Geomitrak
Posts: 179
Joined: 6/11/2007
From: Cambridge, UK
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September 1st seventy years ago, World War 2 started with the old battleship Schleswig-Holstein bombarding a Polish fort in the free port of Danzig, and German troops attacking across the border into Poland. Britain and France declared war two days later, 3rd September 1939.
Some will say that WW2 had already started in China, or that it didn't really become a world war until the invasion of the Soviet Union or Pearl Harbour, but without Hitler, there would have been no WW2, and it was this week seventy years ago that his expansionist aggression was first confronted and resisted.
There are many ceremonies and commemorations being held in Poland this week, attended by leaders and representatives of about 20 countries. They include German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the two countries that divided Poland up between them.
Lots of links on the main news sites, so I won't bother posting any...they are easy enough to find. However, its worth remembering the day, and all that it led to, both during the war itself and the way it shaped the second half of the 20th century.
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WW2 started today - 
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