Worst thing that ever happend: 20 Sep 1939

I have a particular sympathy for the city of Lwow, because a friend was in the city when it was bombed and besieged by the German army, and later by the Russians. The "official" surrender to the Red Army was on 22 September, but there was an earlier surrender, 72 years ago today, to the German forces. Here a Polish officer signs on the dotted line.

But Lwow was east of the partition line specified in the Hitler-Stalin pact of August 23, so the Germans had to get out of the way and let the Russians take over. That would lead to another signing ceremony on the 22nd. Before that happened, there were a few clashes between German and Russian troops, probably with some fatalities, which likewise have been concealed from history.

Since Stalin was on the winning side in the Second World War, he got to keep his ill-gotten gains in eastern Poland, so Lwow is now Lviv in western Ukraine. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford