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Chapter One THE DEFEAT OF POLAND

T he Nazi party came to power in Germany in January 1933 with the intention of tearing up the Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919 to end Germany’s part in World War I and which had drastically curtailed the size of Germany’s armed forces. Only thus, the Nazis under Adolf Hitler believed, would Germany be restored to its “rightful” place as the most powerful nation in Europe, with all people of German blood living in areas outside the Reich properly incorporated into the new and larger “Greater Germany.” The treaty had limited the German forces to a 100,000- man army with no armor, a small navy, and no air force. But under the leadership of General Hans von Seeckt, the army had been rebuilt during the 1920s as a highly trained, professional core on which a much larger force could be based as soon as conscription was once again possible. Development of armor and warplanes proceeded under various guises, much of it at training areas which the USSR granted in exchange for technical information, and civilian flying schools were used to build a large pool of trained pilots. In the spring of 1935 Hitler announced that Germany was repudiating the Treaty of Versailles, that the country now had an air force, and

Words to Understand Luftwaffe: The German word for air force. Nazi: A member of a German fascist party under Adolf Hitler. Rhineland: Part of Germany west of the Rhine river.

that conscription would be introduced to bring its army up to a strength of 300,000 men. The UK and France made no effective protest, which served to convince Hitler that these moribund nations had lost the will to act decisively. In March 1936 Hitler openly proved this by reoccupying the Rhineland , against the advice of his generals, who knew that the army was still poorly trained, lacked modern equipment, and was far smaller than that of France. In March 1938, with the apparent approval of the bulk of its population, Austria was annexed to the Reich. Once again, the UK and France made no effort to prevent this from happening. Despite

warnings, the British and French governments were determined to avoid war, preferring to give way to Hitler rather than run any risks. But in the fall of 1938 the Führer (leader) made his first overt move against an independent state when he demanded that the Sudetenland, the western border region of Czechoslovakia, with its 3 million Germans, should be annexed to the Reich on the grounds that its inhabitants were being maltreated by the native population.

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