How the German and Soviet invasions of Poland in 1939 set a murderous template for the Second World War
When German and Soviet forces invaded 2oland years ago, they inʚicted on their victims lynchings and killings on an epic scale. Roger Moorhouse tells the story of a campaign that set a murderous template for the Second World War
Far from the front lines, the people of the city of Przemyśl in south-eastern Poland might have thought themselves remote from the German invasion of their country in September 1939. Such cosy assumptions would soon be confounded, however. And when the invaders arrived on 15 September, they quickly showed the new face of warfare.
Soon after, the Jews of Przemyśl began to be rounded up. Initially, they were abused and humiliated by German soldiers, but the persecution swiftly turned murderous. In time, the soldiers hounded a crowd of Jewish men towards a nearby cemetery, raining blows and kicks down on the unfortunates, pistol-whipping those who fell behind.
When the Jews arrived, they saw a Wehrmacht truck, on which the canvas cover was drawn back to reveal a heavy machine gun. Burst after burst of gunfire rang out, sweeping back and forth until the men stopped writhing. Then the soldiers departed and the process began again. In all, over three days, some 600 of Przemyśl’s Jews would be murdered. It was, according to one eyewitness, “like a scene from Dante’s hell”.
The German invasion of Poland, which began on 1 September 1939, opened the
Second World War in Europe, yet it nonetheless remains a subject mired in misunderstanding. Aside from the hoary old myths of the feckless Poles sending their cavalrymen to engage German armour, little else seems to have penetrated the popular narrative.
One way of rectifying such a lack of knowledge might be to point out the remarkable brutality that was meted out to the Polish population during the campaign. Of course, actions against Europe’s Jews, like that at Przemyśl, were grimly commonplace during the war. But readers might be surprised to learn that the victims in 1939 were not only Polish Jews, and the perpetrators were not only the Germans; Soviet forces, too, contributed their part to the murderous climate.
Dehumanised stereotype
Anti-Semitism was clearly the driver behind some German atrocities. For many German soldiers, Poland represented their first exposure to Jewish populations that appeared to approximate to the dehumanised stereotype presented by Nazi propaganda. Their response was predictably brutal. At Końskie, German troops fired into a crowd of Jews who had been rounded up to dig graves, killing 22. At Błonie, west of Warsaw, 50 Jews were massacred; at Pułtusk a further 80. There are numerous other examples.
But, all Poles – whether Jewish or not – were under threat in 1939. Executions of PoWs were not uncommon. At Ciepielów, 300 Polish prisoners were machine-gunned after a brief engagement halted the progress of the German 15th Motorised Infantry Regiment. Perhaps the worst example occurred at Śladów, where 358 Poles – soldiers and civilians – were massacred on the banks of the river Vistula, following the failure of the Polish counter-attack on the river Bzura.
Inevitably, however, it was civilians who bore the brunt of the killing. In one example, 12 ‘partisans’ were executed in revenge for the killing of a German officer: the youngest was aged 10. In Wyszanów, 17 women and children were killed when grenades were thrown into a cellar, despite the victims’ pleas
Seventy-two Poles were massacred by the Germans in response to the death of two horses in a friendly fire incident
17 September
At dawn, Stalin’s Red Army invades Poland from the east, engaging lightly armed border troops. Despite the propaganda narrative of heralding liberation, the invasion brought class war, occupation and annexation.
22 September
In the eastern city of BrestLitovsk, German forces cede the district to Soviet rule, as agreed under a protocol to the NaziSoviet Pact. Before they do so, they hold a joint military parade with Red Army forces.
29 September
After the fall of Warsaw, the fortress complex at Modlin, north-west of the capital, also surrenders to the Germans.
25 September
German artillery and air forces carry out an intense, day-long bombardment of Warsaw – ‘Black Monday’ – resulting in an estimated 10,000 dead.
28 September
Wishing to end the bloodshed, the Polish garrison in Warsaw agrees to surrender the city to the Germans. More than 140,000 Polish troops march into captivity.
6 October
Following a four-day battle, the ‘Polesie Independent Operational Group’ surrenders to the Germans at Kock, south-east of 9arsaw It is the final engagement of the Polish campaign.