Chapter 853 Lament of Spain

From the outbreak of the war to the signing of the contract, there was only a little more than two months to fully calculate.

If we only count the time of Germany's war against Poland, it is even only one and a half months.

To wipe out a country with millions of troops in one and a half months is inconceivable to all countries.

You know, because no large-scale war broke out after World War I, the main combat ideas of various countries remained at the time of World War I.

Just like Poland, the main tactical thinking of various countries is to use a large number of infantry to dig trenches and engage in defensive battles with the enemy on the front, and to deploy a large number of cavalry on the flanks, ready to outflank and attack at any time.

But the Germans changed this status quo, allowing countries around the world, including Britain and France, to see a new way of war.

Using a large number of tanks and motorized troops to carry out a rapid assault will tear a hole in the enemy's defense line. As long as the size of the motorized troops is large enough and the advance speed is fast enough, the main purpose of the blitzkrieg can be accomplished before the enemy can react, which is to break through the enemy's capital.

Of course, such a blitzkrieg also has certain flaws.

First of all, the target of the blitzkrieg can only be a country with a small land area like Poland.

If the blitzkrieg is targeted at countries with extremely large territories like Russia or Australasia, such tactics will extremely test the scale of logistical supplies and motorized forces.

Secondly, if you want to achieve a quick and effective blitzkrieg, you must have a sufficient number of armored troops with very powerful combat effectiveness.

Except for countries like Poland, which are somewhat partial to cavalry, including Britain and France, they all attach great importance to the development of tanks.

If Poland is replaced by France, Germany may not be able to complete the blitzkrieg in less than two months. This is why the French can still remain calm in the face of danger.

But I have to admit that the horrific results created by the Germans still made Britain and France feel a little panicked.

Part of the reason why Britain and France held back was that they were afraid of German troops and how quickly the Germans could defeat Poland in such a short period of time.

Before the outbreak of the German-Polish War, the size of the French army was at the same level as that of Germany.

But the French defense department has held many meetings, and they have come to a fact that they still don't want to believe, that is, the French army simply cannot defeat Poland within two months.

In fact, according to the results of many deductions conducted by the General Staff, the French army will need at least half a year and must use all its strength to defeat Poland.

Moreover, if they wanted to defeat Poland's army of more than one million, the French would also have to bear at least hundreds of thousands of casualties.

This also means that so far, the German army has surpassed the French army. The French army has once again fallen behind Germany in terms of tactical thinking and war concepts.

After Germany and Russia jointly carved up Poland, the most embarrassing thing was not Britain and France, but the international organization that was once thought to be able to easily manage the world, the World Alliance.

From the beginning of the war, meetings held by the World Alliance continued to condemn the actions of the Germans.

Even in the middle of the war, many countries made proposals to intervene in the war.

However, due to the neutrality of the British and the retreat of the French, this proposal was not passed, which also resulted in the current result, that is, Poland was partitioned.

This has greatly reduced the prestige of the World Alliance, and its international status has become very embarrassing.

Since they cannot manage the stronger powers, what is the use of these small and medium-sized countries continuing to stay in the World Alliance?

The real defeat of the World Alliance had to be the Germans' series of acts of aggression against other countries after the German-Polish War.

After the war against Poland ended, Germany and Italy returned their attention to the war in Spain.

By now, the situation of the Spanish Civil War was already clear.

Without the intervention of other powers, the Spanish Republican government could only last for half a year at most before being seized by the Spanish National Army.

But it is obvious that neither the ambitious German Empire, which has just annexed Poland, nor Italy, which is very envious of Germany's great expansion, are unwilling to wait another half a year.

Spain will be an extremely important part of the German government's expansion plans.

Being able to control all of Spain early will mean that Germany will gain a greater advantage in the confrontation in Western Europe.

After Christmas, Germany and Italy accelerated their attacks on the Spanish Republic.

The troops they sent to Spain also rapidly increased from a total of 50,000 to more than 150,000.

Coupled with more than 500,000 Spanish National Army troops, the combined force far exceeded the 400,000 soldiers owned by the Spanish government.

In order to eliminate the Spanish Republican Government as soon as possible, Germany and Italy carried out indiscriminate bombing of cities controlled by the Spanish Republican Government.

