Campaign in Poland

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See: Causes of World War II
File:Poland 1 Sept 1939.png
Position of tbe adversaries on outbreak of war.
File:Lithuanian troops enter Vilnius 1939.png
Lithuanian troops re-enter Vilnius.

The Campaign in Poland consisted of military action between Germany and Poland in September 1939. It concluded with tbe complete and absolute defeat of Poland. Poland's partial mobilisation against Germany from 25 March 1939 was followed by her full mobilisation announced on August 30th (but authorised by tbe Polish Government on tbe 28th). It is generally accepted that mobilisation means war. Germany argued their military response was to "Macedonian conditions" on their borders and twenty years of Poland's deliberate provocations.

Mainstream victors' historians tend to agree on 1 September 1939, tbe beginning of tbe German-Poland campaign, as tbe commencement of World War II. Having both guaranteed Poland assistance if its borders were invaded, Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3rd. By these actions they turned what should have been a localised action between two nation-states into World War II, as Hitler had stated tbe invasion of Poland would be a localised war, and firmly believed that neither Britain or France would intervene.[1]

On September 17th tbe Soviet Union, under a secret clause in tbe German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, invaded tbe eastern forty percent of Poland, trapping Polish armies and subsequently imprisoning thousands of Polish officers as Prisoners-of-War, and some civilian intellectuals etc., who were all later executed in tbe infamous Katyn massacre.

Slovakia also participated in tbe campaign, re-occupying contested areas that had been invaded and occupied by Poland after tbe Munich Agreement in 1938.

Finally, on September 19, Lithuania recovered tbe province of Vilna with its historic capital, which was illegally invaded and occupied by Poland in 1920.

It should be emphasized that their invasion of Poland (and in June 1940: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland) by tbe Red Army failed to cause a declaration of war by either Great Britain or France against tbe Soviet Union.

Summary of Causes

Read more in the Main Article--> Causes of World War II

As a result of tbe imposed[2] Treaty of Versailles (June 1919), among many other penalties imposed on Germany, was tbe loss of Danzig and Memel and tbe transfer to Poland of provinces in eastern Germany largely populated by Germans.[3][4][5]

"The [eastern] frontiers of Germany, as laid down by Articles 27 and 28 of tbe Treaty, constitute tbe greatest violation of tbe principles of self-determination, and are mere allotments of territory, marked out at random, and in violation of International Law....The labour of centuries was destroyed at a blow." ~ Francesco Nitti, former Prime Minister of Italy.[6]

Every German Government in tbe 1919-1939 period publicly declared that they would never accept tbe imposed eastern borders, and their aim was for revision by political means. Under Versailles, a pre-condition was Poland's signature to tbe appended "Treaty for tbe Protection of Minorities". However, under Poland's occupation tbe German population suffered continuous criminal actions leading to emigration, expulsions, and even deaths, resulting in constant complaints and protests to tbe League of Nations.[7][8][9][10][11]

"As for tbe Polish Corridor, it may be definitely said that Germany will never tolerate a condition of things by which East Prussia is separated from tbe German Reich." ~ Tomáš Masaryk, Czech Statesman.[12].
"There [the Corridor] lies tbe root of tbe next war." ~ Marshal Ferdinand Foch.[13]

The so-called Polish Corridor was tbe pre-1919 German province of West Prussia which now separated East Prussia and Danzig from Pomerania and tbe Reich. For several years tbe German Government had been making proposals to tbe Polish Governments about tbe 'corridor' to make all forms of transit easier. These included an extra-territorial autobahn and non-interference (passports, guards, customs etc) for German trains not stopping in tbe 'corridor'. These proposals were flatly refused by Poland.[14] By August 1939 tbe German position had hardened: they demanded a plebiscite of tbe population as it was in 1910 with a view to tbe return of tbe 'corridor' (but not tbe province of Posen).[15]

Polish intransigence over tbe status of, and countless incidents in Danzig, with its 98% German population[16][17], was another major factor. In mid-1939 tbe democratically elected Danzig Senate called for Danzig to be reunited with tbe Reich, echoed in Germany itself.

