7/39-9/39
World War II has been, for nearly eighty years, characterised not by the efforts of the millions of soldiers who fought in it, or by the sweeping social changes that followed it, but by the infamous, and bizarre, alliance of the two most evil dictators to ever rule: Hitler and Stalin. Two men who had nothing in common save their desire of absolute power, and perhaps their love of death camps. Hitler at least had spent the better part of twenty years writing and screaming about how communism was the greatest enemy of the world and must be destroyed, while Stalin was well known for trusting no one and was certain that within a few years, the Germans would come for him.
The war itself had its origins in a series of increasingly aggressive moves by Germany beginning around 1936 with the reoccupation of the Rhineland, although it was not until the takeover of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 that war was believed to be inevitable. Even then, the British Chamberlain Government only believed Germany, and perhaps Italy to be their future enemies. Indeed there had been talks between London and Moscow in 1938 and continuing into 1939 of a potential alliance against the Germans. Had these talks continued successfully, or even had Stalin simply remained neutral, it is considered extremely likely that Germany would have eventually collapsed under its own weight, a mess of questionable accounting and constant resource shortages, doubtless before the summer of 1941. Yet events in, of all places, Mongolia, changed the history of the world forever.
The Nomonhan Battles, July 1939
Beginning in May 1939, the Nomonhan Battles originated over a border dispute: whether it should be the Mongolian allies of Stalin or the Mongolian allies of Hirohito that should be allowed to graze their horses over a few dozen kilometres of completely empty ground in the middle of nowhere, despite both sides having more than an abundance of empty worthless ground in the region already.
For the first month of the conflict, nothing more than localised skirmishes between the local forces took place, and at worst it looked like the battle would become a repeat of the Changkufeng incident a year prior. On June 27th (now the commonly accepted date for the start of the war) however, the Japanese Kwantung Army launched an air strike on a Soviet airfield. Tokyo issued a stern warning to the Kwantung Army commanders, ordering that no more airstrikes be launched as it risked escalating the border incident (already heavily committed in China, they had no desire for a wider war). The order went ignored.
In early July, the Kwantung Army launched a major attack hoping to knock out the Red Army’s presence on the Khalka River, now commanded by General Georgy Zhukov and numbering around five divisions and over 400 tanks and armoured cars. Shortly after the Japanese force crossed the river, Zhukov counterattacked. The move proved to be foolish, as his unsupported tanks were destroyed by Japanese infantry and bombers, and shortly afterwards a major Soviet supply convoy was destroyed in another airstrike. Although their assaults had been costly, the Japanese soon forced Zhukov to retreat from the disputed area. But they had pushed the Russian Bear too far...
No Longer a Border War, August 1939
Although neither Moscow nor Tokyo made an official declaration of war, the effective destruction of two Soviet divisions could not be interpreted as a minor border skirmish, and both sides scrambled to prepare for what was certain to follow.
Tokyo’s first action was to remove Lieutenant Generals Masaomi and Komatsubara from their posts for disobeying orders, giving them command of much smaller reserve units in China. General Ueda, the overall commander of the Kwantung Army, was forced into retirement for supporting the aggressive actions. Appointed in his place was General Shizuichi Tanaka, who had been previously commanding a division in China. Tanaka was given orders to prepare the Kwantung Army for a major war with the USSR, which would likely be soon fought across the entirety of Manchukuo: a territory far too valuable to lose.
Stalin’s reaction was no less drastic: Zhukov was recalled to Moscow and sidelined for his failure to defeat the Japanese (although he managed to avoid the 7.62mm fate that many other generals had suffered), despite the significant numerical advantages he had held throughout the battle. He was replaced with General Nikolai Vatutin, a man chosen more for his political reliability than for any great competence. Stalin at this time felt that the Japanese needed to pay for their arrogance in Mongolia, and that if a localised conflict couldn’t settle the issue, then an expanded one, which would allow the USSR to use its vast manpower and massive armoured forces, would have to. But before a major war could be allowed on the eastern border, the western one needed to be secured.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, August 1939
As the Red Army prepared itself for a war with Japan, Hitler had been massing the Wehrmacht along the Polish border. Hitler had detested the Polish state since its creation in the aftermath of World War I, not just because it cut East Prussia off from the rest of Germany, or that it had been given some old German territory to do this, but also because he believed the Poles to be racially inferior (a belief that would have horrific consequences for the population of the country). As the first step in the plan to achieve ‘lebensraum’ first outlined in Mein Kampf, the defeat of Poland was one of Hitler’s most important goals.
