Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Early Access: Why did the Allies not declare war on the Soviet Union after the Invasion of Poland 1939? (Patreon)

Published:
2020-01-13 16:32:30
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:
haven't archived this post yet. have a subscription? use the importer!

Content


Files

Previews only

Poland '39: Why no War against Soviet Union by the Allies?

“I know this is a sensitive issue, but it still bugs me and I have never been given an adequate answer. If Britain and France had guaranteed the military support of Poland, were they not also bound to declare war on the USSR, who invaded the other half of Poland, [more than two weeks later]*? Since this is not a strictly military history subject, that delves into politics as well, I will completely understand if you will not answer this.” *The original quote had a minor error that the poster himself corrected in a follow-up comment for simplicity I corrected it in the original quote. Follow-up quote was: "Oh and sorry about the error, it was just over two weeks later, on the 17th of September." Military Aviation Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bis18marck70/ »» SUPPORT MHV «« » paypal donation - https://paypal.me/mhvis » patreon - https://www.patreon.com/join/mhv » subscribe star - https://www.subscribestar.com/mhv »» MERCHANDISE «« » teespring - https://teespring.com/stores/military-history-visualized » SOURCES « Jackson, Peter: Europe – The failure of diplomacy, 1933-1940. In: The Cambridge History of the Second World War, Volume II, UK, 2015. Nord, Philip: France 1940. Defending the Republic. Yale University Press: New Haven and London, UK, 2015. Alexander, Martin S.: French grand strategy and defence preparations. In: The Cambridge History of the Second World War, Volume I, UK, 2015. Imlay, Talbot: Western Allied ideology, 1939-1945. In: The Cambridge History of the Second World War, Volume II, UK, 2015. Kahn, Martin: ‘Russia Will Assuredly Be Defeated’: Anglo-American Government Assessments of Soviet War Potential before Operation Barbarossa, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 25:2 (2012). Kennedy, Paul: The War at Sea, in: Cambridge History of the First World War – Volume I. Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, Band 2. #WW2 #Poland1939 #SovietUnion

Comments

Christopher Hollins

Stalin biographer Stephen Kotkin referred to at least instance of brief but lethal contact in Poland between German and Soviet forces. I believe he discovered a record of that contact as a result of the new opening of a Russian archive. Do you have any info on something like that?

Christopher Hollins

Would it be appropriate to question or to review, at this juncture, why it was that France and Britain had committed themselves to the defense of Poland since in the event of the invasion they proved unwilling to act decisively on land? It would have been bad PR but they could have invaded both Norway and Denmark during the first week of September as a strategic distraction and as a means of cutting of Germany's supply of iron ore.

Volker Hartmann
>>31276669

From the hip: I would question that the Royal Navy and the British Army were ready to conduct such an operation as an ad hoc operation. War was declared on the 3rd of September so you needed at the very least four days to get your troops fully mobilised, which makes the first week an impossibility. The rest of September was also impossible, because you need to plan such an operation, you cannot simply bring your troops to the ships and sail out. Then we are already speaking of October. At that point in time a significant number of the capital ships of the Royal Navy was tied down by the hunt after the KMS Graf Spee. You don't want to conduct an amphibious operation with only part of your naval force. Furthermore you have a problem with winter coming: you don't want to run the risk of invading a nordic country an being drawn into a campaing during winter, when everything and especially the supply of the troops is a problem. And finally Denmark would be very dumb idea since Germany has shorter supply lines to Denmark which cannot be threatened while Germany can threaten British supply lines to Denmark. To invade Denmark is an open invitation to get beaten up by Germany. And for Norway you had all the delaying factors I listed above. In fact Britain was planning to invade Norway for the earliest possible date, this is the reason that there was fighting in Norway between the allies and Germany. And even so the invasion was poorly planned and executed. So just imagine the chaos that you would have had if Britain had invaded Norway in 1939.