Yozev. Clemens. Pilsudski was a great Pole, and he seemed to have a knack for the future - on a par with Hersmann! As early as 1908, the European war was encountered, so a secret military alliance was created, of course, against Russia. With the support of Austria-Hungary, it was reorganized into a legal rifle league and became a school for the training of Polish officers. During the Great War, because he met that Russia would be defeated by Germany and Austria, he organized 3 brigades of Polish Corps to fight against Russia, and he made great achievements. Having won Poland's independence, he himself became Minister of Military Affairs of the newly formed Council of State. However, after the defeat of Russia, he refused to take allegiance to Germany and Austria to participate in the war on the Western Front, preferring to go to Magdeburg to prison. Because he expected the defeat of Germany and Austria, Poland must not go to war with Britain and France......

In the center of Fort Madger, in a high-security cell guarded on all sides by high walls and moats, Hersman and Rosenberg were ushered into a deserted, windowless office with a dilapidated desk and three chairs. Hersman and Rosenberg each sat one and one was left empty across from them.

The door opened. A German soldier wearing a steel helmet and armed with a pistol at his waist stepped in on a heavy step valve and saluted at Hersmann with a click. A man of about 50 years of age, wearing an old military uniform without a collar badge or a charter, with thick eyebrows and a messy mustache, and very sharp eyes, strode in. Behind him was a 2nd lieutenant in his forties, who was somewhat fat, and also saluted Hersman, and then pointed to the man who was strutting and said, "Major, he is General Pilsudski." ”

Pilsudski had sat down at this time, as if this was not a prison, but his headquarters.

"Mr. Pilsudski, life in Fort Madgar is a happy life, isn't it?" Hersman said.

Pilsudski looked at the young major in front of him with some surprise - it was not easy to be promoted in the German army, and majors in their twenties were very rare, and most of them had some origins.

Hersman then waved at the second lieutenant and the guard: "Get out, General Pilsudski will not take the opportunity to escape, even if the prison gate is opened, he will not leave." ”

"I'm in jail, not on vacation, Major!" Pilsudski spoke in a majestic tone, and he spoke German very standardly.

The second lieutenant said to Hersman, "Major, the guards and I are outside, and when you finish talking to the prisoner, just shout." ”

With that, he left with the guards. After the door closed, Hersmann smiled at Pilsudski: "General, just squat in prison, the French and the British already know your attitude, and there is no need to keep squatting." ”

Pilsudski snorted: "I will not agree to let the Polish army go to the Western Front to die!" ”

"I agree with that," Hirschman laughed, "and the Poles should go to the Eastern Front, not to the Western Front......"

"The war on the Eastern Front is over!"

"It's the end for Germany, but it's not over for Poland."

Pilsudski was stunned for a moment, squinted his eyes and looked at Hersmann: "Who is Poland going to fight with?" ”

"Who else? Russia, Soviet Russia, of course! "Isn't your ideal to create a federal state led by Poland, including Ukraine, Belarus, and the southern shores of the Baltic Sea?" Now Belarus and Ukraine are in the hands of Soviet Russia. ”

In my heart, Pilsudski was actually a figure similar to Hitler, and he had a dream of a great power. Hitler wanted Germany to dominate the entire European continent, including the European part of the Soviet Union, while Pilsudski dreamed of restoring the boundaries of Poland's heyday in history. And the strength in the hands of both of them is a bit insufficient, and in addition, they have faced the dilemma of fighting on two fronts in history.

Pilsudski looked at Hersmann with a blank expression, as if analyzing Hersmann's words.

After a while, Pilsudski spoke: "But Poland and the southern shore of the Baltic Sea are still in the hands of you Germans, and I am only a prisoner with nothing." ”

"It's amazing to have nothing and dream of snatching land from two European powers!"

"What the hell do you want to say, Major?" Pilsudski asked with a frown.

Hersmann shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I think you also know that the German Empire is currently facing an unprecedented predicament...... As for the reason, you must know very well. ”

Pilsudski nodded, Germany's dilemma was to fight on two fronts, and the enemies it faced were all powerful countries.

Hersman went on to say: "In January, President Woodrow . . . Johnson announced the Fourteen Points Peace Terms, Article 13 of which was directed against Poland. Mr. Pilsudski, you should know, right? ”

"Yes."

"to re-establish an independent Poland with access to the sea, guaranteeing its political and economic independence and territorial integrity by international treaty...... How beautiful and seductive! What do you think, Mr. Bissky? ”

“……”

"In your mind, where is Poland's outlet to the sea in the future? Danzig, or Riga? ”

"Riga? If I'm not mistaken, it belongs to the future United Duchy of the Baltics, right? Pilsudski said slowly. In his mind, Poland's ideal outlet to the sea was, of course, in Danzig, and preferably in the annexation of all of West Prussia, Silesia, and Galicia, now part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In this way, a Polish nation-state with Russian Poland as the core could be formed, and then based on this Poland, with the support of Britain and France, it would move eastward and annex part of the territory of Russia.

Hersmann, however, proposed a plan to move Poland as a whole eastward - of course, this was only one of many in the "gray plan".

Hersman sighed deeply. "The current situation is extremely dangerous for Germany, and it is obviously unrealistic to want to keep the entire Baltic region and Lithuania......"

In Hersman's opinion, even the United Principalities of the Baltic were a bit too big - there were more than 2 million Estonians and Latvians there. A defeated German nation certainly had no way to assimilate them. Therefore, in the "Gray Plan", Hersmann planned the creation of a German-majority Courland Autonomous State as the foundation of the Baltic Germans. The Baltic Germans and the Germans who had emigrated from Russia were the main nations, occupying Courland and Livland, with their capital at Riga.

The Courland Autonomous State will be highly autonomous, with its own government, parliament and defence forces, but it will not be an independent state. Either form a federation with Estonia and install a monarch acceptable to Britain and France, or form a federation with Poland - hide under someone else's big tree and enjoy the shade, and get through the confusion on the side of the Entente.

"As attractive as it sounds, the Polish Confederation became a wall separating Germany from Soviet Russia. In this way, after Germany loses the war, there will be at least a relatively safe eastern border. However, this plan is also beneficial to our Poland, and I can accept it, and I can also persuade the Polish Provisional Council of State. But...... We Poles cannot participate in the operation on the Western Front, this is our bottom line! ”

Pilsudski could have guessed Hersmann's intentions without even analyzing—only partially, of course. Pilsudski certainly did not think that Hersmann wanted to "make" a Poland stronger than it was in history to make the Soviet-German alliance stronger...... As for whether Pilsudski would treacherously bite Germany after Germany's defeat, Hersmann didn't care at all. Anyway, as long as the big ** can play a good villain that makes both the Soviet Union and Germany hate it to the core.

Of course, the joining of this Courland state into the Baltic Federation was only a last resort! In Hersman's plan, a union of the Courland Autonomous State and Estonia was preferred. In order to satisfy the demands of the Fourteen Points of Peace for Poland's access to the sea, Hersmann planned to hand over Liepaja, which belonged to Courland, to Poland - a plan that would be implemented only if the Polo renounced his territorial claims to West Prussia. For the future of the Courland Autonomous State, Hersman has prepared several plans to deal with it.

――

Ask for collections, ask for recommendations