Excuse for German attack on Poland?

OpanaPointer, you always manage to put fascinating documents up here. Thank you.

 

If I remember seeing a map correctly, Poland was part of Germany until after WWI, so wouldn't that be the reason for Germany invading Poland?

 

not quite that simple

Parts of what became Poland had previously been part of Germany, also parts of Russia, Austria-Hungary, Romania, Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania IIRC.

and the Poles had always maintained a national identity of their own. (although the language is not as distinct from Russian as Poles like to think).

As you said it, was largely the reason given, but it wasn't really valid. That would be like saying it would be alright for Britain to invade India now, or Spain to invade Belgium etc.

Culturally the Germans had little or no claim except over small parts around the edge of north and west Poland and Danzig.

Legally they had no claim.

Historically they had much less 'imperial' claim than Austria, Hungary and Russia in terms of land area, although probably more in terms of numbers of subjects.

 

I never said it was valid, I just said that was Hitler's reason.

 

Don't think it has been mentioned here yet but the book Death's Head True says the S.S. were agitating (not sure if that's the right word to use, egging on if you will) the local population to do something that would further justify the invasion.

There is a slight possibility I may have mixed this up with the invasion of the USSR in '41 but I'm pretty sure the book mentioned this in the same paragraph as the bit about the Saboteurs.

 

I have heard similer stories about Austria and Czechoslovakia, so it sounds plausible to me.

 

I've also heard about this excuse, but i don't think it's real, as Germany didn't need an excuse to attack Poland ?

 

Tuttut:The Germans did need an excuse to attack Poland (you always need an excuse to attack somebody)

 

My mistake then! But, what about Danzig [Gdansk] ?

 

that's tricky. Danzig was one of the two reasons why Hitler attacked Poland,the other being that Hitler did not admit the existence of an independant Poland on his eastern border.But,curiously enough,Danzig was not used as a reason-excuse to attack Poland ;the official reason was the Gleiwitz "incident"=the attack by SS,disguised as Poles,on a German radio station .

 

Aah, I see! Thanks very much for clearing that up!
Edit: There's no salute on the new forum, so I clicked "Add to this user's reputation"

 

You'll find quite a lot on the 'attacks' at Gleiwitz and elsewhere in Ch 3 and 4 here

Amazon.com: Blitzkrieg Unleashed: The German Invasion of Poland, 1939 (The Stackpole Military History Series) (9780811707244): Richard Hargreaves: Books

Do a search under Naujocks, Gleiwitz, Honiok, Hohenlieben.

Or buy the whole book, which would make me happy.

 

HHAHAHAHAHHA! Im sorry but i dont belive this! Sorry but it seems low, even for HITLER!

 

Well then you'd be very wrong

 

I also have read this. But Hitler did not need an excuse.
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