The Polish September Campaign refers to the conquest of Poland by the armies of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and a small contingent of Slovak forces. The campaign began on 1 September 1939 and ended on 6 October 1939 with Germany and the Soviet Union occupying Poland.
This military operation marks the start of the Second World War within the European theatre. It was one of the first campaigns featuring the use of blitzkrieg tactics.
Polish government and remaining forces evacuated to Romania and later, France and United Kingdom. Polish territories were completely occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union. Soviet territories were later captured by Germany as well. Poland managed to create a strong resistance movement and to contribute military forces to the Allies through the remainder of World War II.
Names of the conflict
The conflict is known under several names. From the German perspective the war is called the "September Campaign". Polish historians call it Wojna obronna 1939 ("Defence War of 1939"). Other names include "Polish-German War of 1939" and "Polish Campaign".
The German operational plan was codenamed by the Wehrmacht as Fall Weiß ("Fall Weiss" or "Case White").
Campaign Details
Recent research by the Polish National Remembrance Institute (IPN) indicates, that after staging a number of false provocations (Operation Himmler), the first regular act of war took place on 1 September 1939, 04:40 local time, when Luftwaffe attacked the town of Wieluń. Five minutes later, at 04:45 local time, the old German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish enclave of Westerplatte in Gdańsk by the Baltic Sea. At 08:00 local time, German troops attacked Poland near the town of Mokra. Later that day the front was opened along Poland's Western, Southern and Northern borders, while German aircraft started raids on Polish cities.
Despite some Polish successes in minor border battles, German technical and numerical superiority forced the Polish armies to withdraw towards Warsaw and Lwów. Westerplatte garrison capitulated on 7 September. The largest battle during this campaign (Battle of Bzura) took place near the Bzura river west of Warsaw from 9 September to 18 September - it was the Polish attempt at a counter-attack, which failed after an initial success. Warsaw, under heavy aerial bombardment from the first hours of the war, was first attacked on 9 September and was put under siege from September 13 until its capitulation on 28 September.
The Modlin Fortress north of Warsaw, capitulated on 29 September, after intense 16-days battle.
Polish defenders on the Hel peninsula on the shore of the Baltic Sea held out until 2 October. The capitulation of the town of Kock near Lublin on 6 October, after a 4-day Battle of Kock, marked the end of the September Campaign.
Tanks and aircraft (particularly fighter and ground attack aircraft like the famous Junkers Ju 87 Stuka) played a major role in the fighting. Bomber aircraft also attacked cities and civilian targets causing huge losses amongst the civilian population in what became known as terror bombings.
Soviet aggression
From September 17, 1939, the Soviet Red Army invaded the Eastern regions of Poland that had not yet been involved in military operations.
While the Soviet diplomacy claimed that they were 'protecting the Russian minority inhabiting Poland in view of Polish imminent collapse', in fact they were acting in co-operation with Nazi Germany, carrying out their part of a secret deal (the division of Europe into Nazi and Soviet spheres of influences, as specified in the secret appendix of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact).
Polish border defences forces (Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza) in the east (about 25 battalions) were unable to defend the border and were ordered by Edward Rydz-Smigly to fall back. This however did not prevent some clashes and small battles.
The Soviet invasion was one of the decisive factors that convinced the Polish government that the war in Poland was lost. Prior to the Soviet attack from the East, the Polish military plan called for long-term defence against Germany in the southern-eastern part of the Poland (near the Romanian border), while awaiting relief from an attack on the western border of Germany by the Western Allies. Facing two powerful enemies - Nazi Germany and Soviet Union - the Polish government decided that it was impossible to carry out the defence on Polish territories and ordered all units to evacuate Poland and reorganize in France.
Important battles
All campaigns are composed of various battles. Some of the more notable engagements of the September Campaign are:
- Battle of Bzura (September 9 - September 18) - failed Polish counter-attack, the biggest battle of the campaign
- Battle of Warsaw (September 8 - September 28) - siege of the Polish capital
- Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski (September 17 - September 20) - second biggest battle of the campaign
- Battle of Kock (October 2 - October 5) - the last battle of the campaign
Forces involved
Poland:
Invading forces:
Aftermath
At the end of the September Campaign, Poland was divided between Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, Lithuania and Slovakia. Nazi Germany annexed parts of Poland, while the rest was governed by the so-called General Government.
