Polish campaign 1939
The Polish campaign of 1939 was a military operation of the German armed forces, as a result of which the territory of the Polish Republic was completely occupied, and its parts were annexed by neighboring states (Germany, the USSR, etc.). The German attack plan on Poland was prepared on April 11, 1939 and was codenamed Plan Weiss (White).
In response to the start of the operation, Great Britain and France (September 3, 1939) declared war on Germany, which marked the expansion of the conflict. The date of the beginning of World War II is generally considered to be September 1, 1939, the day of the invasion of Poland.
During a short campaign (September 1 – October 6, 1939), German troops defeated Polish troops. On September 17, 1939, Soviet troops entered the territory of Poland with the aim of annexing Western Belarus and Western Ukraine to the USSR. As a result, the territory of Poland was divided between Germany and the USSR.
On October 6, 1939, speaking in the Reichstag, A. Hitler publicly announced the cessation of the activities of the Polish Republic and the division of its territory between Germany and the USSR. In this regard, he turned to Great Britain and France with a proposal for peace. On October 12, 1939, this proposal was rejected
Plan for a German attack on Poland (Plan Weiss)
The position occupied by Poland at present requires, in addition to the implementation of measures in accordance with the developed plan for “Securing the Borders in the East,” military preparations in order, if necessary, to put an end to any threat on its part once and for all.
1. Political background and goals.
Germany's position towards Poland continues to be based on the principle of avoiding complications. If Poland changes its policy towards Germany, which has hitherto been based on the same principle, and takes a position that threatens it, then final scores will have to be settled with it, despite the existing treaty.
The goal then will be the destruction of Poland's military power and the creation in the East of a situation corresponding to the needs of the country's defense. The Free City of Danzig will be declared German territory immediately after the start of the conflict.
The political leadership considers its task to isolate Poland as much as possible in this case, that is, to limit the war to military operations with Poland.
The intensification of the internal crisis in France and the resulting restraint in England could lead to the creation of such a situation in the near future.
Russia's intervention, if it were capable of it, would, in all likelihood, not help Poland, since it would mean its destruction by Bolshevism.
The position of the limitrophes will be determined solely by the military requirements of Germany.
The German side cannot count on Hungary as an unconditional ally. Italy's position is determined by the Berlin-Rome axis.
2. Military considerations.
The great goals of the creation of the German armed forces are determined by the continued hostility of the Western democracies. Plan Weiss is only a precautionary measure to supplement general preparations, but in no case should it be regarded as a precondition for military action against Western adversaries.
After the outbreak of war, Poland can be isolated to an even greater extent if it is possible to launch hostilities with unexpected strong blows and achieve rapid successes,
The general situation, however, will in any case also require the adoption of appropriate measures to protect the western borders, the German North Sea coast, and the airspace above them.
In relation to limitrophe states, especially Lithuania, it is necessary to take precautions in case of Polish troops passing through them.
3. Tasks of the armed forces.
The task of the German armed forces is to destroy the Polish armed forces. To do this, it is desirable and necessary to prepare a surprise attack. A covert or open general mobilization will be announced at the latest possible date, on the day preceding the attack.
Regarding the use of the armed forces provided for securing the borders in the West (see paragraph 1 “Securing the borders”), no other orders should be given for the time being.
The remaining borders should only be under surveillance, and the borders with Lithuania should be guarded.
4. Tasks of the branches of the armed forces:
a) Ground forces.
The purpose of the operation in the East is the destruction of Polish ground forces.
For this purpose, Slovak territory can be used on the southern flank. On the northern flank, a connection should be quickly established between Pomerania and East Prussia.
Preparations for the start of operations must be carried out in such a way that it is possible to move out first with available forces without delay, without waiting for the systematic deployment of mobilized formations. It is possible to secretly occupy the starting positions with these forces immediately before the start of the offensive. I leave the decision on this to myself.
The political situation will determine the need to concentrate in the appropriate areas all the forces intended to secure the borders in the west, or partially use them as a reserve for other purposes.
b) Naval forces.
In the Baltic Sea, the tasks of the Navy are:
1) Destruction or exclusion of the Polish naval forces from the war.
2) Blockade of sea routes leading to Polish naval strongholds, in particular to Gdynia. At the start of the invasion of Poland, a deadline is set for the ships of neutral states to leave the Polish harbors and Danzig. After this period, the navy has the right to take measures to establish a blockade.
It is necessary to take into account the negative consequences for the conduct of naval operations that would be caused by giving ships of neutral countries a period of time to leave ports.
3) Blockade of Polish maritime trade.
4) Providing maritime communications between Germany and East Prussia.
5) Covering German sea communications with Sweden and the Baltic states.
b) Reconnaissance and taking cover measures, as covertly as possible, in case of an attack by Soviet naval forces from the Gulf of Finland.
To protect the coast and coastal strip of the North Sea, appropriate naval forces should be allocated.
In the southern North Sea and the Skagerrak, precautions must be taken against unexpected intervention by Western powers in the conflict. These measures should not go beyond what is absolutely necessary. They should be carried out discreetly. At the same time, it is necessary to resolutely avoid anything that could have an adverse effect on the political position of the Western Powers.
c) Air Force.
It is necessary to ensure a surprise air attack on Poland, leaving the necessary forces in the west.
In addition to destroying the Polish Air Force as soon as possible, the German Air Force must first of all accomplish the following tasks:
1) Prevent the Polish mobilization and disrupt the systematic strategic concentration and deployment of the Polish army.
2) Provide direct support to ground forces, and especially to advanced units, from the moment they cross the border.
The possible transfer of air units to East Prussia before the start of the operation should not jeopardize the implementation of surprise.
The first border crossing should coincide with the beginning of military operations by ground forces.
Raids on the port of Gdynia are allowed only after the expiration of the period given to neutral ships to go to sea (see paragraph 4b).
Air defense centers should be created in the area of Stettin, Berlin, and in the industrial areas of Upper Silesia, including Moravian Ostrava and Brno.
