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, the four cities of Brest, Pinsk, Kiev and Lviv were heavily fortified - the border between the current Polish Confederation and the Soviet Union was more than 2,000 kilometers long and curved due to the annexation of right-bank Ukraine and Lithuania! It is obviously unrealistic to want to arm the whole 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," Charr. "And stockpile up enough food and ammunition 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, 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 (Soviet Russia), the Ukrainians carried out a purge of the Russians on the right bank - first massacred, then changed to expulsion at the protest of Empress Olga, but many old people and children still died in the process of expulsion!

Then, it was the turn of the USSR to strike at the Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine! In 1929, 1930, and 1931, the "three difficult years" of left-bank Ukraine turned into hell, and millions of Ukrainians starved to death. Moreover, 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, rich in resources, the population was small, and the land was divided equally. It's strange that life couldn't be better.

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 invasion of the USSR, otherwise the Ukrainian Free State may well become a Ukrainian republic!

In addition, Ukrainians, especially Western Ukrainians (Eastern Galicia), have a favorable 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 did not dare to let too many Ukrainians participate in the war on the Western Front - it is best to defend Ukraine with Ukrainians.

A similar situation is also present in Lithuania. 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".

But in the Shire. Of the proposals now proposed by de Gaulle, even Vilnius had to give up. Because it is unrealistic to mobilize the Lithuanian army to defend the city. And to put the Polish army there is to lose troops in vain.

"As for Lithuania, we do not see the need to deploy forces other than the Lithuanian Defense Forces." Shire. De Gaulle said that "Vilnius should become an undefended city." ”

Edward in the military uniform of a Polish marshal. Rez-Shimigvi nodded his bare head, which was considered to approve the strategy of temporarily abandoning Lithuania.

"Lithuania must give up, but ...... How long can the Eastern Front be delayed? "Is it possible for the Soviet Union to bypass the Brest fortress and march directly into the heart of Poland?" ”

"It's very unlikely." Admiral Gammelin replied, "This is 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 a decade of research by the General Staff of the French Army. Absolutely! And, the reverse is also true. 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," said Edward. Rez-Himigwe was not worried, "If the French friends can support some weapons, they will definitely delay much longer." ”

"We will not only provide weapons, but also military advisers." "But the focus of this war is on the land of the Polish Free State!" He pointed at de Gaulle, "Go on, Charles." ”

"Yes, Admiral," Charles. De Gaulle used the wooden stick in his hand to draw an arc on the west, north, and south sides of the map of Poland headquarters. "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 defensive line in three directions......"

"No, we can't give up that much land." Edward. Rez-Himigvi immediately rejected de Gaulle's suggestion, which was also the advice of the French Army General Staff. "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! ”

It's actually a political issue! It is determined by the high level of national self-confidence in Poland. Edward. Rez-Shimigvi must not be timid, otherwise he will lose the hearts and minds of the people, and he will be ousted by his political opponents before the war can be carried out.

De Gaulle and Gammel looked at each other, and this 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. ”

"Mechanized clusters?" Edward. Rez-Shmigvi knew the theory of mechanized warfare, but the Polish army was very mechanized.

"It can consist of 5 tank battalions and 2 motorized brigades," de Gaulle said. Currently, Poland has more than 100 7TP tanks, and 75 R-35 tanks are also on order. If production is stepped up, it is hoped that by the spring of next year the 7TP tank will be increased to about 200 units, and with the addition of 75 R-35 tanks, it will be 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 P-class armored ships are the key to breaking the Atlantic war, and they 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 program of 12 P-class armored ships. The P-class armored ship is the successor to the "German" class armored ship, and in Hersmann's opinion, it is another ironclad proof of the regression of the level of German military ship manufacturing!

With an unladen displacement of nearly 20,000 tons, it is only equipped with 6 280-mm main guns, 14 105-150 mm secondary guns, 20 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, and 20 Erikon 20-mm anti-aircraft guns -- the anti-aircraft firepower is not weak, but the main gun firepower is too weak! And the biggest highlight of this class of armored ships, according to the Navy, is the high speed of 32-34 knots.

This allowed the P-class armoured ship to get rid of all the battlecruisers and battleships, and its six 280mm cannons were enough to defeat all the Anglo-French heavy cruisers - though Hersman was skeptical.

"By June 1939, the Navy will have 300 submarines!" Hersman shook his head repeatedly, "Among them, there are more than 60 submarines that can carry out ocean-going missions, and you still need to use P-class armored ships to break the engagement?" ”

"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, what are you doing with the navy? You don't understand.

"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. One is submarines; the second is a long-range patrol bomber; The third is to send a formation consisting of two P-class armored ships and a destroyer to break through into the Atlantic. ”

Marshal Raeder said: "And as long as two or three double-P-class formations break through to the Atlantic, then the lifeline of Britain will be temporarily cut off!"

And as soon as the foreign trade lines of the British are cut off, even temporarily, their factories will have a significant reduction in production due to the lack of raw materials! It is much more effective and safe to use this method to attack Britain than to send planes to bomb it! If the British wanted to secure the transport lines, they would have to send a limited number of battleships out to escort them, which in turn would reduce their forces in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. (To be continued.) )