User:WeatherWriter/Timeline of the invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland was a joint offensive on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, the Free City of Danzig, and the Soviet Union, which marked the beginning of World War II. The invasion began on 1 September 1939, when German, Slovak, and Danzig forces entered Poland. The Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September. The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. The aim of the invasions was to disestablish Poland as a sovereign country, with its citizens destined for extermination.[1][2]
The following is a timeline of the invasion, which includes events preluding to the offensives, battles and attacks during the invasion, before ending with the last Polish armed forces surrendering on 6 October, which then begins the Polish resistance movement against the German Military Administration in Poland and the Soviet Union occupational administration.
Prelude
[edit]- 15 June: The German Military High Command finalized the plans for an invasion of Poland, codenamed Operation Fall Weiss, also known as Operation White Castle.[3][4][5]
- 17 August: Following German advances that started in early 1939, Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet Union Foreign Affairs Minister, after the failure to find a diplomatic agreement with the Allies, agreed to secretive diplomatic talks with the Germans.[6]
- 21 August: Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, arrives in Moscow for negotiations with Molotov.[6]
- 23 August: The Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, was signed by Molotov and Ribbentrop. The treaty established a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, with a secret protocol establishing Soviet and German spheres of influence across Eastern Europe, including the division of Poland between the two countries.[7][6][8] The treaty's existence was rumored to exist among the Allies throughout World War II, and was only proven to exist during the Nuremberg trials.[9]
- 25 August:
- Adolf Hitler, dispatches orders to the Wehrmacht to invade Poland on 26 August following the plans of Case White.[10]
- The United Kingdom signs an agreement with Poland, reaffirming mutual military assistance between the nations if either was attacked by some "European country", as agreed upon in the Anglo-Polish alliance.[10][11]
- 26 August:
- Hitlers postpones the invasion of Poland after being "considerably shaken" (according to General Franz Halder) by the reaffirmation of the Anglo-Polish alliance.[10]
- Approximately 70 German Abwehr agents, commanded by Lieutenant Hans-Albrecht Herzner, attacked and failed to capture a key rail station and tunnel in the Jablunkov Pass in Poland. The attack, which became known as the Jabłonków incident, was part of Case White. Herzner was unaware Hitler had postponed the invasion at the last moment. The Jabłonków incident has been named the first commando operation of World War II.[12]
- 28 August: German saboteur Anton Guzy planted and detonated two time bombs hidden in suitcases at the Tarnów train station in Poland, killing 20 people and injuring 35 others.[10][13][14]
- 29 August: Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Józef Beck ordered military mobilization, but cancelled the mobilization after pressure from the United Kingdom and France.[15]
- 30 August:
- The Polish government orders general mobilization of the military again, to go into effect on 31 August.[15]
- Poland launches Operation Peking, which successfully evacuates three destroyers of the Polish Navy, the Burza, Błyskawica, and Grom, to the United Kingdom.[16]
- The Polish government announces that it has carried out defensive mining operations in its territorial waters.[17]
- 31 August:
- Nazi sympathizer Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, sent a message to Victor Emmanuel III, the King of Italy, asking for Italy to intervene and try to prevent Germany and Poland from going to war.[18]
- Hitler signs off and orders Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the Schutzstaffel (SS), to execute Operation Himmler, which consisted of several false flag operations to create various pretexts for an invasion of Poland.[10][19]
- Under Operation Himmler, SS officers, led by Alfred Naujocks, wearing Polish military uniforms, attacked the Gleiwitz Radio Station in Gleiwitz in Germany (today Gliwice, Poland). Oskar Schindler, who is known for saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, assisted the SS in the attack.[10][19]
- Germany sends a last-minute ultimatum to Poland, which included 16 demands. Hitler later gave a speech announcing Poland rejected these demands before the invasion started, despite the ultimatum not being presented to Poland prior to the invasion.[10][19][20]
September
[edit]1 September
[edit]
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- Around 04:30 German Stukas III./KG1 dive bombers attack Polish sapper positions around the Tczew Road Bridge in the unsuccessful attempt to preempt the demolition of the bridge. This is widely recognized as the first attack of the invasion of Poland and subsequently World War II.[21][10]
- At 04:45, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opens fire on the Polish garrison at Westerplatte, Free City of Danzig, starting the battle of Westerplatte.[10]
- At 04:45, the Free City of Danzig Police began attacking the Polish Post Office in Danzig.[10]
- At 04:45, the Luftwaffe targeted civilians during the bombing of Wieluń, which marked the first German war crime in World War II.[10][22]
- At 05:00, approximately 50,000 Slovak soldiers cross the Polish border, beginning the Slovak invasion of Poland.
