The abandonment of the missile shield in Poland, especially on this solemn anniversary, can’t be taken any other way but as a gross insult to Poland and America’s other Eastern-European allies. Poland was abandoned to the Soviets in 1945, I hope that I have misread that she is being abandoned again in the face of an increasingly confrontational Russia. I think Poland would be completely justified in withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan to demonstrate that this is one affront that cannot be forgiven. History is not a dead letter, the 20th century saw the depths of brutality explored on a genocidal scale, the 21st century is just beginning and it is looking really, really dark so far.

Among the many factors complicating Poland’s situation was the relatively flat, dry and therefore indefensible terrain, a vastly inferior airforce and only partial mobilization of their armed forces at the time of the attack (the British and French urged the Poles not to mobilize their army in the face of an escalating threat from Germany as not to further antagonize the Nazis, thus when the Blitzkrieg began, many Polish soldiers were not positioned with their units, making defense haphazard and chaotic). The coup de grace was the Soviet knife thrust in Poland’s back on September 17. By this time Poland had committed most of her forces to the west, thus this development would seal Poland’s fate. Poland’s tragic misfortune was to have been situated directly in between the two most ruthless and well armed military powers in the world (other than perhaps Imperial Japan who had already initiated the “Rape of Nanking” in the Sino-Japanese War, beginning in 1937).

As a Polish-American, this anniversary has special meaning for me. Both of my grandfathers were POWs in a Nazi camp, ironically they were lucky to be taken by the Germans instead of the murderous Soviets who executed all of the Polish officers in their clutches. Despite the immense sadness evoked by the events of 1939 and the five years of Nazi and then forty-four years of Soviet oppression that Poland was subject to, I am also immensely proud of the sacrifice and courage of Polish soldiers and citizens in resisting their attackers for the duration of the war. The inscription on the Polish officer’s sword read then and now, “Honor i Ojczyzna” or “Honor and Fatherland.” Hundreds of thousands of Poles died defending their honor in the most trying of circumstances that human beings can ever be expected to face. The least I can do is pay tribute to their memory and to be humbled by individuals who displayed such God-given courage and spilled their blood to defend their home soil. If I am ever called to do the same I hope God will give me the fortitude to make that sacrifice.

September 1, 1939. The German battleship Schleswig-Holstein shells the Polish military depot of Westerplatte. The first barrage struck the valiant defenders at 4:45 am.

Nazi troops cross the Bzura river in central Poland in mid-September, 1939.

This anniversary is a timely reminder of the sinister capabilities of tyrannical governments. The pact directly facilitated the outbreak of WWII, which erupted with the Nazi Blitzkrieg against Poland on September 1, 1939. Something that isn’t focused on as much in America, is that the Soviets also invaded Poland on September 17th and maintained their alliance with the Nazis for almost two years. This fact is probably stressed less because we were allied with the Soviets from June 1941 onward, but this partnership can’t be used to obscure the criminality of the Soviet regime throughout the war and its culpability in genocide against the populations of Eastern Europe and mass murder of its own citizens. On a personal note, both of my grandfathers were officers in the Polish army and were taken prisoner by the Nazis in September, 1939. Ironically, they were lucky to have been taken by the Nazis and put in a POW camp for the duration of the war, while virtually all of their friends and compatriots who were officers and were captured by the Soviets, were murdered in the spring of 1940 in what has come to be known as the Katyn massacre, where 22,000 Polish officers as well as civilians were killed and buried.

In terms of history, 70 years isn’t very long, millions of people are still alive today that witnessed and were affected by the momentous events of 1939-1945. Its important to keep alive the accurate memory of how these events began and to maintain our vigilance against the evil intentions of tyrants and their enablers. We must not underestimate the fact that nuclear proliferation has made the possibility of even greater horrors than were witnessed in WWII to be made manifest in much more quickly and much closer to home.

