Essay: Invasion and the start of the war in Poland

On September 1, 1939 Germany, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, invaded Poland. This was the start of World War II.  What led to the invasion? What were Hitler’s motives? What happened in Poland during the invasion and once Nazi German forces occupied Poland? I will answer these questions in my paper.
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany.  This was the beginning of the Third Reich (or Third Empire) which lasted until May 1945. Hitler chose this name for his government as a connection to Germany’s past. The First Reich, starting in the year 800, also known as the Holy Roman Empire, marked the crowning of Charlemagne, who had Germanic roots. The Second Reich refers to the German Empire from 1870 to the end of World War I. (reference; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich). Hitler had a grand plan to take over Europe. ‘He fought in WWI and felt Germany had been humiliated in defeat. He made it his mission to make Germany strong again, and avenge this defeat. In 1934, he declared himself  ‘Fuhrer’ (leader), ruling as a dictator’. (pg.9 World War II Visual Encyclopedia).
After Germany’s defeat in WWI, the Treaty of Versailles was drafted and included the reparations (amends for the war), Germany had to accept as part of taking the blame for the war and starting the peace process. Germany had to stop any build up of military armaments. Conscription and training of armed forces was prohibited. Major offensive weapons including aircraft, tanks, and submarines were not permitted. Germany also had to give up territory on its’ eastern border, which was used to form an independent Polish state.  Poland had been partitioned by powerful neighboring countries (Russia, Austria, and Prussia) from 1795-1918. It came back on the map as part of these reparations.
Part of the territory that Germany had to give up was the Danzig Corridor or the Polish Corridor.  In 1918, it was separate from both Germany and Poland, and held the port city of Danzig (Polish city of Gdansk). It was administered by Poland, and overseen by the League of Nations. The League of Nations was an international organization of countries set up at the end of WWI to keep peace in the world. It evolved into the present day United Nations.  Woodrow Wilson in his discussion on an independent Poland stated, “An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.” (Woodrow Wilson;s fourteen point speech, wikipedia).
The Corridor caused problems between German and Polish Customs, as it was between Germany and East Prussia (German territory). Hitler claimed the the Germans who lived there were being threatened. (pg. 52 Poland Enchantment of the World). Hitler wanted to extend railroads into East Prussia and Poland would not make concessions to it’s’ rights regarding the Corridor.  Germany  started aggressive actions near the border.  In 1934, the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact was signed, in which both countries pledged to resolve their problems by bilateral negotiations and to forgo armed conflict for a period of ten years (reference). A similar pact was signed between Poland and Russia in 1932. This policy of rapprochement was utilized as an effort to keep relations between the countries neutral.
Jozef Pilsudski was the leader of Poland from 1918-1922, and again in 1926-until his death in 1935. ‘Piłsudski, aimed to maintain good relations with the Soviet Union and Germany and so Poland signed non-aggression pacts with both of its powerful neighbours: the 1932 Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact and the 1934 German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Both were meant to strengthen Poland’s position in the eyes of its allies and neighbours. Piłsudski himself was acutely aware of the shakiness of the pacts, and he commented: “Having these pacts, we are straddling two stools. This cannot last long. We have to know from which stool we will tumble first, and when that will be”. Critics of the two non-aggression pacts have accused Piłsudski of underestimating Hitler’s aggressiveness, of giving Germany time to rearm and of allowing Stalin to plan.’ (from Poland.gov.History-Jozef Pilsudski)
In 1933, Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations. This reduced possible international control over Germany and allowed restrictions, such as those within the Treaty of Versailles, to be more easily ignored.  Between 1935-38 Britain and France accepted a revision in the Treaty allowing German rearming, re-occupation of the Rhineland and the Anschluss (annexation of Austria). In September of 1938, Britain and France also reluctantly enforced the forced transfer of ‘ethnically German’ Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany. The hosting of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin as well as visits to Germany by the Duke of Windsor added to a deceiving picture of Hitler and his motives.  Hitler intimidated western powers and western leaders especially, British Prime Minister at the time, Neville Chamberlain, favored a policy of appeasement (giving into Hitler’s demands to avoid greater aggression) when dealing with Hitler.  Poland was concerned about Germany’s rearming in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
Piłsudski was disappointed by the French and British policy of appeasement evident in their signing of the Locarno Treaties.
‘The Locarno Treaties were seven agreements negotiated at Locarno, Switzerland, on 5–16 October 1925 and formally signed in London on 1 December, in which the First World War Western European Allied powers and the new states of Central and Eastern Europe sought to secure the post-war territorial settlement, and return normalizing relations with defeated Germany. It also stated that Germany would never go to war with the other countries. Locarno divided borders in Europe into two categories: western, which were guaranteed by Locarno treaties, and eastern borders of Germany with Poland, which were open for revision.’ (citation)
In March 1939, Hitler ordered the German occupation of all of Czechoslovakia, gained the return of a province from Lithuania, and pressured Poland to permit construction of new roads and railways between East Prussia and Germany.  (BBC website).
Germany continued with aggressive diplomacy on April 28, 1939 and withdrew from the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1934. Talks over Danzig broke down and months passed without diplomatic interaction between Poland and Germany.
These pre-war foreign policies evolved into the Axis powers and Allied powers of WWII. The Axis powers being Germany, Italy (Mussolini), and Japan (Hirohito), and Russia (at the start of the war). The Allied powers being Great Britain (Chamberlain, Churchhill), France (De Gaulle: leader of free France as well as government in exile upon German occupation), Poland (Raczkiewicz: government in exile), and later the United States (Roosevelt), and Russia (Stalin).
On August 23, 1939 Germany signed a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union (the Ribontroff-Molatov agreement), to decrease the possibility the USSR would come to Poland’s aid. In a secret clause, the two countries agreed to divide Poland between them, after a subsequent invasion by Russia at Poland’s eastern border. The two countries wanted Polish lands and a return of their borders prior to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, and for Stalin (dictator of Russia) revenge for the losses of the 1919-1920 Polish-Russian war (in which Russia was defeated).  Hitler wanted Lebensraum ‘living space’ for the German people. Both leaders wanted Poland erased off the map.
‘The treaty was a shock to many governments, but particularly to France and Britain. They had been trying for months to persuade Stalin to join them in an alliance for the protection of Poland. The Poles regarded the efforts as naive, since it meant almost certain war with Germany (for Russia),  in defense of a longtime enemy, that Stalin, like most Russian rulers before him, hated and wanted erased from the map.’   (Pg 42 Question of Honor).
On August 22, 1939, the day before the nonaggression treaty was signed, Hitler told his generals: “ The wholesale destruction of Poland is the objective. Speed is the chief thing. Pursuit until there is complete annihilation.” pg. 44 A Question of Honor.
From there, Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht (German army), to prepare for the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1 1939. Support for invasion, in Germany,  built due to Nazi propaganda, Hitler used on his own people. Free press in Germany did not exist. The Nazis orchestrated a massive propaganda campaign to win the loyalty and cooperation of Germans. The Nazi Propaganda Ministry, directed by Dr. Joseph Goebbels, took control of all forms of communication in Germany: newspapers, magazines, books, public meetings, and rallies, art, music, movies, and radio. Viewpoints in any way threatening to Nazi beliefs or to the regime were censored or eliminated from all media. (The Holocaust Encyclopedia). Books were burned.  Posters such as  (add the eternal Jew poster) fueled the rise of Anti Semitism in Germany.  German citizens were told that Poland was threatening Germany with invasion, and attacking ethnic Germans living in Poland. This led to the Gleiwitz Incident of August 31, 1939.  Nazi S.S troops (secret police) wearing Polish uniforms staged an elaborate, phony attack on German installations at the border, stating it was aggression on part of Polish soldiers.  Add details…….
The secret police and special units in the German army were the Gestapo (Gehieme Staatspolizei) and S.S (Schutzstaffel). Known for their brutality, and operating above the law, they were directed by Herman Goring.
The ‘Blitzkrieg’ (lightning war) strategy: At 4:45 German troops invaded Poland along it’s shared 1.750 mile border, from the North, South, and West. A small Slovak force advance along with the Germans in northern Slovakia.  In anticipation of an attack, Poland was preparing its defenses. England and France however persuaded Poland to postpone mobilization in an effort to change Hitler’s mind about invasion. This resulted in Poland fighting with under 70% of its’ strength, against a built up, advanced, rapid and widespread attack.
The German Luftwaffe (air force) bombed Polish airfields, and carried out bombing raids on cities and civilians. They took aim at the Danzig Harbor.
The Polish destroyer Wicher was sunk defending the port of Gdynia against air attack and bombardment by German naval units. All five Polish submarines were at sea; three escaped to internment in Sweden, while the Orzel and Wilk managed to reach safety in Britain. In the waters offshore, German surface, submarine, and air forces quickly established a tight blockade of the Polish port areas.
