Chapter 209 Codename "Black"

"General, this is British Air Force Lieutenant General Hugh Dowding, who is taking photos of our Ju.89 and Do.19, and he took a lot of photos."

"This is Colonel Charles de Gaulle of France, the author of the book "Building a Professional Army"..."

"I've read his book." Hersman interrupted Lieutenant Colonel Galen who was putting photos in front of him.

When these foreign officers carefully observed German weapons and equipment, they were also the objects of observation of the Strategic Deception Bureau and were all photographed.

"Is he looking at the tank?" Hersman looked at Charles de Gaulle in the photo, "His head was lowered."

"Yes, he was indeed looking at the tank." Lieutenant Colonel Galen said, "He was also very interested in our armored vehicles and motorcycles, and he took photos of them. But Admiral Gamelin next to him was very interested in our bombers."

"Oh." Hersman nodded. Gamelin, a very good opponent, was probably deceived by the Strategic Deception Bureau.

"This is Major General Rommel of Poland."

Another photo was placed in front of Hessman, showing a middle-aged man wearing a strange Polish military uniform, who was very handsome.

"Rommel?" Hessman smiled, "There is also a Rommel in Poland. Could he be a relative of Erwin Rommel?"

"In fact, there are two General Rommels in Poland," Galen smiled, "This one is a 'Brigade General', which is equivalent to our Major General."

The general ranks in Poland are "General of Arms", "General of Division" and "General of Brigade", and above that is the Marshal. However, foreigners habitually call them "General", "Lieutenant General" and "Major General".

"His name is Carol Rommel, and he is a close confidant of Marshal Rydz-Śmigły," Galen said. "He was born in the Polish Legion, and he is a very good cavalry commander. He also won the third place in the Olympic equestrian event."

"Third place in the Olympic Games?"

"Yes, he is an equestrian expert, but he has not received formal military education."

Lieutenant Colonel Galen thought for a while and said, "In the Polish army, from the colonel upwards, there are very few people who graduated from formal military schools. Many of them are civilians who participated in Piłsudski's "Infantry Association" before the World War and have only received the most basic military education."

"This is a major weakness of the Polish army," Hessman smiled. "All of us have studied military for more than ten years before entering the professional military career, but they are actually laymen."

"The quality of their soldiers is not good either." Lieutenant Colonel Galen said, "According to the Polish own statistics, in the early 1920s, the literacy rate of adults in the Polish Commonwealth lands that originally belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia was only 50% to 60%. The literacy rate of adults in the lands that originally belonged to Germany was as high as 99.4%."

The high level of education of the people was a major advantage of Germany in World War II, which allowed German soldiers to master advanced and complex weapon systems faster than soldiers from other countries, especially Eastern European countries.

"A bunch of illiterates, they can't use mechanization!" Hersman sneered contemptuously, "Where are the Soviets? Who is coming this time?"

"It's Colonel Alexander Alexandrovich Novikov of the Soviet Air Force," Lieutenant Colonel Galen took out a photo and pointed at the person on it and said to Hersman, "He is looking at our Ju.89 and Do.19 through a telescope."

"Stalin will soon ask to buy them," Hersman took a sip of the coffee on the desk, "These advanced weapons are his toys, he likes them when he sees them, and he wants them when he likes them."

Ju.89 and Do.19 can of course be sold, as long as Stalin exchanges them for oil and non-ferrous metals. However, the Soviet-German aviation technology cooperation has long been interrupted, and there is no intention to resume it.

"Also," Hessman gently turned the coffee cup in his hand, "Has the Black Plan been drafted?"

The Black Plan is a false plan to attack Poland, which was jointly responsible by Hessman's three confidants, Lieutenant General Tippelskirch, the Chief of Intelligence of the General Staff (the superior of the Military Intelligence Department and the Strategic Deception Bureau, and also responsible for co-managing the Central Security Bureau with the Ministry of Defense's Department of Affairs), Lieutenant General Halder, the First Chief Operations Officer of the General Staff, and Lieutenant Colonel Galen.

Although it is a false plan, it still needs to be carried out according to the real combat plan, and various things need to be considered, and several backup plans need to be prepared.

The combat thinking of this false plan follows the tactics of the end of World War I - tanks cover infantry and launch an attack on a very wide front. Artillery will also be used as in 1918, with thousands of artillery concentrated to bombard for a week before the general attack of tanks and infantry.

After the tanks cover the infantry's breakthrough, there will be no "blitzkrieg", but a "textbook" slow advance and encirclement. Mechanized troops will not advance at full speed, but will act together with the main force and play the role of commandos in positional attacks.

