Chapter 541: The Soviet-German partition of Poland, Britain and France did not dare to declare war
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However, Hitler did not stop there. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 When he found that the strength of the Entente Britain and France was much lower than that of the Allies, he ignored the warnings of the Entente (opposed to the merger of Germany with Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia), and the appeasement policy of Britain and France in Spain emboldened Hitler and decided to eat the weak countries of Europe first, and then turn around and come back to eat Britain and France.
After Germany annexed the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, its next target was Poland. Because Germany wanted to get Polish oil, and did not want to blindly rely on the Chinese Empire to provide oil.
However, at this time, Poland had already signed an alliance agreement with Britain and France, and Poland had already joined the Entente camp. This was because Britain and France felt that the Soviet Union and Germany were too close, and it was probably unsafe to expect to lead the German calamity to the Soviet Union. Therefore, the alliance with Poland caused Britain, France and Poland to attack Germany from east to west, which caused another crisis in Germany's national defense and security, and thus laid the root cause of Hitler's conquest of Poland.
In order to paralyze Britain and France, Hitler reversed the previous friendly relations between Germany and the Soviet Union, put forward the concept of "living space" for Nazism to expand to the East, and declared that he would establish a pan-German state with hegemony on the European continent, and Germany would eventually start a war against the Soviet Union.
On the one hand, Hitler gave Britain and France the impression of attacking the Soviet Union and paralyzed Britain and France. On the other hand, in order to attack Poland, Germany needed to isolate Poland internationally. Only by isolating Poland would Britain and France exercise restraint in the event of a German invasion of Poland.
In order to isolate Poland, Germany signed a 10-year non-aggression pact with Poland. As a result, Poland was overjoyed, believing that it would not face a German threat anytime soon. At this time, Germany encouraged Poland to invade Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and other Baltic countries, and provided Poland with loans and weapons and equipment support. Poland did not see Hitler's plot clearly, so it invaded Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. It immediately had a bad impact on the international community.
At this time, the Chinese Empire also wanted to improve relations with Germany, and at the request of Germany, the League of Nations dominated by the Chinese Empire issued a solemn warning to Poland, but in order to improve relations with Britain and France, the Chinese Empire did not want to directly mobilize joint sanctions against Poland, so China, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy reached a closed-door meeting. ╔╗ is just a public condemnation of Poland.
But this had already achieved Hitler's goal, and Poland's international image plummeted, and it was snubbed and isolated by a considerable part of the countries in Europe.
At this time, Hitler openly and formally solicited Poland to join the "Industrial International Agreement", demanded to work with Poland against the Soviet Union, and leased some military bases in Poland. If Poland agreed, Hitler would give Poland some territory north of Ukraine in the future, and would compensate for the extension of the German-Polish non-aggression pact for 35 years. However, Poland argues. If it joins the German-led "Industrial International", it is tantamount to breaking with the Soviet Union, and Poland is a country in the Entente camp, joining this agreement is equivalent to becoming a satellite country of Germany, and even its statehood will be threatened in the end, just like Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other countries annexed by Germany, so Polish Prime Minister Bechoral rejected his proposal, the Polish Foreign Ministry and military leaders also have the same view, and the Polish government and people do not trust Hitler.
February 21. Becoral went to Berlin to meet with Hitler, who forcefully demanded that he accept German terms, but this was refused, and the two sides parted happily. Hitler immediately ordered the military to draw up a plan for an invasion of Poland, the White Plan, which was approved on March 3.
Britain and France were also aware of the change in German-Polish relations. On 27 February, Poland received assurances from Britain that it would preserve the territorial integrity of the former. March 6. Becquerel traveled to London to sign the Anglo-Polish Treaty on Security Assurances. April 19th. Poland signed a similar protocol with France, stating that when Poland was attacked, the French would attack Germany. Similarly, when France and Belgium were attacked by Germany, Poland would attack the latter. On the 28th of the same month, Hitler announced the abrogation of the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact on the grounds that Poland was under the protection of Britain and France, and ordered the German army to prepare for an attack on the country by July.
