Chapter 43: The Balkan Savior
“Oh Allen you’re reading the papers, the military has prepared the food.” Avril pushed open and came in just in time to see Alan Wilson reading a document, coming closer to see that it was a report on the Balkans, exclaiming, “When else have you been so spirited, are all the civil servants in British India like this?”
“That’s not true!” Alan Wilson laughed, flipping through the Balkan report slightly shook his head and said, “Originally should have read it in Paris, just because came to Berlin delayed. This can be quite troublesome, these armed in the end how to treat, sent to London has the Foreign Office headache, this is a not small force.”
Speaking, Alan Wilson one hand unconsciously rattled the file bag, this force is one of the aftermath of the war.
To say that the composition of the Yugoslavian Fatherland Army was actually rather complicated, and had different tendencies at different stages. Before the official outbreak of the World War, Britain and France were certainly not just appeasement, and there were British and French-backed forces in many European countries jockeying for position with Germany.
Britain and France as a vested interest, but also because of the First World War and Germany’s bloodbath, after the war, although still able to hold down the United States a chip, but the heart has understood that both countries need time to recover.
But Germany simply do not give the opportunity, Britain and France in the face of the threat of war is inevitable, on the one hand, build on the German encirclement network, hoping to deter the Germans, do not want to really like the first war as a bayonet to see red.
Before meeting on the battlefield, the fight between Britain and Germany unfolded at the diplomatic level. The war broke out, and the ruling Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, fearing that the Axis powers would attack Yugoslavia, signed the Triple Entente Pact, promising to cooperate with Germany and Italy.
As a result, mass demonstrations took place in the capital Belgrade. Two days later King Peter II, supported by Britain, staged a military coup and overthrew the Prince’s regime. General Dusan Simovic became the Prime Minister.
By this time, Yugoslavia was in a very awkward position, practically no longer supporting the Axis Powers but not formally withdrawing from the Triple Pact. The new government was opposed to Germany but feared that Britain would not be able to help if it was invaded, and eventually the Axis began to invade.
The Yugoslav Fatherland Army, composed mainly of Serbs and Montenegrins, was loyal to the Yugoslav royal family and had repeatedly rebelled against Italian rule in Montenegro, but was suppressed by the Italian army, and was therefore supported by Britain and regarded as an Allied force.
The King of Yugoslavia, Paul II, was now in exile in London, and it was reasonable to say that the Yugoslav Fatherland Army, like the anti-German forces in many European countries before the war, was a pro-British force.
But again, this was not the case, there were other forces in Yugoslavia besides the Yugoslav Fatherland Army, because Yugoslavia was a victorious country after World War I because of the victory over the Allied bloc, and the Serbs occupied the lands of other peoples.
Today’s Yugoslavia is only a little over 40% Serbian and not a dominant people. Some people in later times attributed the breakup of Yugoslavia to the suppression of the Serbian subject peoples, which is not actually the case, the Serbs were never the majority population in this country.
The Croats, as well as the Slovenes, were pro-German, and they and the Yugoslav Fatherland Army constituted Tito’s opposition. The Yugoslav Fatherland Army, now clustered with pro-German and pro-British factions, had already withdrawn out of Yugoslavia for the Allied occupation.
“In fact, we can imagine that the decision London might eventually make is to abandon them.” Ivor watched Alan Wilson flounder and speculate on London’s final decision, “Maybe the decision won’t be so quick, after all, it’s mostly a German surrender ceremony right now.”
“Is it like if we get the Polish government in exile in London to fuck off and give Poland to the Soviet Union by exchanging the security of Greece?” Alan Wilson snorted and laughed to himself, “With the Yalta Conference, it’s understandable that such a quid pro quo would be made, the Prime Minister has done his best to maintain Britain’s presence in Europe, and both the US and the USSR are formidable negotiating opponents. Sensibly we couldn’t keep Poland, so we might as well trade for the safety of Greece.”
“I dare conclude that this still swelling royalist force, once it falls into Tito’s hands. It will surely be killed in its entirety!” Alan Wilson looked at Avril with a somewhat heavy heart and gave his assertion, “According to the Soviet mindset, this is considered a class enemy, a very scary definition.”
The most critical thing is that Alan Wilson did not want to do sell out other countries Britain to do, the interests of the United States occupied things. Britain sells out Poland goes to great lengths to keep Greece, the opposition remains pro-Soviet, and the government becomes pro-American, with nothing at all for Britain.
If it had been the other way around and Britain had gotten moral acclaim, it would have been better to let the Americans handle it.
Sell out Poland although Britain did, but after all, and Alan Wilson has nothing to do, while the Balkans report is in the hands, he knows that if he pretends not to see, directly feedback to London, has gathered in the Allied occupation area of Yugoslavia fatherland army, will inevitably be liquidated by Tito, the number of deaths in the hundreds of thousands of calculations.
The lives of these Yugoslav royalists, Croats, and Slovenes were now in the hands of Alan Wilson.
“Allen, in fact, we can not whip, according to the Yalta Conference, the British occupation zone is in the northwestern part of Germany, including the southern part of Germany, including Bavaria, and from the French border up to Austria is the American occupation zone. There are British diplomats in the neighborhood, but no British troops are stationed there.” Eiffel shrugged helplessly, “That’s a fact.”
“Occupying the northwestern German coastline, including the Ruhr area, is a victory in diplomacy, and haven’t the Americans always been disgruntled.” Allen Wilson smiled indifferently, “I wonder who the administrator of Bavaria is now.”
“That I do know, it’s a general named Patton.” Aifor spoke easily, then was startled, why was this colleague startled, when did he jump up.
Allen Wilson’s face became very wonderful, his mind turned sharply, “Oh, it’s General Patton!”
“Allen, what’s wrong with you?” Avril asked, pointing at the Balkan report in Allen Wilson’s hand, “Actually, there’s no need to be too impatient, the biggest thing right now is still the surrender ceremony.”
“That’s right, I agree.” Allen Wilson agreed as soon as he put the document away, this Balkan report was settled without him handing it over to London first.
The dawn of solving the problem of these forgotten people of World War II, Allen Wilson has seen a little, although he does not dare to guarantee success. But he felt that he tried his best, always not worse than history, if the administrator of Bavaria is not Patton, this matter is still really difficult to do, there is no hope at all.