According to the pages of the newspaper "Pravda", Alexander Ognev, front-line soldier, professor, Honored Scientist
The anti-Soviets chose the history of the heroic deed of the Soviet people, who liberated the world from German fascism, as one of the main objects of falsification. It is clear that sincere patriots do not accept this game of thimblers. Therefore, Pravda readers warmly approved the article published by the newspaper on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, an article by the front-line soldier, Doctor of Philology, Honorary Professor of Tver State University, Alexander Ognev, and persistently recommended that the newspaper continue publishing his revelations of the falsifiers of history. Fulfilling the wishes of the readers, the editorial board of Pravda decided to publish the chapters of the research of the Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation A.V. Ognev in the Friday issues of the newspaper.
A planned deception
World War II began as a result of Poland's refusal to meet German demands. Hitler issued an ultimatum to Poland: to hand over the "free city of Danzig" to the Third Reich, to allow the construction of extraterritorial highways and railways that would link East Prussia with the main part of Germany.
Western democracies sowed illusions among the Poles that in case of war they would provide Warsaw with the necessary assistance. On March 31, 1939, British Prime Minister N. Chamberlain declared in the House of Commons: “In the event of any action that would clearly threaten the independence of Poland and in which the Polish government accordingly deems it necessary to resist with its national armed forces, His Majesty's government considers itself obliged immediately give the Polish government all the support it can. It gave the Polish government an assurance of this. I can add that the French government has authorized me to clarify that it takes the same position on this issue as the government of His Majesty. "
On May 14-19, 1939, during the Franco-Polish negotiations, France promised in case of Hitler's attack on Poland "to launch an offensive against Germany with the main forces of its army on the 15th day of mobilization." The Anglo-Polish negotiations on May 23-30 led to the fact that London declared its readiness to provide Warsaw with 1,300 combat aircraft for the Polish Air Force and to undertake aerial bombardments of Germany in case of war.
These promises were a deliberately planned deception, and the arrogant Polish leadership naively believed them. It presumptuously believed that Hitler would not dare to start a war, nurtured plans to create a great Poland, and with greedy stupidity waited for the time when it would be possible to seize Ukraine and Belarus.
Analyzing the military-political situation in Europe in 1939, historian L. Garth considered: "The only way to avoid war was to enlist the support of Russia, the only power that could provide Poland with direct assistance, and thus contain Hitler." But this sickened the British Conservatives. According to A. Taylor, "the British recoiled in horror" from the proposal to conclude a treaty with the Soviet Union: "A war in which they would have fought on the side of Soviet Russia against Germany was unthinkable for them." (b) I. Stalin warned the Western rulers: "The dangerous and big political game, started by the supporters of the policy of non-interference, may end in a serious failure for them." This prediction came true completely.
Great Britain and France, realizing that the military-political situation was not developing as we would like, offered the Soviet government to undertake a commitment: if they were involved in hostilities, it would provide "immediate assistance, if desired." On April 15, England and France gave guarantees to Poland, Greece and Romania. Assessing the demands of Britain on the unilateral obligations of the USSR, I. Stalin recommended V. Molotov to seek the views of the plenipotentiaries about them. I. Maisky wrote: “I already had to point out more than once that the“ soul of the soul ”of Chamberlain in the region foreign policy comes down to collusion with aggressors at the expense of third countries. "
The Soviet leaders reasonably considered that “a united front of mutual assistance should be created between the three powers on the basis of mutual and equal obligations. Where there is no reciprocity, there is no way to establish real cooperation. " V. Molotov at the session of the Supreme Soviet on May 31, 1939 noted a serious deterioration in the international situation and stressed that the basis of the agreement should be "the principle of reciprocity and equal responsibilities." On June 26, the Soviet ambassador to London, Maisky, told the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov: “Beaverbrook told me yesterday that war is close and that it is likely to begin this fall ... negotiations on the triple alliance will not work. "
Chamberlain still cherished the dream that Hitler would lead his troops to conquer the eastern territories. In mid-July 1939, British and German representatives were holding talks in London, which were anti-Soviet in terms of their military-political orientation. The situation became more and more tense, but the British and French governments did not want to conclude an equal treaty with the Soviet Union. In order to cunningly revive the already completely failed "policy of appeasement", they tried to create the appearance of negotiations, looked for an acceptable way for them to make a deal with the insolent aggressor, to force Poland to meet German demands. They wanted to conclude a treaty similar to the Munich one.
Crafty negotiations
On July 24, 1939, German Ambassador Dirksen reported to his Foreign Minister Ribbentrop that "reaching an agreement with Germany is still the most important and desired goal for England." The most astute bourgeois politician of that time, W. Churchill, soberly assessing the situation, sharply criticized the policy of Chamberlain and Halifax, which was detrimental to the Western democracies themselves: if she is not sure that the methods used by the allies - the front of the world - can lead to success. ... Our government must understand that none of these Eastern European states will be able to hold out, say, a year of war, if they are not backed by solid and solid support from friendly Russia, combined with an alliance of Western powers. "
The British government, seeking to lull the alarmed public opinion, in early August accepted the Soviet proposal to begin military negotiations. On August 11, 1939, the British and French missions arrived in Moscow for negotiations, without having the authority to conclude a military agreement (the British Admiral Drax was sent a document authorizing to conduct negotiations only after their completion). This alone could not inspire confidence in the goals set before them by the governments of England and France. The Soviet delegation headed by the People's Commissar of Defense K. Voroshilov presented a detailed plan of possible military actions against the aggressor. "Of the recently declassified Service foreign intelligence(SVR) Russian documents follow, - writes the historian A. Pivovarov, - that literally ten days before the conclusion of the Pact and two weeks before the official start of the war, i.e. Until September 1, 1939, I. Stalin met with representatives of the delegations of England and France, proposing not only to conclude a trilateral agreement on mutual assistance in case of aggression, but also to transfer up to a million soldiers to the German border in order to prevent and restrain the obvious aggressive aspirations of Germany. "
According to the British diplomat G. Ferker, "long before the arrival of the British military mission, the British embassy in Moscow received an instruction from the government, which indicated that the negotiations should by no means end successfully." In a secret instruction to the British delegation, it was said that "the British government does not wish to be drawn into any definite obligation that could tie our hands under any circumstances." On August 8, 1939, the US Embassy in England reported to Washington: "The military mission, which is currently leaving for Moscow, has been instructed to make every effort to extend the negotiations until October 1."
The negotiations are at an impasse. On August 21, Admiral Drax proposed to postpone them for 3-4 days, since no answer was received to the question about the passage and actions of Soviet troops in the territories of Poland and Romania. US Secretary of the Interior G. Ickes concluded: “Chamberlain ... hopes that Hitler ultimately decides to move east rather than west. That is why he is hesitant about an agreement with Russia. ” Harth had reason to accuse the British government of disrupting the Moscow negotiations and creating the conditions that prepared the conclusion of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact. He wrote about him: “When examining the situation in Europe in subsequent years, one cannot say with such certainty as in 1941 that the measures taken by Stalin caused damage to Russia. All this caused immeasurable damage to the West. "
Backroom deals
When Czechoslovakia was persistently forced to surrender, Chamberlain sought to explain to Hitler the position of Great Britain: “... based on the fact that Germany and England are the two pillars of the European world and the main pillars against communism and therefore it is necessary to peacefully overcome our current difficulties ... Perhaps a solution can be found acceptable for everyone except Russia ”. The last phrase - "except for Russia" - underlines what Chamberlain was longing for in nurturing the plan to create an Anglo-German alliance. On June 29, 1939, Halifax, on behalf of his government, expressed its readiness to come to an agreement with the Germans on all issues that "give the world anxiety." A preliminary probe was carried out by prominent members of the Conservative Party, suggesting "Hitler divide the world into two spheres of influence: the Anglo-American in the West and the German in the East." Knowing that no later than September the Wehrmacht would attack Poland (on April 11, 1939, Hitler signed the Weiss plan to prepare for war against Poland), England decided to sacrifice it to clear the way for Germany to the east.
Chief of staff ground forces In Germany, Colonel General F. Halder (he held this post from August 14, 1939 to September 24, 1942 and often met with Hitler) wrote in his service diary on August 14, 1939: will once again turn to England with proposals. They understood in London. Paris is also aware of our determination. Therefore, the whole great performance is approaching its end ... England is already probing the soil as to how the Fuhrer envisions the further development of the situation after the resolution of the Polish question. " There is an entry in Halder's diary: “08/28/1939. 13 hours 30 minutes. N. Henderson's visit (British Ambassador to Germany) to the Fuhrer. Aide-memoire presentation. N. Henderson: “There is no basis for negotiations. The Fuehrer will not be offended by England if she wages an imaginary war. "
It is worth remembering this thought about "imaginary war".
In England, Chamberlain and his supporters were opposed by more far-sighted politicians - Churchill, Eden and others. They saw the main danger in Hitler, not in the politics of the Bolsheviks. On May 4, 1939, commenting on the Soviet Union's proposal for an alliance to the British, Churchill wrote: “It has been ten or twelve days since the Russian proposal was made. The English people, who ... have now accepted the principle of conscription, have the right, together with the French Republic, to call on Poland not to put obstacles in the way of achieving a common goal. It is necessary not only to agree to the full cooperation of Russia, but also to include in the union the three Baltic states - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. These three states with warlike peoples, which jointly have armies numbering probably twenty divisions of courageous soldiers, absolutely need a friendly Russia, which would give them weapons and provide other assistance. "
Much then depended on the policy of the Polish rulers. On June 20, 1939, Polish Foreign Minister J. Beck instructed his deputy Artsiszewski to meet with the German ambassador to Warsaw von Moltke and assure the latter that the Polish government would not conclude "any agreement with the Soviets." It is noteworthy that the Polish-British treaty of August 25, 1939 "had a secret supplement, in which, in particular, Lithuania was declared the sphere of interests of Poland, and Belgium and Holland - Great Britain."
The Polish government categorically refused Soviet aid in the event of German aggression. The French Foreign Minister, finally realizing that she was falling into an ominous German trap, considered it necessary on 22 August 1939 to “try to make urgent new efforts before Marshal Rydz-Smigly in order to remove, while there is still time, the only obstacle that together and thus hinders the conclusion of trilateral agreements in Moscow. " In fact, there was no longer time to decisively change Poland's stubborn policy, to force her to soberly assess the most dangerous situation.
Churchill described the situation in 1939 as follows: “It made sense to join the battle for Czechoslovakia in 1938, when Germany could barely deploy half a dozen trained divisions on the Western Front, when the French, with 60-70 divisions, could undoubtedly break through the Rhine or into the Ruhr ... However, all this was considered unreasonable, careless, unworthy of modern views and morality. ... And now, when all these advantages and all this aid have been lost and discarded, England, leading France, offers to guarantee the integrity of Poland - the very Poland, which only six months ago with the greed of a hyena took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state. " ...
Hitler had no doubt that England and France would leave Poland to their fate, and decided to use their plans for his own far-reaching goals. On August 11, 1939, Hitler, in a conversation with the Commissioner of the League of Nations in Danzig, K. Burckhardt, pointed out: “Everything I do is directed against the Russians. If the West is too stupid and blind to understand this, then I will be forced to come to an agreement with the Russians, beat the West and then, after its defeat, again turn against the Soviet Union with all my strength. " On August 22, 1939, at a meeting with the military, announcing his decision to start a war with Poland, Hitler said: "England and France will not enter the war unless nothing forces them to do so." He stressed: “The unfortunate worms - Daladier and Chamberlain - I learned in Munich. They are too cowardly to attack us ... Poland will be devastated and populated by Germans ... "
General Z. Westphal in the collection of articles “Fatal Decisions” admitted: “The main fatal decision was the one that proceeded from Hitler's erroneous assumption that the Western powers would allow him to destroy Poland without interceding for his ally. As soon as the decision to invade Poland was made, our fate was decided. " General G. Guderian in his "Memoirs of a Soldier" confirmed: "Hitler and his Foreign Minister were inclined to believe that the Western powers would not dare to start a war against Germany, and therefore her hands were free to carry out her goals in Eastern Europe." General K. Tippelskirch in his History of the Second World War wrote about Hitler's conviction that Britain and France would not dare to attack Germany if it fell on Poland: that he was mistaken about the possible reaction of the British and acted too carelessly. " After a long silence, he asked Ribbentrop: "What will happen now?"
"Imaginary war"
On September 1, 1939, Germany swiftly invaded Poland. England and France, having declared war on Germany on September 3, did not wage active hostilities against it, which was very much hoped for by Poland, which, under the blows of German troops, began to crumble like a house of cards. Having made a public commitment to defend it, England and France cynically betrayed their ally, surprisingly calmly watching as German formations crush the Polish army.
The Poles then clearly exaggerated their military capabilities. The Polish ambassador to Paris, J. Lukasiewicz, in a conversation with French Foreign Minister J. Bonnet on August 18, 1939, said: "Not the Germans, but the Poles will break into the depths of Germany in the very first days of the war!"
