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By Keir Chapman / 16th October 2015

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On This Day...

: 1939
In 1939 Poland fell to the combined forces of Nazi Germany and Soviets Russia

Adolf Hitler attempted to improve relations between Germany and Poland. With that in mind on the 26^th of January 1934 Germany and Poland signed the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Both nations agreed that any differences would be settled through negotiations and neither side would take up arms against another for the period of 10 years. But as with most of Hitler’s promises to foreign leaders, he would not hesitate to break them in the event that they conflicted with his desires.

In September 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin met with Hitler at his Mountain Top retreat. Hitler said he would invade and occupy Czechoslovakia unless Britain supported his plans to take the Czech region of Sudetenland (Sudetenland was full of German descendants and German loyalists and Hitler claimed he just wanted to unite the German people). Chamberlin discussed the situation with French leader, Edouard Daladier, and they met with Hitler on the 29th of September 1938 to sign the Munich Agreement. This Agreement said that Britain and France would support Germany’s takeover of Sudetenland on the understanding that Germany would make no more attempts to expand its borders. Predictably once Hitler had Sudetenland he continued the invasion into Czechoslovakia. Hitler also pressured Czechoslovakia into giving Independence to Slovakia, leaving the rest (now the Czech Republic) even more defenceless. On the 15th of March 1939 Hitler’s forces invaded Czechoslovakia and by the evening Hitler made his ‘Triumphant’ entrance into the capital city of Prague. Chamberlin realised his blunder in trusting diplomacy with a man like Hitler and he now knew there would be little he could do to prevent war with such a man.

On the 31st of March 1939, Britain and France pledged their support for Poland in the event that the country was invaded. The declaration was made to Poland in the event of an invasion by any force but had been drawn up with Hitler specifically in mind. On the 26th of August, the ‘Polish-British Common Defence Act’ (or the Anglo-English military alliance) was signed which pushed back Hitler’s planned invasion date. But it didn’t deter Hitler entirely and on the 1st of September 1939 he invaded Poland.

Five German armies totalling 1.5 million troops and 2,500 tanks advanced on Poland on several fronts while their planes attacked from the air bombing cities including the capital of Warsaw. This undeclared act of war without provocation angered the world and on the 3^rd of September England and France declared war on Germany in response.

The Soviet Union and Japan had been at war with each other since the 11^th of May 1939 but by the 15^th of September, both nations signed the Molotov-Tojo agreement which declared a ceasefire which began on the 16^th of September. On the 17th of September around 600,000 Soviet troops and 5,000 tanks rolled into Poland to assist Germany in its invasion. Aided by more than 3,000 Soviet and 2,000 German planes bombing Polish targets the invading forces took Poland by the 6^th of October 1939.

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