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
