On the evening of September 23, 1961, the Wuhan East Lake Hotel, where Chairman Mao stayed, welcomed a special guest - The famous British military strategist and Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery .
In fact, this is not the first time Montgomery has seen this Chinese leader. A year ago, he had just come to China and met with Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao and Montgomery
As the saying goes: one is born again and again, two is familiar. During this meeting, these two military strategists from the East and the West talked about a lot of in-depth topics...
Military commander who was outstanding in World War II
1961 In this year, Marshal Montgomery was 74 years old. And the highest moment of his life was undoubtedly during World War II .
On November 17, 1887, Montgomery was born in Kennington, London, England. After further studies at the Camberley Staff College, he became the chief of staff of an infantry brigade in January 1921. Coincidentally, just in the same year, on the other side of the earth, a world-building event occurred in China - the founding of the Communist Party of China.
In the days that followed, Montgomery held various staff positions in the UK. He also participated in the battles such as British-Illinois War , Irish Civil War and other battles.
After the experience of time and practice, in 1931, the 44-year-old Montgomery led his troops to Palestine, the Middle East as a lieutenant colonel. By October 1938, he had been promoted to commander of the 8th Division of the United Kingdom and soon became a major general.
After serving overseas for many years, in August 1939, Montgomery returned to England and took over the position of commander of the 3rd Division of the British Expeditionary Force, known as the "Iron and Steel Division".
And just one month later, with the invasion of Nazi German in Poland , World War II broke out . Not long after, under the leadership of Montgomery, the 3rd Division of the British Expeditionary Force crossed the English Channel and participated in the battle between and Belgium in France.
After entering July 1942, the 8th British Army, which was fighting in the North African desert, was defeated by the German African Legion led by Rommel , which is known as the "Desert Fox", and retreated to Egyptian . At this time, the British army was on the verge of collapse.
At such a crisis, Montgomery took over as commander of the 8th Army. Starting from October of the same year, he organized his army to launch the Second Battle of Alman against the German army.
Under the command of Montgomery, an army composed of soldiers from various Commonwealth countries wiped out the previous decline and defeated Ronmel's African Legion . From then on, North African battlefield ushered in a turning point. Montgomery also gained fame for this battle and was called the hunter who captured the "Desert Fox".
Montgomery
Later, the famous British Prime Minister Churchill once said: "Before Alaman Battle , we were invincible; after the Battle of Alamein, we were invincible."
Later, Montgomery continued his outstanding performance. He is present in a series of major operations such as Sicily login, Italian battle , Normandy login , etc.
After the end of World War II, Montgomery held an important position in the UK and NATO until he retired at the age of 71 in 1958.
First visit to China and meet Chairman Mao
Although he has retired, Montgomery did not care about the world. On the contrary, this world-renowned military strategist is very concerned about the international situation.
In June 1959, Montgomery visited the Soviet Union. After meeting with the then Soviet leader, the British marshal realized that the key to whether the future world of can be peaceful may lie in another socialist power, China .
So, after returning to the UK, Montgomery had the idea of going to China to take a look. To this end, he tried to make a request to the Chinese government to visit in a private name.
After learning about this, China reported it layer by layer. When Chairman Mao learned about the situation, he expressed his great welcome to come to China at the right time.
Just like that, Montgomery and China finalized the itinerary.Before leaving for China, he also did his homework specifically, found relevant information about New China and Chairman Mao, and conducted careful research.
Chairman
Finally, on May 27, 1960, Montgomery met the legendary Chairman Mao. During this trip to China, there is no doubt that this is the person he wants to see the most.
After the two shook hands and greeted each other, they took their seats one by one. Montgomery, a soldier-born soldier, raised a straightforward question to Chairman Mao: "What are the main problems you encountered after the founding of New China? What are your main concerns?"
Facing this British guest who came from afar, Chairman Mao's answer was very frank: Years of war have made China riddled with holes, and industrial and agricultural problems must be solved; but the Communist Party lacks experience in dealing with these problems, so it makes many mistakes.
After learning about the situation in China, Montgomery turned his attention to the international community. He said to Chairman Mao: "Please tell me your opinion on the world situation today?"
After hearing this, Chairman Mao first paused for a moment, and then calmly said: "The international situation is very good, nothing bad, it is nothing but the whole world's anti-Soviet and anti-China..."
Montgomery was a little puzzled when Chairman Mao's answer: "This is very bad..." Chairman Mao continued: "I think the current situation is not the breakdown of the hot war or the peaceful coexistence, but the third type: Cold War coexistence. We want to solve this problem. However, we must have two aspects of preparation: one is to continue the Cold War, and the other is to turn the Cold War into peaceful coexistence. You do the transformation work, we welcome it. "
Chairman Mao's words are very consistent with what Montgomery himself thought. He couldn't help but nodded and said, "Yes, we must find a solution to the problem. I don't think we can live in this tension anymore. Our children grew up in the Cold War, which is not good for them, so we must turn this situation into peaceful coexistence. I don't want to see my children grow up and think that the world must be tense all the time."
After Montgomery finished speaking, it was Chairman Mao's turn to ask: "You are British, you have been to France, have been to the Soviet Union twice, and now we are in China again. Is there such a possibility that Britain, France, the Soviet Union and China can reach consensus on some major international issues? "
Chairman Mao
Chairman Mao's question obviously wants to exclude the United States and play a greater role by these four countries. In response, Montgomery immediately said: "Yes, I think it is possible. However, due to the leadership of the United States, Britain and France will be afraid of doing this..."
After taking a puff of cigarettes, Chairman Mao said: "Take it slow. We hope your country will be stronger, France will be stronger, and you will have a greater say, so things will be easier..."
