The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Roosevelt couldn't wait to convene an international summit. Another reason was that Italy had surrendered, leaving only Germany fighting alone in European fascism.

With the Italian army retreating steadily on the front line, the British and American coalition forces landed on Sicily as early as mid-July. Seeing that the situation was not good, Italy's fascist parliament demanded Mussolini's resignation by a majority vote. At this time, Germany was still continuously deploying troops to support Italy.

As the founder of fascism, the Italian dictator Mr. Mussolini was still very reasonable. Instead of deploying troops to suppress the opponents, he went to see the King of Italy full of grief and indignation. He was then caught by the King and thrown into prison to count lice.

Then, Italy launched an anti-fascist wave and announced unconditional surrender on September 3. On October 13, the new Italian government officially declared war on Germany and suddenly became a member of the Allies.

What depressed Roosevelt and Churchill was that Italy did not even surrender simply. It bargained and delayed, giving Hitler enough time to send more troops to Italy. After the surrender plan was leaked, Italy also requested a postponement of the surrender time. It was not until the Allies announced the news that Italy bit the bullet and actually surrendered.

When Italy just surrendered, the German army was in a very dangerous situation in Italy and was scattered across the narrow Apennine Peninsula. The German army in the south had just retreated from Sicily and was exhausted and out of ammunition and food. At this time, as long as the Allied forces and the Italian army attack the German army together, they will definitely kill the German army and even completely annihilate the surrounded southern German army.

However, Italy's new government was dilly-dallying, opening up channels to allow the Allied forces to fight the Germans, while standing by and watching the show, it seemed that the war taking place on Italian soil had nothing to do with Italy. The Allies were also dilly-dallying, thinking that the situation in Italy was decided, but they were beaten heavily by the Germans who came to their senses.

On the second day after Italy surrendered, the German army occupied all of Italy's northern borders, quickly took control of the Italian capital with a small number of garrisons, drove away the Italian king, and rescued the imprisoned Mussolini to form a puppet government. With Hitler's order, hundreds of thousands of Italian troops surrendered, and the German army effortlessly occupied most of Italy's territory.

The puppet government established by Hitler in Italy continued to help Germany fight until 1945.

It can be said that the new Italian government, which announced its surrender and joined the Allies, has done nothing. After World War II, it actually asked for the treatment of a victorious nation. It is really miraculous.

Of course, the Allied countries are not idiots who help count money. Although Italy is a victorious country, it is no different from a defeated country. An Italian city was assigned to Yugoslavia, an Italian port was designated as a free zone, and the African colonies were forced to give up. The number of troops was limited to 300,000, and a symbolic compensation of $36,000 was paid.

Such treatment from a victorious country is not even as good as China after World War I.

…

December.

After the Cairo Conference, Chang Kaishen did not return to China immediately. Instead, he took Soong Meiling to India to inspect the Chinese garrison. In order to disgust Chang Kaishen, Churchill deliberately ordered to lower the standard of reception for Chiang Kai-shek. The Governor-General of India only sent a personal adviser to greet him at the airport. There was no red carpet laid out and no welcome music played by the military band.

The conflict between Chang Kaishen and Churchill has now become completely public, without even caring about basic face etiquette.

At the Pacific Conference just six months ago, Churchill suddenly put aside the issue of war against Japan. He said: "I recently heard that China concentrated its troops to attack Tibet, which caused great panic in this independent country. I hope the Chinese government can guarantee that there will be no unfortunate incidents. occur."

Song Ziwen retorted on the spot: "I have not heard of this news, and Tibet is not an independent country as the Prime Minister said. All treaties signed between China and Britain have recognized Tibet as China's sovereignty."

After Chang Kaishen learned about this, he was so angry that he scolded Churchill in his diary that night.

And at the Cairo Conference just half a month ago, Churchill disgusted Chang Kaishen again. This damn fat man was obstructing the situation and refused to return Hong Kong to his life. No matter how much Roosevelt tried to persuade him, it was of no avail, so the Hong Kong problem arose.

Not only that, Churchill also tried to play a word game in the Cairo Declaration, changing the territory Japan plundered from China from "of course it should be returned to China" to "of course it must be given up by Japan."

What does it mean to give up by Japan?

Will we establish an independent country after giving up? Build a Northeastern country? Build a North China country? Build another South China Kingdom?

Wang Chonghui argued hard on behalf of China, and Chiang Kai-shek also threw the table at Roosevelt's table. Finally, he won Roosevelt's support and did not let the British amendment proposal succeed.

In return, Chiang Kai-shek went to India to inspect the expeditionary force, just to disgust Churchill.

When Chang Kaishen returned to Chongqing, it was almost New Year's Day in 1944. Domestic newspapers reported the results of this meeting in numerous articles, calling it "a great victory for Chinese diplomacy since the late Qing Dynasty", and Chang Kaishen also became a "national hero" ".

Chang Kaishen was so happy that he even took the time to visit Zhou's residence in person. He took Zhou Hexuan's hand and said with a smile: "Mingcheng, from this Cairo meeting, China's political harvest is the first, military second, and economic second. A considerable achievement has been achieved, which is the greatest success of the country’s diplomacy in a century and the first result of thirty years of hard work!”

"The chairman takes all the credit." Zhou Hexuan flattered him smoothly.

Chang Kaishen said with a smile: "Mingcheng also has merit, there is no need to be modest."

To be honest, Chiang Kai-shek's performance during this trip was very poor. What he wants is the benefits that China deserves in the future, but the actual benefits that are urgently needed at this stage have been messed up. This is extremely short-sighted.

Roosevelt's focus at the Cairo Conference was the joint entry of China and Britain into Burma. Chiang Kai-shek was afraid that the expeditionary force would suffer heavy losses, so he had to drag the United States to send troops. Not only that, Chiang Kai-shek spoke of a US$1 billion aid loan, which made Roosevelt feel as uncomfortable as eating a fly.

As long as Chiang Kai-shek cooperates with Roosevelt at the meeting, China will receive full support from the United States even if the expeditionary force is wiped out. By then, Roosevelt would have forced Churchill to agree to return Hong Kong, and Chiang Kai-shek's $1 billion loan could easily be obtained.

Although this approach is sorry for the soldiers of the expeditionary force and makes those expeditionary troops die, as the leader of China, he should agree to it.

At the Tehran Conference that followed, Stalin did a good job in this regard. He knew what Roosevelt wanted and what Churchill wanted, so he cooperated as much as possible at the expense of the Soviet Red Army's life, thereby winning the Soviet Union's greatest interests, and American military aid was continuously imported into the Soviet Union.

After the two meetings, Roosevelt and Churchill also compared Chang Kaishen with Stalin. They both believed that Stalin had a more international strategic vision than Chang Kaishen.

Zhou Hexuan also persuaded Chang Kaishen to cooperate with Roosevelt on the Burma battlefield, but when it came to Chiang Kai-shek, it was ignored.

Chang Kaishen did believe in Zhou Hexuan's international vision, but only in terms of politics and diplomacy. He believed that Zhou Hexuan knew nothing about military affairs and would not discuss military matters with Zhou Hexuan at all, let alone listen to any military-related suggestions.

What is the result of this?

It was Chiang Kai-shek and Stilwell who completely fell out. Roosevelt became disheartened with China. U.S. military assistance to China was almost cut off. China's already collapsed finances were even worse.