Setting back the time to 1933, the Polish leader J. Pilsudski believed that the new Adolf Hitler’s Reich would not be so dangerous to Poland, as it was in the past, since Hitler was from Austria and seemed not to represent the ever lasting Prussian anti- Polish tradition. But these were only vain expectations. It was not long after when it turned out that Germany would consequently proceed the anti- Poland policy. Poland, however preferred to be closer in its partner politics to Germany than to the Soviet Union (knowing the potential of Bolshevism from the first hand – the years, 1919- 1920) which was to be politically isolated. What is interesting , there were rumours in Poland, but substantially confirmed that Poland ( it means personally Pilsudski before his death in 1935) suggested France participating together in a preventive intervention in Germany so as to weaken Hitler’s military self confidence. There was widely observed a lack of the political realism in Poland about the international conditions and anti- war despairs. The Polish leaders still believed in safety because of England’s and France’s continental power and these countries’ binding declarations of help. To make it worse, Poland did not modernise its army remaining far behind Germany, in spite of completely different proportions in the closest past. On the other hand, the Polish Government did not expect at all the German- Soviet pact’s danger at the cost of Poland, because the two totalitarian ideologies between Poland’s neighbours seemed to be not to agree with each other on the political grounds. It must be said that Poland was quickly completely powered by Gestapo and its terror. The Germans brought the maximum terror into Poland, the Polish intelligence suffered much (in example all the Krakow Jagiellonian University professors were killed treacherously after invited them for a lecture which was held in the University). One part of Poland was incorporated to Germany as the Province of Warta, another part to West Prussian and the rest of the Polish territory became the domain of the Governor General Dr. Hans Frank, his residence being Krakow.

The national content – Wehrmacht’s invasion of Poland On 1 September 1939 at daybreak, German armies without declaring war, invaded the Republic of Poland. By attacking Poland, Hitler wanted to realize the first stage of the plan of conquest „the living space” in the east and to safeguard the rear before the planned battle with France. Ten days before the invasion, during a staff meeting, Fuhrer explicitly presented his expectations: „The destruction of Poland is our first and foremost objective. Our assignment is the destruction of its manpower, rather than reaching a certain line. Even if war breaks out in the west, the destruction of Poland will remain central to our plans. A rapid solution is necessary. I will give a propaganda reason for the war, either true or not. Close your hearts before mercy. Proceed with violence. The right sides with the stronger. Our target is the total destruction of Poland.” To avoid the expansion of the conflict into other countries, Germany intended to conquer Poland in the blitz. Consequently, Hitler dispatched the most of his great army for the invasion. German forces concentrated on the border, had almost the double power of the Polish Army (which had no time to effect full mobilization), with their armoured divisions and aviation being up to five times stronger. Technical differences deepened the disproportion of power – the Polish military equipment was mostly obsolete and could not be on par with the equipment of German soldiers. The situation of Poland was made worse by the shape of the border, almost devoid of natural barriers and allowing the aggressor to attack from three directions. A chance for efficient resistance would increase with organizing defence deep inside the country, but such a solution was not taken into consideration for social and political reasons. Most of the Polish society would not imagine giving up even a piece of their own state without fight. While the western allies would be likely to interpret the retreat as capitulation in the face of Hitler’s territorial demands. Since Poles were expecting their allies to quickly fulfill their commitments and to attack Germans, they decided to undertake the fight already on the border. In accordance with the blitz strategy, Germany directed against Poland a column of armoured divisions which struck many points simultaneously. The offensive of land divisions was supported by wave attacks of the aviation, massed fire of the artillery and actions of guerrilla fighters descending from the German minority. Although Polish armies, helped by civilians, mounted fierce resistance, Germans, thanks to their overwhelming technical superiority, broke the border defence lines as quickly as in the course of first three days. In many places, the encircled Poles were involved in fight with many times more powerful enemy, believing that the western allies would soon force Nazis to retreat. A moment to be remembered in history was the defence of Polish Post in Danzig, whose employees surrendered after 12 hours of fight, when the edifice had already stood aflame. The armed crew of Westerplatte defended their outpost for a week, the defenders of Gdynia made nearly a fortnight stand, the squads in Oksywie fought several days longer. Under Wizna, several hundred soldiers held back the attack of 30 thousand Germans for three days. Some commanders, unwilling to give themselves up to the enemy, kept the last bullet or hand grenade for themselves. Despite acts of heroism on the part of defenders, Nazi armies were quickly penetrating into Poland. Retreating Poles, attacked unremittingly from air, tried to regroup, but controlling the general chaos proved an impossible task. Roads were blocked by crowds of fleeing civilians, communication between army units was failing. Moreover, mechanized German armies moved considerably quicker than Polish soldiers. As a result, as soon as 6 September, Germans forced their way into Warsaw. Civil authorities were evacuated from the endangered capital, among them the Commander-in-Chief, marshal Rydz-Œmig³y who by then had probably lost faith in victory. The situation of Warsaw was slightly alleviated by the battle of Bzura fought from 9th to 20th September due to the Polish counteroffensive west of the city. After the initial surprise, however, Germans managed to repel the attack and to tighten their ring around the capital. While the city was enduring first days of siege, Polish commanders were making plans of further fight east of the Wisla river, beyond the compass of the German aviation, where considerable military reserves were still stationing. Among the options considered was a creation of the line of defence at the border with Rumania. However, these reckonings were blighted by the Soviet invasion which began on 17 September.