London in November cannot be called cold. The temperate maritime climate means that the city is still above 10 degrees Celsius, but the occasional showers can make people a little depressed.
But for thousands of years, the British have been accustomed to this climate.
In the Prime Minister's residence in Downing Street, several of the most important cabinet members of the British Empire continued to discuss the current situation.
"From 2032 to this year, with continued industrial growth, Germany's iron ore imports increased from 14 million tons per year to about 20 million tons. Of these iron ores, more than 8 million tons are high-quality ores from Sweden. .”
"Look, these ores are generally mined in the Kiruna-Gallivare area in the Arctic Circle, and shipped to foreign countries via Luleå or Narvik. It should be noted that these two ports have specially built connected by railway.”
"During the winter, from November to April of the next year, the port of Luleå will be frozen. During this period, exports can only be done through Narvik. Because of the pressure we put on it, the Norwegian railway and shipping departments began to try Delay and lack of cooperation (exports to Germany).”
"This has caused a significant drop in the iron ore obtained by the Germans in the past three months, to less than 500,000 tons. In order to solve this situation, the Germans began to try to send their own merchant ships to Narvik to replace the transportation. Last month There are 12 ships in total.”
Foreign Secretary Frederick stated that he is the third Viscount Halifax, but he suffers from congenital atrophy of his left arm, which is equivalent to one arm.
But even so, he still has an extraordinary resume and rich experience - he graduated from Oxford University, is a Conservative Party member, has served as Minister of Education and Minister of Agriculture, and later served as the Governor-General of Indu.
"Merely preventing the shipment of iron ore from Luleå is not effective enough. All routes between Luleå and Narvik must be cut off at the same time." Prime Minister Neville said calmly while looking at the map.
Contrary to historical impressions, Neville was actually a militant, but his personal will had to give way to national policy—British national policy at that time happened to be appeasement.
"So we still have to seriously consider the French proposal." the foreign secretary replied.
The Minister of Defense Coordination, Lord Chatfield, glanced at the Prime Minister, and then said seriously: "Yes, for this we need to seriously consider ways to master Scandinavia."
As he spoke, he pointed to the documents on the table and introduced: "The Chiefs of Staff Committee has conceived two plans. The 'big plan' is to control the mine itself and cut off the iron ore export from the source; the 'small plan' is to lay out Mines, navy and air force continued patrols to prevent merchant ships from passing through.”
However, the Foreign Secretary was still worried. He mused: "The consequences of implementing paramilitary operations in Norwegian territorial waters are difficult to predict. Laying mines, patrols, and landings will not be welcomed by either Norway or Sweden. In fact, neither Norway nor Sweden will welcome it." , which is more likely to undermine the overall situation.”
"This is not necessary, Minister. Although the Swedes and Norwegians do not want to be involved in the war, if they have to make a choice, they will never stand opposite us." The Prime Minister said confidently and firmly.
The Minister of Defense Coordination nodded, "I agree, but it needs to be carefully studied, and the Chiefs of Staff Committee should come up with a conclusion as soon as possible. I think the chaotic situation in Russia is the perfect reason for us to intervene."
The position of Minister for Defense Coordination is very new and has only been around for a few years. Twenty years ago, the British cabinet and politicians reviewed the shortcomings and omissions of the European War and believed that closer cooperation was needed between the three services that made up the British Empire's army - the Army, the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force.
So the Chiefs of Staff Committee was formed at that time, and about ten years later in the 1930s, the then prime minister created the position of Minister for Defense Coordination.
The British hesitation made the French very dissatisfied. In the next three days, they urged them twice in succession.
As a result, a group of gentlemen who were working on the Mi Ziqi had to work overtime to discuss the relevant details and argue endlessly.
Later, the British submitted a memorandum detailing the master plan of the large and small plans.
There is no doubt that the big plan has the full support of the French. Although it would seriously infringe on the neutrality of Norway and Sweden, the French did not care.
As an old power, France is no less powerful than Britain in many cases.
At this moment, the British Empire's cabinet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are in a constant war of words. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns that the consequences of this move are unpredictable and will seriously damage Britain's reputation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends only continuing to exert diplomatic pressure on Norway and Sweden and refraining from taking drastic measures.
