the soviet union took over poland in summer - autumn of 1941.
the soviet union took over poland in summer - autumn of 1941.
when did the soviet union take over poland?
summer - autumn of 1941
at the start of the soviet invasion of poland (17 september 1939), the soviets declared that the polish state, previously invaded by axis forces on 1 september 1939, no longer existed, effectively breaking off soviet-polish relations. soviet authorities deported about 325,000 polish citizens from soviet-occupied poland to the soviet union in 1940–41. due to british mediation and pressure, the soviet union and the polish government-in-exile (then based in london) re-established polish-soviet diplomatic relations in july 1941 after the german invasion of the soviet union started on 22 june 1941. the sikorski–mayski agreement of 30 july 1941 resulted in the soviet union agreeing to invalidate the territorial aspects of the pacts it had had with nazi germany and to release tens of thousands of polish prisoners-of-war held in soviet camps. pursuant to the agreement between the polish government-in-exile and the soviet union, the soviets granted "amnesty" to many polish citizens, from whom a military force was formed. a polish-soviet military agreement was signed on 14 august 1941; it attempted to specify the political and operational conditions for the functioning of the polish army on soviet soil. stalin agreed that this force would be subordinate to the polish government-in-exile, while operationally being a part of the soviet-german eastern front.
anders' army
germany justified its war against poland on the issues of german minority within poland and polish opposition to the incorporation of the ethnically german-majority free city of danzig into germany. while hitler and the nazi party before taking power openly talked about destroying poland and were hostile to poles, after gaining power until february 1939 hitler tried to conceal his true intentions towards poland, and signed a 10-year non-aggression pact in 1934, revealing his plans to only to his closest associates. relations between germany and poland altered from the early to the late 1930s, as germany sought rapprochement with poland to avoid the risk of poland entering the soviet sphere of influence, and appealed to anti-soviet sentiment in poland. the soviet union in turn at this time competed with germany for influence in poland. at the same time germany was preparing for a war with poland and was secretly preparing the german minority in poland for a war. and since 1935 weapons were being smuggled and gathered in frontier polish regions by german intelligence. in november 1938, germany organized german paramilitary units in the polish region of pomerania that were trained to engage in diversion, sabotage as well as murder and ethnic cleansing upon a german invasion of poland. at the end of 1938 one of the first editions of sonderfahndungsbuch polen was printed by the nazis, containing several thousand names of poles targeted for execution and imprisonment after an invasion of poland from late 1938 to early 1939, germany in talks with poland suggested that as reward for poland transferring territories in pomerania to germany that poland could annex ukrainian territories from the soviet union after a war with soviet union. in january 1939, ribbentrop held negotiations with józef beck, the polish minister of foreign affairs; and edward rydz-śmigły, the commander-in-chief of the polish army; in which ribbentrop urged them to have poland enter the anti-comintern pact and work together with germany for a mutual war in the east, whereby poland would take slovakia and ukraine. ribbentrop in private discussion with german officials stated that he hoped that by offering poland large new territories in the soviet union, that germany would gain not only from polish cooperation in a war with the soviet union, but also that poland would cooperate by transferring the polish corridor to germany in exchange for these gains, because though it would lose access to the baltic sea, it would gain access to the black sea via ukraine. however beck refused to discuss german demands for the corridor and was recalcitrant to the idea of a war with the soviet union. the polish government distrusted hitler and saw the plan as a threat to polish sovereignty, practically subordinating poland to the axis and the anti-comintern bloc while reducing the country to a state of near-servitude as its entire trade with western europe through the baltic sea would become dependent on germany.
axis powers