1 APPENDIX II
The Supreme Commander Berlin, 31.8.39
of the Armed Forces
OKW/WFA Nr. 170/39 g.K. Chefs. LI
Top Secret
Directive No. 1 for the prosecution of the war
1. Having exhausted all political possibilities of rectifying the intolerable situation on Germany's eastern frontier by peaceful means, I have decided to solve the problem by force.
2. The attack on Poland is to be carried out in accordance with the plans laid down for Case White, as modified by the fact that meanwhile the army has almost completed its deployment.
Allotment of tasks and operational objectives remain unchanged. Date of the attack 1 September, 1939.
Hour of the attack 04.45 hrs.
This hour applies equally to the launching of the operations Gdynia-Gulf of Danzig and Dirschau Bridge.
3. In the West the problem is unambiguously to saddle England and France with the responsibility for opening hostilities. Any insignificac: violation of the frontier is for the time being only to be dealt with purdy by means of local counter-measures.
We have guaranteed the neutrality of Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland and their neutrality is to be strictly observed.
At no point is the western land frontier of Germany to be crossed withe™ my explicit approval.
At sea this also applies to all warlike actions, or actions that might be construed as warlike.
The defensive measures of the air force are for the time being to consis: solely in repelling enemy air attacks within the borders of Germany; so far as possible the frontiers of neutral states are not to be crossed when repell^ attacks by single aircraft or by small formations. Only in the event of larsr formations of French and English aircraft flying across neutral states towards German territory and thus endangering our western air defences will ow defensive forces be free also to fly over neutral soil.
It is particularly important that the OKW be informed with all speed n the event of our Western enemies violating the neutrality of any other country. If England and France open hostilities against Germany it is the task of those elements of the armed forces operating in the West by the employee* of minimum forces to ensure the maintenance of conditions which «• permit a victorious conclusion to the operations against Poland. As of this task maximum damage is to be inflicted on the enemy forces on his sources of economic strength. I retain in all cases the right to decide when offensive operations may be initiated. I am aware that the British official history, The War in France and Flan
ders 1939-1940, minimizes Manstein's influence, but in my view the evi
The Army will hold the West Wall and will take the necessary steps to prevent it from being outflanked to the north by means of a violation of Belgian
view that Manstein was the originator of the plan.
or Dutch territory on the part of the Western Powers. Should French forces move into Luxembourg the army is authorised to blow the frontier bridges. The Navy will start warfare against commercial shipping, with main effort directed against the shipping of England. To increase the effectiveness of
195/209
this warfare it may be assumed that certain zones will be declared danger zones. The Naval High Command (OKM) will report what sea areas may usefully be designated danger zones and to what extent. The text of such
declarations will be prepared in conjunction with the Foreign Ministry and
3 Schwerpunkt: point of main effort.
4 Panzer Corps Hoppner with the 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions was to thrust into Belgium in the direction of Brussels, while the 9th Panzer Division was to operate in southern Holland.
5 'The 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions.
6 Three French mechanized cavalry divisions, each with about 200 tanks, took part in the advance into Belgium. The four French armored divisions each had about 150 tanks. The average strength of a panzer division at this time was about 260 tanks
7 Later General of Panzer Troops; a corps commander in Russia, an army commander in Poland and Hungary, and an army group commander in the West.
8 This illustrates the importance of infantry receiving thorough and versatile training in the work of other arms—as was the case with the 1st Rifle Regiment.
9 General Charles de Gaulle, The Call to Honour (London, Collins, 1955),
40-48.
10 See The War in France and Flanders 1939-1940
11 Op.cit., 103.
12 "Editor's note. The British official history seems to lay excessive stress on Rundstedt's influence, for the documents quoted by Major Ellis show that Hitler's intervention was significant and important. Even Jf it be granted that Hitler's decision to countermand the orders of Brauchitsch, the army commander in chief, was taken on Rundstedt's advice, yet the responsibility was Hitler's. Major Ellis disputes the significance of the "halt order," but it is probable that the last word on this subject has yet to be spoken. French documents have not been examined.
