What If: WAllies invade Germany in Sept 1939, Do they face Off vs USSR over Poland too?

So what happens if the French and perhaps the BEF roll into Germany from the West while the Wehrmacht is all tied up in Poland?

Sub Questions:

I know there's some debate regarding what levels of opposition they'd face in Germany's Western frontier. How far could the WAllies realistically have gotten? Just the Ruhr and stop there awaiting peace feelers? (Hohoho, Nice factories you have here Herr Hitler. Surrender? Now we're talking!) Rush all the way to Berlin to say hi to Adolf before kicking him out of power, laughing at him, and putting him on trial (assuming he doesn't die of self-induced lead poisoning)?

Now, let's give the WAllies a few weeks to mobilize, and say that by the time they cross into Germany, The USSR is also taking her not insignificant share of Poland. What do the WAllies do about it? Do they look the other way and pretend it never happened?* Do they take the diplomatic route and simply talk to Russia like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar, so they just go back to their old borders like this never happened? Or do they pull an Adolf '41 and go to war with the USSR?

* How I imagine that conversation going:

WAllies: Well Poland, we got rid of those Nazis. Here's all your land back.
Poland: The Russians have taken a huge chunk of our eastern frontier!
WAllies: I don't see any Russians.
Poland: They're right here, here, and here! *gestures at map*
WAllies: Oh... Um... Er... Those borders were like that before we got here.
Poland: But -
WAllies: THOSE BORDERS WERE LIKE THAT BEFORE WE GOT HERE! Also, a THANK YOU would be nice!
 

Deleted member 1487

The BEF wasn't present in time to be able to invade. The French weren't mobilized in time to save Poland. Remember the USSR invaded and sealed Poland's fate 2 weeks into the war. By the time the French Saarland offensive got rolling IOTL the Germans pretty much finished Poland and were able to transfer reserves West and check them. The French hit a lot more resistance than they anticipated when they did invade in early September 1939 before German reserves were even present and they realized they couldn't invade in 1939 before Poland was finished and the Germans counterattacked and drove them back. They were building up for 1941 prepared offensive when they and the Brits would be ready; they realized very quickly they weren't ready in 1939 and frankly weren't really even ready in 1940 when the war came to them and they were crushed.
 
The Allies aren't going to do anything about it until Germany is defeated and their troops begin crossing into Poland. At that point, it really depends on what Stalin wants to do.

Stalin did not declare war on Poland when he sent his troops in. He used a pretext that said the Polish government had collapsed and was no longer in charge of the country. As a result, the Red Army was moving in to defend the Ukrainian and Belarussian peoples in eastern Poland - ostensibly from German occupation. Everyone knew what was really going on, but legally Stalin had choosen a pretext that gave him great flexibility.

Stalin could very well say, "I'm glad the Polish government has been restored by the Allies. I am withdrawing the Red Army so Poland can return to the borders agreed to at the Peace of Riga."

Or he could say, "I am so glad the Polish government has been restored by the Allies. I'd like to restore the borders of the Peace of Riga, but during our occupation it turns out that the territories dominated by the Ukrainian and Belarussian peoples really want to remain in the Soviet Union. I suggest the Red Army withdraw from territories marked on a map I have here while they remain in other parts. We will then hold plebiscites in certain areas to see which areas want to stay in Poland and which will be part of the Soviet Union. That is only fair, right? And within precedent established by the League of Nations."

The other option is the one you implied - the Soviet Union not moving anywhere and keeping eastern Poland, and thus creating a diplomatic crisis.

