Stands Among The World's Most Stands Among The ... - Index of

say, the defeat of Germany must be produced by Polish troops in the center of the territory in order to
strike Germany to the heart. Our ideal is a Poland with the Oder and the Neisse as a border in the
West. Prussia must be reconquered for Poland and indeed, Prussia as far as the Spree. In a war with
Germany there will be no prisoners and there will be room neither for human feelings nor cultural
sentiments. The world will tremble before the German-Polish War. We must evoke in our soldiers a
superhuman mood of sacrifice and a spirit of merciless revenge and cruelty."
"Poland wants war with Germany and Germany will not be able to avoid it even if she wants to."
- Marshall Rydz-Smigly, Poland
When the Polish dictator, Marshall Pilsudski (1867-1935) received the proposals of the German
representative concerning the peaceful settlement of the German-Polish territorial problems, the
Polish Marshall replied: "I believe strongly in the honourable intentions of your Fuhrer, however, tell
him he should not overlook the fact that the ancient hatred of my people against everything German is
abysmal." - Deutsche Anzeiger, December 1969
"Let us be quite clear about the fact that Poland can hear of no peace before she has reached the
Oder." - M. Mikolajczyk, President, Agricultural Assoc.' of Greater Poland, June 21st 1939
"This is our vital space which we must demand. Our real 'Festival of the Sea' will not begin before
Polish divisions are sweeping forward, irresistibly towards the Baltic."
- Merkurjusz Polski, July, 2nd, 1939
"In 1410 we defeated the Germans at Tannenberg, now we are going to lick them at Berlin. The
Polish-German frontier is now about 1,000 miles long. After the victory of Berlin, the crowning
feature of the unavoidable war with Germany, it will amount to about 270 miles only."
- University of Posen, May 4th 1939
"The precise effect of the Mutual Assistance Pact was to give Poland a clear signal that aggression
and belligerency was tolerable and a warning to Germany that any retaliation would be met by force."
- Sir. Basil Liddell Hart, The History of the Second World War
THE PACT
"There is widespread belief that Great Britain was committed by treaty to the defence of Poland. That
is not the true. It is true that on August 25th 1939 Lord Halifax as Foreign Secretary (with the Polish
Foreign Secretary) signed an agreement pledging mutual support should either nation be attacked by a
European power. This however did not constitute a treaty, which, according to constitutional practice
has to be ratified by Parliament and can only be made by heads of state.
The Halifax document was published in 1943 as a White Paper, and again in 1945, but the first White
Paper omitted a curious protocol that expressly stated that by a European power was meant Germany.
It is difficult to understand the purpose of such a clause if the intention was not to indicate that the
British Government declined to intervene if the Soviet Union alone should attack Poland....
The British Government therefore acted in default and declared war...." - A.K. Chesterton
"Great Britain advances, leading France by the hand, to guarantee the integrity of Poland - of that very
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