Chapter 1119 France Becomes Suspicious

"Bring it here quickly!" Alan Wilson quickly stretched out his hand, took the document and asked, "Have you received any reply to the suggestions from Germany and Italy on cooperation on the Eurofighter?"

"Not yet, Deputy Secretary." Wick answered directly, and then backed away from the Office of the Deputy Secretary without hearing the rest.

"If the news from France is true, this is really a big deal." Alan Wilson said to himself as he flipped through the documents.

Since 1958, as the size of the Albanian Liberation Organization continued to expand, the Albanian Liberation Army's senior leaders made overly optimistic estimates of the situation and began to abandon guerrilla warfare and engage in regular combat. However, they suffered huge losses in the face of the French army's superior strength and equipment. loss.

It was at that time that reports emerged that the potential number of troops for the Algerian resistance had bottomed out.

France has now invested a total of 1.5 million troops, and has also undergone partial mobilization. For Algeria, whose population has declined instead of growing after years of war, this number has exceeded the upper limit of its response capacity. .

Even according to the most optimistic estimates, when the entire Algerian people resist, they can only deal with the millions of French troops. This is already the lowest proportion of the soil for guerrilla warfare. After de Gaulle's partial mobilization, today's situation is almost complete. It's doomed.

If the Algerian War is as de Gaulle's government said, it has really made decisive progress. Then the potential future brought about by this result needs to be carefully deduced.

Algeria's book area is close to 2.4 million square kilometers, and France's mainland area is 550,000 square kilometers. This is equivalent to France having nearly 3 million square kilometers of directly controlled land.

At the same time, different from the history in his mind, the hostility between Algeria and France, which succeeded in independence, ultimately hindered France's control over French Africa. However, Algeria's failure to achieve independence will inevitably strengthen France's control over nominally independent French Africa. To what extent is debatable, but strengthening is certainly the right thing to do.

Such France is a powerful country spanning both sides of the Mediterranean, with a direct territory of three million people, and its influence extends to the interior of Africa, and its influence has also been greatly enhanced.

It cannot be said that the Roman Empire across the Mediterranean was resurrected. The resurrection of a Western Roman Empire would also be fatal.

When arriving at Marshal Mountbatten's home, Alan Wilson met his wife's sister Patricia, who came to visit her mother. When they met, the two nodded to each other, "Father is in the study."

"Patricia, thank you." Greeting his genuine sister-in-law, Alan Wilson was not polite and went straight to the study.

He believed that the full-time commander-in-chief of the British army should also get the news.

Mountbatten may not be able to take action in the war, but as a military leader for so many years, he still has a strategic vision.

Does the commander-in-chief have to know how to fight? Slim, the British leader with the strongest record, was not the marshal promoted by Mountbatten.

As the number one figure in the military, Mountbatten had indeed just received the news. When he saw his son-in-law entering the door, he knew the purpose of his visit. Before Alan Wilson could speak, he asked directly, "Don't you assess that the French cannot win this battle?"

That was certainly not the assessment of Alan Wilson, but the assessment of Whitehall as a whole and the Cabinet.

Because France was instantly defeated by Germany in World War II and was disgraced in Vietnam. Algeria has been fighting for so many years but has made little progress. It is indeed the mainstream attitude in the British government to believe that France will get out of Algeria sooner or later.

"We also didn't expect that the French persisted to the end and would rather carry out partial mobilization than continue to fight." Alan Wilson clarified the relationship without leaving any trace. Some people said that the French could not win, but it was definitely not him.

Besides, it is not the British who think so, the United States also assesses it in this way. The reference point is that it was defeated by Germany in World War II and was disgraced in the Vietnam War. It feels that France can no longer be regarded as a military power.

"France has quelled Algeria's resistance, and our situation is very difficult." Marshal Mountbatten frowned, "The land of three million square kilometers is ten times the size of the United Kingdom."

"The effective land of Algeria is less than 500,000 square kilometers, and the rest is desert. Of course, plus the French mainland, there are nearly one million used land, which will indeed greatly enhance France's national power." Alan Wilson explained, In fact, it's not that exaggerated. It's just that it's mostly comforting.

Take the United States, the owner of the best land in the industrial era, for example. Not all of its land area can be utilized. Alaska, which is 1.72 million square kilometers, was excluded first.

In the continental United States alone, there is a large amount of land that cannot be used. Similarly, there are large amounts of permafrost in the Soviet Union. The same goes for great and impressive powers and a certain great power.

