Strange War: How the Allies Surrendered Poland
French soldiers play cards on the Maginot Line during the Phoney War
Surrender of Poland
By breaking off negotiations with Moscow, the Western powers opened the way for Germany to attack the East. First against Poland. On August 28, 1939, the British made it clear to Hitler that they were ready for a new Munich – concessions at the expense of the Poles.
Hitler understood everything perfectly. England was offering a deal at the expense of Poland and was seeking an agreement with Berlin. At the same time, intelligence reported that France was not going to war, just like Britain. Therefore, on the afternoon of August 28, the Fuhrer gave the order to attack Poland.
At the same time, Warsaw behaved aggressively and unwisely during this period. Poland, together with Germany, dismembered Czechoslovakia. Then Warsaw, deciding that it could do anything, refused to make concessions to Germany.
Hitler demanded the transfer of Danzig to Germany, the Polish Corridor (in East Prussia) and the guarantee of the rights of the German minority in Poland. At the same time, the Fuhrer was ready to guarantee the Polish borders. After that, it would be possible to discuss a joint war between Poland and Germany against Russia. But the proud Polish lords, not understanding that force was not on their side, refused to compromise.
On the night of September 1, 1939, the Nazis carried out the Gleiwitz provocation (Gleiwitz provocation ). The SS staged an attack on the German radio station in Gleiwitz (now Gliwice). For this, the Germans used prisoners, whom they killed.
France and England enter the war
On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. The Third Reich threw all combat-ready forces against Poland.
France and Great Britain promised to defend Poland under the treaties of May 15 and August 25, 1939. The Polish government immediately raised the question of England and France fulfilling their obligations to Warsaw. Public opinion in France and England was on Poland's side.
Late in the evening of September 1, the English and French ambassadors handed Ribbentrop identical notes stating that they knew about the German invasion of Poland, which led to the fulfillment of their commitments to Poland. The Allies proposed that the Germans withdraw their troops from Poland. Through Mussolini, they proposed holding a conference on Poland. At this time, the war in Poland was in full swing.
While rapidly developing their offensive in Poland, the Germans were playing for time and pretending to be ready for negotiations. But it quickly became clear that there would be no conference, since Germany would not agree to a preliminary withdrawal of troops.
Warsaw persistently asks for help. Most English politicians are in favor of war. Chamberlain's cabinet gives in. Berlin did not respond to the ultimatum to withdraw troops, and Chamberlain, speaking on the radio at 11:15 am on September 3, 1939, declared a state of war between England and Germany. The French delayed longer, citing the need to complete mobilization without the threat of air strikes from Germany and the evacuation of children from Paris. Only at 12:20 pm on September 3 did Paris transmit the ultimatum to Berlin. It expired at 15:XNUMX pm. France entered the war.
On the same day, the British dominions of Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany, and a little later, so did Canada and the Union of South Africa. The Second World War had begun. A battle of capitalist predators for dominance in Europe and the world.
King George VI of England announces the start of war on the radio. On September 3, 1939, the day Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, the king, in his radio address to the nation, called on the people of Great Britain and the entire British Empire to unite and stand firm in the years of danger. The speech was a huge success; the king became a symbol of national unity during the war.
Strange war
On the western border, the Germans had virtually no combat-ready troops or full-fledged fortified lines. France and England could occupy a significant part of Western Germany with one blow. Their powerful aviation could bomb the industrial heart of the Reich – the Ruhr. That is why many German generals were very afraid of the Polish campaign. Berlin did not have the troops for a war on two fronts.
The Fuhrer himself had previously stated on numerous occasions that a war on two fronts, after the sad experience of the First World War, was hopeless for the Third Reich, and the chances of winning it were zero. If the French and British had launched a real offensive, Berlin would have had to urgently wind down the operation in Poland and begin negotiations. The British Empire and France were great powers compared to Germany at that time, which surpassed the Reich in all respects – economy, treasury, armed forces, material and human resources. The French army was considered the most powerful in Western Europe, the British fleet was the first in the world, and the French one was the third.
The Allies had about 110 divisions against 23 inferior and poorly armed German divisions on the Western Front. A big advantage in artillery, tanks and planes. The Germans had minimal supplies and simply could not have waged a full-fledged campaign in the West.
The Chief of the German General Staff of the Ground Forces, Halder, noted: “In September 1939, Anglo-French troops could, without encountering serious resistance, cross the Rhine and threaten the Ruhr basin, the possession of which was a decisive factor in Germany’s conduct of the war.”