- At 05:00, the German Tenth Army, 31st Infantry Division, 1st and 4th Panzer Divisions crossed the Polish border and engaged the Polish Volhynian Cavalry Brigade and 7th Infantry Division near the village of Mokra. The subsequent battle of Mokra led to one of the few Polish victories during World War II, as confusion among the German lines led to the Germans firing on their own positions.[10]
- Around 05:15, 225 German Marinestosstruppkompanie (marine shock-troops) and 1,500 Free City of Danzig Police engaged Polish defenders during the battle of Westerplatte. During the engagement, Polish Staff Sergeant Wojciech Najsarek was killed by machine-gun fire. Najsarek has been described as the first Polish combat casualty of the battle and perhaps of World War II.[23][24]
- The German 3rd Army began attacking the town of Mława, which was defended by the Polish 20th Infantry Division. This attack began the German offensive known as the Battle of the Border.[10][25]
- The German 4th Army advanced into the Polish Corridor, but was stopped by a Polish counterattack near Krojanty. The counterattack, known as the charge at Krojanty, was by the 18th Uhlans and gave birth to the myth of Polish cavalry attacking German tanks. The battle at Krojanty was one of the several engagements during the Battle of Tuchola Forest, where German forces were attempting to connect mainland Germany with East Prussia through the Tuchola Forest.[26]
- The German 7th Infantry Division, under the command of Major General Eugen Ott, attacked fortified Polish defenses near Węgierska Górka. During the battle, the Germans outnumbers the Polish defenders 100 to 1, but suffered "heavy casualties" after breakthrough attempts were repelled.[10] An eyewittness account of the battle was documented in From Lemberg to Bordeaux ('Von Lemberg bis Bordeaux'), written by Leo Leixner, a journalist and war correspondent.[27]
- The German 5th Panzer Division began attacking the Polish 6th Infantry Division near Pszczyna amid the Battle of the Border.[10]
- The Polish Navy launches Operation Worek, in which Poland's five submarines formed a screen in order to prevent German naval forces from carrying out landings on the Polish coast, and to attack enemy ships bombarding Polish coastal fortifications, in particular the base on the Hel Peninsula.[10][28][29]
- The German military launches an assault on the Polish Hel Fortified Area, which would last until 2 October.[10]
- At 11:00, several hours after the invasion of Poland began, Hitler gives a speech at the German Reichstag, announcing a declaration of war against Poland, using the false flag attacks during Operation Himmler and Poland declining Germany's ultimatum a few hours earlier as justifications for the invasion.[10][30]
- The Einsatzgruppen, the death squads branch of the SS, begin Operation Tannenberg in Poland, which would kill around 20,000 selected Poles in two months.[31]
- The Free City of Danzig is annexed by Germany.[32][33]
- The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes an emergency military budget, preparing for war against Germany.[34]
- Polish Navy warships were attacked by German Luftwaffe aircraft in Gdańsk Bay (then Danzig Bay). The subsequent battle of Danzig Bay was the first naval-air battle of World War II.[10]
2 September
[edit]- The Polish 16th Pomeranian Infantry Division counterattacks and recaptures lost territory during the battle of Grudziądz.[10][35]
- The German 4th Army crosses the Brda River.[35]
- In Stutthof, Germany, (formerly part of the Free City of Danzig), a prisoner-of-war camp for Polish prisoners is opened by the Germans. This camp eventually becomes Stutthof concentration camp in 1942.[36]
- German troops conduct massacres in Bukownica, Gostyń, Łaziska Dolne, Łaziska Średnie, Torzeniec, Wyszanów, Parzymiechy and Zimnowoda, killing over 200 Poles, including women and children.[37][10]
- The Luftwaffe bombed a train with civilian refugees from Krotoszyn in Koło, killing 300 people.[37][10]
- Following the United Kingdom's lead, the French Parliament also approves an emergency war budget preparing for war against Germany.[34]
- The British and French governments agree they will jointly issue an ultimatum to Germany.[34]
3 September
[edit]
- At 09:00 British Standard Time (BST) the British ambassador to Berlin Nevile Henderson is instructed by the Cabinet to deliver an ultimatum to Germany which expired without answer at 11:00.[38]
