Poland was invaded by Germany, Slovakia and the main body
of the Reich in the early morning.
no declaration of war had been made.
At 4:45 am without any formal declaration of war, the German
army crosses the Polish frontier, operation Fall Wiess has
begun. The Wehrmacht cross the frontier at several points,
with 53 divisions, under the command of General
Walther
von Brauchitsch, divided into two Heeresgruppen, Heeesgruppe
Nord commanded by General
Fedor
von Bock, and Heeesgruppe Sud commanded by General
Karl
Rudolf von Rundstedt. The individual armies are commanded
by General's
Günther
von Kluge, 4th Army
Georg
von Küchler, 3rd Army
Wilhelm
von List, 14. Armee
Walter
von Reichenau, 10th Army and
Johannes
Blaskowitz, 8th Army and the armoured formations are commanded
by general
Heinz
Guderian, XIX Corps
Erich
Hoepner, XVI Corps and
Paul
von Kleist, XXII Corps The Polish defences are very quickly
overwhelmed and the German Panzers penetrate deep into Polish
territory. Simultaneously the Luftwaffe have two Luftflottes
in service Luftflotte 1 commanded by
Albert
Kesselring, and Luftflotte 4 command by
Alexander
Löhr, bomb several major Polish cities, including
Warsaw, Lodz and Krakow. In the port of Danzig the Pre-dreadnought
Schleswig
Holstein opens fire on the defences of Westerplatte where
the Polish navies. Arsenal is located.
Britain and France delivered final warnings to
Adolf
Hitler to withdraw from Poland.
General mobilisation proclaimed in Britain and France.
Statements on the German invasion of Poland were made in both
houses of parliament.
In the Commons war credits totalling 500,000,000 were voted
for. A number of emergency measures were passed through all
their stages.
President Roosevelt appealed to Great Britain and France,
Italy, Poland and Germany to refrain from bombing civilians
and unfortified towns and received assurances from Britain,
France and Poland.
Italy replied that she was not concerned, as she was remaining
neutral.
Adolf
Hitler, addressing the Reichstag, gave his reasons for
the invasion of Poland, and subsequently a bill entitled the
law for the reunion of Danzig, with the German Reich was passed
with acclamation.
The evacuation of British school children from exposed and
congested areas was begun, and nearly 500,000 were moved.
The British government took control of the railways.
Go To: 2nd
September
Articles:
The Second Great War.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
The War Illustrated.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
2194 Days Of War.
ISBN-10: 086136614X
For a complete list of
sources