On the other hand, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain did not see through Hitler's conspiracy. It was thought that Hitler's request for Poland to join the Pact was to deal with the Soviet Union, after all, Germany needed to cross the territory of Poland if it wanted to deal with the Soviet Union. Chamberlain soon came to an agreement with the French president. They still believed that they could reach an agreement with Hitler on the requirement that Poland accede to the Pact International. ╔╗ The requirement to provide Germany with some military bases, war could have been avoided.
But Hitler's real goal was to annex Poland, and negotiations with Britain and France soon broke down.
There was no diplomatic interaction between Germany and Poland for several months. Hitler also knew that since March 1934, Britain and France had negotiated with the Soviet Union to contain Germany, but the former two only wanted the Soviet Union to help, but were unwilling to help the Soviet Union when it was also attacked, and the negotiations were deadlocked, and the Soviet Union and Germany did not have a border, and if they wanted to fight the German army, they had to pass through the territory of Poland or Romania, and neither country agreed to the passage of their troops, especially Poland, Becquerel believed that an alliance with the Soviet Union would only anger Hitler and allow the war to break out early.
Seeing this, Hitler sent Foreign Minister Ribbentrop to the Soviet Union on July 23, and signed the "German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact" (also known as the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact") on the evening of the same day, which was valid for 10 years. However, the "German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact" not only had the effect of guaranteeing the security of the two countries, but also attached a secret agreement: the two countries jointly divided Eastern Europe, including Poland, the Baltic states, Romania and other countries, in the case of Poland, he would be divided between Germany and the Soviet Union, the former would obtain 49% of the territory, and the rest would be allocated to the Soviet Union, and the two countries would not only jointly send troops to fight the Polish army, but also maintain neutrality in the event that Germany was declared war by Britain and France for attacking Poland. Poland would thus face the fourth partition of Germany and Russia in history.
At the urging of Britain, on 29 August, Germany made its final diplomatic statement, and at the same time the timetable of the White Plan had to be revised.
Hitler now wants a real war. Therefore, he intended to avoid the question of the involvement of the West, and to divide relations between Poland and the West, so he put forward a proviso: the Polish plenipotentiaries who came to the country had to arrive in Berlin within one day to sign an agreement. Britain's Chamberlain cabinet was still pleased that negotiations could continue, but given the fact that Germany had stipulated that the Polish plenipotentiaries had to arrive within a one-day time limit, this difficult time-limited action meant that it was an ultimatum for Germany.
In the early hours of July 29-30, Ribbentrop read out the sixteen demands of Germany to the British ambassador, and when the British ambassador Neville? When Henderson asked for a copy of the document to be forwarded to the Polish government. ╔╗ Ribbentrop refused, on the grounds that "the Polish delegates had not arrived before midnight." "When the Polish ambassador Joseph? When Lipskey arrived in Berlin at noon and asked to see Ribbentrop, he said that Poland was now willing to consider negotiations with Germany, but he also admitted that he did not have full authority to sign any agreement, and Ribbentrop drove him away. Soon German broadcasts announced that Poland had vetoed the German proposal, and therefore the negotiations were terminated. At 4 p.m., Hitler decided to start the attack at 4:45 a.m. the next morning.
The German command was a covert raid on Poland. Advance covertly unfolded troops in two directions. In Pomerania and East Prussia was assembled Army Group "North" consisting of 21 divisions, under the command of the 3rd Army (Commander General Quchler) and the 4th Army (Commander Kruger, under Guderian's 19th Panzer Corps), under the commander-in-chief of Von Brown. Admiral Bock. Army Group "South" consisting of 33 divisions was assembled in German Silesia and Czechoslovakia, under the command of the 14th Army (Commander General Liszt), the 10th Army (Commander General Reichenau) and the 8th Army (Commander General Blaskovitz), with General Rundstedt under the commander-in-chief. The two clusters are supported by the 1st Air Force (commanded by General Kesselring) and the 4th Air Force (commanded by General Lehr), respectively. The Germans committed a total of 44 divisions, including 7 panzer divisions, 4 light armored divisions, and 4 motorized infantry divisions. 1,939 aircraft, 2,800 tanks, a total of 886,000 people, and if you count the reserves, the strength is 62 divisions, 1.6 million people.
