On this day 72 years ago, a German army of nearly 2 million soldiers invaded Poland, officially commencing World War II.
Ever since Hitler came to power in 1933, he preached the philosophy of Lebensraum (Living Space): captured territory, purged of the "lesser races," and occupied by native Germans. He also spoke about his desire to "rescue" East Prussia, which was separated from the Fatherland by Poland. As part of the non-agression pact with Russia, Hitler would only take half of the country and leave the rest for Stalin.
Despite popular myths, the Poles fought like tigers. Their air force alone destroyed 25% of the Luftwaffe that took part in the invasion. They were preparing more elaborate defenses, but it fell apart when the Soviets invaded on September 17. The army never officially surrendered, and Poland harbored one of the largest resistance movements in all of Europe.
On October 6, the last operational Polish unit was captured at Lublin by the Red Army.
Poland was carved up into military districts controlled by the Germans and Soviets. The nation would be used to house the Nazi's concentration camps. Borders between Nazi and Soviet would change hands many times during the war. Each time, thousands of innocents were coldly slaughtered.
American correspondant William Shirer was in Berlin on the day of the attack. He recorded in his diary that the German people were standing in the streets, silent and stunned, that they were once again at war with Britain and France. A WWI veteran told him that he had not forgotten what war was like, and if the government knew, they would not lead the nation into one.
We all know the rest of the story, as told by the graves of tens of millions. The most destructive war in human history to date began in a remote corner of the world most people had never heard of.
Look at the world as it was then and now. It took years for Hitler's rhetoric to ferment into a bloodbath.
Those same words are pouring out again, from all lips, against all men.
1 comments:
Good post.
The Poles fought valiantly, and in vain for their nation. That's what warriors do.
There is more, however, than two nations attacking a third for no reason.
Poland was an aberration, itself a creature of Versailles.
The nation known as Poland after WW1 belonged to Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia prior to WW1.
The injustices perpetrated under Versailles led directly to WW2. While this does not excuse anything that happened during WW2, it does provide context. I bet if the UN took Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona away from the US and gave it to Mexico, there's be one hell of a war to get it back.
And, in the end, it would naturally be the losers that would be villified by history. The winner of a war is never seen as the "bad guy" as long as the victorious nation exists.
Just some thoughts and perspective.
AP
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