Editing Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (section)

===== What do Spheres of Influence actually mean? =====
Simple. The 'spheres of influence' are just about protecting frontiers from invasions. Article II of the Secret Protocol reads:<blockquote>"In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the Polish state, the spheres of influence of Germany and the U.S.S.R. shall be bounded  approximately by the line of the rivers Narev, Vistula and San. The question of whether the interests of both parties make desirable  the maintenance of an independent Polish States and how such a state should be bounded can only be definitely determined in the course of further political developments. In any event both Governments will resolve this question by means  of a friendly agreement."<ref name=":2">https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1939pact.asp</ref></blockquote>So, as long as an 'independent Polish State' continued to exist, it would be east of the Narev-Vistula-San line and Germany could not send troops over this frontier. This would establish a 'residual' Poland mentioned earlier in Halder's diaries. In this case, if the Polish army were beaten, it could travel beyond the Narev-Vistula-San river line and sue for peace with Germany. That way, Poland would be way more likely to sign a treaty with the Soviet Union (a treaty they were rejecting just weeks before the war).