Chương 177: 177
Episode 177: Time between dogs and wolves (3)
August 4, 1942
New Fuhrer's Residence in Berlin, Germany
"Reports have just arrived that 'Operation Twilight' has concluded successfully. 'Operation Mulsujebi' and 'Operation François' have also been completed."
"Good, very good."
Hearing Dönitz's report, I relieved my sleepy heart.
Operation Dusk was an operation to cover the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Operation Mulsujebi was an operation to cover the Strait of Gibraltar, and Operation François was an operation to bombard the Suez Canal with mines.
"With this, Britain's Mediterranean-Red Sea-Indian Ocean route has been completely blocked. I'm very, very satisfied."
Now that the Straits of Gibraltar, Suez, and Bab el-Mandeb are riddled with mines, to get from Britain to India, you must now cross the Atlantic, go around the Cape of Good Hope, and pass through the Indian Ocean.
Until you reach your destination, India, you have to do your best to avoid U-boats swarming the Atlantic Ocean and Japanese Navy submarines roaming the Indian Ocean.
You can bet your remaining balls that within a week a tenth of Churchill's hair will fall out, and within a month there will be a flood of protest letters addressed to 10 Downing Street.
When I imagine Churchill exploding because he couldn't get on the rope, my shoulders start to shake.
"Thanks to the Navy, Churchill won't be able to sleep with his feet up at night for a while. "The Navy did a really great job."
"I just did the natural thing as an admiral of the German Navy."
Even though he said that, Donitz was happy to receive a compliment and did not bother to hide the way the corners of his mouth turned up.
It is said that the status of the British Empire comes from India, so Britain's dependence on India is more than people think.
India's size and impact from its name were the reasons for Britain's obsession with India, but during World War II, Britain received tremendous help from India to make up for its own lack of troops.
As many as 2.2 million people served in the British army during World War II. In addition, Britain set up a military supplies production base in India, where labor costs were almost negligible, and produced large quantities of military supplies such as uniforms, rifles, ammunition, artillery, and vehicles, and supplied them to the battlefield cheaply and quickly.
Colonial India played a significant role in Britain's victory. But what if the road to this precious India is cut off?
Not only will the factories in mainland Britain not be able to meet the necessary demand right now, but the supply of troops will also be difficult.
The troops stationed in India are also in trouble because they will not be able to receive necessary supplies from their home country on time.
Even now, anti-British sentiment is rampant in India. Exchanges with Britain have been cut off, and the Japanese army calling for the liberation of Asia is approaching in the east. How many Indians will not be swayed by this?
In addition, if a 'spontaneous uprising by Indians' occurs within India… .?
***
"Armed rebellion, not just in one place, but in many places?"
"Yes, Your Excellency. Armed rebels attacked friendly forces in 18 cities in western India, including Karachi, Pisukan, Tubat, Beat, and Quetta, and bombings also occurred in Rajkot, Ludhiana, and Lahore, killing dozens of people and killing more than a hundred people."
General Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army, was shaken by his adjutant's report.
"oh my god… ."
The armed rebellion in India, the situation that Britain was most worried about, had become a reality.
Auchinleck felt like his eyes were going dark. What should not have happened after the German army's landing in England? That too, right now... .
Before Britain declared war on Germany, Free Indian Legion soldiers who had infiltrated India spread out to various parts of India, recruiting comrades who joined the rebellion and collecting information about British military bases.
Weapons and information stolen by Indian soldiers who joined the British army were also of great help to them.
In order to continue Operation Watermill, a lot of weapons were needed, including weapons to be used by Free Indian Legion soldiers and Indian guerrillas.
However, since it was impossible to continuously supply weapons from Europe to India, far away, the defense strategists who were concerned about this came up with an ingenious idea.
Wouldn't it be possible to develop weapons that India can produce on its own and send them to India along with the blueprints?
Hitler instructed the Ordnance Department to develop submachine guns that were cheap and easy to produce, regardless of performance.
To a level that can be made in a small factory or local ironworks!
The product created in this way was the MP3008 submachine gun, called 'Gerät Neumünster'.
This submachine gun, which looks like just a magazine and trigger attached to an iron pipe, was as simple in structure as it was simple in appearance, so any engineer who knew how to read a blueprint could make it.
A weapon perfectly suited to soldiers of the Free Indian Legion who must engage in guerrilla warfare. The structure was simple and easy to produce, so the performance was mediocre, but it was not that much of a problem for those who had to wage guerrilla warfare anyway.
