mixed in the war

Many people thought that Qin Wei was messing around.But there are also many people who have seen the "deep meaning" behind Qin Wei, even though these so-called "deep meanings" may not even have occurred to Qin Wei himself.

Among them, the commander-in-chief of the Indian Army of the British Empire, Archibald Percival Wavell, was the person who most associated with him.

Wavell, the future Field Marshal, was taciturn, loyal and mild-mannered, and was later regarded as a better general than Churchill and many other British generals.And he certainly fits the bill.

At that time, shortly after Germany invaded Poland, Wavell was ordered to go to Egypt to take over as the commander-in-chief of the British Command in the Middle East, commanding only 5 British troops in the Middle East.But what he needs to face is the two North African armies led by Italian Marshal Rudolfo Grazia, with a total of 25 troops, and the Duke of Aosta, stationed in Abyssinia, that is, Later Ethiopia, and the East African Italian Army in Somalia, totaled 30 people.

With 5 against an enemy of 55, although the number of British troops gradually increased after that, the situation facing Wavell was still cruel.Because he not only has a small number of people, but also has a serious lack of personnel in the troops under his jurisdiction. These troops are all insufficiently trained, and there is an extreme shortage of equipment and ammunition.But he not only needs to use these people to defend the Middle East, but also to keep the lines of communication between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea open.In addition, he has to face the blind command of someone from London, this person is Churchill... When the battle with the Italians was about to start, Churchill actually ordered Wavell to draw out the small number of troops Part of it supported the European battlefield. Fortunately, John Greer Dill, then Chief of Staff of the British Army, knew that Wavell was facing an extremely bad situation, so he discussed with him, secretly suppressed Churchill's order, and deliberately delayed it.This ensures that after the war between the two armies, the British army in the Middle East has a certain strength.But in this way, Wavell also offended Churchill.

Afterwards, in the battle in North Africa, Wavell led the British army to advance more than 800 kilometers in two months with his exquisite command, smashing the troops led by Rudolfo Grazia, not only destroying Rudolfo Grazia Yasuo was forced to retreat to Tripoli, and captured more than 9 officers and soldiers from 13 divisions of the Italian army, and captured nearly 290 tanks and [-] artillery pieces.

And after the decisive victory in the North African campaign.Wavell also did not allow the troops to rest, but directly transferred part of the troops to East Africa to support the British army fighting against Aosta in East Africa.After that, wars broke out, and the British army beat the Italians back.Liberated Abyssinia and Somalia successively, and achieved great victories in East Africa.

pity.Just when the war situation was developing smoothly.Prime Minister Churchill, who was described by Hitler as "a poor soldier among politicians, and a poor politician among soldiers", came to interfere with Wavell's actions again, asking him to transfer the main force of four divisions to the Greek battlefield, which was being attacked by the Axis powers. .As a result, the British army was short of troops on both battlefields at the same time, which failed to save the crisis in the Greek battlefield, and also made Wavell lack enough troops to pursue the Italian army.As a result, Mussolini's reinforcements quickly joined the rout after landing in North Africa.Gained a foothold and turned to the counter-offensive.In this battle, the British army lost, although the loss was not large.The situation of the battle began to turn against the British army.Ultimately, Wavell had to withdraw his troops back to Egypt and watch as Italy reoccupied Libya.

Later, in order to shirk responsibility, Churchill decided to change horses after repeated consideration.After discussing with the cabinet and relevant parties in the military circles, he decided to let the Indian commander-in-chief Auchinleck be the commander-in-chief of the Middle East, and let Wavell be the commander-in-chief of the Indian army.

Unexpectedly, not long after, Wavell had to face the crisis of the Japanese army attacking again.

……

Counting from the beginning of the Second World War, the Middle East and the Soviet Union have received more attention in the strategic decision-making of the whole of the United Kingdom, and they have also been given priority in the allocation of manpower and materials.Compared with these two regions, the air force with the strength of 300 to 500 fighter planes that Malaya hoped for has never been realized.The British army in Malaya also hoped to have enough tanks, but until the Japanese invaded the Philippines, they failed to get a single tank or even armored vehicles from the British mainland.

After Wavell took over as the commander-in-chief of the Indian army, he pointed out that the Indian military was extremely weak through his understanding of the situation in Southeast Asia and South Asia. Therefore, the government should include Burma as the commander-in-chief of the British army in India, that is, his subordinates.But it was not until the Japanese army officially invaded the Philippines that London approved his request. By the way, Malaya, which was also in trouble, was also handed over to him.

After that, Wavell quickly formulated a "Matador Operation" plan with Brooke Popham, the British general stationed in Singapore, hoping to lead the British army to invade southern Siam preemptively and destroy the possible landing sites of the Japanese army in advance to prevent the Japanese army from invading. After these places, get the pedals going south.However, this plan failed to get the approval of the British government at the beginning, especially Churchill. It is impossible to attack Siam directly.And if the Japanese can invade Siam, it will be even more beneficial to the British war situation in Southeast Asia... In any case, it is impossible for the Japanese to ignore the existence of the squadron in French Indochina.If they take Siam, they will inevitably have conflicts with the squadrons in Vietnam and Cambodia.In this way, the pressure on the British side will naturally be reduced.They even only need to threaten a little with the Burma Road, and the Chinese will have to fight the Japanese between these three small countries.After all, China cannot lose its external lines of communication.Without this line of communication, it will be difficult for them to obtain large-scale assistance from foreign countries, which is extremely detrimental to the entire situation of China's war of resistance.

