Chapter 707: The Polish Government Flees Warsaw
The war gradually crossed in the direction that the Poles least wanted to see, which all the Poles had not thought of before the war.
In response to such a predicament, Poland, on the one hand, asked Britain and France to launch an attack to contain the German attack. It would have been better to lead the main German forces to the Western Front, but the demands of the Poles were ruthlessly rejected by Britain and France. They rejected Poland's request for help on the grounds that they were not well equipped.
For the British and French troops to stay behind the Maginot Line, watching Poland little by little swallowed up by the armies of the two countries. The British military historian Fuller later wrote: "While Poland was being destroyed, there was an amazing conflict on the Western Front. It soon became known as 'Strange War', and better known as 'Sit-down War'. ”
Since Britain and France can't take care of it at the moment, is there anything else Poland can do?
Speaking of which, Poland is also to blame for its own death, and after independence, it caused trouble everywhere. First, it intervened in the Soviet revolution and occupied a large part of the Soviet Union. Then, he cooperated with France to cause the Ruhr crisis, which made the Germans feel extremely bad about Poland.
If Poland had a feud with the Soviet Union and Germany, and it is understandable that the two sides were constantly dirty, then Poland and its traditional ally Lithuania fell out a little speechless. Poland and Lithuania have historically been traditional allies, and they also formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which they have been dominating for a time.
After the restoration of Poland in World War I, Poland and Lithuania fell out. In 1920, Poland seized Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and the two countries have been on a fire and water since then, and Poland has occupied Vilnius until now. Therefore, after Droz invaded Poland, Lithuania blocked the Polish-Lithuanian border, and incidentally seized Polish assets in Lithuania.
As for the newly formed Slovakia, it is needless to mention, then the puppet state.
In a circle, Poland offended the surrounding countries in addition to not having a bad relationship with Latvia. So in the face of this situation, Poland simply could not find a country that could save itself.
As for the USSR, not to mention, Comrade Steel ate meat and did not spit out bones, so Poland's request was directly rejected.
And at this time, Poland realized that it was a neighbor that wished to die by itself. The more realistic problem is that the Polish government does not even have a place to escape. It cannot be said that there is none, Latvia does not have any diplomatic conflicts with Poland. But in the face of the threat of the three countries of Derogsu, this small Baltic country very wisely refused the entry of the Poles.
Even more frightening news was that Romanian armoured units were advancing towards Warsaw, and had now reached Garvolin, less than 85 kilometers from Warsaw. As for the German side, its vanguard had also reached Lodz, which was only 120 kilometers from Warsaw.
The problem now is that if the Polish government does not leave, it will be besieged in Warsaw.
So now it is not a question of whether to flee or not to flee, but where to flee to. Of course, the more official version of the Polish government is that the Polish government needs to move the capital to better lead the people to resist the invasion of the two countries.
Therefore, high-ranking Polish officials gathered at the Chancellery to discuss the specific location of the capital.
When everyone gathered, Prime Minister Sikorski, who presided over the meeting, felt a sigh of relief. I didn't expect the outcome of the war to be so miserable, and the army that Poland had painstakingly managed would not hold out for a week under the joint attack of Droe, and it would reach the point of abandoning the capital.
It's just that he still keeps in mind his mission, Poland can't die, otherwise he doesn't know when the next return will be. Now the priority is to move the government out first, use Warsaw to delay the footsteps of the two countries, and wait for the rescue of Britain and France.
To this day, Poland still pins its hopes on Britain and France, and this should be said to be good.
"Okay, now for the meeting, our topic is the issue of moving the capital. Now Warsaw is going to turn into a front, and in order for the government to continue its work, then where should we move the capital? ”
As soon as Prime Minister Sikorski spoke about the issue, Colonel-General Stakovic, who was the chief of the General Staff, immediately stepped forward. "At the suggestion of our military, it would be better for the government to move to Koblin. This would allow it to distance itself from Droe's army, and it would also allow it to use Brest to defend itself against attacks from both countries. ”
The words of the Chief of the General Staff are a very good choice from a military point of view. You can escape from Warsaw, the land of the fourth war, and use the Brest fortress to resist the offensive of Droz's army.
The government still has confidence in this fortified city prepared by Poland for the Soviet Union. It's a choke point, with the formidable Platte Marshes to the south and the gloomy forests to the north. Therefore, for generations in Russia, the place was used as a fortress.
Since the Soviet-Polish War, Poland has painstakingly managed this strategic key city, and as long as Brest does not fall, the Soviet army will not be able to penetrate the Polish hinterland at all.
Now it is clear that the military intends to use the city to take on the heavy responsibility of defending Dro's army.
However, Admiral Stakovitz immediately drew a counterattack, only to see the Minister of Industry Ziekowski stand up and speak. "To put it mildly, the government has moved to Kobulin, so what about the people and materials, and can those factories also be moved? Without supplies, what will your military do to continue fighting. Poland can exist just by hiding in Brest? If this kind of battle continues, I don't think the fall of Brest will be more than two months. Then what should we do, vote for the USSR? ”
If the words of the Minister of Industry, Ziekowski, were justified at first, they turned into an outpouring of dissatisfaction with the military.
It is well known that Polish politics is very much influenced by the military, which has always had a deep influence on politics since the Pilsudski generation (the famous colonel politics, a bunch of retired officers with the rank of colonel, serving as senior government officials). And under the influence of such hardliners as the military, it is not surprising that Poland is doing strange diplomacy.
Of course, if under the influence of the military, everything is developing to the good, then this is not a problem either. But Poland, under the influence of the military, is getting worse and worse, and now it is on the verge of extinction, how can this not be vented by others? It was clear that everyone present knew this, so no one contradicted him.
Admiral Stakowitz was clearly aware that there was a large group of people in the government who were angry with the military, so he did not refute them. After all, grievances still need to be issued, and besides, the army is too ugly to fight in this war, can you still not allow others to say a few words.
So he waited for the Minister of Industry, Ziekowski, to finish speaking, and then spoke. "So do you have a good choice?"
This sentence stopped Ziekowski, after all, he was not familiar with military affairs. And to point to a city at random would be irresponsible to the Polish people. As for the west of Brest, just look at the offensive lines of those Droz's armies on the map, and you can see that it is even more dangerous.
So he could only say one sentence. "I haven't figured it out yet."
In the end, forced by the actual situation, Poland made the decision to move the capital to Koblin. And the action was quite fast, and in the same night, the first trains carrying high-ranking government officials and various documents and valuables left Warsaw.
As for the highways, the road from Warsaw to Brest was crowded with vehicles carrying all their belongings. And quite a few residents on foot fled Warsaw, carrying their own luggage. They all knew that war was imminent, and if they did not want to be harmed, the residents of Warsaw naturally had no choice but to flee.