Ishihara nodded and said, "That's right, after the incident in China, China has become a quagmire of the empire, in which the Red Party and the Eighth Route Army in North China are like a group of bloodsuckers who keep sucking the blood of the empire, and now the empire not only can't get resources in North China, but also needs Manchuria to supply North China, so my advice to Your Majesty is to find a way to change this status quo." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

The man snorted, looked at Ishihara and said, "What do you think of Okamura Ninji's plan?" ”

Ishihara dropped his finger and said, "Shandong is an opportunity, I think I can support it." ”

The man sighed, "Then do it, I'll support it." ”

This person is Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace, it was because of his acquiescence that Ishihara Waner was excluded from the General Staff, he was Hirohito's uncle, a representative of the imperial military, and had a very high prestige in the Japanese army, this time Okamura Ninji's plan Many things were done under the stage before, but now it has to be put on the stage, even Ishihara Waner, who has been trusted by Hirohito, must also get his support.

"Knock knock knock" The Japanese sliding door was pushed open, and a Japanese guard held a telegram and said, "Report, urgent telegram from Europe." ”

Ishihara took it and looked at it, and exclaimed in surprise, "The Soviet Union has attacked Finland?" ”

"What?" Prince Zairen of the Idle Courtyard Palace couldn't help but be taken aback.

Ishihara looked elsewhere, he looked at Prince Zaihito of the palace and said, "The war of peace between Germany and Britain and France is coming to an end. ”

Prince Zairen of the Idle Yuan Palace was stunned for a moment, he understood after thinking about it for a while, and he couldn't help but admire Ishihara Wan'er's strategic gaze, and nodded his head in agreement.

On November 1, 1940, the Soviet Union concentrated 23 infantry divisions and more than 2,000 tanks, 4,000 artillery pieces, and thousands of aircraft to launch a surprise attack on Finland, mobilizing troops to bomb the capital of Finland on the first day, at this time the population of Finland was only 4.4 million, and the national standing army was only 32,000, and although the expansion before the war increased the army to 100,000, they were all new recruits, and the difference in strength was huge.

-- Moscow

In one conference room, a huge map was hung on the wall, and three or four huge arrows pointed to Finland.

A Soviet officer was briefing Stalin, who was holding a pipe, about the war.

"There are four main battlefields of our army and Finland, namely the Karelian Isthmus, the northeastern part of Lake Ladoga, the middle of the border and the Besa region.

The most important of these four areas is the Mannerheim Line on the Karelian Isthmus, which was carefully built by the Finns for ten years and consists of three defensive strips about 90 kilometers deep, according to intelligence and feedback from our front. Relying on natural obstacles such as swamps and lakes, each defensive zone has more than 600 permanent launch fortifications and civil and wooden firepower points, as well as nearly 800 underground bunkers, which are communicated by trenches and communication trenches. In front of the main defense zone, there is a support zone with a depth of 20~60 kilometers. Anti-tank and anti-infantry mines, anti-tank piles, anti-tank trenches and anti-tank cliffs are widely set up in front of the main defensive zone and in the support zone. Extremely robust. "This officer was the commander of the campaign, Meretskov.

Stalin waved his pipe and asked, "You told me before that we could end the Finnish war in three to ten days, do you mean that something is wrong now?" ”

Meretskov only felt that the hairs on his back stood up, the Soviet Union had recently begun to show the end of the Great Purge and set off a climax again, no one knew whether they would be taken away tomorrow, and the people who were taken away did not know when they would be able to return, Meretskov looked at Stalin, and saw that he was not too angry, so he said, "The Finns have a strong sense of resistance, although they have less than 40,000 troops, but now it is November, the weather is too cold, A quarter of Finland is in the polar regions, and it is difficult for the troops to advance .... Presumably, the battle will take a little longer than expected. ”

Stalin frowned and asked, "How long will it take?" ”

Meretskov closed his eyes and said: "It may take a month." ”

Stalin smoked his pipe, looked at the map, and said nothing.

