November 29, 1943. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The second meeting was devoted to the opening of a second battlefield.

Before the meeting, Churchill presented Stalin with a specially designed sword to commemorate the glorious Battle of Stalingrad on the orders of the King of England. Stalin raised the sword to his lips, kissed the scabbard, and handed it to Marshal Voroshilov, who was next to him, and then handed it out to the Soviet guard of honor.

The meeting began in a warm atmosphere.

When it came to discussing where to open up the battlefield, disagreements arose.

At the previous stage, the United States and Great Britain developed a campaign plan codenamed "Overlord" in preparation for a landing in 1944 from one of several locations, including Normandy, France.

Now, Churchill has taken out his long-standing proposition of a Mediterranean strategy, advocating that Britain and the United States attack Italy from the Mediterranean and then march into the Balkans.

Stalin listened and retorted: "Conducting a campaign in the Mediterranean means little to defeat the German army, the Balkans are too far from the heart of Germany. Therefore, it is better to carry out the 'Overlord' battle as soon as possible. ”

After a period of discussion, Churchill proposed a two-way approach, in fact, he still wanted to use the Balkans as the main battlefield. He did not adhere to the Mediterranean strategy, because now the Soviet army has not even recovered Moscow, and he is not too worried about how much territory the Soviet Union can occupy.

The atmosphere is starting to get bad.

Churchill's strategy, historically known as the Balkan strategy.

Why did he pay special attention to southern Europe? The reason is simple, for a while, suppress the Soviet Union, let the Soviet Union and Germany go head-to-head, and preserve their own strength. In the second time, in southern Europe, the Mediterranean Sea was an important passage for Britain and his colonies, and the fall of the Mediterranean and the occupation of the Suez Canal by Germany meant that Britain and Egypt, and India, especially Australia, were completely cut off. Without the support of these colonies, it is difficult to imagine how long Britain could support it.

His strategy did not do much good to the development of the war situation, which everyone can see, but it was of great benefit to Britain.

In 1943, the United States and Britain held the Washington Conference, and Churchill advocated attacking Italy. In July, the Anglo-French army attacked Sicily, which led to a change in the political situation in Italy. On July 25, Mussolini stepped down. In August, at the US-British Quebec Conference, Churchill again proposed to open up the Balkan theater. This time, this strategy was rejected by the United States. In September, the Allies invaded southern Italy.

That is why, at the Cairo conference, at the Tehran conference, Churchill persistently presented his Balkan strategy.

Roosevelt knew that Churchill's ideas had evolved further and were no longer limited to protecting British interests in the Mediterranean. His idea was to advance into Central Europe from the Balkans and prevent the Soviet Red Army from entering Austria, Romania and Hungary. This was to pave the way for the post-war division of spheres of influence.

Roosevelt did not agree with Churchill. He said: "If we land in the Mediterranean, we will postpone the campaign for two or three months, and I don't want to postpone the 'Overlord' campaign. ”

Xiaolu was also figuring out Roosevelt's psychology.

The Americans still want to end the war as soon as possible. In this way, the interests of the United States in Europe can be protected to the maximum. The United States is more ambitious than the United Kingdom. The United States must get the benefits of Europe that Hitler could not get by sending huge military power.

The war in the Pacific was still in a stalemate.

The Battle of Midway in history has not yet begun, and the Battle of Kuah Island has begun. The Japanese in Australia are still rampant. Due to the lack of military strength, the Japanese army only occupied some places in northern Australia. The U.S. military in Australia and the Japanese are in a stalemate.

Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, the Indochina Peninsula, Burma and other places are in the hands of the Japanese, the islanders in the Pacific Ocean have changed their mood, and the local wealthy tribes have taken refuge, although the situation is a stalemate in the eyes of experts, but in the eyes of ordinary people is the absolute victory of the Japanese army.

In this situation, the United States still chose Europe.

Xiao Lu thought: If it were me, I would only have to choose Europe first.

De Gaulle also spoke: "If Germany were to be attacked from France, not only would it be very close to the heart of Germany, but we, the French, would be of great help. The situation in France is simple, and the terrain is favorable. Advantages: Southern Europe does not have. ”

The achievement of this meeting was enormous. After much debate, the five powers finally reached a unanimous agreement: in May 1944, Britain and the United States would carry out the "Overlord" campaign and attack the southern part of France. Stalin also promised to launch a simultaneous offensive to prevent the westward movement of German troops on the Eastern Front. The Soviet Union was also preparing to declare war on Japan after defeating the German army. France cooperated with the United States and Britain in the advance, and China cooperated with the Soviet Union in the attack.

The exact landing site of the Overlord plan was to be determined, and the French were tasked with providing intelligence to harass the Germans behind enemy lines. China's mission was to keep the aid flow open and to send troops against the German forces in the Soviet Union.

