On December 7, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
On December 8, the Japanese army attacked the Malay Peninsula from Thailand, and the scale of the war in Southeast Asia expanded. On the same day, the Japanese army attacked Hong Kong, and scholars and celebrities who had taken refuge in Hong Kong evacuated northward en masse.
On December 9, Head of State Lin Sen issued the "Declaration of War on Japan", and China officially declared war on Japan. On the same day, the United States and the United Kingdom declared war on Japan, and Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
On December 20, the Flying Tigers shot down 6 Japanese aircraft and damaged 3 in Yunnan, without any damage to themselves, and won the first battle.
By the way, the emblems of the three squadrons of the Flying Tigers are quite magical.
"Adam and Eve Squadron" is a naked woman chasing a man; "Panda Squadron" is a panda with a sideways smile; "Hell's Angel Squadron" is a woman with wings and a halo above her head, also without any clothes.
Together with the team emblem and the magical shark painted on their plane, it adds a bit of humor to the brutal Chinese Anti-Japanese War.
1942, New Year's Day.
Led by the four major powers of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China, representatives from 22 countries around the world signed the "United Nations Joint Declaration" in Washington. It marked the formal formation of the World Anti-Fascist Alliance and laid the foundation for the establishment of the United Nations after the war.
After Song Ziwen signed the "Joint Declaration of the United Nations", he immediately received the task assigned by Chiang Kai-shek to seek a loan of at least US$500 million from the United States.
Roosevelt urged Treasury Secretary Morgenthau to solve the problem as soon as possible, but Morgenthau was unwilling to give money. Instead, he proposed another method. That is, the United States would bear the military expenses of 1 million Chinese troops every month. Calculated at 10 U.S. dollars per person, the monthly payment would be 10 million U.S. dollars.
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Song Ziwen bargained and proposed that the United States should bear the military expenses of 3 million people and pay 30 million U.S. dollars every month. Morgenthau agreed. Song Ziwen was overjoyed and reported to Chang Kaishen: "This is equivalent to 600 million French currency every month."
Chang Kaishen firmly disagreed. He believed that the United States was trying to control China's military.
Due to the failure of the United States in the Pacific War, the U.S. government was even more panicked than Chiang Kai-shek, and congressmen forced Morgenthau to provide money as soon as possible. After a full month of delay, the U.S. Congress passed Bill 422, agreeing to provide China with a loan of US$500 million.
There is no interest on these loans, and there is no stipulation on when they must be repaid. Everything will wait until the end of the war. It has a huge impact on China's war of resistance. Without these 500 million US dollars, the legal currency will collapse faster, and China's finances will not even be able to sustain it.
1942.
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor really saved China.
In late January, the British Governor-General in India Lithgow invited Chang Kaishen to visit India, and Roosevelt made it clear that Zhou Hexuan and his wife must also go.
What does Chiang Kai-shek's visit to India have to do with Roosevelt?
However, it was Britain that agreed to India's independence in the "United Nations Declaration". This made Indians overjoyed. However, in practice, there was no hope at all. Nehru, Gandhi and other famous Indian figures made a fuss over this, and some Indians even
United with Japan to carry out the national independence movement.
Roosevelt hoped to establish a Chinese theater in Asia and needed India to cooperate with transportation and other tasks. He did not want chaos in India, so he proposed that Chang Kaishen visit India to persuade the Congress Party to compromise with the British government.
As for Zhou Hexuan's fame in India, it is not far different from Tagore's fame in China. They are also oppressed Asian countries, and they are also Asians who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Zhou Hexuan has received extremely high praise in India.
Even Zhou Hexuan's speech "I Have a Dream", historical monograph "The Rise of a Great Power", poems "Praise", "Answer" and other works are widely circulated among the Indian people. The "I Have a Dream" published in India five years ago "Collected Works of Zhou Hexuan", and even asked Rabindranath Tagore to write the preface. Zhou Hexuan did not receive a dime in copyright fees.
This situation occurs not only in India, but also in Japan.
Asia before World War II was a symbol of backwardness, and Japan could not change the status quo even after leaving Asia and joining Europe. Therefore, whenever Asians achieve great achievements, all Asian countries are honored. Both Japanese and Indians regard Zhou Hexuan as Asian hero.
Even though the Japanese authorities later listed Zhou Hexuan's works as banned books, Japanese people still hid many of them, and senior Japanese intellectuals became more fond of collecting them as they became more banned.
On the advice of his advisers, Roosevelt learned of this situation and asked Chang Kaishen to take Zhou Hexuan with him when he went to India.
On February 5, the Indian delegation headed by Chang Kaishen officially set off, accompanied by Wang Chonghui, Shang Zhen, Zhang Daofan, Zhou Zhirou and others.
After boarding the special plane, Chang Kaishen asked Zhou Hexuan to sit with him, and asked Soong Meiling to chat with Zhang Leyi. Such a close attitude made the accompanying government officials look sideways, and regarded Zhou Hexuan as the number one celebrity in academia. .
"Mingcheng, this time the progressive people in India still need you to contact them," Chang Kaishen said.
Zhou Hexuan said: "I really don't know much about India. I don't know anyone."
Chang Kaishen seemed to have known about the situation in India in advance. He said: "All the elites in India can speak English and Latin, and also like to read Western literature. Take the leader of the Congress Party Nehru as an example. I heard that this person I particularly like Nietzsche and Bernard Shaw, and I am friends with the great writer Romain Rolland. You also know Bernard Shaw and Romain Rolland, and you must have something in common with Nehru."
Zhou Hexuan asked: "What is the purpose of President Jiang's trip?"
Chang Kaishen said: "The purpose is for the two great nations of China and India to work together and fight side by side. China supports India's independence!"
"Okay, I will adhere to this purpose and contact the Indians." Zhou Hexuan was speechless.
Chang Kaishen is not just shouting slogans, he actually did this in history.
Roosevelt's original intention was to ask Chang Kaishen to persuade progressive people in India to compromise with the British government. As a result, after Chang Kaishen arrived in India, he actually supported Indian independence in every way and called on Britain to immediately agree to the national liberation of India.
After Chiang Kai-shek's operation, Churchill was so angry that he broke his dentures. At the same time, it caused huge pressure from domestic and foreign public opinion on the British authorities.
While cursing in his mind, Churchill expressed his opinion through Reuters: "The British government has paid sympathetic attention to Chiang's suggestions. At present, the British war cabinet has thoroughly reviewed the entire situation."
Our President Chiang continued to show off his tricks. He did not stop after leaving India and held an "India Day" event in Chongqing. He also wrote to Roosevelt and Churchill, criticizing the United Kingdom for "closing its eyes to the facts" and urging the United Kingdom to change immediately. Attitude, the oppositional sentiment of the Indian people must be eased, otherwise it will be too late by the time Japan attacks India.
Churchill received a letter of criticism from Chang Kaishen and once again smashed his dentures angrily.
From February to July, Chang Kaishen called Roosevelt again, asking Roosevelt to urge Britain to make concessions. This made Churchill furious, threatening to revoke the Sino-British alliance, and then locked Nehru and Gandhi in jail.
Chang Kaishen did this because he wanted to use Indian affairs to improve his status among allies and confirm China's status as a major power in Asia.
