Contrary to widespread belief, Poland was not a victim of Germany and Russia, but rather an invading state of its neighbors since its birth as an independent country following the Russian Revolution.
 |
| Poland in the actuality |
It invaded Russia, taking advantage of a bloody civil war, to seize genuinely Russian territory. It did the same with Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, and even Germany.
That a newly independent country would act this way doesn't reflect much on its intelligence as a people and makes one wonder about the jokes about Polish immigrants in the United States. Let's remember that Winston Churchill called them "the hyenas of Europe."
One of the most blatant cases was the invasion of Czechoslovakia, taking advantage of the Sudetenland crisis, in which Germany recovered part of the territory taken by the Treaty of Versailles and thus exploiting Czechoslovakia's extreme weakness.
 |
| Polish infantry |
February 23, 1938. <Polish Foreign Minister Józef> Beck, in negotiations with Goering, declares Poland's readiness to take into account German interests in Austria and emphasizes Poland's interest "in the Czech problem."
March 17, 1938. Poland presents Lithuania with an ultimatum demanding the conclusion of a convention guaranteeing the rights of the Polish minority in Lithuania, as well as the abolition of the paragraph in the Lithuanian constitution that proclaims Vilnius the capital of Lithuania. (Vilnius was illegally seized by the Poles a few years earlier and incorporated into Poland.) Polish troops are massed on the Polish-Lithuanian border. Lithuania agrees to receive the Polish representative. If the ultimatum was rejected within 24 hours, the Poles threatened to march on Kaunas and occupy Lithuania. The Soviet government, through the Polish ambassador in Moscow, recommended against encroaching on Lithuania's freedom and independence: otherwise, it would denounce the Polish-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact without warning and reserve its freedom of action in the event of an armed attack on Lithuania. Thanks to this intervention, the danger of an armed conflict between Poland and Lithuania was averted. The Poles limited their demands on Lithuania to one point: the establishment of diplomatic relations, and renounced an armed invasion of Lithuania.
May 1938. The Polish government is concentrating several formations in the Cieszyn area (three divisions and a brigade of border troops).
August 11, 1938. In a conversation with Lipski (the Polish ambassador in Berlin), the German side expressed its understanding of Poland's interest in the territory of Soviet Ukraine.
September 8-11, 1938. In response to the Soviet Union's willingness to come to Czechoslovakia's aid, both against Germany and Poland, the largest military maneuvers in the history of the revived Polish state were organized on the Polish-Soviet border. Five infantry and one cavalry divisions, one motorized brigade, and aircraft participated. The "Reds," advancing from the east, suffered a complete defeat at the hands of the "Blues." The maneuvers ended with a grandiose seven-hour parade in Lutsk, which was personally received by the "Supreme Leader," Marshal Rydz-Smigly.
Edward Rydz (pseudonym: Śmigły) (March 11, 1886 – December 2, 1941) was a Polish politician and military officer, Marshal of Poland (from November 11, 1936), and commander of the Polish armed forces during the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939.
September 19, 1938. Lipski informed Hitler of the Polish government's view that Czechoslovakia was an artificial formation and supported Hungarian claims to the territory of Carpathian Ruthenia.
September 20, 1938. Hitler told Lipski that in the event of a military conflict between Poland and Czechoslovakia over the Cieszyn region, the Reich would side with Poland, that Poland had a completely free hand behind the German line of interests, and that he saw the solution to the Jewish problem in emigration to the colony in agreement with Poland, Hungary, and Romania.
September 21, 1938. Poland sent a note to Czechoslovakia demanding a solution to the problem of the Polish national minority in Cieszyn Silesia.
September 22, 1938. The Polish government urgently announced the denunciation of the Polish-Czechoslovak Treaty on national minorities, and a few hours later issued an ultimatum to Czechoslovakia regarding the annexation of Polish-populated lands to Poland. On behalf of the so-called "Silesian Insurgent Union" in Warsaw, recruitment for the "Cieszyn Volunteer Corps" was openly launched. The formed detachments of "volunteers" headed for the Czechoslovak border, where they organized armed provocations and sabotage.
September 23, 1938. The Soviet government warned the Polish government that if Polish troops massed on the border with Czechoslovakia invaded its borders, the USSR would consider this an act of unprovoked aggression and denounce the nonaggression pact with Poland. That evening, the Polish government responded. Its tone was typically arrogant. It explained that it was carrying out some military activities solely for defensive purposes.
