A bit of lore fluff as a bit of a break between the leader updates.
Reassessing Churchill's "Guangzhou Gamble"
"...as the 50 year anniversary of Operation Unthinkable draws close this year, we will undoubtedly see the ritual flagellation and scorn poured upon Britain's most unpopular Prime Minister from a number of quarters. Prime Minister Blair and Reichsfuhrer Hitler will denounce Churchill as a fool who squandered white lives over god-forsaken Asia as a desperate way of cementing their reformist faction's nationalist credentials and to keep the hungry jackals at bay. President Xiaoping will predictably decry Churchill as a warmongering colonialist, as will French President Mitterand and General Secretary Gargarin. The antipodeans will also denounce the loss of Australian and New Zealand lives over another foolish adventure. Japanese Prime Minister Ozawa will froth at the mouth and accuse Churchill of being too soft and arguing that they should've used poison gas and biological weaponry. Hell, even American President Dukakis will probably join in the circlejerk to keep the Chinese sweet and trading. But they're all wrong...."
"The truth was, Operation Unthinkable was actually successful. Even though they didn't take over the Guangzhou province, the Entente successfully denied 40-60% of Chinese war-time industry. Knocked China out of the war and laid the groundwork for the Soviet advances in East Europe. People forget now, but the Axis very nearly lost the war between late 1942 and early 1943. Germany lost over a million men and a whole army in East Prussia because of Hitler's refusal to withdraw the 6th army from Konigsberg till it was too late..."
"... That's not to say that the Guangzhou Gamble wasn't ultimately a failure - the Union Jack flying alongside the Swastika in the European Volksunion Hall is stark evidence that it did, but the two events which led to the disintegration of Churchill's strategy was outside his control. There isn't anything he could've done about the Rape of Nanning, other than not involving Japanese troops at all, which would've created a gap of 1 million troops. Nor could Churchill have predicted that Chiang would turn out alive and well after all. The truth is Operation Unthinkable was a daring, strategic masterstroke which very nearly won the Entente the war..."
"... But as they say, the victors write the history and as China continues it's 10th consecutive year of over 10% GDP growth, I can see why no one is in a mood to reassess his legacy..."
- An article featured in Monthly Military History as part of the October Operation Unthinkable Commemorative Issue.
