The Rise of the Third Reich

"Is there really no hope for a peaceful resolution?"

In the official residence of the Royal City of Berlin, the German Emperor William tried hard to hide his inner worries and asked in a low voice.

"Your Majesty, the Poles have begun to expel their compatriots from Posen, West Prussia and Silesia. The methods are very cruel and many people have been killed by them. According to the "German Empire Citizenship Law", the deceased are all citizens of the empire."

Adolf Hitler replied in an extremely annoyed tone. The Poles rejected Mussolini's peace terms on August 10 and also began to expel the western lands of Poznań (Posen) and Pomerania (West Prussia) (excluding the Danzig Freedom). German population in the city). According to the new "Citizenship Law" passed after the restoration of the Kaiser, all Germans outside Germany (Germanic or of the same ancestry as Germanic) can apply for German citizenship while retaining the nationality of the country of residence - the German Empire recognizes dual nationality . Therefore, almost all Germans living in Poland have applied for German citizenship.

In the eyes of Poles, these people with German nationality are a hidden danger to national security. So while rejecting the "Mussolini plan", the Polish government began to implement the "German expulsion plan." Hundreds of thousands of Germans, forced from their homes by Polish soldiers, were forced to leave their homes with little luggage. And all their property on Polish land will be confiscated, and those who resist will be killed!

In addition, Poland has also implemented an embargo against Germany from August 10, prohibiting the export of agricultural products to Germany, and also cutting off land transportation between the German headquarters and East Prussia and the Baltic States. All trade between the Soviet Union and Germany through Polish territory, territorial waters, and airspace has also been cut off!

These actions, especially the expulsion and killing of Polish German residents, are absolutely intolerable to the racist National Socialist Workers Party.

Therefore, Hitler announced the final solution at the cabinet meeting on August 12: launch a war against Poland!

"But both Britain and France have announced their support for Poland." The German emperor hesitated for a moment, and then glanced at the three top leaders of the German military who entered the palace with Hitler - Defense Minister Marshal Schleicher and Chief of General Staff Harbin General McStein and Deputy Chief of Staff General Hersmann.

"Your Majesty, if Britain and France dare to support the Polish sinners," Hessmann replied in a calm tone, "then next year at this time you will be the master of Versailles!"

"Ah, really?" The German Emperor heard Hessmann say this more than once. Hitler, Schleicher and Hammerstein also had calluses on their ears. But they all expressed deep doubts about this.

"Your Majesty, although Britain and France support Poland, we also have the Soviet Union here." Adolf Hitler was full of confidence. "Germany and the Soviet Union are several times larger than Britain and France in terms of population and industrial strength. Therefore, it is impossible for Britain and France to win. They only Can choose to recognize our Fourth Partition of Poland!”

"Admit it?" The German Emperor was a little confused.

"Your Majesty, the Italian leader has promised that he can mediate again after we defeat Poland." Hitler replied.

The Italian leader was not stupid enough to follow Britain and France in dealing with the Soviet Union, but chose to continue to be a European peace dove that everyone loved - in fact, the German General Staff also formulated a plan to use 5 divisions to defeat Italy!

"That's good." Emperor William has not been interested in military affairs or politics for many years. He doesn't know how powerful Germany and the Soviet Union are now, but he still understands arithmetic. The five major powers in Europe are Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union, and Italy. Now that Italy is the peacemaker, it is Britain and France versus the Soviet Union and Germany. It is impossible for the Soviet Union and Germany to be defeated, and it is impossible for Britain and France to win, so making peace is the only option.

"We must avoid being in a state of irreversible war with Britain and France." The German Emperor said earnestly.

"Your Majesty, the government's views are completely consistent with yours." Hitler said, "I have given an order to the Ministry of Defense to prohibit the bombing of British soil and the bombing of Paris."

According to the constitution, the emperor is the supreme commander of the German army, but the prime minister of the government has the "right to formulate" military policy, the Reichstag has the "right to question" (on major decision-making issues such as declaring war), and the General Staff has the "right to recommend" military policy . In theory, the General Staff should put forward feasible suggestions based on the Prime Minister's request, and then the Prime Minister should make the choice, and finally submit it to the Emperor for approval.

Therefore, Hessman, the soul of the general staff, has a lot of room to operate. For example, Hitler's order "No bombing of British soil and Paris", the original version was "No bombing of Britain and Paris". In order to implement the "Air Raid Plan for Scapa Flow", Hersmann proposed the idea of ​​"differential treatment of territorial waters and territories" and successfully muddled through.

"In this case, I agree to go to war against the Polish Federation. After the Reichstag passes the resolution to declare war, I will formally approve it." After receiving Hitler's guarantee, the German Emperor approved the request for war - at this moment, he could not even dream of it. Unexpectedly, he agreed to start a new world war.

