The Rise of the Third Reich

"Hello, I am Lieutenant Colonel Harold Alexander from the Allied Mission to Poland."

In the conference room of Tombea Palace, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander, who looked quite gentlemanly, greeted Hessmann in German in a very gentle tone. He also took the initiative to shake hands with Hessman and seemed very friendly.

And Hirschmann said in fluent English: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig von Hirschmann, a representative of the German People's Committee."

"People's Committee?" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander raised his eyebrows. "I think this is a government that temporarily represents Germany?"

"A government representing Germany?" Hessmann shook his head and looked at Lieutenant Colonel Alexander, "There is no such government, and there will be none after November 9!"

"There will be. I know you are preparing to hold the National Assembly election on January 19." Lieutenant Colonel Alexander said, "By then there will be a government that can truly represent Germany."

"This reminds me of the Russian Constituent Assembly elections!" Hersman said in a gloomy tone.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander frowned. This German officer was quite pessimistic about the situation in Germany.

Alexander asked again: "You are soldiers of the country, shouldn't you obey the legal government?"

"We are the emperor's army! We swear allegiance to the emperor, not to the People's Committee or some other committee!"

Hersmann's answer surprised Alexander, "But now there is no emperor in Germany..."

"Yes, no more!"

"Then to whom do you owe allegiance?"

"No one!" Hessman paused, "In other words, any possibility exists."

"Any possibility?" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander was stunned. "Could it also include loyalty to the Bolsheviks?"

"Yes!" Hessman said, "Actually, I knew Lenin, before the October Revolution... If I wanted to serve him, he would give me a very good treatment."

"What?" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander was stunned again and again, "I assume you are not a Junker officer?"

"I'm actually a Junker officer, I've been with the Grosslichfeld barracks since I was nine years old."

Hessmann sighed softly and said: "But I also want to live... I know you will not allow Germany to maintain a strong army after the war. Where can an officer like me go? I can only lead troops to fight, There are no other skills. So now many people in the German army are looking for a way out. Some retired officers have been hired by Her Majesty the Grand Duchess and have found jobs in the Courland Defense Force, and some have retired and gone to Hungary... …”

"But this is a violation of the Compiègne Forest Armistice Agreement!" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander pointed out in a rather stern tone. "All German servicemen must leave the Baltic...whether he is on active duty or in reserve!"

Hersman said in a sad tone: "But there are many such people. As far as I know, there are more than 30,000. The backbone of the Courland Defense Force is retired German soldiers. They have participated in many bloody battles." The elites who fight fiercely are the best soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel, where can you let them go? "

"You can go anywhere, but you can't violate the agreement!" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander said. "I will report this to the Allies!"

"Anywhere?" Hessmann asked with a sneer, "Like Admiral Brusilov?"

Upon hearing this name, the expressions of the Grand Duchess Olga and the Belarusian General Yudenich who were present changed drastically at the same time. General Brusilov was the Russian general who commanded Kerensky's offensive. Although Kerensky's offensive was a huge failure, no one in Russia doubted Brusilov's military ability. Several commendable Russian victories in the world war were all fought under his command.

And now, this outstanding Russian strategist and nearly 30,000 other former Tsarist Russian officers are fighting for the Bolsheviks! Even the Tsarist Majesty's generals like General Brusilov could defect to the Bolsheviks, why couldn't the Courland Defense Forces?

"I will soon become the Empress of Russia. Do I need to look at the British attitude when hiring someone as a military adviser?" The Grand Duchess, still wearing a military uniform, had a gloomy face and interrupted the conversation between Hessman and Alexander. "And the Armistice of Compiegne is of no use to the Russian Empire."

"Your Highness," Commander Alexander reminded. "Your status has not yet been recognized by the Allies..."

"What? What does it mean to be recognized by the Allied Powers?" The Grand Duchess said in a cold tone, "Isn't our Russian Empire a member of the Allied Powers? You, the British, no longer regard the Russian Empire as a member of the Allied Powers?"

This is indeed a problem! Lieutenant Colonel Alexander thought to himself: If the Russian Empire is recognized as still a member of the Allied Powers, then Russian representatives will be invited to the peace conference to be held in Paris... There will be one more country to divide the fruits of victory, including the Polish issue, the Balkan issue, and Turkey. The question will become a big trouble - if the Russian Empire is recognized as a victorious power, can Russian Poland still be independent?

And before the world war, in order to win over Russia, Britain and France were committed to Russia on the Balkans and Constantinople issues! Can you now turn your back and refuse to admit it? Even if you want to default on your debt, you still have to give some compensation to the Russian Empire, right? For example, more compensation points or something...

What worries Britain and France even more is that in order to gain German support for their civil war, the Russian Imperial Government is very likely to adopt a policy of harboring Germany at the peace conference!

"Your Highness, I think you should know the "Fourteen Points of Peace" (now a principle). This is the basis for holding a peace conference." Lieutenant Colonel Alexander could not respond directly and could only talk about him left and right. But as soon as he said this, he knew that he had made a mistake.

Sure enough, the Grand Duchess stood up suddenly and looked at Lieutenant Colonel Alexander with cold eyes: "I have read President Wilson's fourteen fallacies! The sixth one said: Foreign troops withdraw from Russia and ensure that Russia independently determines its Political development and national policy, welcome it to enter the society of a free country under the system of its own choice! Since foreign troops are all withdrawing, when will the British, American, French and Japanese troops withdraw from Russia? "

Foreign troops refer only to Germany! Lieutenant Colonel Alexander wanted to answer this.

"Your Highness, our troops are here to help the legitimate Russian government." Lieutenant Colonel Alexander told lies that he did not even believe.

"Okay then," Admiral Yudenich, who participated in the meeting, immediately took over the topic, "We have gathered 200,000 people in the Baltics (I am boasting, there are actually not that many), you can send tens of thousands more to carry Come with the artillery troops and provide enough munitions so that we can take back Petrograd next spring!"

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander sighed inwardly. He knew he wouldn't get anything in Tallinn! The Grand Duchess is very angry that Britain, France and the United States are still unwilling to recognize her status, and Yudenich and other White Russians want to recapture Petrograd as soon as possible - if you count the 100,000 German defense troops and the assistance provided by Britain, France and the United States, They probably have such power!

But Britain and France will not support them in doing this... because they cannot recognize Olga as the Empress of Russia before the treaty with Germany is signed. In this way, there will be no strong military assistance.

"Your Highness," Lieutenant Colonel Alexander quickly stood up, "I would like to remind you at the end that the Allies will only consider recognizing your status if you expel the German military personnel in the Baltic first."

"I don't need your recognition!" Olga said, "After the funeral, I will be crowned Empress of the Russian Empire in the Olevest Cathedral!"

The conversation ended unhappily. This result was something Hersman had not expected - he originally thought that Britain, France and the United States would at least recognize Olga's status. After all, she had the unanimous support of the main Belarusian generals. If there is anyone in Russia who can compete with Lenin, it is her, the legal heir of the Romanov dynasty.

However, Britain, France and the United States were stuck on this most basic issue...and they were still fighting against Olga after Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich, Semyonov and others all pledged their allegiance to Olga. objected to its status.

This is tantamount to telling the whole world that Britain, France, and the United States do not support the restoration of Tsarist Russia!