This week, 70 years ago, the first “Coalition of the Willing” was being assembled, as representatives of the Slovak Republic met with representatives of the German Reich, in Berlin, to plan their joint assault on Poland. Although this “Coalition” was not as numerous as the more recent one, the dominate partner used the same approach to convince the other member to come along - the carrot and the stick. Remember the threat to exclude those countries that did not participate from reconstruction projects that were going to be financed by the vanquished country’s oil? And the payment, training and equipping of coalition soldiers? And loans, aid and other inducements?
    For the Reich, the reasons for the invasion were numerous. One, of course, was the wrongs committed by the Versailles Treaty which divided Germany in two parts, separated by Polish territory.  There was no way a German could get from Berlin to Königsberg, in East Prussia, without going by water or air, unless the Poles allowed travel across their lands, which, until the Versailles Treaty, had been German.  And the Germans had no control over the ancient German Port on the Baltic, Danzig, because it was now a “Free City” which was surrounded on three sides, and dominated, by Poland. Some of western Poland that separated East Prussia and the rest of Germany, had been part of Germany for centuries. And then there was the problem that Hitler (and many Germans) just did not like Slavic people and felt that the Country he was now leading needed living room and that the Slavs were going to have to get out of the way and provide it.  
    The Slovaks wanted to show the Reich that they appreciated all that had been done for them - giving them their independence after centuries of domination by others. They also wanted German protection against the Hungarians, who still wanted to incorporate Slovakia into their kingdom’s borders. And they had a petty little squabble with the Poles as well.  During the redrawing of the European map following the Great War, Poland received a few hundred square miles which the Slovaks felt more rightly belonged within their borders.
    With Slovakia’s independence, and entry into the Axis fold, Poland suddenly found itself surrounded on three sides by enemies - not counting the Soviet Union.  To the North was East Prussia, from which the Germans would launch General Georg von Kuchkler’s Third Army to attack Poland.  Then, of course there was the long border on Poland’s western front with Germany. On the South was its border with Slovakia, from which General Wilhelm List would lead his Fourteenth Army, and from which Slovakian General Ferdinand Catlos would lead his country’s Field Army Bernolák. The remaining three German armies attacked from eastern Germany. Of course, its longest border was with the U.S.S.R., which was none too friendly, either.
    On August the 26th the Slovak Republic mobilized its citizens for the coming war. One Hundred Sixty-Thousand Reservists were called, from which the Slovak Republic created Field Army Bernolák, of 51,306 soldiers. The army was named for Father Anton Bernolák, an 18th Century Catholic Priest and Slovak Linguist.  
    Field Army Bernolák was divided into three infantry divisions named Janosik, Skultety, and Razus commanded by, respectively, General Anton Pulanich, Colonel Ivan Imro and General Gustav Malar.  This force was attached to General List’s Fourteenth Army, which was a part of Colonel-General Gerd von Rundstedt’s Army Group South. At the time, General CatloS was also Minister of Defense. In addition to the ground forces, the new Slovak Republic sent three air squadrons into the campaign.  
    The Janosik Division was the only Division that really saw action, as the Razus Division was tasked to border patrol, and, although it did cross the border into Poland, it stopped on September 11th.  The Janosik Division was equipped with 79 Czech tanks manufactured by the renowned Skoda Works,  and fought through the Dukla Pass, in the Carpathian Mountains. The Skultety  Division was held in reserve and participated in mopping up.  In this, it was supported by a motorized unit named Kalinciak. Command of this unit was given to Colonel Imro, while command of the Skultety  Division was given to General Alexandr Cunderlik. In July 1944 Colonel Imro would desert to American forces in Italy, where his command had been transferred.
    By the end of the month, all Slovak Military Units had been withdrawn from Poland.  On October 5th, while the German Wehrmacht was parading before a triumphant Adolf Hitler, in Warsaw, a Slovakian Victory Parade was held in Poprad.  Proprad is a City in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains near the Polish border.  Today it has a population of 55,000. Two days later, Field Army Bernolák was disbanded. It had captured 1,350 prisoners, for a loss of 18 dead, 46 wounded and 11 missing.  
    Two planes were also lost. Slovakian Pilot, Frantisek Hanovec, on September the 6th, 1939, recorded the first and only Slovakian air victory of the campaign.  Hanovec would go on to become one of the 17 Slovakian Aces of the Slovenské Vzdusné Zbrane (SVZ).
    The disputed territory, which was the ostensible reason that Slovakia went to war with its Slavic neighbor, was incorporated into the new Republic’s border.  It involved 226 square kilometers with 4,280 inhabitants, most of whom were Slovak.  
    The Commander of the Razus Division, General Gustav Malar, was awarded the Iron Cross, First and Second Class. The Germans would later further recognize him with the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on January 23, 1942 while he was commander of the Slovak Fast Division, on the Eastern Front.
    For the next two years Slovakia would enjoy relative peace and prosperity, as the Reich purchased everything that Slovakia grew or produced, and tens of thousands of Slovakian citizens worked in the German war industries. But when the Reich launched Operation Barbarossa, the Slovak Republic would once again take up arms against fellow Slavs. For that contribution, casualties would exceed 7,000. Slovak units saw action in the encirclement and capture of Kiev and the capture, and loss of, Rostov-on-the-Don, in 1941, and the push into the Caucasus in 1942.
    When Axis prospects began to dim, and with the Red Army drawing closer, many Slovakians changed their minds about the wisdom of their association with the Reich. Seeing that the “Vodca” (Leader), Father Joseph Tiso, could no longer control his country, the Reich, as it did in Italy and in Hungary, sent its troops to stabilize the situation.                  
    Although the trains to Auschwitz had run, early in the Tiso regime, when the Slovakian leaders learned exactly what German “resettlement” entailed for Slovakia’s Jews, they were stopped. But, with German “assistance” at stabilization, they began to run again. Even so, the Slovakian definition of a Jew was not as broad as the German, which saved some. Ultimately, at least 40,000 Slovakian Jews perished.
    
    
Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own.