The sun never sets

Lin Yongchang's position was extraordinary, and he really wanted everyone to discuss freely. But he set the tone first, and most of the comrades naturally changed their attitudes.

When frictions arose in Central Asia and Poland, conflicts and frictions also arose in the Caucasus and Finland. The Baku oil field was one of the most important sources of oil for the alliance and was of utmost importance, and no loss was allowed.

Li Dayan reported the situation and before waiting for the central government's recovery, he exercised his subjective initiative. While conducting a large-scale search within the alliance, he personally led his troops to chase the attackers across the border and into the territory of Ottoman Turkey, turning the villages near the border into scorched earth and artificially creating a quarantine zone.

Li Dayan's unauthorized actions caused an uproar. The Ottoman Turks lodged a serious protest to the Alliance and mobilized troops to the northern mountainous areas, not to fight back, but because they were worried that the Alliance would take the opportunity to march south. Turkey suffered heavy losses in the world war, and Russia had more casualties, but China did not have many casualties. If the Alliance attacked again, Turkey would most likely not be able to withstand it and could only ask the German government for help.

The German Empire therefore sent an urgent note to the People's Revolutionary League, asking the League not to provoke trouble. Because of Ludendorff's resignation, the relationship between Germany and the League had already become cold, and now it has become even colder.

Li Dayan defeated the Turkish border guards and led his troops to sweep through the mountains of the Caucasus. He had no intention of staying there any longer, and he retreated leisurely before the Turkish reinforcements arrived.

The attack on Turkey was just to show his attitude, not to destroy the Ottoman Empire or to open up a road to the Mediterranean. No, Li Dayan did not have that idea, because he did not have enough strength, so he could only take advantage of the Turks before they could react.

To destroy the Ottoman Empire or open up a route to the Mediterranean Sea, at least a million-strong army would be needed. Considering the relationship between Turkey and the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire's problems were not only related to the Turks, but also to the Germans.

If this is the case, the entire Allied Power must be overturned to completely defeat Turkey. The People's Revolutionary League has no plans to provoke a new world war for the time being, nor is it prepared for such a thing. Li Dayan is very clear about this, so he did not stay in Turkey for long and quickly returned to the starting position. Then he was on high alert to guard against the attack of the Turkish army.

The alliance denied the aggression against Turkey, claiming that the previous actions were due to the bandit suppression going beyond the border. The diplomats of the People's Revolutionary League apologized to the Turkish government for the losses caused by the military operation and were willing to bear the corresponding compensation. However, if the Turks cannot manage the situation on the border well, and if bandits continue to roam into the alliance in the future, it is not ruled out that the cross-border bandit suppression will happen again.

The Ottoman government, on the one hand, piled up troops on the border, and on the other hand, asked the German government for help, seemingly intending to fight the Russians again. Whether it was the Russian Empire or the [People's Revolutionary League], in the eyes of the Turks, the Russians were their mortal enemies.

However, just as the Ottomans were increasing their forces on the border, forcing the Alliance's Caucasus Military District to begin partial mobilization, many rebellions suddenly broke out within the Ottoman Empire, throwing the Turks into disarray and leaving them no longer in the mood to fight the Russians.

The Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have many similarities. Both are multi-ethnic and multi-religious, and the root of division was planted early on. The Ottoman Empire is stronger than the Austro-Hungarian Empire in that it has a main ethnic group and does not have the hidden danger of Austria and Hungary coexisting. Therefore, although the Ottoman Empire has always had a tendency to split, the split was suppressed for a time.

This situation continued until the World War. Too many people died in the war, and the Turks were no longer strong enough to suppress other ethnic groups. However, in order to make up for the losses in the war, they increased their plundering efforts. It would be strange if there were no problems under such circumstances.

Well, now that Hungary has become independent and a rebellion has broken out within the Ottoman Empire, the Central Alliance - or the Allies, named because of their location in the central part of the Eurasian continent - has focused its energy on Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The time is ripe for the alliance to send troops to Poland.

Chapter 705 Mobilization

The Ottoman Empire has not been at peace for the past two years. Although it did not lose the world war, it did not win it either. Various contradictions within the Ottoman Empire broke out. However, the large-scale rebellion, or uprising, was caused by the military mobilization of the Ottoman Empire.

The people were already struggling on the brink of death, and they were asked to send young and strong men to fight. Who would be willing to do that? Even the Turks could not stand the endless oppression of the government and launched rebellions in many areas.

Germany was already having a headache because of Hungary's independence, and now the Ottoman Empire is in trouble again, which is even more troublesome. Germany does not have so many colonies, and its recovery speed is much slower than that of Britain. Domestic industries are in decline. If it goes to war at this time? I am afraid that domestic workers will stand up and cause trouble again.