13 See the British official history, pp. 346-50. On 25 May a British patrol ambushed a German staff car on the Ypres front, and captured army documents on the highest level. As the British history shows (p. 148), this incident was of vital importance, for it led Lord Gort to move two divisions to the northern flank and so secure his withdrawal to the sea.
14 Only the 51st (Highland) Division and the 1st Armored Division were available.
15 On 20 May General Weygand, formerly chief of staff to Marshal Foch, took over command from the unfortunate General Gamelin.
16 Later lieutenant general, and in 1944 Rommel's chief of staff in Normandy.
17 The Military Strength of the Powers (London, Gollancz, 1939).
18 The history of Poland from 1939 to 1945 encompasses the German invasion of Poland as well as the Soviet invasion of Poland through to the end of World War II. On 1 September 1939, without a formal declaration of war, Germany invaded Poland with the immediate pretext being the Gleiwitz incident, a provocation staged by the Gestapo claiming that Polish troops had allegedly committed "provocations" along the German-Polish border including house torching, which were all staged by the Germans. Nazi Germany also used issues like the dispute between Germany and Poland over German rights to the Free City of Danzig and the freeing of a passage between East Prussia and the rest of Germany through the Polish Corridor as excuses for the invasion. Pursuant to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was attacked by the Soviet Union on 17 September 1939. Before the end of the month most of Poland was divided between the Germans and the Soviets. 19 Halder and Brauchitsch discuss the Case White Plan.
20 The National Socialist German Workers' Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party (DAP), existed from 1919 to 1920. The term Nazi is German and stems from Nationalsozialist, due to the pronunciation of Latin -tion as -tsion in German (rather than -shon as it is in English), with German Z being pronounced as 'ts'.The party emerged from the German nationalist, racist and populist Freikorps paramilitary culture, which fought against the communist uprisings in postWorld War I Germany. Advocacy of a form of socialism by right-wing figures and movements in Germany became common during and after World War I, influencing Nazism. Arthur Moeller van den Bruck of the Conservative Revolutionary movement coined the term "Third Reich", and advocated an ideology combining the nationalism of the right and the socialism of the left. Prominent Conservative Revolutionary member Oswald Spengler's conception of a "Prussian Socialism" influenced the Nazis. The party was created as a means to draw workers away from communism and into völkisch nationalism. Initially, Nazi political strategy focused on anti-big business, anti-bourgeois, and anti-capitalist rhetoric, although such aspects were later downplayed in order to gain the support of industrial entities, and in
1930s the party's focus shifted to antisemitic and anti-Marxist themes. To maintain the supposed purity and strength of a postulated 'master race', the Nazis sought to exterminate or impose exclusionary segregation upon "degenerate" and "asocial" groups that included: Jews, homosexuals, Romani, blacks, the physically and mentally handicapped, Jehovah's Witnesses and political opponents. The persecution reached its climax when the party controlled German state organized the systematic murder of approximately six million Jews and five million people from the other targeted groups, in what has become known as the Holocaust.
The party's leader since 1921, Adolf Hitler, was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg in 1933. Hitler rapidly established a totalitarian regime known as the Third Reich. Following the defeat of the Third Reich at the conclusion of World War II in Europe, the party was "completely and finally abolished and declared to be illegal" by the Allied occupying powers. The term Nazi derives from the first two syllables of Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP, Nazi Party). The German term Nazi parallels the term Sozi (pronounced /zotsi/), an abbreviation of Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany). Members of the NSDAP referred to themselves as Nationalsozialisten (National Socialists), rarely as Nazis. In 1933, when Adolf Hitler assumed power of the German government, usage of the term Nazi diminished in Germany, although Austrian anti-Nazis continued to use the term
21 The map shows the beginning of World War II in September 1939 in aas an insult. wider European context.
22 Various sources contradict each other so the figures quoted above should only be taken as a rough indication of the strength estimate. The most common range differences and their brackets are: German personnel 1,490,900 (official figure of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) – or 1,800,000. Polish tanks: 100–880, 100 is the number of modern tanks, while the 880 number includes older tanks from the World War I era and tankettes. 23 The German Army (German: Heer) was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, from 1935 to 1945. The Wehrmacht also included the Kriegsmarine (Navy) and the Luftwaffe (Air Force). During World War II, a total of about 15 million soldiers served in the German Army, of whom about seven million became casualties. Separate from the Army, the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. Growing from three regiments to over 38 divisions during World War II, it served alongside the army but was never formally part of it.
