Invasion of Poland - September 1939

ALLIES:

Polish

Fighters: PZL P.7a; PZL P.11c
Bombers: PZL P.23 Karas; PZL P.37 Los
Reconnaissance: Lublin R-XIII; RWD 14 Czapla

The Soviet Union wasn't exactly an ally of Nazi Germany in this campaign. Hitler launched his invasion of Poland on September 1st, but Stalin didn't invade eastern Poland until the 17th. That's because on August 23, 1939, Hitler and Stalin had agreed to the The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, formally known as the, "Treaty of Nonaggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." Although it was presented to the world as a non-aggression treaty between their two nations, the pact included a secret territorial protocol that divided Eastern Europe between Nazi and Soviet spheres of geographical influence, including the division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. Hitler wanted to ensure that he could attack Poland without provoking a war with the Soviet Union, as Britain and France had already promised to declare war against him if he attacked the Poles, and he didn't want to fight a two-front war. Stalin wanted to secure his western borders by regaining Russian territories lost after WWI. In October, 1939, Stalin forced the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to allow him to station troops in their countries, as they were located in the protocol's Soviet sphere. According to the pact, Finland was also in the Soviet sphere, but the Finns refused to submit to Soviet demands and the result was the Winter War. After putting up stiff resistance and inflicting heavy casualties on the invading Soviets, the Finns were eventually forced to cede territory to the Soviets in early 1940. In June of 1940, while Hitler was busy with the invasion of France, Stalin annexed the Baltic states and issued an ultimatum to Romania demanding that it turn over its eastern provinces of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. While Bessarabia was in the Soviet sphere, and had been a Russian territory before WWI, the Soviet occupation of Bukovina violated the pact because it was supposed to be in the German sphere of influence. The Soviets, however, claimed it was part of Galicia, a region they had taken from Poland in 1939. With its two major allies, Britain and France, losing the war in western Europe, the Romanian royal government surrendered the two provinces to the Soviets without a fight. Neighboring Hungary and Bulgaria took this as a sign of weakness and pressed for the return of territories they had lost to Romania after WWI. Hitler wanted to keep peace in the region so the Soviets wouldn't see an opportunity to occupy the Romanian oil fields, which he considered his own. He promised the Romanians he would protect them but forced them to give northern Transylvania back to Hungary in the Second Vienna Award, on August 30,1940, and give southern Dobruja back to Bulgaria in the Treaty of Craiova, signed on September 7, 1940. All of these events led to the fall of the Romanian royal government and in September General Ion Antonescu took over and imposed a military dictatorship. Antonescu was an anti-Communist and national security was his top priority. An alliance with Germany was Romania's best option so he allowed German troops to enter Romania in October, 1940, and in November he signed the Tripartite Pact, making Romania a member of the Axis. The timing of Stalin's ultimatums, and his occupation of northern Bukovina, were major factors leading Hitler to decide in December, 1940, to invade the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941.

Polish Air Force in WWII
Polish Air Force, 1939-1945

Poland 1939; The Birth of Blitzkrieg

Axis Slovakia: Hitler's Slavic Wedge, 1938-1945

Invasion of Poland - Operation Tannenberg, September to October 1939

ALLIES:

Polish

AXIS:

German

Slovakian

CO-BELLIGERENT:

Soviet Union