OKW Directive No. 1 “On the Conduct of War”
Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
Supreme Command of the Armed Forces
Headquarters of the operational leadership of the armed forces
National Defense Department
TOP SECRET
Berlin, 31.8.1939
DIRECTIVE NO. 1 ON THE CONDUCT OF WAR
1. Now that all political possibilities for peacefully resolving the situation on the eastern border, which has become unbearable for Germany, have been exhausted, I have decided to achieve this solution by force.
2. The attack on Poland must be carried out in accordance with the preparations made according to the “White Plan”, taking into account changes in the situation that may arise during the strategic deployment of ground forces.
Objectives and operational goals remain unchanged.
The beginning of the offensive is 4 hours 45 minutes.
The same time applies to operations against Gdynia - Gdansk Bay and to capture the Dirschau (Tczew) bridge.
3. In the West, responsibility for the opening of hostilities should be placed unequivocally on England and France. Minor violations of our borders should first be eliminated on a purely local basis.
Strictly observe the neutrality we promised to Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The German land border in the west must not be crossed at any point without my express permission. The same applies to all naval operations, as well as to other activities at sea that may be regarded as military operations.
The actions of the air force must first of all be limited to the air defense of state borders from enemy air raids and strive, as far as possible, not to violate the borders of neutral countries when repelling both individual aircraft and small air units. Only in the event of raids on German territory by large forces of French and British aviation through neutral states and when it becomes impossible to provide air defense in the west, the latter is allowed to be carried out also over the territory of neutral countries.
Of particular importance is the immediate notification of the high command of the armed forces of every violation of the borders of neutral countries by Western adversaries.
4. If England and France begin military operations against Germany, then the injection of armed forces operating in the West will be a way of maximizing the conservation of forces to preserve the prerequisites for the victorious completion of operations against Poland. In accordance with these tasks, it is necessary, as far as possible, to destroy the enemy’s armed forces and his economic potential. Begin the offensive only on my orders.
Ground forces hold the Western Wall and prepare to prevent it from being bypassed from the north in the event that the Western powers violate the neutrality of Belgium and Holland and begin to advance through their territories. If the French army enters the territory of Luxembourg, I give permission to blow up border bridges.
The navy is fighting the enemy's merchant fleet, mainly the British. It is possible that in order to increase the efficiency of our fleet's operations we will have to resort to declaring danger zones. The High Command of the Naval Forces must determine in which seas and to what extent it is advisable to create dangerous zones. The text of the public statement must be prepared jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and submitted to me through the High Command of the Armed Forces for approval.
Measures must be taken to prevent enemy invasion of the Baltic Sea. The decision on the advisability of mining the entrances to the Baltic Sea rests with the commander-in-chief of the naval forces.
The air force's task is primarily to prevent the actions of French and British aircraft against German ground forces and German living space.
In a war against England, the air force must be used to influence the sea routes leading to England, destroy troop transports sent to France, and attack enemy military-industrial installations.
It is necessary to use favorable circumstances to launch effective attacks on concentrations of British naval forces, especially battleships and aircraft carriers. I reserve the right to make the decision to bomb London.
The attack on the English metropolis must be prepared in such a direction as to avoid, under any circumstances, unsuccessful results due to the delivery of an attack with limited forces.
Signed: A. Hitler
Sent out:
To the High Command of the Ground Forces - copy No. 1.
To the High Command of the Naval Forces - copy No. 2.
To the Ministry of Aviation and the High Command of the Air Force - copy No. 3.
To the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces:
To the Chief of Staff of the Operational Command of the Armed Forces - copy No. 4.
National Defense Department - copies No. 5-8.
(Total 45 photos)
1. View of an undamaged Polish city from the cockpit of a German aircraft, most likely a Heinkel He 111 P in 1939. (Library of Congress)
2. In 1939, Poland still had many reconnaissance battalions that took part in the Polish-Soviet War of 1921. There were legends about the desperate Polish cavalry attacking Nazi tank forces. Although the cavalry sometimes encountered tank divisions along the way, their targets were infantry, and their attacks were quite often successful. Nazi and Soviet propaganda managed to fuel this myth about the famous but slow Polish cavalry. This photo shows a Polish cavalry squadron during maneuvers somewhere in Poland on April 29, 1939. (AP Photo)
3. Associated Press correspondent Alvin Steinkopf reports from the Free City of Danzig, then a semi-autonomous city-state part of a customs union with Poland. Steinkopf relayed the tense situation in Danzig to America on July 11, 1939. Germany demanded that Danzig join the countries of the Third Reich and, apparently, was preparing for military action. (AP Photo)
4. Joseph Stalin (second from right) at the signing of the non-aggression pact by Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov (seated) with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (third from right) in Moscow on August 23, 1939. On the left stands Deputy Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff of the Army, Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov. The Non-Aggression Pact included a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence in the event of conflict. The pact guaranteed that Hitler's troops would face no resistance from the USSR if they invaded Poland, meaning war was one step closer to reality. (AP Photo/File)
5. Two days after Germany signed a non-aggression pact with the USSR, Great Britain entered into a military alliance with Poland on August 25, 1939. This photo was taken a week later, on September 1, 1939, during one of the first military operations of Germany's invasion of Poland, and the beginning of World War II. In this photo, the German ship Schleswig-Holstein fires at a Polish military transit warehouse in the Free City of Danzig. At the same time, the German air force (Luftwaffe) and infantry (Heer) attacked several Polish targets. (AP Photo)
6. German soldiers on the Westerplatte peninsula after it surrendered to German troops from the ship Schleswig-Holstein on September 7, 1939. Fewer than 200 Polish soldiers defended the small peninsula, holding out against German forces for seven days. (AP Photo)
7. Aerial view of bomb explosions during a bombing raid over Poland in September 1939. (LOC)
8. Two tanks of the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" cross the Bzura River during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. The Battle of Bzura - the largest of the entire military campaign - lasted more than a week and ended with Germany capturing most of western Poland. (LOC/Klaus Weill)
9. Soldiers of the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" on the side of the road on the way to Pabianice during the invasion of Poland in 1939. (LOC/Klaus Weill)
