The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1133 - 851: The Warsaw Treaty

Chapter 1133: Chapter 851: The Warsaw Treaty

Russia’s entry into the war was like a bolt from the blue for Poland.

The Polish Army could not resist the German Army, let alone divert part of its forces to defend the Eastern Front battlefield while resisting the German assault.

Moreover, the Russian army had a tradition that Poland could never compare with, and that was the size of its forces.

Even in peacetime, the Russian army maintained a scale of millions, which was one of the reasons other countries were so wary of Russia.

After Russia entered the war, they would inevitably conduct partial mobilization. Don’t be fooled by Russia’s partial mobilization; the number of new recruits would definitely start in the millions.

This also meant that Russia could have an army of over two million at any time, nearly twice the current size of Poland’s forces.

Facing Germany was already troublesome enough; adding Russia as an enemy caused some collapse within the Polish government and emboldened the previously hidden doves.

Confronted with such a desperate situation, the Polish government realized that Poland alone could no longer change the status quo of its impending doom.

Now, to save Poland, the only hope lay in the intervention of Britain and France in the war to at least preserve some territory for Poland, instead of having it jointly partitioned by Germany and Russia as before.

But such hope was very slim. With Germany already possessing strong military power, would Britain and France be willing to offend these two countries for Poland’s sake?

As it turned out, Britain and France would not offend Germany and Russia just for Poland’s sake.

Although Britain and France did consider declaring war on Germany, that was before Russia had joined this war.

Since Russia had now joined the war, it meant that the downfall of Poland had become a fait accompli.

Insisting on Poland’s independence might even force Germany and Russia into an alliance, which was something Britain and France did not wish to see.

Moreover, the downfall of Poland was not necessarily all bad for Britain and France.

Looking at the map, after Germany and Russia divided Poland, the two countries became direct neighbors on land.

In Europe, other than Finland, Germany probably had the longest border with Russia.

It was natural for two countries with such an extensive border to have some minor conflicts and frictions, especially since they had engaged in a war 20 years before. It was unlikely that Germany and Russia could enjoy everlasting peace.

At this time, Britain and France’s thoughts had shifted from saving Poland to stirring up discord between Germany and Russia.

Germany had France and the Austrian Empire to its west, whose combined strength was far greater than that of Russia. If Germany wanted to expand, then let it expand towards the east!

A war erupting between Germany and Russia would be a matter of great delight for both Britain and France.

With this in mind, Britain and France did not join the German-Polish war, but merely expressed severe protest over Germany’s invasion of Poland.

Furthermore, to respond to Germany’s rapid expansion of its military, France announced a partial mobilization, expanding its army to a size of millions.

On November 4, 1935, the Russian army broke through the Polish lines.

Without heavy weapons, the 200,000 Polish troops were utterly incapable of stopping the Russian advance.

Moreover, as the war progressed, most Poles, who had once firmly believed they could win the war, had now largely lost faith in the government and the war.

Their once proud Polish cavalry had no means against the German armored troops, and their infantry’s combat capability fell short of Germany’s, which was one of the reasons for Poland’s defeat.

Also, on this day, the German Army, after several days of rest in Warsaw, declared it would head south to Lublin to rout the struggling Polish government.

Of course, Russia was not willing to let Germany completely annex Poland, so it too accelerated its advance towards Poland’s new capital Lublin.

At the same time, following the fall of Poland, the Polish First Army Group was completely encircled.

The German Armored troops continued their pursuit of victory, leaving a portion of infantry and artillery to tighten the encirclement of the Polish First Army Group.

On November 7th, the German Second Army Group launched a full-scale attack on the Polish First Army Group. The First Army Group, now in an encirclement, could do nothing as their defense line was gradually reduced by the Germans.

By November 11th, the 11th day after the Russians deployed their troops, the Russian Army was very close to the Polish capital Lublin.

On November 12th, the German Army also reached the vicinity of Lublin without issue, and Germany and Russia successfully completed the encirclement of Lublin.

Both sides tactfully avoided the anticipated conflict, displaying a great deal of interest in the joint siege of Lublin.

On November 15th, the German Air Force launched a massive bombing campaign on Lublin, dropping tens of thousands of leaflets urging surrender.

On November 22nd, after holding out for a week, the Polish government officially surrendered unconditionally, and the month-long Polish war finally came to an end.

The German-Polish war was over!

This became Europe’s biggest news after November 22nd.

A country that once had an army of 700,000, along with a large number of tanks and airplanes—a medium-sized power—lasted just over a month under the siege of the German Army.

Although the Russian Army participated midway, by then Poland had already lost their capital city, and the failure of the war was set in stone.

This war made the European Nations reassess the combat strength of the German Army. Despite being restricted for 20 years after World War I, the combat strength of the German Army was still at the top in Europe.

What was more deadly was that Germany, having annexed most of Poland, would see a significant increase in its national power.

The Polish region will become an important logistics supply base for Germany, capable of contributing a large amount of grain and other supplies to Germany each year.

