The Lake Norman Brief
Invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland, 1 September to 6 October 1939: nine chaptered articles on the road to war and the Enigma codebreakers, Westerplatte and the Polish Post Office in Danzig, the frontier battles, the air war and the Pursuit Brigade, Wizna and Brest, the Bzura and the siege of Warsaw, the coast and the navy, the Soviet invasion and the last battles, and the occupation and memory. Start with the interactive atlas.
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Occupation, Exile and Memory
After the fighting ended, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned Poland and set out to destroy its leaders, from Piaśnica and Palmiry…
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17 September: The Soviet Invasion and the Last Battles
On 17 September 1939 the Red Army invaded eastern Poland. The government crossed into Romania, Lwów and Grodno fell, the Border Protection…
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The Coast and the Navy: Gdynia, Oksywie, Hel and the Escape of the Orzeł
How Poland’s small navy and its coast fought in September 1939: Operation Peking, the sinking of Wicher and Gryf at Hel, Col.…
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The Bzura and the Siege of Warsaw
From 8 to 29 September 1939: the government leaves Warsaw, the 4th Panzer Division is stopped at Ochota, Kutrzeba strikes on the…
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Wizna, Brest and the Narew: Holding the Northern Front
The northern front, 4-22 September 1939: how a few hundred men under Capt. Władysław Raginis held the Wizna crossings against Guderian’s corps,…
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The Air War: The Pursuit Brigade, the Bomber Brigade and the Kościuszko Squadron
The Polish Air Force was not destroyed on the ground on 1 September 1939. This chapter follows the Pursuit Brigade over Warsaw,…
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The Frontier Battles: Wieluń, Mokra, Mława, Krojanty and the Corridor
In six days, 1–6 September 1939, German armies broke Poland’s forward defenses: the bombing of Wieluń, the stands at Mokra, Mława and…
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Westerplatte and the Polish Post Office: The First Shots in Danzig
At dawn on 1 September 1939 the battleship Schleswig-Holstein fired on the Polish depot at Westerplatte, which held out for seven days,…
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The Road to September: Danzig, the Corridor, the Pact and the Enigma Breakers
How Poland reached 1 September 1939: Versailles, Danzig and the Corridor, the German demands, the British guarantee, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and its…