History of War – October 2019

But the sacrifice was in vain. Unknown to
Poland’s soldiers, their cause was effectively
abandoned, even as the fighting raged on
the Bzura. On 12 September, the British
and French met in a grandly-titled Supreme
War Council summit, at Abbeville in northern
France. Despite publicly stressing their ‘unity
of will’ in resisting German aggression and, yet
again, praising Polish steadfastness, the Allies
privately conceded that there was nothing they
could do to prevent Poland’s defeat. In truth,
they hadn’t even tried.
To add insult to injury the German invasion of
Poland was carried out with extreme prejudice.
German soldiers, indoctrinated to feel racially
superior to their eastern neighbours, were
encouraged to act mercilessly. Luftwaffe
bombing raids routinely targeted undefended
Polish towns – such as Wielun, Sulejów or
Frampol, the last of which was hit in a cynical
exercise to check on bombing accuracy.
German aircraft regularly strafed railway trains,
or columns of terrified refugees.
Villagers caught behind German lines could
expect little more than arbitrary violence. In

some cases, anti-Semitism was evidently the

main driver. For many German soldiers, Poland

represented their first exposure to Jewish

populations that appeared to approximate to

the de-humanised stereotype presented by Nazi

propaganda. Their response was predictably

brutal. At Konskie, German troops fired blindly

into a crowd of Jews who had been rounded

up to dig graves, killing 22. At Błonie, west of

Warsaw, 50 Jews were massacred, at Pułtusk

a further 80, at Krasnosielc another 50. There

are countless other examples.

But all Poles – whether Jewish or not – were

under threat in 1939. Executions of POWs

were not uncommon. At Ciepielów some 300

Polish prisoners were machine-gunned after a

brief engagement halted the progress of the

German 15th Motorised Infantry Regiment.

One of the worst examples occurred at

Sladów, where 358 Poles – soldiers and

civilians – were massacred on the banks of

the River Vistula, following the failure of the

Polish counter-attack on the Bzura.

Actions such as these were often

euphemistically labelled as ‘reprisals’ or

‘pacifications’ by the Germans, but any

excuse sufficed. At Simonsdorf, in the Danzig

Free State, 40 Poles – railway and customs

employees, along with their families – were

executed by German forces after they had

frustrated a surprise attack. According to

an eye-witness, their bodies were piled up

and a sign was erected declaring “Here lies

the Polish minority from Simonsdorf”. At

Sulejówek, 50 civilians were murdered in

retaliation for the death of a single German

A Polish anti-aircraft team

pictured in Warsaw

“THE ALLIES PRIVATELY CONCEDED THAT THERE WAS NOTHING

THEY COULD DO TO PREVENT POLAND’S DEFEAT. IN TRUTH,

THEY HADN’T EVEN TRIED”

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