Who Started World War II?

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by tomfon

I wonder why the Western Allies (United Kingdom & France) did not launch a major offensive against the German divisions in Poland, notwithstanding the terms of their alliances with the country. The Kriegsmarine, on the other hand, had launched an all out attack against Britain's merchant fleet and the Soviets invaded Finland right after Poland was invaded!

Could it be that they were trying to avoid war? I read somewhere in Wikipedia that France and Britain could present a combined force of approximately 110 divisions at the time, while the German divisions in Poland were 23. Actually, it was Alfred Jodl who said that the reason the German forces did not collapse in the year 1939 was that the Anglo-French divisions remained inactive against the 23 German divisions!

I find the Anglo-French attitude as strange as the fact that Hitler ordered his forces to stop their advance and let BEF to flee. Good for the British though.

Logistics really, in order to get supplies to Poland you would have to go past the German coast, which would have all manner of aerial and submarine threats waiting to sink transports. The Arctic convoys would later discover how much of a threat such a route would have faced.