G. Isserson wrote in his work New Forms of Struggle (1940) about the main mistake of the Polish command: “On the Polish side it was believed that the main forces of Germany would be tied in the west by the action of France and England and would not be able to concentrate in the east. It was assumed that about 20 divisions would be left against Poland and that all the rest of the forces would be thrown westward against the Anglo-French invasion. So great was the belief in the strength and speed of the Allies' advance. Thus, the plan for the strategic deployment of Germany in the event of a war on two fronts seemed completely wrong. The capabilities of Germany in the air were also assessed. Finally, they firmly counted on direct effective assistance England by air and sea forces. The historical lessons of the past have passed without a trace, which have more than once shown the true value of the promised aid to England, which has always been able to fight only with foreign soldiers. "
F. Halder wrote in his diary on September 7, 1939: "Some facts indicate that the Western powers do not want war ... The French cabinet is by no means set on decisiveness and heroism." The chief of the British General Staff believed that Poland would be able to hold out against Germany for at least six months. On August 31, the commander-in-chief of the French army expressed the hope that the Poles would be able to resist the Germans for a long time, “to fight until the spring of 1940”. In 2007, the American R. Pais justified the behavior of the British and French in September 1939 by the fact that "they had neither the strength nor the ability to help Poland at that time." Our publicist G. Rychkov considered the main reason for the shameful inaction of Poland's western allies that France "was unable to mobilize the army and put the economy on a war footing."
Weighty facts refute these versions. M. Meltyukhov in the book “Stalin's Lost Chance. The Soviet Union in the Struggle for Europe: 1939-1941. " (2002) wrote: “There were enough forces for the offensive. By the beginning of September 1939, French troops on the German border numbered 3,253 thousand people, 17.5 thousand guns and mortars, 2,850 tanks, 1,400 first line aircraft and 1,600 in reserve. In addition, over a thousand British aircraft could be used against the Germans. They were opposed by 915 thousand German troops with 8640 guns and mortars, 1359 aircraft and not a single tank. "
The English historian D. Kichme, in his book "The Failed Battle" (1967), asserted that France and England, starting hostilities against Germany, would have won a decisive victory. But they refused to give "exactly the battle that would end the war, and possibly with Hitler himself in the fall of 1939." Field Marshal E. Manstein in his book "Lost Victories" noted that "the French army from the first day of the war was many times superior to the German forces operating on the Western Front." A. Taylor stressed: "If the French launched an offensive, the Germans would not have the opportunity to resist."
Z. Westphal concluded: “If the French army undertook a major offensive on a wide front against weak German troops covering the border (it is difficult to name them softer than the guard forces), then there is almost no doubt that it would have broken through the German defenses, especially in first ten days of September. Such an offensive, launched before the transfer of significant German forces from Poland to the West, would almost certainly give the French the opportunity to easily reach the Rhine and perhaps even force them. This could significantly change the further course of the war. "
Colonel-General A. Jodl, Chief of Staff of the Operational Command of the Armed Forces (OKW), admitted at the Nuremberg Trials: wars with Poland in the West against 23 German divisions remained completely inactive. "
The French writer Roland Dorgeles, who visited the front line, at that time a war correspondent, was surprised at the silence that reigned there: “The gunners stationed at the Rhine looked with folded arms at the German columns with military equipment moving on the other side of the river, our pilots flew over fire-breathing furnaces factories of the Saar without dropping bombs. Obviously, the main concern of the high command was not to provoke the enemy. " On September 8, the very alarmed Polish military attaché in France, Colonel Fyd, reported to Warsaw: “Until 10 o'clock on September 7, 1939, there is virtually no war in the west. Neither the French nor the Germans shoot at each other. In the same way, there are still no aviation actions. My assessment: the French are not carrying out any further mobilization or further action and are awaiting the results of the battle in Poland. " On September 9, 1939, Polish military representatives at a meeting with the chief of the British Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal E. Ironside, learned that there was no British plan for military assistance to Poland at all.
The "timid" government of France
When asked why the French army, which had an overwhelming superiority in the west, did not launch an offensive, as General Gamelin and the French government promised in writing, the American publicist Shearer replied: “There were many reasons: the defeatism of the French high command, government and people; the memory of how France was drained of blood during the First World War, and the desire to prevent such a massacre at the slightest opportunity; the realization that by mid-September the Polish armies will be completely defeated and the Germans will soon be able to transfer their superior forces to the west and stop the initial advance of the French; fear of German superiority in artillery and aviation. "
The French government insisted from the outset that the British Air Force should not bomb targets in Germany itself, fearing that the Germans might retaliate by bombing French factories, although the bombing of the Ruhr, the industrial heart of the Reich, could backfire on the Germans. a disaster. ... When asked why France did not oppose Germany in September, Churchill gave the most reasonable answer: “This battle ... was lost several years ago. Munich in 1938; during the German occupation of the Rhineland in 1936, a year before Hitler introduced military service, ignoring the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty. Now the time has come for the reckoning for the grievous inaction of the Allies, although Paris and London seemed to think that this reckoning could be avoided. "
The future President of France, General Charles de Gaulle, wrote: “When in September 1939 the French government ... decided to join the war in Poland, which had already begun by that time, I had no doubt that illusions dominated it, as if, despite the state of war, until serious battles will not come. " He noted that then in France "some circles saw the enemy more in Stalin than in Hitler, they were concerned about how to strike at Russia."
Speaking in the House of Commons on October 4, 1939, British Foreign Secretary Halifax expressed his displeasure at the fact that Hitler, by concluding a non-aggression pact with Stalin, was acting contrary to all his previous policies. French political scientist R. Aron unconditionally justified the Munich agreement and even the shameful surrender of France in 1940. Why? Yes, only because it helped "throw the Germans in the direction of their eastern claims." And if France had not been defeated, then "the attack on the Soviet Union would have been completely postponed." For such figures, the national interests of their people and state are sheer trifles, the most important thing is to significantly weaken and dismember the USSR. The main reason for the amazing inaction of France at that time was rooted in the undermining of the national spirit of the people, especially the ruling circles, they began to value the state independence of their country surprisingly little.
Polish calculations and miscalculations
On May 5, 2005, the Polish Sejm appealed to the Russian government with a demand to condemn Stalin for supporting Germany in the war against Poland in 1939. For some reason, the Sejm completely "forgot" that Poland took an active part in the base division of Czechoslovakia and adopted a short-sighted anti-Soviet policy.
Immediately after the conclusion of the Munich Agreement on September 30, 1938, the Polish government sent an ultimatum to the Czech Republic, in which it demanded that the border region of Cieszyn be transferred to him immediately. In 1938, 156 thousand Czechs and only 77 thousand Poles lived in it. Churchill assessed the behavior of the rulers of Poland in the following way: “The heroic character traits of the Polish people should not force us to close our eyes to his recklessness and ingratitude, which for a number of centuries have caused him immeasurable suffering. In 1919, this was the country that, after many generations of division and slavery, was transformed by the victory of the Allies into an independent republic and one of the main European powers. Now, in 1938, due to such an insignificant issue as Tesin, the Poles broke with all their friends in France, England and the USA, who brought them back to a united national life and whose help they should soon need so badly. " ...
The Non-Aggression Pact with Poland, signed in Berlin on January 26, 1934 (on April 28, 1939, Germany tore it up), contained secret anti-Soviet articles: the Poles were going to fight together with the Wehrmacht against the USSR, wishing to get Ukraine as a reward. On September 25, 1938, the Polish ambassador to Paris Y. Lukasiewicz haughtily said to the American ambassador W. Bullitt: “A religious war between fascism and Bolshevism begins ... Poland is ready for a war with the USSR, shoulder to shoulder with Germany. The Polish government is confident that within three months the Russian troops will be completely defeated and Russia will no longer represent even a semblance of a state. "
In December 1938, the report of the intelligence department of the General Staff of the Polish Army stated: “The dismemberment of Russia is at the heart of Polish policy in the east ... Therefore, our possible position will be reduced to the following formula: Poland should not remain passive at this wonderful historical moment. The task is to prepare well in advance physically and spiritually ... The main goal is to weaken and defeat Russia. "
On December 28, 1938, the counselor of the German Embassy in Poland Rudolf von Shelia had a conversation with the Polish envoy to Iran J. Karsho-Sedlevsky, who said: “The political perspective for the European East is clear. In a few years, Germany will fight the Soviet Union, and Poland will support, voluntarily or involuntarily, Germany in this war. It is better for Poland before the conflict to definitely take the side of Germany, since the territorial interests of Poland in the west and the political goals of Poland in the east, primarily in Ukraine, can only be ensured through a Polish-German agreement reached in advance. He, Karsho-Sedlewski, will subordinate his activities as Polish envoy to Tehran to the implementation of this great Eastern concept, since it is necessary in the end to convince and induce also the Persians and Afghans to play an active role in the future war against the Soviets. "
On January 26, 1939, Polish Foreign Minister Yu. Beck told Ribbentrop that his country "claims a Greater Ukraine and access to the Black Sea." What historical blindness! This was said 8 months before the catastrophic collapse of the Polish state as a result of the German attack. On August 20, 1939, Y. Beck said to the ambassadors of France and England: “I do not admit that there can be any use of our territory by foreign troops. We do not have a military agreement with the USSR. We don't want him. "
How and why did we have to help Poland at that time, which flatly rejected our help and cherished the cherished dream of seizing Ukraine? What intelligible things can the detractors of the policy of the Soviet government give when answering this question?
A very interesting article about Poland and the beginning of World War II in the middle of the last century. Thanks to the authors
Poland at that time was a rather strange state formation, rather roughly sewn after the First World War from the fragments of the Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian empires, with the addition of what it managed to grab into Civil War and immediately after it (Vilensky district - 1922), and even the Teshinsky region, seized on the occasion in 1938 during the partition of Czechoslovakia.
The population of Poland within the borders of 1939 was 35.1 million people before the war. Of these, there were actually 23.4 million Poles, 7.1 million Belarusians and Ukrainians, 3.5 million Jews, 0.7 million Germans, 0.1 million Lithuanians, 0.12 million Czechs, well and about 80 thousand others.
Ethnic map of Poland
The attitude to national minorities in pre-war Poland was, to put it mildly, not very much, considering the Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Germans, Czechs as the fifth column of neighboring states, I'm not even talking about the love of the Poles for the Jews.
From an economic point of view, pre-war Poland was also by no means among the leaders.
But the leaders of the fifth in area and the sixth largest country in Europe sincerely considered their state to be one of the great powers, and, of course, they tried to pursue a corresponding policy - great power.
Polish poster of 1938
Polish army at the pre-war parade
It seemed that geography itself prompts only two policy options - either to establish relations with at least one of its two strong neighbors, or to try to create a coalition of small countries in order to resist these terrible monsters.
This is not to say that the Polish rulers did not try it. But the trouble was that, when it appeared, the newborn state was pushing its elbows so painfully that it managed to rob everyone, I repeat, all of its neighbors. The Soviet Union has "Eastern Kresy", Lithuania has the Vilnius region, Germany has Pomerania, and Czechoslovakia has Zaolzie.
Polish "Vickers E" enters the Czechoslovakian Saolzie, October 1938
With Hungary, there were also territorial disputes. Even with Slovakia, which was formed only in March 1939, they managed to quarrel, trying to chop off a piece from it, because of which Slovakia turned out to be the only power besides Germany that declared war on Poland on September 1 and put 2 divisions on the front. Maybe Romania did not get it, but the Polish-Romanian border was somewhere on the outskirts. To give something to improve relations - well, it somehow does not work in Polish at all.
And if your strength is not enough, of course, you need to ask for support from those who, after the First World War, helped create this "political news" - the Polish Republic.
But the pre-war policy of both France and Great Britain showed that these countries do not want to get involved in a new war, and they want them to sort it out in the east of Europe, without interfering in any way. The attitude of Western politicians towards the Soviet state was, how to put it more precisely, very nervous, and many of them saw in sweet dreams how someone would attack it. And then there is such a chance that the Germans will climb further to the east, or ours, without prior agreement with the Fuhrer, will rush to defend Western Belarus and Ukraine, which really dreamed of liberation from the Polish occupation at that time. Well, as often happens in such cases, two armies marching towards each other will not be able to stop and will fight.
This means that Western Europe will be able to remain in peace for some time, watching how their restless eastern neighbors fight.
Although our future allies gave guarantees to Poland, and even confirmed that 15 days after the aggression of any power they would valiantly stand up to defend Poland. And what is interesting is that they fully fulfilled their promise, really standing on the German-French border, and staying there until May 10, 1940, until the Germans got tired of it, and they themselves went on the offensive.
Rattling solid armor of medals
The French went on a furious campaign.
Comrade Stalin was waiting for them for 17 days,
And the evil Frenchman does not go to Berlin.
But this is in the future. In the meantime, the task of the Polish leadership was to figure out how to protect the territory themselves from possible aggression from the west. I must say that the pre-war Polish intelligence was at a fairly high level, for example, it was she who revealed the secret of the famous German encryption machine "Enigma". This secret, together with Polish codebreakers and mathematicians, then went to the British. Intelligence was able to timely reveal the grouping of the Germans and even determine their strategic plan with sufficient accuracy. Therefore, as early as March 23, 1939, hidden mobilization began in Poland.
But that didn't help either. The length of the Polish-German border was then almost 1,900 km, and the desire of Polish politicians to protect everything smeared the Polish Army, which was almost twice inferior to the German troops (on September 1, against 53 German divisions, the Poles were able to deploy 26 infantry divisions and 15 brigades - 3 mountain infantry , 11 cavalry and one armored motorized, or a total of 34 conventional divisions) along the entire future front.