Only 17 months after Hitler announced publicly the rearmament program, the Army reached its projected goal of 36 divisions. During the autumn of 1937, two more corps were formed. In 1938, four additional corps were formed with the inclusion of the five divisions of the Austrian Army after the Anschluss in March. During the period of its expansion by Adolf Hitler, the German Army continued to develop concepts pioneered during World War I, combining ground (Heer) and air (Luftwaffe) assets into combined arms teams. Coupled with operational and tactical methods such as encirclements and the "battle of annihilation", the German military managed quick victories in the two initial years of World War II, prompting the use of the word Blitzkrieg (literally lightning war, meaning lightning-fast war) for the techniques used.
The German Army entered the war with a majority of its infantry formations relying on the horse for transportation while the infantry remained foot soldiers throughout the war, artillery also remaining primarily horsedrawn. The motorized formations received much attention in the world press in the opening years of the war, and were cited as the main reason for the success of the German invasions of Poland (September 1939), Norway and Denmark (April 1940), Belgium, France and Netherlands (May 1940), Yugoslavia (April 1941) and the early campaigns in the Soviet Union (June 1941). However their motorized and tank formations accounted for only 20% of the Heer's capacity at their peak strength.The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) was Germany's Army High Command from 1936 to 1945. In theory the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) served as the military General Staff for the German Reich's armed forces, coordinating the Wehrmacht (Army Heer, Navy Kriegsmarine, and the Air Force Luftwaffe) operations. In practice OKW acted in a subordinate role as Hitler's personal military staff, translating his ideas into military plans and orders, and issuing them to the three services. However, as the war progressed the OKW found itself exercising increasing amounts of direct command authority over military units, particularly in the west. This created a situation where by 1942 the OKW was the de facto command of Western Theatre forces while the Army High Command (OKH) served Hitler as his personal command Staff on the Eastern Front.
24 The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. After the German Empire's World War I-era army air force, the Luftstreitkräfte, and the Kaiserliche Marine naval air units had been disbanded by May 1920 under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the Luftwaffe was reformed on 26 February 1935 and grew to become one of the strongest, most doctrinally advanced, and most battle-experienced air forces in the world when World War II started in Europe in September 1939. After the defeat of the Third Reich, the Luftwaffe was disbanded in 1946. Luftwaffe is also the generic term in German speaking countries for any national military aviation service, and the names of air forces in other countries are usually translated into German as "Luftwaffe" (e.g. Royal Air Force is often translated as "britische Luftwaffe"). However, Luftstreitkräfte, or "air armed force", is also sometimes used as a translation of "air force". And because "Luft" means "air" and "Waffe" may be translated into English as either "weapon" or "arm", "Air Arm" may be considered the most literal English translation of Luftwaffe (cf. Fleet Air Arm). One of the forerunners of the Luftwaffe, the Imperial German Army Air Service, was founded in 1910 with the name Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, most often shortened to Fliegertruppe. It was renamed Luftstreitkräfte by October 1916. The air war on the Western Front received the most attention in the annals of the earliest accounts of military aviation, since it produced aces such as Manfred von Richthofen, popularly known as the Red Baron, Ernst Udet, Oswald Boelcke, Werner Voss, and Max Immelmann, many of whom would later serve in the Luftwaffe, and Manfred von Richthofen's eventual successor to the command of JG I, Hermann Göring, the Luftwaffe's commander in-chief for most of its existence. After the defeat of Germany, the service was dissolved on 8 May 1920 under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which also mandated the destruction of all military aircraft of Germany.
