Hitler's decision to send troops to Greece on January 4, 1941, was not until Britain reinforced Greece. Churchill was similarly hesitant before deciding to come to Greece's aid, feeling that it would be politically and morally unworkable to abandon Greece, a small brave country, in crisis.

Of course, this is also after accepting the previous lessons, and learning from the pain. The British will not forget how Britain and France behaved when their allies Poland were attacked by Nazi Germany. In the months following the 1939 Polish War, the Western Front where British and French troops were stationed did not move at all, and it was once nicknamed "inexplicable war".

Even the common people of France have the feeling that "nothing has happened except for a few inconspicuous small contacts in the vacuum on the northeastern border and many air raid sirens in which enemy planes have not been seen." ”

The long period of compromise was unusually far-reaching, and ultimately led to the catastrophic consequences of the rapid defeat of France. At that time, the French air raid siren system was very poor, and the sirens tended to drag city dwellers out of their beds for no apparent reason. The basement has been converted into an anti-aircraft shelter and is managed by a janitor; The fine art has moved to the country house; The monument is protected with sandbags; People wander around with gas masks used during the First World War. Certain goods began to be rationed as a warning rather than a necessity.

In order to maintain production in the munitions factories, certain technical jobs have been designated as "reserved occupations", where workers work as usual. The wages are still the same, and they often work at home. The disparity in comparison to those of some conscripts, coupled with the fact that some "reserved occupations" are not justified, give rise to jealousy and resentment. Fear of the future and emptiness of reality foster resigned or agitated emotions rather than determination to act.

In the army, there is always a cookie-cutter stereotyped life, except for holding some futile and useless training. There has been no action. This situation gradually weakened morale. Commanders are aware of this, and they give the utmost importance to the fair arrangement of vacations, sports events, plays, films, etc., as a way to relieve this compulsory idle day. Gradually, however, people began to wonder how necessary this war was. This is especially true of this situation of declaration without war. There is a glimmer of hope. Think through some kind of miracle. To bring this war to an end before it has even begun in earnest, either by blockade to bring the enemy to its knees, or by the enemy's internal commotion and collapse. The planes sent out dropped a lot of things on enemy territory every night. But not bombs, but tons and tons of leaflets were dropped on the sleeping Germans.

It is impossible for this feeling of weariness and confusion among the people not to infect politicians. Therefore, although it has not yet developed into a party that advocates peace, there is a tendency to yearn for peace. Although it has not yet been organized, it is in a very earnest mood, and this part of the people even has its own spokesman in the Senate.

In part, the ambitious plan for air strikes on the Caucasus and support for Finland was intended to stir up public opinion and give the impression that the war had really begun, but it had not disturbed anyone's peace because it was taking place in distant places and on a relatively limited scale.

It was precisely because of this strange act that not only did they see Poland destroyed by the Germans, but more importantly, the French did not turn to the track of war in the first place, and the most disastrous consequences could be predicted.

In Churchill's view, the tenacity of the small Greek nation was arousing the enthusiasm of the people of the occupied countries and winning the admiration of the Americans led by Roosevelt. Although there were many in Britain at this time who believed that the defense of Egypt was the most important thing for the British Empire; They did not want to transfer to Greece the reinforcements intended for the African front.

But the Prime Minister's impulsiveness and his appetite for adventure eventually led Churchill to come to Greece's aid. Beginning on January 1, 1941, two convoys per week brought 68,000 men safely to Greece from the Libyan front or from the Egyptian reserves.

The British entered the Balkan war, which made Hitler angry but helpless, and could only passively decide to rescue Italy, a teammate who was stupider than a pig.

The German High Command made a plan to send a total of mountain combat units and armored troops to the Italian-Greek front to assist the Italians in holding their positions and launching a counteroffensive. If necessary, this army was to support the Twelfth Army in the Bulgarian offensive in the direction of Thessaloniki.

Eventually, Germany intervened in the Balkans, and although the outcome of the war was uncertain, the Greek resistance to the Italian invasion and the successive involvement of Britain and Germany in the Balkans had a significant impact on the course of World War II.