10. 10-year-old Polish girl Kazimira Mika cries over the body of her sister, who died under machine-gun fire while harvesting potatoes in a field near Warsaw in September 1939. (AP Photo/Julien Bryan)
11. German vanguard troops and reconnaissance in a Polish city under fire during the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939. (AP Photo)
12. German infantry advances cautiously on the outskirts of Warsaw on September 16, 1939. (AP Photo)
13. Prisoners of war with their hands raised on the road during the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. (LOC)
14. British King George VI addresses his nation on the first evening of the war on September 3, 1939 in London. (AP Photo)
15. The conflict, which would end with the explosion of two nuclear bombs, began with an announcement by a herald in the city center. In photo 6, crier W.T. Boston reads out a declaration of war from the steps of the London Exchange on September 4, 1939. (AP Photo/Putnam)
16. A crowd reads newspaper headlines “Bombing of Poland” outside the US Department building where a conference on martial law in Europe was held, September 1, 1939. (AP Photo)
17. On September 17, 1939, the British battlecruiser HMS Courageous was hit by torpedoes from the German submarine U-29 and sank within 20 minutes. The submarine pursued the Courageous, which was on an anti-war patrol along the Irish coast, for several hours and then fired three torpedoes. Two torpedoes hit the ship, sinking it along with 518 crew members out of a total of 1,259. (AP Photo)
18. Devastation on the street in Warsaw on March 6, 1940. The body of a dead horse lies among the ruins and debris. While Warsaw was shelled almost non-stop, on one day alone - September 25, 1939 - about 1,150 warplanes flew over the Polish capital, dropping 550 tons of explosives on the city. (AP Photo)
19. German troops entered the city of Bromberg (the German name for the Polish city of Bydgoszcz) and lost several hundred of their own there from sniper fire. The snipers were supplied with weapons by the retreating Polish troops. In the photo: bodies lie on the side of the road on September 8, 1939. (AP Photo)
20. A damaged Polish armored train with tanks, captured by the 1st SS Panzer Division “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler” near Blonya in September 39th. (LOC/Klaus Weill)
22. A young Pole returned to what once was his home, now in ruins, during a break in the air bombardment of Warsaw in September '39. The Germans continued to attack the city until it surrendered on September 28. A week later, the last Polish troops capitulated at Lublin, handing full control of Poland to Germany and the Soviet Union. (AP Photo/Julien Bryan)
23. Adolf Hitler greets Wehrmacht troops in Warsaw on October 5, 1939 after the German invasion of Poland. Standing behind Hitler are (from left to right): Colonel General Walter von Brauchitsch, Lieutenant General Friedrich von Kochenhausen, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel. (AP Photo)
24. Earlier in 1939, the Japanese army and military units continued to attack and advance into China and Mongolia. In this photo, Japanese soldiers move further along the beach after landing at Swatow, one of the remaining ports in what was then China's Southern China, on July 10, 1939. After a brief conflict with Chinese forces, Japan entered the city without encountering much resistance. (AP Photo)
25. On the border with Mongolia, Japanese tanks cross the vast plains of the steppe on July 21, 1939. Manchucuo's troops were reinforced by the Japanese when hostilities suddenly broke out on the border with Soviet troops. (AP Photo)
26. A machine gun unit moves forward cautiously, past two Soviet armored personnel carriers abandoned in the battle near the Mongolian border in July 1939. (AP Photo)
27. After the USSR’s demands on Finland remained unanswered, and it asked for some Finnish lands and the destruction of fortifications on the border, the USSR invaded Finnish territory on November 30, 1939. 450,000 Soviet soldiers crossed the border, beginning a brutal battle dubbed the Winter War. In this photo, a member of a Finnish anti-aircraft unit wearing a white camouflage uniform works with a rangefinder on December 28, 1939. (AP Photo)
28. A burning house after the bombing of the Finnish port city of Turku by Soviet troops in southwestern Finland on December 27, 1939. (AP Photo)
29. Finnish soldiers run for cover during an air attack “somewhere in the forests of Finland” on January 19, 1940. (AP Photo)
30. Representatives of one of the Finnish ski battalions that fought with Russian soldiers and deer on March 28, 1940. (Editor's note - the photo was retouched by hand, apparently for clarity). (AP Photo)
31. War booty - captured Soviet tanks in the snow on January 17, 1940. Finnish troops have just defeated the Soviet division. (LOC)
32. A Swedish volunteer “somewhere in Northern Finland” wearing a protective mask on duty on February 20, 1940 in sub-zero temperatures. (AP Photo)
33. The winter of 1939-1940 was especially cold in Finland. In January, temperatures dropped below 40 degrees Celsius in some places. Frost was a constant threat, and the corpses of soldiers frozen dead were often found on the battlefield in eerie poses. This photo taken on January 31, 1940 shows a frozen Russian soldier. After 105 days of fighting, the USSR and Finland signed a peace treaty, according to which Finland retained sovereignty, giving 11% of its territory to the Soviet Union. (LOC)
34. The German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee burns off Montevideo, Uruguay, December 19, 1939. The cruiser's crew had just been at the Battle of La Plata after three British cruisers found and attacked her. The ship did not sink and had to be sent to Montevideo harbor for repairs. Not wanting to stay for long for repairs and not being able to go to battle, the crew took the ship out to the open sea and sank it. The photo shows the cruiser a few minutes before the sinking. (AP Photo)
35. Restaurant manager Fred Horak from Somerville, Massachusetts, USA, points to a sign in the window of his establishment on March 18, 1939. The inscription on the sign: “We do not serve Germans.” Horak was a native of Czechoslovakia. (AP Photo)
36. Curtiss P-40 fighter production, probably in Buffalo, New York, circa 1939. (AP Photo)
37. While German troops concentrated in Poland, excitement grew on the Western Front as France welcomed British soldiers landing on the German border. In this photo, French soldiers pose in France on December 18, 1939. (AP Photo)
38. A crowd of Parisians gathered at the Sacré-Coeur basilica on the Mormatre hill for a religious service and prayer for peace. Part of the crowd gathered at a church in France on August 27, 1939. (AP Photo)
39. French soldiers with a coordinate manipulator on January 4, 1940. This device was one of many experiments designed to record the sound of aircraft engines and determine their location. The introduction of radar technology made these devices obsolete quite quickly. (AP Photo)
40. A meeting of newspapermen on the Western Front somewhere on the Maginot Line in France on October 19, 1939. A French soldier points them to the "no man's land" separating France from Germany. (AP Photo)
41. British soldiers on a train on the first leg of a trip to the Western Front in England on September 20, 1939. (AP Photo/Putnam)
42. London's Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament shrouded in darkness after the first mass blackout on August 11, 1939. This was the first test blackout for the UK Home Office in preparation for possible air attacks by German forces. (AP Photo)