25 Blitzkrieg (German, "lightning war") is an anglicised term describing a method of warfare whereby an attacking force spearheaded by a dense concentration of armoured and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, and heavily backed up by close air support, forces a breakthrough into the enemy's rear through a series of deep thrusts; and once in the enemy's rear, proceeds to dislocate them using speed and surprise, and then encircle them. Through the employment of combined arms in maneuver warfare, the blitzkrieg attempts to unbalance the enemy by making it difficult for them to respond effectively to the continuously changing front, and defeat them through a decisive vernichtungsschlacht (battle of annihilation). During the interwar period, aircraft and tank technologies matured and were combined with systematic application of the traditional German tactics of deep penetration and bypassing of enemy strong points to encircle and destroy enemy force in a Kesselschlacht (cauldron battle). When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Western journalists adopted the term blitzkrieg to describe this form of armoured warfare. However, the term had already made an appearance as early as 1935, in a German military periodical Deutsche Wehr (German Defense), in connection to quick or lightning warfare. Blitzkrieg operations were very effective during the campaigns of 1939–1941, and by 1940 the term had gained extensive use in Western media and journalism. The blitzkrieg operations capitalized on surprise penetrations (e.g., the penetration of the Ardennes forest region), general enemy unpreparedness, and an inability to react swiftly enough to the attacker's offensive operations. During the Battle of France, the French, who made attempts to re-form defensive lines along rivers, were constantly frustrated when German forces arrived there first and pressed on.
Many modern historians have come to the conclusion that blitzkrieg itself was never an official doctrine or concept of the Wehrmacht, and that it is a myth that it was officially adopted. Some senior officers of the Wehrmacht, including Kurt Student, Franz Halder and Johann Adolf von Kielmansegg, disputed the idea that the blitzkrieg was an organized military concept of the Wehrmacht, and instead asserted that what many regarded as the blitzkrieg was nothing more than "ad hoc solutions that simply popped out of the prevailing situation" (Johann Adolf von Kielmansegg) and ideas that "naturally emerged from the existing circumstances" (Kurt Student) as a response to operational challenges. German historian Frieser summarized the blitzkrieg as simply the result of German commanders blending the latest technology in the most beneficial way with the traditional military principles and "[employing] the right units in the right place at the right time" on the operational level of warfare, and that it was in no way a brand-new military doctrine or concept. As such, many modern historians now understand the blitzkrieg as the outcome of the rejuvenation of the traditional German military principles, methods and doctrines of the 19th century with the latest weapon systems of the interwar period.
26 The discrepancy in German casualties can be attributed to the fact that some German statistics still listed soldiers as missing decades after the war. Today the most common and accepted numbers are: 8,082 to 16,343 KIA, 320 to 5,029 MIA, 27,280 to 34,136 WIA. For comparison, in his 1939 speech following the Polish Campaign Adolf Hitler presented these German figures: 10,576 KIA, 30,222 WIA, and 3,400 MIA. According to early Allied estimates, including those of the Polish government-in-exile, the number of German KIA casualties was 90,000 and WIA casualties was 200,000 Equipment losses are given as 832 German tanks of with approximately 236 to 341 as irrecoverable losses and approximately 319 other armored vehicles as irrecoverable losses (including 165 Panzer Spahwagen – of them 101 as irrecoverable losses) 522–561 German planes (including 246–285 destroyed and 276 damaged), 1 German minelayer (M-85) and 1 German torpedo ship ("Tiger")
27 Various sources contradict each other so the figures quoted above should only be taken as a rough indication of losses. The most common range brackets for casualties are: Poland: 63,000 to 66,300 KIA, 134,000 WIA. The often cited figure of 420,000 Polish prisoners of war represents only those captured by the Germans, as Soviets captured about 250,000 Polish POWs themselves, making the total number of Polish POWs about 660,000–690,000. In terms of equipment the Polish Navy lost 1 destroyer (ORP Wicher), 1 minelayer (ORP Gryf) and several support craft. Equipment loses included 132 Polish tanks and armored cars 327 Polish planes (118 fighters))