Italy did not show any pretense and dispatched a large-scale navy to encircle and suppress the Spanish navy controlled by the government of the Spanish Republic.

Under the joint offensive of Germany and Italy, the Spanish Republican government was retreating steadily, and the casualties of the army and the people were very heavy.

On January 7, 1936, representatives of the Spanish Republican Government burst into tears at a regular meeting of the World League, requesting the major powers, including Britain and France, to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, and provided a large number of German and Italian aircraft to bomb Spanish cities, causing a large number of Real photos and evidence of civilian casualties in Spain.

In the vote that day, the World Alliance Conference preliminarily agreed to the proposal to support Spain put forward by representatives of the Spanish Republican Government with an absolute suppression of more than 70%.

But the next day, on the proposal of whether to intervene in the Spanish War, with the French's pro-peace stance, the pro-peace faction finally succeeded in getting the World Alliance to give up the intervention with more than 47% of the votes (43% pro-war, 10% abstention) Spanish Civil War.

In fact, it can be seen from the voting in the two days before and after that most small and medium-sized countries agreed to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.

They are also afraid that Germany, which is becoming more and more ambitious, will one day target them.

But unfortunately, although the World Alliance is an international organization, the right to speak in it lies with the great powers.

As long as the great powers express their opposition, these small and medium-sized countries will have to consider the consequences of going against the great powers.

What's more, France, which expressed its opposition, is the European power with the most colonies and the most support from European countries besides the United Kingdom.

After the proposal to intervene in the Spanish Civil War was rejected, a representative of the Spanish Republican Government said with sadness and anger: "One day, you will pay the price for today's cowardice!"

Although they have withdrawn from the World Alliance, Germany and Italy have expressed close concern about this meeting of the World Alliance.

After learning that the World Alliance had rejected the proposal to intervene in the war, the German and Italian governments mocked disdainfully in a note: "They (British and French) are just a group of scared cowards, and no one can stop them anymore." Our footsteps.”

Having said that, Australasia voted yes in this vote.

But unfortunately, Britain and France did not agree to interfere in the Spanish war, and Australasia would not cross the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean to cross thousands of miles to aid the Spanish republican government that was about to perish.

However, out of various interests, after the regular meeting of the World Alliance, the Australasian representative found the Spanish representative and expressed that Australasia was willing to assist Spain with a batch of supplies and weapons and equipment.

Because of this, Australasia easily gained the friendship of Spain.

Because of the dissatisfaction of various small and medium-sized countries, the final result of this meeting became big news and spread widely among European countries.

The cowardly conciliatory attitude of the French was diametrically opposed to Australasia's willingness to help Spain. It is precisely because of the French that Australasia has gained the favor of many European countries.

Back to Australasia.

Arthur felt a sense of strangeness and crisis about the current development of the world.

The development of this world is completely different from history, which also means that Arthur cannot completely rely on the trend of history to judge the development of the real world.

In real history, Germany annexed Czechoslovakia and Austria, and then set its sights on Poland.

But now, because the Austrian Empire still exists, Germany first sets its target on Poland.

Will a German empire that has annexed most of Poland choose to continue to advance eastward and follow the British and French ideas of sowing relations between Germany and Russia, or will it stabilize Poland's rule and turn its troops westward?

Whether France can now resist Germany's attack, and whether the Austrian Empire that does not exist in history can play its role are things that Arthur is not sure about.

Since everything is uncertain, you can only place your hope on your own strength.

As 1936 was approaching, Arthur held another cabinet meeting for the purpose of preparing for war.

At this meeting, Arthur boldly predicted that war would break out this year or next year.

In order to deal with this war that may far exceed the previous European wars, Arthur asked the army to expand its scale as soon as possible, the navy to produce as soon as possible, and all walks of life to be ready to enter a state of war at any time.

In addition, Arthur also participated in the production of weapons, equipment and medical supplies.

Although Germany destroyed Poland quickly, this does not mean that the European war will also be resolved quickly. Even though it is completely different from the development of history, Arthur still believes that this new World War II will still last for several years.

In this war, the most important thing is still the reserve of strategic materials. The more supplies you have in reserve, the longer you can last.

For a long war of attrition, material reserves and the people's desire for victory are the keys to victory.

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