Chapter 67 Let the Indians Die First

Field Marshal Montgomery, who had just received the Soviet Victory Medal, was in a jovial mood, as indeed was the mood of any Allied general during these days.

They all abandoned their political differences and reveled in the long-lost peace, and exchanging visits and blowing each other’s brains out became the theme of that period. Montgomery, who received the valuable Soviet Victory Medal and various honorary titles from various countries, was busy and happy.

But in the midst of the Foreign Ministry’s establishment in Berlin, Alexander Cadogan, Secretary of the Foreign Ministry, was revising the Foreign Minister’s propositions and, with the diplomats under him, discussing how to deal with the Soviets and the Americans once the conference had begun.

“The Prime Minister means to use the Soviet-occupied part of the Yalta Agreement, which we have occupied, to bargain with Stalin.” Alexander Cadogan posed a question, then turned the conversation around and said, “But the American side doesn’t seem ready to support us.”

The current zones of occupation of the countries did not exactly overlap with the divisions of the Yalta Conference; in general it was the United States and Great Britain each occupying a modest piece of Soviet-occupied territory. The Soviet Union demanded that the Western Allies return to the USSR the Soviet-occupied areas still occupied, but Prime Minister Churchill disagreed.

In Churchill’s view, this was the best bargaining power with the Soviet Union, especially before the Potsdam Conference, and could not be withdrawn, not only to suppress the momentum of the Soviet Union, but also to show that the West’s “zero tolerance” for the infiltration of the East.

“What does the Foreign Minister mean?” Ivor asked the head of the civil service at the Foreign Office.

“Of course the Foreign Minister supports the Prime Minister’s resolution!” Alexander Cadogan sighed and said helplessly, “That’s how ministers are, they don’t know how to be diplomatic and value their exposure more.”

“That’s not a surprise, as long as they don’t come out and ruin the diplomatic results.” Allen Wilson, who was taking notes, fiddled with the pen in his hand for a difficult time, “If there is no support from the Americans, the prime minister occupying the Soviet-occupied area to use for negotiation words can basically be interpreted as unreasonable, as for the attitude of the Americans ……”

“Here!” Aifor took out a stack of documents, quickly flipped up, and then read in the conference room, “General Eisenhower has already stated that as long as the Soviet side formally made a request, the U.S. military will immediately withdraw from the occupied Soviet-occupied lands, respecting the division of the Yalta Conference.”

“To be more precise, the U.S. has already withdrawn its troops from the Soviet-occupied zone, just after Field Marshal Montgomery’s parade on the 17th.” The diplomat seated in the corner added, “If the Prime Minister is going to force the Soviets’ hand by occupying a piece of Soviet-occupied territory, it will have to be on our own in Britain.”

There was a buzz in the conference room as heads were exchanged and Alan Wilson cocked his head at Avril, “It’s never been our British Empire that has betrayed others, it’s still rare to be betrayed by being betrayed.”

“Those rednecks are even less credible than Hitler!” Aifor said with a grimace of dissatisfaction, “Hitler flip-flopping at least has a process, Eisenhower didn’t even notify us, and directly withdrew the American troops in the Soviet-occupied areas.”

Alan Wilson blinked, who is to blame? The blue is better than the blue, the United States of America, this rebellious son, is not followed by his own father to learn, and now the things learned are used on his own father above.

“Then this issue is temporarily shelved!” Alexander Cadogan directly skipped over this topic, “Let’s talk about the reparations proposed by the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union hopes that it will be satisfied with the confiscation of assets in the Soviet-occupied zone in Germany and the corresponding German foreign investments, what do you all think.”

“As far as we know, Germany had significant pre-war investments, especially in South America, which date back even before World War I.” Alan Wilson spun his pen and replied, “Leaving aside what we would think for a moment, the Americans could have always considered South America to be America’s own land, would they have let the Soviet Union go after Germany’s foreign investments?”

In both World War I and II, German capital poured wildly into Argentina, and foreign investment was a major part of the Argentine economy, with half of the Argentine economy propped up by foreign investment. About half of Argentina’s capital reserves were in the hands of foreigners before WWI.

The U.S. was naturally wary of the European capital of the time, especially German capital, and the scramble between the U.S. and Germany around South America prior to World War II was not a new thing at all.

Now that Germany had been defeated, how could the Americans allow a Soviet Union, which was even tougher to deal with than Germany, to take over Germany’s overseas investments abroad?

“If the Americans object to the Soviet Union receiving some of Germany’s foreign investments, and certainly probably not all of them, but rather those within the Americas. Then there should be reparations confined to Germany at home as a concession.” Bringing in the American point of view, Eiffel thought as he said, “It should be conceivable to foresee American reparations in the form of a partial share of industrial goods from the American, British, and French occupation zones.”

The diplomats around them nodded approvingly at this, but it was nothing, it was acceptable compared to the Soviet Union receiving German investments abroad, and the Americans were guarding against Soviet influence taking the opportunity to appear in the Americas for the sake of the security of their own backyard.

Britain had nothing to lose either, it wasn’t like it was before World War I. Since the outbreak of World War I, British investment in the Americas had shrunk, and its position had long since been replaced by American investment.

Since there is nothing to lose, of course, you can side with the United States and give the Americans a favor, but you also have to make sure that you can’t give it away for nothing.

“So far it looks like the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister’s claims are settled, but Field Marshal Montgomery is currently on good terms with the Soviets. How do we deal with the issue of the occupied territories or take an offensive bullying stance against the Soviets, it seems that the two sides are not on the same page.” Alan Wilson scratched his head a bit, “To be honest, with the election coming up and a lot of things crammed together, it’s quite a daunting job.”

“In fact, we can all see that Field Marshal Montgomery is focusing on stabilization for the German citizens in the British occupied territories. The biggest problem within Germany right now is the food problem, which is not obvious on the Berlin side. The food problem is important in the vast German territory in the west.” Eifel said with some difficulty, “It can’t be that we can’t ship food from the country, it will affect the reconstruction of the country.”

There was a silence in the conference room, while Allen Wilson raised his eyebrows in an unnoticeable manner, this seems to be an opportunity, spoke up, “Our mainland is an island, which is not strong in agriculture itself, but India is a place with a tradition of cultivation, if we have to ship food, I suggest that we think of a way to do it in India.”

“Alan is right, the country has also been affected by the ripples of the war.” Alexander Cadogan, on hearing this, was very much in favor of Allen Wilson’s approach of letting the Indians die first.