But even so, what Alan Wilson says about effective territory is still a comfort. Britain and France are colonial powers, so the calculation of territory cannot be done in this way. Maintenance of traditional influence must also be considered. France is not far from Africa.

"It seems that Malta has become extremely important now. The strength of the Mediterranean Fleet needs to be strengthened." Mountbatten didn't know whether he heard his son-in-law's explanation, and talked about countermeasures from a military perspective.

From now on, anyone who says that the Royal Navy should reduce its size is tantamount to betraying the country here. Britain wants to ensure control of the Mediterranean. Now that the two camps are in opposition, although it will not regard France as an enemy, it is inevitable to maintain a naval power superior to France.

Malta is an island located in the center of the Mediterranean Sea and is known as the heart of the Mediterranean. It is also a strong support for Britain's sea control in the Mediterranean, and this strategically important island was naturally snatched from the hands of the French.

Alan Wilson knew clearly that if France was defeated in Algeria, Malta's value would certainly still exist, but it would not necessarily be a place that must be saved. But the current result is that France has become a big country across the Mediterranean, and Malta's status has once again become prominent. .

"Gibraltar, Malta. Cyprus." The few words Mountbatten revealed had already outlined Britain's arrangement in the Mediterranean in front of his son-in-law.

Is one person's mistake a mistake, but a group's mistake? When the prevailing view within the British government was that France's persistence in Algeria would eventually fail, no one thought it was a mistake.

However, France's victory in Algeria will naturally not be a matter of France alone. In the past, Britain may have tried its best to strive for the independence of its vast colonies. If things couldn't be done, it didn't mean that it couldn't let go.

Now it is necessary to preserve important colonies. Otherwise, if France controls Algeria so close, how can Britain have a foothold in Europe in the future?

Prime Minister Eden immediately convened a cabinet meeting to discuss the situation in Africa. In fact, the main discussion was the follow-up impact on France. At this moment, the good news about Algeria had spread throughout France.

After losing World War II and the Vietnam War, France finally ushered in a hearty victory in Algeria.

Although some of the Algerian rebels fled into the desert, the Algiers military has stated that organized resistance has been crushed, and the remaining fish that have slipped through the net will not cause major troubles.

Under this situation, the whole of France was in a boil, no less than when the French army liberated Paris in 1945.

"Ingrid, guess, our man won't be able to sleep at this time." Hedy Lamarr applied facial cream in the mirror and asked with her back to Ingrid Bergman.

"How would I know." Ingrid Bergman put her hands on her chest. This posture only highlighted her strong strength.

"He will definitely do it. Maybe he is busy working on this matter now." Hedy Lamarr was quite satisfied with herself in the mirror. She had also lived in France for so many years. How could she not know how the French viewed Britain? .

When the results of this war came, just look at how many people were holding up photos of de Gaulle on the streets of Paris.

In the French National Assembly, de Gaulle confirmed the results of the victory in front of the various parties in the National Assembly and emphasized again, "I said that when absorbing Algeria into France, the citizenship rights of the locals will be guaranteed. They are all glorious France. Citizens enjoy all the rights of French citizens. Maybe they are different from French citizens, but I believe this problem can be solved."

“In such an incident, even if you have all the political, economic, military, and diplomatic advantages, do not think that violence and coercion can be the only effective means to resolve conflicts, and only use the mentality of public security to deal with ethnic conflicts and national conflicts. I’m afraid division won’t work.”

"In the next five years, the military will gradually leave the scope of management and return to Europe to protect France's prosperity and stability. Of course, this does not ignore the importance of the military. Algeria's reconstruction and development still require the military to play a positive role. "

De Gaulle's speech to the French National Assembly was known to the French through television and soon spread throughout the world.

"The Soviet Union and the countries in its camp violently attacked France's so-called victory."

"The United States has not expressed its position yet, but through special channels, the United States is also asking the United Kingdom about its attitude on this matter."

"As for the Third World, India proposed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as a way to solve the problem. Sukarno of Indonesia expressed support. For the time being, there are some..."

Sukarno? When Alan Wilson reported to Rab Butler again, he saw this name and thought to himself, "You should take care of yourself. Do you still have time to express your stance on North Africa?"

"The Prime Minister has also been discussing this issue in the past few days." Rab Butler asked, "Alan, you have been working overseas for a long time. Do you think British East Africa has development potential?"

"Basically not!" Alan Wilson thought for a moment and replied, "Especially since Nyerere is ready for independence. It is a mandate territory. We have no reason to prevent local independence. After independence, British East Africa will be fragmented."