Chapter 142: The Major General Who Came Back
Warsaw, Belvelde Palace.
In the streets, a squad of cavalry whizzing through the streets, dressed in fine suit and boots.
For a country like Poland, where almost a quarter of the entire army is cavalry. The cavalry with a tall head is their darling.
Even some of the high-ranking generals who had private cars took pride in riding into the city. Only when they are with their families do they drive their own cars.
"We're here."
After being questioned and inspected by the guards of Belverde Palace, one of the cavalry colonels took off his military cap and smiled at the leading major general.
And the leader of this small group of cavalry to Belved Palace was Major General Felippowitz, the commander of the 13th Cavalry Division, one of the three main Polish cavalry divisions today.
Because of the uselessness of the armored forces proposed by French advisers after the Battle of the Ruhr, Polish Field Marshal Pilsudski dismantled the only Polish armored brigade that could be used against the Germans in the future.
And Felippowiec, a major general who was supposed to be the commander of Poland's most elite armored brigade, was later "lucky" to be transferred from the reserve to the newly formed 13th Cavalry Division as a division commander.
Under the training of Felippowicz, in the past 10 years, the 13th Cavalry Division has become one of the three main cavalry divisions recognized by the Poles. And the reason for their reputation is the intensity of Felippowitz's training.
Felipovitz also has his own unique set of rewards and punishments for training results.
In regular proficiency tests, each regiment and battalion in the division will be paid according to the test results. The best performing troops are paid double their salaries, and the division headquarters rewards their achievements with awards. The teams with the worst numbers were paid little to no and had to survive on free troop meals.
After ten years of tempering, although the 13th Cavalry Division has never had a single combat experience. But it has been listed as one of the main forces by the Polish High Command, and those teams with glorious traditions are placed on the same plane.
Originally, when the Polish High Command declared war on Czechoslovakia a year ago, the 13th Cavalry Division was one of the three leading cavalry divisions invested in the early stage.
As a result, the rapid merger of Czechoslovakia and Germany discouraged the Polish high command. The officers and men of the 13th Cavalry Division, who were ready to make meritorious contributions, were reined in a second before departure!
This is nearly a year.
Today, Germany and Poland are in great turmoil over the Danzig question.
The Polish army has a rotation system, which requires that at least two-thirds of the army's personnel be on duty at all times, including all holidays. To put it another way, the vacation of every Polish soldier was reduced to one-third of the original amount.
Similarly, the build-up of German troops is no longer a secret.
"We can't wait any longer!" Felippowicz strode into the conference room of the current Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army, Field Marshal Smigre, with two accompanying colonels.
Field Marshal Smigre, who was in a meeting, saw Felippowitz pushing open the door of the conference room without manners, and instead of getting angry, he smiled and made a gesture to Felippowitz to stand up.
"If Major General Felippowitz has any suggestions, it is right now. I'm here to discuss the next step in the action plan. Marshal Smigre smiled.
Felippowitz looked at Field Marshal Smigre, who was holding himself in one hand, and gave a standard military salute before giving his advice.
Since being assigned to the reserve by Pilsudski, Felipovitz has effectively stayed away from his beloved military circles, spending his days with a group of generals who have also been left out in the cold, away from the military center.
Had it not been for the fact that Field Marshal Smigre later reactivated himself and transferred him to train a new force, he might never have had the opportunity to fulfill his ambitions again.
Therefore, for Marshal Smigre, who has the grace of reinvention for himself, Felippowitz has always not talked about the so-called false courtesy, but only proved himself with his actions, and also proved that the other party did not choose the wrong person.
He is not good at words, and it is because of this that he has been ignored and neglected.
His strong point is in military theory. Felippowitz knew what Marshal Smigre wanted and what he had to do.
After Smigre waved his hand, Felippowitz immediately began to state the plan he had brought with him today.
"The Germans' intentions are already very obvious, they are going to start a war! If we sit still here, it will be a catastrophe for the Polish army. Felippowitz exclaimed.
"We've just talked about that. Now, what I want to know most is, what do you think we should do? Smigre motioned to continue.
Perhaps before that, judging from the position of a major general in Felipowitz, he really had to think about these issues a little redundantly. But now, after the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army, Field Marshal Smigre, ordered Felippowitz to temporarily become the commander of the new 10th Army and concurrently serve as the commander of the 13th Cavalry Division, Felippowitz has enough reason to share Smigre's worries.
In the previous month and a half, the Polish army urgently expanded four border regiments, and at the same time reorganized 32 territorial defense battalions. This move added a total of 20 new divisions to the Polish High Command, and although the combat effectiveness was unstable, it did further strengthen the overall strength of the Polish army.
Among them, two divisions of the expanded former frontier regiment were merged under the command of Felippowicz, and together with the 13th Cavalry Division, the new 10th Army was formed. Everyone understands that perhaps only a small battle will be needed for Marshal Smigre to have the opportunity to promote Felippowitz to lieutenant general. And when the day of victory comes, Felippowitz may be the new general whom Marshal Smigre personally appointed.
Of course, Felippowicz had already become a well-known Polish military trainer through the training of the 13th Cavalry Division. But the two divisions that were temporarily stuffed to him could not form much combat effectiveness in a short period of time.
As the main body of the defense force of the future battlefield, the expanded divisions of the two border regiments were equipped with a small amount of artillery, as well as a lot of mules as a transport force. In future operations, it still has a certain amount of firepower and mobility.
However, the situation of the newly created divisions that were reorganized by the Territorial Defense Battalion was not so optimistic. Not only are they seriously under-equipped, but their personnel are not well trained. Although many civilians have joined this kind of division one after another, no matter how large the number of "troops" achieved in this way is, it is unlikely to have much practical significance.
Although there are still many people in the High Command who have expectations for this new editor, in Felippowitz's view, the reality is not as rosy as the High Command thinks. According to his analysis, these "militia divisions," which have not received systematic training and have only a small amount of equipment, will not be able to form reliable combat effectiveness. The troops thus formed are almost as good as large-scale reserve training camps.