Chapter 746 – The British Can Fight?

“As if you know a lot about it!” Princess Margaret opened her mouth with a teasing color, an officer who had never been a soldier for a day, now he was commenting on the war situation thousands of miles away, it was really interesting.

Princess Margaret’s cynicism, Alan Wilson was not angry, this is already much stronger than before, opened his mouth and replied, “Most of the time in the middle of a war, it has nothing to do with any amazing scheming, impeccable planning. As long as the military a little understanding of people can formulate the battle plan to see past, but whether the plan can have the army to successfully implement that is another thing.”

Was General Mountbatten a gifted military man? The Honorable Father-in-Law himself didn’t think so.

But he was the great theater commander on a par with Stalin of the Soviet Union and Chang Kung, the commander of the Chinese theater.

Admit it or not, there was a place for Mountbatten at the head of the military in the Great War.

From the field of battle planning alone, General Mountbatten is not necessarily more professional than Allen Wilson’s son-in-law.

Mountbatten was a political general, and the previous theater commander was much more professional than he was from a military point of view, but what that brought about was a disconnect between the Chinese and British cooperation in Burma and a mutual distrust.

Mountbatten changed that when he arrived, and the armies of different nationalities in the Southeast Asian theater turned to rapprochement.

“Dien Bien Phu is deep inland and the roads are in bad condition, so if air transportation if interrupted, the French are in a bad position.” Alan Wilson took out the map and looked at the location of Dien Bien Phu with some concern, and asked Richard, “The advisory group in Saigon, didn’t they come up with their own opinions?”

“This is, after all, a French war, we do have people who say that the battlefield is too far inland, and it’s not good to rescue them if something happens.” Richard did not know much, after all, Malaya has a proper military governor, the existence of the British military command.

And the Commissioner was responsible for the administration of British Malaya, and General Bilton was not subordinate to the Commissioner, and was not obliged to divulge much to the Chief Executive.

“If the French won’t listen, there’s nothing we can do.” Alan Wilson shook his head slightly, in fact, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu was as won as the French thought it was, and the Vietnam War would not have ended.

In the post-World War II world, colonies really couldn’t be subdued by military power alone anymore. Of course, Allen Wilson also understands that, like the United Kingdom, it is certainly not possible to just talk without doing anything.

But like France, all hands and no mouth? The effect is not good, from 1945 to now, France at least have enough time to get the Algerian problem.

Because of the different colonial policies, France’s roots in Algeria are far from the British in the non-white autonomous territories can be compared.

After the war, as long as France revealed a little bit of goodwill instead of repression, there is a high probability that Algeria will not become independent.

But Vietnam? There was nothing Allen Wilson could have done, and winning Dien Bien Phu would have only delayed it for a year or two, and ultimately the Vietnam problem would have been unresolved.

And Paris did get anxious, from 1945 to the present, nine years of delay in Vietnam can not be solved. The money gobbled up had been astronomical for France, hence the attack.

“Get me the commander on the phone!” Alan Wilson glanced at the princess and decided that it was better to take the opportunity of his sister-in-law’s presence, hoping that the British military would mention Dien Bien Phu, an inland strategic location, as unfavorable for support from an objective and neutral point of view.

As for the French finally listen to it or not, anyway, the United Kingdom have tried their best, before that, Alan Wilson also through and domestic contact, inquire about the other countries of the Five Eyes Alliance views on this.

Malaya had a modest number of advisory missions outside the British army, belonging to Australia and New Zealand, the Netherlands and Portugal. After all, there was a previous treaty signed for the defense of the five countries, in which the Netherlands had its own colonies to be responsible for, and Portugal had the similar island of Timor, so Malaya’s advisors were mainly two of Britain’s little brothers.

The number of people is not large, but also has a symbolic significance, through these advisers can ask Australia and New Zealand’s attitude to this, Allen Wilson side is not now an important member of the royal family in it.

“Let anyone know you’re like this and you’re finished.” Princess Margaret panted as she sat on the Imperial Commissioner’s lap and complained, “You’ve given me a swollen kiss, and it’s sure to be seen by others.”

“It won’t do you or me any good to have me jerked around while you’re scandalized, and Pamela will be heartbroken.” Alan Wilson returned to the princess’s red lips, not salty, “So you have to listen to your brother-in-law to know.”

Are raised, this important member of the royal family can be more difficult than the original Pamela Mountbatten, now Princess Margaret has long been an adult, some habits have been developed, not like Pamela Mountbatten so well disciplined.

Princess whose legs are still clamped to the palm of a man’s hand, if she knows that her brother-in-law still thinks she is disobedient, she does not know what to think in her heart.

