[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 851: The United States and Japan are at odds (ask for subscription!) , ask for a monthly pass, ask for everything! ）

At this time, Japan was trying to adjust its diplomatic relations with the United States according to the law, but on the other hand, it sent troops to the southern part of French Indochina. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

However, Japan's policy is still to promote negotiations between Japan and the United States, and as mentioned later, it is even necessary to resolutely reshuffle the government and change the foreign minister. On the other hand, however, although they have great hopes for a compromise in the negotiations with the United States, they are not willing to endure the increasingly unfavorable political and strategic situation in the south.

However, Japan as a whole is not without people with clear heads, and as Japan's foreign minister, Matsuoka Yoyo is extremely dissatisfied with the adventurous actions of the Japanese government and the military department. Foreign Minister Matsuoka has always disapproved of Japan's southward expansion policy, and Foreign Minister Matsuoka has visited Europe and seen the strength of the German Army. Foreign Minister Matsuoka believed that sooner or later there would be a war between Germany and the Soviet Union, and if Japan could join forces with Germany to flank the Soviet Union, there would be no need for Japan to intervene in the big dye vat in Southeast Asia.

Therefore, at the previous Imperial Council, Foreign Minister Matsuoka stressed that there should be no rush to ignite a fire in the south, and that the Empire of Japan could also consider attacking the north, with the Germans as the main force, and the possibility of the Empire of Japan defeating the Soviet Union was extremely high, far better than making enemies with Britain, France, the United States, the Netherlands, and other countries.

Therefore, he proposed that the operation of sending troops to the southern part of French Indochina be delayed for about six months, but the Minister of Interior and Exterior added that if the Prime Minister and the High Command insisted on carrying it out, he would not oppose it because he had expressed his approval.

In this regard, Kazukawa Kaixiang and Kondo Nobutake also agreed to a 6-month extension! However, Deputy Chief of Staff Tsukada suggested to Chief of Staff Itagaki that "we should resolutely implement the stationing." ”

After deliberation between the Chief of Staff of Itagaki and Prince Zaihito Kanin, the de facto controller of the base camp, he firmly advocated the stationing on behalf of the High Command, and Prime Minister Konoe also suggested to Emperor Hirohito: "The High Command is determined to do it!" ”

After deciding to march on the southern part of French Indochina, Foreign Minister Matsuoka made the following statement in his usual tone, which is worth mentioning: "I will not fail to predict what will happen in a few years. I predict that there will be a big mess in the south, can the commander-in-chief guarantee that there will be no chaos? I used to be a southward pusher, but today I'm turning north. ”

Japan's first attack on French Indochina had come a month earlier, when France had surrendered and signed an armistice with Nazi Germany, establishing the Vichy government in the unoccupied areas of France, which controlled a large number of French overseas colonies, including Indochina, the last area of China's contact with the outside world other than the Burma Highway.

Before the Japanese invasion of French Indochina, the road had been blocked, but there was still a railway line that allowed supplies to be transported from Haiphong to Yunnan, China: the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway.

At that time, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway could directly receive supplies from the United States to aid China, and the few remaining naval warships of the Nationalist Government were also used as temporary naval bases, and through the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway between Haiphong and Yunnan, the Nationalist Government could obtain more than 10,000 tons of munitions, fuel, and other materials every month. Despite repeated bombing by the Japanese army, the railway line was still open.

In order to force the Nationalist Government to surrender and cut off the Nationalist Government's foreign aid, Japan began to put pressure on the 'Vichy Government' to close the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. After being rejected by the French, the Japanese "South China Front" moved quickly and formed the "Indochina Dispatch Army" to invade the Indochina Peninsula, under the command of the Japanese commander Nishimura Takuma, with a fleet, carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers, and Japanese shore-based aircraft stationed on Hainan Island in China to provide air support.

The Japanese army took only four days and forced the colonial authorities of French Indochina to surrender after paying less than 200 casualties.

With such a precedent, the Japanese government did not have any burden on the victory of the war. They were convinced that it would not be much more difficult to move into the southern part of French Indochina than in the northern part of French Indochina. But given the large number of British troops stationed on the Malay Peninsula near the southern part of French Indochina, the Japanese base camp decided to go all out.

