"We have conquered so many countries for more than a hundred years. Is this just to let Indians blossom and bear fruit everywhere?"
Alan Wilson and the Persian Gulf Commissioner, who had become accustomed to the local area, looked at the noisy Indian community not far away and felt very uncomfortable. "John, there must be Indians in Sudan. They were almost forgotten last time."
"Yes, but not too many, a community of several thousand people." John suddenly looked at Alan Wilson and lowered his voice, "What are you going to do?"
"Let them return to where they came from." Alan Wilson put his hands in his pockets and relaxed, "But with a few thousand people in a community, we can still do something like this. Right?"
"It's not difficult." John and Alan Wilson turned around and disappeared into the Indian community in Aden, as if they had never been there.
In the following days, commissioners from all over the country arrived in Aden one after another to express congratulations to the new Persian Gulf Commissioner and Alan Wilson. As we all know, Alan Wilson was promoted one level, taking an important step in his official career.
More than twenty colonial commissioners gathered at the Aden Administrative Office. The Aden Conference officially began. Alan Wilson was not polite and directly took out the work instructions of Whitehall and said, "Thanks to the efforts of my colleagues, during the World War
Ten years after the end, the UK finally no longer has to keep its head down and be held hostage financially by dubious allies. Whitehall is very satisfied with our work, and in the next stage, there will be some adjustments in strategic direction."
"Change is something we don't like, and I don't like it either, but gentlemen I believe they all understand that when doing things based on national interests, some adjustments are inevitable."
"Deputy Secretary-General, let me tell you straight, everyone wants to know what the adjustments will be." Ingram asked.
"Then I'm sorry. In terms of overseas troops stationed, in addition to the British troops stationed in Germany within the framework of NATO, there are currently three major military garrisons. The three major joint operations commands are the Near East, the Middle East and the Far East. Their headquarters are in Cyprus, respectively.
With Aden and Singapore at our feet, British Africa is actually not important on the strategic map, regardless of the large area of British Africa."
At this point, the real purpose has been revealed. Among the three joint operations commands, the Near East is the strongest. In a sense, the Near East Joint Operations Command where the Mediterranean Fleet is located can be said to be a part of NATO, not a separate one.
The British garrison is different in the Middle East and Far East.
Compared with the interests of the Middle East and the Far East, British Africa is definitely in a secondary position, regardless of the fact that its area is much larger than the latter.
"The huge funds in our hands are to support the troops stationed in the Middle East to stay here forever. We regard the British African colonies as the rear area, and the Middle East and the Far East are the front lines. This is what Whitehall means. I hope gentlemen can understand."
The current deployment of 800,000 British troops, plus British Africa, there are hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in the colonies. Of course, the number is small, and it cannot be compared with the French army in Algeria.
Most of the colonial commissioners who came to Aden were from British Africa. It was Alan Wilson's job to get these colleagues to accept this fact and take responsibility. The policy had already turned. Britain must invest its little economic power in important projects.
direction.
Although Britain has recovered now, its economic strength cannot be compared with that before the war. It can only put its limited foreign investment in more important places, with the Middle East and the Far East ranking before Africa.
"There is no need to be depressed, it may be embarrassing to say. But the situation in Africa still depends on whether France can stabilize. If France stabilizes, the African colonies will have enough time to adjust, and there is no need to worry about challenges coming soon, while the Far East and
The Middle East is different. Challenges can occur at any time." John followed Alan Wilson's thinking and said, "The situation in Africa is still very stable. The areas under my and Alan's jurisdiction are the real uncomfortable places."
"Who doesn't know the importance of the Persian Gulf? We know it, the United States knows it, and the Soviet Union also knows it. To be honest, the national strength of the United States and the Soviet Union is greater than that of the United Kingdom today. Our advantage relies on the accumulation of our fathers. We can stabilize
It has become too difficult to continue to ignore the interests of the United States and the Soviet Union in the Middle East."
"Well, although I can't agree with everything, it's also for the sake of the overall situation." Unlike others, Ingram worked as a commissioner in British West Africa, which happened to be the most densely populated place in Africa. He felt that suppressing the local desire for independence was more important.
"Before coming, Nigeria's political parties had already stated that they would submit opinions on the establishment of an autonomous territory."
"A place with nothing but people." Although Alan Wilson's words are somewhat slanderous, Nigeria is not nothing but people, but it is also true that there are not many resources per capita. The largest country in Africa in later generations is all supported by population.
He directly gave his own suggestion, "Follow the procedure and list a five-year buffer period. If the situation is eased, some of the local garrison troops will be transferred to the East African colonies."
