In the cubicle of the old building, a young boy in bib pants sits at a table, and his parents divide a pot of potatoes mixed with cabbage leaves. The little boy looked at the half of the sausage hanging on the windowsill not far away, and swallowed his own saliva.

Since a few days ago, when German bombers appeared in the skies over Warsaw, Warsaw began to implement a food rationing system, and many citizens starved because they could not receive food, but the government still believed that the war would eventually go in their favor. Unfortunately, many well-informed Poles did not believe the government's rhetoric and fled southeast with their belongings and relatives.

"I heard that the Germans have already hit Lodz?" asked the boy's mother, somewhat absent-mindedly, as she stirred the food in the basin with a spoon. The situation in Warsaw has been very bad lately, and many people are starting to pack their bags and be ready to leave the city that is getting closer and closer to the front line.

"That was a few days ago, and our army is just a bunch of rubbish. The man took a bite of the potato, and his tone was full of unwillingness and chagrin: "Our army group is simply a bunch of waste, and hundreds of thousands of them can't stop the German army for a day." ”

The woman was startled, raised her head and asked, "What's the matter?

"I'm on the phone end and know a little bit more. The man put down the spoon in his hand, sighed and said: "Yesterday's news, Germany is estimated to be more than ten kilometers outside Warsaw now. ”

The woman was obviously shocked by the news, looked at her husband for a long time, and said, "Oh my God." The Germans have already hit so close? No wonder German planes are coming more and more frequently these days. ”

"Boom!" Suddenly the whole room trembled, the dust on the ceiling was shaken off, and the little boy in the room who was looking at the sausage in a daze was frightened by the sudden explosion, and the chandelier squeaked and swayed.

The peace of life was finally shattered, and the war, once so far away, was now so close at hand. It is already a desperate thing for a country's capital to eventually be affected by war.

"Take care of the child, don't move under the table, I'll go out and see what the hell is going on......" The man wiped his mouth, stood up, dusted his body, pushed open the door and walked out of his room, and then went down the stairs to the first floor and out of his building.

As soon as he got out of the building, he saw that a three-story building not far away had collapsed, and next to it were two pedestrians who had fallen to the ground, and there was a large pit in the collapsed building. There was still light smoke in the middle of the pit.

There were already a few people watching from a distance in a circle, and he hurried over to find a middle-aged woman lying on the ground, and an old man in a woolen coat. It appears that both men were hit by shrapnel and rubble.

"Why don't you pull the air raid siren?" a citizen standing not far away watching the bustle looked at the corpse on the ground in horror and asked his companion next to him.

His companion was also a little overwhelmed: "Maybe the plane came too suddenly, maybe it was ......"

"This is a 203 mm howitzer!" said the Polish man, who had been a soldier and an artilleryman, pointed to a large crater in the ground: "This is not a bomb dropped by an Air Force plane, this is a cannon." ”

"Impossible...... How far can a cannon hit?" a young man asked with a pale face, "...... the German army Hit the suburbs?"

"If I were you, hurry home, pack your things, and get out of here with your children, Warsaw is no longer a safe place. The man loudly reminded the citizens around him, "Get out of here!"

Not far away, dozens of Polish soldiers with guns on their shoulders were walking towards this side, and they also discovered the site of the shelling and rushed over to check the surrounding situation.

"Spread out! there's nothing to see!" The infantry in the back began to drive away the crowd around them, and those who watched the excitement were driven far away.

The officer at the head motioned for the soldier to leave the man who had been a soldier behind, he looked at the man's face, and then asked: "Sir, I think you should have been a soldier, to be honest, I have no clue about this matter, can you sue me sù you know?"

"This is our Polish 203 mm howitzer, the kind of particularly bulky large artillery that is not convenient to move. The man thought for a moment and said, "I used this kind of artillery on the Polish-German border when I was a soldier. ”

"You mean, this is a mistake from one of our own?" the officer asked, with an expectant look on his face, as if he would rather believe that it was his own than that the Germans had called.

"I'm afraid it's a weapon captured by the Germans. The man shattered the illusion of the young officer: "This kind of cannon is generally deployed on the border, and it is impossible to move lightly. I am afraid that the Germans hit a place more than ten kilometers away from here, and only then did they think of using artillery to report to us first. ”

......

