The Rise of the Third Reich

After leaving the embassy and on the way to the Ministry of Defense, Natalie sat in a Fiat car and looked out the window. The city of Warsaw is generally quite peaceful. There are many pedestrians on the spacious roads, most of them carrying things in large and small bags, which should be purchased food. In anticipation of a possible siege of Warsaw, citizens were stocking up on food. There are also many people in military uniforms who are in a hurry. Are they rushing to the military camp to report or to see their families for the last time?

The tree-lined road leading to the Main Square is lined with long rows of four-story buildings, which are very beautifully built. They are all intact and have not been destroyed by bombings-Hesman hopes to get Warsaw intact, which is a carefully constructed building. A city built, a bit like Paris. Apart from Petersburg, there was no other city in the original Russian Empire that could compare with it.

If all went well, Natalie was expected to become the mayor of Warsaw after the war - a great job, running a prosperous city without having to answer to its citizens.

Some people may accuse her of being a "treacherous", but in a few years, when Germany wins the world war, no one will say so. People will only remember her as the first female mayor to lead a big city in the world, an outstanding politician!

Because history is written by the winners, and Hessman will definitely be the winner, Natalie also thinks that she will become a good person.

…

"Poland will never fail!"

Marshal Rez-Chimigwi was probably crazy and living in his own fantasy - this was Natalie's first impression of the Polish army commander.

The Polish Coastal Army and the Krakow Army have completely collapsed in the past few days (parts of the 9th Division of the Coastal Army have joined forces with the Poznań Army). The Lodz Army has been broken up, and most of the people have been taken prisoners, except for one. A small number fled to Warsaw and became the main force defending Warsaw (the headquarters of the Warsaw Army Group being formed was the headquarters of the original Lodz Army Group). The Prussian Army Group, the Polish general reserve, is hastily withdrawing to Radom, 90 kilometers south of Warsaw.

Now the door to Warsaw was completely open to the Germans. Even the Polish government knew that Warsaw could not hold on, so it retreated to Lublin. But Rez Himigwi still believes that Poland will win!

"Then why you invited me here..." Natalie Leshinskaya was a little strange. She looked around. This was a very narrow office, and it was definitely not Rez Himigvi. of. Moreover, she was quietly led into the Ministry of Defense building through the back door by Rez Himigwe's adjutant.

"Of course it is to discuss peace negotiations," Rez-Chimigwi whispered. "Now the Germans are locked in a two-front war, which is impossible to win. And we also have a greedy man to the east of Poland. Neighbors, they are ready to take action. If our two countries continue to fight like this, the Soviet Union is likely to become the final winner!"

"Soviet Union?" Natalie looked at Rez Himigvi, "Marshal, I need more precise information."

Rez-Khimigvi was silent for a moment and said: "The British suggest that we start negotiations with the Soviet Union on the independence of the Ukrainian Free State!"

No wonder! Natalie thought to herself that the British must have been badly beaten in Scapa Flow, so they wanted to "betray" Ukraine to win over the Soviet Union. And how could Rez-Khimigvi be willing to give up the Ukrainian Free State? That is hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of black land, as well as coal mines, iron ore, oil and various non-ferrous metals. If Poland wants to become an industrial power, it depends entirely on Ukraine's resources.

What is the Free City of Danze compared to Ukraine? If you lose Ukraine for the sake of Danze, you must be the stupidest fool in the world. So as soon as the British "kindly" proposed "Ukrainian independence", the three Polish giants had the urge to hit the wall.

"What about the terms of peace?" Natalie asked.

"The Free City of Danze...plus a coastal corridor!" Rez Himigvi gritted his teeth as he spoke, "plus Lithuania excluding Vilnius!"

What were you doing earlier? Natalie thought to herself: At this point, would General Hessmann still allow Poland to become independent?

"Okay," Natalie nodded, "I will pass the news on to the general."

"Hurry! We must reach an agreement before the end of September," Rez-Chimigwi looked at Natalie, "otherwise we, Poland, will be forced to lose Ukraine! And you will also be caught between the Soviet Union and France. !”

"So, you want to fight with Germany against the Soviet Union?" Natalie still felt that Rez Himigwe was thinking wildly - although Stalin did not want to join Germany in attacking Britain and France, the dictator would not be so confused as to fight with France. to the point of joining forces to fight Germany.

The Tsar had already done such a stupid thing once, risking his own life. Would Stalin be so stupid as to imitate Nicholas II?

