Run-Up to War & the Invasion of Poland

The initial shoots of the invasion of Poland date back to the decisions made during the Munich conference of September 1938 allowing for the annexation of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia . This following the anschluss of Austria the year before. By the time of the conference , the Czechs had already mobilized and the French were partially mobilised. Neville Chamberlain , the Prime Minister of Gt. Britain was determined at all costs to avoid war proposed a four power conference to settle the dispute.

At this time the Czechs had one of the best equipped armies in the world , being able to mobilise 47 divisions, of which 37 were located at the German / Czech border . A border that was strongly fortified in a mostly mountainous line and they were ready to protect there territory . But they could not fight alone. However, during the conference a number of proposals had been proposed to the Czech government, but rejected until the French decided to force the situation by informing the Czechs to accept the latest proposal otherwise the French would not support them going forward. Based on this the Czechs capitulated and surrendered there fortified positions and industrial complexes.

As Winston Churchill said on the return of Neville Chamberlain with his peace deal, “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.” In early 1939 the rest of the Czech lands were absorbed into the German Reich without a shot being fired or any protests from France or Gt Britain. This foreign policy appeasement proved to be a total failure.

The partition of Czechoslovakia provided the Germans with three fronts by which to invade Poland in September 1939 , The Northern track from East Prussia , the Western track from Germany itself and finally the Southern track from the occupied lands of Czechoslovakia.

With the annexation of Czechosovakia the British and French finally realised the futility of the approach taken with Hitler . Hence on the 31st March 1939 agreed the British Polish pact of Mutual Assistance was agreed. This being ratified on the 25th August by Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax for Great Britain and Count Edward Raczynski. This formal military alliance replaced earlier temporary assurances and committed both nations to provide immediate military support if either was attacked by a “European Power,” specifically identified as Germany in a secret protocol.

However, the Nazi’s leadership still felt insecure about invading Poland with the possibility of Soviet Russia becoming involved in the defence of Poland and hence a direct confrontation with the Soviets. Hence, after several secret overtures to the Soviets , The German minister Joachim von Ribbentrop signs the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union on the 23rd August 1939.

News of the signing broke on the outside world in Churchill’s word’s “like an explosion” . Totally unexpected by the British and French , the Poles just received it with a combination of resignation and horror. On the 25th August Neville Henderson , the British ambassador to Berlin was summoned to Hitlers’ Reich chancellery , where he received a long lecture from Hitler , declaring the “Macedonian conditions” on Germanys Easter frontier had to be rectified ; the problem of the corridor and Danzig had to be solved otherwise force would be used . The challenge that Hitler had was his invasion timetable, he already had 1.5 million men ready to attack . Divided into 2 army groups . Army Group North, with around 650,000 split between the 4th Army facing east across the corridor and the 3rd Army facing south-west from East Prussia . Army Group South containing the 8, 10 and 14th armies , bolstered with 50,000 Slovak troops, some 900,000 men ready to strike North East and Eastward from there start positions in Silesia and Slovakia. Operation Case White ” Fall Weiss” was scheduled to begin at 04.30 on the 26th August. Orders had already been given two days previously with the final order to be given by 3pm the day previously, otherwise the troops would need to stand down.