The undeclared war of Roosevelt. Part Three

(*)

First part , Part two

Churchill and his military headquarters pleaded and courted the "maiden," but she still objected. Until there has been sufficient progress and the implementation of the rearmament program, Roosevelt and his military and naval advisers believed that they could make a great contribution by refraining from openly joining the war.

If events on the Atlantic continued in the same direction as they then developed, then there would be very little time left, at least until the United States was involved in a real war. For with the adoption of the English proposal to replace the British by Americans in Iceland, the United States entered the waters that the Germans had already declared a zone of military operations.

Nobody bothered at first, perhaps deliberately, to explain whether American convoy ships would enter into battle with German and Italian submarines, unless the latter open fire first on the escort ships. This question still remained unanswered when, in early September, an American destroyer Greer met a submarine underwater. "Greer" was the first to track down a submarine, but attacked her only after she fired a torpedo. Dodging the torpedo, Greer began throwing depth charges. Releasing the second torpedo, also not hit the target, the submarine disappeared.

The president was outraged and called this attack "an act of piracy." From that moment, he declared, putting an end to all assumptions, German and Italian ships entering the waters that the United States considers important for their own defense, "do so at their own risk." This meant: if you notice, open fire.

After such a statement, the United States essentially found itself in a state of war on the Atlantic, although it seemed that neither side was eager to accelerate the outbreak of a real war.

Each new presidential decree, every new incident, though to some extent connected with the possibility of war, the isolationists met with increasing persistence. Senator Wheeler publicized the fact of landing of American Marines in Iceland, when the operation was still in full swing. Herald Neid was investigating the activity of film-makers on the assumption that anti-Nazi films are leading the country to war.When the army was working on its top-secret "victory program," the Chicago Tribune newspaper, an isolationist body, spread rumors that the army was allegedly preparing expeditionary forces to be sent to Africa to help the British. When General Marshall came up with a refutation of such statements, the newspaper called him a liar. To back up their statements, the newspaper published the full text of the "program of victory."

It was December 4, 1941, that is, just three days before the date, which will forever be a shame.

The huge headlines about the events in the Atlantic and in Europe have partially distracted the attention of the public from the imminent crisis in relations between the United States and Japan. Despite all the efforts of Secretary of State Cordell Hall to establish a modus vivendi with Japan, official Washington suspected that the day of reckoning was near.

In fact, no action by the United States at this time could no longer deter Japan from taking the course for war.

Despite the fact that the Americans uncovered the Japanese diplomatic code, Washington did not have any specific data indicating that the Japanese were going to strike. Based on the analysis of the data on the transfer of warships, intelligence experts nevertheless came to the conclusion that in the not-too-distant future the Japanese will undertake some kind of movement towards the south.On November 27, on the basis of this conclusion, the chiefs of all military garrisons in the Pacific received an alarming warning; but nothing in it indicated that the Japanese decided to liquidate - or at least neutralize - with one daring blow the main instrument of influence in the Pacific - the Pacific Fleet.

This first week of December was unusually warm throughout the United States. Along the east coast, the night mists dispersed in the sunlight of the golden autumn with the onset of dawn. In the parks of New York. not counting the time of the year, flowers blossomed. It was late autumn of the world, filled with alarming signs of war.

In Washington, on the other side of Patomac, work began on the construction of a pentagonal building to house the swelling military ministry in it. At the newsreels, the public changed attitudes towards the Russian leader Joseph Stalin, applauding him.

Bars and nightclubs were crammed full of soldiers and prolific defense workers. The "Berlin Diary" by William Shearer was at the head of the list of best-selling documentaries; again ended maneuvers, this time in the states of North and South Carolina. The fighters-bombers R-38 "Lighting" came off assembly conveyor lines; the issue of merchant ships was approaching the rate of one vessel per day; six new battleships, displacement of 3,5 thousand tons each, descended from the slipways per year.

Not many people knew that Harvard University professor Deimes Conant met on Saturday, December 6, in an office in Washington with a small group of scientists who were waiting for a message from Belo Doma. Finally, scientists received news from the president that the government of the United States had decided to undertake a comprehensive effort ** to create an atomic bomb. **

The next day, on Sunday, December 7, a strong north-west wind blew, dispersing the seasonally established heat.

And then the first news of Pearl Harbor arrived.