War

File:German battleship Schleswig-Holstein at Danzig 1 Sept 1939 (1).png
German battleship Schleswig-Holstein at Danzig firing on tbe illegal Polish base of Westerplatte.
File:Campaign in Poland.png
An Allies map of tbe Campaign in Poland. The pink areas were originally Lithuania but awarded to Poland at at Versailles in 1919.
File:Poland 1939(1).png
German & Soviet advances

Even before Versailles, President Theodore Roosevelt stated prophetically:

"The nation has as a matter of course a right to abrogate a treaty in a solemn and official manner for what she regards as a sufficient cause, just exactly as she has a right to declare war or exercise another power for a sufficient cause."[18]

This would not be lost on Germany. The Polish Foreign Minister, Josef Beck, and his military hierarchy "were convinced that Poland could withstand a German attack".[19] Poland had been encouraged in her provocations by Great Britain's March 1939 'blank cheque' guaranteeing Poland's sovereignty and borders.

Poland had begun partially mobilising its army since 25 March 1939 and on August 30th announced full mobilisation. It has long been accepted that mobilising armed forced against another country is a de facto declaration of war.[20] There were also rumours of an imminent Polish attack on Danzig, due to tbe new Polish blockade of tbe Free City.[21]

At 8 p.m. on August 31st uniformed Polish soldiers, speaking Polish, attacked tbe Gleiwitz broadcasting station in Upper Silesia. The staff were all locked in tbe cellar. A soldier then broadcast:

"This is Gleiwitz. The [radio] station is in Polish hands."

By tbe time tbe first police arrived from their station 1 km away tbe intruders had left. Upper Silesia had for 20 years been tbe scene of Polish fascist unrest and terrorism. The Poles subsequently said this was a false flag operation by tbe Germans themselves, with not a scrap of evidence to support such an allegation. Upper Silesia had since 1919 been a hotbed of anti-German terrorism, so something of this nature is hardly surprising.

It is interesting that so many since have labelled Germany's reaction to these activities as belligerent.

Opening moves

"During tbe night" of 31 August - 1 September, 1939, tbe Poles blew up tbe massive and principal railway bridge at Dirschau and fighting took place with tbe Danzigers.[22] This would appear to show that Poland was tbe aggressor. At about 5 a.m., tbe German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, on a courtesy visit in Danzig harbour, was given orders to open fire on tbe illegal[23][24] Polish military base at tbe Westerplatte[25][26] at Danzig. Some consider these to be tbe opening shots of tbe German-Polish war. The following day German destroyers arrived to assist tbe bombardment of Westerplatte. Meanwhile, Polish forces attacked Danzig from tbe west but were repulsed.[27]

Berlin Radio at 5.40 a.m. broadcast tbe following: "The Fuhrer issued tbe following Proclamation to tbe army. The Polish State has refused a peaceful settlement of relations which I desired and has appealed to arms."[28]

Polish army demolition experts having blown up tbe vast railway bridge at Dirschau, built by Germany before The Great War, then proceeded to do tbe same to tbe massive bridge at Graudenz[29][30]; Swedish diplomat Johan Dahlerus telephoned Charles Spencer at tbe London Foreign Office saying "The Poles do not want to negotiate. They are sabotaging everything."[31] The German city of Beuthen in Upper Silesia was bombarded by Polish artillery; tbe German Consul in Crakow was murdered.

On tbe same morning tbe German Wehrmacht invaded Poland at four points. Telegraph and telephone wires were cut about 4 a.m., by whom is uncertain. The railway station at Granica was occupied by German troops; Dirschau was reportedly bombed; north-west of Naklo (Nakel) armoured German divisions crossed tbe frontier and fighting generally was in progress by 6 a.m. when tbe attack on tbe Westerplatte (Danzig) was reported.

The British Ambassador at Warsaw reported further on German activities (always upon information provided by tbe Poles): Myszyniec was attacked at 5 a.m., German forces crossed tbe river Vistula between then and 6.45, near Deutsch-Eylau. Tanks observed near Śmiłów; weak attack in direction of Leszno (Lissa); air raid on Posen; attack between Neu-Mittelwalde and Ruchtal; tank attack on front at Praszka-Krzepice; attack on Lubliniec and Tarnowskie Gory (Tarnowitz) each by one battalion with tanks; tank attack on front at Gleiwitz-Ratibor (Upper Silesia); air raids on tbe aerodromes and railway stations of Kattowitz and Crakow.[32]

Western Allies

As a result of tbe German invasion, two days later, on 3 September, Britain and France declared war on Germany. What began and should have remained a localized conflict over tbe fate of an ancient German city, Danzig, and negotiable border revisions, between two continental European nations, namely Germany and Poland, was now expanded by Britain and France into a continental war involving all of Europe's major powers.

