When groups of British troops, French troops, and other foreign troops quickly gathered on the foreign concession side of the Suzhou River,
The 88th Division Chief of Staff Zhang Boting, Deputy Division Commander Feng Shengfa, Songhu Garrison Commander Yang Hu, Songhu Mayor Yu Hongjun, as well as the Public Settlement International Business Group and British Commander Smartet, and the French Commander Tony Paccar
By the time the senior officials in the foreign concession had received orders from the Japanese army, they had moved to the position on the other side of the river.
"How many of these Japanese troops are here? What does he want to do? Why didn't he notify us? Does he even want to launch an attack in our concession?"
When the French commander Tony Paca arrived at the small bridge area in the foreign concession, he also held up military binoculars to observe the Japanese troops on the other side of the river, and at the same time directed the French officers around him.
asked.
"It's not clear yet about the movements and purpose of these Japanese troops, but we have sent negotiation personnel to go find those high-ranking Japanese troops for questioning!"
"And the British troops have already gathered here, and their commander is here. As long as the Japanese army dares to attack our concession, we can respond immediately, but the Japanese troops are now initially estimated to have arrived.
The ones here are more powerful than a regiment of thousands of people!"
"And there are a large number of troops stationed behind them, so it may be a relatively large Japanese division! There will even be relatively senior Japanese commanders conducting operations inside!"
"So we still need to investigate this matter as soon as possible!"
In response to the angry inquiry of the French commander Tony Paca, the company commander of the French officer musketry company Antoine Griezmann immediately responded.
"Have all the reconnaissance planes and balloons on our side and the British side taken off?"
"We must use our air superiority within a short period of time to conduct a comprehensive reconnaissance and find out how many Japanese troops have arrived, and what is their real purpose?"
After hearing this, the French commander Tony Paca was in a very bad mood and continued to issue instructions.
"Yes! Commander!"
"All flying tools have taken off and are conducting reconnaissance!"
"In about an hour, we will know how many Japanese troops are here. As for their real purpose, we have to wait for the reply from our intelligence personnel and the diplomats who negotiated with senior Japanese military officers before we can know
Yes! We don’t know yet!”
After hearing this, company commander Antoine Griezmann quickly responded again.
"Where is Commander Smartet of the British Army? I'm going to discuss it with him. These Japanese troops are too unscrupulous. Do they really think that we are also vulnerable to the Chinese army with inferior weapons and equipment?
"
"If they want to challenge us, they must pay a heavy price. In addition, our fleet must be notified to prevent these Japanese fleets from shelling and bombing our concession!"
French commander Tony Paca continued to ask.
"It's over there, at the fortifications built by the Japanese troops!"
"Commander!"
Company Commander Antoine Griezmann pointed to the gathering place of British troops in the distance and responded.
French commander Tony Paca followed the location he pointed and stared at the past.
Then, I saw many heavily armed British troops gathering at a fortification and assuming a combat defensive posture, ready to face the incoming Japanese troops at any time.
After watching for a while, the French commander Tony Paca immediately took several French soldiers over to discuss with the British commander Smartet how to defend against the Japanese attack.
As for company commander Antoine Griezmann, he continued to direct the French troops under his command to build defenses.
Groups of British cavalry, French cavalry, and tanks and armored vehicles from both sides have also been dispatched from the city center of the foreign concession.
For a time, the British and French armies gathered on the banks of the Suzhou River, especially along the small bridge on the other side of the Sihang Warehouse. They even drove tanks and armored vehicles across, ready to be prepared for the Japanese troops to attack from the small bridge.
"Have you on your side found out the purpose of these Japanese troops gathering across the river?"
"Commander Smartet!"
When the French commander Tony Paca came to the British commander Smartet, he was the first to ask.
"Not yet! Where are you?"
"These Japanese troops came very suddenly, and they didn't notify us in advance. I just hope that they don't want to sneak attack our concession. Although we are not afraid of these Japanese troops, our troops stationed here are not afraid of them.
There are many Japanese troops now!"
"Since the Battle of Songhu broke out between them and the Chinese army, the strength of these Japanese troops has now reached more than 200,000, or even more than 300,000!"
"If it were the Japanese army in peacetime, I wouldn't be worried at all. They only have more than 5,000 marines staying here in Songhu. At most, they only have a fleet!"
"As for the fleet, we also have it, and in terms of the combat effectiveness of the navy, our empire on which the sun never sets is the real maritime empire. We are not afraid of these Japanese fleets at all! If they dare to fight our fleet, they will lose.
It must be theirs!”
In response to French Army Commander Tony Paca's straight-to-the-point inquiry, British Army Commander Smallett responded with a smile.
"Of course, don't say that your fleet is stronger than the Japanese fleet. Even our French fleet will not lose to these Japanese fleets!"
"It's just that we don't have enough troops stationed in the concession, otherwise I wouldn't be worried at all! I guarantee that if our troops are the same, these Japanese troops will never come back!"
After French Commander Tony Paca heard the confident response from British Commander Smartet, he immediately responded confidently.
"Then I feel that maybe we also need to issue a serious warning to these Japanese troops who have bad intentions. Although we do not have many troops in the concession, it does not mean that we have to be afraid of them!"
"And they have always been afraid of us. When will it be our turn to be afraid of the troops from this small island country?"
After hearing this, British Commander Smartet immediately suggested.
"Yeah! You're absolutely right!"
"Then we will issue a protest and a serious warning to these senior Japanese military officers. If they really insist on going their own way and dare to invade our concession, then we must let them give us a try!"
"Our French Empire is not easy to bully!"
French commander Tony Paca agreed very much with the other party's proposal.
"Our empire, where the sun never sets, cannot be bullied by the troops of these small island countries!"
British commander Smartet responded with a confident smile.
After saying that, the two senior foreign generals also looked at each other, then smiled meaningfully, and stopped talking. Instead, they raised military telescopes to each other and continued to observe every move of the Japanese troops.
Of course, after observing it, they also continued to issue various reconnaissance instructions and fortification construction instructions to the officers under them.
All of a sudden, all the foreign troops were very busy.
As the foreigners continued to gather and prepare for the war, journalists from large and small newspapers in the foreign concessions had already swarmed in, including many domestic journalists.
There were also many passers-by watching, as well as intelligence personnel from various countries.
For a moment, the foreign concession seemed to be surrounded by a storm, and there was a strange atmosphere that was about to break out into a battlefield.
The whole foreign concession was in an uproar.
All the people in the concession, whether they were rich, poor, or soldiers, focused all their eyes and attention on the sudden appearance of the Japanese army.