43. Scene at London City Hall, where children's reactions to respirators designed to protect against poisonous gases were carried out, March 3, 1939. Several children under two years of age were given “baby helmets.” (AP Photo)
44. German chancellor and dictator Adolf Hitler inspects a geographical map with generals including Heinrich Himmler (left) and Martin Bormann (right) at an undisclosed location in 1939. (AFP/Getty Images)
45. A man looks at a photograph of Johann Georg Elser on a monument in Freiburg, Germany, October 30, 2008. German citizen Elser tried to kill Adolf Hitler with a homemade bomb in the Buergerbraukeller beer hall in Munich on November 8, 1939. Hitler finished his speech early, avoiding an explosion by 13 minutes. As a result of the assassination attempt, eight people were killed, 63 were wounded, and Elser was caught and imprisoned. Shortly before the end of World War II, he was executed in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. (AP Photo/Winfried Rothermel)
Attack on Poland
Neither Brauchitsch, nor Goering, nor Halder approved of the invasion of Poland. Why didn’t they prevent the “unleashing” of the war (this term was most widely used)? There are three main reasons for this. Firstly, after Munich, no serious conspiracy against Hitler was planned. Secondly, attempts by opponents of the regime to gain support in England came to nothing, since Chamberlain preferred to deal with persons endowed with real powers, rather than with persons of the second and third ranks, especially since they represented Prussian militarism in his eyes, considered the main culprit of the First World War. Thirdly, representatives of the high command of all three branches of the military could not speak openly with each other (including in the presence of Goering) and express their doubts about the correctness of the course chosen by the Fuhrer. In addition, the nervous atmosphere of the last days of August did not give them such an opportunity. The party bosses constantly hovered around the Fuhrer: the brown uniform dominated everywhere. The only one who could still do something was Goering. He really tried to save the world, but did not dare to openly argue with Hitler, fearing accusations of cowardice or, worse, treason. Only an assassination attempt could stop the Fuhrer, obsessed with the idea of war, but no one in his circle was ready for it. In the eyes of the common people, this would make him a martyr and his opponents traitors, and even if the assassination attempt succeeded, its initiators would not be able to form a new government. Therefore, war was inevitable.
Preparations for it have been going on for several months. The command of each branch of the military had great freedom in drawing up operational plans (since there is a huge literature devoted to the strategy of warfare and individual battles, we will not dwell on this issue in detail, focusing on the role of Hitler). In the case of Poland, the Fuhrer did not interfere too much with military plans. He only tried, however unsuccessfully, to push through his candidacies for the positions of army generals, as well as to provide support for the operations developed by General von Bock, the commander of Army Group North, who was to station troops in Pomerania and East Prussia, forming a “corridor” between them, and move motorized units along the banks of the Vistula towards Warsaw. Army Group South, under the command of General von Rundstedt, was to set out from Silesia and also head towards the Polish capital, along the way destroying Polish troops moving from Galicia.
Although the concentration of German troops on the border did not escape the attention of the Polish military command, many of its representatives doubted the inevitability of war until August 28. Foreign Minister Beck believed until the last moment that the matter could be resolved peacefully. In the worst case, he believed, everything would be limited to local battles, in particular for Danzig. Only on the morning of the 28th was general mobilization announced, and already in the afternoon an order was received to cancel it. A second mobilization order was issued on the 30th; Troop readiness is scheduled for the 31st. British and French diplomats bear considerable responsibility for this indecisiveness, who persistently urged their Polish partners not to miss the chance and try to resolve the issue through negotiations. The Polish units took up the designated positions with a significant delay.
The triple blow - the Anschluss, the capture of the Sudetenland and the “dismemberment” of Czechoslovakia - caused great confusion in their ranks and did not allow them to properly prepare to repel the attack.
Thus, German troops seized the initiative from the very beginning, although in some places they suffered defeat, for example in the town of Westerplatte, on the outskirts of Danzig. However, on September 3, the Germans managed to establish a connection between Pomerania and East Prussia and, by September 6, strengthen the “corridor.” On the 4th Hitler visited the theater of war. According to the command, the enemy lost freedom of action from the first days of the war. On the 6th, Krakow fell almost without a fight. On the 11th the Bialystok-Warsaw railway line was captured. On the 13th, the first German units broke into Danzig, although fighting in the city continued until September 19th. On the 15th, Guderian's motorized corps occupied Brest-Litovsk. On the same day Bialystok fell. Warsaw found itself surrounded, and the German envoy demanded the surrender of the city. Local military authorities refused to even accept him. It seems reliable that they believed the persistently circulating rumors in the city that French troops had entered the south of Germany and work had stopped in the Ruhr region.
The Germans advanced with the support of aviation, which almost from the very first day destroyed all Polish planes, disrupted railway and road communications, did not allow Polish units to escape from encirclement, supplied their units that had broken through and bombed cities.
The fate of Poland was finally decided on September 17, when the Red Army crossed the eastern border. In this situation, the main thing for the Germans was to avoid a collision with Soviet troops and evacuate from the occupied territories, which, according to the pact of August 23, were part of the zone of Soviet influence.
On September 25, the systematic compression of the ring around Warsaw began. The Luftwaffe brought about 1,200 aircraft into the operation, including heavy transports that dropped incendiary bombs on the city. The city was shrouded in a thick veil of smoke, which prevented artillery and aircraft from finding targets, causing huge casualties among civilians (despite Hitler's assurances that women and children would not be harmed during the war). There were also skirmishes between ground and air forces. Hitler ordered the air force to continue attacks, but demanded that it, like ground weapons, have greater precision in their shooting. On September 26, thousands of leaflets were dropped on Warsaw demanding immediate surrender. The commander of the Warsaw Military District, General Rommel, sent two emissaries who proposed declaring a truce for one day in order to negotiate. The Germans responded by demanding complete and unconditional surrender. On September 27, massive artillery bombardments resumed in the early morning and surrender was announced. On the 28th, by noon, the fighting in the Polish capital, turned into a pile of ruins, stopped. About 120 thousand people surrendered. On October 1, General Rommel officially placed his troops under the command of General Blaskowitz. On October 2, the German army led by Hitler entered Warsaw. On the 3rd, von Rundstedt was appointed "Supreme Eastern Commander". On the 13th, a demarcation line was drawn between Soviet and German troops.
