Friday, 22 September

Dull

At noon the head of the British military delegation, Lieutenant General Burrows, invited all the Heads of Embassies and Military Attachés to his office. He reported what happened with the British and American armies in the landing and recent fighting in France. American Embassy, personnel of the Canadian and Australian Embassies were not invited. I went with Shaozhou and Dequan. He reported for about one hour. The details were as follows:

1) German policy was based on “attack”, so its weapons must be better than “defence” This was the same policy the Germans adopted in World War One and it used the same this time. It first invaded Poland, then Britain and France. Germany assumed that the strength of Britain and France would be so reduced to the extent that they would be temporarily handicapped to fight back. Then Germany attacked the Soviet Union. They expected that they would eliminate the strength of the Soviet army very quickly, and then turn back to attack England in the West.

2) In order to cope with this German tactic, Britain and the United States could only use the same method, which was to put great emphasis on weapons for attack. Therefore, since 1941 Britain and the United States had put great effort into making armaments. At the same time they prepared to destroy German weapon-making facilities, which meant they prepared a strong air force.

3) Last year the Soviet Union strongly urged Britain and the United States to open up the second war zone. British and American public opinion also blamed the governments for not going ahead immediately. But the British and American military authorities insisted that it could not be done until they were fully prepared otherwise they would lose and the repercussions would be disastrous.

4) The landing this time was extremely difficult. Also the weather was very bad. This led to huge material losses, which made them almost unable to supply the Front lines.

5) The British army landing in the area around Caen was quite smooth, but after the British army occupied the city the Germans sent three divisions of mechanised troops to attack it and the British army had to retreat. After the British army retreated it dispatched more than 1,000 planes and dropped 2,000 tons of big bombs until that city [Caen] was almost reduced to rubble. German army casualties were numerous and it was no longer able to sustain itself. When the British army returned they defeated the German army and the Germans sent another two divisions as reinforcements, but the British army used the same method. They retreated temporarily and waited until the Germans were concentrated in one place, and then used more than 1,000 planes for a second wave of bombardment. More than 300 German tanks were destroyed, and German casualties were very high. The British army returned again to defeat them. Probably in that area the German army used more than 20 divisions of their most elite soldiers and they were best-equipped. After the German army on this side was defeated they were unable to resist and had to retreat urgently.

6) When the American army landed on the West coast it happened that they met up with a German division that had arrived there for training. This unfortunate incident meant that the American army almost lost everything but luckily the landing spot which was further West was thought by the German army to be submerged in water, therefore the Germans did not install defences in that area. After the Americans landed, they went immediately to the rear of the Germans, and the Germans had to retreat. Therefore the American army took that area and used it as a base going right to the rear of the German army and then pushed forward to Paris. Therefore the German army on the Caen side had to retreat quickly. But the British and American military authorities had thought about this so they destroyed all the bridges along the River Seine and therefore many of the German troops had to surrender.

7) That the war has now been won so quickly was beyond expectation. Originally Britain and the United States expected that they could occupy Paris only until the end of October. But now they have already reached German territory. The so-called Siegfried Line was not as strong as people claimed. It deepest part was near Trier, but this was only three miles. All the other parts were only about half a mile. The defence installations were not very strong and the American army has already broken four parts of that line.

8) An estimation of the German army. In the German-Soviet battlefield there were about 115 divisions, in the West there were about 50 divisions, about 20 divisions in Greece and about 23 divisions in Yugoslavia, 27divisions in Italy, 17 divisions in Norway, and 9 divisions in Finland. Because the German army was scattered in many places they were unable to be transferred back to Germany to defend, therefore for the German side both man power and materials were in short supply. In terms of materials, some of the tanks they used in the French battlefields were old-fashioned. Their air forces were very scarce. In terms of man power the situation was even worse. We have heard that recently the Germans have already transferred one and a half million industrial workers to fight in the front lines. Also they have conscripted 500,000 young students. Because these people received a military education for many years they could still fight but they were certainly not quite the same as the regular troops who were trained and experienced in war.

All in all, over two million British and American soldiers landed in France, and they were sufficiently prepared. The Germans have been severely attacked, and suffered heavy blows. Their days are numbered. The war might be over soon.

Today the Red Weekly published an article discussing the Pacific war, saying that the Japanese navy and air force could not resist the American navy and air force, therefore they had to use their army to cope with the British and American navies and air forces. Recently they have had no choice but to increase their power in China, hoping to go through the land route in China to supply their army in the area around Nanyang. This is an indication that Soviet newspapers have changed their views because in the past the Soviet side never admitted that the Japanese army was strong in China and never recognised that Chinese battlefields were so important.

In the evening, Committee member Hu invited people to the Embassy for dinner. It was wonderful.