Chapter 851: Attack Poland, Russia joins the war

The situation was just as expected by the commander of the Polish Second Army. After several days of careful preparation, it was determined that the main Polish army had been dragged on the western front. The German First Army immediately launched a blitz plan to attack Poland.

In order to complete this blitz mission, Germany committed all their armored and motorized forces.

These include 3 tank divisions, 3 motorcycle divisions, 5 light armor divisions and 2 cavalry divisions. As supplementary firepower and assistance, the East Prussia area where the First Army is located also has more than 1,200 aircraft and 2,400 artillery pieces.

In response, the Polish Second Army had 4 infantry divisions, 4 cavalry divisions, 1 tank division and 3 artillery divisions.

The difference can be seen from the organization of the armies of both sides. The main organization of the German First Army is all motorized units, and most of them are tanks and armored divisions.

The main formations of the Polish Second Army were infantry divisions and cavalry divisions, which were relatively common troop formations in World War I.

There is a huge difference, that is, in a head-on battle, whether it is infantry or cavalry, the threat to armored forces is not high, or even better than nothing.

The real threats to armored forces are actually artillery divisions and aircraft. However, under the premise that Germany has full control of its airspace superiority, how much threat Poland's artillery can pose to German tanks has become an uncertain unknown.

On the afternoon of October 19, 1935, Germany's blitzkrieg from the East Prussian region against Warsaw, Poland, officially began.

First, a large number of aircraft were dispatched to destroy major Polish airports and communication-transportation hubs.

The Germans no longer pretend. They use all means to destroy various important facilities in Poland and make the communication environment for the Polish government and frontline troops extremely poor.

As long as the connection between the front line and the rear is lost, Poland will definitely fall into chaos. This is also the best time for Germany to blitz Poland.

The German First Army, commanded by General von Bock, gathered Germany's most elite motorized troops, with the natural aim of quickly defeating Poland.

From the beginning of the blitzkrieg plan against Poland, the Polish Second Army quickly entered a state of defeat.

It's not that the Polish Second Army is too weak, it's that the German army, which has gathered a large number of armored troops and aircraft, is too powerful.

Under the bombing raids by a large number of aircraft, the Polish army was unable to organize a good counterattack at all and was defeated by the German tank troops.

In just 24 hours, the northern Polish defense line collapsed instantly. The German tank troops directly tore through the Polish Second Army's defense line and drove toward Warsaw, a hundred kilometers away.

This is also the most dangerous point in Poland right now, that is, Warsaw is too close to Germany's East Prussia region.

Especially after the cession of the Polish Corridor, Germany's control over the East Prussian region was once again strengthened.

Any troops deployed in East Prussia can pose a huge threat to Poland in the south.

As the most important city in Poland, once Warsaw faces a crisis, the blow to the confidence of the entire Poland will be absolutely unparalleled.

After defeating the Second Army in northern Poland, a large number of German motorized troops moved south along the road, with the goal of reaching Warsaw.

Because the motorized troops moved very quickly, in just 48 hours, the army advanced the front line by more than 50 kilometers, and Warsaw was already within easy reach.

What stands in front of Warsaw is the military town of Puensk in the north of Warsaw.

The Polish Second Army has gathered its remaining troops, and the Polish government is also urgently transporting troops from the eastern front to the northern front.

This blitzkrieg caught the Polish army off guard and shocked the British and French who were paying attention to the war.

Poland, which was still able to fight back and forth with the German army on the Western Front, was in a state of almost total collapse on the northern battlefield.

The Polish cavalry had nothing to do against the German tanks. Even if they organized many heroic and fearless attacks, at most they would only leave some deep or shallow scratches on the tanks.

The armor thickness of these tanks can even withstand heavy machine gun fire, not to mention the weak attack of these cavalry.

It was the two collisions between cavalry and tanks on the Western Front and Eastern Front that made Poland and other countries understand that the role of cavalry on the battlefield had been greatly weakened.

In the face of armored troops, the advantage of cavalry mobility disappears. Judging from the combat effectiveness of armored units and cavalry units alone, cavalry has no advantages at all.

Apart from being able to ride in special terrains such as mountains and hills, cavalry has no other advantages. This can be made up for by a large amount of air force, which also means that in this German-Polish war, the cavalry that the Poles were proud of actually had no effect at all.

Only then did the Poles feel the real panic.

The northern front has collapsed, and it no longer matters whether the west can be defended or not. Once Warsaw fell into crisis, the Polish government had only two options, either to retreat or to surrender.

Sensing a serious crisis, the Polish government immediately contacted Britain and France, who were watching, and asked the French to fulfill their commitments and join or intervene in the war.

The Germans also understood that the war must be resolved quickly, otherwise once Britain and France join, the war is likely to turn into a war across Europe.

On October 21, 1935, the German government used its air force to send a large number of surrender letters to Warsaw, asking the Polish people to give up resistance and that the German army would never harm prisoners.

At the same time, the German army was less than 30 kilometers away from Warsaw, and Warsaw was already in danger.