After Poland formed an alliance with Britain and France, under the threat of German attack, the Polish High Command also formulated a war plan against Germany codenamed "Western Plan". Due to the fact that it was significantly inferior to the Germans in numbers and equipment. Poland was able to deploy only 39 infantry divisions to resist the invasion. 11 cavalry brigades, 3 mountain infantry brigades, 2 armored motorized brigades. Nearly 80 civil defense battalions. There are 220 light tanks, 650 ultralight tanks, 4,300 artillery pieces and mortars, and 407 aircraft. The Polish Navy has 16 combat ships and auxiliary vessels with a total strength of about 1 million men, and the Supreme Commander is Field Marshal Smigway-Lodz.
At 4:45 a.m. on August 1, 1934, a group of German bombers roared toward Polish territory, targeting Polish troops, arsenals, airfields, railways, roads, and bridges. A few minutes later, for the first time, the Poles tasted the greatest sudden death and destruction in the air in Polish history. Thousands of artillery guns fired at the border. Shells rained down on Polish positions.
On the sea, the German fleet, which was anchored outside the port of Danzig under the guise of a friendly visit, also suddenly opened fire on the Polish base. ╔╗The two super battleships, Bismarck and Tirpitz, armed with 18-inch guns, opened fire in mournful light. A huge artillery shell weighing one and a half tons roared and smashed into the Polish base, inflicting huge casualties and losses on the Polish army.
About an hour later, the German ground forces launched an offensive on all fronts from the north, west and southwest. The Polish army was caught off guard, 500 first-line planes were blown up at the airfield before they could take off, countless artillery, automobiles, and other baggage were destroyed before they could retreat, transportation hubs and command centers were destroyed, and the troops were thrown into chaos. Taking advantage of the situation, the Germans were led by armored and motorized units, and soon broke through the Polish lines from several (the fastest newest) major sections.
At 10 a.m., Hitler excitedly announced to the Reichstag that the Reichs had invaded Poland and Germany was in a state of war. He declared, "From now on, I am only a soldier of the German Empire, and I am wearing this most sacred and precious military uniform to me." Until the final victory, I will not take off this military uniform, or I will die for my country. Hitler's speech provoked enthusiastic cheers from the parliamentarians.
At 9 a.m. on 3 August, Britain issued an ultimatum to Germany, demanding that Germany provide an armistice guarantee by 11 a.m., otherwise Britain would declare war on Germany. At noon. France issued a similar ultimatum to Germany, with a deadline of 5 p.m.
Hitler knew very well in his heart the ultimatum of Britain and France, and he understood that Britain and France had to give Poland an explanation because of the problem of face. If Britain and France had known of the secret agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany, they would not have dared to do so. As a result, Hitler ordered information about the Soviet-German secret agreement to be leaked to British and French spies in Germany. Soon, British and French spies relayed the secret Soviet-German agreement to the British and French governments.
Outcome. The British and French governments abandoned their plans to declare war on Germany at the same time, but in order to give Poland an explanation, Britain and France decided to break off diplomatic relations with Germany, and at the same time took Germany to the international tribunal, asking the League of Nations to intervene to stop it.
Obviously, Britain and France wanted to prevent the German invasion of Poland through the League of Nations, so as to avoid the danger of Britain and France going to war with Germany alone, after all, the Soviet Union sided with Germany. ╔╗Britain and France had no chance of winning against Germany.
