Figure 1.--. |
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The NAZI-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was a essentially an agreement to divide up Europe (August 23, 1939). A codicil even sketched out the division. It meant war and 8 days latter the NAZIs struck (September 1). The full force of the NAZI war machine and Blitzkrieg fell on western Poland. The shattered Polish forces fall back east and attempt to organize a new defensive line. Once certain of Polish defeat, Stalin seeing that the Polish Army was unable to resist the Germans and that the British and French were not intervening, ordered the Red Army to attack from the East (September 17). A Red Army force of 1 million men enters Poland, Soviet propaganda claimed it was necessary to "protect it's Byelorussian and Ukrainian population." This was an attempt to follow the NAZI success at claiming to protect the German minority in Czechoslovakia and Poland. The demoralized Polish Army which valiantly fought the Germans, offered little resistance to the Soviets. The Soviets took 240,000 Polish soldiers and 15,400 officers prisioner. German and Russian forces met at Brest-Litovsk (September 18). The Soviets encountered only scattered resistance from Polish military forces. Polish forces at Grodno resist a Soviet armored force (September 20- 21). A Polish regiment at Kodziowce resisted another armored attack (September 22). The Red Army rapidly occupied eastern Poland, however, with very limited resistance. Most of the Polish Army in the east was taken prisoner without serious incidents. One Polish account describes an incident at Grabowiec 150 Polish policemen, 4 NCOs and 6 officers were executed by the Soviets with the aid of local Ukrainian militias (September 27). I do not have further details on this incident. The Soviets also occupied areas with Ukranian populations. The terror that had been visited on the eastern and central Ukraine was now imposed on the area of the westetn Ukraine seized from Poland.
The NAZI-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was a essentially an agreement to divide up Europe (August 23, 1939). A secret codicil even sketched out the division. NAZI Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and newly appointed Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov on August 23, 1939, signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. At the time of thesigning, British and French delegations were in Moscow trying to reach an understanding with Stalin. Hewas convinced, however, that they were tring to draw him into a war with Hitler. The two countries which until that time had been bitter foes, pledged not attack each other. Any problems developing between the two countries were to be delt with amicably. It was last for 10 years. The Pact shocked the world and the purpose was immedietly apparent. It meant that Germany could attack Poland without fear of Soviet intervention. Thus after defeating Poland, Germany did not have to fear a full-scale European war on two fronts. What was not known at the time was that there was a secret protocol to the pact which in effect divided Eastern Europe betwen the two countries. This protocol was discoered after the end of the World War II in 1945. The Soviets continued to deny this protocol until 1989. The NAZIs 8 days after signing the Pact invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, launching World War II. Britain and France declared war September 3. Poland's fate was sealed on September 17, when the Soviets invaded Poland from the east. Although the Soviet's did not enter the War against Britain and France, the Soviets were virtual NAZI allies as they provided large quantaies of strategic materials, especially oil. Communist parties in Britainand France opposedthe war effort. The Communst Party in America opposed President Roosevelt's efforts to expand defense spending and assist Britain and France.
It meant war and 8 days latter the NAZIs struck (September 1). The full force of the NAZI war machine and Blitzkrieg fell on western Poland. The Germans more than any other military, correctly assessed the lessons of World War II. The War in Europe began in 1939 when the German blitzkrieg smashed Poland in only a few weeks. The invasion was made possible the preceeding week when Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler. The Panzers crossed the Polish frontier on September 1 along with a devestating strike by the Luftwaffe. The Polish Army and Air Force was shattered. Over 1 million German soldiers surged into Poland. Hitler emerged from the Reich Chancellery in a new grey uniform with his World War I Iron Cross. In a speech at the Reichstag before cheering NAZIs he declared, "I myself am today, and will be from now on, nothing but the soldier of the German Reich." Whithin 6 days Cracow, the center of Polish nationhood, fell. Pincer movements began on September 9 to encirle the major remaining Polish forces. Once certain of Polish defeat, Stalin ordered the Red Army to attack from the East. German and Russian forces met at Brest-Litovsk on September 18. Warsaw fell a few days later after a ruthless bombing assault. The Blitzkrieg tactics that were to prove so devestaing in the West during 1940 were all on display in 1939. Neither the British or French showed much attention, abscribing Polish defeat to military incompetance. The French had promissed the Poles an offensive in the West. It never came. [Fest, pp. 602-603.]
