The Rise of the Third Reich

De Gaulle, or rather the "key defense" plan proposed by the French Army General Staff, was actually to defend and trap a few major cities.

Specifically, heavy troops are guarding the four cities of Brest, Pinsk, Kiev and Lviv. Due to the annexation of Ukraine and Lithuania on the right bank, the border line between the current Polish Federation and the Soviet Union is long and winding, exceeding 2,000 kilometers! It is obviously unrealistic to deploy defenses across the board. Even the Piłsudski Line of Defense, which was built in the 1920s, only focused on defending the Ukrainian area on the right bank, while also deploying defenses in important cities in Western Belarus and Lithuania.

Among the suggestions put forward by de Gaulle, the defenses on Poland's eastern front were further reduced in order to save troops and at the same time allow each fortified city to allocate enough troops.

"Brest, Pinsk, Kiev and Lviv should be fortified," said Charles de Gaulle, "and reserve enough food and ammunition to be ready to hold on for 12 months. And each fortified city should be focused on Cities should have sufficient troops, at least five non-mobile infantry divisions, equipped with a sufficient number of artillery, and fully mobilized militia."

In today's Poland, artillery is not scarce, and there is no shortage of soldiers - especially in the Ukrainian Free State, even mobilization can be omitted!

Because within two decades after the collapse of Tsarist Russia, the Ukrainian nation and the Russian nation have transformed from brothers to mortal enemies today. During the process of Ukraine's secession from Russia (Soviet Russia) on the right bank, the Ukrainians carried out a purge of the Russians on the right bank - first massacre, and then after the protest of Queen Olga, it was changed to expulsion, but there were still many people in the expulsion process. Old people and children die!

Then, it was the Soviet Union’s turn to attack the Ukrainians in Eastern Ukraine! During the "Three Difficult Periods" of 1929, 1930, and 1931, left-bank Ukraine became a hell, and millions of Ukrainians starved to death. Moreover, the Soviet authorities prohibited them from escaping to right-bank Ukraine, and did not allow them to leave the Commonwealth of Poland. Ukrainians in the territory support their compatriots…

Moreover, in the twenty years since right-bank Ukraine and Western Ukraine merged into the Ukrainian Free State, the Ukrainians there have lived quite comfortably - the land is fertile, the resources are rich, the population is not large, and the land has been equally divided, so life will be difficult no matter how hard it is. Strange.

Therefore, in the Ukrainian Free State, no Ukrainian is looking forward to liberation by the Soviet Red Army.

Once the Soviet army invaded, the Ukrainian Free State could easily organize millions of people to fight.

However, the Poles are not at ease with the Ukrainians and do not dare to over-arm them before the Soviet invasion, otherwise the Ukrainian Free State is likely to become the Ukrainian Republic!

In addition, Ukrainians, especially those in Western Ukraine (Eastern Galicia), have a favorable impression of the Germans.

Because they were all originally subjects of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, if they were free to choose to be "Germans", "Poles" or "Soviet", they would definitely shout "Long Live the Emperor" happily.

Therefore, the Polish government does not dare to allow too many Ukrainians to participate in the battle on the Western Front - the best policy is to use Ukrainians to defend Ukraine.

A similar situation also occurred in Lithuania. The Lithuanians were forced to join the Polish Federation, and they did not like the Russians either. If there is no way to be independent, it is better to be German than Polish. In fact, in the past twenty years, many Lithuanians immigrated to the Baltics and integrated with the Baltic Germans.

Therefore, in the plans of the French and Poles, Lithuania, except for Vilnius where the Poles live, is ready to "temporarily give up".

However, in the plan now proposed by Charles de Gaulle, even Vilnius must be given up. Because it is unrealistic to mobilize Lithuanian troops to defend the city, and putting Polish troops there would be a waste of troops.

"As for Lithuania, we see no need to deploy other forces than the Lithuanian Defense Forces," Charles de Gaulle said. "Vilnius should become an undefended city."

Edward Rez-Khimigwi, who was wearing the uniform of the Polish Marshal, nodded his bald head, which was regarded as approval of the strategy of temporarily abandoning Lithuania.

"Lithuania must give up, but... how long can the Eastern Front be delayed?" He asked with some worry, "Is it possible for the Soviet Union to bypass the Brest Fortress and march directly into the hinterland of Poland?"

"The possibility is very small," General Gamelin replied. "This is not in the interests of the Soviet Union. Their goal is Ukraine, not to help the Germans defeat Poland as soon as possible. For them, the sooner the Ukrainian war is over, the better , and the longer the war between Poland and Germany is delayed, the better.”