Suddenly, Montgomery changed his tone: "I have an interesting question to ask the Chairman. It will take about 50 years for China, and everything will be done, people's lives will be greatly improved, and education and housing problems will be solved. By that time, what will China's future be like? "
Soon, Chairman Mao heard the "imperial voice" from Montgomery's words: "Your opinion is that we will invade at that time, is it not Is? You are afraid that we will invade. "
The legendary military strategist quickly explained: " no, at least I hope you won't. I think that when a country becomes strong, it should be very careful and not invade."
Chairman Mao agreed: "It's right, you can also take a look at Britain. Before World War I , the most powerful country in the world was Britain. 180 years ago the United States was just a colony of Britain."
Montgomery then asked: "What will China's fate be like in 50 years? Then China will be the most powerful country in the world..."
Regarding this question, Chairman Mao replied firmly: "That's not necessarily. 50 years later, China will still be 9.6 million square kilometers. China has no God, there is a Jade Emperor.50 years later, the Jade Emperor's scope was still 9.6 million square kilometers. If we occupy an inch of other people's land, we are invaders. "
Speaking of aggression, Montgomery said with apologies: "Before the revolution, you had suffered our invasion..." and Chairman Mao was very relieved: "There was something in the past, but now that hatred is gone, only a little bit of a tail... As long as your government improves its attitude, we can establish formal diplomatic relations with you and send ambassadors to each other..."
Chairman Mao
And Montgomery was very interested in the issues of Britain, France, the Soviet Union and China mentioned earlier: "I am very familiar with Macmillan (the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) and Charles de Gaulle . De Gaulle wants me to meet him in Paris next month, and I will tell him this. De Gaulle is a very good person. ”
Before the two people’s conversation ended, Montgomery said to Chairman Mao with kindness: “It’s a pity that for Westerners, China is a society with a closed door. This kind of society has prevented Westerners from understanding China well, resulting in many misinterpretations. " The British marshal believes that a "closed-door society" is not good for China and the world.
On June 12 of the same year, Montgomery published an article titled "My Talks with Mao" in the British " Sunday Times ". In this article, he praised the enthusiasm of the Chinese people and said that the Chinese army left a deep impression on him. They have "full supply of high-quality personnel" and militia organizations are spread all over the country.
visits China again Just one year after in-depth dialogue with Chairman Mao, Marshal Montgomery again applied to Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs , hoping to visit China again.
On September 6th of that year, the British military strategist arrived in Beijing. This trip to China, he will visit many places in China, including Baotou , Taiyuan, Xi'an, Luoyang , Wuhan, etc. ml4
On the afternoon of September 8, Premier Zhou Enlai asked Xiong Xianghui to accompany Montgomery on these itineraries in the name of Deputy Director of the General Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and do some work to him .
Montgomery visited many of the places in this visit were inland cities and had never been open to Western political leaders before. Therefore, this British guest was very curious about these places.
As the visit proceeded Montgomery discovered a phenomenon: when many Chinese people spoke, they always had a catchphrase: "Chairman Mao said..." Not only that, When he asked everyone in many places which Chinese leader they supported the most, the answers he received were Chairman Mao .
By September 20, Montgomery took a special plane to Beijing from Wuhan. In the early morning of the next day, Xiong Xianghui reported to Zhou Enlai about the British military strategist's visit to various places.
Zhou Enlai
Two days later, Xiong Xianghui received a notice: Chairman Mao was going to meet Montgomery in Wuhan, and he needed to go over immediately and report to the Chairman about the British marshal's previous visit to China.
Xiong Xianghui reported to Chairman Mao after arriving in Wuhan. When Chairman Mao learned that Montgomery was very interested in who his heir was, he said on the spot: "This marshal has good intentions, and I want to tell him that I am ready to see Marx at any time. Without me, China will still move forward and the earth will still turn. ”
At noon on September 23, Montgomery arrived in Wuhan by a special plane from Beijing. At 6:30 pm, he went to the East Lake Hotel where Chairman Mao stayed.
After the founding of New China, Chairman Mao lived outside Beijing, probably the East Lake Hotel. He stayed there twice a year on average, at least ten days and half a month, and at most nearly half a year.
On a red carpet there, Chairman Mao and Montgomery held their hands tightly. I saw Chairman Mao blurting out a sentence with Xiangyin in English: How are you?
Montgomery immediately felt cordial when he heard this. After the two had dinner together, the British guest had a long talk with Chairman Mao.The two exchanged views on the international situation and the environment first. Then, Chairman Mao suddenly asked Montgomery: "How old is the Marshal this year?"
Montgomery answered, and then continued the topic: "Mr. Chairman, your republic has been established for 12 years. A new country built from the ruins of war is obviously a lot to do. You must have a healthy body and abundant energy to lead this country."
Chairman Mao was calmly lit a cigarette: "There is a saying in China, seventy-three, eighty-four, the King of Hell will not tell yourself to go. The King of Hell we are talking about is the God you are talking about. I only have a five-year plan, and then I will go to see my God, my God is Marx. ”
Chairman
Montgomery seemed a little excited after hearing this: "After this period of visit, I feel that the Chinese people need you, you cannot leave them..."
Chairman 0Unmoved, waved his hand in the air and said, "No, I have a lot of things to discuss with Marx. It is enough to stay here for a few more years..."
"If I know where Marx is, I want to tell him that the Chinese people need you, you cannot go to him. I want to talk to him about this issue!" Montgomer said in a humorous tone. The people at the scene laughed after hearing this.
On the night of the next day, when Montgomery was packing his luggage to return to China, Chairman Mao suddenly came to his residence and gave this British friend a gift - " Water Template Songtou·Swimming " written by Chairman Mao.
Looking at the gift, Montgomery was very excited and held Chairman Mao's hand tightly.