About 65,000 Polish troops were killed and 680,000 were captured by the Germans (420,000) or Soviets (240,000). Up to 120,000 Polish troops withdrew to neutral Romania (through the Romanian Bridgehead) and Hungary and 20,000 to Latvia and Lithuania, with the majority eventually making their way to France or Britain. Most of the Polish Navy succeeded in evacuation to Britain as well.
The invasion of Poland led to Britain and France declaring war on Germany on September 3, however they did little to affect the outcome of the September Campaign. This lack of direct help during the September 1939 led many Poles to the believe that they have been betrayed by their Western allies. In the meantime Poland fulfilling her alliance obligations did not surrender in 1939, but rather set up a government-in-exile (Polish Government in Exile) in France (later in United Kingdom) connected to the extensive underground civil and military organisation (Polish Secret State) as legal successors to their pre-1939 government. During the German occupation, the Poles continued their struggle as one of the most extremely restive and organised populations under Nazi rule. Until United States and Soviet Union entered the war, Poland even with its territories occupied had the third biggest army at Western Allies disposal.
The Polish campaign was important as the first step in Hitler's drive for "living space" for Germans in Eastern Europe, and as the blitzkrieg decimated urban residential areas, civilians soon became indistinguishable from combatants. The forthcoming Nazi occupation (General Government, Reichsgau Wartheland) was one of the most brutal episodes of World War II, resulting in over 6 million Polish deaths (over 20% of country's inhabitants), including the mass murder of 3 million Polish Jews in concentration camps like Auschwitz. Soviet occupation, while shorter, also resulted in millions of deaths, when all who were deemed dangerous to the communist regime were subject to Sovietization, forced resettlement, imprisonment in labour camps (the Gulags) or simply murdered, like Polish officers in the Katyn massacre. Soviet atrocities commenced again after the Poland was 'liberated' by Red Army in 1944, with events like the persecutions of Armia Krajowa soldiers and executions of their leaders.
Polish army equipment and tactics
Poland has been preparing for defensive war for many years, however most plans assumed German aggression would not happen before 1942. Polish military industry development and fortifications were scheduled to be completed in that year, and newer tanks and aircraft were just entering production or would shortly.
The Polish Air Force was at a severe disadvantage against the German Luftwaffe. Although its pilots were highly trained, the Polish Air Force lacked modern fighter aircraft, and the Germans had gross numerical superiority: Poland had approximately 400 hundred aircraft, including 169 fighters, and Germany had approximately 3,000 aircraft. Their main fighter, the Polish PZL P.11, was designed in early-1930s and was becoming obsolete, the newer PZL P.24 were used solely for export and PZL P.50s, which were supposed to have better parameters then German modern fighters, were still on the drawing board. As the result, the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110 fighters were faster and better armed, and most German bombers could also outrun the Polish fighters. On the other hand, P.11 were more maneuvreable, and despite the German superiority is speed, armament and numbers, P.11s downed a considerable number of German aircraft, including fighters, although suffering heavy losses as well. The exact numbers are not verified, but some sources claim that at least one German plane shot down for each P.11 lost (a figure of 141 German planes is often given as compared with 118 planes lost).
One of the most interesting units in the Polish arsenal was the twin-engine medium bomber, the PZL.37 Łoś. Before the war it was one of the world's most modern and outstanding bombers. Smaller than most contemporary medium bombers, it was still able to carry a heavier bomb load than comparable aircraft, including the famous Vickers Wellington. It was relatively fast and easy to handle. Thanks to a landing gear with double wheels, it could operate from rough fields or meadows. The only drawback was its relatively weak defensive armament, consisting of 3 machine guns. Its range was also limited, but the Łoś was not meant to be a long range bomber. During the September Campaign, they were too few in number to change the outcome, and often lacking fighter cover, sustained heavy losses.