The shattered Polish forces fall back east and attempt to organize a new defensive line.
Stalin did not immediately act after the German invasion (September 1). The delay meant that the Germans fid most of the fighting. It also mean that he could wait to see the British and French reaction. It soon became clear that the Germans had decisivedly defeated the Poles and that the British and French would not intervene. Almost from the beginning the German government repeatedly asked the Soviet Government to act. It was not that they needed Soviet military support, but all of the oprobrium of internauonal opinion was directed on Germany. To this date, the Germans are credited in the public bind for launching World War II. Stalin was surprised that the Germans has been so sucessful and advanced east so rapidly. Thus he decided that he has to act to ensure that the Germans would not encroch on their share of Poland agreed to under the NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact.
The Soviet Foreign Ministry in Moscow summoned the Polish Ambassador to the Soviet Union, M. Waclaw Grzybowski, to the Soviet Ministry at 2:00 am in the mobning (September 17). Foreign Ministry official M. Potemkin read him a note informing him that the Soviets regarded the Polish Government as having disintegrated and the Polish State as no longer in existence. Thus all agreements concluded between the Soviet Union and Poland were in consequence declared to have ceased to operate. As the Polish Government no longer existed, the country had become a field for all manner of hazards and surprises constituting a threat to the Doviet Union. In addition, the Soviet Union could not view with indifference the fate of the kindred Ukrainian and White Russian people living on Polish territory and the in existing circumstances, left defenceless.
Once certain of Polish defeat, Stalin seeing that the Polish Army was unable to resist the Germans and that the British and French were not intervening, ordered the Red Army to attack from the East (September 17). A Red Army force of 1 million men entered Poland, Soviet propaganda claimed it was necessary to "protect it's Byelorussian and Ukrainian population." This was an attempt to follow the NAZI success at claiming to protect the German minority in Czechoslovakia and Poland. The demoralized Polish Army which valiantly fought the Germans, offered little resistance to the Soviets. Polish border defence forces in the east were limited. The Poles had concerntrated their forces in the West. The border defenses in the east were known as the Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza, about 25 battalions. Edward Rydz-Smigly ordered them to fall back and not to attemo to engage the Soviets. There were, however, some engagenents and incidents. The most important was the Battle of Grodno (September 21-24)
as soldiers and local population attempted to defend their cities..
German and Russian forces met at Brest-Litovsk (September 18). Even though water barriers separated most of the spheres of interest, Soviet and German troops met on several occassions as they moved forward to seize control of Poland. The most remarkable event of the campaign occurred at Brest-Litovsk (September 22). The German 19th Panzer Corps led by famed Panzer commander Heinz Guderian occupied the city (September 17), but it was within the Soviet sphere of interest. When the Soviet 29th Tank Brigade under the command of S. M. Krivoshein approached the city, the commanders negotiated an arrangement by which the German troops would withdraw and the Soviet troops would enter the city saluting each other (SEptember 22). Thus Soviet and German commanders held a joint victory victory parade before thecWehrmacht forces withdrew westward behind the demarcation line.
The Soviets encountered only scattered resistance from demoralized Polish military forces.
Polish forces at Grodno resisted a Soviet armored force (September 20- 21). A Polish regiment at Kodziowce resisted another armored attack (September 22). The Red Army rapidly occupied eastern Poland, however, with very limited resistance.
The Soviets took 240,000 Polish soldiers and 15,400 officers prisioner. Most of the Polish Army in the east was taken prisoner without serious incidents.
The Soviets murdered numerous Poles during the incasion. This included prisoners of wars like General Józef Olszyna-Wilczynski, one of the highest ranking officers in the Polish Army.
One Polish account describes an incident at Grabowiec 150 Polish policemen, 4 NCOs and 6 officers were executed by the Soviets with the aid of local Ukrainian militias (September 27). I do not have further details on this incident. The Soviets also occupied areas with Ukranian populations. The terror that had been visited on the eastern and central Ukraine was now imposed on the area of the westetn Ukraine seized from Poland.
