Chapter 81 Whose problem is this?

General Patton’s idea was very simple, now that the United States had a huge advantage, there was no need to talk to the Soviets about anything at all. With this kind of advantage, one should make a bold move and unite with Britain and France to continue eastward to wipe out the Soviet Union, so that this world will fall into the hands of the United States as well as its allies, to be precise.

In this way, the U.S. would have realized the manifest destiny that it has been pursuing and fulfilled the prediction of the American Century.

Now, however, there are signs that seem to indicate that the U.S. is satisfied with the current progress and wants to make peace with the Soviet Union. This was something General Patton could not understand; now that the armies of all nations were present, the United States had a great advantage, and if the Soviet Union was not dealt with now, the future would be even more problematic.

There appeared such an opportunity, General Patton did not even need to think about it, and directly ordered the troops under his command to give way and let these Yugoslavian Tito opponents into Bavaria, a storm in the eyes of the onlookers was directly laughed at all by General Patton, who was counting on the outbreak of war again.

The radio waves that traveled back and forth over Europe from the night of June 24 through the day of June 25 showed that Europe was not as calm as it appeared to be at this time.

As General Patton took in this army of over 200,000 men, there were several basic reactions on all sides.

In the city of Greater Berlin, at sunrise Cabinet Secretary Edward Bridges, ferrying back and forth in the garden in front of his residence, was accompanied by Foreign Office Secretary Alexander Cadogan, who had just entered the garden to mention the latest developments regarding the refugees crossing the border.

“Oh, ho!” Edward Bridges indifferent face flashed out a trace of gloating, but immediately turned serious, in the perspective of a third party onlooker said, “American cowboys are so brave, that is to say that for the moment this is the problem of the Americans, and we have nothing to do with the British Empire, we are only at best with good intentions to discourage the refugees, but in the end it did not succeed, do not dare to say that there is a great deal of credit it, but certainly no fault.”

“Of course there is no fault, everyone knows that there are only two battalions in Austria, but on the contrary there are 100,000 soldiers of the Soviet Red Army, this matter can only be stopped by the Soviets, and we do not have the ability to do so, so the problem of the refugees crossing the border, it is the Soviets who are negligent in their defense, and the Americans ultimately admitted it, and it has nothing to do with us, the United Kingdom, from the beginning to the end.” Alexander Cadogan righteously brushed off the connection, “That’s just the way it is.”

“Don’t be in a hurry to put a label on the Soviets just yet, since this is a problem between the Soviets and the Americans, let’s see how they work it out between them, and we can act as a bridge in the middle if necessary.” Edward Bridges stayed put for a few moments of contemplation and asked, “What are you going to say to the domestic debriefing telegrams.”

“It was an isolated incident that happened by chance, and on the eve of the summit meeting, an excellent opportunity for our diplomats to test their abilities.” Alexander Cadogan displayed the professionalism of a Foreign Office secretary.

Edward Bridges nodded with satisfaction and said, “Just reply, from the point of view of the parties involved, we have the most capital to sit tight, whether it is the Americans or the Soviets who come over first to protest or to seek support it is fine, the first thing we have to do is to be patient.”

As of General Patton’s eventual order to take in, the question at the center of the discussion among the countries that were informed of the situation was just whose problem this was.

There is no doubt that Yugoslavia, as the country directly responsible, must have been the most direct victim, and with more than 200,000 opponents, who had previously been soldiers, fleeing the country and finding places to be taken in, Tito had plenty of reason to be vociferous.

But Yugoslavia’s voice could be ignored, or at least Edward Bridges didn’t think that Yugoslavia’s reaction was important, and in fact London had previously set out to take in some of the forces of the Yugoslav Fatherland Army, just not on such a large scale.

Now since people went to the Americans, that was better! It also saved the British Empire the trouble that would follow.

In the eyes of Edward Bridges, this was an American problem that no longer had anything to do with the British Empire, and as for how the Americans would deal with it, look at it down the road.

Whose problem is this? Now this same question was the center of debate in the Kremlin, and after Beria reported the matter, he said angrily, “There is no doubt that this is an imperialist plot.”

“Is that so? Comrade Molotov?” Stalin smiled at Beria’s words, and his gaze fell on Molotov as he said, “What is certain at this point is that Comrade Tito must be in a very bad mood right now.”

“I think so too, Comrade Stalin.” Molotov said with a smile on his face, “Yugoslavia right now must desperately need the support of the Soviet Union to make a statement against imperialism. In fact, in our point of view, this is a good thing.”

Stalin nodded his head in satisfaction, very pleased with this answer, and made his decision, “This is undoubtedly imperialist interference in Yugoslavia’s internal affairs, and morally the Soviet Union will absolutely stand by Yugoslavia and denounce this hostility, but for the sake of the general situation where the World War is not yet over, I will intervene with Churchill and Truman at the Potsdam Conference. ”

The meaning of this is already very clear, Stalin will not jeopardize the already decided Potsdam Conference because of this refugee crossing, but on the contrary will do justice to Yugoslavia at the Potsdam Conference.

Molotov understood in his heart that for the unruly Tito, Stalin was actually happy to see the other side’s dilemma in his heart, and even applauded in his heart for this outburst, but just wouldn’t say so on the surface.

If it is the Soviet Union within the emergence of a large number of opposition fled to the Americans territory, then this time Stalin will certainly take advantage of this Potsdam conference, pressure on the United States to get the opposition over.

But this is a matter for Yugoslavia, Stalin’s condemnation at the Potsdam Conference would lie solely in the moral sense, and to tell the truth he could not wait for these opposition to not come back, as long as these opposition existed for one day, Tito would not dare to be too disrespectful to the USSR.

Molotov, who had left the Kremlin, prepared two statements welcoming the upcoming Potsdam Conference, and the one sent to Belgrade, which stood up to Tito’s point of view as subversive of the nascent Yugoslavia, what with the imperialist hostility, what with the class sentiments, and in any case, it didn’t cost any money to just write it.

A little later, Alexander Cadogan took the Soviet statement and came to Edward Bridges again for advice.

“Like I said, this is now an American problem, and the Soviets maintain the right to condemn it.” Edward Bridges was completely put out of his misery, sometimes one should indeed let the bullets fly for a while.