage, and stupid fellows.

Marjorie immediately returned to a very polite self-positioning and concentrated on assuming the identity of the hostess of the conference venue. After settling Hitler in, Marjorie felt that the only person in this world who still made her somewhat curious was the Chinese leader, He Rui. Even among men who are all idiots, there is a hierarchy. He Rui is undoubtedly the apex existence among idiots. Whether He Rui's performance would be mediocre or extraordinary, Marjorie was very interested in seeing it with her own eyes.

Just as Marjorie expected, when she saw Churchill and Mussolini, she felt that these two men were not up to par. The scent of performance on them was very heavy, especially Mussolini. Compared with these two, Roosevelt and Hitler felt much purer.

On December 19, Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, and Mussolini held their first summit meeting. Roosevelt had thought that Hitler would show an aggressive posture, but he did not expect Hitler to be very steady, spending most of the time listening rather than expressing his own views.

Even when Roosevelt raised the issue regarding the Jews, Hitler did not show the slightest look of being offended. Roosevelt could only increase the pressure, "Based on humanitarian spirit, the US government believes that a self-governing government should be allowed to be established in Madagascar."

Hearing this, Hitler replied, "Madagascar has already begun to organize a self-governing government, and as far as we know, the Jewish Federation has already begun to contact China to purchase grain from Chinese-occupied areas."

Roosevelt was a little surprised by this answer. The reason he raised the issue of Jews establishing a self-governing government was primarily to occupy the moral high ground. No matter how deep-rooted the anti-Semitic tradition in Europe was, forcibly driving Jews from Europe to Madagascar was an inhumane act in itself. Although the United States itself did not accept Jews very much, the moral high ground had to be occupied.

Hitler's answer was quite powerful. If Germany actually allowed Jews to purchase grain from Chinese-occupied areas, then by European and American moral standards, Hitler had done his utmost. As a politician, Roosevelt could fully understand that in order to purchase grain from China, the World Jewish Congress would definitely have private dealings with China, and such dealings would inevitably be detrimental to the Allied Powers. If Hitler could tolerate even these things, then even if some problems arose in Madagascar, Germany could no longer be casually criticized.

Having temporarily resolved the Jewish issue, which most affected the morality of the Allied Powers, to this extent, Roosevelt began to talk about the war against China. At this time, the Allied Powers had already declared war on China. The Allied Powers, led by the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and Italy, also issued an appeal to other countries in the world, looking forward to building a worldwide anti-China alliance.

At this stage, only Britain and the United States were fighting against China. Roosevelt introduced the current war in the US Pacific region. It was a total failure in the Western Pacific. Now the United States had constructed a defense system from south to north, starting from eastern Australia in the south, including the Solomon Islands and Central Pacific islands in the middle section, and the Hawaiian Islands in the north. Roosevelt did not make any requests for help. He simply stated, "The United States has the ability to hold this defense line."

This was something only the United States dared to say. The length of this island-based defense system reached an unprecedented 10,000 kilometers. According to the plans submitted by the Navy General Board and the Army General Staff, the US military would engage in a brutal war with the Chinese Navy on this long defense line. Army Chief of Staff Marshall even put forward his view during a private meeting with Roosevelt, "Mr. President, if we want to hold this defense line, we will have to fight a large-scale war of attrition with China."

Of course, Roosevelt could not show weakness to Germany, because the German side was very clear about the pressure the United States was facing. Only if the United States expressed a leisurely attitude could it gain dominance within the Allied Powers.

After US President Roosevelt finished introducing the American situation, British Prime Minister Churchill recounted the status quo Britain was facing somewhat unwillingly, "We have already expressed to the Indian National Congress that as long as India helps Britain defeat China, India will be allowed independence."

Mussolini had originally prepared to remain silent because Italy had absolutely no possibility of fighting against China at this stage, and Italy's level was not sufficient to launch an expedition, so naturally there was no reason to stand out at this time.

But hearing Churchill's words, Mussolini almost laughed out loud. Fortunately, he held it back, only showing a bit of mockery on his face.

This mocking look made Churchill feel unhappy, but it was only unhappiness. Because Churchill knew very well that Britain at this stage simply did not have the ability to organize an effective counterattack in India. From a global perspective, even if Germany and Italy decided to send troops now, they would likely not make it in time.

Even if the intensity of the war was like World War I, transporting millions of troops and equipment to India would take half a year. But the current war was different. The transport capacity required for the equipment needed for war was far higher than that of World War I. Transporting hundreds of thousands of armored troops and corresponding tactical air force units to India would take at least a year.

Now that Churchill proposed the Indian war, he could only expect Germany and Italy to provide some air force support. At present, the sky over India had been occupied by China. If the Chinese Air Force was allowed to continue to wreak havoc, the British troops in India would not be able to last for three months at all.

After Churchill made these requests, Hitler replied, "Germany is willing to provide a portion of air force support."

Mussolini could only follow suit and express, "Italy is also willing to provide air force support within its capacity."

At this time, Roosevelt said, "US Army Air Forces units have already arrived in India."

The Big Four reached a consensus on this matter. Although the amount of aid varied, at least everyone cooperated.

