The illusion of Western aid: What the Allies really did after September 3, 1939

When Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, Warsaw greeted the news as the rescue it had been waiting for. Crowds gathered outside the British and French embassies, cheering King George VI and the French Third Republic. The declarations came as the Luftwaffe bombed Poland and the Wehrmacht pressed its advance, making the announcement feel like a dramatic diplomatic turning point.

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Poland is not alone!

At 11 a.m. British time, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced the United Kingdom’s entry into the war in a radio address. Six hours later, the French government, led by Édouard Daladier, made the same decision. Polish newspapers quickly presented the declarations as the beginning of a war on two fronts, assuming that military clauses would force Germany to withdraw its troops from Poland.

“Poland is not alone!” proclaimed the Warsaw daily Dobry Wieczór! Kurier Czerwony. Its editorial said Britain and France were fulfilling their alliance commitments and that the Western powers were striking Germany. The Kurier Warszawski went further the next day, claiming that Germany had been caught in a deadly trap and that Western military assistance would quickly ease pressure on the Polish front. Express Poranny predicted a huge British air and army assault on the German capital.

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Britain and France are fulfilling their alliance commitments. The powerful Western powers are striking Germany. A two-front war has become a fact!

The article describes those expectations as propaganda and wishful thinking. Public sentiment in Britain and France differed sharply from the enthusiasm in Warsaw. Societies still burdened by the trauma of World War I received their governments’ decisions with gravity, and sometimes resignation. British and French newspapers focused on blackout procedures, gas-mask distribution and the evacuation of children from major cities.

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The Germans have found themselves in a deadly trap. The iron ring around the Reich is tightening, and Western military aid will quickly ease the pressure on the Polish front.

French socialist and pacifist Marcel Déat captured the mood in a question printed by the Paris newspaper L’Œuvre: “Why should we die for Danzig?” For Poland, however, each passing day brought the country closer to the reality that declarations of war did not immediately deliver the military relief many had expected.

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Why should we die for Danzig?