This is the result of more than ten years of research by the French Army General Staff. It is absolutely reliable! And, the reverse is also true. The Germans also hope to settle Poland as soon as possible, and then let the Soviets slowly gnaw on the hard nut of Ukraine.

"The Ukrainians will delay the Soviet Union for us," Edward Rez-Khimigvi is not worried about this. "If French friends can support some weapons, they will definitely delay it longer."

"We not only provide weapons, but also military advisors." Gamelin said, "But the focus of this war is still on the land of the Polish Free State!" He pointed at De Gaulle, "Charles, you continue."

"Yes, General," Charles de Gaulle used the wooden stick in his hand to draw an arc on the west, north, and south sides of Poland proper on the map. "If Poland is unwilling to give up some land in order to build a defense line based on rivers, then Poland must deploy a fairly long defense line in three directions..."

"No, we can't give up that much land." Edouard Reize-Chimigwe immediately rejected de Gaulle's suggestion - which was also the suggestion of the French Army General Staff. "Poland is a powerful country. As long as the Ukrainians can hold back the Soviet Union, we Poles have no reason to be afraid of Germany. And as the general reviewer of the Polish army, I have no reason to be afraid!"

This is actually a political issue! It is determined by the high national self-confidence in Poland. Edward Rez-himigwe cannot act timidly, otherwise he will lose people's support and may be ousted by his political opponents before the war begins.

De Gaulle and Gamelin looked at each other. This situation had been expected!

"Marshal, then we can only divide our troops and deploy our defense, while retaining a strong reserve force, and retreating for a decisive battle in wartime." De Gaulle said slowly, "Since we have no way to judge the enemy's main attack direction, we can only move part of it The troops are evenly deployed on the front line, and sufficient reserves are reserved. The reserves should include powerful cavalry groups and mechanized groups to ensure that they can quickly move to the decisive battlefield. "

"Mechanized cluster?" Edward Rez-Chimigwi knew the theory of mechanized warfare, but the degree of mechanization of the Polish army was very low.

De Gaulle said: "It can be composed of 5 tank battalions and 2 motorized brigades. Poland currently has more than 100 7TP tanks and has also ordered 75 R-35 tanks. If production is stepped up, there is hope that 7TP tanks will be added next spring To about 200 units, plus 75 R-35 tanks, you can form 5 tank battalions. You can combine them with your two motorized brigades. If you add a cavalry brigade, you can form it. A powerful half-cavalry and half-mechanized strike force!"

…

"Admiral Hersman, the 12 P-class armored ships are the key to carrying out the Atlantic Breaking Engagement and must not be cancelled!"

In the Imperial Ministry of Defense conference room at 73 William Street, Admiral Raeder was losing his temper at Hessmann, who was also the chairman of the Armaments Committee.

The focus of the dispute between the two sides is the construction plan of 12 P-class armored ships. The P-class armored ship is the successor to the "Deutschland" class armored ship. In Hersman's view, it is another ironclad proof that the manufacturing level of German military ships has deteriorated!

With an unloaded displacement of nearly 20,000 tons, it is only equipped with 6 280mm main guns, 14 105-150mm secondary guns, 20 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, and 20 Oerlikon 20mm anti-aircraft guns - anti-aircraft firepower It's not weak, but the main gun's firepower is too weak! The biggest highlight of this class of armored ships, according to the Navy, is the high speed of 32 knots to 34 knots.

This allowed the P-class armored ship to throw off all battlecruisers and battleships, and its cannons were enough to defeat all British and French heavy cruisers - but Hessmann had serious doubts about this.

"By June 1939, the Navy will have 300 submarines!" Hersman shook his head repeatedly. "Among them, more than 60 submarines can perform ocean missions. Do you still need to use P-class armored ships to break the war?"

"Admiral, you don't understand naval warfare!" Marshal Redel was also a bit dumbfounded. An army general can just focus on tanks. Why should he get involved in the navy? You don’t understand.

"The results of the last war have shown that the task of blockading Britain cannot be accomplished by relying on submarines. Once the British form their transport ships and then send destroyers to escort them, the combat efficiency of the submarines will be greatly reduced. Therefore, the best way , or use multiple means at the same time. The first is submarines; the second is long-range patrol bombers; the third is to send a formation composed of two P-class armored ships and three destroyers to break into the Atlantic Ocean."

Marshal Redl said: "As long as two or three double-P-class formations break into the Atlantic Ocean, Britain's lifeline will be temporarily cut off!

And once the British's foreign trade lines are cut off, even temporarily, their factories will drastically reduce production due to lack of raw materials! Using this method to attack Britain is much more effective and safer than sending planes to bomb! If the British wanted to secure transportation lines, they would have to send out limited battleships to escort them, which would reduce their power in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. "