World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseOn 11 Nov 1918, at the end of WW1, Poland returned to the map of Europe for the first time for 123 years. Józef Pilsudski, who ruled Poland from 1918 until his death in 1935, quickly established rather effective legal, transportation, administrative, and military systems under a dictatorial regime.

ww2dbaseEconomically, Poland had a relatively prosperous 1920s, but the global depression of the 1930s hit the country rather hard, especially considering the rapid population growth. The conservative government spending habits did little to increase the monetary supply in the Polish economy, though the Polish government did develop very advanced socialist programs.

ww2dbaseDuring the inter-war years, Poland's greatest achievement was in the realm of foreign policy. Pilsudski laid out a careful circle of friends in the diplomatic arena, first allying with France to restrain Germany from the thought of invasion from the west, then allied with neighboring Hungary and Romania to discourage aggression from the Soviet Union in the east. In 1932, Poland signed a non-aggression treaty with the Soviet Union that calmed relations and reduced the incidents on the eastern border. In 1934, a similar treaty was signed with Germany to reduce tension and to normalize trade. On the surface, this seemed to have eased German's frustration with East Prussia having been separated from Germany Proper after the creation of Poland.

ww2dbaseMilitarily, the Polish Navy was small but strong enough to counter a modest attack from the Baltic Sea, the Polish Air Force was highly advanced with the world's only all-metal air fleet, and the Polish Army was unified and enjoyed high prestige. However, as the 1930s went on, politicians who controlled the armed forces, despite top leadership's military origins, did not effectively manage the build-up to its maximum potential during peace time, and the Polish military fell behind its neighboring counterparts as quickly as it had grown.

ww2dbaseTo bolster diplomatic and military efforts, the Polish dedicated many resources to the field of intelligence. As early as the early 1930s, Polish mathematicians from the University of Poznan cracked German and Soviet military codes, therefore the Polish military was able to monitor military deployments of the two neighboring powers.

ww2dbaseAs Europe moved toward war, Czechoslovakia and Poland drew closer in the face of the potential common enemy, Germany. The two countries negotiated toward an alliance where Poland would gain partial ownership of the Skoda weapons plants for the promise that Poland would come to the aid of Czechoslovakia should a German invasion take place. When Germany annexed Czechoslovakia, however, Poland turned on its ally and took part in the partition of the country, capturing a small piece of eastern Czechoslovakia (the territory of Treschen and the nearby Bohumin rail junction) in Mar 1939. Although Germany and Poland had been debating over the Danzig issue, Poland did not realize Germany would soon turn on Poland until it was too late.

ww2dbaseOn 1 Sep 1939, after a series of purposefully-made unacceptable ultimatums, German troops poured across the Polish border after staging a bogus border incident. The Polish forces fought back fiercely, outperforming the German Army in the few occasions where the two forces were evenly matched. The more modernized and mobile German military, with ample air support, made those situations rare, however, by simply out-maneuvering the Polish forces. On 5 Sep, Poland moved its military headquarters to southeastern Poland, with the intention of allowing its top generals to continue the fight while northern Poland was being overrun. This prolonged the war gave allied France and the United Kingdom more time to launch a counterattack against Germany (which would never happen), but it also created much confusion between the political and military leaders, making the defense effort uncoordinated. The prospect of French and British intervention and the Polish military's ability to inflict high casualties against the oncoming Germans gave Poland some hope, but the optimism took a decisive hit when the Soviet Union invaded from the east on 17 Sep 1939. Poland surrendered on 28 Sep, and coordinated military resistance ceased by the first week of Oct.

ww2dbaseAfter the conquest, Eastern Poland was occupied by Soviet forces. Western Poland was annexed by Germany. Central Poland was governed by a German military government. Economically, the occupation forces looted Poland, with the Germans taking large portions of the produce without regard to the starvation of the people, while the Soviets uprooted Polish industries and relocated them to the east. Politically, the Soviets planted intrigue and fostered violence between Jews and ethnic Ukrainians, while the Germans did the same between Christians and Jews. Both sides created slave labor from the population, while leaving the conquered and dismembered country to suffer starvation and disease.

ww2dbaseIn Jun 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and eastern Poland became one of the first battlefields. As the Soviet occupiers fled east, the German Einsatzgruppen units moved in immediately after them. Polish towns and villages that had survived the Soviet NVKD now faced German mobile killing squads. These squads systematically rounded up Jews, potential political opponents, and even innocent civilians for detention or massacre. Throughout the WW2 period, German mass killings, particularly against Jews, increased in efficiency and ruthlessness. The most infamous was the use of gas chambers, which began at the Auschwitz Concentration camp in occupied Poland on 3 Sep 1941. Within months, entire trains were dedicated to bringing Jews and other unwanted peoples for extermination.

