Empire in Progress

Chapter 114: Sudetenland

Views:

Hitler got everything he asked for under the Munich Agreement. Czechoslovakia was forced to cede 110,000 square miles of land, which was home to 2.8 million Sudeten Germans and 800,000 Czechs. There were a large number of Czech fortifications in this area, which formed the strongest defense line in Europe at the time, rivaled only by France's Maginot Line. 

Not to mention, all railways, roads, telephones and telecommunications systems in Czechoslovakia were destroyed. According to German statistics, after the country was dismembered, it lost 66% of its coal, 80% of its lignite, 86% of its chemical industry, 80% of its cement industry and textile industry, 70% of its steel industry and electric power industry, and 40% of its coal industry. wood industry. A prosperous and prosperous industrial country was turned into bankrupt and depressed by the carving up overnight.

So far, Lin Wei has not insisted on his earlier opinions. Now Germany has achieved enough. It occupied Austria and the Sudetenland a year early, which made the German bosses give up their earlier plans. Now Hitler also feels that , annexing all of Czechoslovakia at the risk of angering the British was a bit more costly than good.

In the two days after the signing of the Munich Agreement, Lin Wei had vaguely proposed the idea of annexing the entire Czechoslovakia earlier, but Hitler's response was lukewarm, and Lin Wei did not persist. After all, there was no guarantee in Lin Wei's heart that Britain would give in again. , Lin Wei also knew when enough was enough. Now if the war breaks out according to the historical time, Germany will have one more year to integrate the industrial base of the Sudetenland and Austria.

The annexation of the Sudetenland and Austria also made the Germans straighten their backs a lot. No one would have thought that Hitler, the former homeless man in Vienna, would turn a country into political chaos in just four and a half years. , militarily disarmed, and economically close to collapse, Germany suddenly became the most powerful country on the European continent. All other countries, even Britain and France, trembled in front of it. During this dizzying leap forward, none of the victorious nations of the Treaty of Versailles stood in the way of its aggressive expansion. Even when they had the strength to do so, they did not have the guts to do so.

The fact is that Britain and France were willing to support him at the Munich Conference, where he achieved his greatest victory. And what must have surprised Hitler himself the most, and what must have baffled the elites of the Weimar Republic such as General Baker and Nouret, as well as the group of people who participated in their small opposition, was that they dominated the British and French governments. Not a single one of those people saw the consequences of not fighting back against every step of aggression by the Nazi leader. 

Among the British ruling circles, only Winston Churchill seemed to see this. No one else described the consequences of Munich more thoroughly than he did in his speech in the House of Commons on October 5. He said, "We have suffered a complete and complete defeat... We are in the midst of a catastrophe of the first magnitude. The door to the Danube... to the Black Sea has been opened." He further pointed out that all Central European and European countries The countries in the Danube River Basin will all fall into the huge Nazi political system centered on Berlin one after another. Don't think this is the end, it is just the beginning. However, Churchill was not a minister in court, and his words did not arouse the concern and attention of the British ruling group.

Chamberlain's obsessive attitude towards giving Hitler whatever he asked for, his trips to Berchtesgaden and Goldsburg, and his final, fateful trip to Munich, saved Hitler and gave him The ladder of resignation raised his prestige in Europe, Germany, and the army to a level that was unimaginable just a few weeks ago. All this also increased the Third Reich's power to compete with the Western Allies to an immeasurable level. degree.

Munich was a disaster for France. The French ruling group, due to their political short-sightedness, did not realize this. France's military position in Europe was ruined. It turns out that France has more than a hundred regular divisions, and has also established alliances with smaller countries in Eastern Europe such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and Romania. The combined military power of these countries is enough to subdue Hitler. After the Munich Conference, the situation changed significantly. The Czech Republic was dismembered. The 35 well-trained and well-equipped Czech divisions originally deployed in solid mountain fortifications contained the German army that was larger than this number. Now the French army's loss of this force is tantamount to losing an arm. However, this is not everything. After the Munich incident, which of France's remaining allies in Eastern Europe can believe in its oath? What is the value of the alliance with France? In Warsaw, Bucharest and Belgrade, you can listen The answer I got was: not much value. These capitals are all scrambling to build a bridge with Hitler before it is too late, seeking to protect themselves from serious harm.

For Hitler, however, the outcome in Munich did not satisfy him. He believed that the conquest of Austria and Czechoslovakia was only a prelude to a large-scale seizure of living space in the East and a military showdown with France in the West. Less than 10 days after the German army occupied the Sudetenland, Hitler began military deployment to annex Memer and the remaining Czechoslovakia. 

Memel is a port on the Baltic Sea coast with a population of about 40,000 people. It was assigned to Lithuania from Germany after the Treaty of Versailles. Since Lithuania is smaller and weaker than Austria and Czechoslovakia, capturing this city is really nothing for the German army, and Hitler only said in this order that it should be "annexed." For Czechoslovakia, it is required that "the remaining Czechoslovakia must be able to be wiped out at any time." 

This was another turning point for the Third Reich. This was Hitler's first attempt to conquer an area inhabited by non-Germans. For the past six weeks he had been privately and publicly assuring Chamberlain that the Sudetenland was his last territorial claim in Europe. Although the British Prime Minister was almost unbelievably gullible in taking Hitler at his word, he did have some basis for believing that the German dictator had absorbed Germanic people who had previously lived outside Germany and now lived within Germany. Will give up. Didn't Hitler repeatedly say that he didn't want a single Czech in the Third Reich? But Chamberlain forgot that in "Mein Kampf" the Führer repeatedly declared in an arrogant tone that Germany's future lay in conquering living space in the East. For more than a thousand years, this area has been occupied by the Slavs.

Shortly after the Munich Conference, the new Czech Foreign Minister Franjšek Chvarkovsky knelt down to Munich on October 14 to beg for the scraps from Hitler’s hands and asked whether Germany was prepared to cooperate with Britain and France. When they came together to guarantee his country's greatly shortened borders, Hitler replied disdainfully, "The British and French guarantees are not worth a penny...Only the German guarantee is of any use."

Czechoslovakia was dismembered. Just as Lin Wei expected, Britain and France would not offend Germany, which was rising rapidly in a short period of time, for an insignificant ally. After the Munich Conference, although this period was not suitable to resolve the Czechoslovakia problem immediately, In the Berlin conference room, Hitler still issued an order, ordering Lin Wei and the others to try to solve the Czechoslovakia problem within one year.

So the first step is to lure Slovakia to split. Czechoslovakia is a federal country whose main residents are Czechs and Slovaks. Catholicism is the main religion. Czech and Slovak are the main languages. The capital is Prague.

Three days after the new Czech foreign minister met with Hitler, Linwei and Göring met with two Slovak leaders, Ferdinand Durkansky and Mach, as well as Franz Kamazin, the leader of the German minority in Slovakia. Durkanski, the newly autonomous Slovak deputy prime minister, assured Goering that what Slovakia really needed was complete and at the same time very close political, economic and military ties with Germany."

On the same day, a secret memorandum from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs mentioned that Göring decided that Slovakia's independence must be supported. "A Czech country without Slovakia can be more freely controlled by us. The air base in Slovakia is very important in the war in the east.

Compared with the air force base that Goering valued, Lin Wei cared more about Czechoslovakia. The army of this emerging Central European power when Germany failed in World War I, with 35 fully-manned regular divisions, was a huge asset wherever it was placed. Wealth, especially for Lin Wei who continues to expand the power of the SS, is indeed a good choice. In view of the insufficient population in Germany and the agreement with the Wehrmacht, it is impossible for the SS to compete with the Wehrmacht for soldiers. Even if Lin Wei uses his father's power to poach employees from the United States, the SS soldiers are still stretched thin.

Although it is a good choice to search for soldiers from all over Europe like Himmler did, it takes a lot of time and the results are slower. In fact, until the end of World War II, Himmler only had 600,000 armed SS troops. The proportion of the German army is just over ten percent.

Despite its efforts to curry favor with Hitler, Czechoslovakia's new pro-German government began the new year with the realization that the country's fate was sealed. In order to save the last glimmer of hope and reassure Germany about Czechoslovakia, the Czech cabinet dissolved the Communist Party before Christmas 1937 and dismissed all Jewish teachers from German schools.

In order to find out whether this remnant could be saved, Chvalkovsky finally persuaded Hitler to agree to meet him in Berlin on January 21. This is a very tragic scene. Although for the Czechs, the next scene that followed was even worse. The Czech foreign minister begged for mercy in front of the arrogant German dictator, and Hitler's arrogance reached its peak at that time. Hitler said that Czechoslovakia was saved from catastrophe because of German restraint. Even so, if the Czechs did not change their ways, he would still "annihilate" them.

They must forget their history, and they must only obey the orders of the Germans. This is the only way for the Czechs to be self-sufficient. Specifically, Czechoslovakia must withdraw from the League of Nations, greatly reduce its army, join the *Convention, accept guidance from Germany in foreign policy, and enter into a preferential trade agreement with Germany; one of the conditions is that the Czechoslovakia cannot withdraw from the League of Nations without Germany's consent. No new industry should be established, and all government officials and newspaper editors unfriendly to Germany should be fired. Finally, like the Germans, according to the Nuremberg Laws "Nuremberg Laws" is the general name for the "Reich Resident Law" and the "Law for the Protection of Blood" passed by Hitler's Nazi Party in Nuremberg on September 15, 1935, aiming to deprive Jews and The political and personal rights of other non-"superior peoples". , declaring that Jews were not protected by the law. On the same day, Chvalkovsky heard new requests from Ribbentrop. The latter threatened that there would be "unthinkable consequences" if the Czechs did not immediately repent and do whatever the Germans asked them to do.

At the same time, the Gestapo under Lin Wei and Heydrich entered Slovakia and Lucinia one after another, and found pro-German personnel who had already been recorded and prepared to support. Things were progressing very smoothly. At this time, even if Even a blind man could see the future of Czechoslovakia. If nothing else, the annexation of Czechoslovakia by Germany is almost a certainty.

Czechoslovakia did not invest in these separatist forces at first, because this kind of thing had happened before, but in the end the Czech government successfully solved the separatist forces, but they forgot that Czechoslovakia is not the former Central European power and has lost the Sudetenland. Czechoslovakia is really not much better than a country like Luxembourg.

Therefore, when Czechoslovakia faced the separatist movements in Slovakia and Lucinia instigated by the German government, it seemed somewhat powerless. However, as the separatist movements in Slovakia and Lucinia grew larger and larger, they reached the point where Czechoslovakia would collapse if they were not suppressed. In this case, Hitler would definitely capture Prague. However, if the separatists were suppressed by the central government, it is equally certain that Hitler would have taken advantage of the resulting chaos and marched on Prague anyway. Czechoslovakia was in a dilemma, and there was no good solution.

After repeated hesitations, the Czech government finally chose the second path when it could no longer bear the separatist provocations. On March 6, Czechoslovak President Dr. Hacha dissolved the autonomous government of Lucinia. On the night of March 9, the Slovak autonomous government was dissolved. The next day, he ordered the arrest of Slovak Prime Minister Father Tisso, Dr. Duka and Durkansky, and declared martial law in Czechoslovakia.

Lin Wei was shocked to learn the news just now, because neither Lin Wei nor Heydrich expected that after coming to power, the new Czechoslovak government would be almost obedient to Germany. He actually did such a brave thing.

However, after a brief shock, Lin Wei and Heydrich immediately began to look for remedial measures. At this time, news came from the Gestapo in Slovakia that President Hacha appointed Carol Sidor, the representative of the Slovak Autonomous Government, to replace Tisso as the Slovak President. new prime minister. Sidor has returned to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, on March 11 and will hold a new cabinet meeting.

Lin Wei immediately sent the news to Berlin, asked Hitler to handle it personally, and put forward his own suggestions. Hitler immediately replied and asked Lin Wei to handle it at his own discretion. In fact, he asked Lin Wei to take the opportunity to cause something. With Hitler's guarantee, Lin Wei had no worries about doing things. Lin Wei immediately contacted Ludwig & Beck of the Wehrmacht. General, asked the National Defense Forces to cooperate with his actions, and received an affirmative answer.

Lin Wei then met with Quisling of Austria, Nazi provincial governor Seth-Inquart, and Austrian Nazi party leader Joseph Becker, who came from Austria, as well as the five Wehrmacht generals who came with them. After saying hello, we immediately crossed the border and entered Slovakia.

The new Prime Minister of Slovakia, Karol Sidor, was discussing the future of Slovakia with the ministers in the conference room. Looking at the many ministers who looked pale and obviously did not know where the future was, although Carol Sidor also As anxious as they were, he still managed to calmly say, "Ministers, now is the time to decide the future of Slovakia. Germany is pressing on us step by step, and we have no time."

After listening to Carol Sidor's words, the conference room that had been noisy just now immediately became silent. After a long time, a cabinet member stood up tremblingly and said, "But Prime Minister Carol Sidor, now that the Sudetenland has been occupied by Germany, once the war starts, our army will lose its combat effectiveness in just a few weeks, because All of our country's military-industrial enterprises are located in the Sudetenland region. To be honest, once a war breaks out, we have no chance of winning."

"Yes, our allies Britain and France have too much time to take care of themselves now and will not fall out with the powerful Germans for us. This can be seen from the Munich Agreement. Now Germany will give Britain and France whatever they want." Another The cabinet member said with a sad face.

The remaining people also put forward their own opinions, but most of them had nothing new. There was a lot of bad news, and Carol Sidor even felt pessimistic.