Chapter 198 League of Nations Investigation Team

A MaroszekWZ35 anti-tank rifle produced in Poland has been set up at the suite window of the Europa Hotel in the center of Prague. The slender barrel has been pointed at the intersection of the main road - this is a road full of cars. But ordinary cars don't need to be shot with anti-tank rifles. This powerful and hard-to-get anti-tank gun is designed to deal with Skoda's custom-made bulletproof sedans. This kind of car is not an ordinary commodity produced on a mass scale, but a luxury product produced in small quantities for the use of the big shots. There are less than 10 of them in Prague, one of which belongs to Masaryk, the former president of Czechoslovakia who just stepped down.

Today the former president will ride in his bulletproof car to a court in central Prague, where he will give a speech calling on the Czechoslovak people to unite and crush the conspiracy of the German separatists - not that the old president Wisdom, but all the bad things in Czechoslovakia were done by the Germans!

They are so annoying and do all kinds of evil! Before 1931, they were thieves, liars, beggars and prostitutes from the mountains... They were the lower classes in Prague, qualified only for menial jobs. And after 1931, these people became madmen again, imagining that their forever lost empire would rise again and once again turn Czechoslovakia into a colony ruled by the Germans!

Now, they are inciting ignorant Slovaks to cause trouble in an attempt to turn Czechoslovakia from a united republic into a loose federation... In this way, the 3.5 million Sudeten Germans will also have the right to organize a free state.

"Son, you are not needed here in Prague. You will return to London tomorrow." Masaryk, who was leaning on a cane, said, "The Slovaks are not a big deal. The real problem is the Germans in the Sudetenland... The Germans are the whole of Europe. The source of evil. The same is true for Czechoslovakia! I mean to expel them all, leave the land of Czechoslovakia and go to Germany.”

"Father, it's not 1919 anymore!" Jan Masaryk shook his head, "They have really risen and become a powerful country."

"So what?" Masaryk snorted, "Do they dare to come to Czechoslovakia to run wild? We are not weak, and we also have France, Poland, Yugoslavia and Romania."

Czechoslovakia had the so-called "Iron Triangle Alliance" with France and Poland, and also formed alliances with Yugoslavia and Romania, forming the so-called "Little Entente". However, Poland is now missing from the "iron triangle", and Romania and Yugoslavia in the "Little Agreement" are unreliable. And the German Empire is the same every year, and its national power is getting stronger and stronger...

Jan Masaryk shook his head. Just as he was about to say something to his father, the car suddenly shook, as if it had been hit by something, and then several loud "bang bang bang" sounds were heard. Jan Masaryk's head seemed to have hit something, and he felt like stars were shooting out of his eyes, and there were bursts of sharp pain on his forehead. It took a while to realize - someone was shooting at the car!

He quickly turned around and looked to the side, only to see that most of his father's body was stained red with blood. His eyes and mouth were wide open, as if he wanted to shout, but no sound came out...

…

Paris, Palais Matignon. French Prime Minister Albert Salo, who had just taken office, suddenly felt that the sky was falling. In February, something big happened in Spain - the Left Front supported by the Third International came to power.

It is very likely that the Spanish Republic will become a socialist country of the Third International type - and become a member of the socialist camp!

Germany, another major neighbor of France, now claims to be national socialist and is also a member of the socialist camp!

France is now about to be surrounded by socialism, although there are many socialists in France. For example, the Radical Socialist Party of Prime Minister Albert Salo also claims to be socialist. But the mainstream socialism in France is not the Third International system, nor the National Socialist International system, but the Second International system. Although they both share the surname She, it goes without saying what the relationship between the two factions is...

However, it is probably not feasible for France to interfere in the Spanish revolution, not only because the French people do not want to fight, but also because the various leftists in France now want to prevent French "fascism" - in fact, they are not the same group as Hitler, but precisely Rather, they were French radical nationalists who were opposed to Germany—they had seized power and were forming a coalition of parties called the Popular Front, of which the French Bolshevik Party would also be a member.

In other words, the French Socialists of the Second International (Our Lady of the White Left) and the Bolsheviks of the Third International united in the name of opposing fascism to jointly suppress French nationalists—actually, Pétain, People like Weygand, Reynaud and de Gaulle.

Constrained by the Bolsheviks within the "Popular Front", the French government did not know how to deal with the chaos in Spain, and there was new chaos in Czechoslovakia in Central Europe.

