Why DOW on Germany and not of Russia after Poland?

[ChrisDR68]

The Chamberlain government certainly considered declaring war on Russia during her aggressive war with Finland in 1939/1940 but the winter war finished before a definite decision was made.

Amazing to think that at one point in WWII there could have been a war between Britain and France on the one side and Germany and Russia on the other.

Hitler would not have been happy with this scenario

[LWD]

... . I'll continue to read, both this thread, forum, and books. ...

It's pretty dense but you should consider putting Wages of Destruction on your list as well.

As for the question at hand it's been addressed in a number of threads here. It's also worth noteing that the British and French were considering taking action against the Soviets on a number of occasions.

[wm]

Since the Soviets waited till Poland was finished, it gave the west the excuse that there was no Poland left and why add to your list of opponents

They certainly didn't wait for that.
On 16 September, more or less a half of the territory was still under Polish control (light yellow below).
At that time 20 Polish divisions (about 300 thousand soldiers) were concentrating on the so called Romanian Bridgehead,
The plan was to survive there till winter, in a rather rough and hilly terrain, and wait for the French offensive - threaten by defeat the Army would evacuate to the West.
The first target of the Soviet offensive was the bridgehead. They didn't wait, they finished Poland.

kampania wrześniowa.jpg (92.25 KiB) Viewed 385 times

[OpanaPointer]

The ColorBooks

French and British collections of documents regarding the diplomatic prelude to WWII.

THE BRITISH WAR BLUE BOOK

DOCUMENTS CONCERNING GERMAN-POLISH RELATIONS
AND THE OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES
BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY ON SEPTEMBER 3, 1939

DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS, (1938-1939)
(Also known as The French Yellow Book)
Papers relative to the events and negotiations which preceded
the opening of hostilities between Germany on the one hand,
and Poland, Great Britain and France on the other hand.

NAZI-SOVIET RELATIONS, 1939-1941
Documents from the Archives of the German Foreign Office.

CHRONOLOGY OF INTERNATIONAL EVENTS, MARCH 1938 TO DECEMBER 1941,
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DECEMBER 18,1941

[steverodgers801]

Most of the Polish population and industry were already captured, the Polish government was about to leave if it hadn't already. There was resistance, but organized resistance was ended. My sources say the Polish army was ordered on the 16th to withdraw to the Bridgehead and then on the 17th to withdraw to other countries. Considering that the majority of the Polish army had already been pocketed or destroyed I don't know where you get this 20 division bridgehead from ?? http://niehorster.orbat.com/029_poland/ ... rpaty.html here is the actual mobilized forces in the Carpathians at the start.

[ljadw]

When the Soviets invded eastern Poland,there were immediately anti-Polish pogroms in several cities by the Ukrainians .

[wm]

Those were minor affairs. Nothing that a platoon of soldiers with a machine gun couldn't handle.

[wm]

Most of the Polish population and industry were already captured, the Polish government was about to leave if it hadn't already. There was resistance, but organized resistance was ended. My sources say the Polish army was ordered on the 16th to withdraw to the Bridgehead and then on the 17th to withdraw to other countries. Considering that the majority of the Polish army had already been pocketed or destroyed I don't know where you get this 20 division bridgehead from ?? http://niehorster.orbat.com/029_poland/ ... rpaty.html here is the actual mobilized forces in the Carpathians at the start.

The government was forced to leave by the approaching Soviet Army.
The Polish Army didn't need the population and the industry. They had their depots exactly in that part of the country. Obviously they anticipated that, that border provided the only usable access to the outside world.
The division were the remaining Polish divisions that didn't lost cohesion and were withdrawing to the bridgehead. They had little to do with the Carpaty Army. In the end 120 thousand soldiers made to the France,much more were prevented to do that by the Soviets.
It really didn't matter the idea was feasible or not. Survival of the Army, of those soldiers was important, they didn't care where they were going to fight, in the bridgehead, or in France.
The Soviet by their invasion prevented the orderly evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers, later badly needed in France.
They didn't call that a stab at the back for nothing.

[steverodgers801]

I didn't say it wasn't a stab in the back I said the Poles were already defeated and were not capable of long term resistance.