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Old 08-12-2014, 08:21 PM
 
3,910 posts, read 9,439,851 times
Reputation: 1954

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Quote:
Originally Posted by travric View Post
Well the history books show the Anglo-Polish alliance where Britain would offer mutual assistance if Poland was attacked by a 'European power' and vice versa. Wish I was a fly on the wall when they wrote up that British/Polish 'guarantee' of assistance. No doubt 'diplomatic' language affected British approach to aiding Poland at the time. Interesting thing was that even attacked by the Soviets after Germany (a real pounding on to say the least) the Poles wouldn't get troops because the attacker was not deemed a 'European' power according to the writeup. So Poland was left to go it alone. Not sure if she was angry but one has to admit they got faked out when they signed that docment. I don't think it was what they really bargained for.
The British came up with every excuse in the book to avoid going to war. They were forced to declare war by a treaty. When they finally declared war, they still did nothing in terms of sending troops or military assistance. John UK thinks they did everything apparently. He thinks the British could field 45 million troops. I guess they didn't do everything in their power?
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Old 08-12-2014, 08:28 PM
 
3,910 posts, read 9,439,851 times
Reputation: 1954
Quote:
Originally Posted by John-UK View Post
The French and British could not help as Germany and the USSR moved into Poland as they were well away from Poland. They could not help via the sea or on land. Bombers could not reach Poland and who were they to bomb in a fast moving army? The French could have done more on the ground - Few British forces were in France, if at all. The British immediately set up the blockade of Germany and fought at sea.

3/4 Sep 1939 - 10 Whitley bombers of Nos. 51 and 58 Sqns carry out the first RAF raid over Germany - 10 Whitley bombers of Nos. 51 and 58 Sqns carry out the first RAF raid over Germany.

4 Sep 1939 - The RAF records its first losses of the war when five Wellingtons of No. 9 Sqn are shot down during a raid on German warships in the Elbe estuary.

10 Sep 1939 - The British Expeditionary Force (BEF), consisting of some 158,000 men, leaves for France. Canada joins the list of Commonwealth countries to declare war against Germany.

17 Sep 1939 - Soviet troops enter Poland. The aircraft carrier HMS Courageous is torpedoed by a German U-boat off the south-west coast of Iceland.

20 Sep 1939 - A Fairey Battle, claims the first RAF victory of the war after shooting down a German Bf 109 during a patrol near Aachen.

27 Sep 1939 - After an intense struggle against German and Soviet forces, Poland finally surrenders.

25 Oct 1939 - First flight of the Handley-Page Halifax four-engined bomber. In conjunction with the Lancaster, it forms the mainstay of the RAF Bomber Command offensive in later years.

11 Oct 1939 - Announcement of the Empire Air Training Scheme, which provides for training of aircrew throughout Commonwealth countries. By the end of the war some 88,000 aircrew had been trained in Britain and the Empire.
The French/British didn't need to send troops directly into Poland to help. They could have launched an invasion of Germany from the west. The combined British/French armies vastly outnumbered the Germans on the western front. The Allies had about 4-5 million troops and more equipment than the Germans in 1939 By your own admission. The Germans only had about 2.5 million troops total, and most of them were off in Poland fighting. There would have been little to stop an Allied invasion of Germany from the west.
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Old 08-16-2014, 02:15 AM
 
Location: Stockholm
3 posts, read 3,127 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nolefan34 View Post
The French/British didn't need to send troops directly into Poland to help. They could have launched an invasion of Germany from the west. The combined British/French armies vastly outnumbered the Germans on the western front. The Allies had about 4-5 million troops and more equipment than the Germans in 1939 By your own admission. The Germans only had about 2.5 million troops total, and most of them were off in Poland fighting. There would have been little to stop an Allied invasion of Germany from the west.
Well, it isn't like you can snap your fingers and there you have a million-man army. While the French may have been reasonably prepared (to mobilize, that is) there were nil British troops in France in September 1939. The best way the British could have helped the Poles would have been to put some REALPOLITIK into their heads. Instead Poland became the first country in the established British policy of involving the maximum number of nations in the war to thin out German resources. For example, they deliberately provoked the Germans to invade Norway and Denmark. Just my opinion.

Fred
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Old 08-16-2014, 02:37 AM
 
Location: Mozambique
66 posts, read 66,794 times
Reputation: 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by John-UK View Post
The French and British could not help as Germany and the USSR moved into Poland as they were well away from Poland. They could not help via the sea or on land. Bombers could not reach Poland and who were they to bomb in a fast moving army? The French could have done more on the ground - Few British forces were in France, if at all. The British immediately set up the blockade of Germany and fought at sea.

3/4 Sep 1939 - 10 Whitley bombers of Nos. 51 and 58 Sqns carry out the first RAF raid over Germany - 10 Whitley bombers of Nos. 51 and 58 Sqns carry out the first RAF raid over Germany.

4 Sep 1939 - The RAF records its first losses of the war when five Wellingtons of No. 9 Sqn are shot down during a raid on German warships in the Elbe estuary.

10 Sep 1939 - The British Expeditionary Force (BEF), consisting of some 158,000 men, leaves for France. Canada joins the list of Commonwealth countries to declare war against Germany.

17 Sep 1939 - Soviet troops enter Poland. The aircraft carrier HMS Courageous is torpedoed by a German U-boat off the south-west coast of Iceland.

20 Sep 1939 - A Fairey Battle, claims the first RAF victory of the war after shooting down a German Bf 109 during a patrol near Aachen.

27 Sep 1939 - After an intense struggle against German and Soviet forces, Poland finally surrenders.

25 Oct 1939 - First flight of the Handley-Page Halifax four-engined bomber. In conjunction with the Lancaster, it forms the mainstay of the RAF Bomber Command offensive in later years.

11 Oct 1939 - Announcement of the Empire Air Training Scheme, which provides for training of aircrew throughout Commonwealth countries. By the end of the war some 88,000 aircrew had been trained in Britain and the Empire.

Thank you for your explanation: it sounds like you have answered the question of the owner of the Post. I am not a historian but from what I have discovered, the British and the French aimed at Forming the Commonwealth which would in turn bring up the recognition of the Jewish State - Israel in 1948. So, the British and French plans were achieved.
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Old 08-16-2014, 02:39 AM
 
Location: Mozambique
66 posts, read 66,794 times
Reputation: 23
Their aim was to bring up the recognition of the Jewish state: Israel through the formation of the Commonwealth.
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