Maxim. Maksimovich. As a young man, Litvinov lived in London for a long time and married the daughter of a wealthy British Jewish merchant. Thus considered a "pro-British" within the Soviet Bolsheviks, he would have gained importance when Stalin was ready to move closer to the West. And when Stalin was preparing to unite Germany, he lost the post of People's Commissar of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the status of Commissar of the Central Commissar.

But he was only "hidden" and not "purged", because Stalin still had time to use him.

Today, for example, September 3, 1939, he flew thousands of miles from Moscow to London -- as the great leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Brown. Stalin's secret envoy.

On his way to Whitehall Street, Litvinov noticed that the city, which he knew so well, was already full of gunpowder. Although Britain had not yet declared war on Germany, everyone knew that war was about to break out, because London had already begun to deploy air defenses.

There were quite a few white balloons floating in the gray sky, large, very high, tied to the top of the truck on the ground with wire ropes. It's an air-proof balloon, and if the plane accidentally hits it, it's terrible. Such balloons provide protection against low-altitude bombardment by enemy aircraft.

Antiaircraft artillery positions are also being arranged, outdated 3-inch antiaircraft guns have been erected in open squares, and new 3.7-inch antiaircraft guns have been erected in airports and docks.

In addition, Litvinov also saw firefighters conducting drills, many buildings were being reinforced or demolished, and rice shaped tape began to be applied to the glass windows.

Apparently, the British were very worried about the bombing of their capital by German planes!

However, as far as Litvinov knew, the Germans had no intention of attacking Britain at present. Their navy was too weak, and a war with Britain would mean that sea communications would be cut off, so the Germans had always been planning to pull in the Soviet Union to deter Britain and France.

Therefore, the air defense preparations in London now can only say one thing - Britain will soon declare war on Germany, and France will definitely follow.

The Polish-German war will soon turn into an inter-imperialist world war! And the Soviet Union, a peace-loving socialist country, had absolutely no reason to intervene in the imperialist war. The aim of the Soviet Union was only to recover the lands that belonged to the Soviet people, including Ukraine, the Baltics, Lithuania, and perhaps Finland......

"Mr. Chancellor," said Litvinov, who met with the British Foreign Secretary, Viscount Halifax, on Whitehall Street, and made no secret of the Soviet point of view. He said, "I think you are well aware of this, the current Soviet-Polish border was imposed on the Soviet Union by Poland, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Soviet-Russian civil war to wage a war of aggression. This was unacceptable to the 160 million Soviet people and must be corrected! ”

Viscount Halifax looked at the Soviet envoy who had flown from Moscow in a hurry, a secret envoy, and wondered in his heart about Stalin's intentions.

This Red Tsar was clearly 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 friendship of 20 years. Without the help of Germany, the USSR simply could not have become the fourth industrialized country in the world (Britain considered themselves the third in the world) in such a short time. And without the help of the Soviet Union, Germany would not have been able to build such a large military force.

But now, in the face of the Anglo-French-Polish alliance, the GCIST tsar was frightened and wanted to betray Germany. It seemed that the Germans were going to lose the war soon, and they had no chance.

"This is indeed a mistake," said Viscount Halifax with a smile, "but any unilateral change of the status quo would also be a huge mistake, and Britain, as an ally of Poland, would not sit idly by." ”

It's quite tough!

Litvinov thought to himself: The casualties and losses and the results of the battle announced by the Germans on September 2 seem to have a great deal of water -- this is also the opinion of the General Staff of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army to the Political Bureau after studying it.

The Germans deliberately exaggerated the victories and concealed the losses, in order to push the Soviet Union into the war as soon as possible.

"Wasn't the invasion of Poland a unilateral change in the status quo?" Litvinov's tone was already softened. Although the political situation hopes for the "peaceful recovery" of right-bank Ukraine, in the absence of hope for a "peaceful recovery", the use of force is inevitable.

"The Soviet Union loves peace, but it does not mean that it will give up the land that belongs to us for the sake of peace!" Litvinov noted that "Poland is now being attacked by Germany, an ally of the Soviet Union, and if the Soviet Union enters the war at this time, attacking with Germany, then the demise of Poland is inevitable." ”

"Poland will not perish!" "It's a brave people, and it has such strong allies as Britain and France," said Viscount Halifax. The alliance of England, France, Poland and possibly Italy, is invincible! ”

Italian leader Benito Mussolini delivered a speech in Rome on the day of the German invasion of Poland, condemning German atrocities, showing solidarity with the Polish people, and announcing that he would send 10 divisions to the German-Italian border.