28 Dispositions of the opposing forces on 31 August 1939 with the German order of battle overlayed in pink.
29 The French chief of staff, General Maurice Gamelin, observes polish wargames during a visit in the 1930’s. The Polish minister for military affairs, General Tadeux Kasprzycki is on Gamelin’s left. Photo Campaign in Poland 1939 Osprey Publishing
30 A german infantry company on the march intoi Poland in September 1939. Campaign in Poland, Osprey Publishing
31 Polish Corridor 1923-1939
32 The Polish Corridor (German: Polnischer Korridor; Polish: Pomorze, Korytarz polski), also known as Danzig Corridor, Corridor to the Sea or Gdańsk Corridor, was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia (Pomeranian Voivodeship, eastern Pomerania, formerly part of West Prussia), which provided the Second Republic of Poland (1920–1939) with access to the Baltic Sea, thus dividing the bulk of Germany from the province of East Prussia. The Free City of Danzig (now the Polish city of Gdańsk) was separate from both Poland and Germany. A similar territory, also occasionally referred to as a corridor, had been connected to the Polish Crown as part of Royal Prussia during the period 1466–1772. According to German historian Hartmut Boockmann the term "Corridor" was first used by Polish politicians, while Polish historian Grzegorz Lukomski writes that the word was coined by German nationalist propaganda of the 1920s. Internationally the term was used in the English language already as early as March 1919 and whatever its origins, it became a widespread term in English language usage.
The equivalent German term is Polnischer Korridor. Polish names include korytarz polski ("Polish corridor") and korytarz gdański ("Gdańsk corridor"); however, reference to the region as a corridor came to be regarded as offensive by interwar Polish diplomats. Among the harshest critics of the term corridor was Polish Foreign Minister Józef Beck, who in his May 5, 1939 speech in Sejm (Polish parliament) said: "I am insisting that the term Pomeranian Voivodeship should be used. The word corridor is an artificial idea, as this land has been Polish for centuries, with a small percentage of German settlers". Poles would commonly refer to the region as Pomorze Gdańskie ("Gdańsk Pomerania, Pomerelia") or simply Pomorze ("Pomerania"), or as województwo pomorskie ("Pomeranian Voivodeship"), which was the administrative name for the region. In the 10th century, Pomerelia was settled by Slavic Pomeranians, ancestors of the Kashubians, who were subdued by Boleslaw I of Poland. In the 11th century, they created an independent duchy. In 1116/1121, Pomerania was again conquered by Poland. In 1138, following the death of Duke Bolesław III, Poland was fragmented into several semi-independent principalities. The Samborides, principes in Pomerelia, gradually evolved into independent dukes, who ruled the duchy until 1294. Before Pomerelia regained independence in 1227, their dukes were vassals of Poland and Denmark. Since 1308, following succession wars between Poland and Brandenburg, Pomerelia was subjugated by the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia. In 1466, with the second Peace of Thorn, Pomerelia became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a part of autonomous Royal Prussia. After the First Partition of Poland in 1772 it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia and named West Prussia, and became a constituent part of the new German Empire in 1871. Thus the Polish Corridor was not an entirely new creation: the territory assigned to Poland had been an integral part of Poland prior to 1772, but with a large degree of autonomy.
33 Soviet official losses – figures provided by Krivosheev – are currently estimated at 1,475 KIA or MIA presumed dead (Ukrainian Front – 972, Belorussian Front – 503), and 2,383 WIA (Ukrainian Front – 1,741, Belorussian Front – 642). The Soviets lost approximately 150 tanks in combat of which 43 as irrecoverable losses, while hundreds more suffered technical failures. However, Russian historian Igor Bunich estimates Soviet manpower losses at 5,327 KIA or MIA without a trace and WIA
34 Deployment of German, Polish, and Slovak divisions immediately before the German invasion.
35 The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, abbreviated NKVD) was a law enforcement agency of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the All Union Communist Party. It was closely associated with the Soviet secret police which at times was part of the agency and is known for its political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin.The NKVD contained the regular, public police force of the USSR, including traffic police, firefighting, border guards and archives. It is best known for the activities of the Gulag and the Main Directorate for State Security (GUGB), the predecessor of the KGB). The NKVD conducted mass extrajudicial executions, ran the Gulag system of forced labor camps and suppressed underground resistance, and was also responsible for mass deportations of entire nationalities and Kulaks to unpopulated regions of the country. It was also tasked with protection of Soviet borders and espionage, which included political assassinations abroad, influencing foreign governments and enforcing Stalinist policy within communist movements in other countries.After the October Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government dissolved the Tsar's police and created People's Militsiya. The October Revolution established a new Bolshevik regime, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) turned into NKVD under a People's Commissar. However, the NKVD apparatus was overwhelmed by duties inherited from MVD, such as the supervision of the local governments and firefighting, and the proletarian workforce of now Workers' and Peasants' Militsiya was largely inexperienced. Realizing that it was left with no capable security force, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR created a secret political police, the Cheka, led by Felix Dzerzhinsky. It gained the right to undertake quick non-judicial trials and executions, if that was deemed necessary in order to "protect the revolution". The Cheka was reorganized in 1922 as the State Political Directorate, or GPU, of the NKVD of the RSFSR. In 1923, the USSR was formed with the RSFSR as its largest member. The GPU became the OGPU (Joint State Political Directorate), under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. The NKVD of the RSFSR retained control of the militsiya, and various other responsibilities.