Although Churchill did not insist on his point of view in the end, he also felt that the hope of the British Empire could not be placed on other countries, and agreed to this "Matador Project".But when Wavell and others received the order, the squadron suddenly withdrew its troops from Cambodia and southern Vietnam.

Wavell and Popham were directly confused by this move.

If the Japanese really got a landing point in Siam and used it as a platform to go south and cut off the connection between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, where else would the Chinese get aid?Didn't they think about the consequences when they did this?And then, another trouble came: Churchill sent a telegram to Popham.It was claimed that Popham had been relieved of his duties and that the War Cabinet would replace him with a much younger man.So Popham lost his mind for work.They are about to be laid off, so why fight such a war again?If they won the battle, they would face fierce attacks from hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops. MacArthur was considered a famous general, and he was beaten to the point where he was powerless to fight back. Can you do it yourself?And if it is defeated, the end will definitely be even worse.You can't even beat the Siamese, are you embarrassed?Anyway, that young man is coming soon.Wait for yourself... You are already an admiral, and it doesn't matter if you earn the title of marshal, right?

In this way, Rao Wavell has a good temper and self-restraint.And almost not mad at Churchill and Popham.He suspected that these two people were his nemesis, especially Churchill.Always trouble him at the most critical time.If you don't know it's impossible.He even thought about fighting that guy.Although he was beaten blind in one eye during the First World War and became a "one-eyed dragon", he is confident that it will not take much effort to clean up that short and fat man.

However, after being angry, Wavell found that his luck had not improved.It was as if he had become an outcast of God.After Churchill, they actually had to face two big troubles, the Chinese and the Americans.

……

"A military exercise?" Calcutta, the Indian Army Command, has always been reticent.The mild-mannered General Wavell finally broke out uncontrollably: "This is simply the biggest joke ever... The war is about to break out, but they still have the leisure to play around? They did it on purpose, on purpose—"

"The Chinese insist on establishing an Asian theater, and want to surpass Britain and the United States on this land. Now that they find it impossible, they lean towards the Americans a little..." Arthur Percival, Lieutenant General of the British Army, The "young man" sent by Churchill to replace Popham. He is not amazing in appearance and behavior, but he is considered to have a strong character and superhuman courage. He was trained and taught in the staff school and was highly valued by the upper echelons of the British army. He was also sent to Malaya to study the local defense, and all the drafted plans were adopted. It is believed that he will definitely take over the post of Chief of Staff of the British Army in the future. Perhaps it is precisely because of his importance that Churchill played an important role in this war. He was sent to replace Popham at the time of Kai. But before arriving in Singapore, the British lieutenant general who had high hopes began to have a headache.

"If I were MacArthur, I would definitely not give up such an excellent opportunity. As long as it can win and gain military dominance in Asia, the future United States can gain the upper hand in the distribution of post-war interests in most of Asia .”

"Not only that, my friend." Although he was angry at Churchill's temporary dismissal of Popham, Wavell did not spread this emotion on Percival. He took a breath and sighed: " The so-called exercises are just an excuse for them to sit back and watch the Japanese attack us. They want to use the power of the Japanese to reduce our military presence in Asia, especially Southeast Asia."

"They are playing with fire." Percival said in a deep voice, "Our defense forces in Malaya and Singapore are very insufficient. Our air force only has 158 aircraft, while Japan has 560. We There are no tanks, but the Japanese army has more than 200. ... We have two armies, but the Malay Asian Army has only two brigades, and they are completely local troops, not regular troops; as for the third Indian Army, although it has two divisions , but they have never been trained in jungle warfare. I heard General Popham telegraph that these people are not even willing to leave the few roads in Malaya..."

"I can dispatch two divisions to reinforce you, but I hope you can implement the 'Matador Plan' as soon as possible! Only by preempting the possible landing sites of the Japanese army in Siam can we take the lead." Wavell said.

"Thank you, General." Percival saluted Wavell.

"Be careful. The actions of the Japanese have always confused me. It stands to reason that after they surrounded MacArthur in the Philippines, they should immediately deploy troops to attack Siam, and then use it as a springboard to attack Singapore and Malaya, and then enter Indonesia... But now they have seized the two major oil fields in Indonesia with airborne troops, and most of the army and navy are still staying in the Philippines...they must have some tricks." Wavell said.

"Then do you think they want to take advantage of this so-called military exercise to target China and the United States?" Percival asked suddenly.

"You mean..."

"That's right." Percival nodded heavily, "If it were me, I would definitely not give up such an excellent opportunity. After all, just attacking us, Japan may be attacked by the Chinese from behind at any time , I think this should also be the reason why their military actions are always so slow. But if they defeated the Chinese first, the situation would be completely different."

"..." (to be continued...)