Invasion of Poland from the Polish Perspective | Animated History

in the suburbs of warsaw a veteran sits alone by the fireplace the dying embers illuminate his stoic face and the occasional flashes of light pierce the threadbare curtains covering the windows he would be out there right now if he could sadly the army has little use for maimed soldiers even in situations as desperate as this having fought alongside the forces of the german empire in the great war this veteran can scarcely believe that they are now coming to destroy his home [Music] hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian today's video the invasion of poland from the polish perspective the rarely covered story of calamity and betrayal that started the second world war during the invasion miscommunication within the polish ranks led to many unnecessary casualties fortunately data protection services like nordvpn ensure that you'll never need to worry about whether or not your orders are being transmitted safely indeed nordvpn's military-grade encryption ensures that nothing gets in the way of a smooth internet experience with 5468 servers in 59 countries nordvpn allows you to securely surf the web anywhere in the world on up to six devices oh and you can watch television movies or even youtube videos that are blocked in your country simply by connecting to a new server now for a limited time you can get a three year plan plus one month for free for only three dollars and 49 cents per month which is 70 off when you sign up with the code history or follow the link in the description below born from the ashes of the great war poland was a nation beset by enemies the entire map of eastern europe had been redrawn after the war and although poland was the largest and strongest of these new countries it was dwarved by the superpowers on the horizon to the west there was germany frustrated by the polish corridor cutting off its access to east prussia to the east there was the soviet union seething from its loss in the 1919-1920 polish soviet war desperate to secure its future as a sovereign state poland entered into a defensive alliance with france in 1921 however this distant ally offered scant protection against soviet aggression and poland began investing heavily in its eastern defenses it was only after poland's foreign minister joseph beck secured a non-aggression pact with the ussr in 1932 that tension seemed to ease then the unthinkable happened germany that supposedly humbled shell of a nation suddenly burst back onto the scene led by adolf hitler's national socialist party this resurgent an increasingly militant country now had its eyes dead set on the ethnically divided territories torn from it by the treaty of versailles but once again beck stepped up to defuse the situation wrangling another non-aggression pact from germany in 1934 however this house of cards came crashing down just a few years later after hitler seized the german ethnic sudetenland in october in 1938 poland used it as a precedent to annex zawoja a polish ethnic region in czechoslovakia this was a monumental blunder and caused both britain and france who saw the move as an act of aggression to reconsider their support of poland seeing an opportunity open up germany submitted a list of demands to poland that included annexing the free city of danzig and constructing an extra territorial road and railway through the polish corridor losing danzig would have cut off poland almost entirely from the sea and a german railway could have later been used to justify the seizure of the entire corridor thus back refused hitler's demands denouncing them as tantamount to a renunciation of polish sovereignty beck also refused to negotiate with the increasingly belligerent soviets and spent most of the next year campaigning for western support in the event of hostilities which he now saw as inevitable as tensions escalated plans were drawn up to defend against an attack from the north and west however they had to be immediately reworked after germany completely annexed czechoslovakia in march of 1939 which stretched the polish-german border much further to the south suddenly poland had to worry about every point on the compass later that month on march 31st poland formed a tentative military alliance with both britain and france with the former promising to support poland's independence by august 1939 hitler was seeking any pretext to justify an invasion of poland as panzers massed along the border marshall edvard ritz schmuckel commander-in-chief of poland's military tried desperately to mobilize polish forces but his efforts were foiled by the uk and france who insisted that the polish offer no provocation to the germans and so their army sat idle until the 30th of august when ritz schmiegel finally ordered a general mobilization just one day after general mobilization was ordered in poland german troops dressed in polish uniforms launched a series of false flag attacks against german military and civilian targets hitler furiously denounced these supposed polish attacks in an evening radio broadcast that night which he used to conceal his real intentions war was inevitable prior to this point polish generals had recognized the impossibility of a conventional defensive posture their strategy named plan west was instead to delay german forces at the frontiers while falling back to a defensive line along the major rivers there they hoped to hold the line until their allies launched an invasion of germany the success of plan west depended entirely on britain and france upholding their guarantees poland's military strategists headed by martial ritz did not think that their allies would simply sit back and watch them succumb to the third reich yet there were some