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SEPTEMBER 1939
INVASION OF POLAND
FALL WEISS
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September 1st 1939 was unusually clear skied, dry but devoid of the overwhelming heat of summer.It was the best time weather wise for any aggressor to attack.Aircraft had perfect visibility,both vehicles and tanks could move rapidly over dirt track roads and across dry river beds and to have this sort of weather before a battle you must rely only on pure luck.
As a twist of fate at 4.45am Adolph Hitler's operation Fall Weiss (white plan) was launched and fifty three divisions of the German Army around 1,5 million men including the 6 armored divisions and all they motorized units commanded by General Von Brauchitsch cut through Poland's frontier at several points supported for the first time in the history of combat by close air and mobile ground support (Blitzkrieg tactics).Initial defences were overrun in hours and highly mobile armoured formations struck deep into the Polish interior.
Bock leads Army Group North, consisting of the 4th Army (Kuchler) and 3rd Army (Kluge); Rundstedt leads Army Group South, consisting of 8th Army (Balskowitz), 10th Army (Reichenau) and 14th Army (List). Air support comes from two Air Fleets, commanded by Kesselring and Lohr, which have around 1,600 aircraft. Army Group South, advancing from Silesia, is to provide the main German attacks. The 8th Army on the left is to move toward Poznan, the principal thrust is to be delivered by 10th Army which is to advance in the center to the Vistula River between Warsaw and Sandomierz, while 14th Army on the right moves toward Krakow and the Carpathian flank. The 4th Army from East Prussia is to move south toward Warsaw and the line to the Bug River to the east; 3rd Army is to cross the Polish Corridor and join 4th Army in moving south.
However surprisingly,the early successes were only of a superficial nature.The Polish Poznan army had retreated to protect the capital city Warsaw.Large numbers of Polish troops that remained cut-off behind German lines prepared for a protracted guerrilla action.The forts of Hel and Ggynia still held back large numbers of German troops.Near Lwow a large motorised attacking force was completely destroyed and many other places German forces were forced to retreat.The war was far from lost.
During the day, the Luftwaffe launches air strikes on Warsaw, Lodz and Krakow. The Polish Commander in Chief, Marshal Rydz-Smigly, has deployed the stronger parts of his army in the northwestern half of the country, including large forces in the Poznan area and the Polish Corridor. He hopes to hold the Germans to only gradual gains.
The Polish army had the solid belief in the pacts of solidarity that the West (France,Great Britain and Allies) had given them.If Poland was attacked then the West would come to their aid.The combined military weight of the West even with the new kind of mobile warfare was more than enough to finish off Hitler in 1939 and end things there and then,provided the linch pin of Poland was not knocked out before help could arrive.With the out dated military equipment(all that a poor Polish agricultural economy of 35 million people could afford to industrialised Germanies 80 million people,although Poland had been very slowly re-equipping with modern planes and tanks to defend herself),time was all that was `on the table`and being played for in the highest stakes imaginable The Polish army fought bitterly for every minute of it.It was well known that Germany could only sustain a conflict for around several months as most raw materials were imported and the majority imported from the Soviet Union.
All along the front the superior training, equipment and strength of the Germans quickly brings them the advantage in the first battles. Many Polish units are overrun before their reinforcements from the reserve mobilization can arrive. At sea, as in the air, Polish technical inferiority leads to crushing early defeats. Three of the four Polish destroyers manage to leave for Britain before hostilities begin and later one submarine also escapes. On the first day the old pre-Dreadnought battleship, Schleswig-Holstein, bombards the Polish naval base at Westerplatte.
Britain and France declared war true to the pacts,however (Britain and France declared war 11.15 Sep 3rd), both were far too slow to mobalise their armed forces and did little more than send air raids of properganda leaflets over Germany (no actual bombs),inaction that would cost both countries and the world dear thereafter.France was supposed to launch attacks at the minimum three days after any assault on Polish territory and full scale operations about two weeks after.
Germany expected that her 25 divisions that faced westward would be overwhelmed by the allies 110 divisions in strength,but gambled that the Allies would be two slow to respond (in the event Britain was only ready for action by October,even then entering into complete inactivity facing the German lines,a period called the Phoney War.This time period allowed the German forces to re-group and re-equip their worn out and damaged machines).
But the decisive factor was a secret pact between dictators Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin to carve up Polands territory between themselves,the more surprising `friendship` as both had sent troops to the Spanish Civil war and fought bitterly against each other.On Sunday September 17th Russian forces attacked Poland along the entire immense length of her frontiers and organised Polish military resistance in her own country was at an end.
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THE REACTION OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
In Berlin... Officials claim that Polish army regulars started firing on Germans along the frontier and that the fire was returned beginning at 0445 hours. Hitler addresses the Reichstag during the day, declaring "I am determined to eliminate from the German frontiers the element of insecurity, the atmosphere which permanently resembles that of civil war."
From Warsaw... The Polish government appeals for British and French intervention under the terms of the Mutual Assistance Treaties.
In London... The British government demands a German withdrawal from Poland.
In Britain... Because of the fear of air attacks, the evacuation of young children from London and other supposedly vulnerable areas is begun. General mobilization is proclaimed. (The Royal Navy was mobilized on August 31st.) Air Raid Precautions (ARP) are introduced and a "blackout" enforced from sunset. British railways are taken under government control.
In Paris... The French government demands a German withdrawal from Poland.
In France... General mobilization and a "state of siege" (martial law) are proclaimed.
In Rome... The Italian government announces that it will not take any military initiative.
In the Soviet Union... The armed forces are mobilized and the draft age is lowered from 21 to 19.
In Washington... President Roosevelt calls for a ban on indiscriminate bombing of civilians and undefended towns.
In Oslo... The Norwegian government declares its neutrality.
In Bern... The Swiss government declares its neutrality.
In Helsinki... The Finnish government declares its neutrality.