Chapter 1017 Politicians and the Military

Although the elites of the command had many complaints against the Quartermaster, they also knew that now was not the time to hold him accountable.

The war is still going on, and we still need everyone's brainstorming.

The Minister of Munitions has certain command experience in the navy and air force, so kicking him out of the command system at this time does not seem to be a wise choice.

What's more, this is the battle plan formulated by the Minister of Munitions, and he may have more ideas.

After a moment's silence, Prime Minister George asked the orderly to bring coffee, one cup for each person.

He hoped to use this to ease the atmosphere and let everyone start over, and the other was that he hoped everyone would put aside their past grievances and unite to solve the problem before them.

Prime Minister George wanted to say something to excuse the Minister of Munitions, but the words were on the tip of his tongue.

The Minister of Munitions cannot escape blame for this incident, both for its cause and its command.

"The difficulties are still before us." Prime Minister George raised the coffee cup in his hand:

"It is a pity that General Winter's squadron surrendered. We appointed a coward as our fleet commander."

"The problem now is that our main fleet is still attacking Malta."

"It's clear that our original strategic goals are unattainable. What should we do now?"

The Navy Minister's eyes were filled with fear: "I think we should withdraw the fleet, Prime Minister, immediately!"

"Yes," Major General Trenchard agreed. "If we don't withdraw the fleet, they will likely be trapped in the Mediterranean."

Prime Minister George turned his gaze to the Minister of Munitions.

At this time, the Minister of Munitions had completely recovered to normal, and seemed to have forgotten the failure just now. At the same time, he did not care about other people's strange looks.

"Withdraw? Withdraw to where?" asked the Minister of Munitions. "Greece? Egypt? Or England?"

"Of course it's Britain." The Navy Minister looked at the Munitions Minister in disbelief.

"The battle has already begun in Greece, sir. The supplies to Port Said in Egypt have been blockaded by guerrillas, and chaos is everywhere."

"There are no safe ports left for us in the Mediterranean."

Major General Trenchard agreed: "Yes, and there are French aircraft carriers operating in that area. If Port Said is attacked, the Suez Canal will be blocked."

As a staff officer of the Royal Flying Corps, Major General Trenchard knew that it would be easy for French aircraft carriers to blockade the Suez Canal.

The French didn't even need to fight the British Mediterranean Fleet.

Whenever a ship was sailing in the canal, the French aircraft carrier would launch planes to sink it, and the waterway would be blocked.

Then, all the French had to do was wait for the Mediterranean Fleet to run out of fuel, ammunition, and food and eventually surrender.

But the Minister of Munitions did not think so.

"If we withdraw, everything will be over, gentlemen!" said the Minister of Munitions in a deep voice.

"That's not just Egypt, but all of Africa, as well as Canada and Australia..."

"The whole world will see Britain's weakness, the defeat and flight of the Royal Navy."

"What do you think the colonies will do?"

The command center fell silent in an instant.

The price is too high. As the world's most powerful country today, if Britain loses its colonies, it will instantly become a second-rate or even third-rate country.

Prime Minister George nodded slightly.

It might be necessary to withdraw the fleet militarily, but it would not be allowed politically.

"But what else can we do?" asked the Navy Minister. "Should we send the fleet back to Port Said to suppress the rebellion?"

This was the only option he considered.

Malta could not be captured. Greece did not originally belong to Britain. The French, Greek and League of Nations armies were fighting against the British army, so the chances of winning were slim.

Only Egypt was a British colony, and it was obviously much easier to deal with the guerrillas there.

But the Minister of Munitions shook his head: "No, we can't afford to waste time in Egypt."

George agreed. Although the Egyptian guerrillas were easy to deal with, what they needed to do was not to fight the British army, but to sabotage and blockade supplies, which was difficult to defend against.

The Quartermaster General tapped his finger on the map and said confidently, "Gentlemen, our only chance is to continue the offensive."

Everyone exclaimed: "Continue to attack Malta?"

The Minister of Munitions hummed, "In fact, the attack was not on Malta, but on the blockade of the French aircraft carriers."

"What do you mean?" asked Prime Minister George.

"Prime Minister," the Minister of Munitions said, looking at the nautical chart:

"What we know is that the French aircraft carrier is east of Malta."

"If we can capture Malta and use it as a base to blockade the Strait of Tunisia, we can split the French fleet in two."

(The above picture shows the location of Malta Island, which is very suitable for blocking the Tunisian Strait)

Major General Trenchard said, "Oh!"

"Once we do that, France's three aircraft carriers will be confined to the east of the Strait of Tunisia."

"And the main French navy west of the Strait of Tunisia will be left without an aircraft carrier."

"We can defeat the French navy with all our might and even capture the port of Toulon."

The Minister of Munitions nodded:

"That's what I'm saying. We can't lose, gentlemen."

"We must defeat France. Only in this way can we prove that the Royal Navy is the most powerful force in the world, only in this way can we keep our colonies, and only in this way can we protect our interests."

"Therefore, we should send a fleet of reinforcements and do our best to destroy the main force of the French Navy!"

Prime Minister George said nothing.

Politically, this is indeed the case, and the Minister of Munitions is absolutely right.

But Prime Minister George believed that he had found the problem with the Minister of Munitions: the Minister of Munitions was a politician after all, and he considered issues more from the perspective of political needs. Whether it could be achieved militarily was beyond his ability!

Just as Prime Minister George was hesitating, the staff sent a telegram: "Your Excellency, General Winter is trying to persuade Major General Ives to surrender."

"What?" Everyone exclaimed in unison.

"No." The Minister of Munitions made a decisive decision: "Order Major General Ives to refuse to accept General Winter's telegram."

But the staff officer added: "Sir, French bombers are bombing the Duncan."

The Minister of Munitions immediately realized that something was wrong. It was the French aircraft carriers that were putting pressure on Rear Admiral Avis.

Using both persuasion and bombing, they tried to break through Major General Ives's psychological defenses from both inside and outside.

The Minister of Munitions turned his gaze to Prime Minister George.

Prime Minister George understood what the Minister of Munitions meant, and now was the time to make a decision.

If this continues, the only outcome will be the surrender of Major General Ives and the Mediterranean Fleet.

To avoid this, we must give Major General Elvis a hope and a way out:

Or order Lieutenant General Avis to break out and retreat to Britain.

Or, as the Minister of Munitions suggested, attack the island of Malta and send reinforcements.

(End of this chapter)