Invasion of Poland
For more details on this topic, see Invasion of Poland.The invasion of Poland by the military forces of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and a small German-allied Slovak contingent marked the beginning of World War II in Europe.
In keeping with the terms of the Secret Additional Protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Germany informed the Soviet Union that its forces were nearing the Soviet interest zone in Poland and so urged the Soviet Union to move into its zone. The Soviets had been taken by surprise by the speed of the German advance as they had expected to have several weeks to prepare for an invasion rather than merely a few days. They did promise to move as quickly as possible. On September 17 the Soviets invaded eastern Poland, forcing the Polish government and military to abandon their plans for a long-term defense in the Romanian bridgehead area. The last remaining Polish Army units capitulated in early October.
In accordance with their treaty obligations, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany on September 3. Hitler had gambled incorrectly that France and Britain would allow him to annex parts of Poland without military reaction. The campaign began on September 1, 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact containing a secret protocol for the division of Northern and Central Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. It ended on October 6, 1939, with Germany and the Soviet Union occupying the entirety of Poland. German and Soviet units went on a joint victory parade in the streets of Lwow.
Further cooperation between German and Soviets took the form of an exchange of Polish POWs : following order by Lavrentiy Beria to the NKVD of October 3, 1939, 46,000 Polish prisoners detained in soviet camps were traded against 44,000 POWs released by the Germans.
German losses included approximately 16,000 Killed in Action, 28,000 wounded, over 200 aircraft, and 30% of their armored vehicles. The Polish casualties were around 66,000 dead and 694,000 captured. Though the German attack was successful, losses were greater than expected. It has been estimated that, during the September campaign in Poland, the Wehrmacht needed to use more than twice the ammunition they used in France the following spring.
Read more about this topic: Polish Contribution To World War II
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“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not the invasion of ideas.”
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