During the Munich Conference, Neville and Mustache signed an "Anglo-German Declaration", declaring that the two countries "will never fight each other" and are "determined to resolve all disputes through consultation."
Neville was very satisfied with the "Anglo-German Declaration". When he returned to London from Munich, Neville waved the declaration signed by Hitler at the airport, and proudly declared to the welcoming crowd: From now on, there will be peace for a whole generation.
Assure.
Now I ask you to go back and sleep peacefully in your bed!
After all, this was an extravagant hope. Mustache was crazier than Neville imagined. Before the ink of the "Anglo-German Declaration" was dry, Mustache sent troops to occupy the entire territory of Czechoslovakia, and the evil consequences of the appeasement policy reappeared.
The annexation of Czechoslovakia not only further stimulated Mustache's ambitions, but also dealt a huge blow to France's prestige.
After Mustache came to power, France began to look for allies. Czechoslovakia was one of France's allies. According to the treaty signed between France and Czechoslovakia, France should be responsible for the security of Czechoslovakia.
However, during the Munich Conference, France not only failed to fully protect the interests of Czechoslovakia, but instead collaborated with Britain to force Czechoslovakia to compromise with Germany, which eventually led to Czechoslovakia being annexed by Germany, for which France had to pay a heavy price.
The price is that from now on, no country will dare to believe France's promise.
After annexing Czechoslovakia, Germany began to frantically expand its armaments and prepare for war.
By the end of 1938, Germany had 300 air force squadrons, and the army had no fewer than 56 infantry divisions, four armored divisions, and 36 divisional reserves.
These reserve teams have received complete training and only need to be issued with response weapons to become combat effective.
At the same time, Austria can also provide at least 12 infantry divisions.
The Austrian army also lacks weapons. Germany is building more arsenals. The model of the Panzer III tank has been developed to type C. It is expected that by the beginning of 1939, Germany will be able to issue weapons to all troops.
By then, Germany's air force will also increase to 400 squadrons.
In terms of air force, after the end of the last world war, France once surpassed all of Europe in terms of air force strength, and the British Air Force had to retreat.
By 1935, something strange happened suddenly. France no longer paid attention to the air force. The allocation to the air force was reduced year by year, and it no longer developed new aircraft models. When the German aircraft factory was producing the BF109 at full capacity, the workers at the French aircraft factory
We are fighting for a 40-hour working day.
In other words, in the short few years from 1935 to 1938, the strength of the French Air Force lagged far behind that of Germany.
In just a few years, through the Spanish Civil War, the German air force technology was advancing rapidly. From backward biplanes to advanced all-metal fighters, the Germans' progress was staggering.
By the time the newly appointed French Air Force Minister noticed this problem, it was already January 1939, when Germany had already made territorial claims to Poland.
Unlike Czechoslovakia, which only had French commitments, Poland also had security guarantees from Britain and France. If Germany attacked Poland, Britain and France would have to declare war on Germany.
Of course, declaring war is one thing.
Whether to fight or not is another matter.
To what extent it should be beaten is also a question.
The only thing that is certain is that the British and French will definitely not sacrifice their lives for Poland.
Poland is located between Germany and Russia.
Germany and Russia already have some kind of agreement to launch an attack on Poland at the same time.
After Germany and Russia carve up Poland, Germany will border Russia.
Britain and France are still counting on the outbreak of war between Germany and Russia.
That way Britain and France could reap the benefits.
The situation was changing so quickly that it was dizzying to see that before Germany actually sent troops to Poland, Italy first launched an attack on Albania.
Albania is a country established after the last world war and is weak.
The Italian army had been tempered by the invasion of the Abyssinian Empire and the Spanish Civil War, and it was effortless to attack a country like Albania. The war was over before the editor of The Times finished laying out the pages.
On April 28, Mustache gave a speech in the German Parliament and decided to break through the restrictions of the Anglo-German Naval Treaty and build more submarines.
This made Britain really feel threatened, and British politicians were running around like crazy, hoping to win more allies.
However, there are only a few countries worth winning over. The most worth winning over is in southern Africa, the other is in North America, and the last one has a higher chance of forming an alliance with Germany than with the United Kingdom.
So British politicians searched around and sadly found that only France is Britain's most reliable ally.
This is so embarrassing.
Since the end of the last world war, Britain has been pursuing a continental balancing policy of supporting Germany and restricting France.
After the Munich Conference, the British Parliament had just decided to provide Czechoslovakia with aid. After Germany annexed Czechoslovakia, perhaps fearing to offend the Germans, the aid was not canceled, so the aid was given directly to the Germans.
Less than a month has passed, and Britain is about to change its position from supporting Germany to forming an alliance with France.
