Timeline of the 1939 invasion of Poland

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Key events

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detailed timeline
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Detailed timeline

Links to pages that are also "key events" (see above) are depicted in bold.

August

17 August

  • Following German advances that started in early 1939, Soviet Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov, after the failure to find a diplomatic agreement with the Allies, agrees to specific diplomatic talks with the Germans.[1]: 78 

21 August

23 August

  • Following intense German-Soviet negotiations, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is finalized (to be publicized on 24 August). The two powers agree to a broad economic exchange and to mutual military non-aggression. In a secret additional protocol, the two powers approve of each other's expansionist ambitions in Central Eastern Europe. Poland is divided (along the line of the San, Vistula and Narew rivers) into a German and Soviet sphere of influence.[1]: 78f. 

25 August

26 August

  • The scheduled invasion (see 25 August) is called off at the last possible moment to buy the Germans more time.[4]: 16 
  • The cancellation of the invasion orders fail to reach all German units in time; German saboteurs carry out a bombing attack at the Jablunkov Pass in what becomes known as the Jabłonków incident.[5]: 47 
  • Italian dictator Benito Mussolini sends a long list of equipment and support requests to German dictator Adolf Hitler to create an excuse for Italy to stay neutral in the imminent war.[6]: 160f. 

28 August

29 August

  • Polish general mobilization orders are called off under pressure by the Western Allies.[7]: 110 
  • Polish military leaders are ordered to move their troops into their jumping-off points.[7]: 110 

30 August

  • Polish general mobilization ordered again, to go into effect on 31 August.[7]: 110 
  • The Polish government announces that it has carried out defensive mining operations in its territorial waters.[5]: 49 
  • The Polish navy launches the Peking Plan to evacuate its three main destroyers to the United Kingdom.[2]: 103f. 

31 August

  • Hitler gives final approval to the invasion, to begin on the morning of 1 September; SS instructed to executed "Operation Himmler" to create various pretexts for invasion.[2]: 106f. 
  • In the night from 31 August to 1 September, the SS instigates a false flag attack ("Gleiwitz Incident") against Gleiwitz Radio Station and sends broadcasts in the Polish language to create a pretext for German invasion.[9]: 668 
  • Germany issues a last-minute ultimatum to Poland (but does not provide either Poland or the United Kingdom with enough time to formulate diplomatic responses).[1]: 83 

September

1 September

Wieluń after bombing on 1 September 1939

2 September

Polish Army soldier holding last remaining part of destroyed German bomber Heinkel He 111 in Warsaw, September 1939 (Kodachrome photo).

3 September

4 September

5 September

German battleship Schleswig-Holstein firing at Westerplatte, 5 September 1939

6 September

  • Wyszków Operational Group begins its counterattack (as ordered on 5 September) towards Pułtusk against I Corps; 1st Legions Infantry Division and 61st Infantry Division clash.[14]: 247 
  • Corps Wodrig forces the Germans' way across the Narew river; the corps subsequently wastes time with preparations to attack Różan (already evacuated by Polish defenders during the night of 5/6 September).[14]: 248 
  • XXII Corps severs the line between Warsaw and Częstochowa.[32]: 109 
  • Krakow is captured by German forces.[15]: Ch.III 
  • The Polish air force attempts a general offensive and musters 164 sorties with 13 victories and nine planes lost. In the evening, orders are given to move all remaining Polish fighters to Lublin, where 88 fighters are subsequently formed into the newly-improvised Pursuit Brigade.[14]: 160 
  • The Polish government and its accredited ambassadors evacuate Warsaw and relocate to Lublin.[32]: 102 
  • Poles evacuate the arms factory in
    Kowel; Germans attack the Wanacja suburb of Starachowice, and then murder over 20 civilians.[33]
  • German troops perpetrated a massacre of Polish POWs, including 19 officers, in Moryca and Longinówka, and massacres of 56 Polish civilians in Będzin and Uniejów.[30][34]
  • During the night of 6/7 September, the Wyszków Operational Group's progress is significantly hampered by logistical chaos when the 33rd and 41st Infantry Divisions become hopelessly entangled with each other, causing mass confusion among the troops.[14]: 247 

