History /
Polish-German alliance. [489]
Ok. Well, Sokrates, I hope you are not mistaking me as anti-Polish, and trying to play down the skill of the individual Polish soldier.
The skill of the individual soldier was inferior to Wehrmacht soldier but then again everyone's was, German army was at the time the only truly professional force worldwide.
France fell, mainly because she had underestimated the German's, and their speed, and had over relied on infantry, rather than motorized vehicles. France, after seeing Polands large army fall, probably did not feel very confident that her own army could withstand the Nazis.
Uh no, France fell because of the complete lack of discipline within its troops, officers were leaving their units as they pleased, so did the soldiers, the personnel was underfed and underpaid plus the goverment made the increasingly complacent army firmly believe that there will be no war, this coupled with nepotic assigment of officer status to people who had connections rather than skill resulted in what we can simplify as an army of cowards led by incompetents.
Strategic issues were not so relevant in the face of the fact that the army was not prepared to fight a war and put it simply preferred to surrender, there were dozens of instances where firm opposition would have stopped Germans dead in their tracks but the french army was so horribly demoralized and incompetent that it was destined to lose regardless of equipment or strategic outlook.
So you would not call retreating all the armies to the capital, a desperation move? Large supply columns, artillery, all being hurried back for a last stand.
If you have a choice to witdhdraw or lose an army to encirclement you withdraw, Warsaw would not be taken any time soon which was proven when significant German forces tried to take it from the move and got firmly spanked, the situation was definitely desperate but without Russia the war was still a few months from over.
Germany had suffered massive losses in vehicles and most of the armies would soon face winter and assaulting the so called "Romanian triangle" which would drag the war well into the winter, Germany would win regardless but instead of 30 days you would have 2-4 months of heavy fighting.
First of all you're looking from our modern point of view, in 1939 no one knew of holocaust, no one knew of plans for Poland, no one believed the rumors, so no the Polish soldiers were not fighting against the devil himself, they defended Poland with the usual determination the Polish armed forces presented ( see 1920).
German army was far weaker than many believe, the chief component that made them so strong was the human element which is today intentionally omitted in favor of equipment.
I think you are missing the point though. The point is, that Hitler never had any intentions on keeping a promise, and actually respecting an alliance, AFTER, it had already given him what he wanted. Poland would have been eventually invaded, and taken over, as soon as Russia would have fallen. And then what? You are hated by the Germans, and you are hated by the Allies. Not a great position to be in, certainly.
Probably yes but we would end up as a junior ally with less priveliges rather than **** end of the food chain, Warsaw and a hundred other cities would be intact, our elites would not be messed up by Soviets, like i said Jews would most likely had to go but in retrospection seeing how they behaved in 1939 when Soviets came i would be unhappy but willing to make such a sacrifice for the greater good of Poland.
