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75 years since the outbreak of World War II

ITAR-TASS recalls the very first days of WWII when people were already dying though the West hadn't yet realized the danger of the situation

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On September 1, 1939, German and Slovak troops started a massive invasion of Poland

German troops bring down a barrier on the border with Poland

Adolf Hitler makes a speech in the Reichstag several hours afer the start of the invasion. Formally, Hitler didn't declare war on Poland

On the same day, Great Britain started evacuating citizens of big cities

Clildren first took the evacuation as an extra holiday. Over three million women, children and people with disabilities were evacuated from London

People read headlines on the start of war near the US State Department building in Washigton, D.C.

German troops in Poland, September 1939

German soldiers guard surrendered Polish troops

Londoners go into a bomb shelter during the first air-raid warning

A policeman rides a bicycle announcing the end of the first air-raid warning in London on September 3, 1939

German troops in Poland, 1939

© Reproduction by Fotokhronika TASS

Acting Town Crier and Saltbearer of the City of London reads a war proclamation from the steps of the Royal Exchange, in London, on September 4, 1939

© AP Photo/Putnam

German embassy gets ready to move after the procalmation of war on September 4, 1939

A boy sits on the ruins of his house after a German air-raid on Warsaw in September 1939

© AP Photo/Julien Bryan

People make sand bags to protest houses from German air-raids in London, September 5, 1939

A London policeman stands next to a one-person bomb shelter, September 6, 1939

British soldiers march before being sent to France on September 10, 1939

A woman bids farewell to her French friend before his departure to France on September 6, 1939

On September 1, 1939, German and Slovak troops invaded Poland thus starting the Secaond World War which lasted six years and took the lives of millions of people.

The first to declare war on Gemany was France, followed by Great Britain, together with Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada and the Union of South Africa.

Almost two years had passed before the USSR declared war on Germany after Hitler's troops invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

The very first days after the German invasion of Poland in this photo gallery by ITAR-TASS.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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FSB raids terrorist cell in Dagestan that funded, armed Crocus City Hall attackers

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