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The invasion is also known in Poland as the September campaign (Polish: kampania wrześniowa) or 1939 defensive war (Polish: wojna obronna 1939 roku) and known in Germany as the Poland campaign (German: Überfall auf Polen, Polenfeldzug). German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west the morning after the Gleiwitz incident.
Already during the 1939 German invasion, dedicated units of SS and police (the Einsatzgruppen) were tasked with arresting or outright killing of those resisting the Germans. [10] [75] [76] They were aided by some regular German army units and "self-defense" forces composed of members of the German minority in Poland, the Volksdeutsche. [10]
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]
The German army's forces for the invasion of Poland (codename Fall Weiss, English - "Case White") were divided into Army Group North (consisting of the German 3rd and 4th armies) and Army Group South (consisting of the German 8th, 10th, and 14th armies, and the Slovak Army Group Bernolak).
It was announced on German radio that these points had been rejected on September 1, 1939, even though they were never presented to Poland. [1] [2] Like the raid on the Gleiwitz radio station on the same day, Polish "rejection" of the ultimatum served as a pretext for the German invasion of Poland which initiated the Second World War.
Faced with an ultimatum from both Poland and Germany, Czechoslovakia gave up the area, which was annexed by Poland on October 2, 1938. [71] In early 1939, Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia, which, in March 1939, then ceased to exist. Germany had demanded that Poland join the Anti-Comintern Pact as a satellite state of Germany. [72]
The history of Poland from 1939 to 1945 encompasses primarily the period from the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union to the end of World War II. Following the German–Soviet non-aggression pact, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and by the Soviet Union on 17 September.
The Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig was one of the first acts of World War II in Europe, as part of the September Campaign. [1] [3]: 39, 42 On 1 September 1939 the Invasion of Poland was initiated by Germany when the battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish-controlled harbor of Danzig, around 04:45–48 hours.