In fact, it was not Meretskov who was chosen by Stalin as the commander of this campaign at the beginning, but Marshal Shaposhnikov, a chief of staff, whose plan objectively took into account the combat capabilities of the Finnish army and the special conditions of the battlefield. The core idea was to concentrate the strength of 45 divisions and prepare for an intense and arduous war that would last at least a few months without the West being directly involved.

Stalin was not at all satisfied with this plan, and the series of German victories over Czechoslovakia and Poland made him feel that this plan was simply full of defeatism. What made Stalin even more uncomfortable was that this plan secretly stated that because of the decline in the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army and the lack of experienced commanders and fighters, which made Stalin very dissatisfied, which is why Stalin changed the battle plan and chose Meretskov, who claimed to only need three days, but now Meretskov also told him that it would take at least a month, which could not help but make Stalin worry about the real combat strength of his Soviet army.

In fact, one of the main reasons for the war against Finland was that Stalin felt the panic in the party and hoped to rely on this war to attract domestic attention, so he was still acceptable to the increase in the time of the war.

After a while, Stalin smiled and said, "It's okay, just do it with all your might, I know that our comrades in the Red Army are extremely heroic, and in addition, there are many members of the Red Party in Finland, although they are excluded from the army, but they can still unite and put pressure on the Finnish government, and it would be great if they could join us like the three Baltic states." ”

Meretskov nodded yes again and again, but he was smiling bitterly in his heart, according to the Soviet-German treaty, after the partition of Poland, the Soviet Union could annex the three Baltic countries on its own, in the face of the overwhelming military power of the Soviet Union, these three countries did not launch an armed resistance, respectively, the Red Party government and joined the Soviet Union, but when the people of these three countries did not breathe a long breath, the Great Purge began in the three countries, countless people were arrested and put in prison, and more people were exiled to Siberia for labor reform, and its number was estimated to be close to two million in later generations, At this time, the total population of the three countries was only 7 million.

This is also the reason why Finland resisted so resolutely, and in their opinion, the Soviet Union was the real aggressor.

-- Finnish Command

Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army Mannerheim was 62 years old at this time, and he was facing an extremely severe war situation, although a week before the start of the war, he smelled the smell of war and urgently expanded the army, Finland already had a sound reserve system, and the army was expanded to 100,000 within a week, but there was a great shortage of weapons, and the whole army only had about 100 anti-tank guns, and the guns and ammunition were only enough for two months, and the artillery shells were only enough for three weeks of combat. The Air Force is also insufficient, with only 30 bombers, 56 fighters, and 59 reconnaissance aircraft.

Mannerheim walked slowly around the headquarters, thinking about how to repel the Soviet attack.

"Report!"

"Come in!" Mannerheim said as one of the guards handed Mannerheim a document in hand.

Mannerheim took it and looked at it, this is an urgent military expansion document, ready to expand the army by another 300,000 in half a month, but Finland still has people, where should the weapons come from?

Mannerheim sighed for help from Britain and France, Finland was a small country, and its combat philosophy was to rely on resolute resistance to buy time and then seek foreign aid once the Soviet Union invaded.

Mannerheim looked to the southwest, will Britain and France agree to their request, you know, at this time, Britain and France are facing off with Germany on the German-French border, as for asking Germany for help on the other side, hehe, Mannerheim shook his head, who doesn't know that the Soviet Union and Germany are allies? It would be nice if Germany didn't come to join in.

Mannerheim raised his head again, he knew that even if he had to rely on foreign aid, the premise was that he could hold on until the arrival of foreign aid, he looked at the map and saw the Mannerheim Line of the main battlefield, others did not know, but he knew very well the details of the Mannerheim Line, in fact, this Mannerheim Line was not as strong as advertised, many pillboxes were logs, and the gaps between the fortresses were large, but he believed that the Soviet Army was not clear about these weaknesses, and he began to plan to rely on here to fight a counterattack.

In another room in Finland, a meeting of the Finnish Red Party had just ended, at which it was decided to completely sever relations with the Soviet Union and the Red International, join the Finnish army, and resist the Soviet invasion.

