Throughout the month of August, the international situation was full of ups and downs, like a roller coaster, and the Japanese were dazzled. Although the two sides were not able to deepen their cooperative relations as expected, such as signing a treaty of alliance, it is obvious that the German Führer's handling of this serious diplomatic incident clearly shows that he still attaches great importance to the friendly relations between Germany and Japan, and this has given the Japanese Government a little reassurance, and the corresponding emboldening has also begun to grow. Since the Germans don't want to turn their faces with themselves, then Japan has made some small moves in those European Asian colonies, and presumably Germany will turn a blind eye, the Japanese judge it this way.

The Japanese government finally made up its mind and agreed to the plan of the army and navy to attack the colonies belonging to France, but based on the messy history of the army, the Konoe cabinet considered that this time it was necessary to tie a rein to them, because this is an international relations issue, and it will definitely attract the attention of a bunch of European countries, especially the attitude of the United States, Japan is still a little unclear, so Konoe Fumiro asked the Minister of War to make a guarantee that the scope and process of the operation must be under the strict monitoring and control of the War Department. In the event of an accident that requires the Army to stop operations, the Army must not hesitate to implement it immediately.

Regarding these concerns of the cabinet, Hideki Tojo was actually very touched, because the atmosphere of the middle and lower ranks in the army was instigated by their generation of young officers, but when it was their turn to sit in the seats of senior commanders, they realized how bastard these acts of defiance of authority and disobedience to the orders of their superiors were. Razor Tojo patted his chest and assured that he would supervise the entire battle, and that in the event of any disobedience to orders, he would personally take the responsible officer to court-martial. Since the Army had shown their determination so firmly, the Konoe Cabinet nodded in agreement with the plan.

At that time, once the Japanese war machine was in operation in a planned manner, the speed of mobilization was extremely astonishing. In just one week, the Japanese Army mobilized a large amount of materials and funds, mobilized hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, and finally made preliminary preparations for war within the time specified in the plan. This invasion of French Indochina was the first time that Japan had fought with white forces since the Russo-Japanese War.

A large amount of strategic reserve materials were withdrawn from various military warehouses in the south and concentrated on Hainan Island, the predetermined base of departure, through various means of transportation. Once the attack went well, the Japanese Army was ready to strike while the iron was hot, and simply encompassed the entire northern part of French Indochina, so that it would be necessary to have a large amount of supply support, or it would be too late to mobilize when the time came.

At this time, the high-ranking command of the Japanese army had already let go of his apprehension, and now that he was ready to go to war. Then the fear of the enemy must be forgotten, and all the attention must be on how to defeat the enemy, and the officer must set an example to his subordinates so that the soldier has the confidence that he will win.

In the early morning of August 22. Everything was ready, and all the troops began to move towards the predetermined offensive positions, just waiting for the order to attack generally. The Second Detachment of the Imperial Japanese Navy was responsible for transporting and providing fire cover for the landing force, and was mainly responsible for operations and patrols along the southern coast of China on weekdays. The port of Haikou on Hainan Island is a forward base for this fleet.

At the moment the commander of the fleet is Vice Admiral Takasu Shiro, a vice admiral who once served as the Japanese Embassy in Eimukan and also served as the president of the Japanese Naval Academy. In the navy, it should be regarded as a powerful faction with deep qualifications. He once commanded the First Air Force to join the Japanese attack on Shanghai, and under his orders, bombers on Japanese aircraft carriers carried out inhumane bombing of Shanghai's residential areas, and this vice admiral had Chinese blood on his hands. Later, he was also sent to Northeast China to serve as the commander of the Japanese Navy's detachment stationed in "Manchukuo", and at the same time, Takasu Shiro even assumed the command of the "Manchukuo Naval Fleet".

Now Vice Admiral Takasu Shiro is standing majestically on the bridge of the command of the heavy cruiser Torikai, the flagship of the fleet, holding a telescope and observing the sea situation in front of him. Starting from Haikou and arriving at the destination of Haiphong Port in a straight line of 300 kilometers, this fleet set off before dawn and was expected to arrive at the sea off Haiphong at noon, and when the order arrived, it began to launch a surprise attack on Haiphong at full speed.

