Chapter 292 Border
The Soviet and German border divisions in the European part are very clear, and there is no territorial dispute between the two countries.
It's actually very simple to say that most of this border line crosses Polish territory, and the spoils-sharing agreement usually leaves no loopholes on both sides.
Many people don’t know that this dividing line that cuts Poland in half was actually first proposed by an Englishman.
After the end of World War I, with the support of the Allies, Poland regained its status as an independent state.
Don't think that the Allies are presided over "justice". That dirty war has nothing to do with this word from beginning to end.
The independence of Poland's territory will only deal a blow to three old empires, namely Prussia, Austro-Hungary and Tsarist Russia. Originally, Tsarist Russia belonged to the Allies, so as long as Nicholas II was still in power, the so-called Polish issue would not be put into the issue of the Paris Peace Conference. The problem is that the Romanov dynasty had been overthrown and the Russian Tsar's family was killed. At this time, the Soviet regime holding high the red flag was controlled by the Soviet regime.
As a result, Poland became a bridgehead for Western countries to resist the expansion of the Red Soviets into Europe. The Second Republic of Poland, which thought it was supported by the Allies, also rapidly expanded the nationalist forces in the country. The Polish elites were no longer satisfied with obtaining their status as independent countries, and they also wanted to regain the glory they had lost when their ancestors had.
I really have to admire the ambitions of the Poles. They not only wanted to restore the territory that Polish once ruled in history, but also tried hard to establish a Polished Federation across the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.
So, taking advantage of the weakness and chaos at the beginning of the founding of the Red Soviet Union, Poland challenged the rebirth of the Soviet Union. The Polish army crossed the border line that had become blurred in western Russia due to World War I.
The Polish army, which initially obtained a large amount of military and foreign aid, made rapid progress. Some of the large Polish soldiers pointed out that they were invincible. They quickly occupied a large tract of territory in Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus, and even once captured Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
Because the main force of the Soviet Red Army was restrained by the domestic Belarusian resistance movement, the Red Army was always at a disadvantage in the power comparison on the Western Front. However, when the Belarusian armed forces were completely wiped out, the Red Army immediately shifted its strategic focus to the Western Front, so the proud Poles began to suffer.
In the magnificent Battle of Kiev, the First Cavalry Army commanded by Xie Miao Budunny shone brightly, and the Bo Ukrainian coalition forces were corpses everywhere. The fierce Cossack cavalry swept across the entire Ukraine, thus establishing the lofty status of the First Cavalry Army in the Red Army sequence.
At the same time, the Soviet government launched a propaganda offensive at home, taking advantage of the feud between all Russian ethnic groups against the Poles, and calling on all classes in the country to abandon the contradictions in political ideas. All Russians should share the same hatred and defend their sacred home together.
Let’s not talk about the crimes committed by the Polish army against Slavic civilians in the war. The reputation of the Poles was already inaudible as early as the Tsarist Russian era. If you beat Germans, the Russian people might hesitate. Fighting the Poles does not require the government to mobilize them at all.
Even a large number of Belarusian troops scattered in the country after the failure of the civil war resolutely joined the Red Army after hearing the government's call, asking their superiors to give them a chance to fight the despicable and shameless Polish bastards.
Once the fighting nation falls into a state of bloodthirsty and fanaticism, how can it withstand the Polish body?
The Soviet Red Army launched a comprehensive counterattack on a front that lasted hundreds of kilometers. Although Poland had a slight advantage in military strength, neither morale nor combat effectiveness could be compared with these veterans of the Red Army. As a result, the Polish coalition was defeated step by step. In the end, not only did it lose all the previously occupied land, but the Red Army, which was beaten to counterattack and entered its hinterland, and its troops even pointed directly at the capital Warsaw City.
Seeing that Poland, which had been born for a few years, was about to end again, the League of Nations, which seemed to have disappeared for a long time, finally stood up to call for "peace" in the world.
At that time, the British Prime Minister was the famous David Lloyd George. He was very disgusted with the Poles' previous actions. At the same time, considering the rising public opinion of the left-wing movement in the UK, he refused to provide any form of support to the Polish government.
Curzon, then British Foreign Minister, was an ally of the famous right-wing politician, Winston Churchill and a standard colonialist. He advocated that Britain should provide limited support to Poland to prevent the spread of the Red Movement in Europe.
But as mentioned in the previous article, the left-wing movement in Europe was at its most active period at that time, and dock workers in Germany and the Czech Republic even refused to load and unload military supplies transported to Poland, and the whole of Europe seemed to have abandoned Poland.
It was in this case that Curzon proposed a military ceasefire line, suggesting that the Soviet Union and Poland temporarily use this as a temporary border, and the two sides sat down to negotiate well, and finally determine a mediation plan that both sides could accept. At the same time, Curzon threatened that if the Soviet Union ignored Britain's mediation, continued to attack and crossed this ceasefire line, then Britain would cut off all trade exchanges with the Soviet Union.
This threat of being strong outside and doing the middle is obviously unable to scare the real Bolsheviks. The Soviet government, which was at the upper hand in war, rejected the suggestion of the League of Nations and continued to mobilize troops to march towards Warsaw, preparing to liberate the "Polish proletariat oppressed by capitalists."
However, due to various strategic and tactical reasons, such as the misjudgment of the current situation by senior leaders, the underestimation of the enemy in military strategy, Poland and France signed a military alliance and received a large amount of material support, the chaos in the communication system between the Red Army units, the conflicts between commanders at all levels, etc., the Red Army eventually suffered a tragic failure under the city of Warsaw. Not only did the personnel and equipment suffer heavy losses, but the morale of the troops was also seriously affected.
The Polish army, which received a breathing opportunity and carried out a nationwide mobilization, not only did it not decrease in combat after obtaining a large number of French weapons, but instead became stronger than before the war began.
As the other party grew, the Soviet Red Army was defeated on the battlefield and soon the front line was pushed back into Russia. Poland reoccupied the territory they had seized before, and almost used up all the Soviet regimes that had accumulated from Tsarist Russia in the war, and eventually had to propose a ceasefire to Poland.
At this time, Poland was already at the end of its strength. Both financial resources and military resources had reached the limit that this country could bear. It became an acceptable choice to retain some of the results of the war.
Poland seized a large piece of territory that originally belonged to Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine. The Soviet Union admitted its failure and set a new border with Poland.
Some scholars say that this war determines the development direction of European history in the next twenty years. Soviet leaders gave up their attempt to set off a revolutionary trend in Europe and shifted their focus from external expansion to internal affairs construction. Poland's ambition became even more inflated and began to constantly provoke the two extremely powerful enemies around them, laying the root of disaster for their destruction twenty years later.
The Soviet Red Army officers and soldiers who were captured during the war were consciously abused and killed by the Polish army. Because of the lack of accurate records at the time, the number of deaths in the research data ranged from 40,000 to 80,000. Although there were differences in numbers among later researchers, no one could deny the existence of such war crimes.
Moreover, in the occupied Soviet territory, the Poles and puppet troops everywhere committed chilling atrocities against the civilians who were biased towards the Soviets, and their cruelty was even greater than that of the Japanese army twenty years later.
Finally, after the Soviet and Germany divided Poland, bloody massacre was secretly staged in the Katyn Forest, and the victims became surrendered Polish officers. Stalin's revenge was fierce and thorough, directly cutting off the foundation of the Polish elite. If we count from age, those senior officers over 40 years old were likely to be directly involved in the atrocities of that year. It seemed that there was a hand in the dark, drawing a circle in the course of history.
Although the Soviet-Polish war ended with the victory of Poland, the Curzon line did not disappear in the world. When Germany and the Soviet Union planned to divide Poland, the Curzon line became an acceptable border between both sides.
The Soviet Union not only regained the territory occupied by Poland, but also returned to the ceasefire line they had arrived twenty years ago. On the contrary, Nazi Germany, which served as the main force of destruction of Poland, took it as a matter of course to annex the remaining half. Putting aside the Polish ideas, this is indeed a fair share plan.
Of course, this border division cannot copy the Curzon line of that year. Because of the differences in the composition of residents in the territory, some minor changes have been made in the middle, but the general direction has almost copied this dividing line.
At this moment, both the Soviet and German sides, close to this border, are stepping up the construction of various permanent or semi-permanent fortress positions. At the same time, a secret war mainly based on infiltration and anti-insulation is also in full swing on this border.
PS: Thank you for your support. In the blink of an eye, there is only one last month left in 2017, and the author will continue to work hard.
Chapter completed!