But the affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not be ignored.

Austria-Hungary was Germany's staunchest ally. Well, not so staunch. In the later stages of the World War, Austria-Hungary secretly made peace with the Allies and almost withdrew from the war. Even so, the German government had to help Austria-Hungary quell the rebellion in Hungary.

This was not an easy task. During the World War, Hungary suffered heavy casualties and trained a large number of officers and soldiers with combat experience. The Austrian army went to fight and fought hard for more than two months, but the result was that the government army was defeated by the rebels.

At this point, no matter how reluctant Germany was, it could only send officers or even active troops to help the Austro-Hungarian Empire fight. Of course, this was definitely not free, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had to pay for it.

The problem is that the situation in Austria-Hungary is now worse than that in Germany, and it has long been unable to come up with anything to pay the German army's military expenses.

While the German General Staff was still discussing how many troops to send to Hungary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Revolutionary League interviewed the German ambassador, claiming that the league's supervisors had recently prompted Poland to return to the right track.

This was an obvious hint to take action. The German ambassador did not waste time. He knew that diplomacy was based on strength. There was nothing to say now. All he could do was to get the news back home as quickly as possible.

Because of several small-scale exchanges of fire on the border between Poland and Belarus, the Western Military District of the Union began martial law two weeks ago. When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposed to Poland to join the big family of the Union, large-scale mobilization began.

Signs of large-scale mobilization cannot be concealed. No matter how hard you try, there will be leaks. The Polish government is very nervous about the alliance's mobilization. Previously, they were very tough on the [Human Revolutionary Alliance]. When the [Human Revolutionary Alliance] really started mobilizing, these Poles began to panic again.

"We should mobilize immediately too!"

"Yes, we should mobilize as well, but even if we complete the general mobilization, our military strength is only 130 million, which is far from comparable to the Alliance."

The [Human Revolutionary Alliance] is the largest country in history, with a population of over 650 million. Some say it has exceeded 700 million. Wouldn't it be easy for it to mobilize an army of two or three million?

In addition to the gap in manpower, the gap in weapons and equipment is even greater.

During the World War, the Russian army destroyed most of the local bridges, railways and factories when it evacuated Poland. After the German army occupied Poland, they repaired the bridges and roads to some extent, but they certainly would not invest in building factories here. Poland is now basically an agricultural country, and its own industrial system has been severely damaged.

The Polish army received a lot of weapons and equipment from the German government, but most of them were light weapons, mainly rifles. There were not even many machine guns, let alone tanks and airplanes.

Germany's tank and aircraft production capacity was seriously insufficient during the war and remained so after the war. It was impossible to give tanks and aircraft to the Poles.

The People's Revolutionary League has been keeping the military industry running, although it does not work in three shifts like during the World War, but it has also produced a lot of aircraft, tanks and artillery. Now, most of those heavy weapons and technical equipment have been shipped to Belarus.

The army under Grand Duke Nicholas's command grew rapidly from 20 to 40, and then from 40 to 60 and 80. Every week, every day, the Western Military District's manpower and technical weapons were constantly increasing.

The Poles did not know the exact number of the People's Army and the number of aircraft and tanks, but they could see that there were often Union reconnaissance planes flying over Poland. Whenever the weather was good, a large number of reconnaissance planes would cross the border and take pictures of Polish positions, warehouses, railways, cities and other places.

The Polish Air Force sent fighters to drive them away. At first, it had a certain effect, and those reconnaissance planes no longer dared to take pictures openly, but this was only temporary. Soon, the Allied fighters appeared.

The Polish Air Force and the Allied fighters fought in the air. The Allied had more planes, but the Polish Air Force had more combat experience. The losses on both sides were similar, and the fight was a fifty-fifty one.

Archduke Nicholas was not surprised by this. He knew that there were many Germans in the Polish Air Force, who had fought bloody battles with the British, French and American air forces on the Western Front, and many of them were ace pilots.

But even the ace pilots could not reverse the performance gap of the aircraft. With the appearance of the new aircraft of the Alliance, many German ace pilots were defeated. After that, the number of sorties of the Alliance Air Force decreased, and only occasionally a reconnaissance plane would come over to take a few photos and then quickly withdraw.

While mobilizing, the Poles also made diplomatic efforts, and the Polish government requested assistance from Britain, the United States, and Germany. The Polish government claimed that Poland was the shield of Europe and the front line against the barbaric Russians and Mongols, and needed the support of the entire civilized world.

