THE MODERN POLISH FRONTIERS 371maintained a close relationship with the Polish interior was to be found at the
mouth of the Vistula. From the early Middle Ages Western Pomerania's con-
nections lay firmly with the German lands; whilst eastern Prussia, conquered by
the Teutonic Knights from its indigenous Baits, had never been subject to Polish
settlement. The configuration of the Polish Corridor as described in the Treaty
of Versailles corresponded in the main to the frontiers of the Rzeczpospolita in
1772, and satisfied Polish claims in large measure. Although German opinion
strongly resented the Corridor, the Polish Delegation saw fit to challenge the
Conference's decision in only three limited localities - at Danzig, and at
Allenstein and Marien-werder in East Prussia. The 130 kilometres of Baltic
coastline awarded to Poland at Versailles passed under Polish control by the
activation of the Treaty of 20 January 1920. On that day, the ceremony of the
Zaslubiny z morzem was performed for the first time. Soldiers and civilians
waded into the icy waves of the Baltic, and with upraised hands saluted the
renewal of Poland's ancient 'Betrothal to the Sea'.^7
Poland's claim to Danzig was based chiefly on economic arguments. In the
period of Prussian rule, the city's German population had lost all trace of for-
mer Polish loyalties, and in the 1930s was to provide many ardent recruits to the
Nazi cause. There was no serious doubt that any free plebiscite in Danzig would
have resulted in an overwhelming vote for reunion with the Reich. In this light,
Lloyd George's insistence at the Peace Conference on the formation of a Free
City must be seen as a concession to Polish pressure. In practice, it gave equal
offence to both Poles and Germans, and presented Hitler with the specific pre-
text by which his invasion of Poland in September 1939 was justified. The prob-
lem was solved once and for all by the flight or expulsion of the German
Danzigers in the last days of the Second World War.^8
The districts of Allenstein (Olsztyn) and Marienwerder (Kwidzyn) both lay on
the southern confines of East Prussia. Both were subjected to popular plebiscites
held under Allied auspices in the summer of 1920. Polish charges against German
skulduggery, in particular against the fraudulent manufacture of outvoters,
could not conceal the overwhelming desire of the population, including part of
the Polish-speaking Protestants, to remain German citizens. The result, declared
on 11 July 1920, showed a crushing majority of 460,000 votes (96.52 per cent) for.
Germany to 16,000 (3.47 per cent) for Poland. The Allied garrison, consisting of
Italians and of Irishmen of the Inniskillen Fusiliers, were sharply withdrawn for
fear of being politically contaminated by the Red Army, which happened at that
very moment to be bearing down on them from the East. In those few neigh-
bouring towns such as Soldau (Dzialdowo) which the Red Army occupied before
its precipitate retreat in August, the Soviet commanders expressed their govern-
ment's belief that this 'ancient German land' should be returned to its rightful
owners. German order reigned supreme until 1945.^9
Poland's western frontier raised problems of a much greater magnitude. At
the beginning of the twentieth century, the Oder River, the only recognizable
dividing line between the Vistula and the Elbe, lay in the middle of solidly