However, at the Congress of the League of Nations, the Chinese Empire was happy to see the outbreak of war in Europe, and only when war broke out in Europe would these countries forget the pain of being looted by the Chinese Empire of their huge wealth, and only when war broke out in Europe could the Chinese Empire make a lot of war money and complete its national plan to weaken Europe.
Therefore, under the dominance of the Chinese Empire. The League of Nations Assembly ostensibly openly condemned Germany. A proposal was also submitted to use joint intervention in the war between Germany and Poland, but Germany had a veto, and both Germany and Italy voted against, with the result that the proposal for joint intervention was rejected. The Chinese Empire openly condemned Germany and submitted a proposal to mobilize the Union, a move that was unanimously praised by the international community, but in fact did not put any real pressure on Germany. The arms dealers of the Chinese Empire had even begun to negotiate with the German and Polish militaries in secret. Planes, ships and trains carrying arms and strategic goods are also adorned with the emblem of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Prepare to smuggle into war zones in the name of defending human rights.
The concessions of Britain and France, the thunder of the League of Nations, led to the unscrupulous invasion of Poland by Germany.
After the Germans broke through the Polish lines. Advance to the heart of Poland at a speed of 50-60 kilometers per day. Rönsted's Army Group South, with Reichenau's 10th Army as the main force in the center, and Lister's 14th Army as the right flank, advanced from the west and southwest towards the middle reaches of the Vistula River under the cover of the 8th Army of Blaskovice on the left flank.
This was an unprecedented march of mechanized troops in the history of human warfare, much larger than the Mexican invasion of the United States, and the German army far surpassed the Mexican army in combat effectiveness. As a result, the title of Blitzkrieg was taken from the head of the Mexican army and taken from the German army.
In this great march, Germany successfully practiced the theory of armored forces. The 19th Panzer Army achieved a brilliant victory. The 19th Armored Army is subordinate to the 4th Army of Army Group North and has 1 armored division, 2 motorized divisions and 1 infantry division. It was both the middle of the 4th Army and the attacking vanguard of the Army. After the start of the war, Guderian led his troops to quickly break through the Polish border defense, crossed the Brachy River on the night of August 1, and advanced to the line of the Vistula River on August 3, completing the encirclement of the Polish army "Pomerania".
During the encirclement and annihilation of the Polish army, the encircled Polish army obviously did not understand the performance of the tank, and thought that the armor of the tank was nothing more than a camouflage made of tin plates, which was used to bluff people. So the Polish cavalry swarmed up and attacked the German tanks with their sabers and spears. The Germans were taken aback at this, but soon came to their senses and mercilessly fired at the Polish troops with tank guns and machine guns, crushing them with their tracks. The battlefield duel imaginary by the Poles turned into a massacre of disparity.
By August 4, all three infantry divisions and one cavalry brigade of the Polish "Pomerania" army had been annihilated, while the four divisions commanded by Guderian had only 150 dead and 700 wounded.
The German lightning attack put the Polish army completely in a situation of being passively beaten, and this was the taste of "blitzkrieg" once again for the Poles and the whole world. The Polish command had expected that the war would unfold slowly as usual, and that the Germans would first carry out avant-garde activities with light cavalry and then attack with heavy cavalry, and were unprepared for the "blitzkrieg" in which the Germans used a large number of tanks and aviation.
Ma Shengding, a military theorist of the Chinese Empire, pointed out in a weekly live broadcast: "It is no exaggeration to say that their thinking (the head of the Polish army) is 80 years behind. The Polish high command, overconfident in its own military power and counting on British and French assistance, deployed all its troops on the German-Polish border, believing that victory could be achieved if a resolute counterattack was carried out. This kind of deployment, which had no flexibility in advance or retreat, caused the Polish army to be either annihilated or divided and surrounded under the advance of the German army at high speed and depth, and became a lone army left behind the German army, and the resistance quickly collapsed.
