Chapter 377: In a Mad Rush

I wonder if any of you have ever had the experience of playing games, setting off firecrackers, watching movies, and going to parties during

I wonder if any of you have ever had the experience of playing games, setting off firecrackers, watching movies, and going to parties during the winter vacation, having a great time until the very end, only to suddenly remember that there are still dozens of homework assignments that haven’t been completed. If you have, then you can now understand the mood of the United States at this very moment.

The United States, which had been dreaming of seeing the war on the European continent drag on until the end of the world, now found that the result it wanted had not appeared. Instead, another, very unpleasant ending was rapidly becoming clear.

Germany had not fought a protracted and repetitive war with France as it had in the First World War. Instead, it had become a glorious performance for the German armored forces, which had reached the gates of Paris in one go, creating a situation of easy victory. This had made the Americans’ jaws drop. As if waking from a dream, they began to consider their own development problems.

Every time the army’s officers read the reports of the German armored forces’ swaggering in France, they would be as pumped as if they had been injected with chicken blood and would write to various departments, hoping to build their own armored corps to cope with the future mode of warfare.

The United States was not vague either. It began to vigorously develop its own armored tank units, developing the M3 and M3 Lee tanks in one go to deal with the future “German tank threat.” Among them, the M3 tank was developed under the influence of the German blitzkrieg in Poland. It could be considered a relatively advanced main battle tank in the hands of the US Army.

However, this tank was only equipped with a 37mm main gun, and its armor was also more than a little behind. Compared to Germany’s Panther, it was clearly obsolete. Compared to Germany’s newest Tiger tank, it seemed to be on a completely different level.

Considering this reason, and also spurred on by the French campaign, the United States ordered the development of a fire-support-enhanced tank also equipped with a 75mm cannon. As a result, the super M3 tank was born, which, like the French B1, had a 75mm tank gun installed on the side of the front hull.

As soon as these two tanks came out, they were heavily criticized. It seemed that the US Army was not satisfied with these scrap heaps, whose overall strength was almost a generation behind the German tanks. However, the US Army had not yet been subjected to a strong tank threat, so even though the army was dissatisfied, it still held its nose and equipped a full 3,000 of these “scrap heaps.”

And compared to the US Army, the US Air Force was even more urgent. The United States’ own P-36 fighter was not even as good as the Third Reich’s export-model Me-109C. And compared to Germany’s Fw-190D, the difference was like heaven and earth. This was the reason why the US military was urgently hoping to obtain a new fighter.

However, compared to the army’s conservative slowness, the designers of the US Air Force were much bolder. They immediately came up with a design plan. This plan had two high-power engines and a very strange appearance. This was the historically famous American P-38 twin-engine fighter, which in another timeline was famous for shooting down the Japanese general, Yamamoto Isoroku.

It was a pity that coming up with a design plan was one thing, but mass production after demonstration, testing, and test flights was another. So now the mainstay of the US Air Force was still the pitiful P-36.

Just as the United States was striving to catch up, a more shocking piece of news suddenly came. Hundreds of thousands of troops in the Dunkirk region had surrendered to Germany. The British Navy had been riddled with holes by the German High Seas Fleet in one night, or rather, in one morning. The war situation in Europe had deteriorated in two hours to a degree that the Americans could not have predicted. There was even intelligence that France would surrender to Germany in a few days.

This time, the United States could not sit still. Roosevelt immediately summoned the British ambassador to the United States and, from this ambassador’s mouth, he received even more stunning intelligence: Britain had lost command of the sea in the North Atlantic. Hundreds of thousands of troops had been completely wiped out in France. Now it was already unable to cope with any impending war situation.

“Is the situation really so serious?” US President Roosevelt asked, frowning as he stared at the British ambassador in front of him.

The British ambassador was extremely straightforward, and no expression could be seen on his face. He just coughed twice and then replied, “The sinking of the Hood and the Renown is the most painful loss for the Royal Navy of the British Empire. Including the aircraft carriers, the fleet has lost almost a third of its strength. Britain is in fact already unable to continue the war.”

“Has the situation reached such an irreversible point?” Roosevelt murmured with a sigh. At this moment, he suddenly had a strange feeling: that Führer in Berlin, on the distant European continent, had he been holding back his strength all along, and then had suddenly unleashed it to take out Britain and France, in order to eliminate the possibility of American interference?

He shook his head, dispelling such pessimistic thoughts from his mind. Roosevelt once again put on the posture of a strongman and said, “If the United States can scrape together some resources to aid Britain, can Britain continue to contend with Germany?”