ww2dbaseMany groups of armed Polish resistance existed during the war. The group that posed the greatest threat to the German and Soviet occupiers was the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). The AK, which absorbed smaller resistance groups, was more so a secret underground government than a mere guerrilla force. In addition to having a military chain-of-command, it also maintained schools, industries, radio stations, and publishing services for the Polish people. The military wing of the AK initially opposed frequent confrontations with German forces in order to preserve strength, particularly with the brutal retribution attacks on civilians in mind. That restraint was lifted on 1 Aug 1944 as Soviet troops neared Warsaw. Although the Polish still held the Soviets, the AK thought the Soviet troops would, at least temporarily, ally themselves with the Polish resistance fighters for the common goal of removing German forces from Warsaw. When Warsaw would become liberated, AK leaders would then be able to claim legitimacy for being those who liberated the capital. Resistance fighters rose up as ordered against great odds, destroying German armored vehicles and killing many occupation soldiers. Adolf Hitler, furious, ordered the occupation force to systematically level entire sections of Warsaw until the city was nothing more than a pile of rubble. As the fighting continued and Polish resistance strength slowly waned, Soviet forces stood by. Furthermore, the Soviet Union even refused the Western Allies from using Soviet air bases to mount supply operations for the Polish resistance. As the Germans brutally quelled the uprising, Joseph Stalin's intentions were, belatedly, crystal clear. Tactically, the Soviets were letting the Germans to expend ammunition and lives. Strategically, Stalin, who had a puppet regime for post-war Poland already in mind, saw this as an opportunity to remove future political opposition.

During the occupation between 1939 and 1945, an estimated 5,200,000 civilians died as a direct result; that number alone was staggering without needing to stress the fact that it amounted to 15% of the 1939 population of Poland.

ww2dbaseThe liberation of Poland by the Soviet Union was a repeat of the 1939 conquest. The Soviets once again looted all they could from Poland, and the people starved. As the Western Allies turned a blind eye to the Soviet treatment of Poland, the AK fell apart without western support. Polish border was redrawn as Stalin pleased. Eastern Poland, conquered by the Soviets during the 1939 invasion, was annexed. To justify the territorial loss, the Allies granted Poland eastern portions of Germany. The border changes resulted in forced population relocations, which led to further human suffering. With a Moscow-backed puppet government in place in Warsaw, Poland remain independent in name only until the end of the Cold War.

Photographs

Maps

Poland in World War II Interactive Map

Visitor Submitted Comments

Show older comments

16.  C. Peter Chen says:
23 Mar 2017 11:29:25 AM

To anonymous of 22 Mar 2017: Please click on "Events" on the top menu of this page, choose Poland in the custom search section, and click Submit. Thanks for visiting WW2DB.

23.  Alan Chanter says:
1 May 2019 02:41:37 AM

It is somewhat surprising that there is no mention of the Polish People’s Army (LWP – Ludowe Wojsko Polski) which was formed in Russia out of released Polish PoWs, and commanded by Officers and Sergeants drafted in from the Red Army. Reduced by brutal treatment, starvation and old racial and political hatreds, the Polish prisoners were initially in poor condition for active service. Many of their officers had ‘mysteriously’ disappeared in 1939 and they had a genuine shortage of equipment. The LWP consisted of the 1st Infantry Division (LWP) and the 1st Polish Armoured Brigade (LWP). The 1st Infantry Division finally went into action on October 1943, on the Smolensk front but suffered such heavy casualties that they had to be withdrawn. Reformed, in the winter of 1943-44 the LWP accompanied the Red Army back into their homeland and with more conscripts becoming available the Polish force was expanded into the 1st Polish Army (LWP) of around 100,000 men. It was active throughout the late summer, autumn and winter to the east of the Vistula and in the suburbs of Warsaw, seeing much hard fighting. This Army then fought along the Baltic coast in the late winter and in this campaign the Polish Armoured Brigade captured Danzig (Gdansk) and Gdynia.

A second Polish Army was formed in the summer of 1944 entering the field for the 1945 spring offensive north of the Czech border. While the 1st Polish Division was involved in the Zhukov’s savage battle of Berlin this Second Army would forge its way south to the outskirts of Prague.

24.  Alan Chanter says:
2 May 2019 07:58:43 AM

Another formation created by Stalin from Polish soldiers held in captivity in Russia was the 5th Infantry Division. Although Stalin was personally desired to have General Anders and his men join the Red Army many were disinclined to join the war on the Soviet side. After protracted political negotiations and arguments a substantial number of these Polish soldiers and their families were allowed to leave the country for Palestine –all 160,000 of them - including most of the 5th Infantry Division. These were men who, along with others recruited from the large Polish community settled in France, would later fight at Monte Cassino and Arnhem. When the Polish army was disbanded at the end of the war, few of its officers and men returned home, preferring to remain in the West

25.  Alan Chanter says:
31 Jan 2020 05:58:34 AM

As of 1 September, 1939, the Polish Army was able to field 23 regular infantry divisions, three reserve infantry divisions, eight cavalry brigades, three mountain brigades, and one motorised brigade, as well as some border troops and other paramilitary formations (approximately 210,000 men at peacetime establishments), with theoretically another 15 divisions that might be mobilised if the conflict should become protracted. In artillery the Polish Army could deploy some 2,065 guns; mostly 75mm field guns based on the French M.1897 and rechambered Russian Mod. 02/26, plus a mixed bag of Skoda Mod, 14/19 100mm howitzers, 105mm Schneider Mod. 29 guns and 155mm Schneider Mod.17 howitzers. Anti–tank defence was provided by licence-built Swedish Bofors 37mm anti-tank guns deployed in platoons at battalion level for a total of 27 per division. These would back up the wz.35 anti-tank rifles held within the infantry companies. Facing 2,511 German tanks (mostly light Panzer Is and IIs) the Polish Army could field just 615 tanks and was equally short of motorised vehicles, relying mainly on horse drawn transport for supply.