- At 11:15 BST, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Neville Chamberlain, announces a declaration of war against Germany for their invasion of Poland.[38][39]
- During the withdrawal of Polish troops from Bydgoszcz, local Germans opened fire on Polish soldiers and civilians, forcing them into a defensive battle in which several hundred people were killed on both sides. The event was referred to as the Bloody Sunday by propaganda media outlets in Nazi Germany, with the number of German killed by the Poles going as high as 58,000.[40][10]
4 September
[edit]5 September
[edit]6 September
[edit]7 September
[edit]8 September
[edit]9 September
[edit]10 September
[edit]11 September
[edit]12 September
[edit]13 September
[edit]14 September
[edit]15 September
[edit]16 September
[edit]17 September
[edit]18 September
[edit]19 September
[edit]20 September
[edit]21 September
[edit]22 September
[edit]23 September
[edit]24 September
[edit]25 September
[edit]26 September
[edit]27 September
[edit]28 September
[edit]29 September
[edit]30 September
[edit]October
[edit]1 October
[edit]2 October
[edit]3 October
[edit]4 October
[edit]5 October
[edit]6 October
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Gushee, David P. (2013). The Sacredness of Human Life. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. pp. 313–315. ISBN 978-0-8028-4420-0.
- ^ Moor-Jankowski, Jan (2019-08-05). "Holocaust of non-jewish Poles during WWII". Archived from the original on 5 August 2019.
- ^ Kitchen, Martin (1990). A World in Flames: A Short History of the Second World War in Europe and Asia, 1939–1945. New York: Longman. p. 12. ISBN 0-582-03407-8.
- ^ Wheeler-Bennett, John (1967). The Nemesis of Power. London: Macmillan. p. 302.
- ^ "Second World War: Why we delayed declaration of war". Daily Telegraph. 2009-08-31. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
- ^ a b c Overy, Richard (2022). The Origins of the Second World War (5th ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781138963269.
- ^ "Faksimile Nichtangriffsvertrag zwischen Deutschland und der Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken, 23. August 1939 / Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB, München)". 1000dokumente.de. Archived from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Ronen, Yaël (19 May 2011). Transition from Illegal Regimes under International Law. Cambridge University Press. pp. xix. ISBN 978-1-139-49617-9.
- ^ Senn, Alfred (January 1990). "Perestroika in Lithuanian Historiography: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact". The Russian Review. 49 (1): 44–53. doi:10.2307/130082. JSTOR 130082.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Zaloga, Steven; Madej, Victor (1985). The Polish Campaign, 1939. New York, New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-994-4.
- ^ Foster, Alan J. (1991). "An Unequivocal Guarantee? Fleet Street and the British Guarantee to Poland, 31 March 1939". Journal of Contemporary History. 26 (1): 33–47. ISSN 0022-0094.
- ^ Mueller, Michael (2007). Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster. Germany: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781591141013.
- ^ Krzysztof Gzyl (2018). "Bombing attack at the train station in Tarnów" [Zamach bombowy na tarnowskim dworcu kolejowym]. Taka jest historia (in Polish). Tarnów i region at it.tarnow.pl. Archived from the original on 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
- ^ S, Artur (2020-09-25). "Nazi espionage in pre-war Poland: an act of terror". Stories Through Keepsakes. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
- ^ a b Rohde, Horst (1979). "Hitlers erster „Blitzkrieg" und seine Auswirkungen auf Nordosteuropa". In Maier, Klaus A.; et al. (eds.). Die Errichtung der Hegemonie auf dem Europäischen Kontinent. Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Vol. 2. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. pp. 79–158. ISBN 0198228856.
- ^ Bedzmirowski, Jerzy (4 December 2008). "Cooperation Between the British Royal Navy and the Polish Navy During World War II Regarding the Education of Naval Cadres". The Journal of Slavic Military Studies. 21 (4). Taylor & Francis: 657–668. doi:10.1080/13518040802497515. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
- ^ Grooss, Poul (2014). The Naval War in the Baltic, 1939–1945. Translated by Young, David. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781526700001.
