[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12006-12007]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


              COMMEMORATING THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II

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                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 7, 2016

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the date was September 1, 1939. It was 
a date that would change the world forever. Nazi Germany, under Adolf 
Hitler, invaded Poland by air, land, and sea, igniting the Second World 
War and throwing the world into turmoil. Hitler used what is known as 
the ``blitzkrieg strategy'' to occupy Poland. He attacked the country 
by air to destroy its infrastructure; meanwhile, he directed a massive 
land and sea invasion to take the nation. Poland's troops and military 
were unequipped to effectively fight the Germans, so consequently 
Poland quickly fell under the control of Germany and the Soviet Union. 
Hitler had hoped that Britain and France would tolerate the invasion 
like they had when Hitler invaded Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. 
However, the invasion of Poland was one invasion too many, and it 
significantly altered the course of history, launching the allied and 
axis powers into a full scale world war.
  Germany initially intended to invade Poland on August 26, not 
September 1. Hitler had signed a nonaggression pact with the Soviet 
Union on August 23 to ensure that the USSR would not come to Poland's 
aid, and within the treaty, Hitler and Stalin agreed to divide Poland 
between them once conquered. However, Hitler made a last minute 
decision to postpone the attack because, on August 25, Britain signed 
the Polish-British Common Defense Pact, guaranteeing Poland military 
support if invaded. Hitler utilized false propaganda throughout the 
next few days in an attempt to justify Germany's impending invasion of 
Poland and to prevent Britain from coming to its aid. Hitler secretly 
attacked small installations inside Germany and framed it on Poland, 
attempting to pose as the victim instead of the aggressor. The 
propaganda failed, though, and both Britain and France entered the 
conflict when Germany overtook Poland.
  The breakout of WWII, however, cannot be attributed to any single 
event, but rather an accumulation of issues that climaxed in a 
destructive standoff between the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan, 
Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Bulgaria) and the Allies (The United 
States, Great Britain, France and--later--the Soviet Union). The world 
had been anticipating war for a long time preceding Adolf Hitler's 
invasion of Poland. The global balance was unstable after World War I 
(initially and ironically considered ``the War to End All Wars'') and 
international tensions remained high. Germany especially was dealing 
with significant instability and neglect as a consequence of the First 
World War, and this national crisis led to the election of Adolf 
Hitler. Hitler's invasion on this day 77 years ago provoked Britain and 
France to declare war against the malicious power on September 3, 1939, 
leading to a long and bloody international conflict.
  For nearly two years, America attempted to remain out of the military 
conflict, calling itself a neutral power. However, on several occasions 
before entering the war, American military vessels (including USS 
Reuben James and USS Kearny) and British civilian vessel SS Athenia 
were attacked by German submarines, resulting in American military and 
civilian casualties. The breaking point for the United States 
eventually occurred during the morning hours of December 7, 1941. It 
was a date that would live in infamy, as President Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt announced. Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes soared over 
Pearl Harbor, the American naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, destroying 
a significant portion of our nation's Pacific Fleet and taking 
thousands of American lives with it. This unforgivable attack against 
the United States provoked Roosevelt and Congress to declare war on 
Japan on December 8, 1941. Subsequently, Germany and Italy declared war 
on the United States, and America joined the Allied Powers' fight 
against the Axis. In the end, we notably contributed to the 
extinguishment of Nazi Germany and the defeat of its allies.
  World War II transformed the globe as the deadliest war in history. 
Over the course of the war, more than 72 million people lost their 
lives, leaving nations and families from all around the globe in deep 
despair. Out of the 690 million people who fought in WWII, 16.1 million 
were Americans; of those 16.1 million courageous soldiers, nearly 
292,000 sacrificed their most precious possessions--their lives--

[[Page 12007]]

for the greater good of our nation and our world. The United States was 
left in grieving. Wives cried for their fallen husbands, sisters for 
their brothers, and mothers for their sons. These heroes honorably gave 
everything to fight one of the vilest brands of evil the world has ever 
seen. Thanks to our brave military and committed allies who fought in 
World War II, the world is a better place.




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