“Teamwork between the Panzers and the infantry was exemplary. They quickly began to work together without apparent difficulty. The place of the armour leader is at the head of the formation. He can only command his unit properly from the front”
AFTER ACTION REPORT, POLAND 1939
A war artist provides a vivid impression of the co-operation between the Panzer Grenadiers and the tanks in action in Russia during 1942.
The first moves in Hitler’s master plan had been achieved without bloodshed, but as tensions rose, Adolf Hitler’s crooked path led only downwards into chaos. The conquest of Poland heralded the coming of the Second World War.
On Friday, 1 September 1939, the tactical principles of the Panzerwaffe still had to be put to the test. The German attack began at 4:45 am, when the Battleship Schleswig-Holstein on a so-culled ‘goodwill visit’ opened fire on a Polish naval depot and garrison at Westeplatte. An hour later the first German units crossed the border. On 3 September 1939 Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.
Originally, Germany was to invade Poland in the early hours of 26th August 1939, but at 8:00pm on 25th August, Hitler postponed the attack. The final order was transmitted at 4:00pm on 31st August, but was only given to the troops at 4:45am on 1 September 1939. The invasion was preceded by numerous German border provocations and diversions including the notorious incident at the radio station at Gliwice staged by German troops in Polish uniforms.
Hitler was about to plunge Europe into years of barbarity and turmoil on an unprecedented scale. Although the Polish campaign was predominantly a conventional war, the German battle plan did include some elements of what was to become known as ‘Blitzkrieg’. Hitler made no declaration of war for example, a fact which, unbelievably, caught his victims off guard every time it occurred during the war and which gave him the vital advantage of surprise.
Attacks by the Luftwaffe preceded the invasion. Screaming over Poland ahead of the main armies their task was to destroy the Polish air force and then to act as airborne artillery for the ground forces. Spreading terror among the civilians was also an important part of their mission. The attempt to destroy the Polish air force on the ground was only partially successful, since many of their warplanes were moved to new locations. Nonetheless, air superiority was quickly established, and by day three the Polish air force had been virtually annihilated.
From the start, the Germans engaged in an innovative new form of mobile warfare. At vital stages during the attacks, Stukas hurtled earthwards to place their bombs almost to within centimetres of the centre of their targets. Co-ordination between the air force, the motorised and armoured formations was exemplary, providing enormous flexibility, especially in the absence of artillery support.