1058 Ch. 26 • World War II

Norway. Hitler next turned his attention to the west, invading France, the

Netherlands, and Belgium, and launching massive bombing attacks against

Britain.

The German Invasion of Poland

On September 1, 1939, about 1.5 million German troops, led by an armored
division, poured into Poland. Fighters and light bombers thundered over­
head, carefully coordinating their attacks to protect the infantry. Britain
and France responded two days later by declaring war on Germany.
Hitler wanted Polish resistance crushed quickly enough that Britain, and
possibly France as well, would limit their reaction to a declaration of war.
But he was prepared to fight the Western allies if necessary.
Poland had a large and well-trained army of more than 1 million soldiers.
The German air force destroyed half of Poland’s planes in the first attacks
on its bases. Bombers battered Warsaw. Poland’s frontier defenses collapsed
before the onslaught of motorized columns of the German Blitzkrieg
(“lightning war”). After moving east as German forces advanced, suffering
heavy losses in the process, the Polish government moved to Paris on Sep­
tember 17. Warsaw fell ten days later. The German armies immediately
implemented a policy of terror, killing prisoners of war, burning hundreds
of towns and villages, and systematically massacring the Polish elite, while
preparing the way for the settlement of the conquered lands by Germans.

German tanks move into Poland, September 1939.