S
spidey
Guest
On 17 September 1939, early in the morning, the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Poland was already in the state of war with Nazi Germany that had started on 1 September 1939.
The Soviet invasion of Poland was a direct result of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union on 23 August. A secret protocol that cut the continent into two spheres of influence, split between two totalitarian systems – that of Nazi Germany and that of Soviet Union.
The Soviet government used the German invasion of Poland as a pretext to violate the non-aggression treaty, announced the Polish state as non-existent and claimed that it entered Polish territory to defend Ukrainian and Belarusian people.
Because of the ongoing defense war with Germany, the eastern border of Poland was poorly armed and only small contingents defended the border with USSR (total length of 1400 kilometers). The Soviet army vastly outnumbered Polish troops. Facing that situation, commander of the Polish army, Edward Rydz-Śmigły ordered his army to fall back and limit their activity against the Soviets to self-defense. Despite this order some clashes took place when Red Army entered Poland, especially in bigger cities like Grodno.
At the end of September 1939 the division of Poland was confirmed by German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation which included a correction of the borders first drawn in the secret clause of the Ribbentop-Molotov Pact. It was the beginning of a 2-year long occupation of Central Europe by two totalitarian regimes.
As a result of the Soviet invasion, called “the fourth partition of Polandâ€, the Polish government emigrated to Romania. Hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens were deported to Siberia and other remote parts of the Soviet Union. Members of Polish intellectual elite were murdered in mass killing in places like Katyn.
"We remember"
The Soviet invasion of Poland was a direct result of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union on 23 August. A secret protocol that cut the continent into two spheres of influence, split between two totalitarian systems – that of Nazi Germany and that of Soviet Union.
The Soviet government used the German invasion of Poland as a pretext to violate the non-aggression treaty, announced the Polish state as non-existent and claimed that it entered Polish territory to defend Ukrainian and Belarusian people.
Because of the ongoing defense war with Germany, the eastern border of Poland was poorly armed and only small contingents defended the border with USSR (total length of 1400 kilometers). The Soviet army vastly outnumbered Polish troops. Facing that situation, commander of the Polish army, Edward Rydz-Śmigły ordered his army to fall back and limit their activity against the Soviets to self-defense. Despite this order some clashes took place when Red Army entered Poland, especially in bigger cities like Grodno.
At the end of September 1939 the division of Poland was confirmed by German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation which included a correction of the borders first drawn in the secret clause of the Ribbentop-Molotov Pact. It was the beginning of a 2-year long occupation of Central Europe by two totalitarian regimes.
As a result of the Soviet invasion, called “the fourth partition of Polandâ€, the Polish government emigrated to Romania. Hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens were deported to Siberia and other remote parts of the Soviet Union. Members of Polish intellectual elite were murdered in mass killing in places like Katyn.
"We remember"