What Indian soldiers needed was a weapon that could be made easily and quickly, not a high-performance weapon that was difficult and time-consuming to produce.
Free Indian Legion soldiers who infiltrated India quickly cloned MP3008 and distributed it to comrades who decided to join the uprising.
Anyone with a blueprint could make it, so thousands of MP3008s were quickly manufactured and spread throughout India. When the promised day arrived, Indians armed with MP3008s, homemade grenades, and Molotov cocktails poured out from everywhere.
"Long live India! Long live freedom! Long live independence!"
"Indians, the time has finally come!"
"Let us take our freedom into our own hands!"
The British troops, who were relieved that they were far from the front line, were helpless against the unexpected attack of the Indians.
Indians who attacked the British army's supply bases and transport routes seized weapons, ammunition, food, and clothing made for the British army, and burned what they could not take with improvised bombs and Molotov cocktails.
Railroad tracks and bridges were blown up, and trains carrying British troops and their tanks and fighter planes were overturned.
Soldiers of the Free Indian Legion descended on Balochistan on a transport plane that took off from Turkey, joined their comrades who had infiltrated in advance, and began the struggle against the British.
Not long after the uprising began, all of India was engulfed in chaos.
***
India was not the only place where unrest occurred.
"Brothers, the time for the temple has finally come!"
"The oppressors, the British, go away!!"
Anti-reflectionists within the Egyptian army incited citizens who were dissatisfied with the British royal family and launched an armed rebellion in Cairo.
"Brothers, rise up to the last man and fight for our sacred rights!"
"This is for the sake of Allah, our history, and our land, and through this we will preserve our honor, and Allah will be with you!"
"Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!!"
An uprising also broke out in Palestine, which was under British rule. Amin al-Husseini returned to his homeland of Palestine after visiting Germany and receiving promises of support, and declared war on Britain and declared independence for Palestine.
"Iraq is the country of the Iraqi people. "Everything that comes out of Iraq is for the Iraqis, not for Britain!"
"Our brothers in Palestine and Egypt and our comrades in Germany are with us! Let's fight for Iraq!"
Abdul Illah, who claimed to be regent on behalf of his young nephew and provided Iraq's oil to Britain free of charge, was captured by officers and soldiers of the Golden Square and executed by firing squad along with his family.
Iraqis burned the Union Jack on the streets of Baghdad, and British cargo ships docked at the port were hijacked by Iraqi forces.
The IRA, which was the ostensible cause of Britain's participation in the war, also carried out terrorist attacks in cities in Northern Ireland and England.
There was an IRA bomb attack on a police station and British soldiers were shot dead in the streets.
IRA members disguised as ordinary citizens took away the weapons of the British soldiers and police officers they had shot and then disappeared from the streets, mixing with ordinary citizens.
***
August 8, 1942
War Office underground bunker in London, England
Churchill, who had been confident of victory by reading the declaration of war against Germany to the public on the BBC, looked haggard over the past few days and ran down his face with a thick hand.
After V2 fell near 10 Downing Street, Churchill was forced to stay in an underground bunker at the War Office for safety.
The only damage to 10 Downing Street was broken windows, a shattered wooden gate, and picture frames falling off the walls, but since there was no guarantee that the damage would be this severe next time, Churchill decided to stay in the bunker until the end of the war. I had to live the life of a mole moving from place to place.
However, what was more painful to Churchill than his life as a mole was that the war situation was moving in a completely different direction than he had expected.
Even when the war began and the results of air raids on German military bases in Western Europe were exaggerated and announced to the public, no concern could be found on Churchill's face.
But now, his face has become dark and stained with worry, fatigue, and anxiety.
A deep shadow was cast over his face, like a patient who learned from a doctor that his illness was serious and difficult to cure.
"What is the situation in India? Are the rebels still running rampant?"
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"Auchinleck, that friend. Wasn't he famous for being nice to Indians? "I heard that there is no one that I know of who cares more for Indians than Auchinleck."
"dismissal. From my perspective, it seems that Auchinleck's personal tendencies have nothing to do with this situation."
Churchill's face turned red at Brook's words, which he couldn't bear.
"I know that much! You don't know what I want to say? Why did the Indians revolt?"
"It's hard to pinpoint just one because there are so many things to consider, but I think Germany's intervention was the direct cause of the uprising."
As Brooke and Churchill knew, there were many reasons for Indians to revolt.
Britain had colonized India for nearly 200 years, including during the East India Company period, and when World War I broke out, it promised to treat India no longer as a colony but as an autonomous nation like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and allowed Indians to participate in the war. induced.
