From the outbreak of the war to the signing of the contract, it was only a little more than two months to complete the battle.

If you only count the time of Germany's war against Poland, it is even only one and a half months.

It would be inconceivable for all countries to wipe out a country with millions of troops in a month and a half.

You must know that because there was no large-scale war after World War I, the main operational thinking of various countries stayed in the First World War period.

Just like Poland, the main tactical idea of each country is to use a large number of infantry to dig trenches in the front, to engage the enemy in defensive battles, and to deploy a large number of cavalry on the flanks and be ready to outflank the attack.

But the Germans changed this and made the world, including Britain and France, see a new way of warfare.

A rapid assault with a large number of tanks and motorized troops would tear a hole in the enemy's defenses. As long as the size of the motorized troops is large enough and the speed of the advance is fast enough, the main purpose of the blitzkrieg can be completed before the enemy can react, that is, to break through the enemy's capital.

Of course, such a blitzkrieg also has certain flaws.

First of all, the target of the blitzkrieg can only be a country like Poland, which is not very large.

If the target of the blitzkrieg were to be a country with an extremely large territory, such a tactic would be extremely difficult to assess the size of the logistical supply and motorized forces.

Secondly, in order to achieve a quick and effective blitzkrieg, it is necessary to have a sufficient number of armored troops with very strong combat effectiveness.

Except for countries such as Poland, which are somewhat partial in terms of cavalry, including Britain and France, they all attach more importance to the development of tanks.

If Poland were to be replaced by France, Germany might not be able to complete the blitzkrieg in less than two months, which is why the French were still in danger.

But I have to admit that the horrors created by the Germans still made Britain and France feel a little flustered.

Part of the reason why Britain and France retreated was that they feared the German forces and that the Germans would be able to quickly crush Poland in such a short time.

Before the outbreak of the German-Polish War, the French had an army on the same level as the Germans.

But the French defense department has held several meetings, and they have come to a fact that they still do not want to believe, that the French army simply cannot win against Poland in two months.

Even, according to the results of the repeated exercises conducted by the General Staff, it would take at least half a year for the French army to win the battle against Poland with all its might.

Moreover, in order to crush the Polish army of more than a million, the French would also have to bear at least hundreds of thousands of casualties.

This also means that so far, the German army has overtaken the French army. The French army, in terms of tactical thinking and the concept of war, was already lagging behind Germany again.

After the joint partition of Poland by Germany and Russia, the most embarrassing thing was not Britain and France, but the international organization that was once thought to be able to easily manage the world, the World Alliance.

From the very beginning of the war, the meetings of the World League condemned the actions of the Germans.

Even in the middle of the war, a number of countries proposed to intervene in the war.

However, because of the neutrality of the British and the retreat of the French, this proposal did not pass, and the current result was the partition of Poland.

This greatly reduced the prestige of the World League, and the status of the World League in the international arena became very awkward.

Since they cannot manage the stronger powers, what is the use of these small and medium-sized countries remaining in the world alliance?

The real crushing of the World Alliance had to be a series of acts of aggression by the Germans against other countries after the German-Polish War.

After the war against Poland, Germany and Italy turned their attention back to the war in Spain.

By now, the situation of the Spanish Civil War has long been clear.

Without the intervention of other powers, the Spanish Republican Government would only last for half a year at most before the Spanish National Army seized power.

But it was clear that neither the ambitious German Empire, which had just annexed Poland, nor Italy, which was very envious of Germany's great expansion, were not willing to wait another half a year.

Spain will be an extremely important part of the German government's expansion plans.

Being able to take control of the whole of Spain at an early stage means that Germany will have a greater advantage in the confrontation with Western Europe.

After Christmas, Germany and Italy accelerated their offensive against the Spanish Republic.

The number of troops they sent to Spain grew rapidly from 50,000 to more than 150,000.

Combined with the Spanish National Army's more than 500,000 troops, the combined strength is far greater than the 400,000 that the Spanish government has.

In order to eliminate the Spanish republican government as quickly as possible, Germany and Italy carried out indiscriminate bombing of the cities controlled by the Spanish republican government.