7 September

  • At 04:15 in the morning, Schleswig-Holstein opens the final bombardment against Westerplatte, whose defenders surrender around 10:15.[27]: 32 
  • Germans enter Starachowice and launch an attack on Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.[35]
  • German troops carried out massacres in Mordarka, Wągrowiec and Wylazłów, killing 33 Poles and 9 Jews.[36][37]
  • Decision of the German Ministry of the Interior to dissolve the Union of Poles in Germany and close Polish minority schools, printing houses, and financial and cooperative institutions.[38]

8 September

9 September

Public execution of Polish civilians in Bydgoszcz on 9 September 1939
  • 4th Panzer Division repeats its attack against Warsaw; Panzer Regiment 35 suffers heavy casualties, leading to the eventual recall of 4th Panzer Division from the Warsaw sector.[12]: 308f. 
  • The German 8th Army captures Łódź, and subsequently advances against a concentration of Polish forces southwest of Warsaw that was giving XVI Corps of 10th Army significant trouble.[7]: 123 
  • German troops perpetrated massacres of around 80 Polish civilians in Kłecko, Mielno, Orło and Pniewo, and massacres of over 260 Jews in Będzin, Sławków and Wyszków.[43]
  • During the night of 9/10 September, the Poznan Army attempts a breakout attempt towards the south of Łódź and strikes the flank of the German 8th Army (primarily the 30th Infantry Division),[13]: 127  achieving operational surprise against the Germans.[44]: 11 
  • The German 5th Panzer Division attacked Polish forces at Pacanów and Stopnica.[45]

10 September

11 September

12 September

13 September

  • The German Group Kaupisch enters Gdynia (Polish remnant resistance in the city continues until 19 September).[7]: 121 
  • Luftwaffe formations are concentrated against the area northeast of Łódź, where Polish marching columns make for appealing targets.[7]: 124 
  • German troops carried out massacres in Kokoszkowy, Łowicz and Mień, killing 40 Poles, including boy scouts.[55][56]
  • The majority of Poland's gold reserve stored by the Polish government in
    Śniatyn on the border with Romania.[29]

14 September

German forces in Gdynia, 14 September

15 September

  • XVIII Corps captures the fortress at Przemyśl.[7]: 124 
  • German police and army arrested 7,000 Poles in Gdynia.[58]
  • German troops carried out massacres in Sulejówek and Długa Szlachecka, killing over 90 Poles.[59]

16 September

Anti-aircraft Bofors 40 mm in the Battle of Lwów

17 September

  • In the Soviet invasion of Poland, the Red Army intervenes in the German-Polish war on the German side, beginning its advance towards the German-Soviet demarcation line agreed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.[26]: 125 
  • Polish defense of Sarny against the Soviets begins.[60]
  • Presidential proclamation of Ignacy Mościcki in Kuty.[60]
  • Rydz-Śmigły instructs Polish units in eastern Poland to avoid combat with the Red Army as far as possible and to withdraw towards the national frontiers with Romania and Hungary.[26]: 126f. 
  • XV Corps (of 10th Army) crosses the Warsaw—Sochaczew road and further tightens the chokehold around Warsaw.[7]: 124 
  • German troops perpetrated massacres in Bąków, Henryków, Leszno in Mazovia, killing 144 Polish civilians, including women and children, whereas in Piekary Śląskie and Strzybnica in Silesia the German police and Freikorps executed 12 Polish civilians.[61]

18 September

  • The main clashes of the Battle of the Bzura cease; OKH reports 120,000+ Polish prisoners from a total of 19 divisions and three cavalry brigades.[7]: 124 
  • Following Soviet pressure against the Estonian government, Orzel leaves Tallinn and begins its breakout towards the United Kingdom, which it would reach (without maps) on 14 October.[17]: 16 
  • Germans perpetrated a massacre of some 300 Poles, including POWs and refugees, in Śladów.[62]

19 September

Soviet troops enter Wilno, 19 September
  • German forces complete the encirclement of Warsaw, ending what the Germans would subsequently dub the "Eighteen Days Campaign".[63]: 132 
  • Krakow Army attempts a breakout towards the Romanian frontier through Tomaszow Lubelski.[44]: 12 
  • Pomorze Army and Poznan Army are forced to surrender.[15]: Ch.III 
  • Wilno taken by the Soviets after the Battle of Wilno.[64]

