Chapter 99 You can be the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the future
Yang Zhen, who now has 80% to 80% disbelief in the promises made by the British, thinks that the situation where Southeast Asia and North Africa are about to be under tremendous pressure at the same time, driving the British crazy, will be so terrifying. While General Wavell was in the Northeast, the tanks provided by the British had been shipped from North Africa and were first sent to India for repair and modification.
And currently stationed in India, the British have already prepared a total of 120 Battelle light bombers, 50 Skua dive bombers, and 30 British Tiger Moth trainer aircraft to be transferred to the Anti-Japanese Alliance. As well as more than a hundred flight and tank instructors who assisted the Anti-Japanese Alliance in conversion training, they gathered together. As long as the agreement here is signed, the tanks and aircraft that have been prepared there can be shipped immediately.
In order to get the Anti-Japanese Alliance to make concessions at the negotiating table, the British spent a lot of money, even though the Battelle light bombers and Skua dive bombers, including the Crusader cruise tanks, have been or are beginning to be eliminated for them. equipment, but it is not easy for the always stingy British to come up with so much equipment.
At least in the eyes of the British, they spent their money. Although among the aircraft provided, the Battelle light bombers and Skua dive bombers have been relegated to the second line in the British army and have been replaced by the Mosquitoes with better performance. The Type and Blenheim Type were replaced and completely withdrawn from front-line combat.
The tanks provided by the British were all early Crusader MK II tanks, which were slow and were like living targets in front of the German 88-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The Matilda II tanks, their latest model, were equipped with a six-pounder gun. Crusader MK III was not provided to the Anti-Alliance at all.
It was not until 1942, when American tanks arrived in large numbers on the North African battlefield, that they began to transfer MK III tanks with more powerful guns and thicker armor to the Anti-Japanese Alliance. The British were still very powerful. When they provided cruise tanks, they all They retired the old models themselves.
In terms of infantry tanks, they provided the better-performing Valentine to the Soviets, while all they provided to the Anti-Japanese Alliance were the old-fashioned Matilda II infantry tanks, while they themselves tried to find ways to improve their overall performance. American-made tanks with higher reliability are put into your own hands.
For example, when the 7th Armored Brigade of the British Army was transferred from the Middle East to Myanmar, all of them were M-3 Stuart light tanks. Except for a few British armored vehicles, the 7th Armored Brigade, known as the Desert Rat, , none of the hundreds of tanks equipped were tanks made by the British themselves.
These M-3 light tanks were all thrown to the Japanese army when the British army retreated. Instead, they became an accomplice of the Japanese army's attack on India. The Japanese army, which had a serious shortage of tanks manufactured by itself, also used these tanks captured in Myanmar. M3 American light tanks, together with dozens of tanks of the same model captured in the Philippines, are rampaging on the Indian battlefield.
Not only did it bring considerable confusion to the British army, which also used the M3 light tanks transferred from North Africa, but it also caused heavy losses to the British. In the end, the British were forced to remove all the equipped M3 light tanks themselves. All were withdrawn from the battlefield and replaced with the new M and four medium tanks provided by the United States to stop the chaos and decline.
Although the British provided only equipment that they had eliminated, for the British who always give up money, this is still a huge amount of equipment, especially the 140,000 two-pound guns that came with the ship. The British currently do not have enough armor-piercing and high-explosive bombs.
Although at the end of April 1st, their two-pound guns began to be eliminated from their own army and replaced with six-pound guns with better performance. All two-pound guns have been discontinued. The latest and more powerful seventeen-pound anti-tank, Mass production has also begun, but the British still think they are being generous in providing these old guns that have lagged behind on the North African battlefield.
This batch of equipment provided by the British, together with the German helmets and artillery captured on the North African battlefield, which arrived at the same time, and of course the batch of Italian junk that Yang Zhen had rejected, arrived at the end of April 1st, that is, during the Japanese attack on Pearl. Hong Kong shipped the Resistance Alliance two days ago.
And because these planes and tanks were shipped from Egypt in North Africa, via India to Vladivostok, a port in the Far East of the Soviet Union, they did not pass through the most dangerous route from Britain to Murmansk. The entire route was within the operational range of German bombers and submarines. Arctic route, so no losses were suffered.
This batch of equipment was the first batch of equipment transferred by the British to the Anti-Japanese Alliance through Vladivostok, and it was also the last batch of equipment. Shortly after the arrival of this batch of equipment, with the outbreak of the Pearl Harbor Incident, the Japanese army captured the entire Dutch East Indies and the Philippine Islands. , and the Malay Peninsula.
At the same time, the continuous air raids on the Colombo naval base completely cut off the British's channel for transferring equipment to the Anti-Japanese Alliance through the Middle East, India, and the Soviet Far East ports. All equipment could only be transported with the British aid equipment to the Soviet Union after a long and dangerous journey. Arctic route.
From March to June 1942, under the interception of the German navy and air force stationed in Norway, the British, who suffered heavy losses, did not give any equipment to the Anti-Japanese Alliance. Until July 1942, the British used most of the Crusader tanks After they were replaced by American tanks, a batch of Crusader cruise tanks were once again provided to the Anti-Japanese Alliance, and the assistance from the British eventually ended with the development of the war in four or three years.