I think the most likely option is the second one with some kind of negotiated settlement. Stalin was a ruthless opportunist, but he was rather risk averse. He did not gamble like Hitler. He always liked to proceed with some manner of legitimacy to cloak his actions. He wants the other great powers to accede to his actions. He first tried to cooperate with the West in the United Front period. Then he cooperated with Germany, but even then his moves into the Baltics and Finland followed some kind of diplomatic and legal efforts to cover his invasions at a time when the West was too busy. After WWII, Stalin worked hard to get the US and Britain to accept his domination of Eastern Europe until they fell out. But at that point, no one was going to attack the formidable Red Army, and the postwar institutions were set up with Soviet involvement. In the same period, Stalin was willing to withdraw forces in less important areas, like Persia, when the Allies pushed back. He even accepted a non-Communist Finland provided it make certain economic and political concessions.

While Stalin could outright refuse to withdraw his forces from eastern Poland, I think that is too much a risk in this scenario. Britain and France are victorious (and in a rather short war). The rest of Europe is in perfectly fine order - it's not ruined in years of brutal war. The Soviet Union cannot dictate the terms of peace unless IT wants to go to war. If it doesn't find some sort of diplomatic accommodation with the West, it will become diplomatically isolated and its security will be undermined. Is the impoverished bits of eastern Poland worth that? I don't think so. At worse, it means war with the West which is a huge gamble (and one Stalin would likely lose in this period given the Red Army's performance against Finland, and the initial welcome the Ukrainians gave the Nazis after Barbarossa. The French and British troops could likely take a large chunk of the Soviet Union before some kind of peace is achieved).

My instincts tell me Stalin comes to some type of deal with the Allies. Poland will have some border adjustments (and therefore some population transfers) of areas which have minimal Polish populations. There may be some compensation involved for that loss that Moscow pays, and Stalin will suggest Poland gain those bits of Germany it asked for during Versailles, but which were lost during the Plebiscites (southern Prussia and Upper Silesia) as well. But I think Stalin will withdraw from those areas with any heavy Polish population. Poland will likely keep a big chunk of the northeast (Wilno) and southeast (Lwow), but it will lose a good chunk of the central east).

Poland won't be happy, but it'll likely satisfy Britain and France to the extent they prefer it to war. Stalin does get to keep something, and more importantly is not diplomatically isolated.
 
Stalin did not declare war on Poland when he sent his troops in. He used a pretext that said the Polish government had collapsed and was no longer in charge of the country. As a result, the Red Army was moving in to defend the Ukrainian and Belarussian peoples in eastern Poland - ostensibly from German occupation. Everyone knew what was really going on, but legally Stalin had choosen a pretext that gave him great flexibility.

Stalin could very well say, "I'm glad the Polish government has been restored by the Allies. I am withdrawing the Red Army so Poland can return to the borders agreed to at the Peace of Riga."

Uncle Joe, you sly old fox. I still have much to learn about all these details then.

I can imagine Britain and France preferring to go the diplomatic route as it seems only crazy men go to war with Russia willingly.

I've been led to believe that the French largely defeated themselves, 'Sickle Cut' notwithstanding. With more... optimistic/energetic leadership, could they not have taken the war to Germany earlier? I haven't run across too many sources that deal with French offensive actions during the so-called 'Phony War' period of late '39- early '40. Any good ones online? Thanks!
 
What do the WAllies do about it? Do they look the other way and pretend it never happened?*

Basically. The Poles did historically approach the British when the Russians invaded and asked if they would declare war on the USSR, citing the British guarantee of their independence. The British response was a positively wonderful and telling piece of sophistry which argued that the guarantee of an ally's independence could not be interpreted as guarantee of the ally's frontiers. The fact that Soviet claims near-identically lined up with a what the Western Allies had, in the 1920s (the Curzon Line), wanted the Polish-Soviet border to look like only helps the Russians in this matter.
 
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I think a lot depends on how and when the UK/France are able to defeat Germany. If they crush the Germans rather easily Stalin will probably be more cautious and withdraw from Poland or at most push for a plebiscite in the areas were the Poles aren't in the majority.
If the war is hard fought and exhausted French and British troops eventually limp to the border of the Russian occupied half of Poland then Stalin might be more bold and use the opportunity show some aggression and try to get the French and British to back down.
 
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