Replies

Phase II of the German assault on Poland has begun.

Some excerpts from The German Campaign in Poland: September 1 to October 5, 1939
Prepared under direction of the Chief of Staff
United States Government Printing Office
Washington: 1942

b. Phase II: September 6-8-Decisive German victory.

(1) Fourteenth Army (List).-- The divisions of the Polish Cracow and Przemysl Army Groups facing the Fourteenth Army drew back rapidly toward the San River line without offering decisive battle.

The course of their retreat indicated that they hoped to organize a broad but firm defense of that line between Sandomierz, at the junction of the San and Vistula Rivers, and Przemysl. The withdrawal, however, was marked by considerable disorder. There were many indications that Polish GHQ at Warsaw, even at this early stage of the campaign, had lost touch with its southern army groups, compelling the commanders of these groups to act on their own responsibility.

On September 6, without opposition, the Mahrisch Ostrau group of the Fourteenth Army captured Cracow, principal city of southern Poland. The same day the Sillein group occupied Neu Sandez. On the 8th the Galician towns of Gorlice, Pilzno, and Tarnow were taken and a bridgehead, was seized at Debica on the east bank of the Wisloka River.

The operations of the Fourteenth Army between the 6th and 8th were not decisive and the San River line was still intact, but the disorganized withdrawal of the Polish forces caused the German High Command to believe that no effective resistance would be encountered on that line.

(2) Tenth Army (von Reichenau).--On September 5 this army was stretched on a broad front from Piotrkow to Checiny. A panzer corps under General of Cavalry Hoepner was concentrated around Piotrkow, while the other panzer corps of the army, commanded by General of Infantry Hoth, guarded the right flank against a hostile attack from the enemy divisions to the south around Cracow.

The four Polish divisions which had originally opposed the Tenth Armyís assault began to withdraw northward towards Lodz on September 5 while the reserve divisions retired eastward toward the Vistula. The latter divisions were preparing to halt a German pursuit along the line of the Lysa Gora Hills in front of Radom.

The parting of these two forces of the Polish Lodz Group was due to the rapid advance of the two German panzer corps. One Polish force moved northward and the other eastward thereby opening a broad and inviting gap in front of the Tenth Army's left wing and center. Between Piotrkow and Warsaw stood no Polish force of consequential size. And between these two cities ran the best paved road in all Poland. At Piotrkow was poised General Hoepner's powerful panzer corps of two armored divisions. Here was a unique situation offering armored forces an opportunity to show their strategic capabilities.

General Hoepnerís panzer corps dashed into the gap and reached Tomaszow Mazowieckie on September 6. On this day and on the 7th and 8th the operations of the Tenth Army amounted to a headlong race to the Polish capital. One column of the panzer corps captured Rawa Mazowiecka on the 7th and was in the southwestern suburbs of Warsaw by evening the following day.

Another column of the panzer corps, operating on the right, took a more easterly route, swinging from Tomaszow Mazowieckie toward Gora Kalwaria on the west bank of the Vistula. Then it followed the river bank northward toward the Polish capital. On the evening of the 8th this column also was in the suburbs of Warsaw.

Neither column, however, was sufficiently concentrated on this evening to undertake occupation of the city. German infantry divisions were reported to be 70 miles in rear of their armored corps. Very strong and undefeated Polish forces were believed to be in and around Lodz, threatening the left flank and rear of the panzer force.

Hoepner's deep wedge between the Polish armies had changed the strategic situation overnight. Strong elements of the Thorn, Posen, and Lodz Army Corps stood on the west of this wedge. Widely scattered forces were on the east. The wedge stood between these Polish forces and their traditional river defense, the Vistula. While the left wing of the Tenth Army advanced on Warsaw, the center and right continued toward the Lysa Gora Hills mass and Radom. The important industrial city of Kielce fell on the 6th. On the 7th the Army attacked the 3d and 12th Polish divisions frontally around Skarzysko-Kamienna.

The withdrawal of the Polish Cracow Army Group from Cracow relieved General Hoth's panzer corps of the necessity of protecting the Tenth Army's right flank. Now its mission was to prevent the enemy's withdrawal from Radom and the Lysa Gora Hills to the safety of the Vistula.

Driving swiftly from its position southeast of Kielce, the panzer corps advanced northward along the west bank of the Vistula and captured Zwolen and Radom during, the afternoon and evening of the 8th. This cut the line of retreat of the 3rd, 12th, 19th, and 29th Polish divisions. On the 8th a flanking detachment captured Sandomierz and its munitions factories.

Although the line of retreat of the Polish divisions was severed, they were still intact and the panzer corps lacked the power to defeat them. Nevertheless the advance to Radom was of extreme strategic importance, for the southern Polish front was shattered, the four divisions were in jeopardy, and the Polish hold on the middle Vistula front, the last natural line of defense, was seriously threatened.

