Pictured: Alexander Mach congratulating Germanic anticommunists for their war on Poland.

How many of us were already aware that Slovakian anticommunists were involved in the ‘German’ invasion of Poland? Not many, I suspect; I have almost never seen anybody even mention this. Fewer of us still must be familiar with the details.

One could justify this obscurity by claiming that the Slovakian anticommunists’ contributions to the invasion were ‘unimportant’ and therefore trivial, or that the Rep. of Slovakia was nothing more than a de facto German state, but neither of those interpretations is convincing. Quoting James Mace Ward’s Priest, Politician, Collaborator, pages 191–2:

Tiso’s increased confidence showed in his dealings with Germany. In talks for implementing the Protection Agreement, the Slovaks grew stubborn, pushing the [Third Reich] to accept narrow interpretations of the text and dragging out negotiations. Tiso’s government, among other things, wanted [the Wehrmacht] in Slovakia withdrawn or, at the least, Slovak troops permitted into the Schutzzone.²⁰²

In one important conflict, Tiso won. The German High Command preferred a wartime Slovak army of only 50,000 men. He held out for three times more. Needing Slovakia as a staging ground for war on Poland, Hitler all but gave in, agreeing to a 125,000‐man limit. Otherwise, the High Command got almost all of their demands. In addition, Tiso’s régime was browbeaten into creating a Central Security Service.²⁰³

[…]

On 1 September, the first day of the Second World War, Slovak troops marched alongside German ones into Poland. During the campaign, Slovakia mobilized over 115,000 reservists, placing over 50,000 in operational units.

This act of war took place without the approval of the Slovak parliament, as constitutionally required. Tiso later claimed that he had not authorized the invasion, instructing Slovak soldiers instead only “to occupy” the border.²⁰⁷

General Čatloš told a different story, according to which the Germans at the last minute broke their promise to leave Slovak troops behind. Although Čatloš initiated the advance, he sought approval from Tiso, but the president left him hanging until the deed was done.²⁰⁸ Čatloš, like Tiso, was often an unreliable postwar witness. The general had actually been eager for action and gave orders to advance hours earlier than his story allowed.

But Tiso also had reasons for wanting to participate in the advance, especially his desire to strengthen the [Third Reich’s] commitment to Slovakia.²⁰⁹ Even though the testimony of both men thus must be discounted in part, Čatloš’s version fits Tiso’s pattern of shifting responsibility onto others while claiming ignorance.

The president knew that Hitler often broke promises. Yet Tiso neither sought reassurances that his troops would sit out the invasion nor devised command mechanisms to ensure that they did. Instead, he positioned himself to be surprised and ostensibly subordinated to events.²¹⁰

This, my beloved students, was the real joint invasion of Poland in 1939.

Pictured: Wehrmacht soldiers and Slovakian soldiers showing good relations.

Quoting Břetislav Nakládal & Charles K. Kliment’s Germany’s First Ally: Armed Forces of the Slovak State, 1939–1945, page 61:

War with Poland — September 1 – October 1, 1939
Poland appropriated certain Slovak territories during the Munich crisis in September 1938. This gave the Slovak government a needed pretext to take part in the planned [Reich] invasion of Poland.

On August 23, 1939 Lt. Colonel Malár was named a commander of the Polish–Slovak border area. On August 24, all units were placed on war footing and their transport to the north began. Members of the Hlinka’s Guard, beginning from August 24, replaced the army units on the Hungarian border and freed them for the oncoming campaign. On August 26, three classes of reservists were called to arms, augmented by another five classes on August 30.

What you are about to read is a striking example of fascist coordination; nothing comparable to this happened under the neutrality between the German Reich and the Soviet Union. Page 62:

On September 1, 1939 the Slovak Army had 13,035 men, 88 NCOs and 228 officers. The mobilization filled the ranks to 49,782 men, 291 NCOs and 1,232 officers. The headquarters of the Slovak Field Army was set up in Spišská Nová Ves. Troops were moved up to the Polish border on August 30.