Many countries responded to Poland's call, but most of them were small countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. The French Commune wanted to export revolution to the world and had no good feelings towards the Polish bourgeois government. Although the French Commune did not look down on the [People's Revolutionary Union], the [People's Revolutionary Union] was still a left-wing camp after all, and had a lot of trade with the French Commune.

During the post-war reconstruction process, the Alliance provided considerable support to the French Commune.

The French Commune did not provide any help to Poland.

Germany now had to deal with the problems of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire and had no spare energy to help Poland. Britain and the United States provided moral support to Poland, but Britain had no troops to send and the United States was too far away to play a role in the short term.

The three major powers, Britain, the United States and Germany, sent a lot of guns and artillery to Poland, and then put diplomatic pressure on the alliance, demanding that the alliance not annex Poland.

Poland was originally torn away from Russia by Germany, and now the League wants to take it back. In the League's view, this is a matter of course. But in the eyes of the Poles, they have been enslaved by the Russians for hundreds of years, and now they have finally gained independence, and they are unwilling to go back to be subjects of the Tsar.

Although the Russian Empire has disappeared now, for many Poles, especially the ruling class and elites of the Polish government, the People's Revolutionary League is no different from the Russian Empire.

Chapter 706: Sweep

At the beginning of the World War, Russia's mobilization speed was far beyond Germany's imagination. Now, the same is true. The Union's mobilization speed has exceeded Poland's expectations. While Polish conscripts are still queuing up to receive rifles, the planes, tanks and artillery of the People's Revolutionary League have already arrived, and the infantry, cavalry, tank and air force divisions have already arrived at the Union and the border between Poland and Germany.

The rapid mobilization of the army is understandable, but it is somewhat incredible that thousands of tanks, more than 4,000 aircraft, and other heavy equipment and technical equipment could be in place within two weeks.

This indirectly reflects that the People's Revolutionary League had planned it in advance. This is what the Polish newspapers said, and the Polish government insisted that it was the League that staged the conflict on the border and provoked the war.

The Poles have been trying to cast themselves as victims and seek sympathy from the international community, and it has had some effect. Even some Russians are secretly wondering if this is true.

The federal government would not admit that this had happened and responded to the Polish government's slander in the newspapers, providing considerable evidence to prove that it was the Polish army that took the lead in launching the attack and citing the fact that the Polish Army helped the German army attack Russia during the World War.

When the facts are listed one by one, bystanders can see that the Poles have always been like this, and anti-Russia is the instinct of Polish nationalists. Piłsudski and other Polish leaders feared the People's Revolutionary League more than Tsarist Russia, and various targeted actions were not just one or two days.

The Polish government can say that the People's Revolutionary League had been planning this for a long time, and it is not wrong to say so. Before the end of the World War, there were various frictions between the League and Poland, and Poland had also instigated the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and had wanted to establish a bourgeois republic in Ukraine and then form a maritime federation.

Moscow has long had a lot of complaints about Poland, but they only erupted after such a long time, when the transformation of Russia's railway system was basically completed.

The League responded to the Polish government's slander. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Revolutionary League defined the friction between the People's Army and the Polish Army as a civil war, an internal dispute of the League, and would not accept interference from external forces. Two years ago, when the People's Revolutionary League and Germany signed an armistice agreement, Poland was used as a temporary buffer zone.

Now that that "temporary" period has expired, it's time to resolve the Polish issue.

In the armistice agreement between the Allies and the Central Powers, there was no explanation for Poland's status. Theoretically, Poland was not a country recognized by the international community at that time. Of course, recognition is not very important. As long as the country is strong enough, other countries can recognize it even if they want to.

The problem is, Poland is terrible.

For the Union, it had been two years of recuperation, but for Poland, it had only been a year since the end of mobilization, and agricultural production had only recovered to 60% of its pre-war level. The industry was almost completely destroyed, with only a few handicraft workshops left.

If Poland relied on itself, it would probably only last one round before being crushed by the behemoth of the People's Revolutionary League. But the Polish ruling class never thought of fighting alone, and decided from the beginning to ask for foreign aid.

It doesn't matter that Poland can't produce guns and cannons. It can just ask Britain, the United States and Germany for them. The French Commune did not lend a helping hand, and might even want to fight with the [People's Revolutionary League]. However, Britain, the United States and Germany still gave Poland a lot of weapons.

After the war, the powers had a lot of weapons at home, and it was no problem to arm millions of Poles. A large number of weapons were shipped to Poland, mainly rifles and machine guns, but also some cannons. With the mediation of British diplomats, Germany gave Poland some old aircraft.

