Chapter 16: Major Events

There were many events in the first three months of 1938, the most famous of which was the January 5, 1938 incident between Albert Einstein, Russell, Dewey, and Roman? On January 8, 1938, Bethune, a famous Canadian surgeon and a great internationalist soldier, led Canadian and American medical teams to China to support the Chinese in the War of Resistance Against Japan. On February 3, 1938, the Chinese army and the Japanese army began the Battle of Xuzhou.

On March 1, 1938, Samsung was founded, on March 12, 1938, Germany invaded Austria, and on March 12, 1938, Germany and Austria merged. On March 15, 1938, Teng County fell, and on March 18, 1938, Mexico confiscated all oil resources owned by foreigners. On March 18, 1938, the Japanese puppet regime of the Republic of China was established. Among these major events, the only ones that had a profound impact on Europe were the German-Austrian merger and the great change in Petroleos Mexicanos, but now with Zhuo Fei's participation, the Munich agreement planned by Britain and France has been put on the agenda.

The bargaining chips that Britain and France had thrown at the German government at this time were the Munich Agreement, which was supposed to be proposed a few months later, and in order to obtain the authorized production of penicillin, Britain and France had forgotten all their fears, and the great allure of interest once again showed its unique characteristics.

In March 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said, "I have given up the idea of giving guarantees to Czechoslovakia," and rejected the former Soviet Union's proposal that Britain, France, and the Soviet Union hold trilateral talks to discuss how to implement the Soviet-Czech and Soviet-French treaties and jointly deal with the German threat. At the end of April 1938, Chamberlain invited French Prime Minister Daladier to London to negotiate with him, persuaded him to submit to Germany, and made it clear that Britain would not fight for Czechoslovakia.

In May 1938, Hitler amassed forces on the German-Czech border and threatened war with the so-called "May Crisis". In the aftermath of the May Crisis, Nazi Germany strengthened its military forces, intimidated war, and intensified its blackmail against Britain and France. At the same time, Hitler hypocritically declared to Chamberlain that Germany would be prepared to reach a broad agreement with Britain if the British government met Germany's demands on the Czechs. On September 15, 1938, Chamberlain, who had never flown in a plane, flew to Germany to meet with Hitler. Hitler raised the question of "whether Britain wished to cede the Sudetenland".

On September 18, 1938, the heads of state and foreign ministers of Britain and France agreed in London that "all territories of the Sudetenland, with more than 50% of the Germanic population, should be transferred directly to the German Empire". After the Anglo-German talks, Chamberlain told reporters: "Neither Britain nor France will send troops to support, the Czechoslovak state cannot exist as it is, and in the interests of peace, Britain agrees to allow the Sudetenland to be 'autonomous.'" Ignoring the strong opposition of the Czechoslovak people, Chamberlain flew to Goetsburg, Germany, again on September 22, 1938, with the Anglo-French plan to meet with Hitler.

However, this meeting revealed that Hitler had a new appetite and made new demands, namely, the military occupation of the Sudetenland by Germany within a few days, the annexation of all other German-speaking regions of Czechoslovakia to Germany, and the cession of Poland and Hungary to Poland and Hungary. Hitler gave Chamberlain a complete solution to these problems by October 1, 1938. After two days of haggling, Chamberlain flew back to London with a "memorandum" listing Germany's demands and a map showing the "new borders" of Czechoslovakia.

At this time, there was a widespread protest movement in Britain demanding Chamberlain's resignation against the betrayal of Czechoslovak interests, and on September 25, the Czechoslovak government also rejected the Goldsburg Memorandum. As a result, Britain and France had no choice but to conduct secret countermeasures again. On September 26, 1938, in the Berlin Coliseum, Hitler exclaimed: "If the Sodetai area has not been handed over to Germany on October 1, I, Hitler, will be the first soldier to enter the Czech Republic", and at the same time he ordered the German army to prepare for the operation of the "Green Plan" plan by September 30.

On the evening of September 27, 1938, Hitler sent a letter to Chamberlain in an urgent telegram, urging him to continue his efforts to "bring the Prague government back to its senses at this last moment" and to offer "negotiations" with the Czechoslovak government. Chamberlain, who was keen on appeasement, regarded Hitler's letter as a lifesaver, and immediately replied to Hitler and suggested that the French and Italian representatives be invited to participate in the proposed international conference.

