On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler invaded Poland. The attack began on the evening of August 31, 1939, when a group of armed SS men burst into the building of the radio station in the German town of Gleiwitz, bordering Poland at the time. Firing several shots into the microphone, the Hitlerites read a text prepared in advance in Polish, which contained a call for war on Poland against Germany. For an even stronger delusion of the German people, Hitler staged similar "attacks" and in other sections of the German-Polish border. Shortly thereafter, German radio stations broadcast emergency reports of an alleged Polish attack on German territory. As evidence, corpses of "Polish servicemen" who were actually shot by the SS, German criminals taken from the prisons of the Third Reich, were put on display.
This nasty "attack" the cup of "German patience" overflows for the Poles and Hitler gave the order to attack. The Polish army, which was not ready for an attack, faced the German army without anti-tank guns and tank divisions and was literally swept away with the decisive superiority in the section of the breakthrough. This is the beginning of World War II. England and France, linked to Poland by alliance treaties, declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. The same day, Australia and India joined the war, and a week later, Canada. At the beginning of October, the last Polish soldiers surrendered and Warsaw fell under German command. By a decree of the fascist government of October 8, the western regions of the country were declared "German lands". and annexed to the Third Reich. The remaining territory of Poland occupied by the Hitlerites began to be called the "general governorship".
From the beginning of the German-Polish war until the spring of 1940, England and France, on the one hand, and Germany, on the other, did not actually conduct hostilities in Western Europe. Legally, these countries are in a state of war, there is a front where huge contingents of troops are concentrated, but there is peace. This situation remains in history under the name "Strange War". This name comes from the French language, but it has a different meaning in translation from the German - "comic war".
"The Strange War" ended on 9 April 1940 with the German invasion of Denmark and Norway without warning.
But let's go back to the middle of September 1939. The USSR started implementing the agreements signed in August 1939. The Molotov Pact – Ribbentrop. On September 17, 1939, after the defeat of the Polish army by the Germans and the fall of the Polish government, the Red Army entered Western Belorussia and Western Ukraine.
On September 28, 1939, the Treaty of Friendship and Borders between the USSR and Germany was signed by the foreign ministers of both countries, Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop, which recognized the destruction of the independent Polish state.
According to the treaty, a border between Germany and the USSR was established on the territory of the former Polish state, which was final and both sides undertook not to allow interference by third countries. This border is seen as the basis for the development of future friendly relations between the two countries. The treaty and the secret protocols to it are a consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and actually secure Germany's rear.
According to the signed secret protocol, Western Belarus and Western Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the USSR insisted on signing agreements with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, according to which it would have the right to introduce its troops into their territories. After this was accomplished, legislative elections were held in these republics, which were won by the communist forces. In 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became part of the USSR.
Through the Soviet-German treaties concluded in 1939, including the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Nazi Germany and the USSR shared their spheres of influence in Europe, according to which at the beginning of World War II, the USSR was included Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, and in 1940 the Baltic States, Bessarabia (Moldova) and Northern Bukovina.
As a result of all these actions, considerable territories with a population of 14 million people were included in the composition of the USSR. The border of the country has been shifted to the west in various places at a distance of 300 to 600 km.
The clock for the "Barbarossa" starts ticking.