The British government also gave the Poles some planes and tanks. The performance of the tanks produced by the British in the early days was very poor and could not be compared with the Type 1 and Type 2 tanks. Not only were their mobility inferior, but their reliability was also far inferior.

This was vividly demonstrated in the "Emperor's Battle". When the British and French tanks in Belgium turned back to attack the German Army Group B, 70% of the tanks broke down on the way due to malfunctions.

After the war, the British government borrowed from German and Allied tanks to develop new tanks, and gave all the old ones to the Poles.

The Lan army launched a fierce attack.

The Western Army Group under Grand Duke Nicholas had three armies with a total of 120 million troops, more than 1000 tanks (including assault guns and self-propelled artillery using the same chassis), 5000 aircraft (including fighters, bombers and transport aircraft), 10000 artillery pieces (excluding mortars), and outstanding generals such as Brusilov, Kondrachenko, Frunze, Rokossovsky, Wu Peifu, Xu Wuji, Zhao Erhu and Guo Songling.

Such a lineup and such a configuration would be a decisive force even in a world war.

The offensive of the Western Front Army Group began with bombing. Under the cover of fighter planes, a large number of twin-engine bombers carried out continuous bombing on Polish airports, railways, roads, warehouses, barracks and artillery positions.

The Polish air force was scrambled to engage the Allied air force, and dozens were shot down. A large number of Polish planes were destroyed at the airfields, and with the help of intelligence from the spy network, many of the planes parked in warehouses were also blown up.

When the bombers were dispatched, the artillery of the Western Army Group bombarded the Polish positions for four hours. Compared with the horrific bombardment that the Allies had lasted for seven days, the four-hour bombardment was nothing, but the Polish army was not the German army. They were dizzy by the overwhelming bombardment, and the morale and organization of the Polish army on the front line were destroyed in the bombardment.

After the bombardment, the Western Army under Grand Duke Nicholas divided into three groups and marched into Poland. In front of the three armored divisions of the People's Army, the resistance of the Polish army was quickly crushed. At the end of the first day, the Polish army had already shown a trend of total collapse.

The reason why the Poles were defeated so quickly was that the Polish army's equipment and tactics were backward, and also because the Poles mobilized too slowly. When the People's Army launched the offensive, the Poles had only completed half of the mobilization plan, with a total strength of only 60, and less than 50 troops deployed on the eastern battlefield.

The Polish army was defeated because of the difference in combat effectiveness and the disadvantage in manpower. Even the strong German army was defeated by the Russian army, which was twice its size, in 1911.

Now the People's Army is much stronger than the Tsarist Russian Army, but the Polish Army is no match for the German Army. In any case, the Polish Army has no chance of winning.

Before the first day was over, the top leaders in Warsaw had been continuously requesting assistance from Britain, the United States, Germany and other countries. At this time, simply providing weapons was no longer enough, and the great powers needed to step in personally to save the Polish government, which was in a precarious state.

Chapter 707: Storm

The People's Army chose Christmas Day to launch its offensive. On December 12, most Poles were celebrating Christmas and did not expect to be attacked at this time, which was one of the reasons why the Polish army collapsed so quickly.

According to statistics, 95% of the Poles believe in Catholicism. Although they knew that the Union was mobilizing and thought that the People's Army might launch an attack on Christmas Day, many people still celebrated the holiday. The undeclared war of the Union tore through the cold breath of winter and brought Poland into the abyss of despair with steel and fire.

The General Staff chose Christmas Day to take action, not only to catch the Poles off guard, but also because the ground was frozen solid at that time, making it suitable for armored units to maneuver.

The People's Army has a lot of experience in winter combat. As long as there are warm clothes and sufficient food supplies, the combat effectiveness of the army can be guaranteed. Of course, non-combat casualties are inevitable, and we can only try to reduce them, but we can't completely eliminate them.

No matter how much preparation was done beforehand, the cold weather still had a certain impact on the People's Army. However, the cold weather had a greater impact on the Poles, and it was much greater.

On the first day of the war, the People's Army almost broke the Polish army. The offensive continued the next morning. The intensity of the air raid was reduced compared to the previous day. Firstly, the number of aerial bombs was small and expensive, and secondly, there was nothing in Poland worth bombing on a large scale.

The three armored divisions and two cavalry divisions acted very quickly. Except for the first day when they only advanced 70 kilometers, in the following days, the daily advance distance exceeded kilometers. It took only four days to reach the outskirts of Warsaw from Kuznetsica.

The Polish army, which had been hastily assembled, was crushed one by one by the armored groups of the People's Army, and had almost no chance to fight back. Warsaw was in a state of panic three times a day, and rumors spread everywhere. When the People's Army arrived at the gates of the city, a large-scale wave of refugees soon appeared in the city.

