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However, both British and French governments had other plans than fulfilling the treaties with Poland. On May 4, 1939, a meeting was held in Paris, at which it was decided that ''the fate of Poland depends on the final outcome of the war, which will depend on our ability to defeat Germany rather than to aid Poland at the beginning.'' Poland's government was not notified of this decision, and the Polish–British talks in London were continued. A full military alliance treaty was ready to be signed on August 22, but His Majesty's Government postponed the signing until August 25, 1939.
However, both British and French governments had other plans than fulfilling the treaties with Poland. On May 4, 1939, a meeting was held in Paris, at which it was decided that ''the fate of Poland depends on the final outcome of the war, which will depend on our ability to defeat Germany rather than to aid Poland at the beginning.'' Poland's government was not notified of this decision, and the Polish–British talks in London were continued. A full military alliance treaty was ready to be signed on August 22, but His Majesty's Government postponed the signing until August 25, 1939.
At the same time secret German-Soviet talks were held in [[Moscow]] which resulted in signing of the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]] on August 22. The full text of the treaty, including the secret protocol assuming a partition of Poland and Soviet military help to Germany in case of war, was known to the British government thanks to Hans von Herwarth, an American informer in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yet, Poland's government was not informed of this fact either.<ref name="Bohlen">{{cite book | author =[[Charles E. Bohlen]] | title =Witness to history, 1929-1969 | year =1973 | editor = | pages =562 | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Norton | location = | id =ISBN 978-0393074765 }}</ref>
At the same time secret German-Soviet talks were held in [[Moscow]] which resulted in signing of the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]] on August 22. The full text of the treaty, including the secret protocol assuming a partition of Poland and Soviet military help to Germany in case of war, was known to the British government thanks to Hans von Herwarth, an American informer in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yet, Poland's government was not informed of this fact either.<ref name="Bohlen">{{cite book | author =Charles E. Bohlen | title =Witness to history, 1929-1969 | year =1973 | editor = | pages =562 | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Norton | location = | id =ISBN 978-0393074765 }}</ref>
====The Phony War====
{{main|Phony War|}}
Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany after ultimatums to withdraw expired on September 3. However, some other items of the March 30 guarantee pledge were violated; most notably the failure to respond with an overland invasion from the West. The pledge would not have obliged France and Great Britain to declare war on the Soviet Union due to the actual wording of the pact that specifically named Germany as the potential aggressor. This was kept secret for diplomatic reasons. Great Britain and France enforced a naval [[blockade]] on Germany and seized German ships starting with the declaration of war.
According to the Franco-Polish military convention, the French Army was to start preparations for the major offensive three days after the mobilisation started. The French forces were to effectively gain control over the area between the French border and the [[Siegfried Line|German lines]] and to probe the German defences. On the 15th day of the mobilisation (that is on September 16), the French Army was to start a full scale assault on Germany. The pre-emptive mobilisation was started in France on August 26, and on September 1, the full mobilization was declared. A French offensive in the [[Rhine river]] valley area (Saar Offensive) started on September 7. Eleven French divisions (out of 102 being mobilized) advanced along a 32 km line near [[Saarbrücken]] with negligible German opposition. However, the half-hearted offensive was halted after France seized the Warndt Forest, three square miles of heavily-mined German territory. At the same time Great Britain, who promised to start air-raids on German industry as soon as possible, conducted a number of air raids against the German [[Kriegsmarine]] on September 4 1939, losing 2 Wellington and 5 Blenheim bombers in the action.<ref>[http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/war-in-europe/european-air-war/european-air-war-index-1939.htm] WWII timeline for 1939</ref><ref>[http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/39-08.htm] German ''Chronik des Seekriegs''</ref> During those first days of the war [[RAF]] Whitley night bombers also dropped propaganda leaflets on German cities, taking great care to ensure that the leaflets were not dropped tied together so that they would cause no casualties on the ground. On September 11, the leaflet raids were halted.
Both the pre-war reports of the Polish intelligence and the post-war testimonies of German generals (most notably of [[Wilhelm Keitel]] and Alfred Jodl) reported that there was an equivalent of less than 20 divisions facing France in 1939, as compared to roughly 90 French divisions. Eleven of them were under-manned infantry divisions, mostly stripped of all heavy equipment, while the rest was composed mainly of second-line troops, march battalions and border guards. Similarly, most of the [[Luftwaffe]] and all armoured units were then in Poland while the [[Siegfried Line]] was severely under-manned and far from completed. Knowing all of the above, the Allied commanders expected that the French offensive would quickly break the German lines and force the OKW to withdraw a large part of its forces fighting on Polish soil back to German western frontier. This would force Germany to fight a costly two-front war.
