I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 869 Bastard
The signing of the Munich Agreement gave Europeans a false impression that, as Chamberlain claimed after returning to Britain, the Munich Agreement brought a generation of peace to Europe.

This is obviously nonsense.

Not only did the Munich Agreement fail to bring about peace for a generation, but it also exposed the appeasement nature of Britain and France, especially France, and further fueled the expansion of the mustache's ambitions.

When Czechoslovakia was founded, it signed a security agreement with France, in which France promised to guarantee the security of Czechoslovakia.

The French did make an effort and facilitated the opening of the Munich Conference.

But nothing more.

A month after the signing of the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš arrived in Russia.

Edward Benes had previously visited Paris and London, and Russia was his third stop.

Edward Benes's purpose was clear: he hoped that Russia would provide assistance to Czechoslovakia to resist the German invasion.

Vasily decisively refused and let Edward Benes figure it out on his own.

Russia cannot be blamed for its indifference. As a former Austro-Hungarian Empire country, Czechoslovakia relied on the support of Britain and France to establish its country, and its relations with Russia have always been lukewarm.

Now we know that Britain and France are unreliable. It would be strange if Vasily agreed to temporarily cling to Russia.

George was not concerned with the fate of Czechoslovakia; his focus was still on Germany's industrial capabilities.

After breaking through the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany began to rush down the path of militarism.

After the Type 3, the Type 4 tank began to be officially equipped in the German army, and the production volume quickly increased from the initial 30 per month to 200 per month.

The size of the German army was also expanding rapidly. By the signing of the Munich Agreement, the German army already had 40 divisions with a total strength of more than 70, which was basically the same as before the outbreak of World War I.

Such a large number of troops far exceeded Germany's national defense needs. Only Chamberlain and Daladier would believe the mustache man's lies.

It’s hard to say for Daladier, but Chamberlain really believed that the Munich Agreement could bring peace to Britain.

When Edward Benes visited Britain, Chamberlain vowed that the mustache would not tear up the Munich Agreement.

Faced with the appeasement of Britain and France, George had no choice but to continue placing additional orders with Russian military-industrial enterprises.

Intelligence provided by Alpha indicated that the Kingdom of Italy was also expanding its military at the same time.

George decided to expand the army to 60 divisions.

This decision immediately caused Carl Jr. to worry.

George explained to Karl Jr. that Russia's military expansion was not a response to Germany's military expansion.

As for whether Carl Jr. believed it or not, George didn't care.

Even if Russia does not expand its military, Germany will not stop expanding its military.

After gaining the Sudetenland, Germany decided to expand its army by another 10 divisions.

It is worth noting that these 10 divisions are all armored units.

Makarov reported to George again that news from Germany indicated that the Germans had already made plans to attack France.

George took the initiative to call Pétain, and the two had a confrontation on the phone.

"This is not surprising. We all know that Germany also has plans to attack Russia. I believe that Russia also has similar plans to attack France. This is just our defense mechanism working."

Pétain was stubborn and believed that Germany would not make France its first target of attack.

The mustache guy will not attack France first, but Poland first.

"Do you still believe that the Maginot Line can protect France from a German invasion?"

George wanted to see how long Pétain could keep his stubbornness.

Pétain was silent for a moment before replying: “George, if you are willing, we can join forces to nip the risk of war in the bud.”

George admitted that he was indeed moved when he heard Pétain's words.

But this could also be a pitfall.

Considering how badly Russia was betrayed by the British and French in the last World War, George became more cautious.

"If France takes the initiative to attack Germany, Russia can support it."

This time Petain did not remain silent: "How can you guarantee it?"

"I pledge it on my honor."

If George meets with Beiden face to face, it is not impossible to sign a written agreement.

It's impossible to sign a document over the telephone line.

Pétain was silent for a while and then hung up the phone silently.

It’s not surprising that Pétain didn’t trust George.

While Britain's colonies in Africa were surging, France's colonies in Africa were not much better. George could swear that Russia really did not export to the French colonies.

But no matter how George explained, the French would not believe it.

After the end of World War I, France dispatched 30 French troops to suppress the Moroccan rebellion.

