The German Invasion of Poland

1
The German Invasion of Poland
2
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.

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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, 1115 a.m. British Prime Minister
  Neville Chamberlain announces on national radio
  they were at war with Germany

4
The Blitzkrieg
5
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

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The Blitzkrieg

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

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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

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The Blitzkrieg

• Poles try to stop Nazi panzers with their Calvary
• Marks the end of the era of mounted Calvary

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The Blitzkrieg

• After the tanks were armored cars and motorcycle
  troops
• Finally foot soldiers or infantry sent in

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The Blitzkrieg

• Germans also unleash calculated terror on
  civilian population
• Use stuka dive bombers
• Drove terrified civilians out into the roads
• Caused mass confusion

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The Blitzkrieg

• Three SS Deaths 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

12
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 Polands aid fast enough

13
Polands 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

14
Polands 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

15
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

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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

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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

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Reactions of Britain and France

• Fear that Germany may turn lightening war on
  the West