Chapter 247 Surprise Attack 2

Maxim Maximovich Litvinov lived in London for a long time when he was young and married the daughter of a wealthy British Jewish businessman. Therefore, he was considered a "pro-British faction" within the Soviet Bolsheviks. When Stalin was ready to move closer to the West, he would be important. When Stalin was ready to unite with Germany, he lost his position as the People's Commissar of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and his position as a member of the Central Committee.

However, he was only "hidden" rather than "purged" because Stalin still had time to use him.

For example, today, September 3, 1939, he flew all the way from Moscow to London - as a secret envoy of the great Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

On the way to Whitehall Street, Litvinov found that this city he was very familiar with was full of gunpowder. Although Britain has not declared war on Germany, everyone knows that the war will break out soon because London has begun to deploy air defense.

There are many white balloons floating in the gray sky, which are large and high, tied to trucks on the ground with steel wire ropes. This is an anti-aircraft balloon. It would be bad if the plane accidentally hits it. This balloon can defend against low-altitude bombing by enemy aircraft.

Anti-aircraft gun positions are also being arranged. Old 3-inch anti-aircraft guns are set up in open squares, and new 3.7-inch anti-aircraft guns are set up in more important places such as airports and docks.

In addition, Litvinov also saw firefighters conducting exercises, many buildings were being reinforced or demolished, and cross-shaped tape was being pasted on glass windows.

Obviously, the British are very worried that their capital will be bombed by German planes!

But as far as Litvinov knows, the Germans have no plans to attack Britain at present. Their navy is too weak. Once a war with Britain means that sea traffic will be cut off, so the Germans have always planned to bring the Soviet Union to deter Britain and France.

Therefore, London's current air defense preparations can only mean one thing-Britain will soon declare war on Germany, and France will definitely follow suit.

The Polish-German War will soon become a world war between imperialisms! And the Soviet Union, a peace-loving socialist country, has no reason to intervene in the imperialist war. The Soviet Union's goal is only to take back the land that originally belonged to the Soviet people, including Ukraine, the Baltics, Lithuania, and perhaps Finland...

"Mr. Minister," Litvinov met with British Foreign Secretary Viscount Halifax on Whitehall Street and made no secret of the Soviet Union's views. He said, "I think you are very clear about this. The current Soviet-Polish border was imposed on the Soviet Union by Poland, which took advantage of the Soviet-Russian civil war to launch an aggressive war. This is unacceptable to the 160 million Soviet people and must be corrected!"

Viscount Halifax looked at the Soviet envoy who flew from Moscow in a hurry - a secret envoy, and guessed Stalin's intentions in his heart.

This red tsar is obviously more greedy and shameless than any Russian tsar in history! The whole world knows that Germany is an ally of the Soviet Union and the two countries have a 20-year friendship. Without Germany's help, the Soviet Union would never have become the world's fourth (Britain believes they are the world's third) industrialized country in such a short time. And without the help of the Soviet Union, Germany would also not have been able to build such a huge military force.

But now, facing the alliance of Britain, France and Poland, the GCist Tsar was afraid and wanted to sell out Germany. It seemed that the Germans would soon lose the war and they had no chance.

"This is indeed a mistake," Viscount Halifax said with a smile, "but any unilateral change to the status quo is also a huge mistake. As Poland's ally, Britain will not sit idly by."

The statement is quite tough!

Litvinov thought: The casualties and results announced by the Germans on September 2 seemed to be very exaggerated - this was also the opinion of the General Staff of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army to the political bureau after research.

The Germans deliberately exaggerated the victory and concealed the losses, with the aim of prompting the Soviet Union to join the war as soon as possible.

"Wasn't Poland's invasion a unilateral change to the status quo?" Litvinov's tone had already sunk. Although the political bureau hopes to "peacefully recover" the right bank of Ukraine, in the case of slim hope of "peaceful recovery", the use of force is an inevitable choice.

"The Soviet Union loves peace, but that doesn't mean it will give up our land for peace!" Litvinov pointed out, "Poland is now being attacked by Germany, an ally of the Soviet Union. If the Soviet Union joins the war at this time and attacks with Germany, then Poland's demise is inevitable."

"Poland will not perish!" Viscount Halifax said, "This is a brave nation, and it also has powerful allies like Britain and France. The alliance of Britain, France, Poland and perhaps Italy is invincible!"

The Italian leader Mussolini gave a speech in Rome on the day Germany invaded Poland, condemning Germany's atrocities, supporting the Polish people, and announced in a high-profile manner that he would send 10 divisions to the German-Italian border.