In the early morning of September 28, 1938, the French ambassador to Germany, on instructions from his own government, went to Hitler and offered advice: "Why should you take that risk when your main demands can be met without war?" This was exactly what Hitler meant. In the afternoon of the same day, Hitler decided to send an invitation to Britain, France, and Italy, asking them to meet in Munich the next day to negotiate a solution to the Czechoslovak question. At 12:45 p.m. on September 29, 1938, the Munich Conference was officially held, and the "Italian Proposal" became the basic clause of the Munich Agreement.

These are all things that really happened in history, but now due to the emergence of Zhuo Fei and penicillin, the May crisis that originally occurred in May 38 has begun to appear, and Britain and France extended an olive branch to the German government at this time, and threw Czechoslovakia as a bargaining chip to Germany. The purpose of Britain and France was originally to benefit Germany to contain the Soviet Union, and at the same time to obtain the right to build a plant for penicillin, but they never imagined that this was also one of the main reasons why the German government secretly controlled the export of penicillin.

Czechoslovakia is located in the center of Europe, not only has a developed military industry, rich in mineral resources, but also has a very important strategic position, after Germany occupies the Czech Republic, it can be used as a springboard to attack the Soviet Union in the east, and an important position to attack Britain and France in the west.

In early 1938, after Hitler annexed Austria, he faintly pointed the spearhead of aggression at Czechoslovakia. Hitler's plan was to occupy the Sudetenland on the German-Czech border, and then annex all of Czechoslovakia, and once the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia, the door of Europe would be completely open to Germany.

To control the export of penicillin, the German government and Hitler originally only wanted to obtain a large quota of material imports from other countries, but what they did not expect was that Britain and France used Czechoslovakia as a bargaining chip at this time. Hitler had long been eyeing Czechoslovakia, and in the face of the cooperation proposals put forward by Britain and France, Hitler could not refuse, but Hitler, who had a strong appetite, wanted to get more benefits from Britain and France on the basis of obtaining Czechoslovakia.

Hansen's family had connections within the government, and although the secret discussions between the British, French and German governments were still only a topic, Hansen in Berlin soon had detailed minutes of the meeting. The telegram came from Berlin to New York, and Zhuo Fei, who learned about it, couldn't help but gasp, daring to love that Czechoslovakia was really "sold" to Germany by Britain and France. Although the Soviets have not yet shown the greedy nature of polar bears towards penicillin, Zhuo Fei knows that as long as he loses and knows about Czechoslovakia, he will definitely rush to Berlin in a hurry.

Compared with Germany, which was defeated in World War I, Britain and France were actually more afraid of the Soviets, compared with Germany, the Soviet Union was rich in land and resources, and the Slavs never hid their peeps and greed for Europe. It was in this international atmosphere that Britain and France put forward the proposal to give Czechoslovakia to German control, and they preferred to see a struggle between the Soviet Union and Germany.

"Implemented in accordance with Plan B." There were only a few words in Zhuo Fei's telegram to Hansen, but Hansen, who was in Berlin, already understood what Zhuo Fei meant. The day after receiving Hansen's telegram, the Golden Shield Company on Fifth Street completely suspended the recruitment of veterans, and in front of the agents of the Investigation Bureau, all the staff of the Golden Shield Company, together with more than 100 veterans recruited later, boarded the ship in New York Harbor and went to Mexico.

"Mexico is a good place, the US-British oil companies have been frustrated in Mexico, and as long as our people do not overthrow the government in Mexico, they will not be noticed by the Mexican authorities, and I believe that Mexicans will not be too interested in the daily training of the oil field security team." Before leaving, Zhuo Fei asked them to bring handwritten letters to Angela and Vivian, and some things were far more thorough than telegrams.

On April 25, the third day of secret contact between Britain and France with the German government over the Czechoslovak question, Zhuo Fei took 30 veterans he had carefully selected to board a large ship bound for Germany. The trip to Germany was something that Zhuo Fei had planned when he was in Nanjing, and in his entire plan, the trip to Germany took up even more space than his layout in the United States. Originally, Zhuo Fei was going to go to Germany after June, but Britain and France raised the issue of Czechoslovakia at this time, so Zhuo Fei had to change his plan and rush to Berlin in advance to meet Hansen.

Penicillin is only the first gift that Zhuo Fei prepared for Hitler, and after penicillin caused such a big storm, Zhuo Fei's second gift for Hitler is about to appear. In the eyes of Britain and France, the momentum of Germany's outward expansion could no longer be concealed, but the question now was whether to continue to suppress Germany or to indifferently watch the possible struggle between Germany and the Soviet Union. The emergence of penicillin and Bayer's reduction of penicillin exports gave Britain and France the opportunity to raise the issue of Czechoslovakia at the right time.