what two countries invaded poland in the beginning of ww2?
Germany
entailment
 On 1 September 1939 , Germany invaded Poland ; two days later , Britain and France declared war on Germany , launching the Second World War . Within three weeks , the Red Army of the Soviet Union invaded the eastern regions of Poland in fulfilment of the secret Molotov @-@ Ribbentrop Pact with Germany . A British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) was sent to the Franco @-@ Belgian border , but Britain and France did not take any direct action in support of the Poles . By 1 October , Poland had been completely overrun . 

entailment
 After the declaration of war on Nazi Germany by Britain and France in the aftermath of the German invasion of Poland , nine months of stalemate took place along the Western Front . After the Polish Campaign , in October 1939 , the planners of the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe ( Luftwaffe High Command ) and the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( Supreme Command of the Armed Forces ) turned their attentions to Western Europe . 

entailment
 Germany subsequently invaded Denmark and Norway , the Netherlands , and France , and began bombing Great Britain in preparation for an invasion . On 21 June 1941 , the day before invasion of the Soviet Union , Himmler commissioned the preparation of the Generalplan Ost ( General Plan for the East ) ; the plan was finalised in July 1942 . It called for the Baltic States , Poland , western Ukraine , and Byelorussia to be conquered and resettled by ten million German citizens . The current residents — some 31 million people — would be expelled further east , starved , or used for forced labour . The plan would have extended the border of Germany a thousand kilometres to the east ( 620 miles ) . Himmler expected that it would take twenty to thirty years to complete the plan , at a cost of 67 billion Reichsmarks . Himmler stated openly : " It is a question of existence , thus it will be a racial struggle of pitiless severity , in the course of which 20 to 30 million Slavs and Jews will perish through military actions and crises of food supply . " 

entailment
 After the declaration of war on Nazi Germany by the United Kingdom and France , in the aftermath of the German invasion of Poland , nine months of stalemate took place along the Western Front named the Phoney War . The only military action was the French Army 's Saar Offensive which was terminated in controversial circumstances . After the Polish Campaign , in October 1939 , the planners of the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe ( Luftwaffe High Command ) and the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( Supreme Command of the Armed Forces ) turned their attentions to Western Europe . 

entailment
 On 1 September 1939 , Germany invaded Poland under the false pretext that the Poles had carried out a series of sabotage operations against German targets near the border . Two days later , on 3 September , after a British ultimatum to Germany to cease military operations was ignored , Britain and France , followed by the fully independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth — Australia ( 3 September ) , Canada ( 10 September ) , New Zealand ( 3 September ) , and South Africa ( 6 September ) — declared war on Germany . However , initially the alliance provided limited direct military support to Poland , consisting of a cautious , half @-@ hearted French probe into the Saarland . The Western Allies also began a naval blockade of Germany , which aimed to damage the country 's economy and war effort . Germany responded by ordering U @-@ boat warfare against Allied merchant and warships , which was to later escalate into the Battle of the Atlantic . 
