WesWorld

February 1, 1935 - Berlin

Germany offers to host talks between Poland and Czechoslovakia, beginning on 15 February, in Munich.

Czechoslovakia agree's

Poland find Munich agreeable.

Germany, Munich, Czechoslovakia, Poland...

Wes, got any leftover popcorn?

<sigh> It's February, where in Germany will be prettier than Munich in the winter? Chamberlain has NOT been invited.....

Quoted

Originally posted by Desertfox
Germany, Munich, Czechoslovakia, Poland...

Wes, got any leftover popcorn?

I'll have to cook up another batch, I ate it all watching events in South America......

Quoted

Chamberlain has NOT been invited.....

And the Corporal is no more, so maybe it will go better than it did in OTL.

Heck, it's not even about the same thing (the Sudetenland is NOT on the agenda)! Next time I hold a conference, it's going to be someplace sleepy and noncontroversial, like Bonn.

February 4th 1935- Father Andrej Hlinka and Monsignor Jozef Tiso, invited by the leaders of the Church in Warsaw, made a courtesy call to Marshall Kustrzeba with Foreign Minister Mital being present for this visit.

The meeting after lunch was behind closed doors but they gave a brief statement to the press where they asked "both sides to find a way to peacefully reach an agreement...' but also reminding the Czechoslovakian government "to comply with the Pittsburgh Accords, something we have being waiting since 1918."

February 16th 1935- Polish Foreign Minister Mital present his proposal:

"Our proposal is to include the following cities with Polish majorities inside the Polish borders (1) but our main concern is to end the current situation in the city of Cieszyn. (2) the city has historically being Polish and having that city divided has caused some distress to the population for close to fifteen years now.

(1) Bystrzyca, Darków, Dziecmorowice, Jablonków, Nawsie, NIemiecka Lutynia, Piotrowice k. Frysztatu, Skrzecon, Trzyniec and Wendrynia.

(2) Teschen. IOTL the city was divided into a Polish and a Czech city due to arbritation. The possibility exist something similar could have being decided also in WW.

February 19th 1935- Marshall Kustrzeba read the communiques from the negotiations from Munich and shook his head. "Czechs refusing still to any transfer of territory." was the short note send by Minister Mital.

Kustrzeba knew that if the Czechs use the 1918 Treaties as their legal right to the cities in question they will be wrong, the cities being given to Poland by that same treaties in 1918 only by them being taken by the Czechs on a later date. Also Kustrzeba was having conversations with Hungary so they put forward their territorial concerns and to try to get invited to Munich but so far they have being very timid, only making a muted claim and being pretty much ignored by the Czechs. Kustrzeba understood their situation. While Poland could at least stand up to the Czech in almost even terms the Hungarians would be obliterated if they try to face the Czechs by themselves.

On the other hand the leaders of the Slovaks People's Party visited him last week but they refused to fully support our claims, knowing that supporting us will brand them as traitors in their country even with over a 30% support of the population in Slovakia. But they were using the situation to their advantage by clamoring to the central Czech government to comply with the Pittsburgh Accords of 1918.

So far, in the opinion of Kustrzeba, a total waste of time in Munich.

February 22nd 1935- General Sikorski stood in front of the engineer in charge of the light tank project, slight agitated by the news he was receiving. "So you're telling me that our industries can't still roll armor plates to the shape be need for a turret to accommodate a 37mm gun?" he asked the engineer.

"Yes sir, as we expected and told in the meeting last year we can start production of machinegun armed dual turrets by the middle of the year to test the design but so far our industries have being unable to do what we need. As long as we know the medium and heavy tanks have the same problem." was the response of the engineer.

How the hell he knows about that. was the thought in Sikorski's mind before answering but the man already told him that pretty much the three projects were spying each other. "Maybe we need outside help to resolve this. I will see what we can do for the time being. Production need to start as soon as possible." (1)

(1) a deal already exist in place, similar to the historical one but still full blown production will not start until January 1936.

February 25th 1935- Marshall Kustrzeba read the news from Munich and his mood got better. "The Germans and the Russians are slightly leaning in our favor. They seem to agree some change of territory should happen to allow peace." was the small message from Mital.

