One Hundred and Sixty Five Poland

The next day, after agreeing to cooperate with the Soviet Union, Merkel handed over the rest of the work to his diplomats. In order to keep it secret, he himself got on the return plane that day.

In 1937, as soon as German Foreign Minister Merkel rushed back to Germany, she couldn't wait to summon the Polish ambassador to Germany. This summoning made the Polish man named Lipski feel like he was sitting on pins and needles. The Germans summoned the ambassador of Czechoslovakia, and Czechoslovakia was annexed; the Germans summoned the ambassador of Austria, and the same thing happened to the Austrians; not long ago, the Germans summoned the ambassador of Hungary, which is now A province of the Germans - although Britain and France have not yet recognized this fact.

But the Poles were also confident that the Germans had nothing to fear. Relations with Germany have never been better, with the ten-year non-aggression pact signed between the two countries in 1929 still more than a year away, and Poland still enjoys most-favored-nation status as part of a recent trade agreement s country. So Lipsky accepted Merkel's summons this time.

But the Poles themselves didn't know that they took advantage of the Czechoslovakia issue and stole an area called Teqing. This incident annoyed Britain and France so much that it shook their determination to support Poland.

However, the Poles still believe that all the trump cards are in their own hands, because although Britain and France have shaken their determination to protect Poland, they still declare their fundamental position of supporting Poland. The new government in London issued a statement: "In the event of any action that clearly threatens the independence of Poland, and the Polish government believes that life and death must be resisted by national power, the United Kingdom and France will assist Poland and maintain the unity and independence of Poland."

However, the British statement clearly angered the Soviets, and Stalin responded to the British government's statement that afternoon: "It is a matter of the distant Western Europe, a country that was once glorious but now extremely weak, to interfere with the desire of the people of the world for freedom." What a ridiculous thing."

At this time, the German Head of State Akado's statement was very interesting. He did not mention any issues related to Poland, but everyone knew what he wanted to do: "No one can threaten the great German people. The Wehrmacht has already done it." Prepare everything, and if anyone wants to use his power in a violent way to compete with Germany, the German people will accept the challenge."

The next day, in order to make Germany seriously consider the Polish issue, the French government also stood up and expressed its attitude. The French visited Poland and made a clear promise to the Poles that once the war between Germany and Poland broke out, France would immediately deal with the Polish issue. Germany launched an air strike, followed by a diversionary ground attack three days later, and an all-out war on the German mainland within fifteen days of war.

At the same time, the British also promised their Polish allies that the Royal Air Force would attack Germany and bomb important targets in Germany.

British ground forces will implement plans to aid Poland from the Black Sea.

Having received assurances from the two countries, Poland reviewed its combat forces again. The Polish generals were very optimistic that they could defeat Germany and the Soviet Union, as they had defeated the invading Soviet army in 1920. Their brave and well-trained infantry will hold the enemy back, using the massive permanent fortifications on the border to make the enemy suffer until the powerful Polish cavalry penetrates the enemy's rear, cutting off the opponent's supply lines and chain of command - all of which Almost all of them are replicas of the Soviet-Polish War in 1920.

In order to achieve this goal, all of Poland has mobilized for war. The army has exceeded 1.95 million, and the reserve team has reached a full 700,000. Germany's military strength is more complicated. After a year of expansion and training, Germany has 1.44 million front-line troops. This figure does not include 70,000 people in the 4 divisions of the SS, and 690,000 second-line troops that cannot be used for attack. .

In this way, Poland, which is fighting on two fronts, does not seem to have an advantage, but in Germany's combat plan, the total force to attack Poland is limited to 900,000, and the remaining troops are deployed in the country and on the German-French border. .

In this way, the Polish western front was compared with 1.2 million Polish troops and their 400,000 reserves against 900,000 Germans and their 190,000 reserves. Poland has a military advantage of nearly 500,000.

Behind the huge advantages of personnel, there are surprising flaws hidden. The role of staff officers was not valued within the Polish army, and as a result none of the 20 army commanders had any training in modern warfare. In terms of communications, the Polish army relies on a small number of civilian telephone and telegraph networks, which are very old and backward.

In terms of equipment, the Polish armored forces with 800 tanks seem to be powerful, but they are all old French models and Polish-made knockoff tanks made by imitating British tanks. Moreover, these tanks have not yet formed a tank group, but are scattered among the infantry units.

Poland's field artillery is among the best equipped, with replicas of the excellent French 77mm cannons, but other heavy artillery is unfortunately long out of date. Modern 105mm and 155mm caliber howitzers are transported very slowly and it is difficult to keep up with the pace of troops. What is even more tragic is that none of these artillery regiments has a complete transportation system.

