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Text Chapter 94: Wavell takes a back seat

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    As a senior British active-duty army general, Wavell knew very well that once the war broke out, the overall defense of Singapore, which was connected to the Japanese-occupied areas in mainland China, was far less strong than that of Singapore, which the British had worked hard for many years. Even the island could not even have fresh water to meet its own needs.  , and Hong Kong, which is under the direct gunfire of the Japanese navy stationed in China, is simply impossible to defend.

    In his opinion, it would be a waste to mobilize any number of troops there. He insisted not only that he could not continue to increase the number of troops stationed in Hong Kong, but even the pitiful British troops currently in Hong Kong, he also wanted to mobilize them to remove the fundamental force of Hong Kong.  Ports with no hope of defense were declared undefended cities.

    For him, what the British Empire should do most in the East is to concentrate its limited forces. In particular, he believes that the white troops who have received all strict military training and are currently extremely valuable should concentrate on defending Singapore and India. These two British empires are in  The foundation of Asia.

    Of course, if the relationship with the Chongqing government is only superficial, and it is not actually under the jurisdiction of the Chongqing government, and the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which maintains a de facto independent state, agrees to send troops, then it will naturally be the best. From the British point of view, this is not just strategic.  It has great benefits, and it also has many benefits in other aspects.

    Let the Chinese block the Japanese offensive for them in the Malayan Peninsula and Burma, while the British army can shrink its limited elite forces in Southeast Asia and the South Asian subcontinent and concentrate on defending Singapore and India. This will naturally be a good thing.  Even the diversionary defense forces of the British army in the Malay Peninsula can be saved and used in the most critical places.

    After inspecting the true combat effectiveness of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, General Wavell believed that the Anti-Japanese Alliance was so powerful that if coupled with the tanks, air and sea support provided by the British army, it might not be able to truly defend the Malay Peninsula. After all,  Although everywhere there can be used by the Japanese navy as landing bases, the terrain is narrow and full of tropical rainforests that are difficult to traverse, which is also conducive to defense.

    The Admiralty has decided to mobilize Britain's latest and most powerful two battleships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, as well as the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, to Southeast Asia for reinforcements. Although these powerful new battleships cannot operate in what has become the inland sea of ??the Japanese Navy,  China's coastal activities can definitely play a huge role in the future defense war on the Malay Peninsula and the defense of Singapore.

    Faced with the threat of these British Navy's most powerful warships, even if the Japanese Navy wants to implement a landing operation, it must be cautious. It is not impossible to completely give up the attempt to land on the Malay Peninsula. With the support of a powerful navy,  Coupled with the combat effectiveness of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, it is not necessarily impossible to defend the Malay Peninsula.

    In fact, although he has been preaching to give up the Malay Peninsula, in his heart, Admiral Wavell does not want to really give up the Malay Peninsula. After all, as an island, Singapore has no strategic depth. If it can hold on to the Malay Peninsula,  The peninsula is naturally his first choice, but the premise is that the Anti-Japanese Alliance agrees to send troops to Southeast Asia.

    Therefore, for General Wavell, who did not have many elite forces in his hands, he still hoped that the Anti-Alliance would agree to the British request. However, after receiving a reply from Pearson in Moscow that the Anti-Alliance could not send troops to Southeast Asia as they requested, Weiwei  Admiral Weir then considered the follow-up actions that Britain should take.

    He had already discussed with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary in Moscow at the time. Admiral Wavell still hoped to only conduct symbolic resistance in Hong Kong and the Malayan Peninsula, and conduct delayed resistance in Malaya, focusing on  Limited forces guard Singapore and India.

    But regarding his suggestion, the Prime Minister insisted on his own point of view. The stubborn Prime Minister insisted that the northern Chinese, who lacked modern equipment even more than the government troops who lacked their equipment, could not resist the British Empire providing them with the modernization they desired.  Equipped with temptation.

    If the British Empire can provide a batch of tanks and aircraft as bait, these poor Chinese who cannot even equip themselves with rifles will definitely act in accordance with the will of the British Empire. As long as the Anti-Japanese Alliance agrees to the British conditions and does not significantly increase reinforcements  Under such circumstances, it is not impossible to defend the Malay Peninsula.

    Of course, the Prime Minister, who had serious differences with Admiral Wavell on the North African battlefield because of strategic issues in the Mediterranean theater, did not take his words too seriously and gave Admiral Wavell a buffer. After all, he  You also have to give people a bottom line for negotiation.

    As for the bottom line, if the Chinese in the north insist on refusing to send troops to Southeast Asia to assist the British army in fighting, but they also want to obtain equipment provided by the British Empire, then once the Japanese army launches an offensive in Southeast Asia, they must launch an offensive in northern China.  A corresponding offensive to relieve the huge pressure that the British army may bear on the battlefield in Southeast Asia.

      However, although there is a certain buffer space, the Prime Minister's attitude is still clearly expressed. He hopes that General Wavell will achieve the first purpose as much as possible. The second suggestion is to achieve the first purpose.  Recommend it when it cannot be achieved.

    After learning about the composition of the American delegation, the Prime Minister suggested that he consult with the Americans and try his best to bring Americans together to put pressure on the Anti-Union. After all, the aid to the Anti-Union is still mainly from the Americans. As long as the Americans exert some more  Pressure, this matter may not have any hope of success.