King George VI of England (in the light cloak in the front row) inspects No. 85 Squadron in France. Hawker Hurricane Mk I fighters are parked on the airfield. In the upper left corner you can see (from left to right): a Bristol Blenheim bomber and two Gloster Gladiator fighters. 1939
Germany had neither the troops nor the resources to fight in the East and West at once. However, Hitler knew what he was doing. He believed that the Allies would limit themselves to an economic blockade of the Reich and diplomatic statements. And when London and Paris declared war on Germany, Hitler said: "That does not mean that they will fight." And so it happened.
Despite the declaration of war, the French and British remained inactive for 8 months. The combat activity of the allies was close to zero. On September 3, small units of the French army, without encountering resistance, advanced a maximum of 18 km into enemy territory. Already on September 12, the French high command issued a secret order to cease offensive actions. In early October, when Poland had already been defeated, they retreated back to the state border line. After which there was a practically peaceful silence for a long time.
Planes dropped leaflets instead of bombs, and soldiers played football, drank wine and danced. Thousands of footballs and playing cards were sent to the army, and supplies of alcohol increased. During this period, known as the Phoney War or the Sitting War, the Wehrmacht crushed Poland and began preparing for war on the Western Front.
British Field Marshal Montgomery noted: "France and Britain did not move while Germany swallowed Poland. We remained inactive even when German armies were being transferred to the West with the obvious purpose of attacking us! We waited patiently to be attacked, and throughout this period we bombed Germany from time to time with leaflets. I did not know whether it was a war."
A German soldier throws a barrel of propaganda leaflets in French into the Rhine. September-October 1939.
Hitler was expected to strike at Russia
London and Paris, which actively supported the Third Reich project in the pre-war period, expected that Hitler would go east, to Russia, after capturing Polish territory. After that, it would be possible to come to an agreement with Hitler on the basis of anti-communism. Therefore, they were not going to seriously fight the Nazis.
Not only the ground forces were inactive, but also the main forces of the navy and air force. For the air force to act, a special order from the English authorities was required. England and France, in fact, limited themselves to declaring a blockade, but it did not disrupt the economy of the Reich. Germany received all the necessary materials and goods through Italy, Spain, Turkey and other countries.
The governments of Chamberlain and Daladier did everything to prevent a real war on the Western Front. They gave the Fuhrer a chance to immediately attack the Soviet Union. This was the cherished dream of British and French capital: to pit the Germans and Russians against each other. As in World War I. Then it would be possible to negotiate between the Western powers and Germany, to divide the skin of the Russian bear.
Hitler understood this whole game perfectly well (Hitler's strategy. Why the Fuhrer was not afraid of a war on two fronts). The Fuhrer strictly forbade violating not only the land border, but also the air border in the West. So the Germans sat in their trenches on one side, and the French and English on the other. They tried not to disturb each other's peace. A little more and they would have gone to fraternize. On the land front, this continued until May 1940.
A column of Polish prisoners of war moves along a Warsaw street after Poland's capitulation
Hitler, having quickly dealt with Poland, transferred troops to the West. At this time, Paris and London secretly tried to find a common language with Berlin. And Hitler, in order to prepare a new campaign in the West, pretended to be ready for a new world. In September and October, the Fuhrer declared that he was not going to fight in the West, but England and France must recognize the new situation, that Poland had been conquered by Germany. That a further revision of the Versailles system was needed, in particular in the issue of colonies. Germany must receive its former colonies.
While Hitler's diplomacy and propaganda campaigned over "peace" proposals, the General Staff and the army prepared for a new campaign in the West. The sedentary war ended when the Nazi tank wedges began to smash France.
Hitler was no fool and had no intention of leaving the front in the rear when he began the war against the Russians. At the same time, he allowed the British, who were trapped at Dunkirk, to leave quite calmly. Heroic films were later made about this. In reality, the Germans simply allowed the British to evacuate without crushing them with tank treads (Hitler's “Stop Order”. Why German tanks did not crush the British army).
Thus, the Phony War was from the very beginning a "deal" between Western politicians and Hitler with the aim of directing the aggression of the Third Reich against the Soviet Union. To pit the Germans and the Russians against each other.
Therefore, in September 1939, Poland was given over to Nazi Germany to be torn apart. The 8 months of the Sitting War are the best proof of this. Then London also gave up its French partner to Germany. Almost all of continental Europe with its economic resources was given to Hitler so that he could attack the USSR.
French soldiers dressed as women entertain their comrades. Maginot Line, during the so-called Phony or Sitting War (French: Drôle de guerre, German: Sitzkrieg) on the Western Front. March 1940.
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