The Invasion of Poland (1939)

 

Hitler inspects GErman soldiers march into Poland (1939)

            World War 2 is the deadliest conflict in the history of man. Around 70 - 85 million people lost their lives during the six years war betwen the Axis and Allied forces. The war lasted from 1939  until 1945. One of the first things that marked the beginning of  World War 2 is the German and Soviet Union invasion on Poland in 1939. In this essay, the author will explain about the invasion of Poland and the aftermath that followed.

            The invasion of Poland, also known as Kampania wrześniowa (Poland invasion) or  the Wojna obronna 1939 roku ( 1939 defensive war) in Poland and Polenfeldzug (Poland campaign) in German, happened as German and Russia invaded and annexed the whole country: the German invasion began on 1 September 1939  and Soviet Union 17 September 1939. It began one week after the signing of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact betwen German and Soviet Union. German forces invaded Poland almost from every direction using the infamous Blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactic, a warfare strategy where an attacking force, led by armored vehicles and motorised infantry run in tight formation with close air support above them, breaks through the enemy’s defence with short, fast, powerful attacks and then decapitate the struggling enemy using the element of surprise they gain from the help of their air superiority. Polish forces retreated from their position near the Polish-German border as the German forces advanced. The German gained a great victory over western Poland by mid September.

             A few days later, on 17 September, the Red Army invaded Eastern Poland. It was the territory that belongs to Soviet’s “sphere of influence” according to the secret protocol of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact which Soviet claimed. Having to defend it’s country in two fronts, Polish government ordered all troops to evacuate to neutral Romania. They awaited help from France and United Kingdom but both countries only had very limited support to provide. By 6 September, German and Soviet Union finally gained full conquest over Poland, though Poland never officially surrendered, thus marked the end of Second Polish Republic.

            The invasion was very successful. The country was divided into two territories ruled by german in the west and Soviet Union in the east. About 65,000 Poloish troops were killed in the conflict, 420,000 other captured by the Germans and 240,000 more by the Soviets. Around 120,000 Polish troops m anaged to escape to neutral Romania and the other 20,000 to Latvia and Lithuania; the majority of them ventually managed to get to France and Britain. Most of the Polish Navy succeeded in evacuating to Britain as well. The German lost 16,000 of it’s troops.

            According to the Polish Institute of National Remembrance, Soviet invasion and occupation that lasted betwen 1939 until 1941 resulted in the death of 150,000 Polish citizens as well as deportation of 320,000 others. Those who considered dangerous to the Soviet regime were subject to Sovietzation and forced to relocate from their settlements. Some were imprisoned in Gulags (labor camps) or murdered, like the Polish officers in the infamous Katyn massacre. Since the begining of the invasion, the majority of Polish army that could escape the Nazi German’s and Soviet’s imprisonment heading for British and France since those countries were considered safe because of the pre-war alliance between Great-Britain, France, and Poland. The country’s national gold supply also managed to be evacuated to London and Ottawa during the invasion of Poland, one of the very first conflicts that triggered World War 2 and brought many Polish troops and citizens into suffocation and misery.