-- Paris

"Oh! What did Stalin want to do? Damn, can't he just make trouble? This Red Party Demon! They should all report to hell! Daladier said, wrestling with intelligence.

"We must decide now whether to support Finland or to see Finland become a second Poland?" Chamberlain, who had come to Paris, said to Daladier.

Daladier immediately said, "Yes! Be sure to support, we missed Austria, we missed the Czech Republic, we missed Slovakia, we missed Poland, and now we can't miss Finland anymore! We have to do something to tell the world that we will fight the Soviet-German alliance to the end! ”

Chamberlain touched his beard and said, "But although Finland is close to the sea, it is the Arctic Ocean, and it is impossible to provide large-scale support to Finland through anywhere. And we have already chosen with Germany, and I do not support a declaration of war with the USSR. ”

"He also has land realms." Daladier waved his hand and said, "And it's not that we have to choose with the USSR, but that the USSR is an ally of Germany, and if we don't fight them, they will come to us sooner or later!" ”

"But Norway and Sweden are both neutral countries." Chamberlain was not optimistic about Daladier's idea.

"It's because they're neutral!" Daladier said, "If we really go to war with Germany, then it is likely to become a second European war, I am afraid that it will not be fought for three or four years, then resources are extremely important, Germany does not have many overseas territories, and the raw materials of his steel industry mainly come from the Soviet Union and Norway and Sweden, the Soviet Union is Germany's ally, we have nothing to do, but if we can force Norway and Sweden to join us, it will be equivalent to weakening Germany's combat power at the root!" ”

Daladier's eyes looked far away, and he already had a premonition that the war with Germany would be a long war, and in the later stages of the war, in fact, what he fought for was national strength and resources, and Germany was precisely a country lacking resources, so it was necessary to choke Germany's neck from this aspect.

Chamberlain shook his head and said, "It's hard, Norway and Sweden won't go to war casually." Especially with the possibility of fighting Germany. ”

Dara said insistently, "If you don't do something, you will never succeed, and if you do it, we still have a little possibility." ”

Chamberlain sighed and said, "Okay then, I'll find a way to support you." ”

Daladier actually knew that Chamberlain was under pressure because of the previous appeasement policy and the current sit-down war, and he said gratefully, "Thank you, please believe me, history proves that our approach was extremely far-sighted." ”

Chamberlain picked up his hat and nodded and smiled, "I hope so, I'll take my leave first, and I'll tell you about the conversation." ”

Daladier hurriedly stood up and sent him out.

When Chamberlain returned to England, Churchill, who had been appointed Lord of the Admiralty, waited outside his office for a long time.

Knowing that Churchill was waiting for him, Chamberlain let out a long breath, shook his head and walked into the office, motioned for Churchill to come in and said, "Is there something wrong?" Churchill? ”

Churchill immediately said, "The Soviet Union has begun to attack Finland, should we continue to sit down?" ”

Chamberlain took Daladier's statement and said, "France is ready to form a coalition with us to support Finland through Sweden and Norway." ”

Churchill heard it and laughed, "This is the best news I've heard in the past few days, so how much military equipment are we ready to supply them?" ”

Chamberlain shook his head and said, "Why do you want to provide equipment?" We are going to organize the first batch of 30,000 people to go to Finland to help in the war. ”

Churchill was taken aback, and he hurriedly said, "Are you crazy?" How can you directly use your army to pass through Sweden and Norway, which will involve them in the war as well, they will definitely not agree! And now Finland is not lacking fighters! It's a weapon, it's a weapon!! ”

Chamberlain asked incomprehensibly, "Doesn't Finland have weapons?" I remember that the industry in Finland was also good. ”

Churchill hurriedly said, "Finland originally had less than 40,000 troops, but now it has suddenly expanded to 400,000, where will they prepare weapons that are more than ten times the size of the army?" Forget about rifles, aircraft artillery, Finland is absolutely in short supply, and the most important thing to do now is to do everything possible to transport weapons and ammunition to Finland by sea, so that Sweden and Norway will also support us. And if the army enters, they will definitely not support us! (To be continued.) )