"No!" Rez-Khimigwi said seriously, "We don't need Germany's help, we can defeat the Soviet Union on our own. In fact, unless Germany and the Soviet Union join forces, no one can defeat Poland alone.

If Germany is unwilling to negotiate peace immediately, then we will first fight a battle like the Marne River, and then Germany will have to negotiate with Poland. "

…

"What? What? The French said they would not be ready to attack the Siegfried Line until 1941? This is ridiculous!"

British Lord of the Admiralty Churchill has almost become the de facto Prime Minister in the past two days. He is the one who takes the initiative at every cabinet meeting - because everyone else has lost his mind.

"Yes," Baron William Edmund Ironside, who had just taken office (he took office on September 3), replied dumbfounded, "the French think that if they attack now, millions of people will die... So they need to build a lot of super-large-caliber artillery and special armored vehicles for attacking fortified areas, which will take two years..."

"A bunch of French cowards!" Churchill rolled his eyes. "Do they think it's possible for the Poles to last two years?"

"Actually, they also gave another possibility." Baron Ironside said, "If the Netherlands and Belgium are willing to join us, we can break into Germany from the north of the Netherlands. The German Siegfried Line has only been built to Close to the Dutch border in Kleve.”

"Belgium is still possible, but it is impossible for the Netherlands to join..." Prime Minister Chamberlain shook his head repeatedly.

I remember when Kaiser Wilhelm took refuge in the Netherlands when he was in trouble, it was Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands who saved him. Queen Wilhelmina's son-in-law, the future Prince Husband of the Netherlands, is Duke Bernhard, a member of the German royal family (not the Hohenzollern dynasty). He holds the title of Duke of the German Empire and was once an officer in the German Wehrmacht.

With these two levels of relations, Germany and the Netherlands are their own people. How could the Netherlands join Britain and France?

"Actually, actually..." Baron Ironside said, "Actually, what the French mean is that we can prompt, uh, to borrow the passage without the consent of the Netherlands."

"Invade the Netherlands!?" Chamberlain looked at Baron Ironside, "Does Gamelin (Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces) want to turn Britain and France into evil invaders and Germany into the defender of justice in Europe?"

"Well..." Baron Ironside shrugged, "Then there's nothing we can do."

"No, we have a way!" Lord Admiralty Churchill suddenly changed the subject. "Baron, are you ready to bomb Berlin?"

"Preparations are underway," said Baron Ironside. "Eight squadrons of Wellington bombers have been mobilized."

"Where's the bombing route?"

"Take off from the airport in Norwich, fly north along the airspace line in the northern part of the Netherlands, and then turn southeast to Berlin after arriving at Heligoland Bay. The total distance is about 870 kilometers."

"Why not fly in a straight line?" Churchill asked.

"A straight line? That would pass through Dutch airspace, which would violate the neutrality of the Netherlands..."

Churchill shrugged, "The Dutch don't have radar, they won't find out!"

"But the Germans do, and they'll find out."

"Then what will they do?" Churchill glanced at Foreign Secretary Viscount Halifax. "If the German capital was hit by a bomb, and the bombing plane was a British plane flying through Dutch airspace, how would the Germans react?"

"We have violated the neutrality of the Netherlands," Viscount Halifax looked at Churchill with some admiration and said, "From the perspective of international law, the Netherlands will lose its neutral status. Germany can ask them to join. If the Netherlands does not agree, Germany can Occupy it."

Churchill is going to play a side ball! Bombers flying through Dutch airspace at night are something that can be denied... This is completely different from the French army rushing into the Netherlands with murderous intent.

Whether Germany's response is to force the Netherlands to side with them or to send troops into the Netherlands, it will create an excuse for the British and French forces to quickly move into the Netherlands and Belgium.

…

"Theodore, are your men ready?"

At this time, General Hersmann did not know that Berlin was about to be bombed. He was at Breslau Airport in Silesia, seeing off the 1st German Airborne Regiment, the 1st Regiment of the Miuta Force and the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment that were about to go out. .

Three regiment-level troops will form the "Miuta Cluster" and parachute to the Lviv oil field. Hersmann's old subordinates in the Miuta Special Forces, Major General Theodore von and Hipple, will serve as commanders of the entire group.

"No problem at all!" Hipple is 48 years old this year, the same age as Hersman, but he is still very strong because of his long-term service in the special forces. He has now put on the green collarless parachute jumpsuit unique to the airborne troops, and has a khaki parachute bag on his shoulders. A row of Junkers 52 transport planes have been lined up at the Breslau military airport and are ready to take off at any time.