In order to delay as much time as possible, the Polish government urged Britain and France to make a decision quickly. On the other hand, it issued the decision that was most likely to affect the situation in Poland since Poland regained its independence, which was to move the capital.

Where exactly will the capital be moved? Poland is a Central European country that has no overseas territories except for the Kingdom of Lithuania, a subsidiary country.

Moreover, the area of ​​Poland is not large. In the end, the Polish government chose to move the capital to Lublin, 160 kilometers southeast of Warsaw.

It is worth mentioning that Lublin is only a few dozen kilometers away from the border between Poland and Russia.

This also means that for the current Polish government, they have regarded Germany as their biggest enemy, and the threat level is far higher than Russia.

The transfer of the Polish capital did not go smoothly.

Naturally, the Germans would not let Poland move its capital. While Poland quietly decided to move its capital, Germany sent a large number of aircraft to blow up all the roads from Warsaw to Lublin.

This has to mention Poland's strategic depth again. As a country with a small mainland area, German planes can easily fly to the entire territory of Poland without worrying about round-trip problems.

This also means that the German Air Force can carry out bombings and attacks anywhere in Poland. Any roads and important facilities in Poland may face German attacks at any time.

After the road was blown up, Poland's capital relocation plan indeed slowed down a lot.

At least, the Polish government's original plan to relocate people was completely shattered.

Although the distance between the two places is only 160 kilometers, with the highway destroyed, it is already difficult to relocate the government alone, let alone relocate a large number of people in Warsaw.

In the end, the Polish government had no choice but to abandon the people and quietly headed to Lublin in trucks with important government departments and employees.

As everyone knows, the Polish government's choice directly destroyed the confidence of the Polish people.

Putting aside everything else, the government has already fled. Do we still need to ask the remaining defenders and people in Warsaw to resist resolutely?

Even if the Polish people are passionate about serving their country, when faced with such a government that runs away alone, it is inevitable that their hearts will be as cold as a bucket of cold water being poured on them.

Two days later, the German First Army successfully surrounded Warsaw.

In order to delay the German advance, the Polish government left a full 180,000 troops in Warsaw for defense.

Although less than 80,000 of them are veterans, and the remaining 100,000 troops are new recruits recruited in the past month, they are still a real army of 180,000.

According to common sense, if the Polish military and civilians resist resolutely, the 180,000 troops plus all the Warsaw people can hold off the German army for at least a week.

But the problem is that the Polish army has already lost confidence at this time. Can they still be expected to resist desperately and defend Poland to the death?

With the arrival of a large number of German air forces and the throwing of a large number of surrender letters, the fall of Warsaw has become inevitable.

On October 23, 1935, the German army officially began to besiege Warsaw.

On October 25, the third day after a large number of surrender letters were thrown, the German army launched a general offensive.

On October 29, Warsaw garrison commander Oka Ivanovich Gorodovikov announced his surrender with more than 100,000 Warsaw garrison troops, and Warsaw officially fell.

At this time, there were only 11 days before the German First Army launched its attack.

Even if you include the total time since the war broke out, only half a month has passed. It only took half a month for the German army to capture the capital of Poland. This was something that Britain and France could not have imagined before the war broke out.

Moreover, through this war, Germany's army has rapidly expanded to one million levels. Poland, which also has an army of millions, is no match for Germany. This also means that the German army still has extremely high combat effectiveness. This is not good news for Britain and France.

It was at this moment that Britain and France finally decided not to be bystanders and planned to join the war and help Poland stabilize the situation.

However, one thing happened that was beyond the expectations of Britain and France.

On November 1, 1935, when the Polish government arrived in Lublin and mobilized a large number of Eastern Front defenders to deploy defense lines in Lublin, the Russian army was completely mobilized.

More than 300,000 Russian troops marched to the front line in a mighty manner. Without any preparation by the Polish army, they quickly launched a large-scale attack on the Polish defenders.

What's terrible is that not only were the Poles unprepared, the Polish government even withdrew most of the garrison on the eastern front.

Originally, Poland had more than 400,000 garrison troops on the border with Russia, which was why Russia had not taken action.

However, the fall of Warsaw forced the Polish government to mobilize the garrison on the Eastern Front to defend Lublin, and the Russians finally found an opportunity.

There are currently less than 200,000 Polish defenders on the mobilized eastern border. What they faced was more than 300,000 Russian troops.

What's even more terrible is that the Polish government transferred most of the artillery and heavy weapons of the eastern border defenders to Lublin and deployed them in Lublin's defensive positions.

This resulted in that when the eastern border faced an attack by the Russian army, all it could rely on were rifles and a small number of machine guns and artillery.

The Russian army is no longer as simple as it was in World War I.

After the country was reunified, Russia's economy and industry experienced rapid growth.

Although Russia's economy is still in bad shape, so far, the famine that has plagued Russia for a long time has been completely resolved.

It goes without saying much about industry. Thanks to the efforts of the Russian government, Russia has built an industry at the level of a great power, and its military industry has also been greatly restored.

At present, Russia's weapons and equipment are almost all self-produced. Their weapons and equipment are undoubtedly ahead in the face of the Polish army that lacks heavy weapons.

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