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N0KFQ > TODAY 31.08.13 16:11l 38 Lines 1570 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 3869_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 31
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<JE7YGF<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130831/1336Z 3869@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.55
Aug 31, 1939:
Germany prepares for invasion of Poland
At noon, despite threats of British and French intervention, Nazi
leader Adolf Hitler signs an order to attack Poland, and German
forces move to the frontier. That evening, Nazi S.S. troops
wearing Polish uniforms staged a phony invasion of Germany,
damaging several minor installations on the German side of the
border. They also left behind a handful of dead German prisoners
in Polish uniforms to serve as further evidence of the alleged
Polish attack, which Nazi propagandists publicized as an
unforgivable act of aggression.
At dawn the next morning, 58 German army divisions invaded Poland
all across the 1,750-mile frontier. Hitler expected appeasement
from Britain and France--the same nations that had given
Czechoslovakia away to German conquest in 1938 with their signing
of the Munich Pact. However, neither country would allow Hitler's
new violation of Europe's borders, and Germany was presented with
an ultimatum: Withdraw by September 3 or face war with the
Western democracies.
At 11:15 a.m. on September 3, a few minutes after the expiration
of the British ultimatum, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
appeared on national radio to announce solemnly that Britain was
at war with Germany. Australia, New Zealand, and India
immediately followed suit. Later that afternoon, the French
ultimatum expired, and at 5:00 p.m. France declared war on
Germany. The European phase of World War II began.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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