China sent troops, and on the first day of meeting with Stalin, the Soviet side proposed it. The delegation had already telegraphed to Yan'an. Now, Yan'an has agreed to send troops. Because this was a major event, Yan'an asked the Soviet side to negotiate with Chongqing. Yan'an called and said that no matter what the outcome of the consultations was, Yan'an would send troops to aid the Soviet Union in the name of appropriateness.

After a long discussion, everyone basically convinced Churchill that they were very close to the goal of reaching an agreement.

The meeting was over, and it was already afternoon. The next meeting was to discuss the Cairo and Tehran Declarations in a small conference room at the British Embassy. The meeting between the heads of state and journalists was scheduled for the end of the meeting on 1 December at the Soviet Embassy.

After attending the meeting, Xiaolu returned to the station.

The members of the delegation are still busy and active, engaged in propaganda, preparing documents, and holding talks with other delegations with the leaders, and they have not had a moment to spare. Many people lack sleep, and their eyes are red.

The guards opened and closed together, together with Soviet British agents, to solve the German spy case. They encountered difficulties, mainly the language barrier.

Xiao Lu summoned Li Shun to his room and said, "I have intelligence, the British defense is a weakness, and there are not enough people. The USSR was okay, there were hundreds of agents. Tonight, the two of you go to the British Embassy and spy on the janitor. Follow him, and if you find evidence, arrest him if he can, kill him if he can't, and then notify the British. After this task was accomplished, you focused on the British Embassy, and the Germans had two possible options. Let me give you the details. ”

After explaining, Li Shun was about to set off. Xiaolu said: "How effective are the body armor you are wearing?" I just got the news, did you get shot last time in Cairo? ”

Li Shun said: "I told them not to say it, but let you see it." Yes, the guy had good marksmanship, and he shot me in the heart, and I fought to get shot and killed him. Of course, our snipers hit the guy almost at the same time. He hit me with a pistol, and if it had been a sniper rifle, I would have been finished a long time ago. ”

Xiaolu said: "In other words, the bullets of body armor and pistol are quite large." Does it still hurt? ”

Li Shundao: "I thought I had a fractured sternum, but I didn't know it later. It doesn't hurt anymore. ”

Xiaolu said: "Go ahead." Take a break. Wait a minute, you take my guards away, and I will personally be Vice Chairman Zhou's guards. "The guard of Xiaolu is called Yang Lin, one of the first fighters of the special combat team, originally a small team leader of the special combat team, and later formed a delegation guard team and selected him. His name is very ordinary, but his nickname is very scary, called Old Wolf.

Li Shun said: "This is inappropriate, right? And I went to the three foxes, all the same. It's all the first issue, can you still not understand? ”

The surname of the three foxes is Hu, and the three foxes are nicknames and one of the guards. The Three Foxes is the leader of a special operations squad who has worked in urban guerrillas, and because of his many strategies, he got this nickname. He was about to be promoted to squadron leader, and when he was forming his own team, he was drawn here by Xiaolu to carry out this task temporarily. His future battlefield is Japan.

Everyone knows that for the sake of this mission, the three foxes specially asked not to promote themselves to the position of squadron leader. The same goes for several others.

Xiaolu said: "One more person, one more strength." If you fight well, we will be safe. ”

The three men, with a man from the British side, drove out of the villa. This man's name was Mustafa, a native who had served as a mercenary for the British.

The car drove near the British Embassy and it was already dark. Li Shun told Mustafa to find a corner and stop the car.

The old wolf said: "My first shift, you rest." Li Shun and the three foxes were not humble, and they closed their eyes and fell asleep. Soon, the streets fell silent, with the occasional Iranian patrol passing by. A few beggars on the corner, with mats and blankets, began to sleep.

Tehran's climate is warm these days, and the streets are full of beggars.

Soon, the lights went out in the surrounding rooms, and only the embassy concierge was still lit.

At nine o'clock in the evening, a man came to the front of the embassy and entered the porter, and after a while, the door opened, and a man in his fifties came out, looked around, and walked south.

The old wolf had already woken up the three people, and when the man had not gone far, the three men got out of the car and followed.

After walking for a while, the man turned into a small alley.

Tehran's current city is not as big as it was a few decades later, with a population of more than 700,000 people, and the north of the city is a high-lying area for the rich, and the south of the city is a low-lying area for the poor.

Relying on the snow water flowing down from the mountains in the north of the city, the environment in the north of the city is very good, and there are turbulent flowing water and trees in the open ditches on both sides of the street. It's all rich here, mostly two- or three-story houses.

A short walk to the south is the slum, the lanes are narrow and curved, and the houses are all boxy, undulating with the terrain.

The three men followed for more than twenty minutes, and the old janitor walked into a small house enclosed by a wooden fence. After looking back, he opened the door and entered the house.

The lights in the room came on for a moment, and soon they were gone.

The three men got up from their hiding place and were about to go in. Almost simultaneously, three men pointed their pistols at a corner.