Of course, the Italian leader was paid to speak for four hours on the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia in Rome - four oil tankers laden with Iraqi oil were heading to Italy through the Suez Canal. The Iraqi oil was given to the leader by the British government for free, and about 42,000 tons were paid for his appearances in his speeches. The leader's appearance fee in one hour is more than 10,000 tons of oil, which is still quite expensive!

"The sovereignty of the USSR over right-bank Ukraine is indisputable," Litvinov said, "and if we cannot achieve our ends by peaceful means, then the Soviet Red Army will liberate right-bank Ukraine!" We will fight with our German allies, even if the opponents are England, France and Italy! ”

It seems that the Soviets are determined to take right-bank Ukraine!

Viscount Halifax had already figured out the cards of the Soviet Union, and his attitude immediately softened, "Mr. Special Envoy, we are only against unilateral use of force to change the status quo, just like the German invasion of Poland, which is not allowed. However, we have no objection to the Soviet Union's acquisition of 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. Special Envoy, I don't know now when we can talk or how long we need to talk. Because I am not the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland. But I can assure you that the USSR will certainly be able to achieve its goals through negotiations. ”

Litvinov nodded, noncommittal.

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

"Goodwill?" Realizing that Viscount Halifax wanted the USSR and Germany to break off the alliance, Litvinov immediately shook his head, "There is no goodwill to release to Poland!" They were being attacked by Germany, and if they wanted to survive, they had to make concessions to the USSR! I hope that the mistake about right-bank Ukraine can be corrected by October 6. ”

The last time given to Poland by the Bolshevik Party and Government Bureau of the Soviet Union was October 10, and the clever diplomat Litvinov pinched off another four days. However, at this moment he could never have imagined that the negotiations on October 6 would not have been possible, because Warsaw had long been under the control of the Germans.

……

An hour after the meeting between Viscount Halifax and Litvinov, an ultimatum of the British Empire was put in place for the leader and chancellor of the German Empire, Adolf Brown. In front of His Excellency Hitler.

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

The British ambassador was in front of Hitler and Hermann, who was discussing the "uranium engineering investment plan" with Hitler at the Chancellery. Goering, as well as Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, who accompanied the British ambassador, read out the ultimatum in front of him, which was translated live by Hitler's secretary Himed.

After reading the ultimatum, the British ambassador nodded very gentlemanly at Hitler and walked away. Only Hitler, Goering, and Ribbentrop were left as the three "culprits" who were stunned.

This time, unlike the military, which had long been preparing for war with Britain (in fact, things were also a bit unexpected by the military bosses, and the Soviet Union, an ally of 20 years, actually betrayed Germany at a critical moment), Adolf. Hitler had always played the idea of avoiding war with Britain and France.

For in his view, there was no constant conflict of interests between Germany and Great Britain - Germany was a continental country, and Britain was a maritime country. Germany dominates Europe, Britain dominates the oceans. Two countries that are very similar in blood can jointly dominate the world......

After some time, Goering was the first to come to his senses, and he turned to Hitler and said, "If we lose this war, then God Britain will forgive us." ”

Hitler glanced at the fat man and did not speak. At this moment, the telephone on the desk rang, Himid picked up the receiver, and the voice of the Minister of Defense, Field Marshal Schleicher, came from inside.

"Leader, it's the call of the Secretary of Defense."

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!" ”

Field Marshal Schleicher on the other end of the line was very calm, "Leader, it is for this matter that I am calling, and the Wehrmacht hopes that the government can immediately reject the ultimatum and declare war on Britain, so that we can defeat Britain before dinner today." ”

"What?" Hitler was stunned for a moment, "Before dinner today?" Marshal, you're not kidding, are you? ”

"No, of course not. 280 bombers and torpedo bombers (dozens of fewer aircraft than originally planned due to the failure of the production mission and participation in the Polish war) were already ready at the Wilhelmshaven naval airfield, and according to accurate information, the main forces of the British Home Fleet were currently anchored in Scarpa Bay and were on loose alert. If war is declared now, in 3 hours, the British Home Fleet will be paralyzed! (To be continued.) )