"I also have good news to tell you." Mannerheim followed up with a smile after Ribbentrop released his intention.
With that said, Mannerheim waved and motioned for Silasvo to speak for him.
After all, Mannerheim, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defense Forces, would not be very convenient for him.
"Dear German Foreign Minister, Mr. Ribbentrop, our government is also preparing to regain the land lost in the Winter War, and strive to further extend to Karelia and create a large Finnish country." Silasvokou
He stepped forward without hesitation and announced.
"Is this the intention of your government?" Although Ribbentrop had received the news in advance, when he heard the Finnish announcement with his own ears, Ribbentrop couldn't help but be shocked.
If Finland itself is willing to fight a war with the Soviet Union, it will be great news for Germany.
"This is the intention of the government. Our Finnish President Risto Luti has secretly informed me of this decision." Mannerheim nodded and personally confirmed Ribbentrop.
Although it was inconvenient for him to announce the decision of domestic politicians as the commander-in-chief, this did not prevent him from further confirming it after Silasvo announced it on his behalf.
"After the Soviet army went to war against you, Germany, we formulated the strategic direction of counterattack with you in the future." Mannerheim made an invitation gesture to Ribbentrop, indicating that he would leave the airport and go to the motorcade to meet him.
President, we will discuss related issues further later.
"In terms of our strategic goals, we also hope to capture some Soviet land and shorten the Finnish-Soviet border as much as possible to reduce the possibility of the Soviet army launching aggression against us in the future. There is a popular slogan in our country - shortened
Border, long-lasting peace. Therefore, after our Finnish army entered the war, it not only regained its lost territory, but also assisted the Allied allies in continuing their offensive in the name of shortening the length of the border, capturing the Kola Peninsula, East Karelia, and even
Northern Estonia.”
This is a completely acceptable choice from the perspective of Finland's own interests.
In this way, the Finnish army will not only regain its own territory with the help of its military allies, but will also continue to attack for its allies in the name of further ensuring its own security until it conquers the Kola Peninsula and East Kale.
Leah, even northern Estonia.
In this way, the Finnish army became an Allied force and fulfilled its responsibilities as a member state.
In terms of Finland's national strength, they cannot undertake too large a task. The above-mentioned area of attack will already consume a huge amount of the Finnish army's strength.
By the time they reached northern Estonia, the Finnish army was probably at the end of its game and did not have the strength to continue fighting, so it simply stopped there.
Ribbentrop is already very satisfied with the promise made by Mannerheim. From this point of view, 99% of his mission for this trip to Finland has been basically completed.
All that was left to do was to go to the President of Finland to confirm, sign a secret agreement, express friendship, and promise that the Allies would send allies to fight with the Finnish army in Mannerheim.
He was quite satisfied, and at Mannerheim's invitation, together with an interpreter sent by Finland and Mannerheim, he got into the car at the head of the convoy.
In the car, through an interpreter, Ribbentrop assured Mannerheim from his expertise in diplomacy: "I will arrange a meeting later to ask the League of Nations to divide East Karelia to Finland and give it to you.
Prepare a reason and excuse for sending troops."
This was Ribbentrop's specialty. Although he did not know much about military affairs, when Mannerheim mentioned East Karelia, he immediately thought of the political articles that could be written on it.
Although East Karelia has never been Finnish territory, most of the residents belong to the Finnish ethnic group. Finland has made several appeals to the League of Nations under British and French control for territorial claims in East Karelia, but has received no support.
Today, the League of Nations has become an organization controlled by Germany and Italy, and Italy is secretly controlled by Germany because of Rossi. Therefore, Germany's Foreign Minister Ribbentrop can actually be equivalent to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations.
The decision of the German Foreign Ministry is equivalent to the decision of the League of Nations.
This is also the reason why Ribbentrop was able to directly make a commitment to Finland on behalf of the League of Nations.
"Thank you."
Mannerheim answered after half a day.
He was very excited and happy because this was exactly what he needed!
Internally, he can use the slogan of shortening the border line to launch the "continuation of the war" between the Soviet Union and Finland. However, externally, it still needs a ruling from the League of Nations, and then the Finnish army sends troops in accordance with the League of Nations ruling. This seems to be just.
.
Indeed, international exchanges only involve interests and no justice. However, countries that initiate wars still need to find a good excuse for themselves to participate in the war.
"You are much more sincere than the Soviets." Mannerheim, who was happy in his heart, sighed to Ribbentrop from the bottom of his heart: "In order to prevent us from getting too close to Germany, the Soviet Union started a war with you.
, and also showed goodwill towards our government. In addition to replacing the Soviet ambassador to Finland with an official who is more flexible on the Finnish-Soviet issue, they also expressed that they are not opposed to our cooperation with Sweden."
"Oh?" Ribbentrop certainly knew that Mannerheim would talk about this to himself, which meant that the Soviets' plan had failed.
However, he still followed Mannerheim's topic and asked: "Did your government agree?"
"Of course not!" Mannerheim, who had been prepared for the answer, laughed loudly: "We have long realized that relying on mutual assistance between the Nordic countries in the military is a wrong policy. We are really allies worth relying on.
Only a strong Germany. President Risto Ruti also announced that the country’s defense preparation will be the government’s top priority.”
Speaking of which, Mannerheim turned his head and looked at Ribbentrop beside him and said with a smile: "In the past year, we purchased a large amount of arms from Germany and reorganized the army. Our military expenditures this year
, equivalent to 45% of the entire Finnish fiscal revenue. Moreover, our army has also relied on a large amount of arms to expand to 15 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry brigade and 2 pike brigades, as well as a large number of reserve detachments."
"In our country, more than one-tenth of the total population of men are wearing military uniforms, waiting for the final battle of revenge." Mannerheim said with a harsh tone and a cold look: "How could we because of the Soviet Union?
Just change a few diplomatic ambassadors, forget everything they have done to us, and give up revenge on them?!"
