"What did you say, Minister?" Admiral Verrick did not understand Churchill's words for a moment, and he turned his head to look at the Admiralty.

The Admiral smiled incomprehensibly and whispered: "Admiral, you just have to encourage Admiral Gammelin to support the bombing of the oil-producing areas of Baku, Grozny and Batumi." ”

This bombing plan has been planned by Britain and France for a long time, and it can be said that everything is ready, and only two thieves are owed.

That's the bombing of the Soviet Union! It is already difficult to fight with one Germany alone, and with one Soviet Union, can this world war continue?

As a result, the British and French top brass was always hesitant at the last minute, and the bombing schedule was pushed back again and again, and by the beginning of 1940 it was almost abandoned. But at this moment, two major events happened.

The first big thing was that the USSR urgently invited representatives of the Finnish government to Moscow for negotiations on February 8, and on February 10, the day of the arrival of the Finnish representatives, made a request for the cession and adjustment of part of the Finnish territory!

The Soviet Union demanded that Finland move the border between Egro-Finnish on the Karelian Isthmus 40 kilometers north, and cede to the Soviet Union several islands in the Gulf of Finland and Finnish territory on the Rybache Peninsula; The Hanko Peninsula was leased to the USSR for 30 years at a cost of 8 million Finnish marks per year. In order to compensate Finland for the loss of territory, the Soviet Union offered to give Finland twice the amount of land northwest of Lake Onega, which was ceded by Finland.

This seemingly fair and reasonable demand was actually very dangerous for Finland, because the Hanko Peninsula was Finland's natural barrier against the Soviet Union, and it had the Karelian Isthmus. From 1927 to 1939, Finland built the 135-kilometer-long Mannerheim Line on the Karelian Isthmus, with a maximum depth of 95 kilometers. Once the Hanko Peninsula was ceded to the Soviet Union, Finland could be swallowed up by the Soviet Union at any time.

As a result, the Finnish government immediately rejected the Soviet Union's demands and appealed to European countries, including Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands, for help. And the general mobilization of the whole people began!

It was clear that a bloody battle was about to begin between the Soviet Union and Finland. Although the Soviet Union was far more powerful than Finland, the Mannerheim Line and freedom-loving Finns seemed to have something to look forward to.

Moreover, if the USSR invaded Finland, it would give Britain and France a pretext to attack the USSR. If it works correctly, it may be able to pull Norway and Sweden over the side of Britain and France.

The second major event was the transfer of the 95% completed Bismarck (the start of construction earlier on this time) from the docks of the Blom-Foss shipyard in Hamburg to Wilhelmshamn, where radars, anti-aircraft guns and seaplane catapults were to be installed and accepted at the Admiralty Shipyard in Wilhelmshaven.

As a result, as soon as the imposing "Bismarck" arrived in Wilhelmshaven, it was discovered by British spies, who took photos and sent them back to Britain, which frightened a group of Admiralty officers. The Scharnhorst, which had nearly cut off the lifeline of the British Empire, had now come a much larger battleship, which was difficult to fight, and a battleship about the size of the ship was being outfitted on the docks of the naval docks in Wilhelmshaven, which looked like it was almost finished.

If the Germans let these two battleships pull two aircraft carriers to attack together, what will the British Empire take to fight?

The British Government, feeling that its lifeline was once again in jeopardy, was again thinking of bombing the oil-producing areas of Baku, Grozny, and Batumi -- and if the campaign to win over the Soviet Union would not yield any results for some time to come, it would have to make up its mind.

In the eyes of the British leadership, as long as the Soviet oil-producing areas could be destroyed, and then Romania could be managed to stop supplying oil to Germany (or put pressure or bombing), then the German war machine would fail in 6-12 months. There is also a possibility that something will go wrong with the German national economy, and perhaps something like the one in 1918 will happen, and Britain and France will win a world war.

And convincing the French government to support the resumption of the plan to bomb the oil-producing areas of Baku, Grozny and Batumi was Mr. Churchill's secret mission to Paris.

But the bombing of Soviet territory was still a very dangerous thing, and the British government felt that if it was not done well, it would lead to fire. So they came up with a safer way to coax the French to bomb, while the British found an excuse to cancel the bombing......

……

At the beginning of the world war, Field Marshal Hersmann had received a lot of information that Britain and France were going to bomb the oil-producing areas of Baku, Grozny and Batumi, but by mid-February 1940, Field Marshal Hersmann, who was busy planning the French campaign and the occupation of Poland, had long forgotten about it.