Kustrzeba knew the situation the Czechs were due to this. Accepting this small territorial exchange could open a Pandora's box for them, with the Hungarians maybe asking for territorial exchanges and the Slovakian could start clamoring for autonomy. He sent a note to Mital in Munich stating him to keep the claims to a minimum and to offer a non-aggression pact to Czechoslovakia to try to diffuse future situations.

February 27th 1935- News have being received from Munich that talks have reached what has being called "favorable" by our delegation and the possibility exists that an agreement could be reached in the next couple of days.

March 9th 1935- The news from Munich were very good; "Deal in place, only minor details to reach final agreement." The Marshall crumbled the small note and put it on the waste basket under his desk. He cough slightly and shook his head, his health gettign worse of lately. At least another border problem has being resolved, he thought but he knew this was only a trial run to gauge the actitudes of their neighbors and as such it was a failure.

He needed all three of his neighbors to at least stay neutral at the threat of armed conflict and as such it failed. Nordmark barely raised an eyebrow until Germany and Russia decided to act but them acted actively in all accounts. Germany was more worried of the conflict spilling over their borders than anything else but Russia was the problem. They privately threat us with pulling out of our non-aggression pact if we acted aggressively and the veiled threat of their intervention existed. The Marshall knew now he needed a very good reason to convince the Russians not to act to finally ensure the borders of his nation before his dead. Of course this time he knew the nation in question will fight. (1)

(1) Not Czechoslovakia. This was more like a trial run to gauge the nations reaction on the region before going for a bigger fish to fry.

March 19th 1935- General Sikorski(1) gave his thanks to the person on the other side of the line and smiled while putting the receiver back on the cradle. The news were better than he expected, a sign of the growing cooperation between the two nations. Of course been a commercial transaction by a private company it did looked like much but an order this big needed some kind of agreement by their government. (2)

Now he knew the light tank will go forward on the date it was expected (3) with executives from Bofors stating they will build as many as needed, even enough for the projected medium tanks. But Sikorski knew that while this resolves the problem of the light tanks for now is not the best solution for the medium tank and a solution needs to be found to resolve the problem of the medium and heavy tanks.

(1) Commander of all mobile forces in Poland.

(2) similar to the deal that occured IOTL but on a larger scale. A nice contract for Bofors.

(3) First gun armed 7TP will come out of the factories in January 1936.

March 24th 1935- it was announced today a deal has being reached in Munich to end the Teschen standoff. All terms have not being disclosed but rumors state that Czechoslovakia agreed to allow Polish officials to help in the administration of the region and to held a referendum in 1940 to decide the final status of the region. Czechoslovakia also agreed to allow a League's police presence to ensure a repeat of the February clashes between Czech and our border guards don't happen again.

The Foreign Ministry stated in a short statement that "the agreement was short of what we expected but for the sake of peace and stability in the region we have agreed to abide this agreement. We only hope the nations of South America could follow our example and find a peaceful end to their conflict soon."

March 29th 1935- General Sikorski was feeling much better after his meeting with Marshall Kustrzeba went better that expected but Sikorski privately was worried by the physical appearance of the Field Marshall. He looks really thin and he seems real sick. I think they are hiding something about his health. I only hope is nothing too serious. he thought while exiting the Marshall's office after the meeting.

Sikorski was in charge of tank production, except for the heavy tank project(1), in Poland plus all the independent tank units but he wasn't in command of the Motorized Cavalry Brigade or the one forming. But not anymore. After his meeting all formations that involved motorization were now part of the Bron Pancerna, no matter from what branch they came from. The Cavalry branch wasn't too happy at all and they fought hard during the meeting but finally the Marshall ended the discussion by telling them the Cavalry will take his orders and like it.

Sikorski understood the Cavalry's concerns. They received a very large percent of the military budget and being reduced in size means their position as the darlings of the Polish armed forces was in danger, possibly taking a backseat to his branch. But now with Marshall Kustrzeba's blessing Sikorski felt confident to move forward with his plans.

He wanted to create larger units that the current cavalry motorized brigades, with divisions of troops being fully motorized. He also knew the limitations of the infrastructure and that it could take a while to get to where he wanted to be.

(1) under the Infantry branch. At least until this meeting. Being put under his branch also.