Chapter 447： The Soviet-Polish war broke out

While Romania was stepping up its domestic economic construction, Poland's war against Soviet Russia officially broke out.

On the front line of Belarus, the Polish army launched an offensive against the Soviet army on the front line of the Berezina River on February 14. The 120,000 Polish army launched an offensive against the Southwest Front with 80,000 Soviet troops. At the same time, the Polish Third Army bypassed the Romanian-occupied Western Ukraine and attacked Kiev. Piłsudski’s dream of the Union of the Two Seas has not been given up, but the Romanian-occupied Western Ukraine is excluded.

The Polish army made good progress in the early stage, not only conquering Minsk, the capital of Belarus, but also occupying Kiev. For a time, Poland's war intentions to realize Poland's largest territory will soon be realized.

In the face of Poland's offensive, the Soviet Union also immediately dispatched troops.

At this time, the Red Army had defeated the White Army, and Denikin had failed to retreat to the Crimean Peninsula to survive. Romania had not grasped the opportunity created for him at all. In the Caucasus, the Soviet Union has also advanced in mountainous areas. As for Kolchak in Siberia, he has completely failed, and he himself was captured by the Soviet army.

The opposition that could threaten the Soviet Russian regime for a while no longer exists. At the same time, Soviet Russia signed peace treaties with Latvia and Estonia, and the flanking threat was also lifted.

So in the face of Poland's offensive, Lenin and others sent out Soviet-Russian generals led by Tukhachevsky through the civil war. This genius general can be said to be very young at this time, he was born in 1893, even now he is only 27 years old.

Although young, he has a lot of experience on the battlefield. He was born in a declining aristocratic family in Dorogob County, Smolensk Province, Russia. He was diligent and studious since childhood, with a wide range of interests, especially the military.

In 1911, he entered Moscow's Ekaterina No. 1 Armed Forces School to study. In the following year, he was elected to the Alexander Military Academy to continue his studies with the first place. After graduating in 1914, he served in the Semenov Guard Regiment.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Tukhachevsky went to the front with his troops and was captured by the Germans on February 19, 1915. In October 1917, he fled back to China. After the August Revolution (formerly the October Revolution) broke out, Tukhachevsky was introduced to join the Soviet Red Army and the Communist Party and became the first former Tsarist Russian officer to join the Communist Party.

Tukhachevsky was entrusted with an important task as soon as he joined the Bolshevik Party. He was ordered to go to the eastern front to rectify the scattered troops and prepare for the establishment of the First Army of the Red Army. He completed the task brilliantly in a short period of time, and personally led his troops to defeat the White Guards many times.

Then he appeared in various areas of the Civil War, whether facing Kolchak or Denikin, his excellent commanding ability helped him win the victory. Now facing Poland's offensive, Lenin and others thought of him for the first time.

So after he was appointed commander-in-chief in April, Tukhachevsky immediately dispatched troops. In the following month, the Soviet Union concentrated more than 700,000 people on the front line in Poland, while the Polish army had only 500,000 at this time. In terms of force comparison, the Soviet Union already has an advantage. Although Poland is still conscripting troops, it is impossible for these forces to appear on the battlefield now.

Even so, Tukhachevsky is still gathering troops. Why would he do this?

It turned out that Poland began a military operation to demand "land occupied by Russia" from Soviet Russia. This has greatly violated the patriotism of Soviet Russia, and it has also hurt the passion and yearning for the "world revolution" that almost all leaders of Soviet Russia have.

How can Poland, which is regarded by the leaders of Soviet Russia as the "red bridge" of the world revolution, become a "passage" against Soviet Russia?

Thus, the patriotism of Poland collided with the patriotism of Soviet Russia. On April 29, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia (Brazzaville) issued a statement calling on workers and peasants and "respected Russian citizens" to stand up and defend the Soviet Republic.

The concept of Russian traditional patriotism and Russia criticized by Lenin was first seen by the Soviet regime as a weapon to win the war against Poland, and under the flag of Russian patriotism, what we want to achieve is more than just a war against Poland. Victory.