Of course, the Italian leader was paid for his four-hour speech on the balcony of the Venice Palace in Rome - four tankers loaded with Iraqi oil were sailing to Italy through the Suez Canal. This Iraqi oil was given to the leader for free by the British government as his appearance fee for the speech, which was about 42,000 tons. The leader's appearance fee for one hour exceeded 10,000 tons of oil, which was quite expensive!

"The Soviet Union's sovereignty over Right-Bank Ukraine is indisputable," Litvinov said. "If we cannot achieve our goal through peaceful means, then the Soviet Red Army will liberate Right-Bank Ukraine! We will fight with our German allies, even if the opponents are Britain, France and Italy!"

It seems that the Soviets are determined to take over Right-Bank Ukraine!

Viscount Halifax has figured out the Soviet Union's bottom line, and his attitude immediately softened. "Mr. Envoy, we only oppose unilateral use of force to change the status quo, just like Germany's invasion of Poland, which is not allowed. But we do not oppose the Soviet Union to obtain sovereignty over Right-Bank Ukraine through friendly negotiations with Poland."

"Negotiations?" Litvinov asked, "When will it start and how long will it take?"

Viscount Halifax laughed, "Mr. Envoy, I don't know when we can talk now and how long it will take. Because I am not the Polish Foreign Minister. But I can assure you that the Soviet Union can definitely achieve its goals through negotiations."

Litvinov nodded, without comment.

Viscount Halifax added, "We need some time to convince Poland. I think the first round of negotiations can be held at the Warsaw Castle on October 1." He paused, "Before that, I think the Soviet Union should fully show goodwill to Poland."

"Goodwill?" Litvinov realized that Viscount Halifax wanted the Soviet Union and Germany to dissolve their alliance, and he immediately shook his head, "There is no goodwill to be shown to Poland! They are being attacked by Germany, and if they want to survive, they must make concessions to the Soviet Union! I hope to correct the mistakes about the right-bank Ukraine before October 6."

The Soviet Bolshevik Party and Government Bureau gave Poland the last date of October 10, and the brilliant diplomat Litvinov cut off another 4 days. But at this moment, he would never have thought that the negotiations on October 6 would not be possible at all, because Warsaw would have been the world of the Germans by then.

...

An hour after the meeting between Viscount Halifax and Litvinov, an ultimatum from the British Empire was placed in front of the German Empire leader and Prime Minister, His Excellency Adolf Hitler.

The British Empire demanded that Germany provide a guarantee of an armistice within 2 hours, otherwise Britain and Germany would be at war!

The British ambassador read out the ultimatum in front of Hitler, Hermann Goering, who was discussing the "Uranium Project Investment Plan" with Hitler at the Chancellery, and Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, who accompanied the British ambassador. Hitler's secretary Himid translated it on the spot.

After reading the ultimatum, the British ambassador nodded to Hitler very gentlemanly, and then left. Only Hitler, Goering and Ribbentrop were left dumbfounded.

This time, unlike the military that had been prepared to go to war with Britain (in fact, things were a bit beyond the expectations of the military bosses. The Soviet Union, an ally for 20 years, actually betrayed Germany at a critical moment), Adolf Hitler had been thinking about avoiding war with Britain and France.

Because in his opinion, Germany and Britain did not have a conflict of interests that would never end - Germany is a continental country, and Britain is a maritime country. Germany dominated Europe, and Britain dominated the ocean. Two countries that were very similar in blood could jointly dominate the world...

After a while, Goering was the first to come to his senses. He turned around and said to Hitler: "If we lose this war, then God, Britain, forgive us."

Hitler glanced at the fat man and said nothing. At this time, the phone on the desk rang. Himid picked up the phone receiver and heard the voice of Defense Minister Marshal Schleicher.

"Leader, it's the Minister of Defense calling."

Hitler took the receiver and said, "Marshal, Britain has just handed in an ultimatum, and now we may have to go to war on two fronts!"

Marshal Schleicher on the other end of the phone was very calm, "Leader, I'm calling you for this matter. The Wehrmacht hopes that the government can immediately reject the ultimatum and declare war on Britain, so that we can defeat Britain before dinner tonight."

"What?" Hitler was stunned, "Before dinner tonight? Marshal, you are not kidding?"

"No, of course not. 280 bombers and torpedo bombers (due to unfinished production tasks and participation in the Polish war, the number of aircraft dispatched is dozens less than originally planned) are ready at the Wilhelmshaven Naval Airport. According to accurate intelligence, the main force of the British Home Fleet is currently concentrated in Scapa Flow and is on low alert. If war is declared now, the British Home Fleet will be paralyzed in three hours!"