Chapter 113: Project Attlee
The core of the so-called economic revitalization plan is that the British Empire will never surrender until India's blood is dried. Of course, this only refers to the part that belongs to the United Kingdom, but also to the part that involves other countries.
The European colonial community hurt the feelings of other regions and peoples too much, and in fact this generalization is also incorrect.
It's just that it just so happens that the country that the British Empire wants to contact happens to be a colonial country. It was a very coincidental situation that everyone had common interests, so we sat down quietly and talked about how to restore the rule of law and order in Europe.
The basis of the economic revitalization plan is what Alan Wilson called the establishment of a link between British India and the British-occupied areas of Germany, the adoption of a two-track price system, the restoration and use of Germany's industrial strength as soon as possible, to supplement the shortage of production capacity in Britain, and to use the market of British India as a dumping ground for German products.
Of course, in principle, it is quite reasonable for the British Empire to sacrifice its own interests to help Germany recover, and to draw some insignificant remuneration from it.
The United States was not affected by the war and now has a lot of money. The Soviet Union had a vast territory and overwhelming superiority in conventional military and administrative power, so for the countries of Western Europe, they could only look for advantages in themselves.
From Alan Wilson, a civil servant desperate for progress, to Edward Bridges, the cabinet secretary, and finally to Attlee, the British Empire's prime minister, the European economic revitalization plan, which came to be known as the Attlee Plan, is getting closer and closer.
As for the small shrimp at the Potsdam Conference, Alan Wilson, the liaison officer of the Indian Office to British India, conveyed the instructions of Cabinet Secretary Edward Bridges to Sir Barron in New Delhi.
The fall of the Japanese Empire was not far off, although the Soviet Union's wars in the Far East had largely nothing to do with the British Empire. But according to some intelligence, it is known that the Soviet Union has already attacked Hokkaido.
The part related to the British Empire lies in the theater of Southeast Asia, according to the division of the Potsdam Conference. With the exception of the Japanese forces in the Philippines and North Vietnam, all Japanese soldiers in Southeast Asia, known as the Japanese Southern Army, were to surrender to the British Empire.
Alan Wilson, the man who was surrendered, could figure it out with his eyes closed, it must be Pamela Mountbatten's father. Most of the nearly 800,000 Japanese Southern Army will fall into the hands of the British Empire, which is about 500,000 or 600,000 people.
In a telegram to New Delhi, it was stated that in view of the destruction of the Japanese army in Southeast Asia and the idea of participating in the post-war reconstruction of atonement, this was not new, and there were now 400,000 German soldiers in Britain to repair bridges and roads. The British Empire was happy to show the humane treatment of German soldiers in British-occupied Germany, not the German prisoners at home, and to show moral flexibility rather than pedantry.
After the paragraph on the detention of Japanese soldiers for reconstruction, Alan Wilson added the proportion of the population in British Malaya that was Chinese and Malay after his return to British Malaya.
Of course, it has not been forgotten that since the Dutch may not be able to reach Jakarta on time, the British army can control the situation in Jakarta first and wait for the Dutch army to arrive before dealing with it.
After the paragraph on the treatment of Japanese prisoners of war, there is the content belonging to Thailand. The British may not have understood this, but the civil servants of British India were very clear about Thailand's role, and Sir Barron must have understood it very well by treating Thailand as a defeated country and punishing it to a certain degree.
Thailand's military offensive against Thailand has begun now, and Thailand has always been angry about France's seizure of Laos and Cambodia, Thailand's long-standing younger brothers. In the eyes of many Thais who care about politics, the imperialist countries are Britain and France, and have nothing to do with Japan.
However, it is not Japan that is punishing Thailand, but the United States, which is now an ally. The pro-Japanese Luang Phibun government collapsed and was replaced by a civilian government.
All this has a lot to do with the "Free Thai Movement" launched by the ambassador to the United States. Thailand gave up northern Malaysia, Shan State and other places allocated by Japan, and was willing to repay the loss of British and American interests in Thailand during the war.
Coupled with the fact that Luang Phibun himself was a tyrant who expelled the 7th and manipulated the 8th, the US government said that the junta was not representative of the Thai people, and advocated forbidding further liquidation of Thailand. The interest behind this is that further punishment of Thailand will only make Britain bigger in Southeast Asia, and the United States needs a Thailand that can check and balance the British and French colonial system and has a deep affection for itself.
Alan Wilson had already made it clear in the telegram that the new Prime Minister Attlee was not as tough on British India as Prime Minister Churchill, and that he might abandon British India if he judged that it could not suppress the wave of rebellion in British India.
Then the next 100,000 civil servants in British India will become unemployed overnight, and Britain itself will not be able to accept so many civil servants, so whether or not it can be ceded from Thailand is related to the potential of British Malaya in the future.
In the telegram, he made it clear that the seriousness of the matter was related to the re-employment of 100,000 civil servants, and I believe that Sir Barron would definitely take it to heart, and that now that the war was not over, it was a good opportunity to do so in the name of liquidating Japan.
In fact, in the last few days of the Potsdam Conference, the representatives of various countries had nothing to talk about, and specifically on the British side, Prime Minister Attlee, who had always wanted to save costs and restore prosperity at home, did not look at each other in recent days, and handed over all the affairs of dealing with the United States and the Soviet Union to Churchill, who had no official position and only a half-official position, only the name of an adviser.
Prime Minister Attlee himself and Cabinet Secretary Edward Bridges discussed a plan to revitalize the economy after the war. Specifically, the European Colonial Community.
"France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal." Attlee was thinking about the surviving colonial empires in Europe and was interested in the British dominance of the two-track system of prices in British-occupied Germany and British India.
"Will this cause discontent among the Germans?" Attlee had some doubts, and the face of the world overlord still wanted it.
"The Germans have lost everything, and now they are lucky to be alive. Compared to the prisoner of war camps in the Rhine camp, and the no-man's land in Siberia, what did the Germans have to complain about? Edward Bridges was prepared, and began, "to say that this is temporary, that it is good for British India, good for Germany, and good for the British Empire, but also a proper but insignificant good." ”
"Then let's find an opportunity to talk to the French. Got the French, there are not many problems for other countries. Prime Minister Attlee nodded, officially endorsing the economic stimulus plan, "Arrange a time for everyone to talk about it." Hey, how can we get the French on our side? ”
"You can support the return of the French to Asia, which they are meant to do, and I believe that support for the British Empire will not be refused." Edward Bridges gave honest advice.