As a result of this first lightning war, 70 thousand Poles were killed and 133 thousand people were injured. The exact number of missing people is unknown. About five thousand people died in battles against units of the Red Army - the number of wounded and missing is also unknown. Germany lost 11 thousand killed, 30 thousand wounded and 4400 missing. USSR losses amounted to 700 killed and 1,900 wounded.
The speed of the German victory was due primarily to the coordination of the actions of tank, infantry and air units - this was an innovation that later proved its effectiveness in future campaigns. The success was also facilitated by the impeccable work of the General Staff, which quickly and clearly issued orders for military operations.
Poland's defeat, despite fierce resistance, can be partly explained by the behavior of the Western powers. According to the military treaty signed in May 1939 between Gamelin and the Polish Minister of War Kaprzycki, in the event of a German attack on Poland, France was to launch an air attack and limited offensive actions on the third day after the announcement of mobilization, as well as a large-scale offensive starting from the 15th day . But the French government delayed ratifying the treaty, which therefore had no legal force. However, by September 15, most of the Polish army had already been destroyed, which no one expected: everyone was sure that Poland would hold out on its own for at least three or four months.
On September 28, after signing an agreement that slightly changed the articles of the secret protocol of August 23, Germany gave Lithuania to the Soviet Union in exchange for Lublin and the Bug line. This “second Silesian War,” as Hitler called it by analogy with the lightning war of Frederick II of Prussia in the 18th century, brought him, in addition to territorial gains in East Prussia and Silesia, Danzig, West Prussia and the Warta basin. The rest of Poland, centered in Krakow, came under the control of Governor General Hans Frank, notorious as the “Polish executioner,” on October 12. The exact status of the "Governor General" was never determined.
Thus, Germany received half of Poland with a population of 20 million people, of which 15 million were Poles, 2 million were Jews and more than a million were “ethnic Germans” (Volksdeutsche). Under Polish rule, this ethnic minority experienced some oppression: 70 thousand people fled Poland and by the end of August 1939 were in German refugee camps, but the vast majority of them served in the Polish army. With the outbreak of hostilities, relations between the Poles and the Volksdeutsche worsened, and on September 3 in Bromberg a considerable number of the latter were shot. After the victory, the Volksdeutsche began to consider themselves part of the “master race” and during the years of occupation they occupied high positions.
However, the real “masters” were the SS, police and NSDAP apparatchiks, especially after Himmler was appointed to the post of Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German Nation in October 1939. A regime of terror was established in the annexed territories and in the General Government, in which detachments of ethnic Germans took an active part in maintaining it, allegedly for the purpose of “self-defense.” If we recall Hitler’s second book, it will become clear that already at the time of its writing he rejected the idea of “Germanizing” representatives of other peoples living on the territory of the Reich. Instead of incorporating them into the mass of the population, as was attempted in Alsace and Lorraine after 1871, the nationalist German state aimed “either to destroy this racially alien element capable of corrupting the blood of our people, or to remove it, freeing it for our people.” land."
The implementation of the Führer's ideas caused constant clashes between the Wehrmacht (responsible for order and security), the civil administration (which had the responsibility of exploiting raw materials and sending Polish labor to the Reich) and the SS and Gestapo forces (who sought to "remove" or "destroy" unwanted elements).
During his travels in Poland, Hitler seems to have constantly found confirmation of his prejudices regarding the “inferior races.” At the very beginning of the campaign, orders appeared that determined the fate of the Poles and Jews. The widespread opinion that after the attack on the USSR in June 1941 the war took on a qualitatively different character today seems completely unfounded. The deadly intentions of the Nazi regime became obvious from the beginning of the Polish campaign, about which the Fuhrer specifically informed the army command, Brauchitsch and Keitel.
Since, as he emphasized, the Wehrmacht does not want to engage in such measures, the SS and the Gestapo must act. Jews must be imprisoned in ghettos and then deported; A similar fate awaited German Jews and Gypsies in the future. The conversations between Heydrich, Quartermaster General Wagner and Brauchitsch leave no doubt as to what the “ethnic cleansing” of Poland was supposed to be. In practice, it resulted, on the one hand, in massive population movements - the western regions of Poland were supposed to be populated exclusively by German repatriates from Volyn, Galicia and the Baltic states that were in the zone of Soviet influence, and on the other - mass murders of representatives of the Polish elite - teachers, church leaders , nobility and officers. The Wehrmacht demanded that "liquidation" measures be carried out only after a civil administration had been established; however, despite the protests of some senior officers, the army bears its grave responsibility for the political destruction of Poland. The difference between the war in Poland and the subsequent war against the Soviet Union was that “in the latter case, any distinction between military operations and political-ideological warfare was completely obliterated even before the first shot was fired, since the concept of destruction was an integral part of strategic plans."
The loss of influence of the Wehrmacht in the "Führer's Republic" explains why the army behaved in such an uncertain manner. Gradually, from one of the “pillars” of the regime, she turned into a simple performer.
The war against Poland opened the eyes of many to the true nature of the Hitler regime. A clear example of this is the following event. On September 19, after visiting Danzig, Hitler stayed for several days at the Sopot casino. With him were Keitel, Jodl, Ribbentrop, Lammers, Himmler and several high-ranking staff officers. The subject of the conversation was the number of beds for the wounded and the number of medical personnel - doctors and nurses. At the same time, the topic of the mentally ill surfaced, having been discussed before, but not with such severity. Hitler summoned doctors, lawyers and politicians, including Dr Leonardo Conti, Chief of Chancellery Martin Bormann and Philip Bowler, and invited them to study the possibility of killing "incurable" patients by the most appropriate means. This was the first time the topic of euthanasia was discussed as the elimination of people “unworthy to remain among the living.” Some of the methods discussed that day were subsequently used in the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question."
