1945

Ernest Bevin was Great Britain's secretary of state for foreign affairs in the relatively new government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee. It seemed poignant and significant to President Truman that the heads of both the world's greatest democracies had fallen within a couple of months of each other. Franklin Roosevelt had died of a massive stroke, while Winston Churchill had been replaced by a Labour government that the British people felt was better qualified to lead them through the coming peace.

Of the three world leaders who'd forged the wartime alliance against the Nazis, only Joseph Stalin remained.

"Mr. President, I have come on a mission of great urgency, and it is imperative that we be able to speak frankly and candidly, even though that will require the stating of some unpleasant truths." Bevin chuckled. "Indeed. First let me say that I come as the representative of a country, Great Britain, that is your only true friend on this earth."

Byrnes responded quizzically, "I'm delighted that you reaffirm our alliance, but why do you state that you are our only true friend?"

Bevin nodded. "Because France, under the insufferable Charles de Gaulle, is going its own arrogant way, and the other European countries are too devastated to provide anything beyond lip-service support to you as allies. In Asia, Chiang's China is tottering and claims to be your ally for the sole reason that you provide Chiang with the material resources to fight the Japanese and the Communists. Russia, of course, is betraying you routinely."

There was overwhelming evidence that the Russians were fighting only the Chinese Nationalists, while permitting hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers to trek through Soviet lines to Korea, where the Japanese tried to slip them into either Honshu or Kyushu.

"I spoke with Ambassador Gromyko this morning in person," Truman said, "and with Molotov by phone. Both men flatly deny any complicity in the fact that the Japs are getting through to Korea. When I showed Gromyko proof that Russian ships were actually ferrying Japs to Korea, they professed shock and said it must be the actions of a deviant local commander."

Bevin arched an eyebrow. "Did you believe them?"

"Hell no, and I let Gromyko have it with both barrels." Truman laughed bitterly. "When I tried to scold Molotov, the son of a bitch hung up on me. Deviant local commander, my foot. Nobody in the Soviet Union even goes to the John without Stalin's specific permission."

Bevin relaxed slightly. "Do you accept that China is lost?"

"I don't see how it could be otherwise," Truman answered. "I've met with some congressmen who are supporters of Chiang Kai-shek and they've yelled at me that we have to do something, anything, to help Chiang, but nobody knows what that something or anything might be. Yes, Mr. Bevin, China is lost no matter what the so-called China Lobby in Congress says and wishes."

"Mr. President, distasteful though that may be, it helps bring me to the reason for my visit. The Russians are moving down the coast of China and taking over the land held by the Japanese, which includes all the major coastal cities."

Byrnes nodded. "But how does that affect Great Britain?"

"Hong Kong," Bevin stated simply.

"I see," said Marshall. "You want your empire back and you wish us to help you get it."

"Not totally," Bevin corrected. "England is emotionally, physically, and economically ruined by this war. What my government has to do for her people is to end the war as quickly as possible so that we can begin to recover before recovery is impossible. Our army and navy must be brought home and the enormous expenditure in war material must be pared down."

"And how does Hong Kong fit in this picture?" Truman asked.

"It is much more than a symbol of empire. I know that your nation hates the thought of colonial empires and has made it emphatic that you are not going to fight to reestablish European colonies, but Hong Kong is unique. It is a British city-state, albeit with a large Chinese population, that is both a symbol to my country and a place where a great number of British prisoners, civilian and military, are being detained."

Truman understood and conceded that point. "The safety of our prisoners in Japanese hands is a grave concern."

"Then you were as horrified as we were about the massacre in Kagoshima," Bevin said.

U.S. Marines had finally stormed Kagoshima City in bloody house-to-house fighting. After slogging through the charred ruins of the town, they'd found more than two hundred Allied prisoners of war who'd systematically been murdered by the Japanese before they themselves committed suicide. The prisoners' hands had been tied behind their backs and they had been beheaded.