Transcript The German Invasion of Poland

The German Invasion
of Poland
The Road to War
• April 3, 1939- Hitler issues directive
for attack on Poland
– Called Case White
Hitler plans a fake attack to start the
war
The Road To War
• Hitler wanted Germany to appear as
an innocent victim of Polish
aggression
• He took a prisoner from a
concentration camp, dressed him in a
Polish uniform, taken to town of
Gleiwitz, and shot on Aug. 31, 1939 by
the Gestapo in a bizarre faked “Polish
attack” on the local radio station.
The Polish Invasion
• Sept. 1, 1939- Hitler invades Poland
• 56 German troops divides all across the
1,250 mile frontier
– This spreads Polish forces very thin
• Hitler as told to withdraw by Sept. 3 or face
war
• Sept. 3, 11:15 a.m. British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain announces on national
radio they were at war with Germany
The Blitzkrieg
The Blitzkrieg
• Germans introduced something new in
the history of warfare- the blitzkrieg
– Lightning war
• Based on two key weapons
– Tank and airplane
• German Luftwaffe (air force)
destroyed Polish air force while most
of it is on the ground
The Blitzkrieg
• Luftwaffe bombed bridges, roads,
railways, and radio stations, and
concentrated Polish troops
The Blitzkrieg
• Once the Polish Air
Force was
annihilated, German
tanks were to roll
in
• Tanks destroyed:
roads, railways,
bridges, tunnels,
telegraph stations,
and airfields
The Blitzkrieg
• Poland try to
stop the Nazi
with their
Calvary
– This will
marks the
end of the
era of
Calvary
The Blitzkrieg
• After the tanks
they sent in
armored cars and
motorcycle troops
The Blitzkrieg
• Finally foot soldiers or infantry were
sent in
• Watch historical footage of the
invasion of Poland.
The Blitzkrieg
• Hear personal stories of
the invasion of Poland
• Whole villages
were burned to
the ground and
the ‘rules of war’
were ignored by
Germany
The Defeat of Poland
• 1.5 million Polish people were
transported to labor camps
• Any captured Polish officers were
shot at secret forest sites
• Poland remained under German
occupation until January, 1945
The Defeat of Poland
• Germans herded Polish Jews into
ghettos
• They were starved and then usually
sent to the gas chambers
• They built 2,000 concentration camps
in Poland