The battlefield in Western Europe became calm after the end of the Franco-German War, and Reinhardt, who had stayed up at high intensity for more than a month, could finally breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the fruits of victory.

The former French Marshal Foch said after the end of the First World War: "This is not peace, this is only a 20-year truce!" ”

Now, his words have been fulfilled.

The truce between Germany and France finally ended, and a large-scale decisive battle began to determine the fate of Europe.

The decisive battle broke out so suddenly, and ended so quickly. Even before many people had time to react, the European continent had become the world of the Third Reich.

The war on the European continent has finally come to an end, but on the other side of the world, Japan, which is in the Asian theater, still has many battles to fight.

As a small country with poor resources, if Japan wants to complete its so-called "self-redemption", it must carry out continuous aggression against other countries to meet their economic development and the various materials, human and financial resources they need.

It can be said that Japan's practice of enriching its own economy by invading other countries is vividly and vividly embodied.

Reinhardt knew that this was the case with Japan in history, and while it invaded China, it also exchanged fire with Southeast Asian countries and the Soviet Union to the north.

Even in the end, he attacked the United States in the Pacific War and set himself on fire.

It can be said that Japan, an island country, is an out-and-out kingdom that gave birth to war maniacs.

Of course, it's the same on this plane.

Japan's unsmooth progress in the Southeast Asian theater did not discourage them from stopping their offensive.

On the contrary, the calculation of the staff officers of their war department is to carry on the war thoroughly.

They are desperate to take the two springboards of Southeast Asia and India, and then further open up the Pacific theater and channel their own connections through the West Asian and African theaters.

In fact, the Japanese operational staff has already made too many fatal mistakes.

They miscalculated the war situation in the East Asian theater and believed that the Japanese army, which had occupied the big cities, was about to win the war in a short time.

However, the fact is the opposite, although they spent a lot of military strength in the East Asian theater, they were not able to take China in a short time, resulting in their inability to draw troops to form a new army when opening up new battlefields.

If Major General Umegawa were still alive, he might have been able to advise the Japanese War Staff that these short war maniacs not set foot in the great quagmire of China and disturb a giant they could not afford to provoke.

You must know that in the time and space before Umegawa Kuko and Reinhardt traveled together, Masanobu Tsuji, who was known as the "Showa Three Staff Officers" along with Ishihara Wanji and Seshima Ryuzo, made such a surprising evaluation after the war.

This Japanese staff officer, who fought against China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States in World War II, and almost all of the famous battles that can be heard about now, all had their own plans, mentioned after the war: Although the quality of Chinese soldiers is inferior to that of the Japanese army, it is far superior to that of the United States and the Soviet Union.

Of course, in his book, the Japanese soldier is naturally said to be the strongest. But he also admits that the Chinese soldiers are the best soldiers among their many enemies, excluding weapons and equipment.

He wrote in the book that many Chinese troops on the battlefield would fight to the end of the army, to the last man, and this last man would fight to the death in the face of the overwhelming Japanese army, without the slightest intention of surrendering.

He once spoke so highly that among the many countries of Britain, the United States, China, and the Soviet Union, only the Chinese army would fight to the last man.

Unfortunately, it was a tragic realization that he only received after the war. Now Masanobu Tsuji is still clamoring for the expansion of the war.

Unfortunately, the lack of troops led to the weakness of the island nation of Japan in the face of war. In addition, they fought at the same time with many countries and regions, which seriously affected the rhythm of their wars.

But in fact, at that time, they had only one thought in their minds, that is, they must continue this war no matter what, and they must not give up the results that the army has achieved before.

The purpose of the southward expansion strategy proposed by the Japanese cabinet, that is, to attack the colonies of European countries in Southeast Asia, was to be able to continue this war of aggression against China, which was about to completely bring Japan down.

A few of them already have a vague premonition that the East Asian war with China may be a war that is about to bring them down!

Therefore, they are anxious to find areas that can provide them with more strategic resources, as their foundation, and continue to provide them with war resources.

Because relying only on their own strength, they can no longer provide such a large army with war resources to fight outside the country for several years in a row.

They need fresh blood from Southeast Asia's resource-producing regions to fill Japan's dried up veins and keep their war machine running to complete their envisioned conquest of East Asia.

As for why Japan ultimately chose French Indochina as the first springboard for those staff plans, it was not only because of its geographical location.

More importantly, this is also a bold test of the Japanese government's attitude toward Europe and the United States.

Or rather, this group of dwarves wants to see the bottom line of tolerance in European countries.

You must know that although the Japanese have done something in the Far East and in Asia, they have not once taken the initiative to provoke European and American countries in the true sense of the word.

However, at a time when France had been defeated in the European theater and the French government had become a puppet government of Germany, the Japanese War Staff felt that it was time to be a little bolder.

It is conceivable that if the French had been resolute and tough, the Japanese might have made further prudent decisions about invading their colonies.

Of course, Pétain's Vichy government would have turned a blind eye to Japan's practices, or even ignored them. Well, the Japanese will certainly not pass up this great opportunity.

The Japanese Army, on the other hand, has done a lot of preliminary work for this.

The southward expansion plan has a bearing on the core interests of the Japanese Army, and it must not be allowed to fail. What they want is a one-time success and the acquisition of their own strategic resource base in South Asia.

However, in fact, in the face of the French Indochina Federation, the Japanese Army was actually a little frightened.

It's not just because the French Army was once known as the strongest army in the world, the invincible European Army.

Moreover, the French Army has always been an exemplary presence in the hearts of the Japanese.

After World War I, the Japanese Army carried out targeted reforms, imitating and learning from French military technology and strategic and tactical thinking.

Even the non-commissioned officers of the Japanese Army repeatedly studied the tactics and strategic thinking of the French Army in the classroom in school.

The Japanese instructors repeatedly preached the classic battles of the French army in World War I, and the military schools in the entire Japanese region were once obsessed with all the thinking of the French army.

Not only the tactics and strategic thinking of the French troops, their combat methods, but even their equipment and combat clothing, they were trying to imitate the French army.

However, in the bloody and tragic battlefield in the later stage of World War I, although the Battle of Verdun was won, the French army also suffered huge losses, which made the aura of the French army suddenly dim.

On the contrary, although Germany was defeated in the war, its advanced combat ideas and beautiful uniforms became the object of the Japanese Army's pursuit.

But even if the French army was defeated and lost to Germany, France was still incomparably stronger than Japan.

After all, France is a European country, and their loss to the mighty Germany does not prove anything.

In short, in any case, France is also an old power, and it is absolutely impossible to talk about his temporary defeat. Therefore, what the Japanese government hoped was that it would be best to resolve the issue through diplomatic means, and it would be better not to engage in a head-on conflict with the French army unless absolutely necessary.

This is a code of conduct formulated by the top echelons of the army and the cabinet, and it is issued to the executive units of the Japanese army in a clear written order, and they are ordered to strictly implement it.