At 7 o'clock in the morning, the Prime Minister of the British Empire Churchill just woke up from his sleep. In recent days, he was tortured by the Egyptian war situation and could not eat well and sleep well. He lost weight all over the place, and his double chin had a tendency to shrink. He also struggled until almost 3 o'clock in the morning before falling asleep in a daze. He was worried about the situation in Cairo in his dream, so he got up a little later than usual.

Just as he was wearing his nightgown and sleepy eyes, the harsh phone ringing rang out of place. He hurriedly answered the phone, with an ominous premonition in his heart.

"Prime Minister... Good morning." Marshal Pound greeted in a low voice, "I'm very sorry to disturb you for rest. There is an unfortunate news that needs to be reported to you. Will I come and say it conveniently?"

"Ah!" Churchill's sleepiness was completely awake, "Okay, I'll wait for you here."

Churchill seized the time to wash, and asked the adjutant to prepare breakfast for himself. He also specifically reminded him not to add sugar to the coffee. Although the supplies in Great Britain were very tight, the supply of the Prime Minister's residence was still guaranteed. He did not want to save money, but to use the stimulation of ****** to improve his spirits.

Pound barely greeted Churchill, and then said an extremely shocking sentence: "Twenty minutes ago, I received a telegram from Admiral Cunningham - they were attacked by a large number of Japanese aircraft along the coast of Somalia, suspected to be carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese fleet."

"What? I heard it right, the Japanese fleet?" Churchill almost jumped out of his seat as if he had seen a ghost.

"This is not a joke, this is a telegram he sent."

Churchill hadn't taken it over and looked at it carefully. The phone rang again. The adjutant rushed over and answered it in a hurry. He turned his head after just asking: "Prime Minister. Marshal Brooke has something to come to you."

Churchill walked slowly over, trying his best to suppress his uneasiness and asked in a calm tone as possible: "I am Churchill, what's wrong?"

"100,000 in urgent need... Kenya's Mombasa Escort Command sent an emergency telegram. Earlier, the Socotra Island base also sent a telegram saying that traces of the Japanese fleet were found."

With a "boom", Churchill was stunned and asked in a row: "How many are there? What is it? Where?"

"The location at the time of the report is about 300 nautical miles south of Socotra, and it is said that it is the main force of the Japanese fleet. The specific situation is unknown - the pilot was shot down after reporting this news." Brooke said in a deep voice. "Judging from the location, they are probably less than 200 nautical miles away from Admiral Cunningham's fast column, which is a very dangerous distance. Japanese aircraft may have been attacking the fleet - but the Navy has not yet reported the exact news to me."

Churchill's hands and feet were cold and his whole body was trembling: "Marson Ponder is here with me. He informed the fleet. Can you come here immediately?"

"Okay, I'll be here soon."

Churchill continued to ask Pound after returning to his seat: "Where is our nearest plane? Can we go to support the fleet?"

"There is a little bit on Socotra Island, some escort commands, and there are some Ethiopia and Libya, but they are not enough to pose a threat to the Japanese fleet."

"Go and mobilize..."

Pound reminded him that this was not a matter of transferring the plane. Admiral Cunningham's fleet might be wiped out.

"This is impossible..." Churchill stood up with his arms waving angrily, feeling extremely excited. "His fleet has one aircraft carrier, five battleships, six light cruisers and eight destroyers, which can be completely able to fight against the Japanese fleet."

"but……"

"Prime Minister." Brooke came in with a dark face and handed him a copy of the telegram. "Before leaving, I received the latest information report from the Navy. After intelligence integration, the fast column might encounter all the main forces of the joint fleet, including at least 5 aircraft carriers, 9 battleships, 17 light and heavy cruisers, as well as dozens of destroyers or other types of ships."

"Bastard!" Churchill glanced roughly and threw the telegram on the table. "They pushed the entire joint fleet up. Are the Japanese crazy? They don't want it on the islands in Southeast Asia?"

"The Japanese are indeed crazy!" Pound also felt incredible after watching it. "The only thing that is thankful is that the landing troops are heading west under the cover of Admiral Cunningham. They are not far from the Somalia coast, only about 100 nautical miles away. They can log in after 5-6 hours."

"Bang..." Churchill angrily punched the table, and even the coffee cup jumped up. After only a few sips of the coffee the adjutant had worked hard to make, all the coffee splashed out and sprinkled a table. Pound was glad that the landing troops were still rescued, but Churchill knew that the Cairo troops were finished, and his last hope of saving the Egyptian situation was completely shattered.

"Prime Minister, Prime Minister." The two of them were worried about Churchill's emotions while watching the adjutant tidy up the table.

