The collapse of Poland, 1939

Poland was the first country to resist German aggression. The pretext for the invasion was the ill-treatment of the German minorities in Poland, but there are no grounds for suggesting that Germans were in fact an under-privileged element in Polish society. The German motive was the desire to proceed to the total domination of Eastern Europe and the subjection of the continent to German rule. The invasion of Poland began on 1 September 1939. The bulk of the German army and air force was thrown into the struggle. The Germans were aware that they were taking a serious risk, but, though Britain and France declared war on 3 September, it was Poland which bore the brunt of Nazi aggression. Only massive and immediate support from Britain and France on the Western Front could have saved her from destruction, but no offensive was forthcoming despite Polish hopes and demands. The British and French declarations of war were for the time being merely diplomatic gestures. Britain did not expect to save Polish independence at the beginning of the war, indeed, it was believed that nothing could be done to assist Poland. France for her part did nothing more than launch a probing attack upon the German Siegfried line, which was little more than a token gesture and gave no relief to Poland. General Jodl, the head of the Wehrmachtfürhrungsstab, stated after the war: ‘If we did not collapse in 1939, that was only because the approximately 110 French and English divisions in the West, which during the campaign in Poland were facing 25 German divisions, remained completely inactive.’