The French assault was to be carried out by roughly 40 divisions, including one armoured division, three mechanized divisions, 78 artillery regiments and 40 tank battalions. All the necessary forces were mobilized in the first week of September. On September 12, the Anglo-French Supreme War Council gathered for the first time at Abbeville in France. It was decided that all offensive actions were to be halted immediately. By then, the French divisions have advanced approximately eight kilometres into Germany on a 24 kilometres long strip of the frontier in the [[Saarland]] area. Maurice Gamelin ordered his troops to stop ''not closer than 1 kilometre'' from the German positions along the Siegfried Line. Poland was not notified of this decision. Instead, Gamelin informed marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły that half of his divisions are in contact with the enemy, and that French advances have forced the [[Wehrmacht]] to withdraw at least six divisions from Poland. The following day, the commander of the French Military Mission to Poland, General Louis Faury, informed the Polish Chief of Staff, General Wacław Stachiewicz, that the planned major offensive on the western front had to be postponed from September 17 to September 20. At the same time, French divisions were ordered to retreat to their barracks along the [[Maginot Line]]. The [[Phony War|Phony war]] started.
The Allied attitude towards Poland in 1939 has been a subject of an ongoing dispute among historians ever since. Some historians argue that if only France had pursued the offensive agreed on in the treaties, it would have definitely been able to break through the unfinished Siegfried Line and force Germany to fight a costly two-front war that it was in no position to win. At the same time, others argue that France and Britain had promised more than they would deliver — especially when confronted with the option to declare war on the [[Soviet Union]] for violating Poland's territory on September 17, 1939 the way they had on Germany on September 3, 1939 — and that the French army was superior to the [[Wehrmacht]] in numbers only. It lacked the offensive doctrines, mobilization schemes, and offensive spirit necessary to attack Germany. Also, while the bulk of Luftwaffe was engaged in Poland, neither the French airforce nor the British [[Royal Air Force]] engaged in any operations against Germany beyond the leaflet droppings.
It is unlikely, given Soviet strategic doctrine of opportunistic war that they would have carried on with invasion of Poland fulfilling their promises given to Germans. Through Germans asked Russians to invade Poland on September 3 no such action took place till September 17, 1939. This is partly due to [[Soviet Union]] waiting for a proof of Poland's collapse as well as lack of military involvement on the part of the Allies.
The problem with Polish expectations was that the French and British commitments greatly exaggerated their capabilities. Although France promptly declared war, the French mobilization was not complete until early October, by which time Poland had fallen. In Britain where mobilization was more rapid, only 1 in 40 men were mobilized (compared to 1 in 10 in France, and 1 in 20 in Poland), thus providing only a token force against Germany's forces of several million. The presumption that "something could have been done but wasn't" overlooks the basic fact that the West, just like Poland, was ill-equipped to fight Germany even with the majority of German forces engaged in the east. After the war, General Alfred Jodl commented that the Germans survived 1939 "only because approximately 110 French and English divisions in the West, which during the campaign on Poland were facing 25 German divisions, remained completely inactive."
In the end, many Poles believe that although Poland held out for five weeks, three weeks longer than was planned, it received no military aid from its allies, the United Kingdom and France. Additionally Poland never surrendered to either the Germans or Russians. The agreed upon "two week ground response" never materialized, and it is contended that Poland fell to the Nazis and the Soviets as a result. It is uncertain whether the British or French had any real capacity to launch a successful offensive on the German-French border before mid-October 1939. Nevertheless, many Poles believe that an offensive within a two week timeframe was what they had promised the Polish government.
====Aftermath====
After the hostilities ended, German propaganda tried to win Poles and ensure collaboration by underlining that Poland was abandoned by her allies, and that the only world order that could ensure peaceful and prosperous life for the Poles was the German Reich.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} These claims were even strengthened by the [[France|French]] cease-fire signed in 1940 which was a clear violation of the alliance (both parties agreed not to sign any unilateral agreements with Germany).
Similar slogans were expressed by the Soviet Union propaganda until 1989. The official propaganda in all [[Eastern Bloc]] countries stated that Poland was betrayed and the only ally Poland could rely on was [[the Kremlin]].
==References==
==References==