Many dignitaries fled with their families and belongings, but unfortunately they were not decisive enough. If they had left Warsaw on the first day of the war, they might have had a chance to escape from Warsaw, a place of trouble.

By the time the People's Army's tank troops arrived, it was too late to do anything.

When the Western Army Group of the Alliance was advancing rapidly, the British government contacted the European and American powers many times, hoping that everyone would work together to stop the red flood from sweeping across Europe. While the British government was creating public opinion around the world, it also urgently mobilized more weapons and equipment to send to the Polish people who were defending the free world.

However, Germany suddenly changed its normal state and refused to allow British weapons to pass through Germany. Although Germany carried out an emergency mobilization, the German army did not

They did not cross the border between Germany and Poland, but instead stood ready at the border.

A few days ago, Germany half-sold and half-gave a batch of weapons to the Polish government. Why did it suddenly change its attitude?

Downing Street had a bad feeling. Before the British spies could find out the reason, the People's Army had already reached the city of Warsaw. At this time, Warsaw had basically no defense. During the World War, Lieutenant General Kondrachenko once resisted the attack of the German army here. Warsaw suffered a devastating blow, and there are still traces of the battle in the city.

The People's Army advanced too quickly, and neither the city nor the city of Warsaw was ready for battle. In panic, a considerable number of Poles chose to surrender. They were originally subjects of the Tsar, and now they were just returning to the historical normal.

But many Poles chose to continue fighting. After the fleeing senior officials were eliminated in the snow and ice, the remaining Polish government officials issued a telegram to the outside world via radio, claiming that the great Polish people would never succumb to the dictator's force and that the Polish army would make the invaders bleed in Warsaw.

This set of rhetoric seemed very familiar to Grand Duke Nicholas, as if both the Provisional Government and the Soviet Government had said the same thing.

Fighting a war does not just require determination, but if the party defending the city is determined to fight to the death, it will be quite troublesome. Street fighting is extremely cruel and bloody for both the attacker and the defender, and Lieutenant General Kondrachenko has a deep understanding of this.

Therefore, after discovering that the Poles really intended to engage in street fighting in Warsaw, he did not launch a forceful attack, but instead ordered his troops to surround Warsaw.

The armored forces would definitely not be sent to attack the city. After sweeping the outskirts of Warsaw, the armored group gave up the position to the infantry who rushed in. After Kondrachenko took over the position, he first launched a small-scale exploratory attack, confirming that the Poles were not just talking, but really intended to fight street battles in Warsaw.

There was no point in engaging in desperate street fighting without outside help.

Was the Polish government waiting for reinforcements from Britain or other countries? Or was it trying to cover the retreat of the main force? But where could the Poles retreat to? Neither Slovakia nor Germany would agree to let the Polish army cross the border, and there would be no reinforcements coming.

Kondrachenko was a high-ranking member of the People's Revolutionary League and knew a lot of information. The Central Committee had signed a non-aggression pact with Germany for five years. The Germans would not fight for Poland, and Germany now did not have the strength to start another war.

So, what if the People's Revolutionary League takes the initiative to attack and liberate the whole of Germany?

Archduke Nicholas had this idea, and many generals in the army also thought so. For generals and officers, fighting was the only way to get promoted and make money. Only by making more military achievements could they continue to make progress.

But the central government has issued an order not to cross the border.

Kondrachenko now had to deal with the enemies in Warsaw, so it was not his turn to be the first to invade Germany.

Well, let's just fight this battle first.

Kondrachenko is an expert in defending cities and is also very proficient in how to attack cities. In street fighting, there are often sudden encounters, and then there are cold guns and cold artillery everywhere. For the enemy defending the city, the best way is to call in heavy artillery and use artillery shells to flatten the places where there are enemies, the second is to defeat the enemies in the city with hunger, and finally send troops to attack.

Defeating the enemy with starvation is the way to lose the least, but Kondrachenko will not choose this method. Grand Duke Nicholas will not allow him to do so, and Kondrachenko will not allow himself to do so.

He had to demonstrate excellent command ability, not only for himself, but also for Grand Duke Nicholas and Russia. Therefore, he used heavy artillery bombardment to strengthen the attack.

The People's Army is equipped with a large number of new 105mm howitzers, which are assigned to infantry divisions. They are very useful in field battles, but they are powerless when attacking cities. At this time, the 150mm caliber howitzers assigned to the army level are used.

However, for siege warfare, the 150mm howitzer was still not enough. Kondrachenko applied to the army group headquarters for a 305mm super-heavy howitzer, which was the real killer.