The Germans, having concentrated 37 infantry, 4 light infantry, 1 mountain rifle, 6 tank and 5 motorized divisions and a cavalry brigade near the Polish border by September 1, on the contrary, created compact shock groupings, reaching overwhelming superiority in the directions of the main attacks.
Yes and Combat vehicles that, as it was then called in our press, "landlord-bourgeois lord" Poland, fully reflected the degree of development of the state. Some of the really advanced developments for that time were in single copies, and the rest were pretty well-worn weapons left over from the First World War.
Of the 887 light tanks and tankettes listed in August (Poland did not have others), about 200 pieces were of some combat value - 34 "six-ton Vickers", 118 (or 134, here in different sources differently) their Polish twins 7TP and 54 French Renault with Hotchkiss 1935. Everything else was very old and suitable only for police operations or display in museums.
Light tank 7TP 1937 release
It should be said here that in the second half of the thirties there was a qualitative revolution in tank building. Due to the anti-tank guns that appeared in the infantry, which were invisible, small and could move by calculation across the battlefield on their own wheels, all tanks built according to previous projects and having armor protection only from machine guns and infantry bullets suddenly became obsolete.
Designers and engineers from all leading countries got down to work. As a result, there appeared slow, extremely uncomfortable for their crews and clumsy, but well-armored French freaks, albeit more comfortable, but weakly armed and equally slow British Matildas and much more advanced Germans - Pz.Kpfw. III and Pz.Kpfw. IV. Well, our T-34 and KV.
The situation with aviation was no better for the Poles. 32 really new and very successful "Los" (twin-engine bomber PZL P-37 "Los", 1938) were lost against the background of outdated and took the brunt of about 120 "Karasei" (light bomber PZL P-23 "Karas" 1934 with a maximum speed of 320 km / h, 112 aircraft were killed in the battles) and 117 PZL P-11 - fighters developed in 1931-34 with a maximum speed of 375 km / h and two 7.7 mm machine guns - of which 100 aircraft were killed.
twin-engine bomber Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze PZL P-37 "Los"
Fighter Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze PZL P-11C
The speed of the then German "Dor" and "Emilia" - Messerschmitt Bf109D and Bf109E fighters - was 570 km / h, and each of them was armed with a pair of cannons and machine guns.
True, it should be said that the Wehrmacht in 1939 could not boast of the latest developments. There were only 300 new tanks (T-3 and T-4), and T-1 and T-2, which constituted the main force German tanks divisions, by 1939 were pretty outdated. Rescued Czech "Prague" ("Skoda" LT vz. 35 and LT vz. 38 "Praha"), which the Germans got a lot.
But 54 not very successful "Frenchmen" (in "Renault-35" and "Hotchkiss-35" there are only 2 crew members and the turret must simultaneously load and direct the cannon, shoot from it and a machine gun, observe the battlefield and command the tank) with a cannon-proof booking against 300 German - still not enough.
Renault R 35 light infantry escort tank
But the most important thing for any army - how it is led, and the troops were controlled in a typical Polish way, communication with armies, corps and formations was constantly lost almost immediately after the start of the war, and the military and political elite were primarily concerned with their own salvation, and not with leadership troops. How the Poles managed to resist here and there for a month under such conditions is a national mystery.
It is also a mystery how, in preparation for war, the Polish leadership did not bother with how it, in fact, was going to lead. No, the command posts were equipped, of course, and the furniture was beautiful, but at the beginning of the war, the Polish General Staff had only two radio stations and several telephones to communicate with the troops. Moreover, one radio station, which could hardly fit on ten trucks, was well, very large and very unreliable, and its transmitter was broken during an air raid on the second day of the war, while the second receiver was in the office of the Polish commander-in-chief Marshal Rydz-Smigla, where it was not accepted to enter without a report
Marshal of Poland, Supreme Commander of the Polish Army Edward Rydz-Śmigły (1886 - 1941)
But something needs to be done, and the dashing plan "Zahud" was invented in Polish ("West", the plan "Wshud" (East) was being prepared for the USSR, the military in all countries were not too inventive) according to which the Polish Army had to stubbornly defending the entire western and southern borders, conduct an offensive against East Prussia, for which to deploy 39 infantry divisions and 26 border, cavalry, mountain infantry and armored brigades.
Polish infantry on the defensive. September 1939
It was possible to deploy, as mentioned above, 26 divisions and 15 brigades. To strike at East Prussia, they collected task forces"Narew", "Vyshków" and the "Modlin" army, only 4 divisions and 4 cavalry brigades, 2 more divisions were in the stage of deployment. In the "Polish corridor" the "Help" army was concentrated - 5 divisions and 1 cavalry brigade. Part of the forces of this army was intended to capture Danzig, 95% of the population of which were Germans. On the Berlin axis - the Poznan army - 4 divisions and 2 cavalry brigades, the borders with Silesia and Slovakia were covered by the Lodz armies (5 divisions, 2 cavalry brigades), Krakow (5 divisions, cavalry, motorized armored and mountain infantry brigades and border guards) and "Karpaty" (2 mountain infantry brigades). In the rear, south of Warsaw, the Prusy army was deployed (before the start of the war, they managed to assemble 3 divisions and a cavalry brigade there).
The plan of the Germans, which they called "Weiss" (white), was simple and effective - anticipating organized mobilization by a sudden invasion, concentric strikes from the north - from Pomerania and the south - from Silesia in the general direction to Warsaw by two shock groups, called without any special tricks army groups " North and South to surround and destroy the Polish troops located west of the Vistula-Narew line.
With the pre-emptive mobilization, it did not work out very well, but in the directions of the main attacks the Germans managed to achieve an overwhelming superiority in manpower and equipment, which, of course, affected the overall result.
Dislocation of troops on 09/01/1939
With such a balance of forces, the Poles could only be saved by mobility and coordination, which, for example, were shown by the Israelis in 1967. But mobility with the famous Polish off-road, the absence of vehicles and the domination of German aviation in the skies could only be achieved if the troops were not scattered along an endless 1,900 kilometer front, but were concentrated in advance in a compact grouping. There is no need to talk about any coordination under the then Polish leadership, which valiantly rolled closer to the neutral borders at the first shots.
The President, in his own person saving the most important asset of Poland - its elite, left Warsaw on September 1. The government held out longer, it only left on the 5th.
The last order of the Commander-in-Chief was followed on 10 September. After that, the heroic marshal did not get in touch and soon showed up in Romania. On the night of September 7, he left Warsaw for Brest, where, in the event of a war with the USSR, according to the Wshud plan, the headquarters was to be located. The headquarters turned out to be unequipped, communication with the troops could not be clearly established, and the dashing Commander-in-Chief went on. On the 10th, the rate was moved to Vladimir-Volynsky, on the 13th - to Mlynov, and on September 15 - closer to the Romanian border, to Kolomyia, where the government and the president were already located. This dragonfly hopper somehow reminds me of Winnie the Pooh who saves his pots of honey during a flood seven times.
On the fronts, things were going badly.
The first success was achieved by the German 19th Mechanized Corps striking from Pomerania to the east. 2 mechanized, tank and two infantry divisions attached to it, having overcome the resistance of the Polish 9th division and the Pomeranian cavalry brigade, by the evening of the first day, had covered 90 kilometers, cutting through the army "Help". It was in this place, near Kroyanty, that the most famous case of a clash of Polish cavalrymen on horseback with German armored vehicles took place.
At 19.00, two squadrons (about 200 horsemen), led by the commander of the 18th regiment of the Pomeranian lancers, attacked the German motorized infantry with sabers at rest. The German battalion, not taking due precautions, was taken by surprise and scattered across the field in panic. The cavalrymen, overtaking the fleeing ones, cut them down with their sabers. But armored cars appeared, and these squadrons were almost completely destroyed by machine-gun fire (26 killed, more than 50 seriously wounded). Colonel Mastalezh was also killed.
Polish Lancers attack
The well-known legends about the dashing cavalry attacks with sabers on tanks are the invention of the high-speed Heinz (Guderian), propagandists of the Goebbels department and post-war Polish romantics.
Polish lancers, in a dashing attack on September 19 at Wulka Venglova, chop noodles from the inopportunely turned up, but very terrible German tanks
In 1939, the Polish cavalry did make at least six attacks in equestrian formation, but only two of them were marked by the presence of German armored vehicles on the battlefield (September 1 near Kroyanty) and tanks (September 19 at Vulka Venglova), and in both episodes direct the target of the attacking lancers was not the enemy's armored vehicles.
Greater Poland cavalry brigade near Bzura
On September 19, near Vulka Venglova, Colonel E. Godlevsky, the commander of the 14th regiment of the Yazlovetsky lancers, who was joined by a small unit of the 9th regiment of Malopolskie lancers of the same Podolsk brigade from the Poznan army surrounded west of the Vistula, hoping for a surprise effect, made a decision break through the positions of the resting German infantry to Warsaw with a cavalry attack. But it turned out to be the motorized infantry of a tank division, and artillery and tanks were nearby. The Poles managed to break through the dense enemy fire, losing 105 people killed and 100 wounded (20% of the regiment's personnel at that time). A large number of lancers were captured. The entire attack lasted 18 minutes. The Germans lost 52 killed and 70 wounded.
By the way, many laugh at the Polish enthusiasm for the cavalry, but during this campaign, the cavalry brigades, due to their mobility in the conditions of the swampy-wooded Polish plain and better training and weapons than the infantry, turned out to be the most effective formations of the Polish Army. And they fought with the Germans mostly on foot, using a horse as a vehicle.
Polish cavalry
In general, the Poles fought, where they managed to catch on, bravely, but they were poorly armed, they commanded them in such a way that there were simply no words. There is no need to talk about any centralized supply with the German air supremacy and the mess in the headquarters. And the lack of clear leadership of the troops quickly led to the fact that the proactive commanders subjugated everything they could reach, and acted according to their own understanding, not knowing what his neighbor was doing, nor the general situation and not receiving orders. And if the order did arrive, then there was no point or opportunity to carry it out due to the fact that the leadership, not receiving timely reports from the troops, had difficulty imagining the situation on the battlefield. It may be very Polish, but it does not contribute to success.
Already on September 2, the Army "Help", guarding the "corridor" that became a pretext for the conflict, was cut into two parts by counterstrikes from Pomerania and East Prussia, and, moreover, the largest of them, the seaside, found itself in a double ring of encirclement.
But a real catastrophe was brewing in the center, where on the second day of the war German tankmen managed to find the junction of the armies "Lodz" and "Krakow" and the 1st Panzer Division rushed forward through the "Czestochowa gap" uncovered by the troops, reaching the rear defensive line before those Polish units who were supposed to occupy her ...
Not many people understand what a tank breakthrough is. Here is the best, from my point of view, description of what happens in this case with the defending army:
“The enemy has understood one obvious truth and is using it. People take up little space in the vast expanses of the earth. It would take one hundred million to build a soldier like a solid wall. This means that the intervals between military units are inevitable. They can be eliminated, as a rule, by the mobility of the troops, but for enemy tanks, a weakly motorized army is, as it were, immobile. This means that the gap becomes a real gap for them. Hence the simple tactical rule: “A tank division acts like water. It puts light pressure on the enemy's defenses and advances only where it meets no resistance. " And the tanks are putting pressure on the line of defense. There are always gaps in it. Tanks always pass.
These tank raids, which we are powerless to prevent in the absence of our own tanks, cause irreparable damage, although at first glance they produce only minor damage (seizure of local headquarters, breaking telephone lines, setting fire to villages). Tanks play the role of chemicals that do not destroy the body itself, but its nerves and lymph nodes. Where tanks swept by lightning, sweeping away everything in their path, any army, even if it looked like it almost suffered no losses, has ceased to be an army. She turned into separate clots. Instead of a single organism, only organs that were not connected with each other remained. And between these clots - no matter how brave the soldiers are - the enemy moves unhindered. An army loses its combat effectiveness when it turns into a crowd of soldiers. "
This was written in 1940 by the pilot of long-range reconnaissance air group No. 2/33, the captain of the French army, Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
German tanks T-1 (Light tank Pz.Kpfw. I) in Poland. 1939 year
And this is exactly what the Poles had to experience the first in the 20th century. Having received a message that the German tanks were already 40 km from Czestochowa, deep in the rear of his troops, on September 2, Commander-in-Chief Rydz-Smigla ordered to withdraw the troops of the Lodz army defending in the central direction to the main line of defense.
It was decided to withdraw to the east and southeast beyond the line of the rivers Nida and Dunajec (100 - 170 km) and the army "Krakow". Its open northern flank was bypassed by the 16th Motorized Corps, the 22nd Motorized Corps, which broke through the covering forces on September 2, moved to Tarnow, and the 5th Panzer Division of the 14th Army captured Auschwitz (about 50 km from Krakow) and the army depots located there. ...
This made the defense of the central positions on the Wart pointless, but it was no longer possible to fix something. It is easy to give an order, but it is very difficult to carry it out when the troops are slowly marching on foot under the blows of the German air superiority on the famous Polish roads. The troops defending in the center simply could not retreat faster. The desire to protect everything played a bad joke - there were simply no reserves to plug all the holes, and those that existed could not keep up with the rapidly changing situation and most of them were defeated on the march or during unloading, never having time to enter the battle.