Substantial numbers of Polish children were displaced by the initial NAZI and Soviet occupations. Not only were children dispossed, but several million Polish families were left with out the means of basica survival. Father were lost as the Polish soldiers not killed and badly wounded were interned as POWs. And fatherswere the principal breadwinners. Some children lost mothers as well. The destruction and abolition of the Polish state meant that efforts to care for these children were limited. Tragically this was only the beginning of the Polish tragedy and the plight of an increasing number of displaced children. And all of this began even before the organized actions against the Jews began. Less widely known is the degree to which the Germans targeted the other Polish people as well. There were differences between what occurred in the west vand east. There was very little fighting on he east and hus there were fewer children displaced. And the Red Air Force did not bonb Polish cities to any extent. The Soviets did not target Jews. The Soviets like the NAZUS did intern the Polish Army in brutal POW camps. And thus many familes in both the east and west lost their bread earners.
Ukranias were a substantisl minoriity in southeastern Poland. The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) were n underground group seeking independence. The OUN used the invasions as an opportunity to rise against the Poles in an effort to establish a Ukranian state. There wete nincidents of the OUN robbing and murdering Poles. NKVD units who nof course had no sympsthy with Ukranian nationalisrs quickly ended their activities.
NKVD
Communists organized partisans groups and staged local revolts.
The Polish Army had been decisively defeated in the west. The Soviet invasion comvinced the Polish Goverment vthat Poland that plans to defend eastern Poland were futile. It was clear that they had lost the War and that Britain and France would not interven. The Polish Army was prepating to fall-back plan for a long-term defence in the southeast awaiting an attack by the Western Allies on Germany. The Polish government, however, refused to surrender or negotiate a peace with Germany or Russia. It ordered all military units to evacuate Poland through Romania and reorganize in France.
Romania at the time had not yet joined the Axis. the Polish government decided the defense of the so called "Romanian bridgehead" was no longer viable. The Government ordered the emergency evacuation of all troops that could reach Romania to that country.
The NAZIs and Soviets added another secret codicil to the Non-Sggression Pact. They decided that all of Lithuania would be shifted to the Soviet sphere of influence. In return, the dividing line in Poland was moved east to the Bug River.
The shattered Polish forces fall back east and attempt to organize a new defensive line. Once certain of Polish defeat, Stalin seeing that the Polish Army was unable to resist the Germans and that the British and French were not intervening, ordered the Red Army to attack from the East (September 17). A Red Army force of 1 million men enters Poland, Soviet propaganda claims it was necessary to "protect it's Byelorussian and Ukrainian population." This was an attempt to follow the NAZI success at claiming to protect the German minority in Czexhoslovakia and Poland. The demoralized Polish Army which valiantly fought the Germans, offers little resistance to the Soviets. The Soviets take 240,000 Polish soldiers and 15,400 officers prisioner German and Russian forces met at Brest-Litovsk (September 18). World War II accounts usually focus on the NAZI invasion and occupation of Poland. In fact the Soviet occupation was also horific, although it did not include the biological genocide of the NAZI occupation. Stalin like Hitler, however, was at this stage of the War intent on destroying the Polish nation. Polish soldiers were internened in camps by the Soviets. Soviet actions in eastern Poland were extremely brutal. An estimated 0.1 million Poles were killed by the Soviets (1939-41). The most publicized killings were the Polish officers shot by the NKVD in the Katyn Forrest, but this was only a part of the wide spread executions of Poles by the Soviets. Some estimates suggest that 2.0 million Poles were deported to Siberia and other areas in the Soviet Union.
The Bush Administration negotiated an arrangement to build missle shield radars in Poland and Czechoslovakia. Senator Obama said during the 2008 campaign that he supported the shield. It was, however, controversial. The Americans claimed it was aimed at Iran. The Russians claimed that it was aimed at them. It is unclear to what extent it was a legitimate security matter or an issue to be used in domestic political discussions. In fairness to the Russians, the Poles and Czechs probably did see see it s aay of strengthening their defenses against the Russians. The shield was also controversial in Czechoslovakia and Poland. President Obama decided to drop the shield plans (September 17, 2009). We do not want to discuss the shield itself here. There are reasoned arguments both for and against it. We were, howevere, horrified that the President on of all days decided to anounce his decesion on of all days September 17--the anniversary of the Soviet World War II invasion. We do not think that President Obama chose this fate on purpose, but it is notable that the President or his staff knew sonlittle of Polish and World War II history. There are two dates burned in the hearts of modern Poles, September 1 when the Germans invaded and September 17 when the Soviets invaded.
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