PARTITION OF POLAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 October 1939, Page 5

PARTITION OF POLAND

SOVIET-GERMAN AGREEMENT | When Germany and Russia signed ) their non-aggression pact they passed sentence of death on Poland, wrote the “Manchester Guardian s dip!o matic correspondent recently. That sentence has now been carried out by Russia The victim, having been driven‘to the wall by the German army, is- now attacked in the rear by ( the Red army. The Russian “mystery” is not as mysterious as is represented. The Russian invasion of Poland comes as no surprise. The death of Poland and the partitioning of the body were agreed upon long ago between Britain and Moscow. Russia’s aim is to emerge enriched and intact from the war. She has certain interests in common with Germany and none in common with the Western Powers. That is vhy she has a military entente with Germany. There is a permanent Russian military mission in Berlin which has for its chief purpose the study of what inilitarv measures can be taken by Germany and Russia against the Western Powers.

Russia is not an ally of Germany in the full sense of the term, for she will not commit herself to any great warlike effort beyond her own holders. But she is prepared to help Germany in various small wajs. It is an illusion io suppose that Russia will he deterred from helping f'prmaiiv because she does not, want. Germany tor a neighbour. The <>»rmans would have completed the connuest of Poland even without Russian help so that Germany would have become Russia’s neighbour in any case It has always been Russian policv to be secure on two of her frontiers and to be active on the third. A belt of vassal buffer Stales extending front the White Sea to the Black Sea would give Russia al. least as much security as she had hitherto if not more for Russia will always fear an

independent Poland, all the more so as Poland has the making of a Great Power.

Had she keen allowed another ten years of life Poland would, with her ever-improving industrial organisation, her enterprise, her exceptional gift for engineering, her martial spirit, and her rapidly-increasing population, have become one of the European Great Powers. And if Russia must have a frontier in common with Germany she prefers to have it as far to the west as possible.

It would now seem that Germany will, in connivance with Russia, set up a Polish puppet State, a sort of protectorate, roughly corresponding with the ancient Duchy of Warsaw, that she will take the regions which were hers before Poland was revived after the Great War, and, perhaps, the Dombrowa coal basin, which was never hers, while Russia will annex the eastern regions of Poland. ViJna may become Russian or it may revert to Lithuania, though Lithuania herself cannot hope to retain anything more than, a nominal independence.

It is still too early to assess the consequence of Russia’s action. As far as is possible to tell at the moment, Turkey remains unaffected. Even if there were a German-Russian alliance in the full sense of the term, the amount of help Russia could give to Germany would be limited because Russia lias only a very small exportable surplus.

She could immobilise Turkish divisions in Asia that would otherwise he employed in Europe. Generally speaking. Russia’s action is not likely to affect the course of the war fundamentally. At. the same time, if not exactly a major disaster, it is thoroughly disagreeable, ft makes it possible for Germany to send troops westward sooner and in greater numbers (for there will be loss Polish territory to occupy i. 11 will also give tremendous encouragement to the German public, who. over-rating Russia as she is almost everywhere over-rated, will have far greater confidence in German victory than they had before.