like chief of the general staff that's what stahevich who had doubts about the plan's feasibility inside the polish headquarters in warsaw we can imagine a conversation like this taking place at the outbreak of war the polish army had mobilized only about 500 000 men of which half were combat ready throughout the war an additional 500 000 men would be raised many of whom could have been mustered much earlier had the british and french not discouraged polish mobilization by september 1939 the army was organized into 26 infantry divisions eight cavalry brigades one motorized brigade three mountain brigades two armored brigades and four independent tank battalions the soldiers were reasonably motivated and disciplined but they were poorly equipped due to poland's relative poverty with obsolete communication systems and a lack of motorized transport although unlike what propaganda footage shows the german army was not heavily motorized or mechanized either and both sides relied heavily on horses on the ground poland's latest tank was the 7tp whose 37 millimeter gun could easily knock out the panzer one or panzer ii and even destroy the panzer iv [Music] unfortunately the 7tp was a rare sight on the battlefield only 161 were in service by 1939. a much more common sight was poland's 575 tks takets while completely adorable these tiny vehicles were barely more useful than armored cars and often less reliable lastly the poles had also purchased 88 tanks from their british and french allies prior to the war in the skies the polish air force had fewer than 400 modern aircraft poland's latest fighter the p24 was highly competitive with foreign planes when it was introduced in 1936 but it was outclassed by the time of the invasion to make matters worse poland had exported many p-24s to other countries leaving few for national defense thus the polish air force had to rely primarily on obsolete p-11s finally at sea the polish navy consisted of just five submarines and four destroyers as well as various smaller vessels luckily before the german attack most destroyers retreated to england while the submarines were ordered to mine the polish coast around danzig and interdict enemy ships attempting to stage amphibious landings at 4 45 a.m on september 1st 1939 the german invasion began with the pre-dreadnought schleswig-holstein bombarding a military depot in danzig warrant officer vwadiswolf bharan recalled of the attack the air rocked fountains of sand stones and smoke rose up shattered trunks and branches of trees pieces of human bodies and weapons flew in the air as the sun rose marshall ritz schmiegel's worst fears were confirmed as german armored spearheads punched straight through the confused polish lines with barely a pause army group north attacked the polish corridor army group south attacked woods krakow and warsaw and forces from the german puppet state of slovakia attacked poland's southern regions lieutenant jan karsky detailed his division's ordeal the extent of death destruction and disorganization this combined fire caused in three short hours was incredible by the time our whips were sufficiently collected even to survey the situation it was apparent that we were in no position to offer any serious resistance by the end of september 2nd the polish defenses had fallen apart nonetheless some units resisted fiercely especially the polish cavalry brigades considered the elite units of the polish military far from charging into battle solely armed with sabers and lances these modern cavalrymen also carried bolt-action rifles anti-tank rifles and machine guns giving them access to some of the most concentrated firepower of the early war period at the battle of makra the vowenska cavalry brigade destroyed at least 50 german tanks and inflicted some 800 casualties in one of the only polish victories of the war when not fighting directly the polish cavalry acted as a mobile reserve galloping to the front lines and then dismounting to fight as infantry polish armored trains also mounted considerable resistance and wreaked havoc on enemy supply lines and communications using the country's extensive rail network and forests for cover discounted by the germans as obsolete the self-sustaining behemoths which came in light and heavy varieties bristled with artillery pieces and machine guns overall the 10 or so armored trains fought in about 90 battles during the invasion september 3rd britain and france finally declared war on germany after repeated pleas from polish diplomats the polish people were overjoyed with the news but no military support was forthcoming polish forces continued losing ground on all fronts and on september 5th army's krakow woods prusa and poznan withdrew beyond the viscula and dunietz rivers abandoning western poland unfortunately the rivers had almost completely dried up due to drought so they posed little obstacle to the german advance to make matters worse fleeing refugees clogged the roads hampering efforts to contain the enemy breakthrough desperate for any assistance poland urged its allies to attack germany's extremely weak western front france responded by launching an offensive into the tsar region of germany on september 7th just as the polls had hoped early reports told the french making remarkable progress capturing towns and overwhelming all german resistance once the british joined in the germans would have no choice but to divert forces to the west and poland would be saved but then on the 13th the unthinkable occurred the french despite their crushing momentum halted their advance days later they pulled back to the relative safety of the maginot line the news came like a slap in the face to the poles without the help of their allies plan west was utterly ruined one of the