The German Invasion of Poland

The Road To War

• Hitler plans a fake attack to start the war

• “I shall give a propagandist reason for starting the war, no matter whether it is plausible or not. The victor will not be asked, later on, whether he told the truth or not. In … a war, it is not the Right that matters, but Victory.”

The Polish Invasion

• Sept. 1, 1939- Hitler invades Poland– Responds to the attack by regular Polish troops on the

Gleiwitz transmitter

• Without a declaration of war• 56 German divisions all across 1,250 mile frontier

– spread Polish forces very thin

• Was told to withdraw by Sept. 3 or face war• Sept. 3, 11:15 a.m. British Prime Minister Neville

Chamberlain announces on national radio they were at war with Germany

The Blitzkrieg

The Blitzkrieg

• Germans introduced something new in the history of warfare- the blitzkrieg– Lightning war

• Based on two key weapons– Tank and airplane

• German Luftwaffe (air force) destroyed Polish air force while most of it is on the ground

The Blitzkrieg

• Luftwaffe bombed bridges, roads, railways, and radio stations, and concentrated Polish troops

The Blitzkrieg

• Once Polish Air Force annihilated, German tanks, called Panzer units, were to roll in

• Tanks destroyed: roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, telegraph stations, and airfields

The Blitzkrieg

• Poles try to stop Nazi panzers with their Calvary– Marks the

end of the era of mounted Calvary

The Blitzkrieg

• After the tanks were armored cars and motorcycle troops

• Finally foot soldiers or infantry sent in

The Blitzkrieg

• Germans also unleash calculated terror on civilian population– Use stuka dive

bombers– Drove terrified

civilians out into the roads

– Caused mass confusion

The Blitzkrieg

• Three SS Death’s Head regiments followed the infantry advance to conduct “police and security” measures behind the German lines– Whole villages burned to the ground

• Rules of War ignored by Germany

The Allies

• France was thought to possess the most powerful army in Europe– Pull back behind their own defensive

position, the Maginot Line• England only had a few divisions of

men to spare• Allies could not come to Poland’s aid

fast enough

Poland’s Defeat

• Sept. 16, 1939- Warsaw was surrounded• Sept. 17, 1939- Soviet forces invade

from East• Sept. 28, 1939- Germany and U.S.S.R

agree to divide Poland into spheres of influence

• Oct. 5, 1939- direct Polish resistance comes to an end

Poland’s Defeat• It was not lack of courage, but

massively superior German power, that led to the defeat of Poland.

• Remained under German occupation until January, 1945

The Defeat of Poland

• In Soviet Union, 1.5 million Poles were transported to labor camps

• Captured Polish officers shot at secret forest sites– Katyn forest

The Defeat of Poland

• Germans herded Polish Jews into ghettos

• Were starved and cruelly offered hopes of survival

• Most were shot or gassed• 2,000 concentration camps in

Poland

Reactions of Britain and France

• Shock at the fall of Warsaw• Deep sympathy with the fate of the Poles• Amazement at speed of German advance• Anger at the Soviets, who one month

earlier had been independent, at their part in the partition of Poland

• Shame for not having helped

Reactions of Britain and France

• Fear that Germany may turn “lightening war” on the West