However, cabinet ministers have reached a consensus and are determined to move forward with the implementation of the big plan.
On the morning of November 16, the sky in London was gloomy and it seemed like it was going to rain again.
Foreign Secretary Frederick summoned the Norwegian ambassador to the United Kingdom and chatted with him very amiably for a while.
However, the ambassador knew that the other party was definitely not interested in drinking, so he acted a little embarrassed and nervous.
After some small talk, the Foreign Secretary righteously expressed the British Empire's vigilance about Germany's recent breach of contract measures and its concern about the German navy's infringement of Norwegian territorial waters.
He said solemnly: "The current situation is very bad. The British government is forced to take effective measures to sanction Germany. One of them is to prevent (German) warships and merchant ships from passing through Norwegian territorial waters."
Immediately afterwards, he emphasized a more explosive statement - if necessary, the Royal Navy will be able to carry out combat missions in Norwegian territorial waters.
The words of the British Foreign Secretary shocked the Norwegian Ambassador. As an envoy, his calmness was almost washed away by the torrent of words at this moment.
Although Frederick had always behaved quite kindly and had no threatening or warning tone, it still made the ambassador feel like he had fallen into an ice cave.
After returning to the embassy, the ambassador immediately sent an urgent telegram back to the capital, Oslo.
He worriedly said to others around him: "I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to stay out of the situation. The most frightening situation has happened. The war is approaching."
The embassy attaché also sighed: "This is indeed the worst-case scenario. The Germans will definitely regard the British actions as a military provocation. Their war machine will be launched, and the war will spread to Norway."
There was an atmosphere of negativity and pessimism in the embassy, and everyone was worried.
They are all very helpless, which is also the tragedy of a small country - it is extremely difficult to stay out and stay alone.
In the next two days, the Norwegian government held a heated discussion on the "notification" given by the British side.
Their final consensus was that they should still do everything possible to try to stop the British actions. However, if it was ineffective and there was no other choice, then they would definitely not stand on the side of the Germans and start all-out preparations and mobilization at the same time.
The reply given by Norway later seemed a bit "cowardly" - the government did not come forward, but the King of Norway sent a letter to King George VI of the United Kingdom, and the content of the letter was obviously recognized by the Norwegian government.
"...It is really frustrating and worrying that Norwegian territorial waters have become a combat zone of the British Royal Navy. I hope that His Majesty the King will try to stop such actions. Otherwise, the Kingdom of Norway will be forced to get involved in war, which will greatly affect the sovereignty and people's lives. threaten……"
Good guys, what do you Norwegians mean?
Norway's "unconventional" response left the British cabinet speechless - if you agree, you agree, if you don't agree, you don't agree. Don't you dare to give a direct answer?
Not to mention, although as a benchmark of constitutional monarchy, the main powers of the British King have been deprived and transferred to the Prime Minister and Parliament, there is still a lot of residual power.
For example...directly appoint the prime minister, or even directly dissolve the parliament.
It's just that no sane king would exercise these powers under normal circumstances, because such a move would undoubtedly lead to a constitutional crisis, calling into question the existence of the king and the royal family, and might even get rid of it.
It’s not appropriate to leave a good mascot, you have to mess with it, right? So what do you, the king, do?
Therefore, George VI was helpless. He only expressed a few words of relief in his reply and assured that if an accident occurred, the armed forces of the British Empire would protect Norway from threats.
Norway is so reluctant, and so is Sweden. Both small Nordic countries have behaved very negatively.
In order to force them to make concessions, the British Foreign Office called on the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium, and asked them to also send requests to Norway and Sweden, putting pressure on them in many ways.
Of course, this is just their best effort. Even if Norway and Sweden still disagree at the last moment, the British and French will not tolerate them.
Especially the military generals, they were all excited and gearing up for a big fight.
Chief of Staff General Edmund told his men: "This plan will disrupt the German preparations, which will be very beneficial to us... Not only this matter, but at this critical time, everything else will We must maintain an attitude that is beneficial to our country."
As time passes, the action plan to intervene and control Scandinavia is steadily advancing.
As of November 25, the Chiefs of Staff Committee has planned and completed three action plans. They are complementary and will be implemented simultaneously.
