On September 8, 1939, the whole of Europe held their breath and watched how the Netherlands, a small country rich but not strong, chose -- this was a rather difficult choice, joining the British and French sides, the Netherlands would immediately be bombed indiscriminately by Germany, not that Kaiser Wilhelm did not miss the old feelings, but that the main forces of the German army were now on the Eastern Front, and they could only rely on blowing up the roads and railways in the Netherlands to stop the advance of the powerful French army.

And join the German side, then the Netherlands will immediately be occupied by the Anglo-French forces. After that, the Dutch land is likely to become the main battlefield of the Anglo-French and German armies, just like Belgium in World War I!

By contrast, it seems that the loss of joining the side of Britain and France is even smaller - if Britain and France can really "win".

Of course, the Dutch government did not need to make a decision on September 8, because it would take a lot of time for hundreds of thousands of Anglo-French troops to prepare for the start. The early declaration of war by the Netherlands on Germany was not beneficial to the military operations of Britain and France.

However, at this time, no one in Britain, France, and the Netherlands could have imagined that a small Eastern European city called Lviv would become a key point in changing the course of the war within a few days.

And at this time in Lviv airport Theodore. Feng. Maj. Gen. Shipper and von Sharp. Colonel Stockhausen also did not expect that the airborne operation in Lviv would eventually affect the entire battle situation. They didn't even have the time to think about the big picture, because they were in trouble outside Lviv.

The airport in Lviv is in the southwest of the city and is not too far from the city. Because there is no air force, the Ukrainian defense forces stationed in Lviv do not attach importance to the airport. No heavy troops were deployed here, and as a result, the German sneak attack was successful.

After seizing the Lviv airport, the "Miuta cluster" quickly completed the deployment and deployment, and occupied part of the woodland around the airport - at this time there was a large forest around Lviv, and the original site of the Lviv airport was a forest, and the Ukrainians actually cut down an airfield and the road in and out of the airport. Such terrain is very advantageous for the "Miuta cluster", which has only light equipment.

They cut down trees on both sides of the road to Lviv, north-east and due north of the airport, blocked the road with them, laid mines and built firepower points on both sides of the road.

As soon as the deployment was completed, the Ukrainian defense forces sent a large number of infantry and horse-drawn artillery from the city of Lviv to counterattack, trying to recapture the airport. But how are these Ukrainians, who are very amateurs in the war, the elite opponents of the Wehrmacht? It was quickly routed, and the "Miss 75", who left behind a few old teeth, fled back to Lviv, and let the Germans take many prisoners.

However, the results of the interrogation of the captives surprised Shipper and Stockhausen - Lviv, the capital of the Ukrainian Free State, was now armed to the point of being armed! Almost all adult males took up arms, either in the regular army or in the guerrillas.

And all the coal mines, iron mines, oil fields, factories, railways and bridges in the Lviv region have been planted with explosives, ready to blow up in the event of an enemy invasion!

Yes, the Ukrainians are going to fight! They are ready for a scorched earth war. Even if most of the Free State of Ukraine, including Lviv and Right-Bank Ukraine, falls, the government of the Free State of Ukraine will not surrender and will move to the Carpathian Mountains, that is, the Carpathian Ukraine region that Poland received at the time of the partition of Czechoslovakia for the last resistance!

It seems that the Germans' vision of a full-fledged Lviv has completely failed! And the lone "Miuta cluster" will soon face a bloody battle!

……

"Not Russians, they are not Russians, thank God they are Germans!"

In the center of Lviv, in the basement of the Prime Minister's Office of the Free State of Ukraine, Prime Minister Petliura and several ministers who were also dressed in military uniforms breathed a sigh of relief.

The Germans are finally here!

But the German invaders are coming!

Several Ukrainian bigwigs are thinking this in their hearts.

The invasion of the German army at this time is undoubtedly a great thing for the rulers and people of the Free State of Poland Ukraine, and many lives will be saved because of it!

Of course, these big men also have eyes and ears in the Polish government, and they have long known about the Soviet Union's demand for the dissolution of the Polish Confederation - this does not mean that the Ukrainian people can be independent and free from now on, but that the Soviet Red Army can invade without scruples.

And the massive build-up of troops in the USSR on the east bank of the Dnieper River and in eastern Belarus has also been ascertained by the Ukrainians, and the Soviet Red Army may attack at any time!

And no matter how armed the Ukrainian Free State is, it is impossible to defeat them.

All the people in this basement, along with their families, will surely be shot after the Soviet occupation of Ukraine. Even if he surrendered to the Bolsheviks sincerely, he would have lived a few more days at most.

