"The strange war." Why England and France betrayed Poland
A. Hitler
80 years ago, 1-3 of September 1939 of the year, the Second World War began. 1 of September 1939 of the year Hitlerite Germany attacked Poland. 3 September England and France declared war on Germany.
German Tanks enter Poland. September 1939
The reason for the world war is the crisis of capitalism
On the same day, the Third Reich declared war on the British dominions Australia and New Zealand, 6 and 10 of September - the Union of South Africa and Canada, as well as India, which was then an English colony. The Third Reich was at war with the bloc of countries of the British Empire, France and Poland. The USA and Japan declared their neutrality in the European war.
Thus began the Second World War. It arose as a result of the crisis of the capitalist system, the Western world. Almost the whole world, except for the USSR-Russia, was divided between capitalist predators, and they needed a new living space. The Anglo-American bloc claimed world domination. The new imperialist predators, the Third Reich, Italy and Japan, wanted to get their pieces of the world pie.
The crisis of capitalism could only be resolved with the help of war, the defeat and sack of competitors, the seizure of new territories, resources and markets. The main aggressor in Europe was the German Empire, and in Asia - Japan. However, in fact, London and Washington consistently fomented a new world war in their interests. Some supported Japanese aggression in China and against the USSR. They sponsored Hitler and the Nazis, helped them come to power, arm Germany and allowed it to make the first seizures - Austria and Czechoslovakia (How England gave Hitler Austria; How the West surrendered Czechoslovakia to Hitler) The main goal of England and the United States was to pit Germans and Japanese with Russians, and then finish off the winners and establish their world domination.
This explains all the contradictions and issues of world politics on the eve of the world war. The architects of the Munich policy of "appeasing" the aggressor planned again to push Germany with Russia in order to complete the rout of the two great powers that prevent Britain and the United States from building their world order. To do this, they brought Hitler to power, financed the revival of German military-economic power, threw more and more victims under the Fuhrer’s feet so that he would renew the “onslaught on the East”, against Russian (Soviet) civilization. The West was trying to get out of the crisis by destroying and plundering Russia's wealth. The seizure of a new “living space” made it possible to prolong the existence of the predatory capitalist system.
English King George VI announces the start of the war on the radio. 3 September 1939
Polish predator prey
It is interesting that Warsaw was going with the Germans to take part in the campaign to the East, the defeat of Soviet Russia. The Polish elite dreamed of new conquests at the expense of Russia (the Poles seized the West Russian lands during the 1919-1921 war), the restoration of "Great Poland" within the borders of the 1772 year. In the pre-war period, Poland acted like a brazen predator, the instigator of a great war in Europe.
It’s enough to recall that in the 1930 years Warsaw was actively friends with Berlin, considering the Germans the main enemies of the “Bolsheviks” and hoping that it would be possible to agree with Hitler on a joint campaign against Moscow. In 1934, Warsaw and Berlin signed a non-aggression pact (against the backdrop of Germany withdrawing from the League of Nations). At the same time, Poland became the main European lawyer for the aggressors in the League of Nations. Warsaw justified the attack of fascist Italy on Abyssinia (Ethiopia), the Japanese aggression in China and supported the actions of the Nazis in Europe - and the restoration of control over the Rhine region (with its militarization), and the capture of Austria, and the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. During the Anschluss of Austria, Poland attempted to annex Lithuania. Only the tough stance of the USSR, and the lack of support from England and France on the Lithuanian question, forced the Polish government to retreat. Then two European predators - Germany and Poland, together attacked Czechoslovakia. Poland contributed to the conclusion of the Munich Agreement by denying military assistance to its French ally in protecting another French ally - Czechoslovakia. Also, the Poles refused to let the USSR troops through their territory to help Prague. Then the Poles openly acted as aggressors, taking part in the “Czechoslovak Pie” section.
The fact was that the Polish lords claimed Soviet Ukraine and saw Hitler as an ally in a future war with Moscow. However, Hitler had his own plans, the Fuhrer himself wanted to make Little Russia-Ukraine part of the Eternal Reich. He planned to defeat Poland, return to Germany the lands lost after the First World War, make it a colony and a strategic bridgehead for a throw to Moscow. For the time being, Hitler hid these plans, encouraging the Poles. He allowed Warsaw to participate in the destruction and dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Then the Poles occupied the Cieszyn region. Therefore, the Polish elite, blindly and stupidly persisting in their Russophobia and anti-Sovietism, refused to support the Soviet collective security system in Europe, which could save Poland from the September 1939 disaster of the year.
The Polish elite until the last moment was preparing for war with the USSR. All major military events were connected with the future war with the Russians. Warsaw did not prepare for a possible war with Germany, as it saw Hitler as an ally against Russia. Which greatly helped the Germans in the future defeat of the Polish army. The Polish General Staff prepared plans for a joint war with Germany against the USSR. In addition, Warsaw was killed by pride. Pans considered Poland a great military power. When the Nazis came to power in Germany, Poland was militarily stronger than the Third Reich. Warsaw did not pay attention to the fact that in just a few years, the Third Reich restored its military potential and developed rapidly, increasing at the expense of the economic, military and human resources of Austria and Czechoslovakia. The Poles were sure that their divisions, along with the French on the Western Front, would easily beat the Germans. Warsaw did not see threats from Germany.
It is not surprising that Warsaw did not want Moscow’s help even in August 1939, when the threat of the Third Reich’s attack on Poland became obvious. The Polish leadership refused to let the Red Army into Poland. Although the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact was not yet signed at this time, Germany and the USSR were considered adversaries. And Moscow in good faith tried to achieve the creation of a collective security system together with France and England. However, the Polish "elite" was so short-sighted in its historical hatred of Russia and the Russians that refused to accept the helping hand extended by Moscow.