The first scheme is in northern Norway; the second scheme is in southern Norway; and the third scheme is in southern Sweden.
The Chiefs of Staff Committee discussed the action plan with representatives of the Army, Navy and Air Force and submitted an assessment report, emphasizing that the benefits of the action were huge, but the risks were equally high.
But they were undecided about one scenario - what if the Norwegian or Swedish troops dared to resist?
Although the possibility is slim, careful planning cannot ignore this.
In this regard, the cabinet's response is to fight back decisively and break down their resistance as quickly as possible without showing mercy.
Even though the British side's actions and progress are considered relatively fast, the anxious French are still too slow. They feel that these indecisive guys will only make things wrong.
Therefore, the French government gave instructions to the embassy to publicize the matter openly and openly in London, thereby accelerating the progress of the British side.
As a result, the matter soon became a hot topic in London, and everyone in the streets knew about it, making the gentlemen of Zhengmi Ziqi very upset.
On the last day of November, Britain and France formally established an intervention committee, and then unanimously agreed to form a joint expeditionary force.
This expeditionary force was nominally deployed in Scandinavia and could land in the Baltic Sea region at any time to help Tsarist Russia stabilize the situation and prevent the Germans who had betrayed the treaty from taking drastic actions. But in fact, its core mission is to control Sweden's iron mines and occupy control of Norway's coast.
At the same time, the expeditionary force must complete preparations by January 10 at the latest.
On the same day as the Intervention Commission was established, the military action plan was basically completed, with three complementary plans all named after British port cities.
About four divisions were to be deployed along the two port cities of Narvik and Luleå. Their task was to defend the two port cities from German occupation.
In addition, it is planned to establish a defense line starting from Bergen (a port city in western Norway), passing through Oslo, and extending eastward to the Swedish capital Stockholm.
A total of 130,000 troops will be invested in the operation, of which about 70,000 are British troops and the rest are French troops. They will be uniformly commanded by the British and will be deployed to Scandinavia with the support of the Royal Navy and Air Force.
During this period, the Ming court had also been paying attention to the actions of Britain and France, constantly guessing and analyzing their intentions.
The Governor's Office and the Ministry of War believe that since Britain and France have not made the decision to send troops to Norway and Sweden until now, they will not be in place until at least January next year. Before that, they should only talk to the German Society.
Zhou Changfeng led his troops back at the end of the month. Perhaps because of the cold weather this year, the sea cucumber pier was frozen early. The fleet loaded with thousands of officers and soldiers had to go south to North Korea, where they disembarked and returned home.
"...It is really impossible to prevent the destruction of oil fields. We can only talk about personnel matters."
"Indeed, to put it bluntly, it will be useless for us to rush for time. The court might as well think more about how to repair it faster."
Going to Kuye Island for an exercise in the dead of winter, the whole brigade was somewhat resentful, especially the non-combat attrition of thousands of people was really frustrating.
Even if the cold protection measures are in place, it is difficult not to catch a cold when you jump into the freezing sea water with the temperature hovering around zero, and then continue to land on the beach while soaking wet.
The exercise itself went very smoothly, and the generals and officials who observed the actions of the Marine Corps were very satisfied.
Many people praised Zhou for his ability in running the army and leading the troops effectively, but it is hard to say whether they were sincere or just flattering.
Early morning on the first day of December.
In the mist, the military column slowly drove across the Yellow River Bridge.
Not long after he woke up, Zhou Changfeng felt a little uncomfortable and groggy, so he casually complained, "Oh, I'm dizzy, I don't feel quite right."
At this time, Yao Liangchuan, who was looking sad, walked into the carriage and was about to submit a patient report. Seeing that his face was red and depressed, he frowned and said, "There's something wrong with your face, so red? I'm afraid you have a fever."
When I checked my temperature later, sure enough, the mercury thermometer read almost thirty-nine degrees.
All of a sudden, people in the carriage were busy making hot water, calling military doctors, and getting blankets.
Thinking that the woman who made this trick should still be in a room as warm as spring, Zhou Changfeng, who was extremely depressed, couldn't help complaining: "Really, doing this on a cold day is like playing the piano randomly!"
The map of Europe has been posted, along with Easter egg stamps and posts in the comment area.
(End of chapter)
