The USSR did sign a mutual assistance pact with Czechoslovakia to guarantee its security, but unfortunately, because of the Polish boycott and the lack of enthusiasm against Germany in Romania, the USSR was unable to send its army units to Czechoslovakia, even though they mobilized their troops during the Sudeten Crisis.
Poland was already nearly collapsed by the time the Soviets started attacking it, and I suspect that the Soviets might only have been able to buy half a month by not attacking Poland, which likely wouldn’t have affected anything, but the Soviets would have lost the buffer zone of marshes and forests that had stymied the German offensive, even though they hadn’t been effective in Operation Barbarossa
If the Soviets had decided to fight Poland and Germany at the same time (the Poles would not have fought alongside the Soviets due to the Soviet-Polish War and subsequent anti-Soviet sentiment in Poland, as well as the fact that the Soviet Union’s objectives included the capture of western Belorussia and western Ukraine), they would have lost a year of preparation, the effect of which would have depended on whether or not this prevented Operation Yellow from being successful.Unfortunately, the Soviets and the French didn’t trust each other, and it’s unlikely that they would have reduced their own chances of surviving a particular offensive for the sake of the other.
Except that Czechoslovakia was supposed to also receive help from France and Britain. The USSR’s attempt to help unilaterally would likely be thwarted by Poland and Romania. And France and Britain themselves signed the Munich pact...
Maybe yet another option would be not to make a deal with Hitler about dividing Poland? That would slow him down.
(Even more strategic: offer Czechoslovakia military help against Hitler.)
The USSR did sign a mutual assistance pact with Czechoslovakia to guarantee its security, but unfortunately, because of the Polish boycott and the lack of enthusiasm against Germany in Romania, the USSR was unable to send its army units to Czechoslovakia, even though they mobilized their troops during the Sudeten Crisis.
Poland was already nearly collapsed by the time the Soviets started attacking it, and I suspect that the Soviets might only have been able to buy half a month by not attacking Poland, which likely wouldn’t have affected anything, but the Soviets would have lost the buffer zone of marshes and forests that had stymied the German offensive, even though they hadn’t been effective in Operation Barbarossa
If the Soviets had decided to fight Poland and Germany at the same time (the Poles would not have fought alongside the Soviets due to the Soviet-Polish War and subsequent anti-Soviet sentiment in Poland, as well as the fact that the Soviet Union’s objectives included the capture of western Belorussia and western Ukraine), they would have lost a year of preparation, the effect of which would have depended on whether or not this prevented Operation Yellow from being successful.Unfortunately, the Soviets and the French didn’t trust each other, and it’s unlikely that they would have reduced their own chances of surviving a particular offensive for the sake of the other.
Except that Czechoslovakia was supposed to also receive help from France and Britain. The USSR’s attempt to help unilaterally would likely be thwarted by Poland and Romania. And France and Britain themselves signed the Munich pact...
Oh, I did not realize this!