12dz Chapter 171 The Situation on the Blue Water Planet
Chapter 171 The Situation on the Blue Water Planet
By September 1943, the shadow of war had not yet completely dissipated, but the dawn of victory was already faintly visible.
The land of Europe is still ravaged by the flames of war. Although Hans's Eastern Front troops still retain a certain degree of combat effectiveness, the situation has begun to tilt.
The Soviet Union failed to launch a devastating counterattack as advertised. However, after a bloody battle on the scorched earth of Kursk, Hans's attack was completely repelled, and Hans had to enter a strategic defensive period.
In a simple yet stern office in the Kremlin, the Man of Steel leaned over a map, with a mountain of intelligence reports in front of him.
He picked up one of the copies and frowned slightly. "How could White Eagle's penicillin be sold on the black market in Siam and Singapore?"
His voice was low, like the depths of winter on a snowy night.
"Yes," the intelligence chief replied immediately. "According to intelligence officers stationed in the Far East, anyone can buy these precious medicines with gold and a knife."
The Man of Steel pondered for a moment, a cold light flashing in his eyes: "The White Eagle's money machine has finally revealed a crack."
He paused, then continued, "Since they're unwilling to provide us with large quantities of penicillin (in fact, White Eagle's own recently commissioned factories haven't even started production yet), then we'll exchange it for gold. As for their lack of recognition of our gold rubles? Humph, a bunch of greedy jackals who only recognize gold."
The intelligence chief pushed his glasses and didn't dare to speak.
In fact, the blame for the poor credit of the Russian ruble in the international financial market should be borne by the two people currently in the office, so it is best for the intelligence chief to remain silent on this issue.
Since Russia and Japan still maintained a neutral relationship at that time, and the two sides even sent diplomatic personnel to each other, Russia could openly send people to the Japanese-controlled areas to conduct trade.
Following orders from the Kremlin, Russian agents poured into Southeast Asia with gold.
Zhang Chi also keenly sensed this undercurrent, or perhaps it could be said that these penicillins were originally the bait he laid for the Russian bear.
He used the Japanese-faced synthetic spies provided by the system to deliver penicillin to the Russian bear in small batches in exchange for the much-needed gold.
Although some of the medicines in this process would inevitably fall into the hands of the Japanese, he did not care.
"How many devils did the medicine save?" Zhang Chi snorted disdainfully, "Then we'll kill a few more on the battlefield."
----
In the direction of North Afrika, under the scorching sun, the Allied forces captured hundreds of thousands of Axis Afrikaans troops and occupied the entire Afrikaans region.
They could finally land on the European continent from the south and directly attack Italy, the weakest of the three Axis countries.
However, after the landing, the Allied forces encountered difficulties in the mountainous Apennine Peninsula. Although they overthrew the fascist rule in the south through political offensives, it seemed that the attempt to directly attack Hans' homeland from the south was still out of reach.
A debate raged within Allied headquarters in Sicily.
"Gentlemen, our attempt to quickly break through the defenses in the northern Apennines has completely failed. Hans's Wehrmacht quickly entered the northern Apennines. They used the mountainous terrain to deploy layers of defenses, and our advance was extremely slow."
A White Eagle staff officer pointed at the winding route on the map, his tone anxious.
Another General, John, stood up, spread his hands, and said sarcastically, "Are we supposed to charge Hans' mountain defenses head-on? The price would be the lives of hundreds of thousands of young men."
Since they had occupied the southern part of Italy, John had completely gained control of the Mediterranean sea power. Therefore, he was not prepared to personally undertake the arduous task of attacking Hans' elite defense line in the mountains.
They were prepared to use passive resistance to shift the main tasks to the White Eagle and colonial troops.
General Ike, the White Eagle general in charge of the European theater, frowned and crossed his hands on the table.
His eyes were sharp as an eagle, yet tinged with fatigue. "Only by breaking through the defenses in the Northern Apennines can we threaten Hans's vulnerable underbelly from the south. No matter how much it costs, we must launch an attack."
He pondered for a moment, then spoke more slowly: "Of course, not now. We still need some time to prepare."
In this way, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops gathered in southern Europe, ready to attack Hans at any time.
-----
In the Pacific theater, the White Eagle's advance towards the Solomon Islands appeared unstoppable.
The naval fleet, marines, air force and some army divisions captured island after island with lightning speed, gradually compressing Fuso's maritime defense line.
However, even though the White Eagle Fleet had the upper hand in sea control, the desperate resistance of the Japanese on every captured island still caused the fluttering White Eagle flag to be soaked in blood.
"General, the Japanese on the island are resisting more and more stubbornly. Our losses are inevitable." The staff officer reported in a low voice, with worry in his eyes.
Chief of Staff George stood in front of the battle map, tapping the table with his fingertips. He said in a low voice, "If we attack island by island, how many people will die?"
He looked around and saw that the army and navy generals in the conference room were all silent.
George knew that it would be a huge number that would embarrass the President.
(By the way, if Commander Luo was in power, he could have suppressed the casualties, but Truman, who had little reputation, couldn't do that, so in the end he could only throw the little boy and the fat boy down.)
Maybe I should beef up Stevenson?
George looked at the map. If more devils were to be attracted to the Qian country and Southeast Asia, the strength of the devil's maritime defense line would be reduced, and perhaps the casualties of the White Eagle soldiers could be reduced?
Thinking of the upcoming election pressure, George knew that the balance of victory had to tilt faster.
In order to win, George decided to turn a blind eye to some of Zhang Chi's extraordinary actions. After all, the other side actually attracted two elite divisions of the Japanese to reinforce Pegu.
-----
In the South Seas, Stevenson was deploying troops and preparing to implement his plan to open up transportation lines.
At the same time, the Japanese headquarters on the opposite side also discovered the predicament of the Southern Army.
On the one hand, with the rise of Zhang Chi, Pegu's rule seemed to be crumbling.
War has a cost.
The headquarters couldn't help but wonder, is it really necessary to fight with all their might for a place like Pegu, which has basically no benefits except for stealing gold and rubber?
After a heated debate, they finally realized that they really had to fight to the end.
If we don't fight, the other puppet brothers will discover Fuso's weakness, and the so-called "common prosperity" will probably fall apart immediately.