“Esteemed Mr. President, the British Empire certainly does not wish to lose its status and influence in Europe. But I really can’t think of any resources that can support us in continuing to fight. After all… Germany’s current blockade has already made us very powerless.”

“The United States does not want to see Germany unify Europe,” Roosevelt said after a moment’s thought. “Compared to the Germans, I would rather deal with a British gentleman like you.”

He thought for a moment, then looked at the trees outside the window, as if he had made a great decision before he spoke. “I will try. If possible, I will provide a large amount of support for Britain’s war of resistance against aggression, including weapons and equipment, as well as food and fuel.”

“I need to get a rough idea of the scale, so that I can report back to my country, and my country can then decide whether to accept the United States’ goodwill,” the ambassador’s face changed slightly. Of course, he had to fight for the greatest interests for Britain. Even if it was the interest of a defeated nation, it had to be the greatest that Britain could get.

“On the army side, our American resources are not very thick, so I am willing to provide 300 M3 tanks and 2,000 vehicles,” Roosevelt said. “This is the greatest sincerity I can offer.”

“In addition, we will also provide 2,000 fighter planes, including the P-36 and subsequent, more advanced models, to help Britain stabilize its home air superiority. Although the P-36 cannot cope with Germany’s various aircraft units, having something is better than having nothing, right?” he said, not waiting for the British ambassador to speak, but continuing to lay out his bargaining chips.

“We also need two million hand grenades, Mr. President. Once Germany invades the British Isles, we will resist the invaders to the death,” the British ambassador replied.

“Alright! And then on the navy side, we will help Britain to produce four aircraft carriers, as well as the corresponding escort fleets. I will try my best to hand these warships over to Britain within a year. But whether these warships can make it in time for the British home defense, that will depend on the Germans.”

“I believe that if these promises can be fulfilled, it will be impossible for the Germans to end the Anglo-German war before 1940,” the ambassador said with a smile. “With these, we will resist to the end! Let the Germans know that their contempt for Britain is a completely wrong act!”

His reply made Roosevelt very satisfied. The United States just wanted to buy about two years’ time. Once America’s powerful industry was running at full steam, to arm an army of several million and to have more advanced weapons and equipment would be an easy matter.

I hope the pace of the war can slow down quickly… Roosevelt thought to himself, watching the departing British ambassador’s back.

At a port in New York, box after box of hand grenades was being loaded onto a cargo ship, and on the ship, the boxes of hand grenades were already piled up like a mountain. The ship was flying the American flag. For such important military supplies, the United States naturally hoped that it could be safely transported to its destination, Britain, because over there, it had already reached a dangerous situation where every bullet and every shell had to be used sparingly.

“Be careful!” a crew member reminded the clumsy stevedores. “These are all flammable and explosive things. If you’re not careful, the whole ship will turn into a big firework!”

“Understood, sir,” the worker who looked clumsy as he was carrying the ammunition onto the ship said with a nod. As he spoke, he placed a box of bullets in his hand on another small mountain. This transport ship was actually filled with 100 million rounds of ammunition and several hundred thousand hand grenades and was a member of the most important aid convoy.

The other ships included 30 ships transporting steel and grain, 15 ships transporting crude oil, and the remaining nine, including this ship, made up a full ten merchant ships transporting military supplies.

This included 50 tanks and 400 trucks drawn directly from the US military. For convenience and to achieve the best transport effect, these vehicles were all filled with fuel, and their driver’s cabs were piled with bandages, medicine, and other supplies.

But these ships had not yet had time to leave the American port when the news that the British capital of London had been air-raided again reached the United States. Because the statistics had not yet been completed, the exact losses could not be estimated. But just from a preliminary estimate, nearly 200,000 people were homeless, and the number of people who had died directly in the air crash was over 3,000.

And what was even more depressing for the United States and made the British unable to hold their heads up was that the Royal Fighter Command’s most powerful Hurricane fighter unit stationed near London had been completely wiped out. The twenty fighters that they had painstakingly accumulated had all been shot down, and sixteen pilots had been killed. If one were to also count the P-36 fighters that the United States had supported, then in just this one interception battle, Britain had lost 44 pilots and had had 72 planes shot down.

The British ambassador once again urgently requested a meeting. When he saw Roosevelt, he was in tears and made a new request to the United States. “Mr. President Roosevelt, Britain’s pilot corps is on the verge of being wiped out. We request that you recruit volunteers to go to Britain. The price is not an issue. We are willing to offer a reward of 5,000 pounds for one pilot.”