The Navy was also very serious about this operation, and not only dispatched the entire Second Task Force Fleet, but also specially mobilized the aircraft carrier Kaga of the First Air Force to join the operation. Because the army hoped that the navy's air force would be able to participate in the task of seizing air supremacy and ground support in coastal defense and even in the entire northern part of French Indochina, the leaders of the naval command department believed that this was a form of the army's overture to the navy, because the intelligence showed that the French air force was very weak, and this was simply a gift to the navy for war.

Takasu Shiro had previously served as the commander of this aircraft carrier and was very familiar with aviation operations, so his superiors were very relieved that he would be the commander-in-chief of the entire formation, responsible for the command and transfer of all naval forces in this operation.

The army gave this landing force a temporary establishment of the Indochina dispatch army, which was completely built for this operation, and it would be dismantled after the operation was over, and the main force was composed of three brigades of the Second Wing of the Japanese Army's Guards Infantry, because it was the Emperor's Guard, so it was necessary to leave one brigade to garrison the homeland. The army also sent a temporary contingent of more than 4,000 troops to the so-called Indochina, which was temporarily organized, equipped with attached chariots, antiaircraft artillery, communications, sanitation, and baggage units, all of which were escorted by the Indochina task force of the navy on 10 transport ships.

The strength of this fleet may not be enough in Europe, the capital ships are only one heavy cruiser and one large aircraft carrier, and the rest is ten destroyers, but in the face of the existing naval power of French Indochina, this fleet can be crushed in all aspects. The Far Eastern Fleet in French Indochina has not been replenished for a long time, and at the moment only one Deguetrouan-class light cruiser and six or seven river gunboats on the Mekong are still available. Originally, the French Far East Fleet also had a heavy cruiser, the Suferon, which might have caused a little damage to the Japanese Navy, but as early as April, this warship was transferred to the Mediterranean by the Renault government.

During this period, the guiding ideology of the Japanese Navy's top brass was that safety was the top priority in everything. Only in such a battle, which poses little threat to themselves, will the generals be enthusiastic. Historically, Nagano Shusei, the then chief of military command of the Navy, was more active than the army in fighting against French Indochina, and it is said that he said in the tripartite meeting that whoever dared to block the attack would be killed, and that kind of arrogance even the army chief of staff Yamasugi Moto, who was present, was stunned.

The reason for this is easy to understand, French Indochina has no sea power, and it does not pose much threat to the Japanese navy, how can the navy easily give up this kind of war exploits that can be easily obtained, and there are a large number of officers waiting to be promoted in the navy. I look forward to going to the battlefield every day to brush up on some experience, especially playing soft persimmons like French Indochina, which is both beautiful and safe. Of course, Nagano's words and deeds are related to the fact that he is also a radical, and it is also this person who has been promoting the southward expansion of the navy and the war with the United States in history, and it is also for this reason that he has not been very popular in the Japanese Navy in the future.

Now turn our gaze back to noon on 22 August, just after 11 o'clock, half an hour before the scheduled dispatch time of 11:30. Everyone is putting the finishing touches on it. The maintenance crew on board the Kaga is adjusting the sequence of the planes parked on the flight deck, and many of the planes have already begun engine tests. The first wave was dispatched by a formation of six 96 ships and 12 94 ships, the former being the main fighter of the Japanese naval aviation at this time, which was much more advanced than the old models of the Chinese Air Force. After entering the Chinese battlefield, there was a bit of limelight, but after the Chinese Air Force was equipped with a batch of Soviet-made fighters, the life of this fighter was a little difficult. The Type 94 carrier-based bomber is a biplane model, which looks very similar to the British Navy's swordfish charm from a distance. In terms of performance, it can only be considered the level of the twenties, but the maneuverability in the air is good, and the Japanese pilots even used her in dogfights with fighters of the Chinese Air Force after dropping bombs. And some old models can also play well. However, at present, the performance of this carrier-based bomber has completely outdated, and the Japanese Navy is intensively developing a replacement model.