The French are also helpless. Whenever there is a third option, France will not choose to form an alliance with Britain.
Unfortunately, there is no other way. In the whole of Europe, the only one that can give France a certain sense of security is the United Kingdom. The French have no choice.
When the time came to 1939, the war in the Far East had lasted for a year and a half.
This cannot be said. In fact, since the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the war in the Far East has never stopped. The melee between various warlords has continued for ten years. The League of Nations once imposed an arms embargo on the Republic of China in an attempt to reduce the intensity of the war.
It is a pity that the great powers all had their own spokesmen in the Republic of China, and these spokesmen were still able to obtain weapons and equipment through different channels.
In the past two years, Southern Africa is just like Roque's statement in London, paying less attention to the Eurasian continent and focusing on Southern Africa itself, making every effort to develop the economy and prepare for the upcoming world war.
Germany's strength has improved too quickly, and Roque is now under great pressure.
In 1935, Germany had only 100 fighters and less than 50 bombers.
By the end of 1938, Germany had more than 1,500 bombers and 987 fighter planes, all of which were new fighters proven in the Spanish Civil War.
BF109 Gastuka, Germany's air force has completely surpassed Britain and France.
After Winston became Air Force Secretary, he worked hard to secure a budget for the Air Force. By early 1939, only 29 squadrons of Britain's most advanced "Tornado" fighter jets were in service.
Winston formulated a huge plan for the British Air Force. When the "Tornado" was just successfully developed, the British Air Ministry once planned to order a thousand "Tornados" to deal with the rapidly increasing strength of the German Air Force.
"Tornado" is a very fast fighter that can reach 680 kilometers per hour.
However, during verification by the British Air Force Ministry, it was discovered that when the speed of the "Cyclone" reaches 680 kilometers per hour, elastic divergence of gas will occur at the air inlet of the "Cyclone" belly cooler, causing serious damage to the aerodynamic characteristics of the Cyclone.
Therefore, the British Air Force finally had to go back to the old path of buying instead of building, and renting instead of buying.
The "Hurricane" of Nyasaland Airlines once again entered the sight of the British Air Force.
"Hurricane" is an improved version of "Miandiao". It is equipped with a more powerful engine, and its flexibility has been further improved. Its overall performance is stronger than that of "Miandiao".
Although the "Cheetah" is good, it is expensive and the key production speed is too slow to meet the urgent needs of the British Air Force.
Although the performance of the "Hurricane" is inferior, it is cheaper and more abundant, which can fully meet the needs of the British Air Force.
So in May 1939, Winston gave Nyasaland Air a large order for 1,500 Hurricanes, with a time limit of only three months.
"Impossible Winston, fifteen hundred Hurricanes. Even if Nyasaland Airlines goes all out, it will take at least eight months to complete the order." Rock had no choice. Why did he go so early?
Rock reminded Winston two years ago, but at that time Winston pinned his hopes on the "Tornado" and rejected Rock's suggestion.
Two years ago, Southern Africa refitted integrated supply ships into quasi-aircraft carriers. Now that the modification work has been completed, these quasi-aircraft carriers also need carrier-based aircraft.
The Americans and Germans are frantically building aircraft, and Southern Africa cannot lag behind. Rock's requirement for the air force is that it must form an overwhelming advantage over the German Air Force, so Nyasaland Aviation's production task is very heavy.
When Winston came to southern Africa, the number of "Flying Fortresses" in Southern Africa had reached 1,200, and the number of "Super Flying Fortresses" was 650.
"Locke, build more aircraft factories. Nyasaland Airlines will be soft on orders next time." Winston smiled bitterly. If possible, Winston would not pin all his hopes on southern Africa.
"The aircraft factories in the UK will cooperate with Nyasaland Airlines to complete this order. You know that Germany has made territorial claims to Poland. The war may break out within three months - no, it may even be tomorrow. The war can break out at any time.
"Winston was very worried. Germany was massing troops on the Polish border under the pretext of military exercises, and war was about to break out.
There were serious territorial disputes between Germany and Poland. After the end of the last world war, Germany was forced to recognize Poland's independence and return the territory that originally belonged to Poland to Poland. This part of the territory included West Prussia, Posen Province, and part of East Prussia.
and parts of Upper Silesia.
When Winston was worried about Poland, the Poles were not worried about themselves. On the contrary, the Poles even made bold claims that once Germany provoked a war with Poland, the Polish army could destroy Germany within three days.
Poles are so confident.
ps: The third chapter was blocked yesterday, and I have applied for the lifting of the ban. Yutou will try his best to avoid lightning. Brothers, don’t scold Yutou for avoiding the easy matter. Let’s wait and peace will come.
