Shadow Spy

Chapter 201: Control the Concession and No Chaos

On Monday, September 9, Li Junhao presided over the graduation ceremony of the second batch of new police trainees at the No. 4 Squadron of the Fourth Marine Regiment at No. 196 Xiaoshadu. Among the 1100 trainees, only more than 40 did not pass and were eliminated. , there were 1055 people left in the end, which made him very satisfied.

With the addition of more than 1000 new police officers, the total number of people in the Public Settlement Police Department at this time has reached nearly 5000, and all of them have gone through rotation training and new recruit training. Although it is far from the several years of study and training of later generations of police academy students, But in this era and in this concession situation, it is barely enough.
-
At this time, news of Germany attacking Poland and Britain and France declaring war on Germany had spread. For people in the concession, the ones most affected were foreign expatriates, especially those from several related countries.

Within Shanghai, there are currently about 4800 German expatriates, most of whom work and live in the public concession, with less than 200 in the French Concession. In addition, there are more than 1500 Polish expatriates, basically all in the French Concession.

When the news of Germany's attack on Poland was confirmed, starting from the afternoon of September 9, dozens of Poles began to abuse and attack the Germans in various parts of the French Concession. In two days, four people had died and more than 2 people had died. were injured, and two residences of German expatriates were set on fire... The patrol room in the French Concession was extremely busy with this!
In response to the special situation after the war began, as early as September 9, Li Junhao issued a special instruction, requiring all departments of the police department and each arrest house to take charge of their duties and strictly control the security situation in the concession. If anyone is found to be making trouble or planning to make trouble, People and behaviors, immediately stop and arrest the criminals and planners.

At the same time, he directly called Lieutenant Colonel Dije Cole, commander of the Fourth Marine and Land Regiment, and asked him to closely monitor the movements of the 700 Italian troops and be ready to take emergency measures against them at any time.

He also contacted Colonel Art Schneider, the commander-in-chief of the All Nations Merchant Corps, asking them to be on full alert and ready to support the operations of the police department and the Fourth Marine and Land Regiment.

In addition, the 9 new police trainees who just graduated on September 4 were not assigned, but were organized into three mobile brigades, which were stationed in the central arrest room and each branch arrest room. As a mobile force, they were subject to the unified dispatch of the division chief's office. .

The various response measures arranged this time were named Plan No. [-] by Li Junhao, and were formally documented by the Division Chief's Office as one of the emergency response measures of the Police Department.

Therefore, when some bad signs first appeared in the public concession, they were immediately controlled and suppressed by the police. Within two days, nearly a hundred foreigners from various countries who were causing trouble were detained; however, the composition of these arrested foreigners was obviously different from that of the French Concession. The difference is that there are only a few Poles, but the largest number are Germans, as well as several Italians, a dozen British people, and more than 20 Jews!
-
On Tuesday, September 9, Benoit Walker, the Consul General of Germany in Shanghai, convened the heads of various departments of the consulate and the heads of German consulates such as Elysee & Co., Deutsche Bank and other German companies at the temporary address on the second floor of the Yita Building, No. 5 BJ Road. Business representatives met to discuss the current situation.

The German Consulate General in Shanghai was originally located on Huangpu Road north of the exit of Suzhou River (first No. 9, then No. 40-60). During World War I, China declared war on Germany, so it was closed. Then reopened. In April 1937, due to the renovation of the consulate building, the Consulate General temporarily moved to the second floor of Yita Building, No. 4 BJ Road. Then, when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the new consulate was not completed in time.

At the meeting, everyone in the consulate meant that the country had launched military operations to conquer Europe, and Britain, France and other countries had declared war on Germany, so the current Shanghai Public Concession and the French Concession were no longer safe for the Germans. , so German expatriates and businessmen must either return home or evacuate to the occupied areas of their Japanese allies...

Business representatives hold different opinions. They believe that the situation in the French Concession has indeed deteriorated, and expats and commercial assets should be evacuated as soon as possible. However, the situation in the public concession is obviously different. The United States is now actually in control of the Ministry of Industry and the Police Department. However, there is no substantial conflict of interest between Germany and the United States. On the contrary, the two countries still have close cooperation in commercial trade; therefore, for a period of time, the public settlement will still be safe for the Germans.

Colonel Peter Luce, the military attache of the Consulate General, supports the former. The consulate guard currently under his command only has more than 100 people. Once the French and British take action, they will not be able to protect the consulate staff and a large number of German expatriates; therefore, Although he does not like the Japanese, it is the best way to evacuate the expatriates and business assets to the Japanese-occupied areas now.

Consul General Walker started from a political perspective. Shanghai is a transnational economic and financial center, and the concession is the core of it. If the German power withdraws from the concession, it will be tantamount to voluntarily giving up its interests here, and even more so. Losing points politically.Therefore, he feels that leaving the French Concession is not a problem, but leaving the public concession requires caution.

After some discussion, it was decided to evacuate the overseas Chinese and commercial assets from the French Concession first. In addition, the overseas Chinese and businessmen were notified that on the principle of voluntariness, the consulate and chamber of commerce would provide assistance to those who were willing to evacuate to the Japanese-occupied area; those who were unwilling to leave the public area If you are in a concession, you can temporarily maintain the status quo. If you encounter danger or unexpected situations, you can contact the Consulate General in time.

After the meeting, Consul General Walker and Military Attaché Luce split into two groups. The former went to visit the U.S. Consul General Ayers, while the latter went to the Police Department to visit the Commissioner and U.S. Deputy Attaché Panson. The first purpose was to find out what the U.S. was saying about Germany. attitude, and the second is to hope for a commitment to protect German expatriates.
-
On Ayers' side, although Germany has already launched a war, he also agrees with Little Oger: This will cause the second war!However, he still received the visiting German Consul General Volker politely. After all, both of them were professional diplomats and had worked together in Shanghai for several years, so they were considered friends.

During the conversation, Ayers maintained the cautious style of a diplomat, and only responded with an official official reply to Volcker's inquiry: At present, the relationship between the United States and Germany is still in a normal state, and the U.S. Consulate General has not received any hostile reports. German orders...

Li Junhao directly told the German military attache Colonel Luce: Although he is the adjutant of the U.S. Consulate General, for the concession, he serves as the police supervisor of the Ministry of Industry Bureau and the director of the police department. Therefore, Responsible for the security of the entire concession!No matter which country you are from, as long as you obey the law and abide by the law in the concession, you will be protected by him. On the contrary, you will be attacked!
(End of this chapter)