What came back to Indians after the war was increased taxes and harsher exploitation, and two months ago, the leaders of the Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League were arrested and imprisoned on the orders of the Governor-General.
Rather, it was surprising that the Indians had remained quiet until now.
Hitler ignited the anger of the Indian people that had been building up, and as a result, the Indian Empire faced the greatest crisis since its establishment.
"Damn you Jerry. As expected, they commit all kinds of heinous acts."
When Brooke said that Germany's intervention was the biggest cause of the uprising, Churchill gritted his teeth so loudly that he made a grinding sound.
The good news was that the unrest was concentrated in western India, and eastern Bengal was relatively quiet.
If unrest had occurred in the Bengal region, our troops fighting the Japanese army on the Indo-Burma border would have been in great danger.
"Tell Auchinleck. We will not spare any support needed to subdue the rebels, so please subdue the rebels by any means possible. If necessary, even if it means burning down the village and arresting the families of traitors who joined the rebels and throwing them into prison, by all means!"
Some attendees at the meeting frowned at Churchill's radical remarks.
Considering India's position and importance in the British Empire, it was true that suppressing Indian rebels was a very urgent issue.
However, to say outright that massacres and torture is okay was clearly problematic speech.
Churchill himself must have realized too late that his words had gone too far, and he suddenly cleared his throat.
"Hmm, hmm. That's what I'm saying in the worst case. "Please also tell them to be careful not to harm Indians who are loyal to Britain."
"I understand, Your Excellency. However, since the Suez Canal is blocked, I think it will be difficult to send reinforcements to India for the time being."
The unrest in India was a serious problem, but the blockade of the Suez Canal and the anti-coup carried out by the Egyptian army were also significant disasters.
Is that it? The Strait of Gibraltar and the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb were also littered with mines spread by U-boats, making normal navigation impossible.
Since the shortest route to India has disappeared, the only way left is to cross the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to reach India, as was the case before the opening of the Suez Canal.
The problem was that even this could not guarantee safety, because German naval and air force bases were located in the Azores, Madeira Islands, and Canary Islands.
To avoid transport ships being hunted by FW 200s and U-boats that sortie from these bases, they have no choice but to move as close to the west coast of North America and the Caribbean as possible, which of course takes time and consumes more fuel.
However, this does not mean that U-boats cannot go there, so 100% safety cannot be guaranteed.
"How about taking this opportunity to occupy the Azores, Madeira, and the Canaries? If you do that, you'll be able to cross the Atlantic without worrying about Jerry."
"Absolutely not."
No sooner had Churchill finished speaking than all the generals of the Army, Navy and Air Force shouted in unison.
Churchill, seeing their eyes turn into ax eyes, momentarily forgot his status as prime minister and kept his mouth shut.
The Azores and Madeira are Portuguese territories, and the Canaries are Spanish territories.
Attacking the islands means going to war with these countries, and in this case, to ensure the safety of British African colonies, Spanish Morocco, Portuguese Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique must be occupied.
Occupying these islands for passage through the Atlantic Ocean would require fighting with the countries that own them, and the battlefield would expand to Africa, putting a stop to the landing in France scheduled for this month.
The belly button was bigger than the stomach.
In particular, Portugal, although under Germany's sphere of influence, still maintains a good relationship with Britain, and Spain, although a member of the Axis powers that followed Germany's lead in declaring war on the Soviet Union, remained neutral toward Britain like Portugal.
Brook barely held back from saying that it was enough to turn innocent neutral countries into enemies once.
"dismissal. We must not forget that unrest is not limited to India. "We must also keep in mind the suppression of uprisings in Palestine, Egypt, and Iraq."
Rear Adm. Andrew Cunningham said. Suppressing the uprisings in Egypt and Palestine was as urgent a problem as clearing the mines blocking the Suez Canal.
It was clear that if pro-German regimes were established in Egypt and Palestine if there was delay, there would be a catastrophe even greater than the blockage of the Suez Canal.
In the case of Iraq, it was less important than the previous three, but it was also a great stress for Churchill that he could no longer obtain the oil produced in Iraq.
As soon as the war began, Britain was attacked from all sides. By selecting only the most critical parts.
Of course, an attack of this magnitude would not cause the British Empire to collapse, but it was not to the point where it could be dismissed as simply a little pain.
The old lion had to fight the wolf while his body was heavier than in his prime and the inflammation that had seeped into his joints was eating away at his body.
A wolf full of strength and as big as himself.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực