Chapter 110 The Czech Rebellion (5)

　　"Your Highness, what should we do in case the Czechs are going to be recalcitrant to the end? Do we really have to attack?" Rundstedt had some apprehension in his mind. As mentioned earlier the Sudetenland was located in the Sudeten Mountains in the northern part of Czechoslovakia, and these vast mountainous areas would severely hinder the progress of the German mechanized forces.

　　If you turn over the map, you can see that most of the Czech territory is plain, only the Sudetenland is mountainous. In other words, once the Germans crossed the Sudeten Mountains in the north of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic would be defenseless, and the modernized armored forces would be able to rampage through it like no one's business.

　　Understanding this deadlock, the Czechs also continued to build various fortifications in the Sudetes. Rundstedt did not think that the Germans would be able to tear through these fortifications easily.

　　He knew that the Czechs had forty full divisions and were already on general mobilization, capable of mobilizing more troops at any time. And what about his own side? With the Eastern Front and the Western Front to defend, and no more than ten divisions able to be placed on the Czech border, how could the few defeat the many?

　　Although the conquest of Czechoslovakia was several months earlier than the original time, but looking at Chamberlain's wimpy face, Wilhelm still had a lot of confidence. "General Rundstedt, I believe that Britain and France will continue to insist on appeasement, but we still need to be prepared just in case. Even if we do have to use force it won't be difficult."

　　It's just that it's hard to be 100% sure of anything no matter what, and to be prepared for anything just in case. "As for the Czechs' Sudetenland mountain defenses, even though they have a lot of fortifications, we just need to clear a road that's clear for our armored troops." There weren't many such roads in the mountains, but they weren't unavailable either, and the river valleys of the Elbe Valley were a pretty good option. "Have the Stukas of the land aviation unit bombard the fortifications near the river valley in the Elbe River Valley to open up a path for the armored forces." The Stukas were notoriously high-precision dive bombers, and they could easily blow up all of the Czechs' fortifications that they thought were advanced.

　　"As for the other fortifications, we can look for local guides who are familiar with the terrain, and then send special forces to take a shortcut through these mountains and go around the back of these fortifications by surprise!"

　　Even the world's number one peak, Mount Everest, had a path to the summit, and a mountain range in the district definitely had a path that could be detoured.

　　Listening to Wilhelm's incomparably easy way of saying the solution, Rundstedt's heart was also much more solid. However, he quickly thought of a new problem. "Your Highness, in case the Czechs are desperate, will they ask the Soviet Union for help?"

　　"The Soviet Union?" Wilhelm sneered.

　　A small incident occurred when Czechoslovakia in the original time period was about to be annexed by Germany.

　　When Czechoslovakia was about to fall, Stalin, who had been watching from the east, said that the USSR could provide Czechoslovakia with the necessary military assistance to prevent the country from being "absorbed" by Germany.

　　However, in the face of such an offer from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia refused.

　　Why did Czechoslovakia prefer to surrender to Germany instead of accepting the Soviet Union's assistance? Czechoslovakia's considerations were the same as those of Poland, which later fell to the Soviet Union: if you fall to Germany, you lose your land; if you fall to the Soviet Union, you lose your soul. And the Soviet invasion of 1968 proved that the Czechs' earlier considerations were extremely prescient.

　　"Of course not." Wilhelm shook his head. "Leaving aside the question of whether Czechoslovakia would turn to the Soviet Union for help, even if the Soviets were to assist, there's still Poland and Romania in between. Keep in mind that Poland and the Soviet Union don't have good relations. As for Romania it's even more unlikely." Over the years German intelligence had secretly infiltrated all levels of Romania, and now the whole of Romania was in a pro-German atmosphere, and it was unlikely that the Soviet Union would be given a loan to allow them to support the Czech Republic.

　　According to the history of the original time and space, it was rather Poland, the big fool, who would make a fool of himself to take advantage of the opportunity to seize Czechoslovakia's Cechin.

　　In fact, Poland's move is not a death wish, but has a historical origin, or else Poland is really a berk to offend Britain and France in order to occupy a tiny piece of land of 800 square kilometers?

　　As mentioned earlier, the world pattern after World War I underwent a major change, the huge Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed, and four new countries were established on its territory: Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. At the same time some of its territories were occupied by Italy, Romania, Poland and Yugoslavia.

　　And the collapse of Tsarist Russia allowed Poland and Finland to break away from Tsarist rule and declare their independence.

　　As a result, the newly formed Czechoslovakia and Poland, which had finally survived its independence, quarreled over the ownership of the Cechin region.

　　Of course, at first neither country could win, so they simply drew a temporary border line in the Cechin region.

　　At first, the two sides were quite amicable, but then in January 1919, when Poland held national elections, the residents of the Polish-controlled Cechin district were also allowed to participate in the elections. This irritated the Czech government, which believed that the Poles in Cechin were new immigrants after industrialization and that these new immigrants should not have the right to self-determination.

　　Not knowing whether it was really angry or looking for an excuse to stir up trouble, the Czech government gave Poland an ultimatum to stop the elections in Potsdam-Cechin and to withdraw its troops from Potsdam-Cechin.

　　As neither country could do anything about the other, Poland, of course, scoffed at the Czech government's unreasonable demands. As a result, Poland was unlucky, and when war broke out between Poland and Soviet Russia a month or so later, the Czech government not only refused to allow Polish imports of Austrian arms to cross the border, but also took advantage of the situation to launch an attack and occupy most of the Cechin region.

　　It is important to realize that many newly independent countries were only able to become independent with the support of Britain and France. Poland, of course, was also Britain and France's little brother, and the Allied Powers, fearing that Czechoslovakia was backstabbing in the Polish-Soviet War and allowing Soviet Russia to take advantage of it, quickly intervened to mediate.

　　Perhaps it was Poland's point of view that Czechoslovakia was also a target of British and French support. The result of the mediation was that the French, in order to strengthen Czechoslovakia, divided the most important railroads and coal mines in the arbitration, while the Polish-majority city districts were assigned to Poland. The region of Czecin was officially divided into Czech Czecin, and Polish Czecin.

　　The Polish resentment was caused by Czechoslovakia's actions in taking advantage of the Soviet-Polish War and the Allied arbitration in favor of Czechoslovakia. This is why Poland took advantage of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia and seized Czechoslovakia's Českýn, avenging the German occupation of Czechoslovakia.

　　In a chain of events, Poland's advance into Cechin prompted Czechoslovakia to accelerate its surrender to Germany, and made France, which was hopeful about the millions of Czech elite soldiers, make up its mind to abandon Poland. The fact that the Western Front had not moved during the German war against Poland was at least one factor.