On 18 February, Marshal Rez-Himigvi, who had been trapped in the Brest Fortress for several months, finally surrendered in order to save the lives of 200,000 Polish soldiers. On the same day, a fast column of the Soviet Red Army, consisting of cavalry, tanks, armored vehicles and motorized infantry, began to advance towards Warsaw.

Upon receiving the news, Hersmann immediately ordered the two motorized rifle divisions of the Waffen-SS stationed in the provinces of Neu-Posen and West Prussia - the "German" division (the future "Reich" division) and the "skeleton" division to immediately advance to Warsaw and Krakow.

The Waffen-SS division "Galicia" stationed in western Ukraine was also ordered to occupy Lublin, and the SS division "Lithuanian" stationed in Vilnius was also given to occupy the province of Podlasie, west of the Bug River.

At the same time, Hersmann summoned Natalie from Warsaw to his Heinsberg estate in Tsosen.

"Natalie, you've been working hard these days."

"Natalie, welcome to the manor."

Mr. and Mrs. Hersman greeted Natalie at the door of their living room, hugged her, and then welcomed her into the room.

"How's the situation in Warsaw?" Hersman took the coffee from the maid in the house, took a sip, and got down to business.

"It's bad, everybody is crying." Natalie said with some sadness, "A lot of husbands, sons, fathers and brothers are in Brest. ”

These husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers are going to die soon! Then the seeds of hatred will be planted, Hersman thought to himself...... In the future, there may be such strange units as the SS "Polish" division and the SS "Israel" division (many of the people killed in Brest were Jews).

"And what about the Polish government?" Hersman asked, "Ignazi. Mośěcčićki (President of Poland) and Joseph. Is Beck (Foreign Minister) going to stay in Poland or is he going to leave? ”

"They're going to Romania," Natalie frowned, "and I talked to them for a long time, and made very tempting terms to keep them in their jobs, but they still wouldn't stay." ”

"Are they going to join the Free Poland movement?" Hersman asked again.

The Free Polish Movement was founded in London at the end of 1939 under the leadership of Władysław. Sikorski (also one of Pilsudski's "colonels", although he was in exile in France for his opposition to Pilsudski's coup). This organization declared that the current Polish government was a German puppet and had no right to represent the Polish people, and called on the Polish people to persist in resistance and fight Germany to the end.

"They pledged to quit politics and retire in Romania," Natalie said, "and I think what they say is credible." ”

"Then let them go," Hersman thought for a moment, "and then how will the future Polish government be formed?" ”

He looked at Natalie and thought: if it were the 21st century, this woman could be the prime minister of Poland, but now women do not have such status.

He asked, "Natalie, how many people can you recommend?" ”

"Well, I recommend two people, Władysław. Gomulka and Edward. Ohab. ”

"Who are they?"

Natalie smiled: "They are members of the Polish Bolshevik Party, I knew them before I left the Soviet Union. ”

"And Polish Bolshevik party members?" Hersman felt a little strange, "Didn't you say they were all killed?" ”

The Polish Bolshevik Party was banned by the Third International in 1938, after a large number of its members were summoned to the Soviet Union and arrested.

"Not all of them were killed," Natalie sighed softly, "and most of the people in the Soviet Union were arrested...... Many people were sentenced to death, some were killed, and the rest were put in labor camps. But the Bolshevik Party members who were imprisoned in the White Polish prisons were relatively safe, and most of them were now co-opted by us. ”

Gomulka and Ohab were both fortunate enough to be caught and imprisoned by the police of the reactionary Polish government. And the prisons and courts of reactionary Poland were all about bourgeois legal power, so both of them were still alive and well. After the war began last September, both of them and a number of other Polish Bolsheviks were released, and they were somehow recruited by Natalie.

"Natalie, do you want to govern Poland with Polish Bolshevik Party members?" Hersman had already understood Natalie's thoughts, "Can these people be trusted?" ”

Natalie smiled: "Of course they can be trusted, since they have been involved with the National Socialist Party, they can't go to Moscow anymore, they can't live if they go." ”

It's kind of a Nazi thief ship! Those innocent Polish Bolshevik party members did not end well on the side of the Soviet Union, and these who had been on the thief ship could not be washed even if they jumped into the Arctic Ocean.

"Okay," Hersman nodded, "then put a minister for these two men in the future Polish government." He looked at the woman sitting across from him again, "Natalie, let's arrange for you an acting mayor of Warsaw, too." ”

Britain had a female minister (the Labour Party) in 1929, the Soviet Union had a woman minister (Mrs. Kollontai) earlier, and now it was Poland's turn to have a female mayor. (To be continued.) )