For the text of the pact in English: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1939pact.html

An article about the anniversary of the signing: http://www.rferl.org/content/MolotovRibbentrop_In_Eastern_Europe_Pacts_Bitter_Legacy_Remains/1804556.html

August 23, 1939, Moscow (left to right) Joachim von Ribbentrop, Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov

What is it, I wonder, about atomic bombs in particular that evokes such an emotional response as opposed to conventional bombing? Is it because they are so spectacularly powerful and devastating? It seems to me that consistency would require critics to decry both conventional and atomic bombing equally. On the other hand one must ask whether an invasion of the Japanese mainland, which was being planned for 1945-46, wouldn’t have been even more devastating to the civilian population, who were being prepared to resist the Americans to the death. One must also think of the tens of thousands of American soldiers who would have surely perished had a prolonged invasion taken place.

One thing is certain, there are no easy answers and war is a terrible tragedy that has plagued mankind for thousands of years. I sincerely hope that atomic weapons never have to be used again and that civilian populations will never have to suffer in the way that the common people of Europe and Asia suffered during WWII. Today is quite an appropriate day to remember all of the innocent people who have died in war.

Any comments to add to the discussion are welcome and appreciated.

As an avid reader I know a page turner when I see one and this biography of Curtis LeMay had me captivated from the start. Curtis LeMay joined the Army Air Corps in the 1920′s when the organization was in its infancy. Once America was drawn into World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war against the U.S. by Germany, he was sent to Great Britain. There he led the strategic bombing of areas crucial to the Nazi war machine by pioneering the practice of flying the formidable B-17 bomber in close formations in order to maximize their fields of fire against the Luftwaffe’s fighter planes. Originally the American B-17 bombers had been flying zig-zag patters towards their targets before dropping their payloads, resulting in very low accuracy. LeMay believed that bombing runs should be flown on a straight line over the target to maximize the accuracy of the bombs dropped. In a testament to the tremendous leadership that he displayed over his entire career, he flew in the cockpit of the lead plane (the first one to be targeted by anti-aircraft fire) on the first mission that used the straight line approach. As the Allies continued to push deeper into the heart of the Third Reich while increasing the number of bombing missions and number of planes, it became clear that Germany’s fate was sealed, it was only a matter of time, yet many thousands of American airmen would still perish in the final year of the war.

In 1944 LeMay was transferred to the Pacific Theatre to formulate the plan for bombing Japan using the more technically advanced, yet tempermental B-29 bomber. Although the B-29 could fly at a much higher altitude than the B-17 the meteorological phenomenon known as the jet stream, made bombing at this elevation highly inaccurate. LeMay finally decided that the bombers would fly at an altitude of 5,000ft instead of 30,000ft and incendiary bombs would be used instead of conventional explosives. This approach was used with devastating effect over Tokyo on March 5, 1945. A fleet of B-29s blanketed the city with fire bombs (at night to take advantage of Japan’s lack of night fighter plane capability) and the ensuing inferno torched 20% of the Japanese capital, taking perhaps as many as 100,000 lives. The use of low level incendiary bombing continued for months, reducing Japan’s war-making capacity to virtually nothing. Another technique used to great effect was the dropping of mines from B-29s into the Sea of Japan which wreaked havoc on Japanese ships that were resupplying the mainland. The final knock out blows came on August 6 and 9 with the dropping of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by August 15 the Japanese had surrendered.

In the interest of space I’ll continue on about LeMay in a subsequent post.

My next post will be a  review of: Lemay: The Life and Wars of General Curtis LeMay by Warren Kozak. I’m about 1/3 of the way into it so far and I am riveted. I had no idea that the U.S. had to build up its Air Force (initially called the Army Air Corps) basically from scratch after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Curtis LeMay pioneered the practice of precision aerial bombardment which paved the way to the defeat of Japan and Germany, heralding air superiority as the preeminent technological factor in modern warfare. Not too shabby for a poor boy from Columbus, Ohio. More to come…