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According to generally accepted opinion, World War II began on September 1, 1939 - the Third Reich attacked Poland, although in China they count from 1937. At 4 hours 45 minutes at the mouth of the Vistula River, the old German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish military warehouses of Westerplatte in Danzig, the Wehrmacht went on the offensive along the entire border line.
Poland at that time was a rather artificial state formation - created from Polish territories proper, the wreckage of the Russian Empire, the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. In 1939, out of 35.1 million people in Poland, there were 23.4 million Poles, 7.1 million Belarusians and Ukrainians, 3.5 million Jews, 0.7 million Germans, 0.1 million . Lithuanians, 0.12 million Czechs. Moreover, Belarusians and Ukrainians were in the position of oppressed slaves, and the Germans also sought to return to the Reich. Warsaw, on occasion, was not averse to expanding its territory at the expense of its neighbors - in 1922 it captured the Vilna region, in 1938 the Cieszyn region from Czechoslovakia.
In Germany, they were forced to accept territorial losses in the east - West Prussia, part of Silesia, the Poznan region, and Danzig, predominantly populated by Germans, was declared a free city. But public opinion regarded these losses as a temporary loss. Hitler initially did not focus on these territories, believing that the problem of the Rhineland, Austria, and the Sudetenland was more important, and Poland even became an ally of Berlin, receiving crumbs from the master’s table (Cieszyn region of Czechoslovakia). In addition, in Warsaw they hoped, in alliance with Berlin, to go on a campaign to the East, dreaming of creating a “Greater Poland” from the sea (Baltic) to the sea (Black Sea). On October 24, 1938, the Polish Ambassador to Germany Lipski was sent a demand for Poland's consent to the inclusion of the Free City of Danzig in the Reich, and Poland was also offered to join the Anti-Comintern Pact (directed against the USSR, it included Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary), during the subsequent After negotiations, Warsaw was promised territories in the East, at the expense of the USSR. But Warsaw showed its eternal stubbornness and constantly refused the Reich. Why were the Poles so self-confident? Apparently, they had complete confidence that London and Paris would not abandon them and would help them in the event of war.
Poland at that time pursued an extremely unwise policy, falling out with almost all its neighbors: they did not want help from the USSR, although Paris and London tried to come to an agreement on this matter, there were territorial disputes with Hungary, they captured Vilna from Lithuania, even with the formation of years, Slovakia (after the occupation of the Czech Republic by Germany) had a fight - trying to seize part of its territory. Therefore, in addition to Germany, in September 1939, Poland was also attacked by Slovakia - they sent 2 divisions.
The Polish Vickers E enters the Czechoslovak Zaolzie region, October 1938.
France and England gave her a guarantee that they would help her, but the Poles had to hold out for a week or two for France to complete mobilization and concentrate forces for the strike. This is official, in reality, Paris and London did not intend to fight with Germany, thinking that Germany would not stop and would go further to the USSR, and the two enemies would fight.
Disposition of enemy forces on August 31, 1939 and the Polish campaign of 1939.
Plans, strengths of the parties
Poland began hidden mobilization on March 23, 1939, managed to mobilize for war: 39 divisions, 16 separate brigades, a total of 1 million people, approximately 870 tanks (most of the wedges), a number of armored vehicles, 4,300 guns and mortars, up to 400 aircraft. In addition, the Poles were confident that from the very beginning of the war they would be supported with the full might of the Allied aviation and the British fleet.
They planned to conduct a defense for two weeks, to contain the Wehrmacht along the entire length of the border - almost 1900 km, against East Prussia, in favorable conditions, they even planned to conduct an offensive. The plan for the offensive operation against East Prussia was called “West”, it was to be carried out by the operational groups “Narev”, “Wyszkow” and the army “Modlin”. In the “Polish corridor” that separated East Prussia and Germany, the Pomože army was concentrated; in addition to defense, it was supposed to capture Danzig. The Berlin direction was defended by the Poznan army, the border with Silesia and Slovakia was covered by the Lodz army, the Krakow army and the Karpaty army. In the rear southwest of Warsaw, the Prussian auxiliary army was deployed. The Poles stretched their formations along the entire border, did not create a powerful anti-tank defense in the main directions, and did not create powerful operational reserves for flank attacks on the enemy who had broken through.
The plan was designed for several “ifs”: if the Polish army held out for two weeks in its main positions; if the Germans concentrated a small part of their forces and assets (especially aviation and tanks), the Polish command expected that Berlin would leave a significant group in the west; if in two weeks the Anglo-French forces launch a major offensive. Another weak point of the Polish army was the leadership; almost from the very beginning of the war, they thought only about their own skin. It is surprising that with such a command the Polish army held out for almost a month.
Germany, against Poland, the Third Reich deployed 62 divisions (of which 40 were first-strike personnel divisions, of which 6 tank and 4 mechanized), a total of 1.6 million people, approximately 6000 guns, 2000 aircraft and 2800 tanks (of which more than 80% were light , wedges with machine guns). The German generals themselves assessed the combat effectiveness of the infantry as unsatisfactory, and they also understood that if Hitler was mistaken and the Anglo-French army struck in the west, then disaster was inevitable. Germany is not ready to fight with France (its army at that time was considered the strongest in the world) and England, they had superiority at sea, in the air and on land, the defensive structures were not prepared (“Siegfried Line”), the western front was exposed.
The Polish army was planned (White Plan) to be destroyed with a powerful blow of the maximum number of troops and assets within two weeks (the idea of “blitzkrieg”), due to the exposure of the western border. They wanted to defeat the Poles before the West could go on the offensive, creating a strategic turning point in the war. At this time, the western border was covered by 36 understaffed, almost untrained divisions, lacking armored vehicles and aircraft. Almost all tanks and armored vehicles were concentrated in five corps: 14th, 15th, 16th, 19th and mountain. They had to find weak points in the enemy’s defenses, overcome the enemy’s defenses, enter the operational space, going to the enemy’s rear, while the infantry divisions pinned down the enemy along the front.