In 1934, the NKVD of the RSFSR was transformed into an all-union security force, the NKVD of the USSR (which the Communist Party of the Soviet Union leaders soon came to call "the leading detachment of our party"), and the OGPU was incorporated into the NKVD as the Main Directorate for State Security (GUGB); the separate NKVD of the RSFSR was not resurrected until 1946 (as the MVD of the RSFSR). As a result, the NKVD also became responsible for all detention facilities (including the forced labor camps, known as the GULag) as well as for the regular police. Until the reorganization begun by Nikolai Yezhov with a purge of the regional political police in the autumn of 1936 and formalized by a May 1939 directive of the All-Union NKVD by which all appointments to the local political police were controlled from the center.
36 Einsatzgruppen (German for "task forces", "deployment groups"; singular Einsatzgruppe; official full name Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD) were Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass killings, primarily by shooting, during World War II. The Einsatzgruppen had a leading role in the implementation of the Final Solution of the Jewish question (Die Endlösung der Judenfrage) in territories conquered by Nazi Germany. Almost all of the people they killed were civilians, beginning with the Polish intelligentsia and swiftly progressing to Soviet political commissars, Jews, and Gypsies throughout Eastern Europe.
Under the direction of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler and the supervision of SSObergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the Einsatzgruppen operated in territories occupied by the German armed forces following the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union) in June 1941. The Einsatzgruppen carried out operations ranging from the murder of a few people to operations which lasted over two or more days, such as the massacre at Babi Yar (33,771 killed in two days) and the Rumbula massacre (25,000 killed in two days). As ordered by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, the Wehrmacht cooperated with the Einsatzgruppen and provided logistical support for their operations. Historian Raul Hilberg estimates that between 1941 and 1945 the Einsatzgruppen and related auxiliary troops killed more than two million people, including 1.3 million Jews. The total number of Jews murdered during the Holocaust is estimated at 5.5 to six million people.
After the close of the World War II, 24 senior leaders of the Einsatzgruppen were prosecuted in the Einsatzgruppen Trial in 1947–48, charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes. Fourteen death sentences and two life sentences were handed out. Four additional Einsatzgruppe leaders were later tried and executed by other nations.
37 Vernichtungsgedanke, literally meaning "concept of annihilation" in German and generally taken to mean "the concept of fast annihilation of enemy forces" is a tactical doctrine dating back to Frederick the Great. It emphasizes rapid, fluid movement to unbalance an enemy, allowing the attacker to impose his will upon the defender and avoid stalemate. It relies on uncommonly rigorous training and discipline and thoroughly professional leadership. Much of Vernichtungsgedanke can be seen in Clausewitz’ classic treatise Vom Kriege (On War).
This doctrine was used successfully in the War of Austrian Succession, The Seven Years' War, The Napoleonic Wars, The Austro-Prussian War, and The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). The military success of Kingdom of Prussia/Germany was the catalyst of the alliance systems of 19th century Europe.
The arms races of this period produced the military equipment which eroded the attacker’s advantage during Europe's "Long Peace". It gave decisive advantage to the defender and set the stage for the catastrophic stalemate of the First World War. Vernichtungsgedanke’s long reign as the prime tactical doctrine of modern warfare ended on the Western Front. When the antebellum concluded and Europe went again to war, many of the officers in high command in Germany (chief among them General Heinz Guderian) were all too aware of this doctrinal failure and had specific ideas for its replacement. They had, however, to fight prewar battles to overcome bureaucratic inertia. They mostly won those battles, bringing forth a doctrinal evolution during the Second World War which included the methodology now known as Blitzkrieg. Early enthusiasm for the opportunities provided by armored mobile units was referred to in the 1930s as the armored idea.