It can be stated that by the evening of the second day of the war, the border battle was won by the Germans. In the north, the "Help" army, which was in the "Polish corridor", was cut and partially surrounded, communication between Germany and East Prussia was established. In the south, the Krakow army, outflanked from two flanks, leaves Silesia, effectively eliminating the southern sector of the Polish front and exposing the southern flank of the main defensive position, which the central grouping had yet to reach.
Attacking from East Prussia, the 3rd Army, having broken on the third day the resistance of the Modlin army (two divisions and a cavalry brigade), which had literally been ground by the Germans in these battles and had lost its combat effectiveness, formed a thirty-kilometer gap in the Polish defense. The commander, General Przedzimirski, decided to withdraw the defeated troops across the Vistula and there to try to put them in order.
The Polish pre-war operational plan was thwarted.
The command and political leadership of Poland could not offer anything else, and one could only hope that the allies would be ashamed, and they would still help.
But allies - they won't shed their blood for some Polish people, they need to prove that you are not a freeloader, but a partner. And this does not even reach the modern leaders of the "newly formed" states, and there is no need to talk about the politicians of the "Second Poland". By that time they were getting ready "into exile" to heroically "lead" the Polish resistance from comfortable Parisian and then London mansions.
The Polish army and the Poles themselves were not going to surrender so far, and, although the retreat started almost along the entire front influenced the mood, the troops continued to fight.
Tired by the marches, the central grouping, which managed to retreat to Warta by September 4, without having time to gain a foothold, underwent flank attacks. The Kresovaya cavalry brigade, covering the right flank, was knocked out of position and withdrew from the line. The 10th Division held out longer, but was also defeated. On the southern flank, the 1st Panzer Division of the Germans disorganized an impromptu defense and moved to Piotkow, to the rear of the main position. Both flanks were open.
On September 5 at 18:15 the chief of staff of the Lodz Army reported: “The 10th Infantry Division has crumbled, we are gathering it in Lutomirsk. Therefore, we leave the Wart-Vindavk line, which cannot be kept ... The situation is difficult. This is the end".
The army began to withdraw what was left to Lodz. The battle in the main position, so, practically, and without starting, ended.
The main Polish reserve is the Prusy army (three divisions and a cavalry brigade), having found the Germans in Pietkow, in its rear, due to contradictory orders that sent its divisions in parts in different directions, and the panic that gripped the troops, simply disappeared into the thick events without having almost any influence on their course.
With her disappearance, the last hope of the Polish command to seize the initiative disappeared.
All Polish troops entered the battle. They were ground by German tanks, aircraft and infantry. There were no more reserves. Hopes for a long time to gain a foothold on some lines were melting, the enemy's losses were not so great as to cause a crisis. The allies, not intending to move anywhere, valiantly stood on the Maginot Line.
In the evening, the Polish Commander-in-Chief sent out directives to the troops about a general retreat along the entire front in a general direction to the southeast, to the borders of allied Romania and Hungary, which is favorable to the Poles. The Polish president, government and deputies also rushed there.
I was always touched by the position of such politicians, who brought the country to defeat and rushed to emigration to "head" the underground struggle, in the hope that they would be allowed to steer once more. And after all, there are those who want to transfer power to them again.
The Polish propaganda rang with fanfare: "The Polish air raid on Berlin", the Siegfried Line was broken in 7 places "...
But practically on September 5 the war was lost by the Poles. However, the Germans still had to complete it.
First, the encircled part of the "Help" army was defeated. On September 5, Grudzizh was taken, on the 6th - Bygdoszcz and Torun. 16 thousand Polish soldiers were taken prisoner and 100 guns were captured.
When the Germans entered Bygdoszcz (Bromberg) and Schulitze, it turned out that the Polish authorities had staged a massacre of Polish citizens of German nationality living in these cities. With this, the Poles opened another sad page of the Second World War, being the first to organize atrocities against the civilian population. Even on the eve of the defeat, the Polish Nazis were incorrigible.
German residents of Bygdoszcz (Bromberg) - victims of the Polish genocide
Before the 10th Army, which struck through the Chentkhov Gap, no longer had an organized Polish front. After leaving on September 6 to Tomusz Mazowiecki, she received an order to break through to the Vistula line. Having discovered a concentration of significant Polish forces south of Radom (these were the retreating units of the Prusy and Lublin armies, the army regrouped its forces by blowing from its flanks two motorized corps that met east of Radom on September 9, surrounded this grouping and by September 12 it destroyed it. 65 thousand people were captured, 145 guns were captured.The 16th Motorized Corps, advancing to the north, without meeting any resistance, reached the southern outskirts of Warsaw by September 8.
In the south, having passed Krakow, surrendered by the Poles without a fight on September 5, the 14th Army reached Tarnów near the Dunaevets River.
At the headquarters of Army Group South, the impression was that the Polish forces west of the Vistula were abandoning the fight, and on September 7 all corps of the group were ordered to pursue the Poles as fast as possible. On the 11th, the 14th army of this group crossed the San River at Yaroslav and went out with its right flank to the upper reaches of the Dniester.
Covering the northern flank of the 10th Army, the 8th Army occupied Lodz and reached the Bzura River.
German infantry crossing the Bzura river
Attacking from East Prussia to the south, the 3rd Army, overcoming the resistance of the opposing Polish troops, crossed the Narew River. Guderian rushed to Brest, and the Kempf group swept Warsaw from the east, capturing Sedlice on 11 September.
Based in Pomerania, the 4th Army reached Modlin, encircling Warsaw from the northeast.
It was a rout ...
Poland. September 1939
A handshake between Polish Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigla and German attaché Colonel Bogislav von Studnitz at the Independence Day parade in Warsaw on November 11, 1938.
It would be curious to understand on which side of the front line of World War II more Poles fought. Professor Ryszard Kaczmarek, director of the Institute of History of the University of Silesia, author of the book Poles in the Wehrmacht, for example, told the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza about this: “We can assume that 2-3 million people in Poland have a relative who served in the Wehrmacht. How many of them know what has become of them? Probably a few. Students constantly come to me and ask how to establish what happened to my uncle, to my grandfather. Their relatives were silent about this, they got off with the phrase that their grandfather died in the war. But this is no longer enough for the third post-war generation. "
For 2-3 million Poles, a grandfather or an uncle served with the Germans. And how many of them died "in the war", that is, on the side of Adolf Hitler, how many survived? “There is no exact data. The Germans considered Poles drafted into the Wehrmacht only until the fall of 1943. Then from the Polish Upper Silesia and Pomerania annexed to the Reich, 200 thousand soldiers arrived. However, recruitment to the Wehrmacht lasted for another year and on a much larger scale.
From the reports of the representative office of the Polish government in occupied Poland, it follows that by the end of 1944, about 450 thousand citizens of pre-war Poland were drafted into the Wehrmacht. In general, it can be considered that about half a million of them passed through the German army during the war, ”the professor said. That is, the call was carried out from the territories (mentioned above Upper Silesia and Pomerania) annexed to Germany.
The Germans divided the local population into several categories according to the national-political principle. Polish origin did not prevent me from leaving to serve in the Hitlerite army with enthusiasm: “During the dispatch of recruits, which were initially held at train stations with great fanfare, they often sang Polish songs. Mostly in Pomorie, especially in the Polish Gdynia. In Silesia, however, in areas with traditionally strong ties with Polish speech: in the region of Pszczyna, Rybnik or Tarnowskie Góra. Recruits began to sing, then their relatives joined, and soon it turned out that during the Nazi event the whole station was singing. Therefore, the Germans abandoned the ceremonial farewell, because it compromised them. True, they sang mostly religious songs. Situations when someone ran away from mobilization were extremely rare. "
In Hitler's early years, the Poles were good at serving: “At first it seemed that things were not so bad. The first recruitment took place in the spring and summer of 1940. While the recruits went through training and ended up in their units, the war on the Western Front had already ended. The Germans captured Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Holland, defeated France. Military action continued only in Africa. At the turn of 1941 and 1942, the service was reminiscent of times of peace. I was in the army, so I can imagine that after a while a person gets used to new conditions and becomes convinced that it is possible to live, that no tragedy has happened. The Silesians wrote about how well they lived in occupied France. They sent home pictures with the Eiffel Tower in the background, drank French wine, spent their free time in the company of French women. They served in the garrisons on the Atlantic Val, which was rebuilt at that time.
I fell on the trail of a Silesian who spent the entire war in the Greek Cyclades. In complete peace, like I was on vacation. Even his album has survived, in which he painted landscapes. " But, alas, this serene Polish existence in the German service with French women and landscapes was cruelly "broken off" by evil Muscovites in Stalingrad. After this battle, large numbers of Poles were also sent to the Eastern Front: “Stalingrad changed everything ... that at one point it turned out that conscription into the army meant certain death. Most often, recruits were killed, sometimes only after two months of service ... People were not afraid that someone would pay them for their service to the Germans, they were afraid of sudden death. The German soldier was also afraid, but in the center of the Reich people believed in the meaning of the war, in Hitler, that some miracle weapon would save the Germans. In Silesia, with a few exceptions, no one shared this belief. But the Silesians were terrified of the Russians ... It is clear that the greatest losses were on the Eastern Front ... if we consider that every second soldier of the Wehrmacht died, it can be assumed that up to 250 thousand Poles could have died at the front. "
According to the director of the Institute of History of the Silesian University, the Poles fought for Hitler: “on the Western and Eastern fronts, at Rommel's in Africa and in the Balkans. In a cemetery in Crete, where they lie deceased participants German landing in 1941, I also found Silesian surnames. I found the same names in military cemeteries in Finland, where soldiers of the Wehrmacht, who supported the Finns in the war with the USSR, were buried. " Professor Kaczmarek has not yet cited data on how many Red Army soldiers, soldiers of the USA and Great Britain, partisans of Yugoslavia, Greece and civilians killed by Hitler's Poles. Probably not calculated yet ...
According to the military intelligence of the Red Army, in 1942 the Poles made up 40-45% of the personnel of the 96th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht, about 30% of the 11th Infantry Division (together with the Czechs), about 30% of the 57th Infantry Division, about 12 % Of the 110th Infantry Division. Earlier in November 1941, intelligence had discovered a large number of Poles and in the 267th Infantry Division.
By the end of the war, 60,280 Poles were in Soviet captivity, who fought on the side of Hitler. And this is far from a complete figure. About 600,000 prisoners from the armies of Germany and its allies, after an appropriate check, were released directly on the fronts. “The bulk of these were persons of non-German nationality, forcibly drafted into the Wehrmacht and the army of Germany's allies (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Romanians, Bulgarians, Moldovans, etc.), as well as non-transportable people with disabilities,” the official documents say.
Poles as allies of the USSR
On August 14, a military agreement was signed in Moscow, providing for the formation of a Polish army on the territory of the USSR for subsequent participation in the war against Germany on the Soviet-German front.
By August 31, 1941, the number of the Polish army exceeded 20,000, and by October 25, 40,000. Despite the most difficult situation in which the USSR was at that time, it was generously supplied with everything it needed. The Polish ambassador in Moscow Kot, in his reports to London, where the Polish émigré government had settled since 1940, reported: “The Soviet military authorities greatly facilitate the organization of the Polish Army; on the lands of Eastern Poland ”.
However, the Poles were not at all eager to fight the Germans. On December 3, Sikorsky, who arrived in Moscow, together with the commander of the Polish army in the USSR, General Vladislav Anders and Kot, was received by Stalin. The Germans stood near Moscow, and Anders and Sikorsky argued that Polish units should be sent to Iran (in August 1941, Soviet and British troops were sent to Iran to fight the pro-German regime of Reza Shah. - Ed.). Outraged Stalin replied: “We can do without you. We can handle it ourselves. We will recapture Poland and then we will give it to you ”.
Colonel Sigmund Berling, one of the Polish officers who were inclined towards honest cooperation with the Soviet side, later said: officers and soldiers who wished to accept the help of the Soviet government and, with arms in hand, go against the invaders of their homeland. Their names were entered in a special index called "card index B" as sympathizers of the Soviets.
T. n. "Dvuika" (intelligence department of Anders' army) collected information about Soviet military factories, railways, field depots, and the location of the Red Army troops. To have such "allies" in their rear became simply dangerous. As a result, in the summer of 1942, Anders's army was nevertheless withdrawn to Iran under the auspices of the British. In total, about 80,000 servicemen and more than 37,000 members of their families left the USSR.
However, thousands of Polish soldiers under the command of Berling chose to stay in the USSR. A division was formed from them. Tadeusz Kosciuszko, which became the basis of the 1st Army of the Polish Army, which fought on the Soviet side and reached Berlin.
Meanwhile, the Polish émigré government continued to defile the USSR to the best of its ability: in March 1943, it actively supported the propaganda campaign about the "Katyn execution" launched by the Reich propaganda minister Goebbels.
On December 23, 1943, Soviet intelligence provided the country's leadership with a secret report from the Minister of the Polish émigré government in London and the chairman of the Polish commission for post-war reconstruction Seyda, sent to the President of Czechoslovakia Benesh as an official document of the Polish government on post-war settlement. It was titled like this: "Poland and Germany and the post-war reconstruction of Europe."
