FEBRUARY 26 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

FEBRUARY 26

1935

The Luftwaffe was established on February 26, 1935 in Weimar Germany,  in violation of the terms of the Versailles Treaty. With the rise in power of the Nazi Party, German servicemen were secretly trained at the Lipetsk Air Base, in Russia. The Condor Legion, a division of the Luftwaffe fleet was dispatched to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War which served as a valuable testing ground for German aircraft. By the summer of 1939, the Luftwaffe had ready for combat nine Jagdgeschwader ("fighter wings") mostly equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, four 'Zerstörergeschwader ("destroyer wings") equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter, 11 Kampfgeschwader (bomber wings) equipped mainly with the Heinkel He 111 and the Dornier Do 17Z, and four Sturzkampfgeschwader ("dive bomber wings") primarily armed with the iconic Junkers Ju 87B Stuka. The Luftwaffe had just started to accept the Junkers Ju 88A for service, when it encountered design problems, consequently only a dozen aircraft was combat-ready. The Luftwaffe's strength at this time stood at 373,000 personnel (208,000 flying troops, 107,000 in the Flak Corps and 58,000 in the Signals Corps). Aircraft strength was 4,201 operational aircraft: 1,191 bombers, 361 dive bombers, 788 fighters, 431 heavy fighters, and 488 transports.

1939

Galeazzo Ciano, Foreign Minister of Fascist Italy, unveiled a monument to Francesco Nullo in Warsaw. Nullo died on May 5, 1863. He was an Italian patriot, military officer, merchant, and close friend and confidant of Giuseppe Garibaldi. Nullo supported independence movements in Italy and Poland and participated in various revolutions, including the Polish Uprising in 1863. At the end of his career Nullo was appointed the rank of General in Poland, in the Battle of Krzykawka.

1944

The Polish Government-in-Exile defied the British government's wishes and rejected the recognition of the Curzon Line as Poland's eastern frontier.  When the Soviet forces recaptured eastern Poland from the Germans, Stalin unilaterally declared a new frontier between the Soviet Union and Poland (roughlyfollowing the Curzon line). The Polish Government-in-Exile in London bitterly opposed this and at the Tehran and Yalta conferences, Roosevelt and Churchill asked Stalin to reconsider, particularly over Lwów, but he refused. During the negotiations at Yalta, Stalin posed the question "Do you want me to tell the Russian people that I am less Russian than Lord Curzon?" The altered Curzon Line thus became the permanent eastern border of Poland and was recognized by the western Allies in July 1945. (Since then the border was adjusted several times, the biggest revision in 1951. (read February 11, 1945)