Poland

At 0445 hours the German forces invade Poland without a declaration of war. The operation is code-named Fall Weiss (Plan White). Appeals for reconciliation have been made by several small European countries including one by Leopold III of Belgium himself. Also, exhortations by President Roosevelt, prayers of Pope Pius XII and a last minute proposal for mediation by Mussolini all remain unanswered.

The Germans put 53 divisions into the attack, including their 6 armored and all their motorized units. Of the divisions left on the Western Front only about 10 are regarded by the Germans as being fit for any kind of action. Gen Walter von Brauchitsch, the Commander in Chief, is in full charge of the campaign and, indeed, will only meet Hitler on a few occasions in the course of the battles. Col-Gen Fedor von Bock leads Army Group North and Col-Gen Gerd von Rundstedt leads Army Group South. Bock's army commanders are Gen Georg von Küchler (4th Army) and Gen Guenther von Kluge (3rd Army). Runstedt's commanders are Gen Johannes Blaskowitz (8th Army), Gen Walther von Reichenau (10th Army) and Col-Gen Wilhelm List (14th Army). Heinz Guderian and Ewald von Kleist lead Panzer Corps. Air support comes from Albert Kesselring's and Alexander Lohr's Air Fleets which have around 1,600 aircraft. Von Runstedt's troops, advancing from Silesia, are to provide the main German attacks. Blaskowitz on the left is to move toward Poznan, List on the right toward Krakow and the Carpathian flank, while the principal thrust is to be delivered by von Reichenau who is to advance in the center to the Vistula between Warsaw and Sandomierz. Von Küchler from East Prussia is to move south toward Warsaw and the line of the Bug to the east. Von Kluge is to cross the Polish Corridor and join von Küchler in moving south.

The Poles have 23 regular infantry divisions prepared with 7 more assembling, 1 weak armored division and an inadequate quantity of artillery. They also have a considerable force of cavalry. (Although it is commonly believed, it is not true that cavalry will be used later in the campaign to charge German tanks.) The reserve units were only called up on 30 Aug and are not, therefore, mobilized as yet. In the air almost all the 500 Polish planes are obsolete and will be able to do very little to blunt the impact of the German attack. The Polish Commander in Chief, Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly, has deployed the stronger parts of his army in the northwestern half of the country, including large forces in the Poznan area and in the Polish Corridor. Although there are few natural barriers favoring defense in the western half of the country(the dry summer weather confirms this), he hopes to hold the Germans to only gradual gains. By thus stationing his forces well forward and by the attacking tactics adopted, Rydz-Smigly has risked a serious defeat. Many units will be overrun before their reinforcements from the reserve mobilization can arrive.

The Germans cross the frontier at several points and their superior training, equipment and strength quickly bring them the advantage in the first battles. The Polish defenses are overwhelmed in a short time and the German tanks drive deep into enemy territory. The Germans also bomb several cities including Warsaw, Lodz and Krakow. At sea, as in the air, the story of Polish inferiority and crushing early attacks is much the same. 3 of the 4 Polish destroyers manage to leave for Britain before hostilities begin and later 1 submarine also escapes.

On the first day in the port of Danzig the training ship Schleswig-Holstein bombards the Polish naval base at Westerplatte where the Polish navy's arsenal is located. Schleswig-Holstein Fires on Danzig

The success of the invasion has been taken for granted by the Germans. The general lines of the partition of Poland have already been agreed upon in the secret clauses of the Russo-German pact of Aug 23. Generally speaking, the demarcation line between Germany and the USSR is to run along the lines of the rivers Nurew-Vistula-San. Lithuania is to be included in the German sphere of influence, while the Russian sphere includes Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Bessarabia (which is to be returned to Russia by Rumania).