Its meaning was as follows: Germany should be occupied in the west by England and the United States, in the east by Poland and Czechoslovakia. Poland should receive land along the Oder and Neisse. The border with the Soviet Union should be restored under the 1921 treaty.
Churchill, although he was in solidarity with the plans of the Poles, understood their unreality. Roosevelt called them "harmful and stupid" and spoke in favor of the establishment of the Polish-Soviet border along the Curzon line, which generally coincided with the state border of the USSR, established in 1939.
The Yalta agreements of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill on the creation of a new democratic government in Poland, of course, did not suit the Polish émigré government. In the spring of 1945, the Home Army under the leadership of General Okulitsky, the former chief of staff of the army Anders, was intensively engaged in terrorist acts, sabotage, espionage and armed raids in the rear of the Soviet troops.
On March 22, 1945 Okulitsky reported to the commander of the western district of the Home Army, designated by the pseudonym Slavbor: “Considering their interests in Europe, the British will have to start mobilizing European forces against the USSR. It is clear that we will be in the forefront of this European anti-Soviet bloc; and it is also impossible to imagine this bloc without the participation of Germany, which will be controlled by the British. "
These plans of the Polish emigrants turned out to be unrealizable. By the summer of 1945, 16 arrested Polish spies, including Okulitsky, were brought before the Military Collegium of the USSR Supreme Court and received different sentences. However, the Home Army, which was formally disbanded, but actually transformed into the organization "Liberty and Indignity", for several more years waged a terrorist war against the Soviet military and the new Polish authorities.
It is a shame to read and hear from Russia's ill-wishers who claim that we "monopolized", "privatized" the victory over Nazism in World War II. And this at a time when there is a flurry of articles, broadcasts in the Russian media about the fight against Nazism together with our allies.
The position of the Polish leadership is generally incomprehensible. The refusal to let the "Night Wolves" pass through the territory of Poland can be perceived as an attempt to disown the participation of the Polish Army in the Victory. It's good that not everyone accepts this position, and there were people who picked up the baton of the Night Wolves club bikers and continued their route through the places of military glory of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers.
By the way, did you know that when Berlin was captured, the Polish flag was erected along with the Soviet one at the Brandenburg Gate?
"For your freedom and ours!" How Poland became the main ally of the Red Army
The largest regular force of a foreign state that fought along with the Red Army on the Soviet-German front was the Polish Army.
Unfriendly neighbors
The complex and full of mutual grievances, the centuries-old history of Russian-Polish relations at the beginning of World War II was supplemented by a new episode, known in Soviet historiography as the "Liberation campaign of the Red Army" in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.After Poland de facto ceased to exist as an independent state by mid-September 1941, after the German attack, and its government fled abroad, Red Army units occupied the territories taken from Soviet Russia as a result of the Soviet-Polish war of 1919-1920.
It is clear that what was perceived in the USSR as the restoration of historical justice, the Poles themselves viewed in a completely different way.
At that moment, hardly anyone could have believed that just a few years later, Polish units, together with units of the Red Army, would storm the capital of the Third Reich. But in the end it turned out that way ...
After the annexation of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of Poles ended up on the territory of the USSR. Some were refugees, others were taken prisoner, and others, officials of Polish state bodies, were arrested for participating in punitive activities against the underground communists operating in Poland.
In modern Poland, speaking about the fate of compatriots who ended up in the USSR in 1939-1940, they immediately recall the word "Katyn".
Lieutenant Colonel Berling's project
We will not once again plunge into this very dark story - the victims represented a small part of the representatives of the Polish army who ended up in the USSR.That is why, when the Soviet Union thought about creating Polish military formations to fight the Nazis, there were no problems with personnel.
For the first time this idea surfaced back in the fall of 1940, when the war with Germany remained the prospect, albeit not the most distant, but still the future.
A group was assembled in the NKVD former officers Polish army, with whom they discussed the issue of possible participation in the war with Germany as part of forces not under the control of the Polish government in exile. Among those who were ready to fight on such conditions, there was also Lieutenant Colonel Zygmunt Berling, the future commander of the 1st Army of the Polish Army.
The decision to create a separate division within the Red Army from Poles and people who know the Polish language was made on June 4, 1941, less than three weeks before the start of the war. The formation of the division was supposed to be entrusted to Lieutenant Colonel Berling.London memorandum
With the outbreak of World War II, the plans of the Soviet government in relation to the Poles underwent changes. The USSR entered into an alliance with Great Britain, and through it, relations with the Polish government in exile in London improved.
On July 3, 1941, the government of the USSR decided to allow the formation of national committees and national military units from Czechoslovakians, Yugoslavs and Poles on the territory of the USSR, as well as to provide assistance in arming and uniforming these national units.
On July 11, 1941, a Soviet-Polish-British memorandum was signed in London on the creation of a Polish army in the USSR as an autonomous unit, operationally subordinate to the Supreme Command of the USSR.
Thus, it was decided that the Polish army in the Soviet Union would be linked to the Polish government in exile.
On August 12, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree on amnesty for Polish citizens on the territory of the USSR, finally removing the barriers to the formation of Polish formations in the Soviet Union.
Dissenting opinion of General Anders
A week before that, the future Polish army received its commander - it was General Vladislav Anders.
General Anders was extremely negative towards the USSR and, to put it mildly, did not welcome the idea of fighting the Nazis side by side with the Red Army. He saw his task in the fact that, having formed military units from the Poles who were on the territory of the USSR, withdraw them from the country to join the British forces. Anders was convinced that the real struggle for Poland would begin when the Soviet Union was defeated by Hitler. General Anders had no doubts about the defeat of the Red Army.
Of course, being in the USSR, Anders tried not to voice his thoughts aloud.
The equipment and armament of the Polish troops, called the "Anders Army", was carried out jointly by the USSR, Great Britain and the United States. Only in September and October 1941, the USSR transferred the "Anders army" weapons for one infantry division: 40 artillery pieces, 135 mortars, 270 easel and light machine guns, 8451 rifles, 162 submachine guns, 1022 pistols and revolvers.
In December 1941, an agreement was reached to increase the "Anders army" from 30 to 96 thousand people.
We want to Palestine!
For the leadership of the USSR, Polish formations began to turn into a headache. The maintenance, training, armament of these units required large funds. And this happened at a time when the enemy was standing at the walls of Moscow.
In February 1942, the government of the USSR requested the Polish side to enter into battle on the Soviet-German front a fully prepared and equipped Polish 5th Infantry Division. General Anders strongly protested, saying that the Poles would only be able to enter the battle when the formation of the army as a whole was completed.
The Soviet side agreed with this decision, despite the most difficult situation at the front. Meanwhile head of the NKVD Lavrenty Beria reported that anti-Soviet sentiments reign in the "Anders army", officers refuse to fight the Nazis together with the Red Army.
Since the end of 1941, Great Britain and the United States began to offer the Soviet Union to transfer the "Anders army" through Iran to the Middle East. Representatives of the Polish government in exile began to insist on the same.
One can imagine what was going on in the souls of the Soviet leaders. While the hardest battles are going on at the front, and every division, every regiment at a glance, several tens of thousands of equipped and trained Polish soldiers sit in the rear and set the conditions where they will fight and where they will not.
"Let's do without you"
By March 1942, the "Anders army" had more than 70 thousand Polish soldiers and about 30 thousand civilians. When at a meeting with Stalin On March 18, 1942, General Anders once again began to talk about the need to transfer the Poles to the Middle East, Joseph Vissarionovich gave vent to his feelings: “If the Poles do not want to fight here, then let them say directly: yes or no ... I know where the army is. is formed, so it will remain there ... Let's do without you. We can give them all. We can handle it ourselves. We will recapture Poland and then we will give it to you. But what will people say to this ... "
The evacuation of "Anders' army" from the USSR began in March 1942 and was completed by September 1. At parting, the delighted Anders thanked Stalin and said that "the strategic center of gravity of the war is now moving to the Near and Middle East." Also, the general asked to continue the conscription of Poles into the army in the USSR and send him as a replenishment.
Whereas Stalin expressed his feelings about what had happened with restraint, lower military leaders who were involved in helping to form the "Anders army" sent after the Poles selected tirades from that part of Russian folklore, which is also called "obscene language."
"Army Anders" as part of the British army after staying in the Middle East in 1944 managed to be noted in the battles in Italy. In modern Poland, where "Anders' army" is ranked above all other Polish formations of World War II, the so-called "assault on Monte Cassino" is considered a cult event, although this battle in a secondary theater of military operations cannot be compared with the same assault on Berlin , in which other Poles showed themselves.
However, enough about the "Anders army" - we already paid more attention to it than it deserves.
Division of Polish Patriots
Among the Polish military and civilians who were in the USSR, there were a huge number of those who considered the behavior of General Anders to be a real betrayal and shame for the Polish nation.
On March 1, 1943, the Union of Polish Patriots was created in the USSR, the backbone of which was made up of Polish communists and representatives of other left-wing forces, as well as public figures and representatives of Polish culture who advocated friendly relations between Poland and the USSR. This organization became a counterbalance to the Polish government in exile in London.
The Union of Polish Patriots in May 1943 put forward the idea of forming new Polish units that would fight shoulder to shoulder with the Red Army. On May 6, 1943, the State Defense Committee of the USSR issued decree No. 3294 "On the formation of the 1st Polish Infantry Division named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko." Already on May 14, 1943, the formation of the division began near Ryazan.
In fact, it was a return to the unrealized idea of 1941. The same Colonel Zygmunt Berling became the division commander. He managed to visit the "Anders army" as the head of a military camp, but refused to leave with the "Anders" to the Middle East.
By July 5, 1943, the division included about 14,400 soldiers and officers. On July 15, 1943, on the anniversary of the historic battle of Grunwald for the Poles, the division fighters took the military oath, on the same day the Union of Polish Patriots handed the division a battle banner - red and white, with the motto "For your and our freedom!"
Baptism in fire and blood
Due to the lack of technical personnel at the first stage, more than 300 Soviet officers were included in the division.
The formation of the Polish units proceeded rapidly. Already on August 10, 1943, the formation of the 1st Polish corps was announced, which, in addition to the Kosciuszko division, included the 1st Polish tank regiment named after the Heroes of Westerplatte and the 1st Fighter Aviation Regiment "Warsaw".
The baptism of fire of the Poles on the Soviet-German front took place on October 12-13, 1943 in the battle of Lenino, which was part of the Orsha offensive operation.
Included in the 33rd Army General Gordov The 1st Polish Division clashed with the units of the 337th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht.
In the two-day battles at Lenino, the Polish division, faced with a well-armed enemy, lost up to a third of its personnel in killed, wounded and missing. At the same time, the losses of the Germans in killed and wounded amounted to about 1,500 people, more than 320 Nazis were taken prisoner.
For the operation near Lenino, Polish soldiers were awarded 239 Soviet and 247 Polish orders and medals.
Three Polish servicemen became Heroes of the Soviet Union - captains Juliusz Hibner and Vladislav Vysotsky, and Private Anela Kzhivon... Vladislav Vysotsky and the female submachine gunner Anela Kzhivon received a high award posthumously.
Despite the losses, a start was made. Now the Poles fought against the Nazis not somewhere in the backyard of the world, but where the fate of the war was being decided.
They fought for their homeland
By March 1944, the 1st Polish Corps was deployed to the 1st Polish Army, or 1st Army of the Polish Army. The ranks of the army included not only Polish citizens, but also Soviet citizens of predominantly Polish origin.
The commander of the formation was the same Zygmunt Berling, who now wore the epaulettes of the lieutenant general.
In July 1944, a historic moment came - the 1st Polish Army, as part of the 1st Belorussian Front, crossed the Western Bug and entered the territory of Poland.
It was the soldiers of General Berling, who fought shoulder to shoulder with the Soviet soldiers, who liberated their native country from the Germans, and not the fled Anders army.
On the territory of Poland, the army was replenished by the soldiers of the partisan Army of Ludova, who spoke from ideological positions similar to those expressed by the Union of Polish Patriots.
On July 26, 1944, replacing parts of the 8th Guards Army, the 1st Polish Army reached the eastern bank of the Vistula in the area of Demblin and Pulaw and began fighting to seize the bridgehead on the left bank. In the future, the army took part in the battles at the Magnushevsky bridgehead.
In September 1944, the 1st Polish Army liberated the suburb of Warsaw - Prague.
In January 1945, Polish troops played a crucial role in the liberation of Warsaw, which was taken on 17 January.
In total, more than 10 thousand soldiers of the 1st Polish Army were killed in the battles for the liberation of Poland, about 27 thousand were injured.
To Berlin!
By 1945, the number of Polish formations fighting on the Soviet-German front reached 200,000, which was almost three times the size of the "Anders army". In addition to the 1st Army of the Polish Army, the 2nd Army was also formed, which became part of the 1st Ukrainian Front.
The 1st and 2nd armies of the Polish Army took part in the Berlin offensive, and units of the 2nd army were also involved in the Prague operation.
In the battles for Berlin, the Polish Army lost 7200 people killed and 3800 missing.
The Polish Army became the largest regular force of a foreign state, fighting alongside the Red Army on the Soviet-German front. The actions of the Polish Army were noted 13 times in the orders of thanks of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR, more than 5 thousand servicemen and 23 formations and units of the Polish Army were awarded Soviet orders.