The Slovaks are clamoring for autonomy - this is no small matter. The Slovaks are the main ethnic component of Czechoslovakia! If they became autonomous, what about the Germans, Poles, Hungarians and Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia? Do we also need autonomy?

If they are all autonomous, how much territory will the Czechs have left? Can that little territory still support an independent military power?

What is even more troubling for the French Prime Minister is that Masaryk, the "founding father" of Czechoslovakia, was hinted at a few days ago when he went to the Prague City Court - he was shot and killed in a bulletproof car with an anti-tank rifle!

And this assassination incident immediately turned into an uproar!

Czechoslovak President Benes declared a state of emergency on the day Masaryk was killed, ordered the recruitment of 400,000 reservists, and launched a purge of the army, dismissing thousands of Slovak officers and non-commissioned officers.

At the same time, President Benes also ordered the army to enter the Sudetenland where Germans gathered and declared martial law.

Moreover, the Czechoslovak government also believed that Masaryk's assassination was related to the Sudeten National German Party and announced the banning of the party - such behavior was actually a common practice in Czechoslovakia. Whenever there were internal problems, the Germans were pushed out as the culprits.

But this time, the behavior of the Czechoslovak government immediately received a strong reaction from Germany!

On the day when Czechoslovakia banned the Sudeten German Party, German President Ludendorff issued a bill to expand the army to 1.5 million within a month!

At the same time, a large number of German troops entered the border area near Czechoslovakia, and the fighter jets and reconnaissance planes of the German Air Force also began to frequently cross the border for reconnaissance, with a posture of fighting a war with Czechoslovakia for the "Sudeten brothers".

The matter was not over yet. Just when Germany and Czechoslovakia were on the verge of a war. An organization called the "Slovak People's Front" publicly claimed responsibility for the assassination of Masaryk.

And this organization is a guerrilla group under the Hungarian Bolshevik Party and the Slovak Bolshevik Party!

In other words, Masaryk's death was indirectly related to the Soviet Union, and had nothing to do with the Sudeten German Party. They were wronged.

Just when the Bolsheviks stood up to take the blame, the head of the Sudeten German Party, Conrad Heinlein, and the leader of the Slovak Catholic People's Party, Father Andrei Hlinka, ran to Geneva, Switzerland, and cried to the League of Nations that the Germans and Slovaks had long been cruelly oppressed by the Czechs!

Moreover, the two accused the Czechs of deceiving the Allies in 1919 - Czechs and Slovaks are not the same nation at all! So Czechoslovakia is not a nation-state, but a multi-ethnic country!

Non-Czech people, who account for more than 60% of the population (not that many), are now being exploited and oppressed by the Czechs, and their situation is even more miserable than that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

A few days later, representatives of Hungarians, Ukrainians and Poles in Czechoslovakia also went to Geneva to complain and cry. In the newspapers of Britain and France, all kinds of evil deeds of Czechs were reported.

"Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Ribbentrop, the German Ambassador-at-Large, has arrived."

The French Prime Minister's secretary led a middle-aged man in his early forties who looked a bit frivolous into the office.

"Mr. Prime Minister," Ribbentrop spoke very good French. He didn't say any greetings and went straight to the point. "Our Prime Minister Hitler sent me to Paris to convey his opinion on the 'Czechoslovakia issue' to you. He believes that the problem should be solved comprehensively within the framework of the League of Nations."

"Completely solve the problem?" The French Prime Minister seemed a little confused.

Ribbentrop said: "The Czechoslovak issue is mainly a national issue, that is, whether Czechoslovakia is a nation-state. If not, then whether the various ethnic groups in Czechoslovakia have the right to autonomy and whether they can secede from Czechoslovakia through national self-determination. Chancellor Hitler's opinion is to form a League of Nations investigation team to conduct a comprehensive investigation of Czechoslovakia's internal ethnic issues! Then, based on the results of the investigation, decide on the solution to the Czechoslovak issue."

"Send a League of Nations investigation team?" The French Prime Minister thought for a while and felt that this was indeed a solution to the problem. "Then what does Chancellor Hitler think about the composition of the investigation team?"

"Each permanent member of the Executive Yuan can send a representative to participate." Ribbentrop said with a smile, "The entire investigation process can be open to reporters from all countries... In fact, the whole of Europe knows that Slovaks and Czechs are not the same nation at all. Their language, culture and even degree of belief in Christianity are completely different."