    The Prime Minister still believes that bringing this army to Southeast Asia is much more beneficial to the British Empire's overall strategy and defense in Southeast Asia than Chongqing, which has huge influence in Southeast Asia. At least this army is far away from the area under his control, and at the same time, it is with  The army with a very rigid actual relationship with Chongqing cannot get supplies from Chongqing. In this way, once this army reaches Southeast Asia, it will be firmly controlled by the British.

    In fact, the pot-bellied Prime Minister was not as wary of the Chinese meddling in Southeast Asia as he was the Japanese. Southeast Asia was full of Chinese expatriates, and some of them had even settled here for hundreds of years, and because of their ethnic origins,  Due to their industrious nature, Chinese and overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia are generally quite wealthy.

    He believed that once the Chinese took the opportunity to intervene, coupled with the economic resources in the hands of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, the British Southeast Asian colonies would fall into chaos. This is why London frequently waved its olive branch to Chongqing despite insufficient military strength.  The reason for turning a blind eye and instead asking the Anti-Japanese Alliance located in the northernmost part of China to send troops to help defend Southeast Asia.

    In fact, General Wavell also wanted to fulfill the Prime Minister's request. After visiting these days, although he had only seen the performance of the Anti-Japanese Alliance on the exercise ground, as a veteran, General Wavell could still accurately  to judge the true combat effectiveness of this army.

    The murderous look in the eyes of the veterans who came off the battlefield in this army is far inferior to even the British army on the battlefield in North Africa. As for the British-Burmese Army and the British Southeast Asian Army, they are even more distant in comparison.  At the same time, their training standards are much better than those of Britain's most elite troops.

    The real combat effectiveness of its units, as well as the command capabilities of its subordinate officers, are at least no worse than those of the British. In terms of the cooperation between infantry and tanks, aviation and ground armor, and the use of tank units, although they are still a little immature,  But it has begun to take shape. The most important thing is that he saw a spirit in this army, a spirit that is unyielding and fights the enemy to the end.

    In General Wavell's view, the Anti-Japanese Alliance headquarters are not only well-trained, but also powerful in combat. In addition, with some of the equipment provided by the British Empire, if the Anti-Japanese Alliance deploys a few divisions to fight in Southeast Asia, then the British army's ability in Southeast Asia will be greatly reduced.  There will be much more room for the use of troops. At least there will be no need to draw troops from the North African battlefield to strengthen the defense of Southeast Asia.

    However, Yang Zhen's attitude today has made it clear that the Anti-Japanese Alliance will never send troops to Southeast Asia when their own troops are insufficient and the threat posed by the Japanese army has not been completely resolved. Moreover, they clearly expressed in the conversation that they  There is no room for negotiation on this matter.

    Although he may not have as clear a picture of Yang Zhen's character as Hopkins, as a soldier, General Wavell, who also served as the supreme commander of a theater, knew clearly from a soldier's point of view,  For people like Yang Zhen, once they make up their mind, they will not change it easily.

    Because as the top military commander of such an army, who came out under such difficult circumstances, he would not be able to make it today if he had not been extremely determined. Without this determination, they would have been able to make a comeback in this situation with almost no chance.  Where possible, continue to fight rather than surrender.

    It was not until this inspection that most of the officers in the American and British delegation knew the origin and development process of this army. General Wavell once asked himself, if in the situation they encountered, a little bit of  If it were the British army, I am afraid that even the most elite troops would have collapsed long ago, let alone step by step to get to where they are today.

    It is with this understanding that General Wavell has completely given up the idea of ??fighting for now, because he clearly knows that if such an exchange was still possible in the original, but now, the Americans have decided to provide assistance to the Anti-Alliance,  The signing of this agreement means that it is actually impossible for the British side to win over the United States and use this method to pressure the Anti-Resistance Alliance to agree to the British demands.

    Moreover, at the Moscow Conference, although the Americans promised to coordinate the relationship between the British and the Anti-Japanese Alliance, Hopkins, who was in charge of the global strategic supplies needed by the United States, was obviously not enthusiastic about this matter.  Enthusiasm, distance?'s lower than the original Mr. Harriman.

    At the same time, in terms of strategic interests, the Americans will not push too hard on the young commander in front of them. Compared with the Americans who only have a colony in the Philippines in the Far East, they pay more attention to the millions of Japanese troops in China. Can they  When necessary, it will be contained in mainland China, rather than just the strength of the Southern Army's divisions.

    The Americans, who only have one colony in the Far East, the Philippines, know very well that their contest with the Japanese is more on the ocean than in the tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia. They agreed to come forward just to maintain their relationship with the British.  Their current strategic alliance is nothing more than their current strategic alliance. They will come forward, but they will not overly force the Resistance Alliance to act in accordance with British interests.

    It was within a short period of time that Admiral Wavell had so many thoughts running through his mind that he finally decided to drink the wine in his glass, even though he could not achieve his goal of persuading the Anti-Japanese Alliance to send troops to help defend British Southeast Asia.  , but for Admiral Wavell, he had to work hard for the second goal.

    With a large number of Japanese troops still in Manchuria, General Wavell, who continued to persuade Yang Zhen to agree to the British request, had completely lost his hope and turned to asking for the Chinese who had rejected the British Empire's request.  People, the most elite divisions of the Japanese army that can be contained here cannot go south to increase troops in the Southeast Asian battlefield.
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