The German invading force was divided into five armies and reserves, all under command of General Walther von Brauchitsch. The Germans attacked from three directions – Silesia/Moravia and Slovakia, Western Pomerania and East Prussia. Colonel General Gerd von Rundstedt’s Army Group South, which was composed of the 8th, 10th and 14th Armies, attacked from Silesia/Moravia and Slovakia and had the strongest complement of armoured formations, with over 2000 tanks and 800 armoured cars in four Panzer Divisions, four Light Divisions and two Motorised Divisions.
General Gunther von Kluge’s 4th Army, part of Colonel General Fedor von Bock’s Army Group North, attacked from Western Pomerania, with eight Infantry Divisions, two Motorised Divisions and one Panzer Division. General George von Kuechler’s 3rd Army, also part of Army Group North, attacked from East Prussia with two Infantry Divisions and one Panzer Division. Altogether Army Group North boasted 600 tanks and 200 armoured cars. All three attacks were designed to converge on Warsaw. In total, German forces included 1,850,000 infantry, supported by over 3,000 tanks and 10,000 artillery pieces. The Luftwaffe deployed 2,085 aeroplanes grouped in two air fleets. Additionally the attacking force held advantage by being able to attack Poland from three directions at once. The Germans also had a well-established spy network and could count on the help of many ethnic Germans living in Poland; the Germans also knew the Polish rail and road network very well as German firms had built it.
Units of the Panzerwaffe were equipped with four types of tanks: 1445 PzKpfw I, 1226 PzKpfw II light tanks and around 100 PzKpfw III and 211 Pzkpfw IV medium tanks. In addition, there were 215 command tanks and other armoured vehicles including the Czech PzKpfw 35(t) and a few 38(t). Each of the Panzer Divisions fielded around 300 tanks. Along with the tanks, there were some 308 heavy armoured cars and 718 light armoured cars; the few lucky Panzer Grenadiers were transported in one of 68 armoured personnel carriers.
The Polish Army fielded 39 Infantry, 11 Elite Cavalry Brigades, three Mountain Brigades and two Armoured Motorised Brigades along with various support units. The Army Groups, ‘Lodz’, ‘Krakow’ and ‘Karpaty’ between them had 241 tanks and 32 armoured cars. Army groups ‘Pomorze’, ‘Poznan’ and ‘Modlin’ deployed some 234 tanks and 52 armoured cars. The Reserve formations had some 185 tanks between them. The Polish Army was not yet fully mobilised or prepared for war, as according to the Polish defence plan - Z. Nonetheless, the Poles responded to German attacks on all fronts, attempting to contain the invading force in order to counter-attack. Polish planners correctly predicted directions of German attacks but knew that they could only delay them in order to allow their Allies time to act. In total, the Polish forces fielded some one million infantry, approximately 900 tanks and 4,300 artillery pieces supported by 400 aeroplanes. Only a small percentage of all Polish equipment was modern, the rest largely obsolete, as Poland had only begun the process of reorganisation and modernisation in 1936. The Polish army lacked motorised transport and relied on infantry and horse-drawn transport. In addition the Polish army was surrounded by the enemy on three sides along a 3,000-kilometre-long frontier.
On September 1st and 2nd, the Polish forces were already involved in heavy fighting in the Battles of Mlawa, in Pomerania, while retreating eastwards in attempt to establish a line of defence and delay the invaders. Polish forces made up of infantry on foot were unable to fall hack and establish defensive lines as they were constantly pursued and outpaced by German motorised and Panzer units. Many Polish units and even armies were surrounded and destroyed, while attempting to either defend or withdraw. The Polish High Command realised as early as 5 September that the situation was critical and there was no hope without immediate assistance from its Allies. Many units were cut off but continued fighting. After heavy fighting and desperate defence, on 8 September the Germans reached Warsaw.
On 9th September the bloodiest and most bitter battle of the entire campaign began. The Battle of Bzura was a Polish counteroffensive designed to relieve Warsaw. It was executed by Army Groups ‘Pomorze’ and ‘Poznan’, both of which were in danger of being surrounded themselves. At first the Poles were successful and inflicted heavy losses on the German forces principally due to the element of surprise. Again, the speed of the German units made further operations impossible and by 16th September Germans began pushing the Polish Army towards Warsaw.
