-2- Corridor but by granting Poland an autobahn to Gdynia across German re-covered territory. He did not believe that this eastward movement would result in general war: (a) partly because France and England could not close in the gap between Germany and themselves, and (b) partly because nobody would fight for Poland. On the other hand, he thought the Poles themselves would fight, rather than follow the surrender technique of the Czechs. During the crisls of last September the Germans had denuded East Prussia of troops and had made no efforts to cover their left flank in Silesia. This could only indicate close cooperation between Polish and German General Staffs. I asked Major Black how long he thought it would have taken the German Army to overcome Czech resistance. He replied, "Not more than two weeks and probably less". The Czech defenses such as they were were excellent, but there were serious gaps in them which the Germans knew about. More important, how ever, was the fact that the Czech plan of defense was to protect the frontiers with approximately equal strength everywhere rather than mass a preponderant strength at some key positions. Thus if the Germans broke through at any one point the collapse of the line followed. The German military had told him after taking over the Czech Maginot-Line that the war would have lasted even less than they had anticipated. |