The best Polish soldiers, together with soldiers of the Red Army, took part in the Victory Parade on Red Square on May 24, 1945.
Friendship that will no longer be
More than a dozen Poles who fought in the ranks of the Polish Army were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Among them and General Stanislav Poplavsky, Pole, born in Ukraine, who served in the Red Army and in 1944 was sent to serve in the Polish Army.
It was under his command that the 1st Army of the Polish Army broke through the German defenses on the Oder and stormed Berlin. For skilful command and control of troops in the Berlin operation on May 29, 1945, Colonel-General Poplavsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
During the capture of Berlin, the Polish flag was erected at the Brandenburg Gate along with the Soviet one.
One of the favorite films of both Soviet and Polish children for many years was the film Four Tankmen and a Dog, which tells about the soldiers of the Polish Army who went through the war alongside the soldiers of the Red Army.
The Versailles Treaty severely limited Germany's military capabilities. In the spring of 1922, an international conference was held in the northern Italian city of Rapallo, the main theme of which was the mutual refusal to put forward claims for compensation for damage caused during the hostilities in the First World War. The result of the conference was the conclusion of the Rapallo Treaty on April 16, 1922 between the RSFSR and the Weimar Republic. The treaty provided for the immediate restoration of full diplomatic relations between the USSR and Germany. For Soviet Russia, this was the first international treaty in its history. For Germany, which until now was outside the law in the field of international politics, this agreement was of fundamental importance, since by doing so it began to return to the number of states recognized by the international community.
Shortly after the signing of the Rapallo Treaty, on August 11, 1922, a secret cooperation agreement was concluded between the Reichswehr and the Red Army. Germany and Soviet Russia now have the opportunity, albeit insignificantly, to support and mutually develop the military-technical potential accumulated during the First World War. As a result of the Rapallo agreements and subsequent secret agreements, an aviation training center was created in Lipetsk in 1925, in which German instructors trained German and Soviet cadets. A training center for commanders of tank formations (the secret training center "Kama") was created near Kazan in 1929, in which German instructors also trained German and Soviet cadets. For the German side, during the operation of the school, 30 officers of the Reichswehr were trained. In 1926-1933, German tanks were also tested in Kazan (the Germans called them "tractors" for secrecy). A chemical weapons training center was established in Volsk (Tomka facility). As a result of cooperation, the Red Army gained access to the technical achievements of the German military industry and the methods of work of the German General Staff, and the Reichswehr could begin training pilots, tank crews and chemical weapons specialists in three schools on the territory of the USSR, and on the basis of subsidiaries of the German military industry introduce future officers Wehrmacht with new models of weapons banned in Germany.
With the coming to power of the National Socialist Workers' Party headed by Adolf Hitler in 1933, Germany, without meeting any special objections from England and France, and in some places with their support, soon begins to ignore many of the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles - in particular, it restores conscription and is rapidly increasing the production of weapons and military equipment. October 14, 1933 Germany leaves the League of Nations and refuses to participate in the Geneva Conference on Disarmament.
In October 1938, as a result of the Munich Agreement, Germany annexed the Sudetenland that belonged to Czechoslovakia. England and France give their consent to this act, and the opinion of Czechoslovakia itself is not taken into account. On March 15, 1939, Germany, in violation of the agreement, occupies the Czech Republic. A German protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was created on Czech territory. Hungary and Poland take part in the partition of Czechoslovakia, Polish troops enter the vicinity of the city of Cesky Tesin.
Until now, Germany's aggressive actions have not met with serious resistance from Great Britain and France, which do not dare to start a war and are trying to save the Versailles Treaty system with reasonable, from their point of view, concessions (the so-called "policy of appeasement"). However, after Hitler's violation of the Munich Treaty, both countries begin to realize the need for a tougher policy, and in case of further German aggression, Great Britain and France give military guarantees to Poland.
On March 21, 1939, Ribbentrop issued an ultimatum demanded from his Polish colleague Beck to satisfy all the demands of Germany, after which "to pursue a joint anti-Soviet policy with Germany." Poland categorically rejected the German demands, and Chamberlain on March 31 announced on behalf of England and France to provide guarantees to Poland in case of aggression. On April 6, these guarantees were formalized into the Polish-British military convention. In a speech to the Reichstag on April 28, Hitler announced the severance of the German-Polish non-aggression pact of January 26, 1934 and the Anglo-German maritime convention. It was again noted that Hitler in his speech "avoided traditional attacks on the Soviet Union." On May 23, Hitler announced to the military leadership his firm intention to attack Poland and obtain "living space in the East." England at the same time was called the main enemy of Germany, the fight against which is "a matter of life and death." As for Russia, Hitler did not rule out that “the fate of Poland will remain indifferent to her.
Poland was of great importance to Hitler. Influenced by unpleasant memories of the First World War, he decided to avoid a war on two fronts with the help of a non-aggression pact concluded with Poland in 1934. Hitler thought that Poland, in fear of Soviet Russia, would willingly become a satellite of Germany.
However, there was one obstacle: there was a discontent in the minds of the Germans, much deeper than that which was associated with an independent Austria or the German-speaking population of Czechoslovakia. According to the Treaty of Versailles, Gdansk (German: Danzig) became a free city and the so-called Polish corridor separated East Prussia from the Reich. Hitler had to remove this discontent in order to maintain his prestige, especially in front of the German generals. He hoped that the Poles would voluntarily make concessions in the hope of getting Ukraine later.
He was very mistaken because the leaders of Poland considered their country a sovereign power and wished to maintain independence from both Soviet Russia and Germany and not yield to anyone. As Poland began to show tenacity, Hitler tried to influence the negotiations in the usual way - with the vague threat of military action.
Hitler expected that England and France would act with Poland in the same way as with Czechoslovakia the previous year - force her to make concessions. This time his expectations were in vain. The Poles did not want to give up an inch. They learned a lesson from the Czech crisis: there is one way not to concede too much - not to concede anything.
During the political crisis of 1939, two military-political blocs emerged in Europe: Anglo-French and German-Italian, each of which was interested in an agreement with the USSR.
Poland, having concluded allied treaties with Great Britain and France, which were obliged to help her in the event of German aggression, refuses to make concessions in negotiations with Germany (in particular, on the Polish Corridor). Undoubtedly, Poland overestimated its strength. In addition, of course, the Poles thought that the Western powers would honor their commitments, which would ensure victory.
On August 23, 1939, Joachim Ribbentrop, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the German Reich flew to Moscow and reached an agreement with Stalin on the same day. The USSR and Germany sign the Non-Aggression Pact. A secret additional protocol to the treaty provided for the division of spheres of interest in Eastern Europe, including the Baltic states and Poland. The secret protocol clearly defined the areas of interest. Finland, Estonia and Latvia were part of the Soviet sphere of interests, Lithuania - into the German sphere. If, as it was formulated, changes take place in Poland, the division of spheres of interest should roughly correspond to ethnic division.
Hitler believed that now the resistance of Britain and France to the seizure of Poland would end, that they had lost all hope of Soviet aid. Emboldened by this success, he set the date for the attack on Poland - August 26, even though Germany could not complete military preparations by that date. On August 25, he postponed the outbreak of hostilities. Perhaps he was stopped by the official signing of an alliance agreement between England and Poland. But most likely he simply understood that the army was not yet ready. 6 days of vigorous negotiations followed, the British tried to get concessions from Poland, the Poles refused to give up. Hitler could not wait any longer. On August 31, Hitler ordered an offensive to be launched at dawn the next day.
On September 1, 1939, the troops of the Third Reich invade Poland. On September 1, dawn in Eastern Europe came at 4 hours 45 minutes in the morning. Arriving in Gdansk on a friendly visit and enthusiastically greeted by the local population, a German ship, the battleship Schleswig-Holstein, opens fire on the Polish fortifications on Westerplatte. German armed forces invade Poland. The troops of Slovakia are taking part in the hostilities on the side of Germany.
Geographically and militarily, Germany had all the prerequisites for a quick victory over Poland. Germanic lands - East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia surrounded most of Poland from the north and west. The collapse of Czechoslovakia expanded the areas of strategic deployment of the German armed forces, allowing the use of Slovakia, friendly to Germany.
In total, 44 German divisions (including 6 tank and 2 motorized), the 1st Air Fleet (Aviation General Kesselring) and the 4th Air Fleet (Aviation General Lehr) were deployed for the war against Poland - about 2 thousand aircraft in total.
The German Army Group South (Colonel General von Rundstedt) consisted of the 8th, 10th and 14th armies. It was supposed to attack from Silesia in the general direction of Warsaw (10th Army - 2 tank, 8 infantry, 3 light divisions, Colonel General von Reichenau). 14th Army (2 tank, 6 infantry, 1 light, 1 mountain division, Colonel General Liszt) - in the direction of Krakow, it was supposed to be supported by the armed forces of Slovakia. The 8th Army (4 infantry divisions, 1 SS regiment, Colonel General Blaskowitz) targeted Lodz.
The German Army Group North (Colonel General von Bock) consisted of the 3rd (1 Panzer, 5 Infantry Divisions, Colonel General von Küchler) and the 4th (1 Panzer, 2 Motorized, 6 Infantry Divisions, Colonel General von Kluge) armies. Its goal is to defeat the Polish forces in the northern Vistula region with a simultaneous strike from East Prussia and Pomerania.
In total, the Polish armed forces included 39 infantry divisions, 2 motorized brigades, 11 cavalry brigades, 3 mountain brigades. The commander-in-chief of the Polish forces was Marshal Rydz-Smigly. His plan is to defend Poland's western border and conduct offensive operations in East Prussia.
On the border with East Prussia, the Modlin army (4 infantry divisions and 2 cavalry brigades, and also in the Suwalki area - 2 infantry divisions and 2 cavalry brigades were deployed. In the Polish corridor - the Pomorie army (6 infantry divisions).
Against Pomerania - Army "Lodz" (4 infantry divisions and 2 cavalry brigades).
Against Silesia - Army "Krakow" (6 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry and 1 motorized brigade).
For the armies "Krakow" and "Lodz" - the army "Prussia" (6 infantry divisions and 1 cavalry brigade).
The southern border of Poland was to be defended by the Karpaty army (from reserve units).
Reserves - 3 infantry divisions and 1 cavalry brigade - at the Vistula near Warsaw and Lublin.
On August 31, the German press reported: "... on Thursday at about 20:00 the premises of the radio station in Gleiwitz were seized by the Poles." No data was provided to corroborate these accusations, either then or after. In fact, they were SS men dressed in Polish uniforms (terrorist police of "black shirts"), led by Otto Skorzeny.
On September 1 at 10 o'clock in the morning, Hitler turned to the Reichstag in his military uniform, and, as usual, in the role of the victim. He sought a peaceful settlement through negotiations with the Poles, but they supposedly ignored his proposals. In justification of the attack on Poland, Hitler refers to the incident in Gleiwitz. At the same time, he carefully avoids the term "war", fearing entry into the conflict between England and France, who gave Poland the appropriate guarantees. The order issued by him spoke only of "active defense" against Polish aggression. Hitler and his entourage before last day hoped that the allies would not dare to enter the war and the case would end in a second Munich.
The invasion of Poland provokes a declaration of war on Germany by England, France and other countries that had an alliance with Poland. On September 3 at 9 o'clock England, at 12:20 France, as well as Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany. Within a few days, Canada, Newfoundland, the Union of South Africa and Nepal are joining them. World War II began.
The offensive of the German troops developed according to plan. Polish troops were weak military force compared with coordinated tank formations and the Luftwaffe. However, on the Western Front, the allied Anglo-French troops are not taking any active action. There is a "Strange War" on the Western Front. Only at sea did the war begin immediately: on September 3, the German submarine U-30 attacked the British passenger liner Atenia without warning.
Thus, the Poles were left to fight alone. The delay in mobilization to please the Western powers led to the fact that more than half of the Polish divisions were never completed. In addition, the Germans had 6 armored divisions and 2,000 aircraft, while the Poles had few tanks and aircraft. The Poles, to defend their industrial areas, located mainly in the west, placed their armies in frontline positions. Two German armies, one from East Prussia and the other from Silesia, wedged into the rear of the Polish positions and disrupted communications. German armored divisions rushed forward, relying more on their own speed than on firepower. The infantry only consolidated what had been achieved. Chaos broke out in the Polish armies.
On September 7, German forces under the command of Heinz Guderian begin an attack on the Polish defensive line near Wizna. 720 Polish soldiers and officers held back the 40,000-strong enemy group until September 10.
On September 8, Polish troops retreating to the east encountered the German flank near the Bzura River. Until September 14, a heavy battle lasted for six days. The Battle of Bzura is the largest battle in Europe ever before the German attack on Soviet Russia in 1941. The German command was greatly alarmed: this is an indicator of how a tank attack can fail if the pace of the offensive is lost.
In Poland, in the first week of fighting, German troops in several places cut through the Polish front and occupied part of Mazovia, western Prussia, the Upper Silesian industrial region and western Galicia. By September 9, the Germans manage to break the Polish resistance along the entire front line and approach Warsaw.
On September 10, the Polish commander-in-chief Edward Rydz-Smigly gave the order for a general retreat to southeastern Poland, but the main part of his troops, unable to withdraw beyond the Vistula, was surrounded. By mid-September, without receiving support from the West, the Polish armed forces cease to exist as a single whole; only local centers of resistance remain.