In preparation for the entry into southern French Indochina, the base camp ordered the formation of the 25th Army. The 25th Army was based on the Guards Division and the 21st Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade, with Lieutenant General Jiro Sakata as the commander, and the Navy formed the Southern Fleet after being stationed.

However, at this time, the vast majority of the 25th Army's forces were still in China, and some were stationed in Tokyo, Japan, and it would take at least 20 days to assemble them all. In order to stabilize the French army in southern French Indochina and the French Foreign Legion, the Japanese side decided to talk to the French first.

The negotiations were made between Kato's ambassador to France directly and the Viek government, and Germany was initially entrusted with the mediation of the Vichy government, but Germany refused on the grounds that it was inconvenient to exert pressure on the Vichy government. Since the negotiations were originally aimed at stabilizing the French, the Japanese took a tough stance, and the Japanese government telegraphed Ambassador Kato to ask the Vichy government to reply within a week.

Japan's idea is simple, if the French government agrees to a series of conditions proposed by Japan. Then Japan does not mind the continued existence of the French colonial authorities, and after getting what it wants, it does not have to bear the infamy of aggression, and there is probably no more cost-effective deal in the world.

However, if the French government did not know how to raise it, the Imperial Japanese Army would not mind sending troops directly to pacify French Indochina, and anyway, the government would have agreed to use force against French Indochina.

Perhaps it was the intransigence of the Japanese that frightened the French, or perhaps Japan's status as an ally of Germany played a role, whatever the reason, and it turned out that the French were instigated.

Soon, French Indochina accepted the vast majority of Japan's demands. At this point, an understanding was reached on the issue of mutual defense of French Indochina.

Firstly, there was strict respect for French territory and sovereignty, and secondly, the understanding reached between the two sides was not offensive, it was a defensive alliance. Thirdly, the Government of Japan would like to emphasize the purpose of the first paragraph. This statement was also necessary to order the French Indochina to refrain from resisting, and finally to ask the Japanese to withdraw their troops when the garrison was no longer necessary.

The above-mentioned understanding was formally signed as a Japanese-French protocol on the mutual defence of French Indochina. On the basis of this protocol, negotiations began between the headquarters of the French Indochina authorities and the French Indochina Government on the details of the station.

Subsequently, the Japanese headquarters issued an order to the commander of the 25th Army to start stationing in French Indochina from the port of Sanya, thus taking the first step for the Japanese army to enter the southern part of French Indochina.

The Japanese stationed in the southern part of French Indochina greatly stimulated the Americans and the British, and the strong rise of Japan made the United States and Britain extremely worried, coupled with the fact that Japan also had such an identity as an ally of Germany, and now the Japanese actually attacked France, an ally of Britain, which was undoubtedly a naked provocation in the eyes of the United States and Britain.

In order not to provoke the Americans, the Japanese Government specially instructed Ambassador Nomura to directly notify President Roosevelt of Japan's intention to enter French Indochina before making the announcement. While explaining the reasons for the station, he stressed that Japan will always strive to improve the diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States, which are currently being negotiated.

However, this did not seem to have had any effect, and the U.S. government soon issued an order to freeze Japanese assets, and Britain and the Netherlands followed suit.

On the eve of ordering the freezing of Japanese assets, President Roosevelt made the following speech at the Citizens' Volunteer Committee of the Civil Defense Agency in Washington, D.C.: "Now there is a country called Japan. Leaving aside whether this country and this empire had the aggressive purpose of expanding to the south at this time, they did not have a little bit of oil in the north anyway. So, if we had cut off the oil, Japan might have gone to the Dutch East Indies a year ago, and we might have gone to war. ”

President Roosevelt said that this was clearly for a purpose, and after the speech, the United States announced that it would freeze all Japanese assets in the United States, and the above-mentioned matter of cutting off oil has now become a cold fact because of the asset freeze.

After doing this, the Americans were not satisfied, and while sending Ambassador Curry to Chongqing to hold talks with the Nationalist Government, they also sent people to the Huaxia Company to find Li Lanqing. (To be continued.) )