The German intervention in the Balkans delayed Operation Barbarossa, especially the airborne operations in Crete soon after, which cost the aircraft and paratroopers and affected the results of the battle. Riefenstahl's remarks give some clues: "If Italy had not attacked Greece and needed our help, the course of the war would have been very different, and we could have taken Leningrad and Moscow before the bitter cold of Russia, let alone the subsequent Battle of Stalingrad." This, coupled with the need to suppress the partisans and defend the area against Allied attacks in the occupation of Greece, held back a number of German and Italian divisions in the war, although the vast majority of them were inferior divisions and foreign armed guards, but still greatly restrained Germany's strength.

When the news of the German army sending troops to the Balkan Peninsula came, Chen Feng felt helpless and depressed at the same time. Although it is said that Chen Feng has nothing to do with who wins or loses in the Balkans, the Germans suspended their attack on the Soviet Union and Chen Feng's relationship is closely related.

Originally, according to Chen Feng's idea, the Germans would start to attack the Soviet Union after obtaining penicillin drugs and production equipment, which should be from the end of February to the beginning of March 1941, so as to avoid the harsh winter of the Soviet Union, and at the same time have enough time to take Moscow and Stalingrad within half a year.

Therefore, Chen Feng even did not hesitate to end the Battle of Southern Hebei early and transferred some of the elites to the vicinity of Dongfang City. Chen Feng planned to ask Stalin for the return of Chinese territory at the most critical juncture of the Soviet-German battle, and if Stalin gave in, they would still be friends with each other, otherwise Chen Feng would capture the Far East and Siberia in the shortest possible time. Although this kind of behavior is a bit inferior, for the sake of China's future and his own life, Chen Feng does not feel that there is anything wrong with what he has done.

However, the plan can never catch up with the changes, the inertia of history is definitely not so easy to change, and after a long time, history has returned to the old way before, and time will still lag a little, which makes Chen Feng helpless.

In desperation, Chen Feng had no choice but to turn his attention to Saibei Province, and now there are still many things in the jurisdiction that he urgently needs to deal with. At this time, Hua Rong handed over a telegram to Chen Feng, the telegram was sent by the Soviet side, and Chen Feng was fooled into informing Chen Feng that the location of the new tank factory had been determined, and it was built in Ulan-Ude, which was close to Outer Mongolia, and the original factory for the production of tractors was renovated, and a large number of Soviet engineers were sent.

After the factory was rebuilt, he couldn't wait to ask Chen Feng to send someone to transport the production line of the new tank to Ulan-Ude, and it was obvious that Stalin had already felt the threat from Germany.

In addition, he was fooled and told Chen Feng that the withdrawal of personnel from the Tyumen region and other related matters had also been completed, and now his troops and workers could enter Tyumen at any time. In the telegram, Stalin specifically reminded Chen Feng that he hoped that he would strictly abide by the agreement between the two sides that the army stationed in the Tyumen region should never exceed one infantry brigade, and it was better to control one regiment.

After reading the telegram, Chen Feng immediately sent someone to find Li Wensheng, Yang Yi and Sui Jinguang, and he needed to ask their opinions on this matter.

Soon Li Wensheng and others came to Chen Feng's office one after another, Chen Feng explained the matter, and then asked: "The three of you, one is the deputy commander of the theater, the chief of staff of the division and the theater, and the other is the director of logistics in the theater, I want to ask for your opinion, how many people should we send to the Soviet Union?" ”

Li Wensheng was the first to speak: "Commander, in my opinion, it doesn't matter how many people we send, the Soviets let us control the number of people in a brigade or even a regiment, and the smaller the number, the better." But I think it will be enough for us to send a battalion! ”

"Oh, tell me what you think!" Chen Feng said.

"Although Tyumen has now been ceded to us by the Soviets, and it is still a permanent cession, there is one thing we cannot deny, Tyumen is still in the territory of the Soviet Union, and for us it is an enclave, and the Soviets ceded to us where they did not do it voluntarily, but only out of necessity, or in other words, it was forced by form."

"In this way, if one day the Soviets are strong enough to sweep us, or if they solve the external problem and can concentrate their forces against us, I don't think the Soviets will hesitate. So now we have the same number of people stationed in the Tyumen region, there is no difference in essence between a brigade and a battalion, and in the face of the Soviet army, which was often 100,000 troops, our troops stationed in Tyumen did not have the strength to fight back at all, so I think that the strength of a battalion is enough! Li Wensheng analyzed. (To be continued......)