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The German Invasion of Poland

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Title: The German Invasion of Poland Author: srenken Last modified by: DAMON EVANS Created Date: 9/6/2004 12:29:52 PM Document presentation format – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: The German Invasion of Poland


1
The German Invasion of Poland
2
The Road To War
  • Hitler plans a fake attack to start the war
  • I shall give a propagandist reason for starting
    the war, no matter whether it is plausible or
    not. The victor will not be asked, later on,
    whether he told the truth or not. In a war, it
    is not the Right that matters, but Victory.

3
The Polish Invasion
  • Sept. 1, 1939- Hitler invades Poland
  • Responds to the attack by regular Polish troops
    on the Gleiwitz transmitter
  • Without a declaration of war
  • 56 German divisions all across 1,250 mile
    frontier
  • spread Polish forces very thin
  • Was told to withdraw by Sept. 3 or face war
  • Sept. 3, 1115 a.m. British Prime Minister
    Neville Chamberlain announces on national radio
    they were at war with Germany

4
The Blitzkrieg
5
The Blitzkrieg
  • Germans introduced something new in the history
    of warfare- the blitzkrieg
  • Lightning war
  • Based on two key weapons
  • Tank and airplane
  • German Luftwaffe (air force) destroyed Polish air
    force while most of it is on the ground

6
The Blitzkrieg
  • Luftwaffe bombed bridges, roads, railways, and
    radio stations, and concentrated Polish troops

7
The Blitzkrieg
  • Once Polish Air Force annihilated, German tanks,
    called Panzer units, were to roll in
  • Tanks destroyed roads, railways, bridges,
    tunnels, telegraph stations, and airfields

8
The Blitzkrieg
  • Poles try to stop Nazi panzers with their Calvary
  • Marks the end of the era of mounted Calvary

9
The Blitzkrieg
  • After the tanks were armored cars and motorcycle
    troops
  • Finally foot soldiers or infantry sent in

10
The Blitzkrieg
  • Germans also unleash calculated terror on
    civilian population
  • Use stuka dive bombers
  • Drove terrified civilians out into the roads
  • Caused mass confusion

11
The Blitzkrieg
  • Three SS Deaths Head regiments followed the
    infantry advance to conduct police and security
    measures behind the German lines
  • Whole villages burned to the ground
  • Rules of War ignored by Germany

12
The Allies
  • France was thought to possess the most powerful
    army in Europe
  • Pull back behind their own defensive position,
    the Maginot Line
  • England only had a few divisions of men to spare
  • Allies could not come to Polands aid fast enough

13
Polands Defeat
  • Sept. 16, 1939- Warsaw was surrounded
  • Sept. 17, 1939- Soviet forces invade from East
  • Sept. 28, 1939- Germany and U.S.S.R agree to
    divide Poland into spheres of influence
  • Oct. 5, 1939- direct Polish resistance comes to
    an end

14
Polands Defeat
  • It was not lack of courage, but massively
    superior German power, that led to the defeat of
    Poland.
  • Remained under German occupation until January,
    1945

15
The Defeat of Poland
  • In Soviet Union, 1.5 million Poles were
    transported to labor camps
  • Captured Polish officers shot at secret forest
    sites
  • Katyn forest

16
The Defeat of Poland
  • Germans herded Polish Jews into ghettos
  • Were starved and cruelly offered hopes of
    survival
  • Most were shot or gassed
  • 2,000 concentration camps in Poland

17
Reactions of Britain and France
  • Shock at the fall of Warsaw
  • Deep sympathy with the fate of the Poles
  • Amazement at speed of German advance
  • Anger at the Soviets, who one month earlier had
    been independent, at their part in the partition
    of Poland
  • Shame for not having helped

18
Reactions of Britain and France
  • Fear that Germany may turn lightening war on
    the West
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