Because of the vendetta between Ukrainians and Russians during the civil war in Soviet Russia, as well as the "extermination famine" suffered by Left-Bank Ukraine during the three-year difficult period of the Soviet Union, and the blow of the Soviet purge on Ukrainians on the Left Bank, every right-bank Ukrainian and Western Ukrainian with some property and social status does not have the slightest illusion about being ruled by the Soviet Union.

If God wants Ukrainians to choose between being Soviet and being German, then there is no doubt that 90% of "free Ukrainians" would like to be Germans. In Lviv, which was formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the percentage of Ukrainians willing to become Germans must have been 100% – in the eyes of Ukrainians in Lviv, it was a choice between starvation, being shot and speaking German.

"Now it is almost certain that it was the Germans who occupied the airfield," Petliura said with a laugh, "and the Polish government in Lublin had confirmed through Britain that the Soviet Union had not yet entered the war, as did the people who ran back from the airfield." So, guys, what should we do now? ”

"Negotiations, we should negotiate with Germany alone." Immediately it was suggested that "the war between the Germans and the Poles has nothing to do with us, we can be friends with Germany...... I think that's what we're fighting for first. ”

Obviously, this man does not want to give up the opportunity to fight for independence yet.

"This will not work," someone immediately objected, "if we are really independent, the Soviet Union will invade, and who will protect Ukraine then?" ”

"We can be allies of Germany."

"The Germans will go to war with the USSR for Ukraine?"

This is obviously unrealistic, and if Britain and France had not declared war on Germany, then Germany might have considered protecting the entire Ukrainian Free State.

"But who can we Ukrainians rely on but Germany? Will Britain and France help us? Can Poland still be counted on? ”

Stepan, who was considered a confidant by Petliura. Bandera stood up at this time and spoke: "Ladies and gentlemen, an independent Ukraine has always been the goal pursued by our people. But what is the basis for the pursuit of Ukrainian independence? It's Ukrainians! It is the more than 20 million ethnic Ukrainians living on the west and east banks of the Dnieper!

Keep people first, and then have the hope of independence. So the goal we have to pursue now is not independence with the support of Germany, but more to preserve the blood of Ukraine! ”

If there are no people, where is there independence?

Due to misunderstandings over the past 20 years, most people in the Free State of Ukraine now believe that the Soviet Union was going to exterminate Ukrainians. Either shot or starved to death, even if he joined the Bolshevik Party, he could not save his life.

"So what are we going to do?" Peliula asked, looking at Bandera.

"We can join the German Reich conditionally!" Bandera gritted his teeth and said, "For the sake of the survival of the Ukrainian nation, this can only be done." Only by becoming a state under the German Empire could the Soviet invasion be stopped. ”

"Will Germany admit Ukraine at the risk of war with the USSR?"

"It will not be fully accepted," Bandera said, "if the Germans don't want it at all, then why are they here?" Since they are here, they have taken a fancy to the resources of Ukraine. Lviv had oil, coal mines, iron mines, and ready-made steel plants, all of which the Germans wanted. In addition, there is fertile black soil in Western Ukraine, and these are the chips in our hands! ”

"Chips?"

Bandera nodded, "And we still have hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian defense forces, and the defense forces can still fight!" If the Germans want to get more Ukrainian territory, then they need our cooperation. As a condition, they will have to help us protect more Ukrainians. ”

In other words, Germany could carve up the Free State of Ukraine with the Soviet Union - this was inevitable, but at the same time Germany was obliged to protect the majority of Ukrainians.

And with the cooperation of the government of the Free State of Ukraine, the Germans will certainly be able to gain more territory in the process of carving up the Free State of Ukraine.

All eyes are on Petliura, who is now the Ukrainian "Pilsudski".

"Okay, that's it!" Petliura shrugged his shoulders, "If we surrender to the Soviet Union, the whole nation will disappear (in fact, it will not), and if we defect to Germany, then we can at least preserve the vitality of the nation, and there will always be an independent day in the future!" He looked at Bandera, "Stepan, I appoint you as plenipotentiary to negotiate with the Germans who occupied the airport...... Negotiate surrender! ”

It's an international joke!

The Free State of Ukraine, with a population of more than 10 million, more than 300,000 square kilometers of land, and hundreds of thousands of armed troops, actually wants to surrender to the thousands of Germans who landed at the airport in Lviv!

And it was with the most pleasant and saved mood to surrender, the German soldiers stationed at the airport did not wait for the second attack of the Ukrainians, they waited for many Ukrainian girls with salt and bread......

And then all of Europe was dumbfounded. (To be continued.) )