When Wavell and Ouyang Yun held talks in Bangkok, it coincided with the fierce battle between the British and German navies in the North Atlantic. The eyes of the whole UK were focused here, so after Churchill and Eden gave instructions to Wavell, they
I forgot about it. It was a coincidence that the British Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck in the ocean near France not long ago, killing more than 2,600 German naval officers and soldiers. The British cabinet was preparing to have a powerful force.
The Royal Navy felt fortunate, so after receiving Wavell's telegram, they were immediately moved by his proposal to sacrifice the French Far East Fleet in exchange for friendship with the Chinese people and change the passive situation of the British army in the Far East.
Since the French government prepared to surrender to Nazi Germany, the British have regarded the French Navy, the fourth most powerful in the world, like the Sword of Damocles hanging above their heads. Although the French Navy now exists in name only, because France has surrendered to Germany
, so its large-scale Far East Fleet is still a big threat to the British.
"I think Wavell's proposal is feasible. The commander of the Far East Fleet, Jean Decourt, has always been wary of us. According to the current development trend of the situation, it cannot be ruled out that he will take refuge with the Germans or even the Japanese. My opinion is the same
Like Commander Wavell, rather than letting it become a weapon used by the enemy against us, it is better to hand it over to the Chinese. The Japanese have controlled the Strait of Malacca, and the Chinese will not be able to play its role even if they get the Far East Fleet. Of course, if they forcefully
We have no objection to using this to challenge the powerful Japanese navy. If they think that ocean-going ships are as easy to maneuver as sampans in the Yangtze River -" At the cabinet meeting the next day, Eden first expressed his opinion on Wavell's proposal.
After a long and eloquent conversation, the last sentence he made to ridicule the abilities of the sailors in the Xuebing Army aroused everyone's ridicule.
The British are quite arrogant about the combat power of the Royal Navy. As early as a year ago, their agents sent back intelligence about the military building an aircraft carrier in the United States, but it did not attract even the slightest attention from the British top brass.
Churchill then expressed his opinion: "I support the opinion of the Foreign Secretary." Then he used the topic to say: "In just one month, Britain lost Malaysia, Singapore and southern Myanmar in the Far East. Facts tell us that we alone can
It is no longer possible to stop the Japanese army from advancing. Does anyone know about the war in Thailand last month? The 'retaliatory action' launched by the Xuebing Army was overwhelming. In just one week, the Japanese were driven out of Thailand and forced the Thai government to defect.
Do you think it's ironic? But this is the fact. Gentlemen, it is imperative to seek help from the military academy in the Far East. Therefore, no matter how rude the Chinese are, we can only give in at this time. Of course, we cannot do it in vain.
Return to the villain. Commander Wavell's telegram mentioned that General Ouyang Yun, the Commander-in-Chief of the Cadet Army, once said privately that he was confident of rescuing the British soldiers from the Singapore Prisoner of War Camp. I think this is the best condition.
What do you think?"
The British cabinet at this time was equivalent to Churchill's one-word office. No one would dare to have an opinion after his words were released, so Wavell received a reply from Churchill that night.
With Churchill's support, it was supposed that the negotiations would be easy, but the reality was the opposite.
The first day of the meeting broke up unhappily, but the second day was a very pleasant one. On the third day, because Wavell had to wait for Churchill's reply, there was a delay of one day at his request. On the fourth day, the atmosphere at the beginning of the meeting was still good.
However, when we started talking about the conditions seriously, differences immediately arose.
In Wavell's words: "Your people are too greedy!"
Ouyang Yun certainly disagreed with this. He said directly: "Yes, I want the French Far East Fleet, but you think that a Far East Fleet alone can offset the compensation you should pay for killing tens of thousands of overseas Chinese?
And exchange the lives of more than 30,000 soldiers? Oh, forgot, it seems that you also want to take back the "Lanluga Prisoner of War Death Squadron" who have received formal training. Hey, Your Excellency, Commander, if you want to say that you are greedy, you British people are more
It fits the word."
Wavell's face turned red. He stood up and slapped the table and shouted: "Commander-in-Chief Ouyang, do you mean there is no room for maneuver?"
Ouyang Yun looked at him calmly and said coldly: "The Far East Fleet only compensates. If you want to save people, you must pay a new price. There is no free lunch in the world. This sentence should be familiar to you."
"Then we don't need to talk about it -" Wavell dropped these words, rolled up his sleeves and was about to leave.
Seeing this, Clary quickly grabbed him and said to Ouyang Yun: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, businessmen have room for bargaining when doing business. Are you too absolute?"
On the British side, Craly was Wavell's deputy; on the student army side, Ouyang Yun's deputy was Chu Tiange. Craly stepped forward to smooth things over, and Chu Tiange also stood up. He said to Craly:
"Major General Crary, what you said makes sense, but as you just saw, it was Commander Wavell who spoke first without any reservations." Then he advised Ouyang Yun: "Brother, after all, we have a common enemy.
Let’s leave some room for each other.”
Ouyang Yun snorted, and over there, Wavell was also pulled back to his seat by Clary.
Because of this, the talks on the fourth day broke up again. That night, at Craley's suggestion, Wavell suppressed his impatience and called London again for advice. He gave London a time to call.
It was eleven o'clock in the middle of the night, Bangkok time, so Churchill saw the telegram that night. Based on Craley's suggestion, Wavell specifically mentioned in the telegram that because the bottom line of our negotiation had been captured by the Xuebing Army, the Xuebing Army was determined to bite the overseas Chinese.
He persisted in demanding compensation and asked whether to give up the rescue of captured soldiers in Singapore. At the end of the telegram, also based on Craley's proposal, he attached a seemingly insignificant additional message, saying that because the two sides had reached a preliminary intention two days ago,
As a result, journalists from the UK, France and Thailand were attracted to come for interviews and reports, and the terms of the relevant talks have been disclosed.
It was this insignificant additional news that caused Churchill to be extremely dissatisfied. He sent someone to find Eden overnight, handed him the telegram, and cursed with a cigar in his mouth: "Wavell is as stupid as a pig, no, worse than
A pig is still stupid - is he just a freshman out of school? He doesn't know anything about negotiating reservations. I really don't know how he became a general. Now, once the relevant terms are disclosed, for the sake of public morale, Singapore
We can save the captured soldiers whether we save them or not."
After reading the telegram, Aiden frowned and said, "But the problem is that we don't know what the Xuebing Army wants. What if we can't meet the conditions they put forward at all?"
Churchill paced back and forth anxiously for a while, took out the cigar from his mouth with his right hand and said: "We can only talk first, and then we will make a move depending on the conditions. Wavell, this bastard, I really want to shoot him!"