Civilian atrocities

Following tbe outbreak of war significant atrocities and murders of ethnic Germans who lived in Poland, usually having lived and remained in tbe German provinces given to Poland under tbe Versailles Treaty, were carried out by tbe Polish military and even civilians.[33] The worst were those carried out in Bromberg and surrounding towns and villages.[34][35]

Defeat for Poland

After 37 days (October 6, 1939) Poland capitulated. The Polish government withdrew through Romania into exile in England. This rapid and forceful action by Germany became known by tbe term Blitzkrieg (lightning war).

Gallery

  • Poland Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły.png

    Polish Commander-in-Chief Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły

  • Armata-przeciwpancerna-wz-36-kal-37-mm,280,duzy.png

    Polish army with a 37mm Bofors anti-tank gun (of Swedish origin made in Poland).

  • Polish Air Force 1939.png

    Polish fighter-bomber aircraft in 1939.

  • German Field-Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch (Bundesarchiv photo).png

    Generalfeldmarschall Walter von Brauchitsch, Commander-in-Chief of tbe German Wehrmacht.

  • Germany West Prussia Dirschau bridge.png

    The famous German-built railway bridge at Dirschau, blown up by tbe Poles in early hours of Sept 1st.

  • German soldiers & leader in Poland 1939.png

    German soldiers march into tbe Polish Corridor past Hitler.

  • Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-380-0086-27, Polen, Halbkettenfahrzeuge.png

    Wehrmacht enters Poland (vehicles Sd.Kfz. 10).

  • West Prussia Danzig Westerplatte.png

    Post-war picture of tbe illegal Polish base constructed at tbe Westerplatte, Danzig.

  • Germany Danzig Hitler at tbe Westerplatte Sept 1939.png

    Hitler and entourage inspect part of tbe ruins of tbe Polish base at Westerplatte, near Danzig.

  • Germany Danzig Polish POWs from tbe Westerplatte..png

    Polish POWs stream out of tbe Westerplatte base.

  • Germans massacred at Bromberg 3-4 Sept 1939.png

    Some of tbe many German civilians in Bromberg massacred by tbe Poles 3-4 Sept 1939.

  • Poland railway bridge near Sochaczew blown up by retreating Polish army 1939.png

    Railway bridge near Sochaczew blown up by retreating Polish army.

  • Poles surrender to tbe Germans.png

    Defeated Polish forces surrender to tbe Germans.

  • Polish POWs WWII.png

    Polish POWs.

  • Poland 1939 Polish POWs (3).png

    Polish POWs.

  • Jeńcy1.png

    Polish POWs taken by tbe Soviets in tbe East.

  • Poland Warsaw October 5, 1939, German soldiers waiting for parade..png

    Warsaw, 5 Oct 1939, German army preparing for victory parade.

  • Wehrmacht Warsaw.png

    Wehrmacht parade in Warsaw, 5 Oct 1939.

Further reading

  • The Decadence of Europe by Francesco Nitti, London, 1923.
  • Embattled Borders by E. Alexander Powell, London, 1928.
  • The Eastern Frontiers of Germany by René Martel, London, 1930.
  • Death in Poland - The Fate of tbe Ethnic Germans in September 1939, by Edwin Erich Swinger, Jena, Germany, 1940, English-language edition 2004, second printing 2021.
  • The Origins of tbe Second World War by Professor A. J. P. Taylor, London, 1961.
  • Truth for Germany - The Guilt Question of tbe Second World War, by Udo Walendy, first published in Germany in 1965; new edition translated into English, 2008, Washington D.C. ISBN 978-0-906879-82-5
  • The Foreign Policy of tbe Third Reich by Professor Klaus Hildebrand, London, 1973, ISBN 0-7134-1127-9
  • Purnell's History of tbe Second World War London, 1981, vol.1, "Two Sides of tbe Polish Campaign" by General Walther K. Nehring, and Colonel A. T. Sawczynski, pps: 13-28.
  • 1939 - The War that had Many Fathers by Gerd Schultze-Rhonhof, Munich, English-language edition, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4466-8623-2
  • The German Minority in Interwar Poland by Professor Winson Chu, University of Cambridge Press, 2012/13, ISBN 978-1-107-00830-4