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Britain, Home Front

Just before the outbreak of the Second World War the government decided to begin moving people from Britain's cities to the designated reception areas as a precaution for the expected bombing raids soon to come. Some people were reluctant to move and only 47 per cent of the schoolchildren, and about one third of the mothers went to the designated areas. This included 827,000 schoolchildren, 524,000 mothers and children under school age, 13,000 expectant mothers, 103,000 teachers and 7,000 handicapped people. When the expected bombing of cities did not take place in 1939, it is estimated that a million of the evacuees had returned home by January 1940. Children Waiting Evacuation by Train

School children make their way to buses waiting to take them out of London. Children Evacuated by Bus

Diplomatic Relations

German general Fedor von Bock was a distinguished old-style Prussian officer who commanded the German Anschluss in 1038. In 1939 he commanded Army Group North during the Polish campaign and, in 1940, Army Group B during the Blitzkrieg that speedily overran the Low Countries and defeated France. Later, von Bock was twice relieved of commands in Russia: first in 1941 following a failed offensive against Moscow, and subsequently in 1042 after disagreements with Hitler over operational decisions. Having survived both those campaigns and Hitler's displeasure, he was killed in an Allied air raid 4 May, 1945. Tops in the Field

A crowd reads newspaper headlines, 'Bombs Rain On Warsaw' as they stand outside the U.S. State Department building where diplomats held a conference on war conditions in Europe, on September 1, 1939. (AP Photo) War!

At dawn on September 1, 1939, the Wehrmacht's armored spearhead sweeps into Poland. 4 light, 6 panzer, and 4 motorized divisions cut through the sizeable but thinly spread Polish forces. In a foretaste of Blitzkriegs to come, armor, infantry, and artillery fight as a closely coordinated team, while the Luftwaffe rains death from the skies. Gen von Bock's Army Group North strikes into Poland from Pomerania and East Prussia. At the same time, Gen von Rundstedt's Army Group South surges northeast from Slovakia and Silesia. Behind the German armored divisions, about 40 infantry divisions stand ready to exploit the panzers' successes. Everywhere, the woefully unprepared Polish forces are shocked by the speed, scale and ferocity of the German onslaught. German Forces Storm Poland

As commander-in-chief of the Polish forces, Marshal Edward Smigly-Rydz had the all-but-impossible task of countering the German invasion with outdated and largely static defense forces. Poland's borders, set in 1920, were generally indefinsible because of the lack of rivers and mountains. With such constraints, as well as a dispersed force deployment, Poland's demise was inevitable. All hopes of holding out through winter in the woods and marshes of eastern Poland were destroyed by the Soviet invasion in mid-September. Poland Has No Chance

Map of the Beginning of the Campaign in Poland Map of Poland

Close air support was a prerequisite for the success of the Wehrmacht's Blitzkrieg operations. In 1939 and early 1940, the gull-winged, single-engine Junkers Ju-87 (Stuka) - with its three machine guns and a maximum bomb load of 1,540 pounds - was vital to such operations. The terror sirens of these diving aircraft struck fear into thos on the ground below, while their bombs and guns amplified this terror with death and destruction. However, once opposed by more modern fighter aircraft - such as the British RAF's Spitfires and Hurricanes beginning in 1940 - the Ju-87s proved vulnerable. They were subsequently utilized only occasionally in support of frontline offensive operations. The Terrifying Stukas

Despite being removed, along with other senior army officers, by Hitler in 1938 during the Blomberg-Fritsch crisis, von Rundstedt was recalled to duty in August 1939 to lead the Polish invasion. He commanded Army Group South throughout the campaign. His talents as a field commander and staff officer were also used against France in 1940, and subsequently elsewhere. He always served within or close to the high command. He was enthusiastic about the mass killing of Jews, and accepted huge bribes from Hitler. Field Marshall Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt

An aerial photograph from September 1st, 1939 showing the Polish town of Wielun after having been bombed by Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers of the Nazi German Luftwaffe. Bombing Aftermath in Wielun

Before the Second World War, Wielun was a peaceful Polish town of about 15,000, located 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the German border. On September 1, 1939, at about 04:40 am, Stuka dive bombers of the German Luftwaffe attacked the town indiscriminately. Approximately 90% of the historic old town was destroyed, and many important buildings were hit, including the medieval Gothic church, the old town hall, and the hospital (despite a huge Red Cross sign painted on its roof). About 1,200 civilians died, representing 8% of the population.

The bombing of Wielun is considered one of the first terror bombings in history, and the very first in of World War II. The bombing had no military justification. Tactically, there were no Polish military forces stationed in Wielun. Strategically, the town held no heavy industry. German claims that the attack was a result of a mistake of the Nazi intelligence services (who reported that there was a Polish cavalry brigade stationed near the town) have been disproved. Officially, Poland recognizes the bombing of Wielun as a war crime.