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The Invasion of Poland, [e] also known as the September Campaign, [f] Polish Campaign, [g] and Polish Defensive War of 1939 [h] [13] (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union, which marked the beginning of World War II. [14]
The Soviet invasion of eastern Poland followed on September 17. [3] On August 29, 1939, Adolf Hitler told British Ambassador Nevile Henderson that he was ready to resume negotiations with Poland. For this purpose, a Polish plenipotentiary was required to come to Berlin within 24 hours. [4] In principle, Poland and Great Britain were ready to ...
Hitler's long-term goals included annexing Polish territories and subordinating the remaining parts of Poland, an idea that he revealed to his closest circle already in 1933 [66] Poland's solution was a policy of normal relations with both Germany and the Soviet Union but alliance with neither (also described as "the policy of equal distance ...
Because of the pact's signing, Hitler postponed his planned invasion of Poland from 26 August until 1 September. [ 15 ] On the night of 25–26 August, a German sabotage group, unaware of the delay, made an attack on the Jablunkov Pass and Mosty railway station in Silesia .
Hitler gives final approval to the invasion, to begin on the morning of 1 September; SS instructed to executed "Operation Himmler" to create various pretexts for invasion. [ 2 ] : 106f. In the night from 31 August to 1 September, the SS instigates a false flag attack (" Gleiwitz Incident ") against Gleiwitz Radio Station and sends broadcasts in ...
The Soviet (as well as German) invasion of Poland was indirectly indicated in the "secret protocol" of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed on 23 August 1939, which divided Poland into "spheres of influence" of the two powers. [8] German and Soviet cooperation in the invasion of Poland has been described as co-belligerence. [9] [10]
The history of Poland from 1939 to 1945 encompasses primarily the period from the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union to the end of World War II. Following the German–Soviet non-aggression pact, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and by the Soviet Union on 17 September.
[4] [15] Hitler's plan combined classic imperialism with Nazi racial theories. [16] In the Obersalzberg Speech delivered on 22 August 1939, just before the invasion of Poland, Hitler gave explicit permission to his commanders to murder "without pity or mercy, all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language." [17] [18]