The Battle of El Alamein was the first major battle won by the Allies in history, and its victory could even be said to be a turning point for the Allies to enter the counteroffensive from defense, and the British Prime Minister offered this battle the price: "Before this, we were invincible, and after this, we are invincible!" ”

But now, the battle turned out to be lost.

After thinking about it, Zhang Chi felt that this was likely to be affected by the battlefield in Myanmar.

During the First Burma Campaign, the U.S. Army prepared many strategic supplies in India, which were used to reinforce the British and Chinese troops in Burma. Due to the rapid defeat of the first Burma campaign in history, the Chinese army was also defeated in the Savage Mountain, so these strategic materials and even the 10th Air Group of the US Army were transferred to the Battle of El Alamein, which made the supply and air power of the Allies have a very obvious advantage over the German and Italian forces in the Battle of El Alamein, which is one of the reasons why the Battle of El Alamein can be victorious.

However, the first Burma campaign was not defeated as in history, and the Chinese army held Myitkyina in northern Burma to stabilize its position, so the strategic materials and the 10th Air Brigade that the US army threw into India not only did not transfer to El Alamein, but even continued to increase because of the need to quickly arm the Chinese army.

There is no doubt that this directly led to a significant reduction in the supply and military strength that the Allies could devote to the Battle of El Alamein, so the Battle of El Alamein, which should have been victorious, was defeated!

This may be the lost harvest of the East, but the victory in the Burma campaign led to the defeat of the Battle of El Alamein.

I dare not say what the consequences of this will be, but the strategically important Suez Canal may be about to fall into the hands of the German-Italian forces.

"Battalion commander!" Just as Zhang Chi was pondering, one of the guards ran up and said, "General Stilwell is here!" ”

"What?" Hearing this, Zhang Chi couldn't help but be stunned: "Where is it?" ”

Before Zhang ...... finished speaking, he saw General Stilwell step into Zhang Chi's headquarters, he stepped forward with a smile and held Zhang Chi's hand and said: "Congratulations, I heard that the idea of taking Yangon was your one, I was not surprised at all to hear this, good job!" I'm not only referring to your tactic of using tanks to penetrate walls, but also to win a lot of strategic opportunities for us after taking Rangoon! It even directly led to the Japanese abandoning Burma and retreating to the Arakan Mountains. It's all thanks to you! ”

"The general has won the prize!" Zhang Chi replied: "This should be the credit of all the officers and soldiers, as well as the credit of those martyrs who died on the battlefield!" ”

"You're right!" Stilwell nodded: "But let's put it this way, if it weren't for your advice and tactics, then we would have to pay much more casualties than we have now to achieve the results we have now, you don't object to this!" ”

"Thank you, General!" Zhang Chi knew that the habits of Americans were somewhat different from those of Chinese, so he was no longer modest.

Zhang Chi gave Stilwell a place and handed him a cigarette and lit it.

"General!" Zhang Chi asked: "How can I have time to come to Yangon today, the situation in Yangon is still unstable, the army in the direction of Thailand seems to be a little ready to move, the general should go back early, it is not safe here!" ”

Stilwell smiled. He replied: "I believe that the Thai army will not attack Yangon for the time being!" ”

"Why is the general so sure?" Zhang Chi asked.

"The Japanese really wanted to use the Thai army to attack Rangoon." Stilwell took the coffee that the guard had made for him, said thank you, then blew on the hot air from the cup and took a sip, then said: "But the Japanese also know the combat effectiveness of the Thai army, and use the Thai army to attack Rangoon...... The result is likely to be that not only will Rangoon not be captured, but will also lose troops and leave Thailand defenseless. ”

Zhang Chi nodded, although Thailand is a country, its army also has aircraft, artillery, and tanks, but because its combat effectiveness is too poor, it can still support the façade for defense. For offense, it's basically a waste of ammunition and a waste of time.

"What's more......" Stilwell looked around, then lowered his voice and said, "Thailand has sent someone to contact me secretly!" ”

"Oh!" Hearing this, Zhang Chi understood.

As Thai Prime Minister Luang Phibun said, "Whoever loses the war is Thailand's enemy".

Another meaning of this phrase is "who won the war?" Who is Thailand's friend! ”。

In the past, it was Japan that won one after another on the battlefield in Asia, and it was the Chinese army that retreated, so Thailand became Japan's friend and China's enemy.

But now, Japan is not only suffering one defeat after another in the Pacific theater. The Burmese direction is also losing one after another, so Thailand will naturally have to be friends with the Sino-US coalition forces.

For a country like Thailand...... Sometimes there is really nothing you can do with him, such as refusing to ally with it now and liquidating its previous crimes. That would undoubtedly be to push Thailand completely towards Japan, which was obviously detrimental to the Allies.

Therefore, politics or state-to-state affairs cannot be understood from the perspective of personal feelings, but from the perspective of interests, it is very clear: allowing Thailand to surrender will make the allies have one more friend and one less enemy, although whether the country is a friend or foe is somewhat insignificant.

"Zhang ......" Then Stilwell patted Zhang Chi on the shoulder and said, "I want you to be the head of the new regiment, what do you think?" ”

Hearing this, Zhang Chi couldn't help but be stunned: "General, the head of the Wang regiment ...... him"

"He will be promoted to division commander, the new division commander!" Stilwell replied, "This is the reward for your excellent performance on the battlefield, as for Commander Chen Shanguo...... He's ready to go home! ”

"Oh!" There was a burst of consternation on Zhang Chi's face.

Chen Shanguo, the commander of the new First Division, has done a good job, how can he say that he will return to China when he returns to China? Especially now that the troops are still in a quasi-operational state, it seems a bit inappropriate to change generals on the spot.

But Zhang Chi didn't ask much, he could see that there was something inside, and Stilwell didn't want to say it.

Even Zhang Chi could guess what was going on...... Chen Shanguo was a division commander sent from China, which meant that he was more inclined to obey Principal Chiang's orders than Stilwell's.

To put it simply, Stilwell wants to cultivate or support a new group of backbones, and this group of backbones should be more inclined to Stilwell, otherwise they are likely to be driven back to China like Chen Shanguo.

So Zhang Chi knew that what he was facing now was not only the question of whether to be promoted to the head of the regiment, but also the question of choosing a side: should I listen to Principal Jiang or Stilwell? !

Or maybe they don't listen to both?! (To be continued.) )