Chapter 58 The Friends of Yugoslavia

This operation to Rome had little to do with Alan Wilson, who as a diplomat naturally had no experience in charging into battle, but still hoped that Carl and the others would act smoothly and succeed in recovering this stolen money.

Compared with the expenditure of the entire British Empire in World War II, the treasure hidden by a small Croatian puppet regime can be described as a drop in the bucket, and can only be said to be better than nothing. But for Britain now, any amount of money is very valuable.

WWI Britain, before the Battle of Somna, could be said to have let the Franco-Russian alliance take the front seat, only to see that the allies were no longer viable, before moving to full strength.

WWII was a very different story, and in the face of a German resurgence, Britain, and especially Churchill, almost started to make the full force available. Britain’s distrust of the USSR was real, but along with that distrust, support for the USSR was not at all subtle. As soon as the war between the Soviet Union and Germany started, Britain supported the Soviet Union with supplies without saying a word.

Not only did Britain put forth its best efforts in World War II, but also the colonies under its jurisdiction were all in a desperate position. In addition to the British mainland, Australia, with a population of 7.5 million, mobilized 950,000 men to fight in the war. Canada, with a population of twelve million, mobilized one and a half million men.

By 1945, the per capita wealth of the citizens of the United States was twice that of the citizens of Great Britain. It wasn’t the total economy, it was per capita, and at this point in time Allen Wilson certainly couldn’t benefit from it.

The Croatian depositors who had traveled to Italy with MI6’s were quickly found. Karl directly took these people on board the airplane again and flew to Rome.

Alan Wilson and George came to the airport to see them off, and watched the military transportation plane speed up and take off before George spoke, “Liaison officer, the people from MI6 went to Rome, and I had thought that you would also go along.”

“What am I going to do? Share a fortune?” Alan Wilson smiled, he wasn’t short of money, he just couldn’t say where it came from.

Shaking his head, Allen Wilson carefully admonished, “There are certainly plenty of opportunities to get rich during this time of post-war reconstruction, but you’re a public official, so you should still be careful. We have all the time in the world to still dream a little.”

“What are your dreams, Liaison Officer?” George also knew that Alan Wilson meant well and must have seen that he had received favors from the Croatians.

“I’m certainly contributing to Britain.” Alan Wilson snorted and said a cartwheel in neutral terms, he certainly had dreams.

At least one couldn’t watch, step by step, the British Empire, which in 1945 was the world’s first colonial empire, turn into the shame of the P5, could one? And then be taunted as to why it didn’t give up its place in the UN to India?

Alan Wilson doesn’t expect to single-handedly obliterate the power of the US and the Soviet Union because of his presence. But at least it should be better than the historical Britain being the American’s follower.

For Britain, having won wars and lost fortunes, and as a former hegemon, the United States was unlikely to trust Britain, which ostensibly could be given superficial respect by the United States because of the history of its former hegemon.

Alan Wilson, who did not follow MI6 to Rome, continued to plan his own covert operations in British-occupied Austria. In the course of his second meeting with Mihailovich, he made a condition.

“Now in the border area, whether Serbs or Croats, Slovenes, lay down your arms immediately. I will liaise with the forces in the British-occupied zone to collect these weapons.” Alan Wilson said to Mihailovic, “We’re going to hand these weapons over to Tito’s people, ostensibly making the step that things have been settled.”

“Hand over the weapons?” Mihajlovic hesitated a little, feeling that once the weapons were handed over, the Yugoslav Fatherland Army would no longer have the slightest bargaining power.

“Mr. Mihajlovic, you are in no position to refuse. You can only put your trust in Britain when it comes down to it.” As Alan Wilson spoke, he took the written document given to him by the Foreign Office, and although it was for the Croats, it was all right to show it to Mihajlovic at this time.

Seeing this written document from Britain, Mihajlovic put his heart down and nodded his head in agreement, “I hope that London will be able to do what it says.”

“It depends on whether or not you can succeed in meeting General Patton.” Alan Wilson said with a turn of phrase, “Just get some German ex-soldiers to help you arrange a meeting and do what I said to try. The joint parade in Berlin takes place on June 24th, and I’m going back to Berlin because on June 17th, the British Army will hold a parade in Berlin first. If you have communicated well with General Patton, then it would be best to cross the border at the beginning of the joint parade, starting the day before June 24th, so that the American, Soviet, British, and French high command are partly in Berlin, and it is just the right opportunity.”

Allen Wilson had just received the news, too, and at once had Mikhailovich make a note of it.

The way he wanted things to go was for there to be a de-escalation of the situation on the Yugoslav borders before the British parade. And at the time of the joint parade, it suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse. This way the joint parade was already imminent and the Allied heads might not have time to react.

Mihailovich was in contact with groups of ex-soldiers in Germany, and now in southern Germany, because of General Patton’s undisguised hostility to the Soviet Union, some of the local German public opinion was singing the praises of General Patton, what with General Patton preserving the best of Western civilization and resisting the Soviet ambitions to enslave Germany.

With all this open-mouthed boasting, one wonders if the German prisoners of war in the Rhine camps would agree.

But it was good for Mihajlovic’s trip to Munich, and so it was that after this meeting Mihajlovic, the leader of the Yugoslav Fatherland Army, disappeared.

Alan Wilson, on the other hand, border areas, collecting weapons of various Yugoslav armed, and optimistic to Tito sent negotiators, “recently we in Britain has been to these people on the border persuasion, the results are still very significant. I believe that as long as they return to their home countries and get the assurance that their lives are not in danger, things will soon be resolved. After all, who wants to leave their home country?”

“Mr. Allen, we’ve all seen your work lately, and you are worthy of being a friend of the Yugoslavian people.” Dekovic thanked Allen Wilson as he shook his hand.

“We’ll wait until we’ve finished collecting everyone’s weapons before handing them back to you, and you’ll just receive them then.” Alan Wilson, who had already been upgraded to an old friend, said that this was all he should do, and that relations between Britain and Yugoslavia would flourish even more in the future and so on.

On the Austrian-Slovenian border, countless armed men of different organizations threw aside the weapons in their hands. They hang their heads, many of them have a struggling look in their eyes, and many of them believe that the countdown to being repatriated has already begun.