Thus, Poland itself was a predator, wishing to participate in the division of Russian lands, but became a victim of even more powerful predators. Hitler decided to defeat Poland in order to secure a home front before throwing at Paris and free the central strategic direction (Warsaw - Minsk - Moscow) for a future war with the USSR. And France and England, American capital, needed Hitler, having absorbed Austria and Czechoslovakia, to go to the East, to Moscow. Therefore, Poland was so easily sacrificed to strengthen the Third Reich.
Now Warsaw portrays an innocent victim who allegedly fell the first victim of World War II. Although the Japanese had plagued China for several years, Germany captured Austria and Czechoslovakia (with the help of the Poles), and Italy drowned Ethiopia in the blood. At the same time, in Warsaw they do not recall that Western “partners” betrayed Poland, making the Poles slaves of the Nazis, and the Soviet Union, led by Stalin, revived the Polish state from the ashes.
English King George VI (in a light cloak in the front row) inspects the 85 Squadron in France. Hauker Hurricane Mk I fighters are standing on the airfield. In the upper left corner you can see, from left to right: the Bristol Blenheim bomber and two Gloucester Gladiator fighters
"Strange War"
The German attack on Poland obliged England and France, in accordance with previous guarantees, allied obligations, including the Anglo-Polish mutual assistance treaty of 25 on August 1939, to immediately render all possible assistance to the "Polish ally". On the morning of September 1 1939, Warsaw informed the Western powers of the German invasion and requested immediate assistance. Paris and London assured Warsaw of immediate support. However, in the following days, when the German divisions raided Poland, the Polish ambassadors in Paris and London unsuccessfully sought meetings with the head of the French government Daladier and the British Prime Minister Chamberlain to find out when and exactly what military assistance would be provided to the Polish state. The foreign ministers of France and England only expressed sympathy for the Polish ambassadors.
Thus, practically neither England nor France provided any assistance to Poland. Things did not go further than the formal declaration of war on Germany on September 3, 1939. To reassure the French public, only limited reconnaissance raids were undertaken, when advanced detachments and small units penetrated German territory and deepened several kilometers. But already on September 12, the French command, by decision of the Supreme Privy Council, issued a secret order to end the offensive and in October all the troops returned to their original positions. Therefore, the press called this war “strange” or “sedentary”. French and English troops on the Western Front were bored, drank, played, etc., but did not conduct combat operations. The soldiers were even forbidden to shell enemy positions. A powerful British fleet was inactive, which could support Polish troops on the coast. A union aviation, which could calmly smash German industrial centers and transport infrastructure, “bombed” Germany with leaflets! The British government has banned the bombing of German military installations! France and England did not even organize a full-fledged economic blockade of Germany. The Third Reich calmly received all the resources and materials necessary for the economy through Italy, Spain, Turkey and other countries.
At the same time, the French army was then stronger than the German one, and all the combat-ready divisions of the Reich were connected by the Polish campaign. On the western border, Berlin had a total of 23 divisions against about 110 French and British. The Allies had complete numerical and qualitative superiority here. The British and French had almost four times as many soldiers here, five times as many guns. The German troops on the western border did not have tanks or aviation support at all! All tanks and planes were in the East. The German divisions in the West were second-rate, from reserve soldiers, without reserves and equipment for long battles, did not have strong fortifications.
The German generals themselves admitted that England and France would easily have ended the great war back in 1939, if they had begun a strategic offensive deep into Germany. The Westerners could easily force the Rhine and threaten the Ruhr - the main industrial center of Germany, and put Berlin on its knees. That would have ended the world war. Obviously, London and Paris could also support the plot of the German generals, dissatisfied with Hitler's "adventurism". From a military point of view, German generals were right. Germany was not ready for war with France, England and Poland. That would be a disaster.
The Western military also showed a picture of the inaction of England and France, while the Nazis destroyed Poland. British Field Marshal Montgomery noted that France and England did not move when Germany swallowed Poland.
The point was that Hitler had full confidence (obviously, an unspoken guarantee) that Paris and London would not wage a real war. Already from the 1920's, English and American financial circles supported the German Nazis and Hitler personally. A great war was being prepared. Germany was to become a "battering ram" for the destruction of the Old World, then the USSR. Therefore, while the Germans calmly smashed Poland, the Anglo-French forces did not take any real military operations on land, in the air and at sea. But Hitler was able to throw at Poland all those who have fighting forces, without worrying about the Western Front.
As history shows, Hitler was right. England and France gave him Poland to eat. Everything was limited to a formal declaration of war. This was a continuation of the Munich policy of "appeasing" the aggressor at the expense of territories in Eastern Europe. Paris and London tried to direct the aggression of Berlin against the USSR. At the same time, ordinary Frenchmen and Englishmen were fooled, saying that Germany would soon oppose the Soviet Union. Even the idea of a European “crusade” against Bolshevism was voiced. In fact, the financial oligarchy of the West knew the true plans of the Führer, which he voiced in the immediate circle - first crush the West, and then turn to the East. Hitler did not want to repeat the mistakes of the Second Reich and fight on two fronts. After the defeat of Poland, he wanted to end France, take historical revenge for the Versailles shame, and put most of Western Europe under his control. Then turn the "Hitler European Union" against the Russians. And the defeat of the USSR and Russian resources allowed Hitler to lead his game and claim world domination.
German soldiers turn to the accordion music to the soldiers of the French army on the other side of the Rhine. The photograph was taken during the so-called “strange” or “sedentary” war (Fr. Drôle de guerre, German: Sitzkrieg) on the Western Front. Photo source: http://waralbum.ru
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