- Airplanes:
- PZL P.7, fighter
- PZL P.11, fighter
- PZL P.24, fighter, an export variant of the PZL P.11, not used during the September Campaign
- PZL.37 Łoś, twin-engine medium bomber
- PZL.23 Karaś, light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft
Poland possessed numerically inferior armoured forces. Polish units were dispersed within infantry and unable to effectively engage in any major panzer battles. The Germans opposite them had 3,000 tanks, organised into independent divisions under blitzkrieg doctrine. In terms of equipment, the Poles had 132 7TP light tanks, which were capable of destroying any German armour, including the Panzer IV, and less then 300 tankettes,
In addition to tanks, Poland successfully used armoured trains against Germans, who were unprepared to face this kind of combat vehicle. The losses Germans incurred against Polish trains convinced them to reintroduce this type of vehicle into their own army after the September Campaign.
Finally, another interesting equipment used with success by Polish forces was the 7.92 mm Karabin przeciwpancerny wz.35 anti-tank rifle. It was quite successful against German light tanks, although, as with most of the Polish modern equipment, the production was just beginning when the war started.
The Polish Navy was a small fleet composed of destroyers and submarines. Most of Polish units evaded German forces and escaped to the North Sea to join with the British Royal Navy.
- Warships
- ORP Błyskawica, a destroyer
- ORP Wicher, a destroyer, the only Polish major ship sunk in 1939
- ORP Grom, a destroyer
- ORP Burza, a destroyer
- ORP Orzel, a submarine
- ORP Sęp, a submarine
- ORP Wilk, a submarine
- ORP Ryś, a submarine
- ORP Żbik, a submarine
- smaller ships
Myths
There are some common myths about the Polish Campaign. Although Poland had 11 cavalry brigades and its doctrine emphasized cavalry units as elites, other armies of that time (including Germany) also fielded and extensively used cavalry units. Polish cavalry never charged on German tanks nor entrenched machine guns but usually acted as mobile infantry units and executed cavalry charges only in rare situations.
Secondly, the Polish Air Forces, though numerically inferior and lacking modern fighters, were not destroyed on airfields and remained active in the first two weeks of the campaign, causing some harm to the Germans. Skilled Polish pilots who escaped to the United Kingdom after the German occupation were employed by the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Fighting from British bases, Polish pilots were also, on average, the most successful in shooting down German planes.
It should be noted that the September campaign lasted only about one week less than the Battle of France in 1940.
Quotes
- ...in general the bravery and heroism of the Polish Army merits great respect - Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, commander of Army Group South
See also
External links
References
- Steven Zaloga, The Polish Army 1939-1945, Osprey Publishing, 1982, ISBN 0850454174
- Steve Zaloga, Howard Gerrard, Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg, Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1841764086
- Peter Charles Smith, Stuka Spearhead: The Lightning War from Poland to Dunkirk 1939-1940, Greenhill Books, 1998, ISBN 1853673293
- Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, Between Nazis and Soviets: Occupation Politics in Poland, 1939-1947, Lexington Books, 2004, ISBN 0739104845
- Robert M Kennedy, The German campaign in Poland (1939), Zenger Pub. Co, 1980, ISBN 0892010649
- Anita J. Prazmowska, Britain and Poland 1939-1943 : The Betrayed Ally, Cambridge University Press, 1995, ISBN 0521483859
- Diemut Majer, Peter Thomas Hill, Edward Vance Humphrey, Brian Levin, Non-Germans under the Third Reich: The Nazi Judicial and Administrative System in Germany and Occupied Eastern Europe, with Special Regard to Occupied Poland, 1939-1945, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003, ISBN 0801864933
- Richard C. Lukas, Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944, Hippocrene Books, Inc, 2001, ISBN 0781809010,
- Alexander B. Rossino, Hitler Strikes Poland: Blitzkrieg, Ideology and Atrocity, University Press of Kansas, 2003, ISBN 0700612343
- Jan T. Gross, Revolution from Abroad: The Soviet Conquest of Poland's Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia, Princeton University Press, 2002, ISBN 0691096031
- Keith Sword, The Soviet Takeover of the Polish Eastern Provinces, 1939-41, Palgrave Macmillan, 1991, ISBN 0312055706