The British didn't know what kind of ecstasy they had given to the Soviets. It was at the height of the Moscow Defense War, and the Soviets who were counterattacking the German forces around Moscow did not have the tanks and tactical aircraft they desperately needed. , all hands and feet, all equipment, not a single part is missing, all can be safely transported to resist the alliance.
When the batch of Italian, German and domestic tanks provided by the British, as well as the situational tactical bombers provided by the British army arrived, Yang Zhen, who did not expect the British to be so agile, shook his head and smiled bitterly, regretting the buffer time he had bought. It's really a little too short.
Moreover, although the British army provided 300 QF two-pound anti-tank guns at one go, the mounts of these anti-tank guns were too heavy and their deployment and withdrawal were extremely slow. In order for the Anti-Japanese Alliance to put them into actual combat on the front line, they also needed to repair the mounts. Making improvements takes time.
After the British equipment arrived, Yang Zhen realized that he had underestimated the British. For the British, who had always been slow to respond, he could only smile bitterly at this rare quickness, but the agreement had been signed. He was used to it. The British who have violated the contract but cannot accept the default of others will never allow themselves to delay it.
Of course, for Yang Zhen at the moment, he has not yet thought deeply about these things. After spending a night talking, he finally solved the problem in Wavell. Although Yang Zhen was a little tired, he still insisted on accompanying Hopkins in person to visit and inspect the anti-Japanese war. Factory of associated radio communication equipment.
Seeing is believing, and while lamenting that the Anti-Japanese League built such a large-scale factory under such difficult conditions, Hopkins was well aware of Yang Zhen's thoughts, but he didn't make it clear. I could only shake my head and smile bitterly, sighing in my heart that this guy considered things too comprehensively and was brave enough.
However, after on-site inspection of the production capacity of the Anti-League's radio communication equipment, and after careful consideration, before getting on the plane, Hopkins finally signed an agreement with the Anti-League to provide some raw materials and some corresponding equipment from the United States. , produced by the Anti-Japanese Alliance for the Soviet Union, the United States assisted the Soviets with a 37.5% share of the total demand for radio communication equipment.
As for the cost of manufacturing this batch of communication equipment, under Yang Zhen's repeated insistence, the Americans delivered weapons and equipment to offset the cost. Instead, the United States transferred the production technology of two diesel engines, one gasoline engine, and two types of trucks. manufacturing technology to offset.
After signing the last contract for the U.S. and British delegation to Northeast China at the airport, all Yang Zhen's thoughts were put into action. He just sent away the U.S. and British military delegation, and Yang Zhenqi had not had time to return to the military region headquarters. After taking a breath, he received another telegram from the Central Committee, hoping that he could go to Yan'an in the near future to negotiate with the US and British military delegation and make a detailed report to the Central Committee in person.
After receiving the telegram from the central government, Yang Zhen did not make any delays. After taking two days to arrange the work in detail, he and the political commissar of the advancing army who also needed to return to Yan'an to report, led the Americans to stay and form a military force stationed in Yan'an. Two officers from the observation group, together with Yuan Zhiruo, took a plane to Yan'an.
With the victory in this battle, it was no longer necessary to pass through Outer Mongolia on the route to Yan'an. After the plane landed in Keshiketeng Banner to replenish fuel, it flew directly via Chahar and flew over the Jinsui base area. The distance to Yan'an is much shorter. If it weren't for the insistence of all the leaders of the Northeast Bureau and the military region, Yang Zhen would not even bring escort fighters on this trip.
After arriving in Yan'an, Yang Zhen was directly taken to the Chairman's residence and discussed with the Chairman the negotiation process with the United States and Britain, the disputes between the two parties, and strategic cooperation in several aspects once a war broke out between Japan and the United States and Britain, including negotiations with the Soviet Union and the final decision of the Anti-Japanese Alliance All results including the level of concessions were reported in detail to the chairman, the boss, and the vice chairman who returned from Chongqing.
Regarding Yang Zhen's report, the chairman and the others listened very carefully and asked some questions from time to time. After Yang Zhen's detailed explanation and answer, the chairman, the boss, and the vice-chairman looked at each other and nodded with satisfaction. Nodding, they did not expect that this negotiation with the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union would achieve such great results.
Originally receiving reports of the sudden arrival of military delegations from the United States and Britain in the Northeast, the chairman and others thought it would be great to obtain some equipment assistance. After all, the Nationalist Government had completely severed military relations with the Germans since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. The United States has always been the focus of foreign aid efforts, but it has never been able to achieve satisfactory results.
The central government originally thought that being able to secure a certain amount of heavy weapons would be a good result, but they never expected that Yang Zhen would take advantage of the changes in the international situation and the strategic needs of the United States and Britain to counter the alliance, and actually forcibly steal weapons from the Americans. I was able to dig out such a big piece of lunch.
After the report, the chairman excitedly pointed at Yang Zhen and said to the boss and vice chairman beside him: "This little guy can be the minister of foreign affairs in the future. With him here, he will never suffer. None of us expected that, really I never imagined that you would achieve such great results.”
In response to the chairman's praise, Yang Zhen just shook his head slightly and said: "Chairman, I just did what I should do. If the United States and Britain did not feel the huge pressure brought by the Japanese army that has entered Southeast Asia, they would have killed them. He won't even give us a bullet."
"I just took advantage of the different future strategic priorities of the Americans, as well as the current international situation and the rapidly expanding ambitions of the Japanese, and took advantage of the situation to do what I could to win us a little benefit. Chairman, this There is really nothing to boast about.”