"What other fleet can we distribute to support these troops? In addition to our troops, there is also the Second American Armored Division in the Fast Column, with a total of more than 30,000 people. We cannot afford to lose." Churchill said dejectedly, "Even if they cannot land in Egypt, they can become a beneficial help for us to resist German aggression in East Africa. After the Germans occupied Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya will become their next target."

Pound shook his head in embarrassment: "The slow fleet is not strong, with only 2 aircraft carriers (Hundred-Eyed Giant and Furious), 2 escort aircraft carriers, 2 old battleships (New York and Texas), and some old cruisers and destroyers. If they are really the main force of the Joint Fleet, they are definitely not opponents. Apart from that, we basically have no naval power."

"Why didn't Cunningham bring hundreds of eyes and furious? If these two aircraft carriers were there, we wouldn't be so embarrassed. Maybe there is room for a fight with the Japanese." Churchill roared angrily, slapped the table.

Pound and Brooke look at me, I look at you, and they both think that the Prime Minister's fire was unreasonable: Operation Torch had a total of 110,000 troops, and the fast column only took more than 30,000 away. The big head was actually still behind. In order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the fast column, Cunningham has brought 5 of the seven battleships and almost all light and heavy cruisers, and has also brought 1 aircraft carrier. If these two aircraft carriers are also taken away, what strength does the slow fleet have? Instead of scolding Cunningham for not bringing two aircraft carriers, it is better to be glad that the slow fleet is far away from the fast column, otherwise how can it be dealt with once the Japanese main fleet rushed over?

Just when he was worried, a telegram like flowing water rushed into the Prime Minister's residence. Cunningham reported the situation and decisions after the first air strike. Faced with the result of "two battleships, one aircraft carrier sank, and three battleships were injured", the three seemed to have been punched in the chest and could not speak for a long time.

Pound defended Cunningham with a rare sentence: "This is not his fault. He also wants to balance the strength of the two columns in front and back. If he has to say it wrong, the mistake is that he should not divide his troops. At the beginning, all the fleets and landing troops should have gone to Egypt, rather than being divided into two teams like this, and being forced to disperse their strength so that the Japanese could defeat them one by one."

Churchill was speechless, and he issued the order to ask the fleet to reinforce as soon as possible or even to divide his troops forward. Pound's words vaguely meant to blame him, but he must not let the blame be on his own.

Brooke said coldly: "I don't think so. Fortunately, I have divided the troops. We have at least saved the 80,000 troops. Otherwise, the 110,000 troops would be defeated by the Japanese. In my opinion, the biggest responsibility is that there is a problem with the Indian Ocean warning system, otherwise how could the Japanese fleet span thousands of nautical miles without being discovered?"

The problem was too big and too many. Churchill grabbed the few hairs on his head in distress: "It's not the time to hold people accountable. I'll just ask one question, two, what should we do next? The British Empire is in danger now."

"Is there a response to the request of the Soviet Red Army to launch a restraining attack?"

Churchill felt annoyed when he talked about this: Stalin had already agreed to launch a fierce attack on the Eastern Front to restrain the German army's attention, but he did not expect that the German army quickly entered Alexander and forced him to surrender Montgomery. Seeing that the situation in Egypt was over, the attack plan jointly formulated by Zhukov and Vasilevsky became a piece of waste paper before Stalin could study it carefully. Now the Russians turned around to question whether the British army had the ability to continue to defend the Middle East and Persia. Once the material channels were cut off, it was not a joke. In this regard, Churchill did not dare to say that the batch of aid supplies had long become the spoils of the Germans, and could only use blank checks to continue to evade the Soviet ambassador to make the other party feel relieved.

A bigger trouble is ahead: Although it is more than 1,500 kilometers from Egypt to Persia, Persia is located in Russia's soft lower abdomen. When the Persian authorities showed their pro-axial position, Russia and Britain invaded the country without hesitation and overthrew the original regime. Now the German forces have made a comeback. If Turkey, which has always been neutral, is ready to launch changes in its ecological attitude, the situation in the Middle East will have a chain reaction. Stalin also paid great attention to this: on the one hand, he fought with Manstein half-believingly, and on the other hand, he is considering what to do after Britain loses the Middle East.

"Perhaps we should carefully study the next strategy, we have been led by the Germans for too long."

"There is still a priority now." Pound and Brooke exchanged glances, "What should we do with the troops of the slow column? They are now in a dilemma. It is a luxury to reinforce Egypt in the short term. We cannot let them float on the sea for a long time, or arrange them to go to Madagascar?"

Churchill thought carefully: "It is not appropriate to go to Madagascar. It cannot accommodate so many troops there. If the navy does not have an advantage, it will be too bad if this island outside the continent is surrounded by the Japanese-German coalition forces. Let's retreat to South Africa first."

"Prime Minister, General Cunningham sent a farewell call, the fast column is over..." The adjutant rushed in and reported.

The three of them were as stupid as if they had been petrified.
Chapter completed!