On August 6, the commander-in-chief of the Polish army, Smigli. Marshal Leeds ordered all troops to withdraw to the east of the Vistula to form the Vistula-San line. The Polish government evacuated Warsaw and moved to Lublin in a panic on the same day. The overall situation has been basically decided. Feng. Colonel Volman said to Hitler: "All that remains is to beat a rabbit, and from a military point of view, the war is over." ”
By 7 August, Lensted's Army Group South had inflicted heavy losses on the Polish armies "Lodz" and "Krakow", occupying Lodz, the industrial center of Poland, and Krakow, the second largest city, and Hopler's 16th Panzer Army, the vanguard of the 10th Army, had entered the southern outskirts of Warsaw on the 8th, cutting off the retreat of the Polish "Poznan" Army from the south. Bauk's Army Group North completely annihilated the Polish Army Group "Pomerania" and inflicted heavy losses on the Polish Army Group "Modlin", occupied the "Polish Corridor", and then forcibly crossed the Vistula River and seized the positions covering the road to Warsaw from the north.
On 8 August, Küchler's 3rd Army and Kruger's 4th Army, which were part of Army Group North, carried out a surprise attack from the north and northwest in the general direction of Warsaw, and on 11 August, Guderian's 19th Panzer Army crossed the Narev River and began a rapid advance towards the Bug River in the rear of Warsaw. On 14 August, Reichenau's 10th Army and Blaskovic's 8th Army, which belonged to Army Group South, surrounded the Polish troops retreating from Poznan and Lodz west of the Vistula River and occupied central Poland, leaving Warsaw in a semi-encircled state.
By 15 August, Guderian's 19th Panzer Corps had encircled Brest, and its 3rd Panzer and 2nd Motorized Divisions continued to advance south in order to complete the final deep encirclement with Lister's 14th Army, the right flank of Army Group South. At the same time, Kleist's 22nd Panzer Army, the vanguard of the 14th Army, continued to advance north after encircling Kovov, and on the 16th joined up with Army Group North in the area of Vowdava, and encircled the Polish army that had retreated in the triangle of the Bug, San and Vistula rivers. On 17 September, the Germans, having completed the siege of Warsaw, ordered the Warsaw authorities to surrender within 12 hours. The Polish government and the Polish high command had fled across the border to Romania on the 16th.
The Soviet Union, which had already negotiated with Germany to recover Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, which was occupied by Poland west of the Curzon Line, was unable to do so because of the non-aggression pact with Poland. The flight of the Polish government finally gave the Soviet Union a "decent" excuse to send troops to Poland. The Soviet government declared that the Soviet-Polish non-aggression pact was no longer in force since the Polish government ceased to exist. "In order to protect the interests of the Ukrainian and Belarusian minorities," the Soviet Union decided to move into the regions of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus in eastern Poland.
In the early morning of August 17, the Soviet Belorussian Front and the Ukrainian Front, led by General Kovalev and Timoshenko, respectively, crossed the eastern border of Poland and advanced westward. On August 18, the German-Soviet teams met in Brest-Litovsk. Hitler wanted to take Warsaw quickly, ordering that the Germans must take Warsaw by the end of August.
On 25 August, the Germans began shelling forts, strongholds, and important supply centers on the outskirts of Warsaw. Subsequently, the German 8th Army began to attack Huaza. Two days later, the defenders of Warsaw ceased resistance. The commander of the defenders of Warsaw formally signed the instrument of surrender to the commander of the German 8th Army, Colonel-General Blaskovitz.
On August 29, the fortress of Modlin surrendered. By 2 September, Gdynia, the last city to resist had ceased its resistance.
In this way, it took only a month for Germany and the Soviet Union to divide Poland. The world situation was also changing rapidly, Britain and France voluntarily abandoned Poland because of Germany's unprecedented strength, which dealt a huge blow to the Entente camp, and the Allied bloc became stronger from then on, and the balance of power in Europe was quickly broken.