Another reason why Roosevelt couldn't wait to convene an international summit was that Italy surrendered, leaving only Germany fighting alone in European fascism.
As the Italian army retreated steadily on the front line, the British and American forces landed on Sicily as early as mid-July. Seeing that the situation was not good, Italy's fascist parliament demanded Mussolini's resignation by a majority vote. At this time, Germany was still pouring
mobilized troops to support Italy.
As the founder of fascism, the Italian dictator Mussolini was still very reasonable. Instead of deploying troops to suppress his opponents, he went to see the King of Italy full of grief and indignation, and was then arrested and thrown into prison to count lice.
Play.
Then, Italy launched an anti-fascist wave and announced unconditional surrender on September 3. On October 13, the new Italian government officially declared war on Germany, suddenly becoming a member of the Allies.
What made Roosevelt and Churchill feel depressed was that Italy did not even surrender simply, but bargained and delayed, giving Hitler enough time to send more troops to Italy. After the surrender plan was leaked, Italy also requested a postponement of the surrender until the Allies
After the news was announced, Italy bit the bullet and truly surrendered.
When Italy just surrendered, the German army in Italy was in a very dangerous situation, scattered across the narrow Apennine Peninsula. The southern German army had just retreated from Sicily, and was exhausted and out of ammunition. At this time, as long as the Allied forces and the Italian army attacked together
The German army will definitely kill the German army to pieces, and even be able to completely annihilate the surrounded German army in the south.
However, the new Italian government was dilly-dallying, allowing the Allies to attack the Germans, while standing by to watch the show. It seemed that the war taking place on Italian soil had nothing to do with Italy. The Allies were also dilly-dallying.
He thought that the war situation in Italy was decided, but he was beaten by the German army who came to their senses.
The day after Italy surrendered, the German army occupied all of Italy's northern borders and relied on a small number of garrisons to quickly control the Italian capital. It drove away the Italian king and rescued the imprisoned Mussolini to form a puppet government. As Hitler shouted
Under the order, hundreds of thousands of Italian troops surrendered, and the German army easily occupied most of Italy's territory.
The puppet government established by Hitler in Italy continued to help Germany fight until 1945.
It can be said that the new Italian government, which announced its surrender and joined the Allies, has never done anything wrong. After World War II, it actually demanded to be treated as a victorious nation. It is really miraculous.
Of course, the Allied countries are not idiots who help count money. Although Italy is a victorious country, it is no different from the defeated country. An Italian city was assigned to Yugoslavia, an Italian port was designated as a free zone, and it was forced to abandon its African colonies. The army
The number must not exceed 300,000, and a symbolic compensation of US$36,000 was paid.
Such treatment from a victorious country is not even as good as that of China after World War I.
…
December.
After Chang Kaishen concluded the Cairo Conference, he did not return home immediately. Instead, he took Soong Meiling to India to inspect the Chinese garrison. In order to disgust Chang Kaishen, Churchill deliberately ordered to lower the standard of reception for Chiang Kai-shek. The Governor-General of India only sent a personal adviser.
When I went to the airport to greet me, there was no red carpet and no welcome music played by the military band.
The conflict between Chang Kaishen and Churchill has now become completely public, without even caring about basic face etiquette.
At the Pacific Conference just six months ago, Churchill suddenly put aside the issue of war against Japan. He said: "I recently heard that China concentrated its troops to attack Tibet, which caused great panic in this independent country. I hope the Chinese government can guarantee that there will be no unfortunate incidents.
occur."
Song Ziwen retorted on the spot: "I have not heard of this news, and Tibet is not an independent country as the Prime Minister said. China and Britain have all locked up treaties and recognized Tibet as China's sovereignty."
After Chang Kaishen learned about this, he was so angry that he scolded Churchill in his diary that night.
And at the Cairo Conference just half a month ago, Churchill disgusted Chang Kaishen to death. This fat guy was obstructing him and refused to return Hong Kong to his life. No matter how much Roosevelt persuaded him, it was to no avail, so the Hong Kong problem arose.
Not only that, Churchill also tried to play a word game in the Cairo Declaration, changing the territory Japan plundered from China from "of course it should be returned to China" to "of course it must be given up by Japan."
What does it mean to give up by Japan?
Should we build an independent country after giving up? Build a Northeastern country? Build a North China country? Build a South China country?
Wang Chonghui argued hard on behalf of China, and Chiang Kai-shek also threw the table at Roosevelt's table. Finally, he won Roosevelt's support and did not let the British amendment proposal succeed.
In return, Chiang Kai-shek went to India to inspect the expeditionary force, just to disgust Churchill.
When Chang Kaishen returned to Chongqing, it was almost New Year's Day in 1944. Domestic newspapers reported the results of this meeting in numerous articles, calling it "a great victory for Chinese diplomacy since the late Qing Dynasty", and Chang Kaishen also became a "national hero"
”.
Chang Kaishen was so happy that he even took the time to visit Zhou's residence in person. He took Zhou Hexuan's hand and said with a smile: "Mingcheng, from this Cairo meeting, China's political harvest is the first, military second, and economic second.
A considerable achievement has been achieved, which is the greatest success of the country's diplomacy in a century and the first result of thirty years of hard work!"
"The Chairman takes the greatest credit." Zhou Hexuan flattered him smoothly.
Chang Kaishen smiled and said: "Mingcheng also has merit, there is no need to be modest."
To be honest, Chiang Kai-shek's performance on this trip was very bad. All he wanted to come were the benefits that China should deserve in the future, but the actual benefits that are urgently needed at this stage were messed up. This is extremely short-sighted.
Roosevelt's focus at the Cairo Conference was the joint Sino-British invasion of Burma. Chiang Kai-shek was afraid that the expeditionary force would suffer heavy losses, so he had to force the United States to send troops. Not only that, Chiang Kai-shek asked for a US$1 billion aid loan, which made him
Roosevelt felt as if he had eaten a fly.
As long as Chiang Kai-shek cooperates with Roosevelt at the meeting, even if the expeditionary force is wiped out, China will receive full support from the United States. By then, Roosevelt will definitely force Churchill to agree to return Hong Kong, and Chiang Kai-shek's $1 billion loan can be easily obtained.
Get loose.
Although this approach is sorry for the officers and soldiers of the expeditionary force and makes those expeditionary soldiers die, as the leader of China, he should agree to it.
At the Tehran Conference that followed, Stalin did a very good job in this regard. He knew what Roosevelt wanted and what Churchill wanted, so he cooperated as much as possible at the expense of the lives of the Soviet Red Army, thereby winning the Soviet Union's greatest interests, U.S. military aid
It was also imported into the Soviet Union in a steady stream.
After the two meetings, Roosevelt and Churchill also compared Chang Kaishen with Stalin, and both believed that Stalin had a more international strategic vision than Chang Kaishen.
Zhou Hexuan also persuaded Chang Kaishen to cooperate with Roosevelt on the Burma battlefield, but when it came to Chiang Kai-shek, it was ignored.
Chang Kaishen did believe in Zhou Hexuan's international vision, but only in terms of politics and diplomacy. He believed that Zhou Hexuan knew nothing about military affairs, and would not discuss military affairs with Zhou Hexuan at all, let alone listen to any military-related suggestions.
What is the result of this?
It was Chiang Kai-shek and Stilwell who completely fell out, Roosevelt became disheartened with China, U.S. military assistance to China was almost cut off, and China's already collapsed finances were even worse.