A red Poland is in the interests of the Soviet Union, which is why Tukhachevsky still feels that the troops are not enough. He wanted to establish a Soviet power in Poland, because after Poland passed, Germany was the crossroads of Europe, and Lenin and others had their own ideas about the current turbulent Germany.

But while waiting for other forces to gather, Tukhachevsky would not do nothing.

The first Polish First Army at the northernmost end was the first to be attacked. The Soviet-Russian counterattack at the end of May. The Polish First Army was defeated, and the Russian Fifteenth Army regained the area between the Daugava and Berezina.

On May 24, 1920, the Polish troops in the south encountered the First Cavalry Army of Semyon Budjoni for the first time. On June 5, Budjoni broke through the Polish front with Cossack cavalry. Soviet Russia then used mobile cavalry to attack the Polish rear, aiming at communications and supplies.

On June 10, the Polish army retreated completely and gave up Kiev on June 13.

At this time, the Polish army was already facing the pressure of the Soviet Russian Red Army, and Tukhachevsky was at this time with several armies coming together, leaving the Polish army in a situation where the Polish army lost the other in the Belarus region. For a time, Poland retreated steadily, and all the territories it had captured before were lost.

At this time, Tukhachevski still did not give Poland a chance to regroup and led the army to continue marching towards the Polish hinterland.

Tukhachevsky launched an offensive along the Smolensk-Brest-Litovsk line on July 4, crossing the Ota and Berezina rivers. The 3rd Cavalry Army in the north intends to copy the Polish army from the north and move closer to the border between Lithuania and East Prussia. The Fourth, Fifteenth, and Third Armies pressed westward, supported by the Sixteenth Army and Mozalska Army in the south.

On July 7, the Polish army was forced to retreat across the board.

However, due to the stubborn resistance of the Polish army, Tukhachevsky's plan to break through the Polish front and push the Polish army to the Pinsk Marsh in the southwest fell through.

At this time, the Russian army advanced almost 20 miles a day. Grodno in Belarus was lost on July 19, and Brest-Litovsk was also occupied by Russian forces on August 1.

At this time, the Poles realized that the goal of the Russians was no longer limited to moving the border west, and Poland's independence was also at risk.

At this time, the British government issued a "substantial" ultimatum to Soviet Russia, demanding that Soviet Russia cease hostilities against Poland and the Russian army (the White Army led by Wrangel in southern Russia). And accept the Curzon Line as the temporary border between Russia and Poland until the permanent border is established after negotiation. If Soviet Russia refuses, Britain threatens to assist Poland in all available ways, but in reality, Britain is also subject to domestic political restrictions.

On July 17th Soviet Russia rejected the British notice and opposed the proposal to negotiate directly with Poland. Britain’s response was that if Soviet Russia continued to attack Poland, it would suspend trade negotiations with Soviet Russia. Soviet Russia ignored this.

In fact, Poland has very few allies at this time. France sent a 400-member advisory group to Poland in 1919 and assisted the "Blue Army" mainly composed of Polish origin and commanded by France during World War I to reach Poland from France.

Hungary expressed its willingness to send 30,000 cavalry troops to support Poland, but Czechoslovakia refused to allow them to cross the border. However, some trains loaded with weapons still arrived in Poland from Hungary.

At this time, Poland looked around, and there was only one country that could help itself, and that was Romania, which had previously defeated Soviet Russia. At this time, in order to maintain its independent status, Poland on the one hand requested the help of Britain and France and other countries, on the other hand, it also sent a delegation headed by Prime Minister Morachevski overnight to Bucharest to ask Romania for help. The only one who can save them is Romania.

It needs to be mentioned here that in order to get to Bucharest as soon as possible, Morachevski flew directly to Romania in an unarmed plane. This was more than ten years before Chamberlain flew to Berlin for peace. Poland accidentally made history and became the first leader to fly on a business jet.