The original sit-in on the Western Front: Poland was divided, Britain and France each had ghosts, Churchill: the war was lost early

After the German army launched a full-scale invasion of Poland, Poland resisted quite bravely, because they firmly believed that their own strength and their allies, Britain and France, would not sit idly by. They only needed to drag the German forces in their own territory. When Britain and France entered the battlefield, The German army will enter a situation where the two lines are under attack in the same battle.

When it was finally proved that all the bravery in Poland was just a kind of Don Quixote-style bravery, it did not accurately predict everything that would happen thereafter.

When the German army rushed all the way in Poland, the western front was still quiet, and various news kept coming. The British army began to assemble and prepare to cross the ocean to deal with the war provoked by the German army, and the French army continued to assemble towards the border. , There is a plan to cross the border and give the Germans a head-on.

But in fact, in that historic September, nothing happened on the Western Front, and there was no gunshot on the French-German border.

The people in Germany call this “quiet on the border”. Of course, there is another term called “sitting war.”

In Britain and France, people call this period a “fake war.”

Poland was very anxiously waiting for the French army to enter the war, but in the end they did not wait for this expectation, and the United Kingdom did not quite understand that France’s World First Army was annexed at the border, facing only 26 German divisions, why would hide in the cement Behind the fortifications watched quietly as his allies were crushed by the Germans.

Perhaps only Germany and France know the reasons for this. As early as the beginning of the German army preparing to invade Poland, Harder, the German Army Chief of Staff, said:

I firmly believe that France will not take fortifications against us during this time, because the French will not disregard the wishes of the Belgians to send troops to us through Belgium. In the absence of a clear form, the French will continue to take a defensive position. They hope Poland People can hold on for themselves, they must wait for the arrival of the British. The French have already lost their decisiveness in World War I, especially when facing us, and such a mentality will make them miss opportunities that can stop us, and what we have to do is not to give Poland any plans to react quickly. , Decisively and completely destroy them at all costs. Harder has accurately predicted the cowardly psychology that the French cabinet is facing at this moment. Starting from the Sudeten incident, and even in some more distant events, the French cabinet has been constantly trying to avoid war and avoid conflict with Germany. This psychology has been caught by the top German leaders. After all, there is no threat to a country that shows weakness. At least at this moment, France is still no longer the France that once had the world’s first army. They used to lack courage, and even slapped the whole of Europe, but now this France is like a middle-aged and old man who has been chopped. It strokes. The wound has lingering palpitations. It no longer dares to face the challenge and can only do everything possible to avoid fighting with others. On the French side, it is indeed what the top German leaders thought. Because a generation of blood was shed in the First World War, France, which originally wanted to completely separate Germany after World War II, was counterbalanced by the United Kingdom and the United States. France finally saw it. Knowing everything, Britain and the United States will not allow any country on the mainland to become a hegemon. They want to create opposition to the mainland hegemony and imprison each other. But thinking of the scars and scars that he paid in World War I, France is unbalanced, because the battlefield will only be on the mainland, while Britain and the United States will not be harmed. Therefore, France has been lost since World War I. The state of the whole country is Fear of war, this fear is not fear of fighting, but it understands that France’s will to fight is meaningless, and even if it gives everything to win, it does not make sense. It’s like Napoleon once attacked many great powers on the European continent and conquered almost the entire Europe. However, because it could not conquer the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom could engage in anti-French alliances one after another. This is actually meaningless. Repeatedly over and over again, Napoleon can win many times, but as long as one loses, and Britain has unlimited opportunities, unless Napoleon really summons One Piece’s pirate fleet to conquer Britain. And France at the pass of World War II was also very depressed. It didn’t want to go to war. All it wanted was to defend itself. Britain said you go first, and I will be there soon. Although France nodded, it still waited. It wanted When the British army arrives, let’s rush together and die together. It is precisely because of this mentality that when Poland faced the German army all the way to the rush, the French army was silent at the border, and when the time came to September 7, the German army had completely destroyed Poland’s military power, so France’s last The opportunity is gone. After September 7th, Halder worked out a plan to relocate the army to the west, and two days later, the third order was issued, and the Luftwaffe army and air force were transferred from Poland to the western front. At that time, the German high-level order was that if the British and French troops were a little provocative, the ground forces could cross the western border, and the air force could wait for instructions to launch air strikes against Britain. From this we can see the decisive difference between Germany and France in dealing with this matter, and, it is worth mentioning that France and Poland in the “French-Poland Military Agreement” signed in May 1939 clearly guaranteed:

“Once Germany attacks Poland with its main force, France will launch an offensive against Germany with its main force from the 15th day after the start of the French general mobilization.” And since then, in the high-level discussions between the two sides, France has also clearly guaranteed that in the event of such a crisis, France will send 35 divisions to help Poland. But when the war really broke out, France’s answer to Poland was:

“France needs time to prepare. At this point in time, a new offensive can be launched between 1941 and 1942, and this offensive still needs the help of British troops and American equipment!” These words directly disappointed Poland to the extreme, because they could no longer support it in the first week of the war. The Polish government had to choose to go into exile. Although the Polish army that was cut off by the Germans was brave, it was obvious that there was no such bravery. use. During the sit-in, Britain also seemed very anxious, but it didn’t help, because the troops they could send to France were pitiful. In the three weeks following the end of the Polish campaign, Britain sent a total of four divisions, with less than 160,000 people. Churchill called this “symbolic help”, but he also firmly believed that the French army had the strength to solve all this, especially when the main force of the German army was in Poland, the French only needed courage. Can successfully stop the German army, but they did not do so. For causing this situation, Churchill believed that the French had to bear the main responsibility. He even said:

“This war was actually lost a few years ago.” It can be seen that he was disappointed with France, but Churchill did not seem to have thought that it was France who tried to divide Germany, and it was Britain and the United States that kept Germany intact and strengthened again. Therefore, Churchill’s words are unfair to France.

Moreover, although there was no conflict between Germany, France and Britain on land, in the sea, the German forces sank 11 British ships within one week of the declaration of war, and the British maintained absolute restraint in this matter.

Therefore, compared with the “political and military restraint” shown by France, the British are also “hesitating”. Both countries are waiting with their own ghosts, and the result of the waiting is the Western Front in 1940. The battlefield was swept directly by the Germans.