Song Ziwen's guess was good. When Ouyang Yun saw the telegram, his first reaction was to laugh out loud. Smiling, he said to Song Ziwen's secretary who had sent the telegram: "Tell Foreign Minister Song that there is no need at all."
No problem. However, this telegram can be used. Xiaojun, are you okay now?"
Zheng Xiaojun is also an old man from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so he has met Song Ziwen and Ouyang Yun many times, and the two of them are considered familiar. Zheng Xiaojun shook his head and said, "The foreign minister asked me to send you a telegram. It should be fine."
Ouyang Yun nodded: "Then I'll have to work harder for you. Send the telegram to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and give it to Director Li Ziwen. Just say I asked you to do this."
Zheng Xiaojun responded, picked up the folder containing the telegram and left. After he left, Pan Meiren asked with a worried look: "If you ignore it completely, will it anger the British?"
Ouyang Yun sneered: "I don't know why the British sent such a telegram. If I were Churchill, since I have decided to send troops, which means I am ready to have a full-scale confrontation with us, do you think it is better?
Is it necessary to send such a telegram? The reason why Churchill did this actually shows that he has no idea and is relatively weak. In this case, the best response is for us to ignore it. I dare to say that because we ignore it at all,
The British will be suspicious."
Ouyang Yun's analysis of the British was basically correct. Two weeks later, when the war in the Malay Peninsula was at its peak, before the British sent troops to Burma, they indeed had a long discussion because of the Chinese government's non-responsive attitude.
It was the best time to send troops to Burma when Japan reached the point of taking action on the Malay Peninsula. On this point, senior British government officials had reached a consensus. However, because they were familiar with the power of the Chinese army and guided the Burmese independence forces to defect early,
The Chinese government, therefore, the senior British government officials are still very worried about the possibility of China sending troops to intervene.
According to Churchill's original vision, if the Chinese responded to their telegram, even if it was a verbal rebuke, Britain would hold high the banner of "Myanmar public opinion", send troops to southwestern Myanmar as quickly as possible, and then immediately prepare to establish a local government there.
And based this as a basic policy, they used Burmese people to fight Burmese people to achieve the purpose of regaining control of Burma. But now the Chinese have no reaction at all. They are not sure whether the banner of "Burmese public opinion" is effective. After many Japanese troops
Through this test, the British already know the extent of the combat effectiveness of their own army and the combat effectiveness of their subordinates. This is also the main reason why they want to establish local government in southwestern Myanmar first and implement the policy of using Burma to control Burma.
In the end, although the British have decided to "take advantage of China's disease to kill Burma" at all costs, they actually don't have much confidence in their hearts.
According to government logs later declassified by the British government, the discussion that day lasted for more than three hours, and because most of the participants, including Churchill, did not dare to give a definite statement, no conclusion was reached in the end. However,
Because the Battle of Ganbang took place subsequently, China and Japan invested a large amount of troops with Ganbang as the center, which seemed to have left China's Indochina Peninsula empty of military strength. Therefore, the British still mustered up their courage and launched the Battle of Bailiwa.
In the Battle of Pakliwa, because the opponents of the British army and their subordinates were the unfavorable Burmese guerrillas and the Myanmar National Independence Army at the beginning, within nearly two months of the beginning, the British army launched a wave of offensives and once occupied Bailiwa.
A vast area from Riva to Monywa to Gambulu.
There is no doubt that the early victory inspired the British to win. Therefore, even after China won the great victory in Kambang more than a month later, the British still had no intention of withdrawing their troops from Burma or consolidating the defense line on the spot.
Continue eastward in an attempt to completely occupy the entire Myanmar.
When the British army was advancing furiously in southwestern Myanmar, because the Battle of Malan was at its most critical moment, the Battle of Kambang was already developing into a meat grinder. Therefore, even if the Myanmar Ambassador to China (who only obtained the support of China and the People's Republic of China)
Diplomatic representatives of the Myanmar National Autonomous Government recognized by some countries such as allies) went to the Chinese Supreme Command almost every day to appeal to China for help. Ouyang Yun and Deng Xihou's attention was still completely attracted by the situation in Gan Bang.
At this time, the domestic supplementary troops were already in place, so the size of the Third Expeditionary Army at this time reached ten divisions with nearly 200,000 men. It also had a fighter division and a medium-range aviation division. As for the Japanese army, regardless of
In addition, for the Army alone, Koizumi Toshiichiro mobilized three divisions and nine National Independent Fronts, totaling nearly 600,000 troops.
On August 16, 1946, in Chongqing, when the weather was at its hottest, in a conference room on the third floor of the Chinese Supreme Command, Pan Meiren was speaking to the top Chinese political officials sitting below as the slides scrolled on the screen.
Explaining the current situation of the Gambang Battle.
"...This is already the nineteenth day of the battle on Highland No. 3. According to rough statistics, in these nineteen days, our army has killed more than 5,400 people in Highland No. 3. In addition, it has lost more than fifty tanks.
...Before the war started, Area 11 was still a dense tropical jungle. Now, this place has become a dead place. In the nearly month-long battle, our army has invested a total of five brigades, among which the third expedition has been newly added.
The 163rd Brigade of the 16th Division of the Group Army has been ordered to retreat to Thailand for rest and recuperation because the casualty rate exceeded 80%... Area 8, because this area is related to the overall situation, the competition is particularly fierce. So far,
, according to the statistics reported by General Zhang Lingfu who defended this area, as of 5 pm yesterday, they had annihilated at least 5,000 Japanese troops and 30,000 indigenous armed forces... Now we are discussing whether the Supreme Command should be deployed in Guangzhou.
Two directly affiliated aviation divisions and one long-range aviation division were reinforced to the Malay Peninsula..."
After the slideshow ended and Pan Meiren stepped back, the conference room fell into silence for a while.
A few minutes later, just when Ouyang Yun frowned and wanted to stand up and say a few words, He Yingqin put down the pen in his hand, raised his head and said: "Everyone, if I calculated correctly, as of 5 pm yesterday, we were in the Malan area.
More than 40,000 soldiers have been sacrificed, and nearly 90,000 new wounded have been added?"
Ouyang Yun looked at the documents in front of him and answered: "Yes."
He Yingqin: "In other words, our casualty rate has exceeded 60%?!"
Ouyang Yun: "They killed and wounded nearly 200,000 enemies! In addition, the Xinghua Volunteer Army did not enter the battlefield!"
"General, the above figures show that Kambang has become a meat grinder. Is it worth it for a small Singapore?"
"No, not only Singapore, but also the Strait of Malacca. This is the key!" Song Ziwen suddenly answered.