The more than 20 million Poles occupied by Germany could also provide Germany with an additional few million troops. Of course, in order to ensure the combat effectiveness and loyalty of these millions of Polish troops, it would rely on brainwashing by the German Army and various other means.

Although the war had ended, this did not mean that the chaos in the Polish region would stop.

After all, it was Germany and Russia Nation that had occupied Poland. The specific division of the occupied territories between these two countries was the drama that the United Kingdom and France were more concerned about next.

Once the two countries conflicted over the division of the occupied regions, the situation would evolve, as the United Kingdom and France had anticipated, from the German-Polish war to a German-Russian war.

This would allow the United Kingdom and France to completely stand by and quietly watch this sufficiently intriguing play.

On November 23rd, 1935, the German government recalled the Russian Government and invited them to hold negotiations in Warsaw.

Naturally, the focus of the negotiations was on the division of the Polish territory.

The division of the cake involved more than just Poland; it also included the Kingdom of Lithuania, which had previously been controlled by Poland.

For Germany and Russia Nation, these lands were actually quite important.

No matter which country acquired these lands, due to the advantage of being connected to their native land, they could easily be converted into their own territory.

Lithuania was also a Kingdom by the Baltic Sea, with more coastline, which would also be a good thing for the country’s development.

Soon, the Russian Government agreed to the invitation from the German government.

The negotiations between both parties were scheduled for December 15th in Warsaw, the former capital city of Poland.

Before then, both parties were to maintain the areas they each occupied and strictly restrain all actions of their front-line troops.

Clearly, neither Germany nor Russia Nation wanted to start a war with the other at this time.

Germany’s plan was to plot a lightning war against France after attacking Poland, and Russia Nation’s plan was to occupy a part of Poland, there was no need to complicate matters further.

It was precisely because the two countries were united in their objectives that the division of Poland could proceed smoothly without any outbreaks of conflict.

Soon, the time came for the December 15th meeting as agreed upon by both parties.

In Warsaw, under strict German military control, official negotiations on how to divide Poland and Lithuania began.

In the current situation, Germany controlled most of Poland and was the major contributor to the defeat of Poland; it deserved to acquire more land.

However, the scale of Russia Nation’s army was by no means weaker than Germany’s, which also meant that Russia Nation had the power to demand more.

On the first day of negotiations, both parties put forward their own territorial demands.

The German delegates proposed that, as the initiator of the war who had crushed the majority of the Polish Army, Germany should acquire more Polish land.

Russia Nation had joined the war midway and only attacked Poland’s weaker Eastern Front, obviously picking up an advantage.

The German delegates believed that the current division of the Polish region occupied by both parties was rather consistent with their respective contributions to the war. The division of the land by the two countries should continue along the areas they currently occupied.

This proposal was immediately rejected by Russia Nation. Because Russia Nation had sent troops later, the areas they occupied were very few.

As mentioned before, the new Polish capital, Lublin, was only about 100 kilometers away from the Russian Borders. This meant that the areas occupied by Russia Nation were actually the land within 100 kilometers from the border to Lublin.

These lands were only one-third of the entire Polish land, and this could not satisfy the appetite of the Russian Government.

But Germany was not willing to retreat. For Germany, it was impossible to just hand over the land that had been hard won to Russia Nation.

Fortunately, apart from Poland, there was Lithuania for profit sharing.

Germany stated that it would only occupy the coastal areas of Lithuania and cede all parts close to Russia Nation as a sign of Germany’s sincerity.

Moreover, the German government would not object to Russia Nation’s recovery of Latvia and Estonia, and would support Russia Nation in regaining dominance over the Northern Baltic Sea.

Although this proposal was very attractive to the Russians, there was also a significant pitfall within it.

Latvia and Estonia were controlled by Britain and France, respectively. If Russia Nation wanted to regain control over the Northern Baltic Sea, it would need to exert significant influence over Sweden, Finland, Latvia, and Estonia.

But here came the problem: aside from Latvia and Estonia being under British and French control, Finland and Australasia also had very good relations.

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If Russia Nation truly heeded Germany’s insidious advice and attempted to reclaim dominance over the Northern Baltic Sea, it would have to offend not just Britain and France, but also Australasia, one of the world’s top three superpowers.

Obviously, the Russians could see the trap and would not easily agree to the demands of the Germans. However, Russia Nation also had no desire to offend Germany.

After a long time of consideration, Russia Nation put forward its own additional demands, insisting on occupying the current new capital of Poland, Lublin, which was the largest city in Poland’s southeast and a future military stronghold for Russia Nation against Germany.

Although Germany was reluctant to cede Lublin, which had been hard-won, dragging out the negotiation with Russia Nation was not a solution. Besides Lublin, which Russia Nation specifically demanded, they did not oppose Germany’s other demands, which allowed the German government to make a decision.

On December 27th, 1935, on the 13th day of negotiations between Germany and Russia Nation, both parties officially signed the Warsaw Treaty, once again jointly dividing Poland.