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Revision as of 17:06, 29 October 2003 by Pibwl (talk | contribs) (it might need language correction)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Polish September Campaign is a commonly used name for the Polish Defense War of 1939 - the military operation which started World War II.
On September 1, 1939, 04:45 local time, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein began taking the Polish enclave Westerplatte in Gdansk by the Baltic Sea under fire. Soon, German troops attacked Poland alongside its Western, Southern and Northern borders, while German aircrafts started raids on the Polish cities. Despite some succesfull minor border battles, the German technical and numerical superiority made the Polish armies withdraw towards Warsaw. The largest battle during this campaign took place near the Bzura river west of Warsaw from September 9 to September 18 - it was the Polish attempt at a counterattack, that failed after an initial success. Warsaw itself was under siege from September 13 until its capitulation on September 28.
From September 17, 1939, the Red Army occupated the Eastern regions of Poland which have not yet been involved into military operations. The fortress Modlin north of Warsaw, capitulated on September 28. Until October 2 lasted a defence of the Hel peninsula on the Baltic Sea. The capitulation of the town of Kock (near Lublin) on October 6, after the 4-day battle, marked the end of the September Campaign.
The September Campaign was codenamed Fall Weiß ("Case White") by the German Wehrmacht. Polish historians call it Wojna obronna 1939 ("Defense War of 1939"). It was the first military operation where tanks and aircraft (particularly fighters and bombers like the famous Junkers Ju 87 Stuka) played a major role. Bomber aircraft also attacked whole cities (Warsaw, for instance) causing huge losses amongst the civilian population.
By the end of the September Campaign, Poland was divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
The invasion of Poland lead to Britain and France declairing war on Germany on September 3.