IAN Johnstone (Letters, October 16) is correct to state that the history of the western Allies during the Second World War is not unblemished. However, his attempt to make an equivalence between failure to send armed forces to the aid of Czechoslovakia and Poland and the Soviet failure to support the Warsaw uprising is surely a step top far.
Yes, they could have done more, but the western Allies had no base or troops in eastern Europe and were in no position to get them there quickly. The mighty Soviet army were a stone's throw from Warsaw and in a position of great strength.
Michael Rossi,
66 Canalside Gardens, Southall, Middlesex.
IAN Johnstone writes: “… both Britain and France did nothing when Hitler’s Third Reich forces overran Poland….”
Almost immediately the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain delivered the following broadcast to the nation on September 3, 1939:
"This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us.
I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.”
Hugh Boyd,
65 Antonine Road, Bearsden.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here