Nazi troops stormed across the Polish border with almost 1,000 high tech Panzer tanks. Dive bombers attacked the Polish capital, Warsaw. France and Britain pledged to defend Poland if they were attacked, and sent a message to Hitler saying if he didn’t withdraw from Poland, it meant war. Hitler ignored the message and Britain and France declared war on Germany. (reference). Although England and France formally ‘declared’ war on Germany after the Sept 1st invasion, they did little to defend their Polish allies.
Polish lines of defense moved from the German border area to the Romanian Bridgehead, in the southeast. This was a more established defence and stronghold, where Poles expected help from England and France. On September 17th, with very limited help from allies, the Soviet forces invaded from the east. The Polish defence at the Bridgehead fell.  On October 6, at the final organized Battle of Kock, German and Soviet forces gained full control over Poland. The Polish Campaign was over, though sporadic fighting was to continue in some of the more remote areas for a considerable period. Poland never officially surrendered.
On October 8, Germany annexed western Poland, and the Free City of Danzig. It established a General Government in the remainder of Poland. The Soviet Union incorporated its portion of occupied Poland into Belarusian and Ukrainian republics. Mass deportations (estimated at over 1 million people) to Siberia of ethnic Poles took place. Nationalist Ukrainian groups carried out massacres, along the eastern borderlands.
The Luftwaffe killed 6,000-7,000 Polish civilians during the bombing of Warsaw. About 65,000 Polish troops were killed in fighting, with 420,000 others captured by Germans and 240,000 more by the Soviet Union. (reference). The German Army suffered a total of 8,082 officers and men killed, 27,278 wounded, and 5,029 missing in its 36 days of operations in Poland. Luftwaffe and Navy losses were much lighter. The German campaign in Poland in 1939 has been regarded by many as little more than a maneuver for the youthful Wehrmacht. However, the casualty figures and losses in materiel for the period of combat show that the campaign was more than an exercise with live ammunition. Rundstedt supported this view on operations in Poland in one of his rare commentaries following World War II. The bulk of the German armed forces had to be committed to overcome the Poles, and the expenditure in ammunition, gasoline, and materiel was such as to preclude concurrent German operations on a similar scale in the west or elsewhere.
Poland established a  government in exile in London, under Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz.  Although Poland lacked modern aircrafts, Polish pilots were among the world’s best trained. They joined the RAF (Royal Air Force), helping defeat the Germans in the Battle of Britain. In all, about 17,000 Polish airmen fought alongside the RAF during the war. Polish infantry and airborne units fought in Norway, North Africa, Italy , France, Belgium, and Germany (pg. 6 Q of H). The Poles claimed victory at Monte Cassino in Italy, capturing the German fortification at the mountaintop monastery. No other allied force was able to achieve this. Poles had deciphered/cracked the code for the original German Enigma machine, passing their breakthrough onto the British.
Hitler carried out a program of killing undesirables (the disabled) in Germany, even before the invasion of Poland. After the invasion, he extended his plan to exterminate groups of people he felt were subhuman including, Jews, Poles, Gypsies, Homosexuals.  Nazi-Germany built and operated concentration/death camps on German occupied Polish soil, including Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor.  Gestapo and S.S units were in charge of the camps.  After invasion, the Nazis decreed the death penalty for anyone helping Jews. Poland was the only German occupied country on which this edict was imposed.  Poland’s’ Resistance was the largest organized Underground movement in Europe.  ‘The Polish resistance movement set up an organization called Zegota, with the specific purpose of aiding Jews. It was the only underground movement in an occupied country to institutionalize the effort.’ (pg 42  Qof H).
As Hitler was carrying out his final plans, Stalin ordered the massacre of over 20,000 Polish military officers, professors, and Polish intelligentsia in the forests of Katyn (in southeast Poland). The mass graves were discovered by the German Army. Russia first blamed Germany for the murders. Russia denied responsibility for the atrocity until 1990.
Conclusion:
Poland’s pre-war population was about 34 million. 6 million Polish citizens perished during the war, including 3 million ethnic Poles, and 3 million Polish Jews (almost 90% of the Jewish population in Poland). By the war’s end, Poland was the 4th largest contributor to the Allied effort in Europe. Although thousands of books have been written about the war, I feel my paper touched upon the invasion and the start of the war in Poland.  The details shared in my report come from research but also from my own family’s history.