few bright spots in this otherwise dark time was the aerial defense of warsaw between september 1st and the 6th polish fighters and anti-aircraft guns downed 80 german bombers and damaged more than 20 others however the situation deteriorated as the germans escalated their bombing campaign on september 10th enemy bombers carried out 17 consecutive bombing raids overwhelming the polish defenses meanwhile enemy tanks were closing in on the capital the poles were prepared for this thanks to the effort of over 150 000 civilian volunteers who had labored for weeks to prepare a network of anti-tank ditches and improvised barricades transforming warsaw into a fortress on september 8th the polish defenders watched with a mix of fear and steely resolve as german tanks appeared on the horizon the attack began in the south as panzers overran several suburbs but when the germans attacked from the west the poles pushed them back from behind their makeshift barricades when the germans came again on the 9th with reinforcements in tow the stubborn poles repelled them again between these two assaults the poles destroyed 80 tanks and successfully denied the enemy further access to the western suburbs as the battle raged on the poles made up for their shortage of anti-tank weapons with sheer ingenuity for example they covered a street with turpentine and lit it on fire when enemy tanks got close enough some poles even lit mattresses on fire and hurled them onto the germans from balconies yet everywhere around warsaw poland's defenses were collapsing on the 10th brits ordered a general retreat toward the romanian bridgehead to relieve army woods army's pozman and pemorgia counter-attacked the left flank of the german forces attacking warsaw between the 19th and the 15th although they were initially successful low morale poor coordination between units and enemy air superiority turned the battle of zura into a crushing defeat as the germans encircled and destroyed them between the 15th and 19th polish defenses along the narev river collapsed on the 12th allowing the germans to advance toward warsaw from the east and lay siege to the city three days later combined with the survivors of the battle of zura the defenders of warsaw now numbered 140 000 soldiers opposing them were 175 000 germans supported by 1000 artillery pieces and over a thousand aircraft for an entire week the poles endured a night and day bombardment as the germans prepared to storm the city however on the 15th of september the warsaw garrison managed to repel all attacks on the pragas suburb and two full-scale attacks on the 23rd and 26th as the siege continued strange reports began arriving from the east soviet forces were pouring across the border and the germans were retreating before them to the beleaguered defenders of levof this meant salvation after enduring a grueling siege by german forces the city opened its gates to the red army without hesitation but even as polish citizens prepared to celebrate with their unlikely saviors the horrible truth was revealed the soviets were not here to help but merely to take their share of the spoils it was at this point that the polish high command lost confidence in the defense of the country so it fled to the border of romania to the small town of kuri abandoned by their leadership the remaining polish forces had no idea how to react to the soviet invasion some units continued fighting but they could not stop the twin juggernauts from squeezing the life out of poland [Music] on september 27th after three weeks of staunch resistance the warsaw garrison finally surrendered in the face of the near complete destruction of the city one later wrote we listened silently to these grim words there were no questions or comments our minds recognized the inevitability of capitulation but our feelings could not be reconciled to it was this to be the end fighting continued on october 6 as the germans and soviets eliminated the last pockets of resistance the brave but unsuccessful defense of poland came at a steep price poland sustained between eight hundred and eighty thousand and one million two hundred and fifty three thousand casualties germany sustained between forty four thousand and fifty one thousand four hundred and the ussr between three thousand eight hundred and thirteen thousand during the invasion nevertheless about 100 000 polish soldiers managed to escape and they would go on to join the allied war effort seeing action throughout the remainder of the second world war in november 1939 the polish government in exile announced that it would fight for the restoration of poland despite their resentment towards britain and france for failing to come to their aid in the invasion they agreed to cooperate with them and organize a resistance movement within their occupied country this culminated in the heroic but doomed warsaw uprising a fascinating topic for a future video despite their devastating loss in the invasion the fight for poland was far from over [Music] you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 1,601,850

Rating: 4.9013042 out of 5

Keywords: The Invasion of Poland, World War Two, Second World War, WW2, WWII, Polish Invasion, German Blitzkrieg, World War, Invasion of France, Poland in WW2, Polish History, Poland, Soviet Invasion of Poland, Great War, Polish Cavalry, Armored Train, Panzer Tank, Blitz

Id: 17NArJ6wQqo

Length: 20min 38sec (1238 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 25 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/AlternativeNarwhal0]

Rak w komentarzach za 3, 2, 1...

[u/kuflak]

Ale on ma xsjebisty podbródek xD

[u/ArturPolskiNoob]

Dobry film, poza tym poprawił się z wymową polskich imion i nazwisk (w tym o 1920r. wymawiał nazwisko Józefa "Piluski"