…

The leader of Ukrainian nationalism, Simon Vasiljevich Petliura, was still alive and well in August 1939 in this time and space. Because of his defection to Poland and his outstanding performance in the Battle of Kiev (during the Soviet-Polish War), he became Prime Minister of the Ukrainian Free State supported by Piłsudski. Now he once again put on the military uniform and arrived at the Belvedere Palace in Warsaw as the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Free State Defense Forces together with his deputy, Stepan Bandera, who looked a bit like a mouse.

In a large room arranged like a war room, Petliura reported the preparations for the "Eastern Plan" to Rez Simigwi, the Polish Minister of Defense and Director of the Armed Forces, next to the map table.

The "Eastern Plan" was Poland's military plan to deal with the Soviet attack, and there was also a "Western Plan" to deal with Germany.

According to the assumptions of Polish, British and French military strategists, the upcoming war will be a "protracted war." Poland may be at a disadvantage within two or three months after the war breaks out, so it must adopt a defense-focused strategy.

Of course, focusing on defense does not mean only defending but not attacking. In fact, in the "Western Plan", a battle plan was formulated to attack northward to capture East Prussia to eliminate the northern threat. However, on the western and southwestern borders, the Polish army will still take a firm defensive position - because it is worried that Germany may seek an armistice after occupying the "lost ground", the Polish army is determined to implement the "fight for every inch of territory" in the "Western Plan" strategy.

To this end, the Polish Ministry of Defense is preparing to use most of the 44 divisions and 22 brigades that have been mobilized - 40 divisions and 21 brigades - to implement the "Western Plan". These armies have formed 7 armies and 1 tactical group, and 2 more armies (tactical groups) are being formed. They are:

1. The Coastal Army defending the Danze Corridor;

2. Modlin Army Group deployed on the Poland-East Prussia border just north of Warsaw;

3. The Poznan Army Group deployed in the Greater Poland area on the western border;

4. Army Group Lodz deployed on the left flank of Army Group Poznań;

5. The Krakow Army deployed on the right wing of the Poznan Army in the Upper Silesia region;

6. Army Group Krakow deployed on the southern border east of Army Group Krakow (including the Polish-Slovak border, mainly the Carpathian Mountains);

7. As the general reserve force of the entire army, the Prussian Army Group is mainly deployed on the second-line positions west and south of Warsaw (behind the three armies of Poznan, Lodz and Krakow);

8. On the right wing of Modlin Army Group, the Narew Tactical Group is responsible for fighting in the southeastern border area of ​​East Prussia.

These 7 armies and 1 tactical group are equipped with a total of 33 infantry divisions, 13 cavalry brigades (including 1 motorized brigade), 3 mountain brigades, 3 civil defense brigades and 1 civil defense semi-brigade.

In addition, there are 7 divisions (including 1 armored group) and 1 brigade troops deployed in Weshkov, north of Warsaw, and Lublin, on the border of the southeastern Polish Free State and the Ukrainian Free State, preparing to form two new Army group (tactical group).

The remaining four divisions and one brigade serve as the backbone of the "Eastern Plan" and are assigned to the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

"Marshal, we established the Pinsk Army with the 45th Reserve Infantry Division as the backbone; the Brest Army with the 46th Reserve Infantry Division and the Brest Fortress Brigade as the backbone; and the Kiev Group Army with the Kiev Fortress Division as the backbone. The Lviv Group Army was established with the Lviv Fortress Division as the backbone. In addition to the regular army, each group army is equipped with at least 30 city defense battalions, including 65 city defense infantry battalions and 15 in Lviv and Kiev. The city defense artillery is the backbone of the Ukrainian Defense Forces and has considerable combat effectiveness..."

Petliura reported the composition and deployment of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in a very gloomy and desperate mood - compared with the army defending Poland itself, the troops responsible for Ukraine and Western Belarus (belonging to the Polish state, but the residents are mainly Belarusian) The strength of the Ukrainian Defense Forces can only be described as insignificant.

There are only 4 "regular divisions" and 1 "regular brigade" and 140 city defense battalions (including 30 artillery battalions) plus 36 battalions of border protection troops totaling less than 200,000 people, and among those 4 divisions There are also two reserve divisions that have just been formed - although they are "reserve divisions", they are quite combat effective because the officers and soldiers are all from Ukraine. In addition, 80 of the 140 city defense battalions are composed of Ukrainians, and they will definitely exert considerable power when defending their homeland.

However, the total strength of only 200,000 troops is still too small.

"Don't worry, Mr. General (Petliura has the rank of general)." Rez-Khimigwe looked relaxed. He had already received assurances from Britain and France - once the Soviet Union and Germany declared war on Poland, British and French bombers would The Baku oil field will be blown up, so that the mechanized armies of the Soviet Union and Germany will soon be paralyzed due to lack of fuel.

The Polish Defense Minister smiled and said: "We will soon defeat Germany in the West, and then go back to fight the Soviet army. You only need to hold on for three months. Moreover, I will order the transfer of another 300,000 rifles from the warehouse , 5,000 machine guns, 500 cannons, 300 million rounds of ammunition and 1 million rounds of artillery shells for the Ukrainian Defense Forces so that you can form more troops to defend the city.”