Italy did not have the slightest camouflage, and dispatched a large-scale navy to encircle and suppress the Spanish navy controlled by the government of the Spanish Republic.

Under the joint offensive of Germany and Italy, the Spanish republican government was losing ground and suffering heavy casualties among both the army and the population.

On January 7, 1936, representatives of the Spanish Republican Government burst into tears at the regular meeting of the World League, asking the major powers, including Britain and France, to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, and provided a large number of German and Italian planes bombing Spanish cities and causing a large number of Spanish civilian casualties with real photographs and evidence.

On the same day, the meeting of the World Alliance, with an absolute pressure of more than 70 percent, preliminarily agreed to the proposal of the representative of the Spanish republican government to support Spain.

However, the next day, on the proposal of whether to intervene in the Spanish War, with the French pro-peace statement, the pro-peace faction finally succeeded in getting the World League to abandon its intervention in the Spanish Civil War with more than 47% of the votes (43% for the main war and 10% for abstention).

In fact, it can be seen from the votes in the two days before and after that most small and medium-sized countries agreed to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.

They are also afraid, fearing that Germany, which is becoming more and more ambitious, will one day set its sights on them.

But unfortunately, although the World Alliance is an international organization, the right to speak in it is in the hands of the great powers.

As long as the great powers express their opposition, these small and medium-sized countries have to consider the consequences of acting against the great powers.

What's more, France, which expressed its opposition, was the great power in Europe with the most colonies and the most support from European countries besides Britain.

After the rejection of the proposal to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, the representative of the Spanish republican government said with sorrow and anger: "One day you will pay for your cowardice today!" ”

Although having withdrawn from the World Alliance, Germany and Italy have expressed close attention to this meeting of the World Alliance.

After learning that the World League had rejected the proposal to intervene in the war, the German and Italian governments ridiculed in a note with great disdain: "They [Britain and France] are a bunch of cowards who have been frightened, and no one can stop us." ”

Then again, Australasia voted yes in this vote.

But alas, Britain and France did not agree to intervene in the war with Spain, and Australasia would not have crossed thousands of miles across the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean to aid the dying Spanish Republican government.

However, for various interests, after the regular meeting of the World Alliance, the representative of Australasia approached the representative of Spain and expressed Australasia's willingness to provide Spain with a batch of supplies and weapons and equipment.

Because of this, Australasia easily gained the friendship of Spain.

Because of the dissatisfaction of various small and medium-sized countries, the final result of this meeting became big news and was widely disseminated in European countries.

The cowardly attitude of the French was diametrically opposed to Australasia's willingness to help Spain. It is precisely because of the foil of the French that Australasia has won the favor of many European countries.

Back to Australasia.

Arthur felt a hint of strangeness and crisis in the current development of the world.

The development of this world is completely different from history, which also means that Arthur cannot judge the development of the real world by relying solely on the direction of history.

In real history, Germany annexed Czechoslovakia and then Austria, and then set its sights on Poland.

But now, because of the survival of the Austrian Empire, Germany first set its sights on Poland.

Will a German Empire, which had annexed most of Poland, choose to continue eastward and follow the British and French lines of sowing discord between Germany and Russia, or will it consolidate Polish rule and turn its troops westward?

Whether the present France could resist the German attack, and whether the Austrian Empire, which did not exist in history, could play its own role, Arthur was not sure.

Since everything is uncertain, then you can only pin your hope on your own strength.

Towards the end of 1936, Arthur convened another cabinet meeting to prepare for war.

At this meeting, Arthur boldly predicted that war would break out this year or next.

In order to deal with this war, which may far surpass the previous European war, Arthur demanded that the army be expanded as soon as possible, the navy should be produced as soon as possible, and all walks of life should be ready to enter a state of war at any time.

In addition to this, Arthur also inquired about the production of weapons and medical supplies.

Although Germany eliminated Poland quickly, this did not mean that the war in Europe would also be resolved quickly. Even though history has been completely different, Arthur still believes that this new World War II will continue for several years.

In this war, the most important thing remains the reserve of strategic materiel. The more supplies you have, the longer you can hold out.

For a long war of attrition, the key to victory is the reserve of materials and the people's desire for victory in the war.

3000 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)