In 30 years, the Polish Air Force had the most powerful fighter jets in the world. These fighter jets once made the Germans sleepless. But they are all completely outdated now. These pzl-p11 fighter jets have a top speed of only 400 kilometers per hour, which is only more than half of the German fw-190d fighter jet. Therefore, the 1,000 fighter jets of the Polish Air Force are really no match for the Luftwaffe.

In terms of quantity, the Polish Air Force seems to have fallen behind: the German Air Force has a full 813 fw-190ds, and 411 me-109a fighter jets; a full 702 Stuka dive bombers, in addition to more than 500 d-217s Bombers - two-thirds of the Luftwaffe's 2,400 aircraft - will be transferred to the Eastern Front to participate in the Polish campaign.

The defense plan of the Polish army is not so perfect. The generals wanted to block every direction of attack by the German and Soviet armies, and blocked every possible route of attack with their troops. They prepared a large number of cavalry, ready to counterattack when the German army retreated under the pressure of the British and French troops.

So the Poles dispersed and deployed 7 armies on the German-Polish border, and the other 5 armies were deployed on the Soviet-Polish border. This defensive plan did not leave any impression on the French chief of staff, General Maurice Gamelin. Tried to persuade Poland to give up some areas to strengthen the defense of its own important areas, but this effort ultimately failed because of the stubbornness of the Poles.

The Poles did not want to cede the densely populated agricultural west and industrial cities within hours of fighting, fearing that doing so would drain the country's will to resist. And the United Kingdom also prefers Poland's determination to fight without giving up an inch.

On the night of July 18, 1937, it was officially signed, and the Soviet Union finally made a concession. According to the opinions of the Germans: within one month after the Soviet Union attacked Poland, Germany would not attack Poland. With this guarantee, the Soviet Union decided to take the lead in launching the war to recover its failure in 1920. The two countries kept the content of the treaty strictly confidential, and agreed not to recognize the existence of the treaty before 1938.

On July 20, 1937, with certain guarantees, the Soviet Red Army began a full-scale attack on the eastern border of Poland after 10 months of preparation. This move caught Britain and France by surprise. The fear of entering the heart of Europe was superseded.

However, what is surprising is that the first full-scale attack was easily repelled by the Poles. When the Soviet Red Army advanced 7 kilometers into Poland, it encountered tenacious resistance from the defenders. The heroic Polish army even launched a partial counterattack. The 400,000 first echelon of the Soviet Red Army threw away their helmets and armor and suffered heavy losses.

The Soviet army has never suffered such a huge loss. About 40,000 people were killed, more than 70,000 people were injured, most of their weapons were lost, and half of the 200 tanks participating in the attack were destroyed. Most of the seemingly powerful new tank kv-1 Had to be discarded due to mechanical failure.

The Soviet Air Force, which lacked combat experience, launched a bloody battle for air supremacy with the Polish Air Force at low altitudes. Within three days, the two sides had seven large-scale air battles involving dozens of aircraft. The Polish Air Force suffered heavy losses due to old aircraft, and the Soviet Air Force did not take advantage of it. The battle loss ratio of the two sides remained at a one-to-one level.

Then Stalin mobilized the reserve team of the Soviet Red Army, and 700,000 troops marched into Poland, and the war escalated in an all-round way. With the support of Britain and France, the Polish defenders played the rhythm of the Soviet-Polish War in 1920. Interspersed, defeated the second offensive of the Soviet Red Army in one breath.

Just when Poland was full of self-confidence and the Soviet Red Army was in a state of desperation, something that annoyed Britain and France happened. German head of state Arkador Rudolph made a public speech on the radio, hoping that Poland would give up the Danzig Corridor area and allow Germany to complete formal unification.

"Germany should not let others do whatever they want on their own territory! Although we have experienced shame, we will not let the shame stay with us forever! Every German person has the sacred duty to maintain the territorial integrity of the motherland! The Danzig Corridor is German territory Indivisible part of the sacred," Accador said impassionedly in a radio address.

What responded to him was the orderly cry of 300,000 citizens of Berlin who took to the streets to parade: "Long live Greater Germany! Long live the great head of state, Arkador Rudolf!"

The next day, perhaps because the war on the Eastern Front was going so smoothly, or because of the imminent arrival of large-scale assistance from Britain and France, or because of blind confidence in the promise of Britain and France to protect Poland, the Polish government flatly rejected Germany. The unreasonable demands of the head of state, claiming that the Danzig corridor issue does not need to be negotiated.