"You mean the Germans have already hit Warsaw?...... Why did I get the report?" Petain hung up the phone and scolded his commanders: "A bunch of rubbish! all idiots! They have two million troops, but they are defeated by a million Germans, and there is not a single place to hold out for a day along the way!"

"Sir, the troops who went to check the source of the sound of the explosion wrote back that it was an artillery attack, and the anti-aircraft observation post also reported back that they had not detected the intrusion of the German aircraft. An adjutant put his hand over the microphone of the phone and reported loudly.

"Shells? How could an artillery attack reach Warsaw? They are so close? Shouldn't they be dozens of kilometers away?" Pétain shouted loudly: "When was the last time the Pomeranian regiment was contacted? They should now set up a defensive line in the northern part of Warsaw! Why is there no news of them yet?"

"General Portnowski called for the last time to say that they were engaged in a heavy exchange of fire with the German troops who were pursuing them, and that part of his army would be ready to reach northern Poland in the afternoon. The adjutant replied immediately.

"The English and the French are treacherous! They are at war with the Germans, and at last they sell their loyal allies to the fierce jackals! Wait! One day they will all taste the bitter fruits of what they have sown! Not one of them will run away! Not one of them will run away!" Petain roared loudly, and threw everything he could hold in his hands in a fit of rage.

"Sir, if that doesn't work, let's retreat to the south, where we can at least hide for a while, and see what the English and French can explain." The secretary persuaded on the side.

"They will not give any explanation to a country that has perished!" said Pétain, waving his hand, "and it is too late to flee by this time! The German army in the south has already taken control of a large area, and we have no place to stand again." ”

"Sir...... Are we just sitting here and waiting to be killed?" said the secretary with some fear: "If they advance a few thousand meters, they can hit the shells directly above our heads!"

"What can I do? My Minister of Defense, the Commander of the Army, the Minister of Communications, and the Minister of Civil Affairs have all fled! I can't yet determine how many troops can be mobilized and how many reservists can be mobilized......

"Then let me take full responsibility for the defense of Warsaw. "An officer walked in, Nassar, the commander of the Polish Warsaw Regiment - in charge of the defense of the entire area around Warsaw.

He began a week earlier to order the troops to lay out defenses around Warsaw, digging trenches and fortifications, digging anti-tank trenches and laying mines on the main defensive sections. He proposed to deploy anti-aircraft artillery in the main part of Warsaw, but this proposal was rejected on the grounds that it would "cause panic among the citizens".

However, the citizens were still panicking, and German bombers began to frequent the skies over Warsaw two days ago, dropping dozens of tons of bombs, destroying many houses and military installations in Warsaw.

However, because of the insistence of this general named Nassar, the vicinity of Warsaw was not unprepared, but became the best prepared city in the whole of Poland. These pre-constructed fortifications gave the 50,000 defenders of Warsaw the confidence and courage to live and die with the city.

"I command Li to take command of all Polish soldiers in the vicinity! Gather them together and surround Warsaw!" Petain has been with this Nassar for the last few days, and Nassar has become his most trusted army general, so Petain ordered in a loud voice: "Do not let the Germans go any further!

Nassar never believed that victory would belong to Poland, and he did not believe in this slogan ever after the German siege of the Lodz Army. All he can do now is fulfill the duty of a soldier and defend his homeland to the very end.

As soon as he received this order, he rushed back to his command post and began to determine the number of troops he could deploy. Soon he received even more dismal news, just now, the Germans had shelled Warsaw again, and six shells hit buildings in the northwestern part of the city of Warsaw, causing dozens of civilian casualties.

But it's not all bad news, Warsaw can arm some 20,000 reservists, and with the police and real defenses, Nassar can muster a full 80,000 "soldiers" to defend against the German offensive.

In addition, the Pomeranian regiment, which had not been heard from all this time, was also reinstated, and they were surrounded thirty kilometers from Warsaw, and it was obvious that it was impossible to break out, and Portoski planned to lead the troops who had been routed all the way to Warsaw to hold their positions until the last moment.