September 24, 1938. The newspaper "Pravda" (1938, September 24, N264 (7589), p. 5) published an article "Polish fascists are preparing a coup d'état in Cieszyn Silesia." Later on the night of September 25, in the town of Konske, near Třinec, Poles threw hand grenades and fired at the houses where Czechoslovak border guards were stationed, setting two buildings on fire. After a two-hour battle, the attackers retreated to Polish territory. Similar clashes took place that night in several other locations in the Cieszyn region.
September 25, 1938. Poles stormed the Fryshtatt railway station, shooting and throwing grenades at it.
 |
| Polish tanks |
September 27, 1938. The Polish government reiterated its demand for the "return" of the Cieszyn region. Throughout the night, rifle and machine-gun fire, grenade explosions, and other incidents could be heard in almost every district of the Cieszyn region. Armed groups of "insurgents" repeatedly attacked Czechoslovakian arms depots, and Polish aircraft violated the Czechoslovakian border daily. …
September 29, 1938. Polish diplomats in London and Paris insisted on an equal approach to resolving the Sudetenland and Cieszyn issues; the Polish and German military agreed on the troop demarcation line in the event of an invasion of Czechoslovakia. Czech newspapers described poignant scenes of "combat brotherhood" between German fascists and Polish nationalists. A Czechoslovakian border post near Grgava was attacked by a band of 20 people armed with automatic weapons. The attack was repulsed, the attackers fled to Poland, and one of them, wounded, was captured. During interrogation, the captured bandit said that many Germans were living in Poland in his detachment. On the night of September 29-30, 1938, the infamous Munich Agreement was concluded.
September 30, 1938. Warsaw presented Prague with a new ultimatum, demanding the immediate transfer of the Cieszyn border region to it...
October 1, 1938. Czechoslovakia ceded the region home to 80,000 Poles and 120,000 Czechs to Poland. However, the main acquisition was the industrial potential of the occupied territory. By the end of 1938, the companies located there produced nearly 41% of the pig iron smelted in Poland and almost 47% of its steel.
October 2, 1938. Operation Zaluzhye. Poland occupies Cieszyn Silesia (Teschen-Freeštát-Bohumín region) and some settlements in the territory of present-day Slovakia.
October 1938. National triumph in Poland on the occasion of the capture of the Cieszyn region. Józef Beck was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, and the grateful Polish intelligentsia also conferred upon him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Universities of Warsaw and Lviv. Polish propaganda was overwhelmed with delight. On October 9, 1938, Gazeta Polska wrote: "...The path to a sovereign and leading role in our part of Europe that has opened before us requires enormous efforts in the near future and the solution of incredibly difficult problems."
How did the world react to these Polish actions?
From Winston Churchill's book "The Second World War," Volume 1, "The Gathering Storm," Chapter Eighteen, "Munich Winter":
"On September 30, Czechoslovakia bowed to the decisions of Munich. 'We wish,' said the Czechs, 'to declare before the whole world our protest against decisions in which we took no part.' … However, the Germans were not the only predators tormenting the corpse of Czechoslovakia. Immediately after the conclusion of the Munich Agreement on September 30, the Polish government sent an ultimatum to the Czech government, to which a response would be given within 24 hours. The Polish government demanded the immediate transfer of the Cieszyn border region to it. There was no way to resist this stark demand.
The heroic character traits of the Polish people should not force us to close our eyes to their folly and ingratitude, which for centuries have caused them immeasurable suffering. In 1919, it was a country that the Allied victory, after generations of partition and slavery, had turned into an independent republic and one of the major European powers. Now, in 1938, because of such a trifling issue as Teszyn, the Poles broke with all their friends in France, England, and the United States, who had brought them back to a single national life, and whose help they would soon so desperately need. We saw how now, as the glare of German power fell upon them, they rushed to take their part in the plunder and devastation of Czechoslovakia. At the moment of crisis, all doors were closed to the British and French ambassadors. They were not even allowed to see the Polish Foreign Minister. It must be regarded as a mystery and a tragedy of European history that a people capable of every kind of heroism, some of whose members are talented, courageous, and charming, should constantly exhibit such enormous defects in almost every aspect of their state life. Glory in times of rebellion and sorrow; vileness and shame in periods of triumph. The bravest of the brave have been led too often by the vilest of the vile! And yet, there have always been two Polands: one fought for the truth, and the other groveled in pettiness.
We still have to talk about the failure of their military preparations and plans; about the arrogance and errors of their policies; about the terrible slaughter and deprivation to which they have condemned themselves by their folly."
Appetite, as you know, comes with eating. No sooner had the Poles celebrated the capture of the Cieszyn region than they had new plans...will continue
* https://www.perspektivy.info/print.php?ID=38156
No comments:
Post a Comment