There will still be changes, mainly in the use of the air force. Aircraft will become an important factor in determining the outcome of the war. Not only will tactical bombers be used to bomb Polish roads and Polish positions and assembly areas, but a "Strategic Bombing Command" will be established to bomb cities, and 1,500 to 2,000 Ju.89s and Do.19s will be placed at many airports - of course, they are all fakes that cannot fly. However, in "Black Plan", these fake planes will be an important factor in forcing Poland to surrender!

Warsaw, the Polish capital, and the major cities would be bombed indiscriminately until they were wiped off the map...if the Poles refused to surrender.

It seems quite feasible. Even if the Poles can withstand the indiscriminate bombing, their support for the front line will be greatly weakened, which will be conducive to the ground attack.

According to the plan of the "Black Plan", a powerful frontal offensive coupled with aircraft bombings, as well as the Soviet offensive from the east, would basically force Poland to surrender in six months. However, in the "Black Plan", Poland's surrender does not mean that Poland will be destroyed. A political solution must still be sought.

Because Germany’s territorial targets (the targets in the “Black Plan”) are the Free City of Danze, the Polish Corridor and Lithuania, totaling 70,000 square kilometers.

The Soviet Union can take over the right bank of Ukraine and Western Belarus (excluding Western Ukraine or Eastern Galicia), the two lands lost in the Soviet-Polish War.

The remaining Polish mainland plus Eastern Galicia became a new Polish nation-state, existing as a buffer state between the Soviet Union and Germany. The Soviet Union and Germany jointly ensured Poland's security, and Poland's own armed forces remained at around 100,000, subject to strict supervision by the Soviet Union and Germany - this was of course the goal to be achieved in the "Black Plan".

Then Germany will seek reconciliation with Britain and France, and seek a peaceful settlement of the issues in Alsace-Lorraine, the German-speaking area of ​​Belgium (compensation state) and Luxembourg.

In the "Black Plan", Germany's goal for the western border was only to recover the compensation states, then annex Luxembourg, and then take back some of the Lorraine iron ore areas bordering Luxembourg.

In addition, Germany also hopes to resolve the issues of the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain. The two treaties should be completely voided, and Germany no longer has to pay any compensation. At the same time, Germany also wants to take back several more African colonies.

To achieve the above goals, strategic bombing of Paris and London will be the most effective method.

The Maginot Line was impossible to break, just like the Siegfried Line was impregnable. Although the German Army could avoid the defensive line by passing through Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, it seemed unlikely that the German Army would fight better than in 1914. Because there was no Maginot Line at that time, the French were unable to concentrate their forces on the northern front, and they launched a stupid offensive that ended in heavy casualties.

Now, the French, Belgians, and British were able to concentrate most of their forces in Belgium, using the rivers and fortresses there to build an impenetrable line of defense.

"Your Majesty General, the first draft of the "Black Plan" has been completed," Lieutenant Colonel Galen replied. "The first revision will be made after two war games."

Hessman took a sip of coffee and asked again: "So, how does the Bureau of Strategic Deception plan to reveal this plan to our enemies?"

"Your Excellency, General," Lieutenant Colonel Galen said, "We have been arranging for every bit of information to leak out. But it is very uncomfortable to send the outline of the entire "Black Project" to the offices of the French and British General Staffs. Easy, because they are not fools." He paused, "So we plan to achieve our goal through the Soviet Union's initiative to leak secrets. We can first hand over the general outline of the "Plan" to the Soviet Union.

Hersman raised his eyebrows, "Do you think the Soviets will betray us?"

"Yes," Lieutenant Colonel Galen frowned, "General, this is obvious... The Soviet Union only wants right-bank Ukraine and Western Belarus, and does not want to continue to follow us to fight Britain and France. Moreover, Stalin will also worry about us and Britain and France colluded, and then turned around to attack the Soviet Union, so he would definitely find ways to communicate with Britain and France to avoid declaring war, and leaking this "Plan" is obviously a good way."

Hessman nodded. It seemed that he had a very good vision and found such a talent among so many young and promising Wehrmacht officers.

Stalin will definitely leak the "Black Plan"! On the one hand, it showed that it had no intention of becoming an enemy of Britain and France - the Soviet Union just wanted to regain lost ground; on the other hand, it also told Britain and France that Germany also did not want to break with them. Therefore, they had better adopt a neutral and wait-and-see attitude and watch Poland be defeated by the Soviet Union.

"What a great idea!" Hessman said approvingly, "Lieutenant Colonel Galen, you have solved a big problem for me... Maybe after they (referring to Britain and France) see the "Black Plan", they will really betray Poland. !”