September 14, Guderian's 19th corps captures Brest with a throw from East Prussia. Polish troops under the command of General Plisovsky defended the Brest Fortress for several more days. On the night of September 17, its defenders in an organized manner leave the forts and retreat beyond the Bug.
On September 16, the Polish ambassador to the USSR was told that since the Polish state and its government had ceased to exist, the Soviet Union was taking under its protection the life and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.
On September 17 at 6 o'clock in the morning, fearing that Germany would refuse to comply with the conditions of the secret additional protocol to the non-aggression pact, the USSR began to send troops into the eastern regions of Poland. Soviet troops in two military groups cross the state border and occupy Western Belarus and Ukraine. On the same day, Molotov sent the German Ambassador to the USSR Schulenburg congratulations on the "brilliant success of the German Wehrmacht."
On September 19, Polish President Ignacy Moscicki and the Polish government, who had fled to Romania on the night of September 18, were interned.
On September 28, the Germans occupy Warsaw. On the same day, the Treaty of Friendship and the Border Between the USSR and Germany was signed in Moscow, which established a demarcation line between German and Soviet troops on the territory of former Poland along the "Curzon Line".
On October 2, in the Kock area, the last large Polish formation - the grouping of General Kleeberg - entered the battle with the German (13th and 29th motorized divisions) and Soviet troops approaching from the east. Although these battles were generally successful for the Poles, the lack of food and ammunition forced them to surrender to the Germans on October 5.
But that last battle of the regular units of the Polish army did not take place. Until April 30, 1940, the "Special Detachment of the Polish Army" under the command of Major Henrik Dobrzański (pseudonym "Hubal") actively fought. One of the first (if not the very first) partisans of the Second World War.
Continuing to fight, Dobrzański inflicted significant losses on the Germans. In March 1940, he defeated an infantry battalion of the Wehrmacht near Khutsiski, a few days later he badly battered another German unit near Shalasi. To destroy the "mad major" detachment, the Germans formed a special anti-partisan group of SS, infantry and tank units. In the operation against the partisans, of whom there were no more than 300, the Germans employed 8,000 soldiers. At the end of April 1940, Dobrzański's detachment was surrounded and after a hard battle defeated, and Dobrzański died in arms. The remnants of Dobrzański's detachment fought until June 25, after which they were disbanded.
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The German occupation of Poland was particularly brutal. Part of the western Polish lands that were previously part of Prussia (Poznan, Pomorie) are directly annexed to the Third Reich. These lands are subject to "Germanization". The Polish population is deported from here to the central regions of Poland, where a general government is created in which an occupation administration is organized.
All industrial and agricultural production in Poland was subordinated to the military needs of Germany. Polish higher educational establishments were closed, and the intelligentsia was persecuted. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced into forced labor or imprisoned in concentration camps. Massive repressions are being carried out against the Polish people. In the former territories of Poland, completely occupied by the Germans, the Polish language was banned, the entire Polish press was closed, almost all the clergy were arrested, all Polish universities and secondary schools were closed, Polish cultural institutions were liquidated, a systematic policy was carried out to replace Polish names, and the Polish intelligentsia and civil servants was persecuted and methodically destroyed. The Poles lost about 2 million people who were not military personnel, including 45% of doctors, 57% of lawyers, 40% of the teaching staff of universities, 30% of engineers, 18% of priests, almost all journalists. It is believed that in total during the Second World War, Poland lost more than 20% of its population - about 6 million people.
Polish Jews, who were initially concentrated in several large ghettos, were subjected to particular cruelty. When in 1942 the leaders of the Reich made the "final decision" Jewish question, Polish Jews were deported to death camps. The largest and most notorious Nazi death camp in Poland was a camp near the city of Auschwitz, where more than 4 million people died.
The territories that fell into the zone of influence of the USSR were included in the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR (partly also independent at that time Lithuania). In the occupied territories included in the USSR, Soviet power is established, "socialist transformations" are carried out (nationalization of industry, collectivization of the peasantry), which is accompanied by deportation and repression of the Polish population. Ethnic Poles living in these territories in 1939-1941. were partially deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia.
Struggle in occupied Poland
The Polish people showed both civil disobedience and military resistance to the Nazi occupiers. The resistance of the Poles began from the very first days of the German occupation. The "Secret Combat Organization", the "Polish Organization for the Struggle for Freedom", and the "White Eagle Organization" emerged. Later, the underground People's Party created the People's Battalions (NB) and the People's Military Organization (NVO). People's battalions attacked economic facilities in occupied Poland, destroyed the administrative apparatus of the Germans, and set up ambushes on the roads. The maximum number of soldiers of the People's Battalions reached 100 thousand. In February 1942, General Sikorsky ordered the creation of the Home Army, under the command of General Rovetsky. It was assumed that the AK will include the NB and NVO, but a partial merger with them was carried out only in 1943.
The Home Army (AK) began active operations in 1943. The AK organized sabotage on the railways, transmitted information about the German Peenemünde missile range to the Western Allies (as a result, the Allies bombed the test site), freed prisoners from prison in Warsaw, killed high-ranking Germans, including the murder of German General Kuchera.
The Polish Home Army became the strongest resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Europe.
In addition to the AK, during the Second World War, other resistance organizations operated on the territory of Poland, which often had opposite goals and were subordinate to different ruling centers. Ludov's Guard (from 1944 - Ludov's Army) was created as a military organization of the Polish Communist Party, and Chlopskie's Battalions were created by the peasant party. There were also Jewish militant organizations that organized the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. When the deportation of Warsaw Jews to death camps began in April 1943, the Warsaw ghetto (350,000 Jews) revolted. After a month of hopeless struggle without any outside help, the uprising was suppressed. The Germans destroyed the ghetto, and the surviving Jewish population was deported to the Treblinka death camp.
Warsaw uprising
The largest military action of the AK was the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. When the Red Army units were already approaching Warsaw, on the orders of the "London government", an uprising began, led by the Krajowa Army and led by its commander, General Bur-Komorowski, with the aim of liberating the capital of Poland before the arrival of Soviet troops.
Meanwhile, the Germans launched a counterattack near Warsaw, and Rokossovsky (a few hours before the start of the uprising in Warsaw) was forced to give the order to the 2 Panzer Division advancing on the city to go on the defensive. For his part, Stalin ignored the Zhukov-Rokossovsky plan, which assumed the resumption of the offensive after regrouping, and after the appeal of Churchill, who supported the "London government", did not allow the use of Soviet airfields to help the rebels.
The uprising began on August 1, 1944. The AK had about 50 thousand soldiers in the Warsaw region, but due to difficulties with mobilization at the beginning of the uprising, about 25 thousand participated, of which about 10% had weapons. By the beginning of the uprising, the German garrison in Warsaw numbered about 20 thousand. From August 4, German forces in Warsaw were increased to 50 thousand, at the expense of parts of the German 9th Army, which held defenses in the east of Warsaw, as well as the Russian SS division, Cossack and Azerbaijani parts of the Ost-Truppen. The commander of the German forces in Warsaw was SS Obergruppenfuehrer Erich von dem Bach.
The rebels managed to capture a number of German targets in Warsaw and some areas of the city. However, the Germans retained their barracks and control over the transport hubs. From August 5, the Germans began to recapture the areas of Warsaw. Soon the rebels were isolated in several separate centers (Old Town, center, Mokotov, Zoliborz). The fighting continued, the number of civilian casualties increased, and there was a shortage of food, medicine and water.
On October 2, 1944, Bur-Komorovsky signed his surrender. The surrendered participants in the uprising were guaranteed the status of prisoners of war. The Germans brutally suppressed the uprising. Most of the city was destroyed (later special German brigades destroyed the surviving buildings). During 63 days of the uprising, 10 thousand insurgents were killed, 6 thousand were missing, 20 thousand were wounded (5 thousand seriously), 15 thousand were taken prisoner (including 2 thousand women). In addition, about 150-250 thousand civilians died, about 500-550 thousand city residents and 100 thousand residents of the surrounding area were expelled from their homes, and about 150 thousand of them ended up in concentration camps or were sent to forced labor. to Germany. The Germans also suffered significant losses, about 10 thousand soldiers were killed, about 7 thousand were missing, and 9 thousand were wounded, German troops also lost 300 tanks, guns and armored vehicles.
The uprising did not achieve either military or political goals, but for the Poles it became a symbol of courage and determination in the struggle for independence. Soviet propaganda interpreted these events as an ill-prepared adventure. All responsibility for the failure of the uprising was placed on the émigré government in London. The offensive of the Red Army resumed on January 12, 1945, and on January 17, Warsaw was liberated by the Red Army.
Polish units in France
Polish military units in France began to form after the signing of the Franco-Polish Protocol on September 21, 1939. In total, at the end of June 1940, the Polish armed forces in France numbered about 85 thousand. General Władysław Sikorski became the commander-in-chief of the Polish forces in France. At the end of 1939, the Polish 1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions were formed. In February 1940, a separate mountain rifle brigade was formed (commanded by General Zygmunt Bohush-Shyshko). In early May 1940, the brigade was sent as part of the Anglo-French Expeditionary Corps to Norway for the war against the Germans. There, the Polish brigade successfully stormed the German-occupied villages of Ankenes and Nyborg in the battle for Narvik, the Germans were pushed back to the Swedish border. However, due to the advance of the Germans in France, the forces of the allies, including the Poles, left Norway.
While a separate mountain rifle brigade was sent to Norway, the Polish 1st Infantry Division (renamed 1st Grenadier Division on May 3, 1940) under the command of General Bronislaw Dukh was sent to the front in Lorraine. On June 16, the Polish division was almost surrounded by the Germans and received an order from the French command to retreat. On June 19, General Sikorsky ordered the division to retreat to the south of France or, if possible, to Switzerland. However, this order was difficult to fulfill, and therefore only 2 thousand Poles managed to reach the south of France, about a thousand left for Switzerland. The exact losses of the division are still unknown, but at least a thousand Poles were killed, at least 3 thousand were wounded. The Polish 2nd Infantry Division (renamed 2nd Infantry Division) under the command of General Prugar-Ketling also fought in Lorraine. On June 15 and 16, this division covered the retreat of the French 45th Corps to the Swiss border. The Poles crossed over to Switzerland on June 20 and were interned there until the end of World War II.
In addition to the infantry, the Polish Armed Forces in France had the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade under the command of General Stanislaw Macik. She was stationed at the front in Champagne. From June 13, the brigade covered the withdrawal of two French divisions. Then, by order, the brigade retreated, but on June 17 it was surrounded. Having managed to break through the German lines, the brigade was then evacuated to Britain.
In addition to the aforementioned Polish units, several Polish anti-tank companies attached to French infantry divisions took part in the fighting in France. The Polish 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions in June 1940 were in the stage of formation and did not have time to take part in the battles.
When the defeat of France became apparent, the commander-in-chief of the Polish forces decided to evacuate them to Britain. June 18, 1940 General Sikorsky flew to England. At a meeting in London, he assured British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that Polish troops were not going to surrender to the Germans and wanted to fight until victory was complete. Churchill ordered the organization of the evacuation of Polish troops to Scotland.
While Sikorski was in England, his deputy, General Sosnkowski, asked the French General Denin to help the Poles evacuate. The Frenchman replied that "the Poles themselves need to hire ships for the evacuation, and they have to pay for this in gold." He also suggested that Polish troops surrender to the Germans, as did the French. As a result, 17 thousand Polish soldiers and officers managed to evacuate to Britain.
Polish units in the Middle East
In April 1940, the Polish Carpathian Rifle Brigade was formed in Syria under the command of Colonel Stanislav Kopansky (from Polish soldiers and officers who fled through Romania). After the surrender of French troops in Syria to the Germans, the French command ordered the Poles to surrender to German captivity, but Colonel Kopansky did not obey this order and took the Polish brigade to British Palestine. In October 1940, the brigade was redeployed to Egypt. In October 1941, the Polish Carpathian brigade was landed in the Libyan town of Tobruk, besieged by the Germans, to help the Australian 9th Infantry Division defending there. In December 1941, the allied forces attacked the German and Italian troops, and on December 10 the siege of Tobruk was terminated. On December 14-17, 1941, the Polish brigade took part in the battle in the Gazaly region (in Libya). Of the 5 thousand soldiers, the Poles lost more than 600 killed and wounded.
Polish units in Britain
In August 1940, British Prime Minister Churchill signed a Polish-British military agreement allowing Polish troops to be deployed in Britain. The Polish armed forces in Britain received the same status as the troops of the countries of the British Commonwealth, and received the right to form new Polish units. By the end of August 1940, the Polish ground forces in Britain consisted of 5 rifle brigades (3 of them were staffed almost exclusively with command personnel, due to the lack of privates). On September 28, 1940, the Polish commander-in-chief, General Sikorski, ordered the formation of the 1st Polish corps. In October 1941, the 4th rifle brigade was reorganized into the 1st separate parachute brigade (under the command of Colonel Sosnovsky). In February 1942, the formation of the Polish 1st Panzer Division (under the command of General Machka) began. After the death of General Sikorsky in a plane crash on July 4, 1943 near Gibraltar, General Sosnovsky became the commander-in-chief of the Polish troops.
