Churchill thought about it for a long time, called in a confidential secretary, dictated a telegram, and replied to Lord Wavell in Asia.

In the early hours of April 1, Lord Wavell, who had just fallen asleep, was woken up by the adjutant, saw Churchill's callback, studied it for a while, sighed, and ordered the adjutant to record the transcript of his dictated telegram and send a new order to General Alwin in Burma.

Lieutenant General Alwin, who has not long been in office, has set strict rules for the adjutant, especially when he is sleeping, no one is allowed to disturb him, on the one hand, in order to establish his majesty, on the other hand, because he has a relatively serious insomnia, and every time he needs the help of sleeping pills to fall asleep, if he is forcibly awakened during the period, it will cause great damage to the body. But in the early morning of that day, the adjutant really had no choice but to wake him up, and for this reason, the adjutant was ready to be kicked to the front line.

After Alwin was woken up, he was a little dazed for a while, and was woken up in the early hours of the morning, which was already an experience he had not experienced for several years after he was promoted to general, he shook his head, took the wet towel handed by the adjutant a little blankly, wiped his face, sobered up a little, and looked at his adjutant with a dissatisfied expression.

The adjutant hurriedly said, "General, Sir Wavell has called urgently, and he has asked for immediate execution. With that, he handed over the telegram.

Of course, Alvin knew that if it wasn't for something particularly urgent, the adjutant wouldn't dare wake him up, so he didn't get angry at this time, but calmed down and took the telegram to watch.

In the telegram, Wavell asked him to immediately communicate with the Allied Indo-Burma Theater Command so that the main forces of the Anglo-Burmese army could completely withdraw from Burma and assemble in India. To this end, "appropriate" concessions could be made in the negotiation process, and the specific criteria were left to the discretion of Lieutenant General Alwin, provided that the interests of the British Empire were preserved as much as possible.

After reading the telegram, Alvin pinched his teeth, a little helpless!

He knew that this telegram showed that the British government, and even the military, must have failed in their pressure on the American and Chinese expeditionary forces, and Lord Wavell now had no choice but to dump the pot on himself!

But the question is, what can he do! Judging from the current situation, the United States and China have already made up their minds to maintain the dignity of the Allied Theater Command, and it is simply impossible to let the British troops evacuate the front line!

Let him go and communicate with the Allied Indo-Burma Command, what can he say?

Erwin, who couldn't sleep anymore after being woken up, simply asked the adjutant to wake up all the officers in the staff (I can't sleep well, you don't have to sleep either), and simply have a meeting!

The officers who were called up from their sleep for a meeting were very dissatisfied in their hearts, and after circulating Wavell's telegram, they pouted one after another, and secretly cursed in their hearts: This stubborn "one-eyed dragon" is really annoying!

It was Wavell who ordered the Anglo-Burmese army to retreat from Rangoon, and without even a decent battle, he gave up the colony that he had occupied for decades, and let the British lose face; Finally, the 1st Division of the Anglo-Burmese Army and the 17th Division of the Anglo-Indian Army fought two decent battles at Tonggu and Degon, and achieved very "brilliant" results.

At this time, the Allies couldn't stand it anymore, and directly blocked the retreating troops of the British army, and claimed that the British army was a deserter! Presumably, soon this news will reach Europe and the United States, and the face of the British military will be lost across the Pacific and Atlantic this time!

In this case, the old guy had no choice, so he threw the problem back to the Anglo-Burmese army and asked them to figure out a way! Many people gave Wavell, the British general, a middle finger in their hearts.

Seeing that the officers attending the meeting were silent, Alvin could only say, "Let's all talk about it, what are we going to do now?" ”

The officers were still silent, and no one spoke for a long time.

Just when Alwin couldn't help but get angry, a major staff officer raised his hand and said: "General, I think that since Your Excellency Lord himself has no way to make our British and Burmese troops retreat north safely, it is better not to withdraw at all, and continue to fight......

Another staff officer followed: "Yes! Did the 17th Division fight well in Degong and the 1st Division in Tonggu before? This shows that our Anglo-Burmese army still has combat effectiveness, so why do we have to retreat at the risk of offending the allies? ”

"However, Your Excellency Lord has not revoked the previous order to retreat...... "There is humanity.

"FU......" A young staff officer quickly covered his mouth as soon as he said half a word, but everyone knew what he was going to say. However, no one rebuked him, not even Lieutenant General Alwin, who pretended not to hear.

After another moment of silence, one of the colonels said, "The Lord's telegram says, 'Appropriate concessions can be made in the negotiation process,' so we will give in!" As long as the theater command agrees to the withdrawal of the Anglo-Burmese army to the north, isn't it? ”

Alvin looked at the colonel and said, "In that case, how far are we going to give in?" ”

"I don't know!" The colonel spread his hands and said, "Contact the Indo-Burma Command of the Allied Forces first and negotiate!" ”

The other officers agreed with the colonel's statement, after all, they had no other way.

"Okay!" Alvin thought for a moment, and could only nod in agreement.

——

On April 2, the Indo-Burma Allied Command in Lashio received a telegram from the Anglo-Burmese Army Command, the main meaning of which was that a special person should be sent to meet with General Stilwell in Lashio to discuss the "relocation" of the Anglo-Burmese army.

Stilwell, who saw the telegram, called back to the British and Burmese troops, saying that he was currently on sick leave, and that the work of the Allied Command was in charge of General Pansen, deputy commander of the theater, and asked General Alvin to contact General Pansen, who was "supervising the war" in Tonggu.

Alvin, who received Stilwell's reply, was very helpless, so he could only find a way to contact Tonggu, but he felt in his heart that he, a lieutenant general of the British Empire, was directly negotiating with the major general of the US army, which was really a drop!

At this time, someone came up with the idea that Major General Youen, the commander of the 17th Division of the British and Indian Army, had been in contact with Li Junhao before, and had "fought together" (as Youen said), so it was better to let him negotiate on his behalf, and it happened that Degong was not far from Tonggu.

Alvin was overjoyed and immediately complied.

Receiving the telegram, Major General Yuen first expressed his contempt for Alwin's order, and then thought that the current situation in Burma was a bit complicated, and that he could take the opportunity to meet with Mr. American Observer...... Oh, and now the deputy commander of the Indo-Burmese Allied Forces!

In the afternoon of the same day, Major General Yuen drove to Tonggu with only one platoon of guards and made an appointment to meet Li Junhao.

(End of chapter)