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Chapter 250: Preparing for War V


De Gaulle, or the "key defense" plan proposed by the General Staff of the French Army, was actually to hold on to a few large cities.

Specifically, it is to defend the four cities of Brest, Pinsk, Kiev and Lviv with heavy troops, and due to the annexation of right-bank Ukraine and Lithuania, the current border between the Polish Confederation and the Soviet Union is crooked and long, more than 2,000 kilometers, and it is obviously unrealistic to want to deploy a full line.

Even the Pilsudski Line, which began to be built in the 20s, focused only on the right-bank Ukrainian region, while at the same time deploying in important cities in Western Belarus and Lithuania.

In de Gaulle's proposal, the armament of the Polish Eastern Front was further reduced in order to conserve troops and at the same time allow each fortified city to allocate enough troops.

"Brest, Pinsk, Kiev and Lviv should be fortified," Charles de Gaulle said, "and have enough food and ammunition in stock to be ready to hold out for 12 months."

Each heavily fortified city should have a sufficient number of troops, at least five non-mobile infantry divisions, a sufficient number of artillery, and a fully mobilized militia. ” In today's Poland, artillery is not scarce, and there is no shortage of soldiers, especially in the Free State of Ukraine, and even mobilization can be saved Because in the twenty years since the collapse of Tsarist Russia, the Ukrainian nation and the Russian nation have changed from brothers to mortal enemies.

In the process of the secession of right-bank Ukraine from Russia and Soviet Russia, the Ukrainians purged the Russians on the right bank, first massacred, and then changed to deportation under the protest of Empress Olga, but many old people and children still died in the process Then, it was the turn of the Soviet Union to deal with the Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine, the "three difficult years" of 1929, 1930, and 1931, when Left-Bank Ukraine became hell, millions of Ukrainians starved to death, and the Soviet authorities forbade them to flee to Right-Bank Ukraine, and did not allow Ukrainians in the Polish Confederation to help their compatriots Moreover, during the twenty years of the merger of right-bank Ukraine and western Ukraine into the Free State of Ukraine, the Ukrainians there lived quite comfortably, the land was fertile, the resources were abundant, the population was small, and the land division was also implemented, and it is strange that life could not be more difficult.

So in the Free State of Ukraine, there is not a single Ukrainian who is expecting liberation from the Soviet Red Army.

In the event of a Soviet invasion, the Ukrainian Free State could effortlessly organize millions of people to fight.

However, the Poles are also not at ease with the Ukrainians and do not dare to overarm them before the Soviet invasion, otherwise the Ukrainian Free State may well become a Ukrainian republic In addition, Ukrainians, especially Western Ukrainian Eastern Galicians, have a good opinion of the Germans.

Because they were all subjects of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, if they were free to choose whether to be "Germans", "Poles" or "Soviets", they would surely shout "Long live the Emperor" in a happy mood.

Therefore, the Polish government does not dare to let too many Ukrainians participate in the war on the Western Front, and it is the best policy to defend Ukraine with Ukrainians.

A similar situation arose in Lithuania, where the Lithuanians were forced to join the Polish Commonwealth, and they did not like the Russians either.

If there is no way to be independent, it is better to be a German than to be a Pole.

In fact, in the last two decades, many Lithuanians have emigrated to the Baltic and integrated into the Baltic Germans.

Therefore, in the plans of the French and Poles, Lithuania, with the exception of Vilnius, where the Poles lived, was ready to "give up for the time being".

However, in the proposal now proposed by Charles de Gaulle, even Vilnius must be abandoned.

Because it was unrealistic to mobilize the Lithuanian army to defend the city, and to put the Polish army there was to lose the troops in vain.

"As for Lithuania, we do not see the need to deploy forces other than the Lithuanian Defense Forces," Charles de Gaulle said, "and Vilnius should become an undefended city." ” Edward Rezshmigvi, dressed in the military uniform of a Polish marshal, nodded his bald head, which was regarded as an endorsement of the strategy of temporarily abandoning Lithuania.

"Lithuania must give up, but how long can the Eastern Front be delayed," he asked with some concern, "is it possible for the USSR to bypass the Brest fortress and march directly into the heart of Poland" "The odds," replied Admiral Ganmalin, "are not in the interests of the Soviet Union."

Their goal was Ukraine, not to help the Germans bring down Poland as quickly as possible.

For them, the sooner the war in Ukraine ends, the better, and the longer the war drags on in Poland and Germany, the better. ” This is the result of more than ten years of research by the General Staff of the French Army, absolutely reliable and, vice versa.