The Slovak sector was part of the German Army Group South and specifically the 14th Army of General von List with its five infantry, three mountain, two Panzer and one light divisions. The Slovak army’s task was to protect the Eastern wing of the 14th Army and prevent Polish army penetration into Slovakia. It was assigned a Wehrmacht liaison staff of 120 members, led by General Ernst von Engelbrecht.

The Slovak army group BERNOLÁK was deployed as follows:

1st Division “Jánošík” (Commander Colonel Anton Pulanich) was in the area Spišská Nová Ves - Prešov, 2nd Division “Škultéty” (Commander General Alexander Cunderlík) in the area Brezno nad Hronom - Poprad, and the 3rd Division “Rázus” (Commander Lt.Colonel Augustin Malár) was in the border area east of the High Tatra Mountains. At the same time, the Slovak Government gave its approval for Wehrmacht formations to use Slovak territory for the planned invasion of Poland.

The Poles were aware of the concentration of the [fascist] armies on their border, and sent parts of the 5th and 10th Corps to the border area as army “Karpaty”. These were mainly infantry units with no armor and very little artillery, as all the available armor, artillery and cavalry units have been transferred to the Sanok area.

The 2nd Division was reinforced with an armored company, consisting of a platoon of four armored cars and a platoon of three LT vz.35 tanks. Another three OA vz.30 armored cars were assigned to a cavalry reconnaissance unit.

The war began on September 1, 1939. The Slovak infantry started their attack at 5.00 and quickly retook the former Slovak villages Javorina and Podspady. The 1st Division took Zakopané and penetrated about 30 km in the direction of Nowy Targ, but already by September 9 returned to Slovakia. The 3rd Division joined the German XVIII Mountain Corps and attacked in the direction Jaslo - Krosno - Sanok and fought several encounters with the Polish army. Its penetration was between 60 and 90 km deep.

On September 2, the leading Slovak units were on the line Bialowodska Dolina - Javorina - Jurgov- Niedzice. Four of the armored cars, augmented by a cavalry squadron, were sent to Tylicz, which they reached on September 3. All four cars reached the main square but had to withdraw in the face of strong reistsance and lack of support from the accompanying cavalry.

Slovak Army losses (per page 64): 18 dead, 46 wounded & 11 missing.

Pictured: A platoon of LT vz.35 tanks in Poland, 1939. (The requisitioned civilian car in front is the Tatra Type 57 two‐seater with a rumble seat.)

Page 65:

The army participated in a large parade in Zakopané, and in Poprad, Spišská Nová Ves and other Slovak towns Slovak and [Reich] soldiers were decorated. Adolf Hitler decorated General Catloš and two other Slovak officers with the Iron Cross and sent a telegram of appreciation to President Tiso, who replied that the Slovak nation will never let the Führer down.

Later, on March 14, 1941, he proclaimed: “We remember that it was the German army led by Adolf Hitler which allowed the birth of our (Slovak) army. We remember that and we know if the German army will be victorious, it would form the basis of our future. Thus we hope for its victory and are willing to lend a helping hand.”

(Emphasis added in most cases.)

There is plenty more that I would like to discuss, most notably the Fascist colonization of Poland, but that is a topic for another day. For the sake of brevity I chose to focus on the Slovak Army’s contributions.

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Other events that happened today (September 1):

1886: Shigeyasu Suzuki, lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army from December 1936 to December 1938, was born.
1895: Engelbert Zaschka, Axis inventor, was born.
1938: Sudeten German leader Konrad Henlein met with Hitler at the Berghof in Berchtesgaden while officials announced in Austria that all religious and other private schools would be closed and education would be taken over by the NSDAP. Coincidentally, the Reich Economics Ministry set up a meeting to discuss the question of credits, possibly guaranteed by the state, for the purchase of ‘Jewish’ property. Finally, citing public safety, Rome officially forbade “foreigners of the Jewish race to establish permanent residence on Italian soil, in Libya, or in Italy’s Aegean possessions”.
1981: Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, General Building Inspector for the Reich Capital, Head of Organization Todt, Inspector General of German Roadways, Inspector General for Water and Energy, Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production, and Reich Minister of Industry and Production, died of a stroke while revisiting London.