- ^ "Duke of Windsor Begs Italy's King to Intervene" (PDF). The New York Times. 88 (29804). The New York Times: 1. 31 August 1939. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
- ^ a b c Grehan, John (30 October 2023). Hitler's Attacks That Ignited WW2: Operation Himmler: The Incidents at Mosty and Gleiwitz in August 1939. Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 9781036150495.
- ^ Bloch, Michael (1992). Ribbentrop (1st American ed.). New York: Crown Publishers. pp. 257–258. ISBN 978-0-517-59310-3.
- ^ Szapiro, Jerzy (1 September 1939). "Danzig Fighting Report" (PDF). The New York Times. 88 (29805). The New York Times / Associated Press. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ^ Wandycz, Piotr S. (2011). "Poland and the Origins of the Second World War". In McDonough, Frank (ed.). The Origins of the Second World War: An International Perspective. London/New York: Continuum. pp. 374–393. ISBN 9781441107732.
- ^ Masłowska, Teresa (September 2007). "Wojenne drogi polskich kolejarzy" [Wartime Fates of Polish Railwaymen] (PDF). Kurier PKP (in Polish). 2007 (35): 10.
Wojciech Najsarek był jedną z pierwszych ofiar II wojny światowej.
- ^ Drzycimski, Andrzej (1990). Major Henryk Sucharski (in Polish). Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich. ISBN 978-83-04-03374-0.
st. sierż. Wojciech Najsarek, zawiadowca stacji, poległ jako pierwszy z żołnierzy Składnicy, na posterunku, na stacji PKP Westerplatte
- ^ Ryszard Juszkiewicz (1987). Bitwa pod Mławą (in Polish). Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza. ISBN 83-05-11720-0.
- ^ Pöhlmann, Markus (2016). Der Panzer und die Mechanisierung des Krieges: Eine deutsche Geschichte, 1890 bis 1945. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh. ISBN 9783506783554.
- ^ LC Online Catalog - Item Information (Full Record). SF Tafel Publishers. 2017. ISBN 9781543059250.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ Haarr, Geirr H. (2013). The Gathering Storm: The Naval War in Northern Europe September 1939 - April 1940. Havertown: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781473832732.
- ^ Williamson, David G. (2011). Poland Betrayed: The Nazi-Soviet Invasions of 1939. Stackpole military history series (illustrated, reprint ed.). Stackpole Books. p. 54. ISBN 9780811708289.
- ^ "Hitler's address to the Reichstag". BBC News. September 3, 1999. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
- ^ Brewing, Daniel (2022). In the Shadow of Auschwitz German Massacres against Polish Civilians, 1939–1945. Berghahn Book. ISBN 9781800730892.
- ^ Forster, Albert (1 September 1939). "Staatsgrundgesetz, die Wiedervereinigung Danzigs mit dem Deutschen Reich betreffend" (in German).
- ^ Maier, Klaus A.; Rohde, Horst; Stegemann, Bernd; Umbreit, Umbreit (1991). Germany's Initial Conquests in Europe [Die Errichtung der Hegemonie auf dem europäischen Kontinent]. Germany and the Second World War. Vol. 2. Translated by McMurry, Dean; Osers, Ewald. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-822885-6.
- ^ a b c Duroselle, Jean-Baptiste (2004) [1st pub. 1985]. France and the Nazi Threat: The Collapse of French Diplomacy 1932-1939 [La Décadence 1932-1939]. New York, NY: Enigma Books. ISBN 978-1-929631-15-5.
- ^ a b Kennedy, Robert M. (1956). The German Campaign in Poland. Washington DC: US Department of the Army. ISBN 9781576383643.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ^ Graf, Jürgen; Mattogno, Carlo (1999). Das Konzentrationslager Stutthof: Seine Geschichte und Funktion in der nationalsozialistischen Judenpolitik. Castle Hill. ISBN 9781591481355.
- ^ a b Wardzyńska, Maria (2009). Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN.
- ^ a b Prazmowska, Anita (2004) [1st pub. 1987]. Britain, Poland and the Eastern Front, 1939. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52938-7.
- ^ Cull, Nicholas John (1996). Selling War: The British Propaganda Campaign Against American "Neutrality" in World War II. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511150-8.
- ^ Friedrich, Klaus-Peter, ed. (2011). Polen, September 1939 – Juli 1941. Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933 – 1945 (in German). Vol. 4. Munich: R. Oldenbourg. ISBN 9783486585254.