Hitler, having been a soldier in World War I, was haunted by the idea of a two front war, which had been a major obstacle for Germany between 1914 and 1917. While Poland’s army was hardly a match for the Wehrmacht, the potential entry of the USSR into a war that also involved France and Britain would very likely create a repeat of that war, something the Fuhrer was determined to avoid.
The culmination of several months of talks, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact provided a solution for both nations’ problems. Officially labelled as a non-aggression treaty, the Pact would keep Stalin from interfering in Hitler’s war with Poland, while Hitler would leave Stalin free to settle the disputes with Japan. Secret clauses in the pact also allowed for a division of Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, while the treaty was soon expanded into a substantial trade agreement, providing Germany with Soviet raw materials in exchange for industrial tools and expertise.
Poland, September 1939
On September 1st, the Wehrmacht stormed into Poland, sweeping across the country in a matter of weeks. Although brave defensive actions were fought, most notably along the Bzura River and near Warsaw, the Polish army had little hope against modern aircraft such as the Bf 109 and Ju 87, or the ‘blitzkrieg’ doctrines of fast moving armoured warfare that the Germans used to such devastating effect.
The Red Army was ordered into Eastern Poland two weeks later, to find only a skeleton defence guarding eastern cities such as Brześć Litewski and Lwow. The move prompted declarations of war by the French and British against the USSR, to follow those issued against Germany on September 3rd. These declarations had been fiercely debated within London and Paris, as some were worried that while a war with just Germany would be difficult, a war against Moscow as well would be nearly impossible, but these concerns were ignored when presented with the threat of an all-communist Asia. The Poles hoped that the second declarations would finally lead to a serious relief effort (after the abortive French offensive into the Saar). That help never came.
“The twin vipers of Nazism and Bolshevism represent the most sinister of alliances to ever confront our way of life. The road ahead will be hard, but if we are resolute in our will, the ultimate triumph of the free world is inevitable.” – Winston Churchill, 28 September 1939.
- BNC
The war itself had its origins in a series of increasingly aggressive moves by Germany beginning around 1936 with the reoccupation of the Rhineland, although it was not until the takeover of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 that war was believed to be inevitable. Even then, the British Chamberlain Government only believed Germany, and perhaps Italy to be their future enemies. Indeed there had been talks between London and Moscow in 1938 and continuing into 1939 of a potential alliance against the Germans. Had these talks continued successfully, or even had Stalin simply remained neutral, it is considered extremely likely that Germany would have eventually collapsed under its own weight, a mess of questionable accounting and constant resource shortages, doubtless before the summer of 1941. Yet events in, of all places, Mongolia, changed the history of the world forever.
The Nomonhan Battles, July 1939
Beginning in May 1939, the Nomonhan Battles originated over a border dispute: whether it should be the Mongolian allies of Stalin or the Mongolian allies of Hirohito that should be allowed to graze their horses over a few dozen kilometres of completely empty ground in the middle of nowhere, despite both sides having more than an abundance of empty worthless ground in the region already.
For the first month of the conflict, nothing more than localised skirmishes between the local forces took place, and at worst it looked like the battle would become a repeat of the Changkufeng incident a year prior. On June 27th (now the commonly accepted date for the start of the war) however, the Japanese Kwantung Army launched an air strike on a Soviet airfield. Tokyo issued a stern warning to the Kwantung Army commanders, ordering that no more airstrikes be launched as it risked escalating the border incident (already heavily committed in China, they had no desire for a wider war). The order went ignored.