(3) Eighth Army (von Blaskowitz).--During this phase of the campaign the Eighth Army continued to advance in a general northeasterly direction without important incidents. On the 8th the army passed on both sides of Lodz without occupying it, and toward evening reached the vicinity of Ozorkow, northwest of Lodz, and Brzeziny, to the northeast.

The 30th Division was echeloned to the left rear of the left flank of this army to prevent interference with its movements by the strong Polish forces in the province of Posen. On the 8th the Eighth Army was still entirely unaware that these Polish forces of about five divisions had begun to withdraw from Kalisch, Posen, and Thorn and were rapidly nearing the army's left flank.

The failure of the German intelligence service to observe this development was to result in a grave crisis for the Eighth Army in the following week and, momentarily at least, to jeopardize the entire German plan of campaign. Later the Germans stated that their failure to discover the assembling Polish mass was due to the fact that the Polish units marched at night, took cover in villages and woods in daylight, and did not fire upon aerial reconnaissance forces.

(4) Fourth Army. (von Kluge).--The operations of this army, which was numerically weakened on September 5 by the transfer of the 3d Panzer and 23d Infantry Divisions to the Third Army, were of relatively slight interest during this phase. The III Corps, constituting the right wing element of the Fourth Army, captured Bromberg on September 6 and by the 8th had advanced close to Hohensalza.

The II Corps established bridgeheads on the east bank of the Vistula on the 5th. By the evening of the 8th this corps had captured Strasburg and, to the south, had crossed the Drewenz River and advanced to Lypin. Only weak Polish detachments seemed to stand between this force and the fortress of Modlin.

During this phase all rail lines across the Corridor were repaired and placed in operation again.

(5) Third Army (von Kuechler).--By the night of September 5 the striking force of the Third Army stood in two groups, one at Ciechanow and the other facing Rozan on the Narew River. The day was spent in troop movements necessary to change the direction of this army. It had been attacking due south from East Prussia toward Modlin and Warsaw, but the army commander had never intended to plunge frontally against the fortifications protecting the Polish capital to the north. Now the army was turned southeastward, with the intention of driving over the Narew and Bug Rivers toward Siedlce, 50 miles east of Warsaw. The capture of Siedlce would isolate the Polish capital.

On the morning of the 6th the attack began. The Narew was forced near Pultusk and Rozan on the 7th after heavy fighting which the attacking troops suffered severe losses. The Polish bridgehead fortifications on the west bank at Rozan and Pultusk were masked and the crossing was effected on both sides of both cities. This action forced the Poles to evacuate both bridgeheads on the 7th. The Germans then began a pursuit toward the Bug River in the direction of Wyszkow and Brok. On the 8th, Polish Cavalry penetrated the southeastern area of East Prussia but was repulsed.

The forcing of the Narew opened a path to the interior of Poland. This was another success that profoundly influenced the entire situation, for the Narew River line was the only Polish defensive position north of Warsaw.

(6) Air operations.--During the period September 6-8 the German Air Force continued its operations against the airfields and communication systems of western Poland. Repeated heavy bombing attacks tore up the railroads leading from Thorn, Posen, and Kalisch to the Polish capital. These attacks were intended to retard the regrouping of the Posen and Thorn troops that were trying to retire westward.

On the 8th the German Air Force destroyed the Vistula bridges at Deblin, an achievement of more than local importance, for near Radom it aggravated the plight of the four Polish divisions whose retreat to the Vistula was menaced by General Hoth's panzer corps.

Most of the German airplanes brought down up to the end of this phase were not victims of enemy pursuit aviation or antiaircraft artillery but were shot down Polish infantrymen, with rifle fire.

(7) Polish Strategy.--With the lines crumbling on all fronts, the Polish High Command on the evening of September 6 had ordered its armies to retreat. The forces along the Narew River were ordered to recapture Rozan by counterattack and then to hold the river. But this action failed, and the troops were directed to relinquish the line of the Narew and retire behind the Bug River. Units in the vicinity of Modlin were to withdraw to the juncture of the Bug and the Vistula. The remnants of the Thorn Group and the army in the Province of Posen were to retire behind the Vistula, while the Lodz Group was to shift to the south of Warsaw, in the vicinity of Gora Kalwaria. Forces on the Pilica River were ordered to retreat to Annapol on the eastern bank of the Vistula, and the Przemysl Group and part of the Cracow Group received orders to take up positions on the Dunajec River, from its junction with the Vistula to the Carpathian Mountains.

At midnight on September 7 the General Headquarters of the Polish Army, which had already experienced considerable difficulty in maintaining contact with its armies in the field, decided to transfer from Warsaw to Brest Litovsk, a distance of approximately 120 miles.