Anders Army
On July 30, 1941, General Sikorski and the Soviet ambassador in London Maisky signed a Polish-Soviet agreement on joint military operations against Germany. On August 4, 1941, Polish General Vladislav Anders, appointed by Sikorsky as the commander of Polish troops in the USSR, was released by the Soviet authorities from imprisonment in the Lubyanka prison. On August 12, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by its decree, announced an amnesty for all Polish citizens who were imprisoned in the USSR. The USSR agreed to form parts of the Polish armed forces - 2 divisions with a total strength of 25 thousand. Then, at the request of Sikorsky, the numerical restrictions were lifted. By November 1941, the number of Poles gathered in training camps reached 44,000. On December 3, 1941, General Sikorsky, who flew to the USSR, met with Stalin in the Kremlin. As a result of their negotiations, the number of the Polish army in the USSR was set at 96 thousand, and permission was obtained to evacuate 25 thousand Poles outside the USSR. In March 1942, the chief of the rear of the Red Army, General Khrulev, informed General Anders that the Polish army in the USSR would receive only 26,000 food rations a day. At a meeting with Stalin, Anders achieved 44,000 food rations a day and permission to evacuate Polish soldiers from the USSR. By April 1942, 33,000 Polish servicemen, as well as almost 11,000 civilian Poles, including 3,000 children, had been transported to Krasnovodsk for evacuation to Iran. The second stage of the evacuation of Poles from the USSR took place in August 1942. In total, 78.6 thousand military and 38 thousand civilian Poles were evacuated from the USSR.
In September 1942, Polish units evacuated from the USSR were deployed to northern Iraq. They were consolidated into 3 infantry divisions and 1 tank brigade, which formed the 2nd Polish corps. In July 1943, the corps was redeployed to Palestine. On December 7, 1943, the British command decided to send the 2nd Polish corps to Italy.
On March 24, 1944, the commander of the 2nd Polish corps, General Anders, received an order from the British command to break through the German positions in the Monte Cassino area, take the monastery by storm and occupy the town of Piedimonte and thereby clear the road to Rome. By this time, the Allied forces had stormed Monte Cassino three times unsuccessfully. In April 1944, the 2nd Polish corps consisted of the 3rd Carpathian rifle division(commander - General Dukh), the 5th Kresovoy Infantry Division (General Sulik), the 2nd Tank Brigade (General Rakovsky) and the 2nd Artillery Group. The number of the corps is 46 thousand soldiers and officers. The 4th Battle of Monte Cassino began on 11 May. After fierce battles with the defending German 1st Parachute and 5th Mountain Divisions, on the morning of May 18, the Poles took the monastery and raised over it the regimental banner of the 12th Podolsk Uhlan regiment and the flag of Poland (later, by order of General Anders, the British flag was also hoisted) ... On the morning of May 19, the entire Monte Cassino massif was cleared of German troops. The Polish victory provided the 13th British Corps with access to the Leary Valley. On May 25, Canadian, British and Polish units broke through the German Hitler Line. In total, during the battle in the Monte Cassino area, the 2nd Polish Corps lost a thousand people killed and 3 thousand wounded. After a short rest, General Anders was ordered to move the Polish corps along the Adriatic coast to capture the port city of Ancona. Heavy fighting in this direction began on June 21. On July 17, the Poles launched an assault on Ancona. On July 18, the 2nd Tank Brigade cut off Ancona in the northwest, then the Carpathian Uhlan Regiment entered the city. The port, as required by the command, was taken intact. In the battle for Ancona, the Poles lost more than 600 killed and almost 2 thousand wounded. The capture of the port allowed the British 8th Army to continue the offensive against Bologna. Then the Polish corps received the order to break through the German "Gothic Line", which was done in August 1944. By the end of 1944, the 2nd Polish corps was reinforced with two infantry brigades, the 2nd Panzer Brigade was reorganized into the 2nd Warsaw Panzer Division. In January 1945, the American commander of the 15th Army Group, General Clark, ordered Allied units to prepare for the final offensive in Italy. Since General Anders was appointed to the post of Supreme Commander of the Polish Armed Forces, General Bochush-Shyshko became the commander of the 2nd Polish Corps. The offensive began on April 9, 1945. On April 21, the Poles stormed Bologna, losing more than 200 killed and more than 1200 wounded.
1st Panzer Division of General Machka
The Polish 1st Panzer Division under the command of General Stanislaw Macik was landed in Normandy in July 1944 and took an active part in the liberation of Belgium and Holland. The main combat mission of the Canadian corps in August 1944 was the capture of the area around the city of Falaise and the connection with the American units advancing from Argentan. During the Battle of Falaise, the Polish 1st Panzer Division helped the allied forces to encircle significant German forces (the division itself captured more than 5 thousand Germans). The losses of the Poles amounted to more than 400 killed and 1,000 wounded. At the end of August 1944, the Polish division was advancing, with heavy battles, to the east. On September 6, the Poles passed the Franco-Belgian border and took the city of Ypres. Then the Poles took the cities of Tilt, Ghent, Lokeren, St. Nicholas. On September 16, the Poles crossed the Belgian-Dutch border. General Maczek was ordered to take Antwerp. The task was completed, but then the Polish division fought for three weeks against the Germans who had launched a counteroffensive. Then, in October, the Poles advanced into Holland and took the city of Breda (the city council of Breda declared all the soldiers of the Polish division to be honorary citizens of the city, and after the end of World War II, many veterans of the Polish 1st Panzer Division settled there). On November 8, 1944, the Poles reached the bank of the Meuse. There, the advance stopped - until April 14, 1945, when the Polish division, after five days of fighting, broke through the German defenses and entered German territory. On May 6, 1945, the Poles captured the German naval base in Wilhelmshaven.
Operation Market Garden
On September 17, 1944, the Allies launched Operation Market Garden, an airborne assault landing in Holland. On September 18, part of the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade landed on the northern bank of the Rhine to help the British 1st Airborne Division besieged in Arnhem. However, due to bad weather conditions, only slightly more than 1,000 Polish paratroopers were able to land. The rest of the brigade was parachuted on September 23, but 30 km from the first landing. Only a small part of the Poles managed to unite with the British. On the whole, this Allied operation was unsuccessful. The Poles lost more than 200 dead and missing and more than 200 wounded there.
Polish Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic
The Polish naval forces continued to fight in the west after September 1939, because even before the start of World War II, 3 (out of four) Polish destroyers - Bliskawica, Thunder and Buzha - were sent to Britain. After the outbreak of war, two of the five Polish submarines - Wilk and Orzhel - broke through from the Baltic to Britain. Cooperation between the Polish naval forces and the British navy was established by a naval agreement of November 1939. Soon after, the Polish naval forces leased several ships from Britain - 2 cruisers (Dragon and Konrad), 6 destroyers Garland "," Piorun "," Krakowiak "," Kuyaviak "," Shlenzak "," Orcan ") and 3 submarines (" Sokol "," Yastrzhemb "," Dzik "). The submarine "Orzhel" in April 1940 sank the German transport "Rio de Janeiro", which participated in the landing of German troops in Norway. The destroyer Piorun, together with a fleet of British destroyers, participated in 1941 in the pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck. In 1942 the destroyer Schlenzak provided artillery support for the Canadian-British landing at Dieppe. The Sokol and Dzik submarines operated in the Mediterranean and received the nickname "Scary Twins". Polish warships provided the landing of allied troops in the Narvik operation (1940), in the North African (1942), in the Sicilian (1943) and Italian (1943). They also escorted Allied caravans delivering weapons, food and other materials to the USSR. In total, Polish sailors sank several enemy warships (German and Italian), including 2 German submarines, shot down about 20 aircraft and sank about 40 transport ships. About 400 (out of a total of about 4 thousand) Polish sailors were killed. Most of the survivors at the end of World War II remained in the West.
Polish aircraft in the battle of Britain
After the September 1939 campaign, many Polish military pilots tried to move to France. During the defense of France, Polish pilots shot down about 50 German aircraft, 13 Polish pilots were killed. Then the Polish pilots flew to Britain. The Battle of Britain (July-October 1940) involved 145 Polish fighter pilots. 2 Polish squadrons were formed as part of the British Air Force (302nd and 303rd, the Poles also served in other British squadrons). Polish pilots achieved great success - 303rd Squadron became one of the most effective among the British Air Force, shooting down 125 German aircraft. In total, during the Battle of Britain, the Poles shot down 201 enemy aircraft. In the summer of 1940, 2 Polish bomber squadrons were formed, and soon the total number of Polish squadrons in Britain reached 15: 10 of them fighter, 4 bomber and 1 artillery guidance squadron. A group of Polish pilots fought in North Africa in 1943 (the so-called "Skalsky Circus"). Polish pilots bombed Germany (15 kilotons of bombs), including Berlin, Ruhr and Hamburg, and dropped weapons and ammunition for partisans in Poland (426 sorties) and other countries (909 sorties). In total, during the war, Polish pilots flew 73.5 thousand sorties from Britain. They shot down 760 German aircraft and 190 V-1 missiles, sank 2 submarines. The most productive of the Polish pilots were Stanislav Skalsky, Witold Urbanovich, Evgeniusz Horbachevsky and Boleslav Gladysh, who shot down 15 or more enemy aircraft each. The losses of the Polish Air Force amounted to 2 thousand dead.
Winston Churchill, in a speech before the British Parliament on August 20, 1940, said about the Polish pilots defending England - "Never before in the history of human conflicts have so many owed so much to so few." (Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few). After the end of World War II, most of the Polish flight and technical personnel (in total in May 1945 there were more than 14 thousand) remained to live in the West.
Polish army on the eastern front
In March 1943, the Soviet command decided to create new (pro-Soviet) Polish troops. In May 1943, the Stavka appointed a retired (since June 1939) Lieutenant Colonel Zygmunt Berling as commander of this Polish army (as part of one infantry division), and Wanda Wasilewska, who was awarded the rank of colonel, as a political commissar. (Burling was a prisoner of war, was released under an amnesty in August 1941 from a Soviet prison, enlisted in the Polish army of General Anders, was appointed chief of staff of the division, in 1942 (when Anders left for the Western allies) remained in the USSR. Vasilevskaya, daughter of the minister of pre-war Poland, after occupation of Lvov by the Red Army in 1939 took Soviet citizenship, joined the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and became a Soviet writer).
1st Polish Infantry Division named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko ( Polish 1 Polska Dywizja Piechoty im.Tadeusza Kościuszki) was formed in June 1943. On August 10, the Supreme Commander (Stalin) ordered the formation of a Polish corps consisting of 2 infantry divisions, a tank brigade, an artillery brigade, an aviation regiment and corps units. On the same day, the command awarded Berling the rank of general and appointed him commander of the Polish corps.
As of July 5, 1943, the division numbered 14,380 people (of which 13,520 were Poles, 439 Jews, 209 Ukrainians, 108 Belarusians and 112 Russians). On July 15, 1943 (on the anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald), the division's fighters took the military oath, on the same day the Union of Polish Patriots presented the division with a battle banner (red and white, with the motto "For your freedom and ours!").
On August 10, 1943, the 1st Polish Corps was created, which included already existing Polish military units (including the 1st Polish Infantry Division) and the formation of new Polish units began. On September 1, 1943, the 1st Polish Infantry Division was sent to the front. On October 12-13, 1943, the first battle of the 1st Polish infantry division took place near Lenino in the Mogilev region. During the two-day battles, units of the Polish division inflicted significant damage to the enemy. Three soldiers of the Polish division were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 247 were awarded orders and medals. The division's own losses in the "Battle of Lenino" reached 25% of the personnel.
On March 13, 1944, the Headquarters decided to deploy Polish units on the territory of the USSR into the Polish 1st Army. The size of the Polish army was increased to 78 thousand. On July 20, 1944, army units crossed the Western Bug and entered the territory of Poland. On July 21, 1944, the Polish 1st Army was united with the Ludova partisan Army into a single Polish People's Army. In the Polish Army there were deputy commanders for political affairs and political agencies, but at the same time there were chaplains in the units. As of July 22, 1944, the total strength of the 1st Army of the Polish Army was 100 thousand servicemen. In late July - early August, the 1st Polish Army took part in the liberation of Demblin and Pulaw. The 1st Polish Armored Brigade took part in the defense of the Studzian bridgehead on the western bank of the Vistula south of Warsaw.
On September 14, 1944, the 1st Polish Army liberated the right-bank suburb of Warsaw - Prague and then made an unsuccessful attempt to force the Vistula to help the Warsaw Uprising. In January 1945, the 1st Polish Army took part in the liberation of Warsaw, and then the Polish Army took part in the breakthrough through central Poland. On January 28, 1945, Bydgoszcz was liberated by them. Then the 1st Polish Army was moved to the north, and the main forces of the army took part in the assault on Kolobrzeg (German Kolberg), and the 1st Polish Armored Brigade was advancing on Gdansk (East Pomeranian operation). In April 1945, the 2nd Polish Army was organized. In 1945, the number of the Polish Army reached 200,000 people (1st and 2nd Polish armies, 1st Panzer Corps, 1st Air Corps and other units), accounting for approximately 10% of the total number of forces that participated in the Berlin operations on the Soviet side. By June 1945, the Polish Army numbered about 400,000 people. It was the largest regular military force that fought alongside Soviet troops.
