Shadow Spy

Chapter 305: This place is still far away from the battlefield

After the small fleet named "Shanghai Squadron" was stationed in Shanghai, it greatly changed the military situation here. Although its scale was still not as large as that of the Japanese First Fleet based at Wusong Military Port, its flagship Savannah The "Izumo" is a Brooklyn-class light cruiser with a full load displacement of 1.24 tons. It is a cutting-edge warship that was only launched in 1938. It is much more advanced than the Japanese flagship and the old "Izumo" cruiser!

Moreover, there are 8 Clemson-class destroyers and 7 submarines in this squadron. Although they do not appear to be new ships, they are still much more advanced than the Japanese warships. This means that although the number is smaller, But in terms of combat effectiveness, they are not afraid of the Japanese army dispatching the First Fleet to China!This situation makes the Japanese unhappy.

In addition, it turns out that the US military has a small Yangtze River fleet in China. Although they are all old inland river gunboats with a displacement of 300 to 1000 tons, there are seven in total... Oh, there is also one that was originally stationed at Wusongkou, that is, eight Taking all of these into account, the strength has exceeded that of the first fleet sent by the Japanese army to China! ——
The Japanese army began to worry about the US military's military strength in the concession, but Li Junhao was relieved. If the air defense force of the concession is added next, the matter will be more than half successful!
The joint command is now running very smoothly. For the newly arrived Shanghai Squadron, the service office has fully taken responsibility for the placement. It does not need the commander and chief of staff to worry about it. It takes the initiative to coordinate well with the fleet, allowing the fleet officers and soldiers to Very satisfied.

Major General Galli felt very good about this, and his relationship with Li Junhao quickly became closer, and he visited the headquarters from time to time.

What surprised Li Junhao was that this naval officer who graduated from the Naval Academy was very interested in the army's tactics. Almost every time he came, he would discuss the current situation on the European battlefield with him. In his words, he attached great importance to the German blitzkrieg. , and can even make sense of its strategy of concentrated use of armored forces such as tanks, which is really interesting.

However, the two men still have different judgments on the trend of the war.

On April 4, Germany declared war on Norway and Denmark and launched the Norwegian Campaign. Denmark announced its surrender in less than 9 hours, while Norway declared war on Germany on the same day. Its King Haakon VII led the military and civilians to resist resolutely.The British, French, and naval forces all came together to rescue Norway. The two sides were fighting fiercely on Norwegian territory...

In this case, although Galli admired the German army's tactics, he did not believe that the German army could reproduce the quick victory over Poland in the Norwegian campaign, because he felt that the participation of the British and French forces was enough to change the battlefield situation.

In this regard, Li Junhao insisted that the participation of the British and French forces in the war was useful, but not very useful. It would be difficult for Norway to hold on for more than a month. By then, the British and French forces would have no choice but to escape, and they would soon lose all of Western Europe and France. Got it!
His views may be too advanced. Most people in this era are still superstitious that Britain has the first navy and France has the first army, and they will never fail so easily. Therefore, this debate has no result for the time being.
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On Monday, April 4, at the Board of Directors meeting of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, in response to the directors’ concerns that the war situation in Europe would affect the Shanghai Concession, Vice President Li Junhao assured everyone that at least within a year and a half, the United States and Germany There will be no war between them, so nothing will happen in the concession.

Because of his long-standing credibility, everyone still believed in his judgment. The directors, headed by General Director Sheen, felt relieved and then discussed the concession affairs.When the board's talk about the security of the concession spread, diplomats and expatriates from Britain, France, Germany and other countries all lamented that thanks to the concession being now in the hands of Americans, people from other countries can now live relatively safe lives. environment!
At this time, news came from the British and French Consulates General that the merger of the two concessions and the withdrawal of the British and French concession management were the earliest plans proposed by Mr. Panson...

At this time, Li Junhao, who has many titles such as Vice President Pan Sen, Commander Pan Sen, Director Pan Sen, etc., has once again skyrocketed in prestige in the concession.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Junhao came forward and organized a meeting of representatives of overseas Chinese in the concession, bringing together overseas Chinese leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Norway and other countries, and held a "sincere" symposium and proposed " The saying "Europe is Europe and concessions are concessions" requires expatriates from all countries to coexist peacefully in this Far Eastern metropolis and cherish the most rare peaceful environment in the world...

Therefore, he strictly prohibited foreign nationals from various countries from being hostile to each other or even fighting against each other based on the situation of the European war!It is clearly stipulated that if another serious murder like No. [-] occurs again, he will order the police department and the army to severely crack down on the ethnic group that caused the fight. When the time comes, don’t blame him for not teaching and punishing!

The symposium was extremely effective, and the hostility among expatriate groups from various countries quickly eased. On the one hand, this is because most expatriates still hope for a peaceful living environment, and on the other hand, they are afraid of being attacked by the concession authorities and losing their life in the concession. space.

In any case, a few days after the start of the European War, the security situation in the Shanghai Concession quickly stabilized, and there was no ethnic conflict that many people had expected.

This change deeply affected the largest number of Chinese residents. A few days ago, when they saw many foreigners meeting, they would look at each other angrily, as if they were about to start a fight at any time. But soon, this situation disappeared!
There was a lot of fighting in Europe, but in the Western restaurant in the Shanghai Concession, the French and the Germans could still sit at the next table and drink coffee without disturbing each other, and the women on both sides could even chat about clothes. , jewelry and so on, it looks very harmonious.

Because the security situation calmed down quickly, the security level in the concession was lowered from Level [-] (Alert) to Level [-] (Strict) a few days later. After another two days, it was dropped back to Level [-] (Normal), and the police officers were relaxed. After that, except for the daily guards assigned to several key locations, all other soldiers in each unit resumed normal training and rotation.
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The Japanese have also seen the situation in the concession. After several discussions between the various agencies, they reached a consensus, that is: the current situation in the concession is stable and industry and commerce are prosperous. Although it is not friendly to Japan, the concession is The bulk commodities produced can effectively make up for the shortcomings of the Japanese war zone; and because of the existence of the concession, imported materials from America and Europe can also be smoothly imported into China...

Generally speaking, retaining the existence of the concession has more advantages than disadvantages for Japan!
(End of this chapter)