Later on September 1, the news of the German attack on Poland spread across Asia, and for a time, all sides were shaken! Ordinary people are unaware of the implications, but the political forces and the well-informed and well-informed people who understand the world situation see the special meaning contained in it.

Yan'an judged: After Japan and Italy, Germany, the third and most powerful Axis power, also officially launched a war with foreign countries, and at this moment when European countries are facing a crisis, the establishment of a worldwide anti-fascist alliance is not far away!

Chongqing was overjoyed: Germany began to challenge the European order, Britain and France, the two eldest and second brothers, would definitely take action to punish them, and if the victory of World War I was repeated, then Japan, which was part of the Axis powers, would not be able to cope this time!

In fact, for a long time, Germany's relations with China were still very good, not only sent military advisory groups several times to help the Kuomintang government build a modern army, provide training and weapons support, but also accepted many military students sent by China, and even the production line of the "Zhongzheng" rifle produced by the Republic of China was exported to China by Germany, which was actually the Chinese version of Mauser 1924.

However, anyone who really has a correct understanding of history can judge that some of the goodwill expressed by the German government towards China in the twenties and thirties of the 20 th century was only for the sake of gaining benefits from China under the noses of Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Japan, and other countries.

Especially after its defeat in the First World War, the military, economy, and territory were punished by the Treaty of Versailles, two-thirds of the industrial area and 17% of the population were ceded to France, Danzig, the mouth of the Mediterranean, was divided into a free city, the number of troops was limited to 100,000, the air force was not allowed, the army was not allowed to have tanks, the navy was not allowed to have battleships, and there were large war reparations for the victorious countries in World War I......

In such a situation, it is wise to look far away from Europe and find new allies in Asia.

Therefore, for a long time, Germany paid attention to and helped China and Japan at the same time, but the later development made it have no choice - the Chinese Kuomintang government was beaten by the Japanese, first losing Northeast China, then North China, and then Huhai, Nanjing, and other entire Central China...... Half of the country was occupied by the Japanese, how could such a China be able to convince Germany?

Li Junhao, who had studied this period of history in his previous life, was very contemptuous of Germany's level of choosing allies during World War II, and the other two countries of the Axis powers, Italy and Japan, not only did not provide any effective help to Germany during the entire war process, but also one could not do it, and the other was crazy, and Germany could not be pitted.

Italy was one of the first fascist countries, and by the time Hitler came to power as chancellor in 1933, Mussolini had been in power for 10 years. But I don't know if Mussolini's military talent was too poor, or the generals of the Italian military deliberately made trouble with him, before and throughout World War II, the performance of the Italian army was ridiculous to the extreme, and it was recognized as the "noodle army" by the participating countries, and many people thought that its existence was for fun!

In later generations, there was a joke that was very accurate: "If Italy can maintain neutrality, it will be enough to contain 10 French divisions; If Italy became an opponent of Germany, Germany would need only 5 divisions to defeat him completely; But if Italy becomes an ally of Germany, the Germans will need 20 divisions to protect him! ”

It's a joke to say, but I wonder what the descendants of Italy will think? But according to Li Junhao's observation in his previous life, people listen to opera, dance, and play football, and there is no ideological burden at all!

Japan, for whatever reason, Germany has become an ally with it, and Japan is proud to have joined the "Axis" system of the world power bloc! But later the development of events proved that this country's strategic vision was really short-sighted, and Germany was the most pitted - just when the European war was at its most tense, little Japan quietly engaged in the "Pearl Harbor incident" and directly dragged the United States, which had been watching the drama and selling goods and counting money, into the water!

Many historians of later generations have studied this period of history, and if the United States had not finally entered the war, the outcome of World War II would have been unknown! In other words, if there had been no "Pearl Harbor incident," even if the United States had entered the war, it would have been the same as in World War I, and it would have really intervened in the battlefield at the end of the war, when the victory or defeat had already been decided, or when the outcome of the war could be decided by betrayal.

——

At this time, the Japanese side was happy about the German invasion of Poland, which showed that its most important ally had finally come to an end, and the Eastern and Western worlds in the future would be their two countries - as for Italy, I'm sorry, I didn't think about it for a while (little Japan also looked down on the "Noodle Army").

As for the beginning of the German-Polish war, the European countries were both surprised and frightened, and asked the two "big brothers" of Britain and France for advice - what should they do about this?

Britain and France said in a tough way: Don't be afraid, little brothers, I'm still here, the situation is under control! ——

On September 3, Britain and France issued an ultimatum in response to Germany's invasion of Poland, demanding that it immediately withdraw its troops and restore the border between the two countries to its pre-war state!

German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop refused on behalf of Germany.

Subsequently, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and the Commonwealth countries of Australia and New Zealand followed suit.

But just when the countries of the world were preparing to "appreciate" the fight between the three major military powers in Europe, a scene on the battlefield was incomprehensible to everyone!

After the declaration of war, the French army advanced only eight kilometers in the direction of the Saar River before stopping, and the troops sat in the trenches that had already been dug to chat and fart; The same was true of the British Expeditionary Force, which was scheduled to attack Germany from the Western Front, and had no intention of taking the initiative to attack.

At that time, Britain and France had gathered a total of 115 divisions on the Western Front, compared to only 25 divisions of the German army defending on the opposite side.

The silence of the battlefield on the Western Front has become a topic of concern for the whole world, after all, this strange spectacle of declaring no war has never appeared, so what are Britain and France doing?

From September 1939 to May 1940, for more than half a year, the British and French forces on the Western Front never received any offensive orders.

(End of chapter)