In early July, the Kwantung Army launched a major attack hoping to knock out the Red Army’s presence on the Khalka River, now commanded by General Georgy Zhukov and numbering around five divisions and over 400 tanks and armoured cars. Shortly after the Japanese force crossed the river, Zhukov counterattacked. The move proved to be foolish, as his unsupported tanks were destroyed by Japanese infantry and bombers, and shortly afterwards a major Soviet supply convoy was destroyed in another airstrike. Although their assaults had been costly, the Japanese soon forced Zhukov to retreat from the disputed area. But they had pushed the Russian Bear too far...
No Longer a Border War, August 1939
Although neither Moscow nor Tokyo made an official declaration of war, the effective destruction of two Soviet divisions could not be interpreted as a minor border skirmish, and both sides scrambled to prepare for what was certain to follow.
Tokyo’s first action was to remove Lieutenant Generals Masaomi and Komatsubara from their posts for disobeying orders, giving them command of much smaller reserve units in China. General Ueda, the overall commander of the Kwantung Army, was forced into retirement for supporting the aggressive actions. Appointed in his place was General Shizuichi Tanaka, who had been previously commanding a division in China. Tanaka was given orders to prepare the Kwantung Army for a major war with the USSR, which would likely be soon fought across the entirety of Manchukuo: a territory far too valuable to lose.
Stalin’s reaction was no less drastic: Zhukov was recalled to Moscow and sidelined for his failure to defeat the Japanese (although he managed to avoid the 7.62mm fate that many other generals had suffered), despite the significant numerical advantages he had held throughout the battle. He was replaced with General Nikolai Vatutin, a man chosen more for his political reliability than for any great competence. Stalin at this time felt that the Japanese needed to pay for their arrogance in Mongolia, and that if a localised conflict couldn’t settle the issue, then an expanded one, which would allow the USSR to use its vast manpower and massive armoured forces, would have to. But before a major war could be allowed on the eastern border, the western one needed to be secured.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, August 1939
As the Red Army prepared itself for a war with Japan, Hitler had been massing the Wehrmacht along the Polish border. Hitler had detested the Polish state since its creation in the aftermath of World War I, not just because it cut East Prussia off from the rest of Germany, or that it had been given some old German territory to do this, but also because he believed the Poles to be racially inferior (a belief that would have horrific consequences for the population of the country). As the first step in the plan to achieve ‘lebensraum’ first outlined in Mein Kampf, the defeat of Poland was one of Hitler’s most important goals.
Hitler, having been a soldier in World War I, was haunted by the idea of a two front war, which had been a major obstacle for Germany between 1914 and 1917. While Poland’s army was hardly a match for the Wehrmacht, the potential entry of the USSR into a war that also involved France and Britain would very likely create a repeat of that war, something the Fuhrer was determined to avoid.
The culmination of several months of talks, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact provided a solution for both nations’ problems. Officially labelled as a non-aggression treaty, the Pact would keep Stalin from interfering in Hitler’s war with Poland, while Hitler would leave Stalin free to settle the disputes with Japan. Secret clauses in the pact also allowed for a division of Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, while the treaty was soon expanded into a substantial trade agreement, providing Germany with Soviet raw materials in exchange for industrial tools and expertise.
Poland, September 1939
On September 1st, the Wehrmacht stormed into Poland, sweeping across the country in a matter of weeks. Although brave defensive actions were fought, most notably along the Bzura River and near Warsaw, the Polish army had little hope against modern aircraft such as the Bf 109 and Ju 87, or the ‘blitzkrieg’ doctrines of fast moving armoured warfare that the Germans used to such devastating effect.
The Red Army was ordered into Eastern Poland two weeks later, to find only a skeleton defence guarding eastern cities such as Brześć Litewski and Lwow. The move prompted declarations of war by the French and British against the USSR, to follow those issued against Germany on September 3rd. These declarations had been fiercely debated within London and Paris, as some were worried that while a war with just Germany would be difficult, a war against Moscow as well would be nearly impossible, but these concerns were ignored when presented with the threat of an all-communist Asia. The Poles hoped that the second declarations would finally lead to a serious relief effort (after the abortive French offensive into the Saar). That help never came.
“The twin vipers of Nazism and Bolshevism represent the most sinister of alliances to ever confront our way of life. The road ahead will be hard, but if we are resolute in our will, the ultimate triumph of the free world is inevitable.” – Winston Churchill, 28 September 1939.
- BNC