20 September

21 September

  • Polish garrison of Lviv unexpectedly attempts surrender to the withdrawing Germans;[18]: 118  occupation of Lviv is left to the Soviets, who take the city after an artillery bombardment.[67]: 83 
  • Reinhard Heydrich issues a directive to begin the concentration of Poland's Jews in the major cities to prepare the formation of ghettos and to ease subsequent deportations to concentration camps.[51]: 62 

22 September

23 September

  • Soviets carried out a massacre of 25 Polish POWs in Husynne.[72]

24 September

  • Johannes Blaskowitz (of German 8th Army) orders the final assault against Warsaw.[14]: 314 
  • Appointed German Kreisleiter called Polish municipal officials in Bydgoszcz to a supposed formal meeting in the city hall, from where they were taken to a forest near Bydgoszcz and exterminated.[74] He also ordered the execution of their family members to "avoid creating martyrs".[74]

27 September

28 September

  • Soviet-Polish battle at Szack; 52nd Rifle Division and 411th Tank Battalion forced in temporary retreats by Polish defenders.[26]: 130 
  • Germany and the Soviet Union sign a Border and Friendship Treaty and adjust the frontiers of occupied Poland. The Soviet Union publicly blames the Western Allies for the continuation of the war.[77]: 233–236 
  • Germans carried out the second mass execution, this time of 16 patients of the Kocborowo psychiatric hospital, at the Forest of Szpęgawsk.[73]
  • Soviets carried out a massacre of 18 Polish POWs from the
    Mokrany.[72]

29 September

30 September

October

1 October

German troops enter Warsaw, 1 October 1939
  • Around 02:00 at night, a Polish vanguard of the Border Protection Corps meets a column of Soviet tanks near Wytyczno and destroys four of them. As the BPC crosses the Bug river south of Włodawa to catch up with Independent Operational Group Polesie forces, a Soviet counterattack ("Battle of Wytyczno") commences in the early morning. General Wilhelm Orlik-Rückemann decides to break up his force into small units and send them into various directions. Several massacres are subsequently committed by the Soviet pursuers against Polish groups of soldiers.[32]: 259f. 
  • After a final assault against Hel by the German Infantry Regiment 374 towards Hel, the Polish commander asks for an armistice around 14:00.[27]: 38 
  • At 14:30, the German mineseeker M85 is sunk by the Polish submarine Zbik with 23 lives lost, sole Polish submarine victory of the campaign.[27]: 39 
  • Ger. 10th Army is alerted to return to Germany to prepare operations against France.
  • Germans carried out a massacre of 64 Polish men, including ten boys under the age of 18, in Szczuczki.[78]
  • Polish Consul in Kyiv Jerzy Matusiński was summoned for supposed talks at the Representation Office of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, and then arrested by the Soviets, with his fate unknown to this day.[79]

2 October

  • Command of the Defenders of Poland (Komenda Obrońców Polski) Polish resistance organization founded in Warsaw.[80]

3 October

  • Gerd von Rundstedt becomes military commander in German-occupied Poland.[18]: 118 

4 October

Polish soldiers during the Battle of Kock
  • The final clashes of the campaign erupt in the Battle of Kock.[18]: 119 
  • Adolf Hitler issues a general armistice for any war crimes committed by German troops during the campaign against Poland.[81]: 58 
  • German massacres of Poles in Paterek, committed as part of the Intelligenzaktion campaign begin.[82]

5 October

  • The Germans hold the first of their victory campaigns in Warsaw, which is filmed by Leni Riefenstahl.[32]: 265 
  • Around 19:30, General Kleeberg (the commander of the last active Polish formations in the Kock sector) gives orders to cease fighting.[32]: 267 
  • The Germans carried out an execution of 39 Poles, defenders of the Polish Post Office in Gdansk in Zaspa.[83]
  • On 5–6 October, the Germans perpetrated a massacre of Poles from Koronowo and adjacent villages at Buszkowo.[84]

6 October

  • The final Polish resistance (around two divisions in strength, under General Kleeberg around Kock) surrender, ending the campaign.[7]: 123f. 

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Bibliography

See also
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