38 Major Sucharski (with a sabre) surrendering Westerplatte to General Eberhardt (saluting)
39 SS men attacking under cover of ADGZ vehicle
40 Captured defenders of the Polish Post Office
41 Translation of Polish term bitwa pod Krojantami as used in Marek Getter, Adam Tokarz, Wrzesień 1939 w książce, prasie i filmie : poradnik bibliograficzny, Stowarzyszenie Bibliotekarzy Polskich, 1970, p.101 and others 42 Zaloga describes the battle as small skirmish near the hamlet of Krojanty. Steven J. Zaloga, The Polish Army 1939-45 (Men-at-Arms 117), p.8 43 Cover of Hitler Youth magazine Der Pimpf, Nationalsozialistische Jungenblätter, 10/1939, Archive.org
44 If a single image dominates the popular perception of the Polish campaign of 1939, it is the scene of Polish cavalry bravely charging the Panzers with their lances. Like many other details of the campaign, it is a myth that was created by German wartime propaganda and perpetuated by sloppy scholarship. Yet such myths have also been embraced by the Poles themselves as symbols of their wartime gallantry, achieving a cultural resonance in spite of their variance with the historical record. - Steven J. ZALOGA: Poland 1939 - The birth of Blitzkrieg. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002. Panzerworld.ne
45 Steven J. Zaloga, The Polish Army 1939-45 (Men-at-Arms 117), p.9, Osprey Publishing, Oxford 1982, S. 8
46 Heinz Guderian: Erinnerungen eines Soldaten, "Die lange Straße war leer. Weit und breit fiel kein Schuß. Umso erstaunter war ich, als ich unmittelbar vor Zahn angerufen wurde und die Männer meines Stabes im Helm damit beschäftigt fand, eine Panzerabwehrkanone in Stellung zu bringen. Auf meine Frage, was sie dazu veranlaßt hätte, erhielt ich die Antwort, polnische Kavallerie sei im Anmarsch und müsse jeden Augenblick eintreffen.", 1951, p. 63, Books.Google.com
47 Heinz Guderian: Erinnerungen eines Soldaten, "Ich setzte mich nun an den Anfang des in der Nacht herausgezogenen Regiments und führte es selbst bis an den Kamionka-Ubergang nördlich Groß-Klonia, um es von dort auf Tuchel anzusetzen. Der Angriff der 2. (mot.) Division kam nunmehr schnell in Fluß. Die Panik des ersten Kriegstages war überwunden. Die Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 3 war in der Nacht bis an die Weichsel gelangt. Auf dem Gutshof Poledno in der Nähe von Schwetz hatte sie leider durch Unvorsichtigkeit empfindliche ...", 1951, p. 63 [1]
48 George Parada, Invasion of Poland (Fall Weiss), Achtungpanzer.com 49 German troops in Grudziądz (Graudenz), September 4th, 1939 50 Juliusz Karol Wilhelm Józef Rómmel (German: Julius Karl Wilhelm Josef Freiherr von Rummel; born 3 June 1881 in Grodno - died 8 September 1967 in Warsaw) was a Polish military commander and a general of the Polish Army. During the Polish-Bolshevik War, he gained great fame for achieving a decisive victory in the Battle of Komarów, the largest cavalry engagement of the 20th century. A commander of two Polish armies during the Polish Defensive War of 1939, Rómmel was one of the most controversial of the generals to serve during that conflict. He was also a distant relative of the future German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
51 Map showing the Polish assault southwards
52 Battle of the Bzura: Polish cavalry in Sochaczew in 1939
53 Map showing the advance of German XIX Corps (easternmost arrow) 54 Joint parade of the Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest at the end of the Invasion of Poland. At the center Major General Heinz Guderian and Brigadier Semyon Krivoshein
55 Volunteer fire-fighters watching an air duel over Warsaw. Propaganda poster reads "To Arms - United, we will defeat the enemy"
56 Civilian refugees in Warsaw