Title: 1939 - Invasion of Poland

 

About: Nazi troops swept into Poland and quickly eliminated the Polish Army. The invasion proved one aggression too many for Britain and France, who declared war on Germany.

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World War II began with the Wehrmacht invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. In the face of a well-orchestrated Blitzkrieg, the Polish army was no match for the over-whelming might of the Nazi war-machine. From East Prussia and Germany in the north and Silesia and Slovakia in the south, German units, with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, broke through Polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack.

 

Two days after the German invasion, France and Britain declared war on Germany, in accordance with their alliance. However, this was of no help to Poland. The final blow came on September 17 when Soviet forces, under terms of a secret agreement with Germany, marched in from the East. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27, 1939.

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Once Hitler had assumed control of the country, he immediately began setting up 'security' forces to annihilate all enemies of his Nazi ideology, whether racial, religious or political.  The abduction of Polish men and women for compulsory forced labour in Germany began rapidly, while ghettos were established for Jews. Many areas witnessed  massacres and expulsions, and the blood would continue to spill on Polish soil until Nazi Germany's eventual defeat in 1945. 

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Decade: 1930s

Year: 1939

Region: Europe

Country: Germany + Poland

Conflict: World War II

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Type: Historical Event

Impact: 8

Artist: Jaroslaw Marcinek

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Group: Genesis

Number: 39/100

Price: 0.8 ETH

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