DK - World War II Map by Map

38 GERMANY TRIUMPHANT 1939–1941

POLAND UNDER ATTACK

Poland was unable to resist the

German and Soviet armies that

swiftly divided the country

between them.

Soviet fronts

(army groups)

Final Polish

defensive positions

Soviet advances

Sep 17–27, 1939

German advances

Sep 15–28, 1939

GERMANS ADVANCE, SOVIETS INVADE

SEPTEMBER 15–28, 1939

The Germans continued their advance into

Poland, surrounding Warsaw by September 15.

They also pressed further east, crossing the

San River into territory that they had agreed

would belong to the Soviets. Alarmed, on

September 17 the Soviet Union invaded Poland

on two fronts—the Western Belorussian and

Western Ukrainian. The Polish government fled

and, under attack from all sides, the remaining

Polish forces gradually capitulated.

2

Poland 1939

boundary

Soviet–German

line of

demarcation

General Government

Annexed by Germany

Annexed by

Soviet Union

POLAND DIVIDED

SEPTEMBER 28–OCTOBER 12, 1939

The German and Soviet foreign ministers, Joachim

von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov, met on

September 28 to finalize the division of Poland.

The Soviet Union took over half of the country,

incorporating the territories into Soviet Ukraine and

Belorussia. Germany annexed the western portion

of its half. Some Poles who lived there were expelled

and sent to the German zone of occupation, known

as the General Government, in central Poland.

3

◁ Boy in the ruins of Warsaw

The Luftwaffe opened their attack on Poland with the

bombing of Warsaw on September 1, 1939. By the end

of the war, 85 percent of the city was destroyed.

Sep 3 German bombers

sink the Polish destroyer

Wicher, but most of the

Polish navy escapes. Sep 18

Wilno falls to

the Red Army.

Sep 27 Warsaw

surrenders after being

bombed for a whole

day by the Germans.

Sep 19 German and

Soviet forces meet

at Brest-Litovsk.

Oct 6 The last organized

resistance by the Polish

army ends at Kock.

Sep 28 Ten Polish divisions,

besieged in Modlin fortress since

September 10, finally surrender.

Aug 1939 Polish armies

are arranged along

Poland’s western border.

Sep 1–17 Slovakia, a

client state of Germany,

joins the invasion.

Sep 9–19 The Battle of the

Bzura ends in Polish defeat;

170,000 are taken prisoner.

GERMANY INVADES

AUGUST 31–SEPTEMBER 15, 1939

On August 31, Hitler committed Germany’s forces

to the invasion of Poland. Army Group North

swept in from East Prussia, aiming to cut off the

main Polish army west of the Vistula River. Army

Group South drove toward Lodz and Krakow,

before turning on Warsaw. The Polish armies were

quickly driven back, with a noteworthy counter-

offensive at the Battle of the Bzura at Kutno.

1

Armies of German

Army Group North

Armies of German

Army Group South

Polish frontline

armies Sep 1, 1939

German advances

Sep 1–14, 1939

Polish retreats

Polish Bzura

Pocket

POLAND

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Katyn
Kherson
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Warsaw
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Mosina Kostrzyn
Radom
Minsk Mazowiecki
Lublin
Krakow
Bedzin
Środa
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U S S R G R E A T E R G E R M A N Y
Gdynia
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Kaunas
Wilno
Bialystok
Minsk
Przemysl
Krakow
Gleiwitz
Lodz
Kutno
Modlin
Poznan
Bydgoszcz
Lublin
Kock
Sandomierz
Wlodawa
Radom
Warsaw
Lwow
Brest-Litovsk
4th Army
Frontier Guard
Pomeranian
Army
Poznan
Army
Lodz
Army
Krakow
Army
Carpathian
Army
Modlin
Army
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3rd Army
8th Army
10th
Army
14th
Army
Ukrainian
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Belorussian
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LITHUANIA
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