The Germans also wanted to settle Poland as soon as possible, and then let the Soviets slowly gnaw on the hard bone of Ukraine.

"The Ukrainians will hold the Soviets back for us," Edward Rezhimigvi said without worry, "and if the French friends can support some weapons, they will delay much longer." ” "We will not only provide weapons, but also military advisers."

"But the focus of this war is on the soil of the Polish Free State," said Gammel, referring to de Gaulle, "Charles, you go on." ” "Yes, Admiral," Charles de Gaulle drew an arc on the west, north, and south sides of the map with a wooden stick in his hand.

"If there is a reluctance to give up some land in order to build a defensive line on the river, then Poland will have to lay out a fairly long line of defense in three directions" "No, we can't give up that much land."

Eduard Reizhimigvi immediately rejected de Gaulle's proposal, which was also the recommendation of the General Staff of the French Army.

"Poland is a powerful country, and we Poles have no reason to be afraid of Germany, provided that the Ukrainians are able to drag down the USSR.

And I, as the chief inspector of the Polish army, have no reason to be afraid" This was actually a political issue, dictated by the high level of national self-confidence in Poland.

Eduard Rezhimigvi could not show timidity, otherwise he would lose the hearts and minds of the people, and he would be ousted by his political opponents before the war could be completed.

De Gaulle and Gammel looked at each other, which was to be expected "Marshal, then we can only take the division of troops, while retaining strong reserves, and take the method of retreating for a decisive battle in wartime."

De Gaulle said slowly, "Since we have no way of judging the direction of the enemy's main attack, we can only deploy part of our army evenly on the front line.

At the same time, reserve enough reserves, which should include strong cavalry and mechanized groups, to ensure that they can quickly maneuver to the decisive battlefield. ” The "Mechanized Cluster" Eduard Rezhimigvi knew the theory of mechanized warfare, but the Polish army had a very low degree of mechanization.

"It can consist of 5 tank battalions and 2 motorized brigades," de Gaulle said. tanks, 75 R35 tanks were also ordered.

The number of tanks increased to about 200, and with the addition of 75 R35 tanks, it was possible to form 5 tank battalions.

You can combine them with your two motorized brigades, and if you add a cavalry brigade to Luogan, you can form a powerful semi-cavalry and semi-mechanized strike force."

"Admiral Hersman, 12 class armored ships are the key to the implementation of the Atlantic Breaking Engagement, and it must not be canceled" In the Reich Ministry of Defense conference room at 73 William Street, Admiral Raeder was throwing a tantrum at Hersmann, who was also the chairman of the Armaments Commission.

The focus of the dispute between the parties was the construction plan of 12 class armored ships.

The class armored ships are the successors of the "German" class armored ships, and in Hersmann's view, they are another ironclad proof of the regression of the level of German military ship manufacturing With an unloaded displacement of nearly 20,000 tons, it is only equipped with 6 280-mm main guns, 14 105150-mm secondary guns, 20 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, and 20 Erlikon 20-mm anti-aircraft guns.

This allowed the class of armored ships to shake off all the battlecruisers and battleships, and its six 280 cannons were enough to defeat all the Anglo-French heavy cruisers, but Hersmann was skeptical.

"By June 1939, the Navy will have 300 submarines," Hersman shook his head repeatedly, "and there are more than 60 of them capable of ocean-going missions, and you still need to break up the engagement with class-class armored ships."

"General, you don't know about naval warfare" Marshal Raeder was also a little crying and laughing, an army general, just do a good job of tanks, and you don't understand what to do in the navy.

"The results of the last war have shown that the task of blockading Britain cannot be accomplished by submarines.

Once the British formed their transport ships and sent destroyers to escort them, the combat efficiency of the submarines would be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the best way to do this is to use multiple means at the same time.

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One is submarines; the second is a long-range patrol bomber; The third is to send a formation consisting of two class armored ships and a destroyer to break into the Atlantic. ” Marshal Raeder said: "And as long as two or three two-class formations break through into the Atlantic, the lifeline of England will be temporarily cut off."

And once the British's foreign trade lines are cut off, even temporarily, their factories will drastically reduce production due to lack of raw materials, and this method is much more effective and safe to attack the British than sending planes to bomb them, and if the British want to secure the transport lines, they must send a limited number of battleships to escort them, which in turn will reduce their power in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. ” t1706231537: