Germany Attacks Poland

                  September 1, 1939 was a very historic day. This day is known to be the one to start the actual happenings of world war ll. On this day, German forces bombed Poland on land and in the air. Prior to the attack, the German- Soviet Pact was signed which stated that “Poland was to be portioned between two powers”. This made it easy for Germany to attack without fear of any Soviet intervention.  They did this to seek back lost territory, and in the big scheme of things- take over Poland.

                  Hitler had originally given orders for the for the invasion to begin on August 26, however it got delayed when he found out Britain had signed a new treaty with Poland promising military support if they were attacked. To stall a British intervention, Hitler used many propaganda techniques, alleging persecution of German-speakers in eastern Poland. In fear, Poland began to call up troops, but Britain and France persuaded them to postpone general mobilization. Shortly after this, Hitler decided to make the attack officially happen.  

                  This invasion on Poland was a prime example of how Hitler was going to take on war. He was going to use a strategy known as the “blitzkrieg” strategy. This was a technique of extensively using bombs as the main source/ weapon early in the war. They would use this to destroy their railroads, communication lines, and air capacity which would lead to land invasion full of tanks, troops, and artillery.

                  Once Hitler had made his way into Poland and made a “base of operations” in the country he began to set up many different kinds of security forces to make the citizens aware of his Nazi “ideology”. This could include subjects along the lines of religion, racialism, or even political.

                  The invasion of Poland could have been avoided if it wasn’t for the several strategic miscalculations by the Polish army. The Polish army consisted of one million people, however they were not equipped with the weapons or skills needed to take on the Germans. With the thoughts that they were good enough, and could take them head-on the Polish pressed forward into a not so successful battle. The German army was very well prepared and “modernized” in their weaponry. In result to this, Poland was simply no match for the overwhelming Germany armed forces. By September 8, German forces had already reached the very edge of Warsaw, having conquered 140 miles in only one week of invasion. While the Polish army hoped to stay strong and wage their war long enough to get mounted against west Germany, they were unsuccessful and fled the country. For the fourth time in Poland’s history, they were out powered by their neighbors. And at this point, the war was only beginning.