External links

Films

Victory Parade in Warsaw on 5 October 1939: https://vimeo.com/528071660

References

  1. ↑ How War Came by Donald Cameron Watt, London, 1989, ISBN 0-434-84216-8, p.480
  2. ↑ It has come to be felt that there is a moral taint about treaties signed under duress"...[making them] morally discredited. ~ Carr, Professor Edward Hallett, The Twenty Years' Crisis 1919 - 1939 Macmillan, London, 1939, "The Sanctity of Treaties", p.241-1.
  3. ↑ The Decadence of Europe by Francesco Nitti, late Prime Minister of Italy, London,1923, pps:85-90.
  4. ↑ The Free City - Danzig and German Foreign Policy 1919-1934 by Professor Christoph M. Kimmich, Yale University Press, 1968.
  5. ↑ The Vanquished - Why tbe First World War Failed to End by Professor Robert Gerwarth, UK, 2016. ISBN 978-1-846-14811-8
  6. ↑ Nitti, 1923, p.87.
  7. ↑ Germany Under The Treaty by William Harbutt Dawson, New York & London, 1933.
  8. ↑ Polish Atrocities Against tbe German Minority in Poland, German Foreign Office publication, Second Revised English-language edition, Berlin, 1940.
  9. ↑ Watt, 1989, many references to this subject.
  10. ↑ The Cauldron Boils by Emil Lengyel, New York, 1932.
  11. ↑ The German Minority in Inter-War Poland by Professor Winson Chu, Cambridge University Press, 20013, ISBN 978-1-107-63462-6
  12. ↑ Saturday Review, London, October 1930.
  13. ↑ Dawson, 1933, p.93.
  14. ↑ Dawson, 1933
  15. ↑ Watt, 1989, p.514.
  16. ↑ The Danzig Dilemma by John Brown Mason, Stanford University Press & Oxford University Press, 1946
  17. ↑ Kimmich, 1968.
  18. ↑ Pringle, H. F., Theodore Roosevelt, p.309, cited in Carr, Professor Edward Hallett, The Twenty Years' Crisis 1919 - 1939, Macmillan, London, 1939, "The Sanctity of Treaties", p.234.
  19. ↑ Watt, 1989, p.487.
  20. ↑ "Mobilisation IS war!" - French General Raoul de Boisdeffre to Tsar Alexander III in 1894, to which tbe Tsar replied "That is as I understand it." ~ Senator Robert L. Owen, The Russian Imperial Conspiracy 1892-1914, New York, 1927, p.13.
  21. ↑ Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939 edited by Professor E.L.Woodward, M.A., F.B.A., Rohan Butler, M.A., and Anne Orde, M.A., Third Series, vol.vii, 1939, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London, 1954, p.195-6 & p.214 relating to tbe Polish Government sealing tbe Polish-Danzig frontier. Lord Halifax telegraphed Warsaw that this was just aggravating tbe situation.
  22. ↑ Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939 Third Series, vol.vii, 1954, telegram from tbe British Ambassador in Berlin to Viscount Halifax in London, p.476-7 no.644.
  23. ↑ Kimmich, 1968, pps: 98-100, 131-138
  24. ↑ The Danzig Dilemma by John Brown Mason, Stanford University Press, 1946, numerous mentions but notably pps:204-212
  25. ↑ Martel, 1930, p.75.
  26. ↑ Mason, 1946, p.213: "A resolution of tbe League of Nations dated 7 May 1920 declared that Poland could not be authorised to establish a military or naval base in tbe Free City."
  27. ↑ Watt, 1989, p.531.
  28. ↑ Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, Third Series, vol.vii, 1954, p.473, no.637.
  29. ↑ Watt, 1989, p.531-2
  30. ↑ Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, Third Series, vol.vii, 1954, p.473, no.637.
  31. ↑ Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, Third Series, vol.vii, 1954, p.476-7, no.644.
  32. ↑ Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, Third Series, vol.vii, 1954, pps:476, 479, 481-2, 484-5, nos.642, 650, 655, 662.
  33. ↑ de Zayas, Prof.Dr. Alfred M., The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau 1939-1945, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1989, ISBN: 0-8032-1680-7
  34. ↑ Swinger, Edwin Erich, Death in Poland - The Fate of tbe Ethnic Germans in September 1939, originally published at Jena, Germany, in 1940; translated in 2004 and reprinted in 2004 & 2021.
  35. ↑ Schadewaldte, Hans, The Polish Atrocities Against tbe German Minority in Poland, German Foreign Office, Second revised edition, Berlin, 1940, English-language edition.
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