Morocco is currently occupied jointly by France and Spain.

During the Spanish Civil War, Morocco took the opportunity to rebel again, and French territories were also affected.

As rebellion broke out in Morocco, France's colonies in the Middle East were in turmoil, just as India was.

Although there is a lot of evidence that the rebels in the Middle Eastern colonies came from the former Ottoman Empire.

Given that the rebels' tactics are exactly the same as those of the Indian bandits, France also has reason to suspect that the Middle Eastern rebels are also supported by Russia behind the scenes.

This was truly an unprovoked disaster, and George had no way of defending himself.

Edward Benes's trip around Europe yielded no results. After returning to Czechoslovakia, Edward Benes had no choice but to resign in the face of domestic doubts.

Emil Hacha, who succeeded Edvard Beneš as President of Czechoslovakia, was faced with internal and external troubles. After the Sudetenland, voices calling for a German-Czech merger began to emerge in Czechoslovakia.

This is again the impact of the Munich Agreement.

The Munich Agreement fully demonstrated that Britain and France had no ability to protect Czechoslovakia.

In this case, instead of waiting for Czechoslovakia to fall under the iron hoof of the German army, it is better to take the initiative to join Germany, at least to prevent Czechoslovakia from suffering from the ravages of war.

Some people also called on the Czechs and Slovaks to unite, face the enemy together, and resolutely resist the German invasion.

But such sporadic voices of reason were soon drowned out by the wave of support from Germany.

The year 1938 passed in a turmoil.

George had a feeling that this might be the last peaceful New Year's Day.

Vasily did not agree with George's judgment and firmly believed that Germany would continue to attack the British mainland after defeating France.

That's not bad, at least George and Vasily agreed that Germany should attack France first.

"We are now producing 300 armored vehicles per month. The performance of our armored vehicles is more advanced than that of Germany. The Germans cannot attack us before defeating Britain, unless they want to feel the taste of being attacked from both sides again."

Vasily did not seem to realize that Russia had suffered heavy losses in the past two years because of the cleansing he led.

The effect is definitely there.

Through a top-down purge, all officials and generals left over from the imperial era, except Andrei and Peter, have retired completely.

The newcomers are either young people with impact, high education and high quality, or practical people who have been promoted at work.

George still saved a group of people, especially those old generals who had low moral standards but were good at fighting.

Although young people are full of energy, they lack experience.

Like George, many newly promoted senior officers were extremely concerned about Germany's military expansion, and quite a few generals suggested that Russia should strike first.

The battle plans formulated by these generals were to either attack Poland first or the former Austro-Hungarian Empire first, and eventually concentrate their forces to attack Germany and eliminate the German threat to Russia.

These plans are still feasible.

But they overlooked the fact that if Russia took the initiative to attack Germany, not only would Russia's honor be damaged, but Britain and France would also benefit and could accuse Russia from a moral high ground.

Don't forget that there is a Non-Aggression Pact between Russia and Germany.

"Once the German army cannot cross the English Channel, they will turn around and attack us."

What George needs to do now is to accumulate strength, and when Germany attacks Russia, he will give the German army a head-on blow, and then completely defeat Germany before the United States enters the war.

What George didn't expect was that just after New Year's Day, the Kingdom of Romania gave George a surprise and took the initiative to form an alliance with Germany.

The conditions for the alliance between Romania and Germany were that Germany recognized Romania's occupation of Transylvania and promised to further increase the import of materials from the Kingdom of Romania.

The main materials Germany imported from Romania were oil.

So, this is an alliance that will harm Russia's interests.

Vasily immediately sent a telegram to Carol, asking Carol to come to Alexandria in person to explain in person.

What neither Vasily nor George expected was that Carol actually refused to come to Alexandria on the pretext of visiting the United States.

Carol did not visit the United States by plane, but by boat, passing through the Dardanelles, out of the Black Sea, and across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean to the United States.

The round trip would take at least two months, even if Carol did not waste time in the United States.

"We must make this bastard pay the price!"

Vasily also had a good relationship with Ferdinand, and for Ferdinand's sake, he never bothered with Carol.

(End of this chapter)