When Hitler visited the tank corps soon after the invasion, it was the destruction that the Panzer divisions had caused which astonished him most. The Blitzkrieg elements were falling smoothly into place.
Panzer IIIs and IVs of the 14th Panzer Division move through a Russian village in the months prior to the attack on Stalingrad.
Although brilliantly conceived and executed, the overall German strategy was still based on the classic German tradition of encirclement and envelopment carried out mainly by conventional forces.
By September Poland’s situation was already beyond hope. Despite the obvious hopelessness of the situation, on 18th September the largest tank-versus-tank engagement of the campaign took place near Tomaszow Lubelski. The battle ended on 20th September with the total destruction of Polish forces under General Tadeusz Kutrzeba. Although it delayed the capitulation of Warsaw, the battle fought in a lost cause.
The first German attack on Warsaw took place on 9th September, but from then until 24 September Polish defenders successfully resisted all attacks. On 25th September the Germans began a ground and aerial bombardment of the city, and from 25th-27th September unsuccessfully attempted to storm the city. Many tanks were lost in the street fighting, which again underlined the flaws in the Panzer I. On 28th September, Warsaw capitulated because of the extreme conditions and lack of supplies. At the same time, from 10th September, Fortress Modlin (under General Wiktor Thommee) was also unsuccessfully attacked by the Germans, until its capitulation on 29th September.
Stalin had been unpleasantly surprised by the speed of the German advance. Even with the supposed security of a non-aggression pact with Hitler in his pocket, Stalin did not want to see Germany control the whole of Poland.
On Sunday 17th September the Red Army invaded Poland from the east to ‘liberate’ and ‘protect’ Belorussians and Ukrainians living in Eastern Poland. This came as a shock to the Poles and made regrouping of remaining Polish forces an impossible task. The Soviet invasion force was made up of two fronts - Timoszenko’s Ukrainian and Kowalow’s Belorussian. Both fronts consisted of 1.5 million soldiers, 6,191 tanks, 1,800 aeroplanes and 9,140 artillery pieces. After heavy fighting, on 18th September, the Soviets captured Wilno, followed by Grodno and Lwow on 22nd September, reaching River Bug on 23rd September.
On the night of 18th September the Polish President and High Command along with a single armoured battalion equipped with French Renault R-35 tanks entered Romania, where they were interned. On 18th September Germans and Soviets met in Bresc and Bugiem and exchanged ‘greetings’. On 2nd October Polish defenders of Hel (under Rear Admiral Unrug) capitulated. The last battle of the Polish campaign took place on 2nd-5th October - the Battle of Kock. On Friday, 6th October 1939 the last Polish troops capitulated.
The Polish Army of 1939 used a variety of vehicles. Those included: 574 TK and TKS tankettes (light reconnaissance tanks), 102 obsolete Renault FT-17 light tanks, 160 7TP light tanks and 50 British Vickers 6-ton tanks, along with approximately one hundred armoured cars.
The Polish Army’s tanks were grouped in light tank battalions and light tank companies, but they were scattered throughout the army. Tankettes served with the infantry divisions, cavalry brigades and independent units attached to larger units. In addition, Poland had a single Mechanised Brigade. The Polish light tanks and tankettes were the first opponents for the German Panzers. Patriotic but outnumbered Polish tank crews with their mostly outclassed equipment fought bravely and managed to destroy a number of German vehicles, as they simultaneously defended their homeland from both the Germans and the Soviets. The Polish Campaign is surrounded by numerous myths such as the destruction of The Polish airforcc in the opening hours of the invasion and vain cavalry charges against German armoured units. Both stories were creations of German and some Italian propaganda, and are very far from the truth. The Polish airforce was deployed at numerous airfields and, although numerically inferior and partially obsolete, was very active during the course of the campaign up to and including the battle for Warsaw. Polish cavalry brigades never charged tanks with their sabres or lances. They were conventionally equipped with weapons such as 37mm Bofors wz.36 (model 1936) anti-tank guns. At the time of the battles the cavalry brigades were in the process of being reorganised into motorised brigades so the men in the ranks were well aware of the realities of modem warfare.
A Pz.Kpfw (35)t lies abandoned in a tank graveyard. This particular example has been gutted by fire and has lost its turret-mounted machine gun. This Czech-made tank provided an important stop-gap during the early campaigns.