In the command room on the tall bridge of the heavy cruiser Chokai, Takasu Shiro was holding the final discussion before the attack with Major General Tominaga, the commander of the Army's Indochina Dispatch Army, who cooperated in this operation, and the two sides had already had several verbal quarrels before, this Army Rear Admiral was arrogant and arrogant to the point that people could not look at him directly, and from the naval side, the Army sent this Army Major General was completely ignorant of what to say, and this guy was full of the Army's stupid radical ideas.

"The Army has a set of methods for the Army to do things, so we don't need the Navy to guide us on how to do it, the Navy just needs to tell us when to start doing it." Major General Kyoji Tominaga wore a brand new army uniform, a full set of medals on his chest, and a staff ornament that he had always been proud of, a golden one dangling, according to the major general, which was carefully prepared to accept the surrender of the French, and as a senior army officer, he must maintain the dignity of the imperial state in diplomatic occasions.

Takasu Shiro was already indifferent to this person's strange thinking at this time, anyway, when the landing operation began, this guy would have to get off the boat, and now let the other party toss. Takasu had already made up his mind that after completing this operation, he would not cooperate with any army horse manure the next time he was killed.

"The Navy understands the Army's thinking, so according to Your Excellency's requirements, after arriving at the target area, the Navy is only responsible for fire cover, and the rest is at the disposal of the Army itself." Takasu Shiro sat on the sofa and answered the other party's request with a calm face.

"Very good, Your Excellency Takasu is really a reasonable person, and I hope that there will be a chance to cooperate next time." After receiving the promise from the navy, Kyoji Tominaga, who was bent on snatching the credit, finally had a smile on his face.

"Then I'll take my leave first, I'm going to explain the landing to my subordinates." Receiving a satisfactory reply, Major General Tominaga was impatient to share the good news with his subordinates.

"The time for the general offensive is also approaching, Your Excellency, if you have any other requirements, please be sure to put them forward, the navy will do its best to meet the needs of the army." Takasu felt that the navy still had to maintain basic etiquette no matter what, and besides, this battle was very important for both sides, at least not to give the other side a pretext because of the attitude of the navy.

"The navy has done a very good job, thank you very much for your help to the army, I will report to the army staff headquarters truthfully."

"Then so be it, I wish your Excellency a long martial arts."

"Thank you, Your Excellency, and I'll leave it to the Army to do the following."

Just as the two sides were about to conclude what appeared to be a friendly and harmonious meeting. A naval staff officer knocked on the iron door of the command room with a telegram.

"Sir! This was issued by the Combined Fleet Command, an urgent order from the Military Command Department. The Admiral Lieutenant saluted the two generals in the room with a nervous expression, and then bowed respectfully to the fleet commander and handed over the telegram in his hand.

Takasu reported the telegram, and after reading only the first two lines, he immediately stood up in surprise.

"Nani? Have you confirmed? ”

"It's been confirmed, Your Excellency."

"Order the fleet to immediately stop advancing, and all ships to cease all operational actions, and wait for further orders from the flagship." Takasu gave instructions to Shaoza.

"Yes, sir." Navy Commander gave a naval salute to Takasu, then turned to Kyoji Tominaga, then lowered his arm and opened the door and walked out of the command room.

"What's going on!" Kyoji Tominaga was a little surprised by Takasu's order, and the problem must have been with that telegram.

"The Military Command received accurate information that just four hours earlier, a French fleet had sailed into the port of Saigon, and it was now confirmed that there were two Dunkirk-class battlecruisers, the Dunkirk and the Strasbourg, and a large convoy of transports, probably carrying a large number of French Army soldiers. The Cabinet has decided that the fighting should cease immediately, that all participating units should immediately return to their places of departure, and that all military operations against northern Indochina should be terminated. Takasu put the telegram in front of Kyoji Tominaga.

Continue to ask for a monthly pass, looking at the results is really a little unmotivating, do you not like to read the story of Southeast Asia, whether it is a click or a subscription, it is a little bleak. (To be continued.) )