Army Group North (4th and 3rd armies) attacked from Pomerania and East Prussia in the general direction of Warsaw in order to link up with units of Army Group South east of Warsaw to close the encirclement of the remaining Polish troops north of the Vistula. Army Group South (8th, 10th, 14th Armies) attacked from the territory of Silesia and Moravia in the general direction of Warsaw, where it was supposed to connect with units of Army Group North. The 8th Army was heading towards Lodz, the 14th Army was supposed to take Krakow and advance on Sandomierz. There were weaker forces in the center; they were supposed to pin down the Polish army “Poznan” in battles and imitate the direction of the main attack.
Dislocation of troops on 09/01/1939.
Occasion
In order to maintain the appearance of supposedly retaliatory actions, the German security services organized a provocation - the so-called “Gleiwitz Incident”. On August 31, SS soldiers and criminals specially selected from prisons in Polish uniforms attacked a radio station in Gleiwitz, Germany. After the seizure of the radio station, one of them read a specially prepared text on the radio in Polish, provoking Germany to war. Then the criminals were shot by the SS (one of the names of the operation is “Canned Food”), abandoned on the spot, and they were discovered by the German police. At night, German media announced that Poland had attacked Germany.
The first shots of the new war, the training battleship Schleswig-Holstein.
War
During the first day, the Luftwaffe destroyed most of the Polish aviation, and also disrupted communications, control, and the transfer of troops by rail. The German attack groups quite easily broke through the front and moved on, which is not surprising given the dispersed nature of the Polish units. Thus, the 19th Mechanized Corps (one tank, two mechanized, two infantry divisions), fighting from Pomerania, penetrated the defenses of the 9th Division and the Pomeranian Cavalry Brigade, covering 90 km by the evening of September 1st. In the Bay of Danzig, the German Navy destroyed a small Polish squadron (one destroyer, one destroyer and five submarines); even before the start of the war, three destroyers went to England, and two submarines were able to break out of the Baltic (they later fought as part of the British Navy).
Already on September 1, the president left Warsaw, on the 5th the government followed him, and so their movement to Romania began. The “heroic” commander-in-chief of the Polish army, Edward Rydz-Smigly, issued the last order on the 10th, after which he did not make contact, and then showed up in Romania. In his last orders, he ordered Warsaw and Modlin to keep their defenses surrounded, the remnants of the army to hold their defenses along the border with Romania and wait for help from England and France. Rydz-Smigly arrived in Brest on September 7, where Headquarters was supposed to be prepared in case of war with the USSR, but it was not prepared; on the 10th he arrived in Vladimir-Volynsky, on the 13th in Mlynov, and on September 15 - closer to the Romanian border, to Kolomyia, where there was already a government and a president.
Marshal of Poland, Supreme Commander of the Polish Army Edward Rydz-Smigly.
On the 2nd, the “Pomoże” army, defending the “Polish corridor”, was cut by counter attacks from East Prussia and Pomerania, its most coastal part was surrounded. In the southern direction, the Wehrmacht found the junction of the Lodz and Krakow armies, the 1st Panzer Division rushed into the breakthrough, going to the rear of the Polish units. The Polish command decides to withdraw the Krakow army to the main line of defense, and the Lodz army to the east and southeast beyond the line of the Nida and Dunajec rivers (approximately 100-170 km). But the border battle had already been lost; from the very beginning it was necessary not to defend the entire border, but to concentrate troops in the main directions and create operational reserves for counterattacks. The defense plan of the Polish command was thwarted; in the north, units of the Wehrmacht, advancing from East Prussia, broke the resistance of the Modlin army by the 3rd day, its remnants retreated beyond the Vistula. There was no other plan; all that was left was to rely on allies.
On the 4th, the Poles in the center retreated to the Warta River, but were unable to hold out there; almost immediately they were knocked down by flank attacks; already on the 5th, the remnants of the units retreated to Lodz. The main reserve of the Polish armed forces - the Prussian army - was disorganized and simply “dissolved”, by September 5 the war was lost, the Polish army was still fighting, retreating, trying to gain a foothold on some lines, but... The Polish units were cut up, lost control, did not know what to do, and were surrounded.
German T-1 tanks (Light tank Pz.Kpfw. I) in Poland. 1939
On September 8, the battle for Warsaw began, its defenders fought until September 28. The first attempts to take the city on the move, on September 8-10, were repulsed by the Poles. The Wehrmacht command decided to abandon the plan to take the city on the move and continued to close the blockade ring - on the 14th the ring was closed. On the 15th-16th the Germans offered to capitulate, on the 17th the Polish military asked for permission to evacuate civilians, Hitler refused. On the 22nd, a general assault began; on the 28th, having exhausted the possibilities of defense, the remnants of the garrison capitulated.
Another group of Polish forces was surrounded west of Warsaw - around Kutno and Lodz, they held out until September 17, surrendering after several attempts to break through and when food and ammunition ran out. On October 1, the Baltic naval base of Hel surrendered, the last center of defense was eliminated in Kock (north of Lublin), where 17 thousand Poles capitulated on October 6.
September 14, 1939.
The myth of the Polish cavalry
At the instigation of Guderian, a myth was created about attacks by Polish cavalry on Wehrmacht tanks. In reality, horses were used as transport (as in the Red Army, in the Wehrmacht), reconnaissance was carried out on horseback, and the soldiers of the cavalry units entered into battle on foot. In addition, the cavalrymen, due to their mobility, excellent training (they were the elite of the army), good weapons (they were reinforced with artillery, machine guns, and armored vehicles) turned out to be one of the most combat-ready units of the Polish Army.
In this war, only six cases of an attack on horseback are known, in two cases there were armored vehicles on the battlefield. On September 1, near Kroyanty, units of the 18th Pomeranian Uhlan Regiment met a Wehrmacht battalion that was at a halt and, taking advantage of the surprise factor, attacked. Initially, the attack was successful, the Germans were caught by surprise, they were cut down, but then German armored vehicles intervened in the battle, which the Polish scouts did not notice, and as a result the battle was lost. But the Polish cavalrymen, having suffered losses, retreated into the forest and were not destroyed.