Letting Richard draw up an itinerary for the reception, Alan Wilson then took the princess to the British command to discuss a number of issues regarding the current French military operation.

“Alan, this is Command.” General Bilton swore that he had absolute respect for the royal family, but this was too much.

“General, it was Pamela who asked her to follow me.” Alan Wilson spread his hands, he did have the idea of using his princess status to do wrong, but it wasn’t a contradiction, Princess Margaret did have the task of watching over him.

Australia and New Zealand, after all, hadn’t been independent for long and still had traditional feelings for Britain, and expressed respect for the princess’s presence, and soon several people were discussing the French military action.

“France is in the midst of a dilemma; a win is nothing more than a continuation of attrition, and is far from an ultimate victory. Lose and the French Asian colonies will collapse.” Alan Wilson’s face was solemn, “I’m afraid of forming a chain reaction that will affect the interests of other countries.”

That was the reason he was concerned about France’s actions, he was afraid that France’s defeat would cause the British colonies to become unstable.

It’s all come to this point, what conscience goes to the dogs, if there is a one percent chance, he would like the French to rule Vietnam for twenty years, as for what the Vietnamese think, it’s none of his business.

The Australian and New Zealand military advisors also nodded their heads, Malaya was a British colony, but it was good for both countries that the British stayed, especially at a time when Sukarno, Indonesia, was constantly crying out for a Greater Indonesia.

Australia and New Zealand are also supportive of Malaya’s development, as there have been internal discussions in Australia about the development of the discovery of iron ore, and whether it could be used to industrialize. But Australia’s environment was so harsh, especially the lack of water, that it was like a rhetoric that said it would be better to develop industry than to continue selling mines.

Alan Wilson was aware of this argument, first of all it was the right argument, plus it was spread by him through his wife’s media.

The military action in France was not of concern only to this British colony, which was not geographically far away. Miles away in Washington, the US military was also extremely concerned, and the domino theory, had been accepted by the US military.

After stopping the expansion of Soviet power from the Korean Peninsula, Washington was also very concerned about whether the French would be able to contain the development of communist power into Southeast Asia.

The United States, at this time, certainly did not think that in the future they would be taking over from the French, listening to Vietnam in the dense forest. But already there is an overriding concern expressed about the fighting there.

In fact there are now voices in Washington calling for the United States to help France by replicating the Korean War’s move to stop North Korea’s annexation of South Korea, by sending troops to Vietnam to assist France, and even the report is in the hands of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“In the Red River Delta and on the outskirts of the various strongholds, normal patrols are no longer possible. The offensives adopted by the French were always steady, unimaginative, and with limited battle objectives. Unless strong fortifications are constructed or a superb opportunity for battle arises, the French are avoiding a decisive battle with the Viet Cong.”

“It is absolutely impossible to imagine, without daily interaction with French military people here, that the French staff officers are as old-fashioned in their thinking and practices as they were before the German blitzkrieg. The French Expeditionary Force lacks adequate training and highly qualified military staff officers, and lacks a proactive offensive mentality, and even American aid in the form of large quantities of arms and materiel will not change this.”

The White House, President Eisenhower looked at the report submitted by the Bureau, and looked seriously unrelated, and finally just threw the report aside, “What kind of long-time domestic-only person does this kind of crap?”

“Ike, the danger is possible.” Secretary of Defense Charles Owen Wilson looked at the President and spoke.

“France’s incompetence is letting us send in troops? Why do so many people treat war as such a simple matter?” President Eisenhower asked rhetorically, “In fact, the British side is also asking about our attitude, right?”

Seeing Charles Owen Wilson nod his head, Eisenhower continued, “The Korean War has only just ended, we can’t wait to get into the next one, it’s irresponsible for American lives. Don’t raise the matter of troops again, I will never agree to it.”

While Britain and the U.S. were discussing this French military action from different perspectives, the French Army in Vietnam had already begun to move troops, drawing in French national soldiers and the current Foreign Legion, which was mainly German, to Dien Bien Phu via Junker transports, inserting them into the areas where Viet Minh guerrillas were operating and drawing in Viet Minh attacks.

The attacking Viet Minh forces were then given a head-on blow under tenacious heavy fire positions and won the battle.

Through the successful defense of the Battle of My Binh Ly, the French army, as one of the participating forces, had reason to believe that since the Chinese army could not break through My Binh Ly, the weaker Viet Minh would only be more bloodied.

As for the misgivings on the part of British advisors about Dien Bien Phu? Joke, the British can fight a land war?