"Will Whitehall agree?" Ingram knew that Alan Wilson had just come out of London and must know what Whitehall meant.
"Whitehall's opinion is to follow the procedures." Alan Wilson nodded, "negotiate the settlement of pounds, and the rest will be done in accordance with the precedents of British India and Sudan. In Nigeria, nationalized enterprises and local elites formed a
In terms of interest alliances, the main consideration is not to let Nigeria’s autonomy impact the local economy.”
"I understand. I will pay attention to the trends in this area after I return." Ingram nodded and stopped talking.
"The strengthened layout in the Middle East requires at least 200 million pounds of funding. The Ministry of Finance means to provide 15 million pounds of support. Let us figure out the rest ourselves." John felt a little embarrassed when he took out the document.
After all, he is now in a position of asking for money and is a little short of breath.
Sure enough, the huge gap in needed funds and the allocation from the Ministry of Finance caused a buzz in the conference room. When you spend money, you are happy, but when you spend money, you have a different face.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Can your jurisdiction replace the important economic value and status of the Middle East?" Alan Wilson asked rhetorically, but when everyone was silent, he said, "So?
, This is such a simple truth. The Far East and the Middle East were lost, and the cabinet evacuated all colonies without hesitation. If Africa's difficulties are the four arithmetic, the two of us are simply calculus."
This is not a complaint, this is an obvious fact. Alan Wilson must make this fact clear to his colleagues, "I don't think this is enough. From the perspective of British interests, the investment of 200 million pounds is no different from no investment. The United States organizes the Middle East
Don’t say you didn’t see the country’s actions to blockade the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union’s countermeasures.”
"The recent troubles in Poland and Hungary are a good opportunity. Now the Soviet Union has no time to pay attention to the Middle East. Our pressure mainly comes from the United States, and the United States at least will not break up with the United Kingdom openly. It depends on whether we can rely on it secretly.
The former foundations of the British Empire safeguarded British interests."
All the colonial commissioners nodded in approval. Although they were not in Europe, they had heard about the current events in Poland and Hungary, and watched with excitement how the Soviet Union would react to the anti-Soviet voices in the two Eastern European countries.
Things in Hungary mainly stem from two people. The current tension in Hungary is only reflected at the government level. The discord between Rakosi and Nagy, as well as the opposition between their followers, have not yet affected
to the people of Hungary.
This incident has nothing to do with Alan Wilson, but he remembered that due to the incident in Hungary, the Soviet Red Army suffered nearly a thousand casualties. The Soviet Red Army in Eastern Europe was normally an elite division, far beyond the KGB border guards stationed in the Far East.
.
Could an isolated incident in Hungary alone have caused such heavy casualties to the Soviet army?
But the truth has long been submerged in the fog of history. The winner of the Cold War was the United States. No one can find out whether the United States had any influence on the Hungarian incident.
The world is not at peace. While the meeting in Aden is still being held, at the Woomera launch site in Australia, de Havilland, who has just arrived here after leaving the UK, looks solemn and looks at the huge blue light missile. The first finished product has been manufactured.
The first experiment will be held today.
When things came to a close, de Havilland was a little worried. Of course he wanted to prove his talents through the success of the blue-light missile, but he was also an out-and-out novice in this field.
After several years of preparation, he still had to come in person for the test launch of Britain's first ballistic missile.
Also arriving at the Woomera launch site were the Australian Governor-General Slim, the British Field Marshal, the Australian Minister of Defense and the Commander of the Army.
Pamela Mountbatten appeared and greeted de Havilland, "I didn't expect you to come in person, dear Mr. de Havilland."
"I already regret it, ma'am, I didn't expect to receive so much attention." de Havilland said with a wry smile, "With Marshal Slim and the leaders of the Australian military, what should I do if it fails?"
"Then continue testing, this is a strategic weapon. I absolutely support continuing." Pamela Mountbatten thought of her husband's words, this is a life-saving thing.
The body of the blue-light missile is glowing with metallic luster. It is a behemoth, with a maximum take-off weight of up to 68 tons. It is very large and uses liquid fuel. The engine used is Rolls-Royce's RZ.2 rocket engine.
.
As the countdown began, everyone at the observation position also held their breath. Finally, the huge blue-light missile was successfully ignited, and the huge missile broke away from the constraints of the earth's gravity and flew into the blue sky.
Just as everyone was preparing to celebrate, the blue-light missile began to move irregularly, terminating those who wanted to celebrate. Finally, it exploded in the sky with Brownian motion and became a large firework. The ignited fuel fell like fire rain.