1 September in military history: Germany invades Poland, 1939

1 September 1939 · 87 years ago

The order and the pretext

On 31 August, writes Robert M. Kennedy in the US Army's study of the campaign, Hitler signed Directive No. 1 for the Conduct of the War, setting the attack on Poland for 0445 the next day. Daniel Czerwiński, writing for the Museum of Polish History (MHP), also says that the Schleswig-Holstein was ordered to open fire at 4.45.¹

The same day, Kennedy and the historian Alexandra Richie write, the SS staged a Polish attack on the German radio station at Gleiwitz. Kennedy writes that the "attackers" left "one dead man behind"; Richie names him as Franciszek Honiok, a Silesian German farmer whom the Gestapo had arrested, drugged and shot. See our article on Gleiwitz.²

Gunfire at Westerplatte

The old battleship Schleswig-Holstein had come into Danzig on 25 August, officially on a visit, and Richie writes that over 200 marines were hidden below deck. Before the attack it was moved to the Bend of Five Whistles, across from the Polish Military Transit Depot.³

The sources time its fire differently. Kennedy writes that the Luftwaffe began hostilities at 0440 by bombing Polish air bases and that the ship began shelling "a few minutes later". Paweł Cichocki, writing for the MHP, gives 4.45 for the ship's fire, and an unsigned news item of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) dates the German attack on Poland to 4.45. Czerwiński writes that the ship fired three minutes after the ordered 4.45. Richie gives 4:43 a.m., "marking the beginning of World War II". Marek Gałęzowski of the IPN calls the shelling the symbolic beginning of the war; Czerwiński writes that some of its first shots, if not the first, were fired there.⁴

The Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk tells the morning of a navy man in the garrison, Bernard Rygielski. He was asleep in the officers' villa when, at about 4.48, a salvo from the Schleswig-Holstein woke him; he ran under fire to guardhouse No. 5 and gathered his crew, and after nearly fifteen minutes they were manning the "Fort" post.⁵

Kennedy writes that a German landing force "was immediately driven off by the Poles". Czerwiński writes that a first assault was beaten back with the depot's 75 mm field gun, a second also failed, and a third came in the evening; four Polish soldiers were killed that day.⁶

The garrison's strength is uncertain. Czerwiński notes published figures from 164 to 215 and, by the newest count, 201 soldiers and seven civilian employees. Wojciech Samól of the Gdańsk museum counts 208 defenders, including 28 civilian employees, from the guard platoon's service book and other records, but believes the final number may have been lower, between 204 and 206. Under Major Henryk Sucharski and his deputy, Captain Franciszek Dąbrowski, they held out until 7 September. See our article on Westerplatte.⁷

The bombing of Wieluń

Wieluń, a small town near the border, was bombed on the morning of 1 September; Richie writes that it was flattened. According to Mateusz Piątkowski, who draws on the IPN investigation, the first raid was flown with Ju 87 dive bombers under Hauptmann Siegel, and its first bombs hit the All Saints hospital, killing 32 people.⁸

The hour is disputed. A 2009 IPN report on a symposium in Łódź says German archival documents place the bombing later than Polish literature had assumed, while Polish witnesses placed it before 4.45. Piątkowski cites Olejnik, who on witness statements puts the raid between 4.30 and 5.00, and Siegel's report, which gives an attack time of 5.40. Grzegorz Bębnik of the IPN, he writes, takes the German hours as true, J. Trenkner reads them as shifted by German summer time, and the IPN investigation confirms 5.40.⁹

Citing the IPN investigation, Piątkowski puts the losses among the population at no fewer than 127 people and the destruction of the town's buildings at 75 percent; the often-quoted 1,200 dead, he notes, refers to the whole Wieluń county. In his conclusion he writes of at least 170 dead. The speakers at the 2009 symposium agreed that the number of victims usually given rests on weak foundations.¹⁰

Hitler before the Reichstag

At 10.10 the Reichstag met, and its president, Hermann Göring, said he had been able to summon the deputies only at 3 o'clock that morning. Hitler told them that during the night Poland had for the first time fired on German territory with regular soldiers too, and then: "Seit 5 Uhr 45 wird jetzt zurückgeschossen!", "Since 5.45 we have been firing back!" (our translation). Kennedy writes that Hitler used the Gleiwitz incident for this charge.¹¹

In the same speech Hitler said he had ordered his air force to restrict itself to attacks on military objectives, and that he did not want to wage war against women and children. He wanted to be nothing other than "der erste Soldat des Deutschen Reiches", the first soldier of the German Reich (our translation).¹²

That day the British ambassador in Warsaw, Sir H. Kennard, cabled that the Polish foreign minister had telephoned him "in the middle of an air raid": "Various open towns have been bombed from the air, with heavy civilian casualties".¹³

An invasion from three sides

Germany attacked without a declaration of war along the whole length of the border, Gałęzowski writes. Army Group North under Fedor von Bock attacked from East Prussia and across the Polish Corridor. Richie adds Army Group South under Gerd von Rundstedt from Silesia and a smaller Slovak attack in the south. Kennedy counts 55 divisions in the German ground force arrayed against Poland as of 31 August. Richie gives 1.5 million men, 2,750 tanks and 2,315 aircraft, and the historian Tadeusz Rutkowski, in an MHP interview, about 1.5 million German soldiers on the Polish front. The Poles, Richie writes, had in theory an army of a million men, but many were unable to mobilize.¹⁴

That afternoon, Kennedy writes, German tank attacks near Mława were stopped with heavy loss by antitank fire from concrete fortifications. Gałęzowski writes that on 1 September at Mokra the Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade inflicted heavy losses on the German 4th Panzer Division; Richie credits the brigade at Mokra with over 50 German tanks destroyed. See our articles on Mokra and Mława.¹⁵

In Danzig, Gałęzowski writes, the Germans also attacked the Polish Post Office on the first day of the war; its staff held out all day and surrendered only after the attackers set the building on fire.¹⁶

What followed

Gałęzowski writes that Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September but then decided not to take military action against the Reich. The British Prime Minister told the House of Commons on 3 September that Britain's final note had brought no reply by 11 a.m. British Summer Time, "and, consequently, this country is at war with Germany"; the French ambassador in Berlin, he said, was making a similar démarche. On 17 September the Red Army crossed Poland's eastern border, and Warsaw gave up the fight on 27 September, and its capitulation was signed on 28 September. Rutkowski says the campaign lasted until 5 October. Gałęzowski writes that General Franciszek Kleeberg's troops, after fighting at Kock, capitulated on 6 October, and Richie that German and Soviet forces gained full control on 6 October. See our articles on the Soviet invasion, the Bzura, Hel and Kock.¹⁷