70th Anniversary of the beginning of WW2

On September 1st, 1939 the first shots of WW2 were fired from a German warship at a Polish military outpost on a wind-swept peninsula near what is now Gdansk, Poland. It was the opening salvo of the greatest conflict in human history. Before it ended the storm of war would touch every continent on earth and claim more than fifty million lives.

Poland, of course, was the first to be swept up, attacked by the Germans on September 1st then, sixteen days later, in a sneak attack by the Russians. Unknown to the rest of the world, Germany and Russia had signed a secret non-aggression treaty in mid-August, 1939 which included protocols for the division of eastern Europe between them. Of course, the two great criminals, Hitler and Stalin, would be at each others throats less than two years later.

Yesterday, leaders from Europe, Russia and the United States gathered at Gdansk to commemorate the 70th anniversary, vowing to never let it happen again. "Remembering the cruelty, the extermination of peoples and nations, is perhaps the most important and effective shield against another war," said Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk. German Prime Minister, Angela Merkel said, "Remembering the war and its victims was Germany's everlasting historical responsibility." Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia said that all of the nations responsible "need to admit such mistakes."

President Barack Obama sent a message reminding the world that today Poland is a member of NATO and protected by the treaty that treats an attack on one as an attack on all.

We all pray that treaty will never have to be acted upon.

For more information see World At War