After the two giants finished their speeches, Hitler said, "According to intelligence obtained by Germany, China possesses world-class fighter jets. And the latest fighter jet developed by Germany has an overwhelming advantage over propeller fighter jets. Germany is willing to share this achievement with the Allied Powers."

Mussolini could not help but feel a little nervous hearing this. Italy's level of military equipment was not bad among the Allied Powers, but Italy was limited by a shortage of domestic raw materials and a lack of markets, so military equipment production was a major problem. Therefore, Mussolini did not hope that Germany would share the most advanced military technology with Britain and the United States. But Mussolini knew he could not stop Hitler on this matter, and could only wait until after the meeting to discuss it.

Hitler's decision was also fully discussed among the German upper echelons. After the Anglo-German peace, Germany did not have to worry about war pressure for the time being. With Hitler's personality, he ordered the suspension of all projects to upgrade equipment that had already fallen behind in the war, and instead invested financial resources into developers of new types of equipment.

As early as before 1938, the German authorities ordered the Messerschmitt aircraft factory to develop a new type of fighter jet compatible with the turbojet engines tested by Bavaria or Junkers as soon as possible. In June 1939, the P.1065 twin-engine proposal passed the preliminary review, and in January 1941, the prototype No. 1 Me 262 V1 rolled off the production line.

The jet fighter was one of the key projects of Nazi Germany. By the time he came to attend the Allied summit, Nazi Germany had already completed the development of the formal initial Me 262 aircraft. During the testing of the Me 262, German test pilots and related technical personnel and officers all believed that the nickname of the Me 262 could be "King of the Sky"!

Since Germany was already a member of the Allied Powers, German experts dared to express to Hitler that Germany had a gap compared to Britain and the United States in many research and development technologies. If they could obtain technical support from Britain and the United States, the Me 262 could be put into mass production faster.

This view encountered great opposition among the German upper echelons. But Hitler personally went to see the economist Schacht, who was still living in retirement, and asked him. Schacht firmly supported Germany's cooperation with Britain and the United States.

Speaking of the reasons for cooperation, Schacht frankly believed, "Mein Führer, I believe China should be developing jet fighters, and their progress is probably not behind ours."

Hitler did not express denial. Because based on limited intelligence and his intuitive judgment, Hitler reached the same conclusion as Schacht. Before Germany launched the Western European campaign, Germany had made war preparations to fight Europe and America independently. This time lasted for two and a half years. Based on Hitler's understanding of He Rui, He Rui would absolutely not fight a battle without preparation. China was bound to face a global blockade, so China's preparations must be even more thorough.

Seeing that Hitler did not object, Schacht continued to explain, "Germany's first-mover advantage will be maintained for a long time, and cooperation with the Allied Powers will also inevitably lead the Allied Powers to make more cooperation in economic aspects. Mein Führer, Germany's current economy is still only in a recovery period, and we need more orders."

Hitler had thought Schacht would raise concerns about the Soviet Union attacking Germany, but unexpectedly, Schacht did not mention this possibility until the end. Hitler did not insist on mentioning these things to Schacht. After all, Professor Karl, the President of the German Academy of Sciences, had already analyzed the geopolitical situation of the Soviet Union in detail.

The benefits of the Soviet Union fighting against China were very low. Unless China was strong on the outside but weak on the inside and was eventually defeated by the Allied Powers, would the Soviet Union possibly fight against China.

But one look at the map made it clear that this matter was unrealistic. To the east of China was the vast Pacific Ocean. With China's naval strength, the United States' current 24 aircraft carriers could not defeat China; at least twice as many large aircraft carriers were needed.

And to the west of China were high mountains. To attack China, one first had to turn India into a stable and reliable strategic base. But Britain had never allowed India to build an industrial system, let alone build India into a source of a powerful army.

At present, British rule in India was already crumbling. Even if Britain eventually stabilized India, it would take several years. After several years passed, heaven knows what the situation would become.

The Soviet Union's best opportunity was to launch an attack on Europe when Europe, America, and China were exhausted from fighting. The Soviet border was basically all members of the Nazi German bloc. Stalin might not want to go to war with Hitler, but the Soviet Union would inevitably go to war with Germany.

Therefore, Hitler was willing to share German jet fighter technology with Britain and the United States. Only by fully cooperating with Britain and the United States on fighter jets and tanks could it be ensured that Germany possessed an equipment advantage over the Soviet Union in 1942.

According to German intelligence, the Soviet Union's third Five-Year Plan, which was about to be completed, had completed a new type of army with extremely terrifying equipment. There were probably 50,000 aircraft and 30,000 tanks. Even the elite German Army would be very dangerous in front of such a torrent of steel.

Churchill obviously did not take Hitler's proposal as a particularly big deal. Roosevelt felt that there must be deep meaning in Hitler saying this, but Roosevelt did not understand the combat level of German aircraft, so he asked, "I wonder what kind of technical cooperation Germany needs?"

Hitler then said confidently, "The ship transporting the fighter jets will soon arrive at the port in Florida. I look forward to German pilots and the most excellent American pilots performing a flight demonstration together."

Roosevelt urgently needed various kinds of cooperation at this time. As the host, he readily replied, "I look forward to seeing a wonderful flight demonstration!"