1939...LET THE BATTLES BEGIN!

1939 was an incredibly active year as far as World War II was concerned.  Hitler and his Nazi Party had not only managed to almost double the size of Germany by annexing Austria and taking over the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, he had managed to do this WITHOUT any interference from Great Britain, France, or the League of Nations.  In fact, Great Britain and France had played key roles in essentially GIVING him the Sudetenland.  Now, all that remained between Hitler and his desire to control Europe was Stalin and the Soviet Union.

Despite the fact that Great Britain, France, and many other countries had taken a position of appeasement toward Hitler and the Nazis, this did not mean that they were completely blind.  In fact, they knew something was up...they just didn't want to go to war over it.  So, in an effort to put more pressure on Hitler to just stop where he was at and to rein in the Nazi expansionism that was going on, Great Britain and France tried to form an alliance with Stalin and the Soviet Union.  In fact, Great Britain and France had been trying, unsuccessfully, to court Stalin's favor for a couple of years, but they were always turned away.

Hitler managed to do what Great Britain and France could not do....

In August of 1939, Hitler announced that he and Stalin had reached an agreement which is now referred to as the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in which the two countries came up with a plan to conquer, and then divide, the lands that were owned by Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Finland.  Nobody knew all of the details of the pact until after the fact, but nobody believed this could be a good thing, either. 

Now, make no mistake...Hitler and Stalin hated each other and didn't trust each other, but Stalin had been watching what had been going on in Central Europe and he knew that Hitler's goal was to attack Russia.  As such, Stalin's two options pretty much boiled down to:

      1.  Form an alliance with Great Britain and end up fighting Hitler for control of Poland....

                                                                          OR

     2.   Form an alliance with Hitler, get half of Poland, and gain time to build up his own army...


The decision was pretty easy for Stalin.  By negotiating with Hitler, not only would Stalin gain back much of the territory Russia had lost following World War I, he would also not have to worry about Hitler invading the Soviet Union. 

Hitler:  "The scum of the earth, I believe?"  Stalin:  "The bloody assassin of the workers, I presume?" 

Of course, Stalin had no way of knowing that Hitler had no intentions of keeping his word as far as not invading the Soviet Union...but Stalin likely didn't plan on being 100% honest either, so this "friendship" was likely doomed from the start.

Many historians point to this pact between the Nazis and the Soviets as the final straw as far as ushering in World War II.  The main reasons are that the Pact:

1. Freed up Hitler to invade Poland because he knew that Britain couldn't do anything to defend Poland, and he invaded the country just nine days later.
2. Ended Britain's hopes of an alliance with Russia to stop Hitler; people in Britain realised that nothing would stop Hitler now but war.
3. Improved morale of British people for war because the Pact showed Hitler as an opportunist and a trickster, who could never be trusted.

BLITZKREIG!

On September 1, 1939, the second world war was essentially started as Germany invaded Poland. 

Hitler used a quick strike method which he called blitzkreig or "lightning war" to make rapid offensive advances into Poland.  This was a new military tactic using fast-moving aircraft, tanks, and infantry forces in surprise attacks against the opposition with overwhelming force. 

Hitler sent nearly 1.5 million troops to the Polish border and attacked from the north, south, and west.  The first attack was an airstrike at 4:40 a.m. by the Luftwaffe against the Polish city of Wielun, in which 75% of the city was destroyed and nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. 

Wielun after the German airstrike in 1939.

At 4:45 a.m., a German battleship launched an attack in the Baltic Sea against the Free City of Danzig (sort of its own city-state kind of thing), and by 8:00 a.m. the German infantry had engaged in undeclared war against Poland near the border town of Mokra.

Britain and France Declare War on Germany

Following the invasion of Poland by Germany, Great Britain and France felt they had no choice but to abandon their policy of appeasement.  On September 3, 1939, both countries declared war on Hitler's Third Reich, breaking the Munich Agreement.  However, the Brits and French made no impact on the German invasion of Poland and, as a result, many Poles felt abandoned by the rest of Europe as they scrambled to defend themselves.

The Soviets Enter the War

Phase Two of the Polish invasion began on September 17, 1939, when roughly 800,000 Soviet Red Army forces invaded from the east, holding up their end of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. The Red Army cut off any chance of a Polish retreat and reorganize along the Romanian border. 

Polish Royal Castle at Warsaw on fire following Nazi bombing...

The Polish people attempted to defend themselves, but it was of little use, being crushed between the two military giants. By October 6, 1939, Poland's last forces had to surrender, prompting Hitler to declare in a speech in Danzig, "Poland never will rise again in the form of the Versailles Treaty. That is guaranteed not only by Germany...but by Russia." 

On October 8, Germany annexed its portion of Poland into the Third Reich.