On September 19, near Wulka Weglowa, the commander of the 14th regiment of the Yazlowiec lancers, Colonel E. Godlewski (he was joined by a unit of the 9th regiment of the Lesser Poland lancers) decided to break through the German infantry on horseback, relying on the factor of surprise, to Warsaw. But these turned out to be positions of motorized infantry of a tank division, and besides, artillery and tanks were not far away. Polish cavalrymen broke through the Wehrmacht positions, losing approximately 20% of the regiment (at that time - 105 people killed and 100 wounded). The battle lasted only 18 minutes, the Germans lost 52 people killed and 70 wounded.
Attack of the Polish lancers.
Results of the war
Poland as a state ceased to exist, most of its territories were divided between Germany and the USSR, and Slovakia received some lands.
On the remnants of lands not annexed to Germany, a General Government was created under the control of German authorities, with its capital in Krakow.
The Vilnius region was transferred to Lithuania.
The Wehrmacht lost 13-20 thousand people killed and missing, about 30 thousand wounded. Polish army - 66 thousand killed, 120-200 thousand wounded, about 700 thousand prisoners.
Polish infantry on the defensive
Sources:
Halder F. War diary. Daily notes of the Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces 1939-1942. (in 3 volumes). M., 1968-1971.
Guderian G. Memoirs of a Soldier. Smolensk, 1999.
Kurt von Tippelskirch. Second World War, St. Petersburg, 1998.
Meltyukhov M.I. Soviet-Polish wars. Military-political confrontation 1918-1939. M., 2001.
http://victory.rusarchives.ru/index.php?p=32&sec_id=60
http://poland1939.ru/
The demand to transfer Danzig (Gdansk), which had the status of a free city, to Germany, and to provide the right to build German highways and a railway through the Polish corridor. Goebels propaganda began to accuse the Polish government of discriminating against the German population living in Poland. On April 28, 1939, Germany broke the 1934 German-Polish non-aggression pact.
On August 25, 1939, the German battleship Schleswig Holstein arrived in Gdansk, the captain of which had an order from the Fuhrer on September 1, 1939 at 4 o'clock. 45 min. fire the first cannon salvo at the Polish fortifications on the Westerplatte peninsula.
Trying to justify their aggressive actions to the world community and their own people, the Nazis carried out an insidious provocation, which served as the reason for the start of the Second World War.
A group of armed SS men dressed in Polish uniforms burst into the premises of a radio station in the border city of Gleiwitz and seized it. Having fired several times in front of the microphone, the Nazis read out a text in Polish that called for war with Germany. Soon all radio stations in Germany broadcast an emergency message about the attack of the Polish army on German territory. Similar provocations were carried out by order of the Nazi command in other sections of the German-Polish border. The attack in Gleiwitz was used as a pretext for an attack on Poland.
And in September 1939, at 4 hours 45 minutes, Hitler's aircraft bombed the main communications, airfields, industrial and military facilities, economic and administrative centers of the country. The Wehrmacht ground forces broke into Poland from the territory of Silesia (Army Group Center under the command of Colonel General G. Rundstedt), Pomerania and East Prussia (Army Group North under the command of Colonel General F. Bock), received orders to attack Warsaw. The German battleship Schleswig-Goldstein opened fire on the Westerplatte peninsula.
By the beginning of the war, the Polish army consisted of 24 infantry divisions and 12 brigades numbering 1 million people, 4.3 thousand guns, 220 light tanks and 650 tankettes. Aviation had 824 aircraft, of which only half could be used in combat. The High Command was unable to ensure the rapid implementation of general mobilization and achieve a strategically successful deployment of Polish armies that were able to withstand the onslaught of the Wehrmacht.
The fascist German troops, having a significant superiority in manpower and equipment, broke through the Polish defenses and rapidly advanced into the interior of Poland. In 4 days the Germans covered 100 km. Most of the Polish aircraft were destroyed on the first day of the war. As a result of fierce bombing, the Polish rear was disorganized and important roads were destroyed. The army could not withstand the enemy's onslaught. Within a week, the North Silesian industrial region, Krakow, Kielce and Lodz were occupied. On September 11, German tanks and motorized units reached the suburbs of Warsaw. The armies of the Southern Group of Forces continued their attack on Przemysl and Lvov.
On September 16, the Germans occupied Bialystok, Belskikh, Brest-Litovsk, Przemysl, Sambir, and approached Lvov. The defeat of the Polish army was completed. Although in some areas of the country troops, with the support of the population, heroically and courageously resisted the aggressor: on September 9, the Polish army “Poznan” defeated German troops in the Battle of Bzura, posing a threat to the enemy’s rear communications; the Modlin fortress held out until September 30; Until October 2, the garrison fought on the Hel Peninsula.
Moscow ordered its troops to cross the border according to the secret German-Soviet agreement of August 23. Officially, the USSR justified its aggression by the need to “come to the aid of Ukrainians and Belarusians.”
On September 17, 1939, the Red Army received an order to cross the border and take under its protection the lives and property of the population of Western Ukraine. Soviet troops invaded the territory of the Polish state and occupied Western Ukrainian lands. German troops that advanced to the Sokal-Lviv-Stry line were forced to retreat beyond the demarcation line provided for by the agreement between Hitler and Stalin. Polish President Moscicki and his government fled to Romania, where they were interned. On September 19, a Soviet-German communiqué was published in which it was noted that the Soviet and German troops were tasked with “restoring peace and order”, which had been disrupted due to the collapse of the Polish state.
On September 22, the Red Army entered Lviv, and on September 27, Warsaw capitulated. The next day, Ribbentrop signed a friendship treaty and a protocol in Moscow that finally defined the border between Germany and the USSR along the so-called Curzon Line. The USSR received 200 thousand square meters. km of territory with a population of 12 million. Germany annexed the Polish northern and northwestern regions with a total area of about 90 thousand square meters. km, where 10 million people lived; of these, only 2% were Germans.
By decree of October 12, 1939, Hitler created a General Government in the occupied Polish territories, the civil government of which was directly subordinate to the Fuhrer. Almost 20% of its territory was made up of Ukrainian ethnic lands, where more than 500 thousand Ukrainians lived.
