I knew that I didn’t know very much about the September 1939 invasion of Poland. Much of what I had read elsewhere was concerning the British and French response, or lack of one, to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, but I did not realize that several key things that I had heard many times ultimately stem from Nazi and Soviet propaganda. The Polish cavalry did not attack tanks on horseback, and in retrospect, it is absurd to suppose that someone would do this. The German army mostly motorized assault was impressive, especially against the army of a country that had spent as much on their military as Germany had spent on a single armored division, but the idea of Blitzkrieg was also exaggerated by Goebbels and his Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. The author has collected extensive historical information from Polish sources and written an account that illuminates the terrible tragedy of this invasion, the beginning of Germany’s brutal attack on civilian populations, but also the many tactical Polish successes and brave acts of defense and resistance.

I was reading part of this history aloud and found that I was unable to get through this moving section:
Among them was a group of boy scouts between the ages of twelve and sixteen. “Unaware of what awaited them,” one bystander recalled, “these poor children joked and even played games amongst themselves. They realised the truth only when they were made to line up ... and the machine guns were brought. Some of the little ones began to cry, but the others gave proof of the most admirable courage. They intoned the Polish national anthem and fell like heroes.” A priest who rushed to give them the last rites was shot as well. ( )

Good book very educational. I learned a lot. ( )

This book gives a detailed military history of the opening campaign of World War II - the German (and subsequently, Russian) invasion of Poland in September 1939. The various German armies and their troop movements into Poland are described in detail along with the corresponding Polish defence efforts. There is plenty of detail in the appendices about the actual make-ups of the various forces involved.

This book does three things. Firstly, it documents a pretty much forgotten to ignored part of WWII, and it does that magnificently.

Secondly, it destroys the myth that there was little resistance to the Nazi advance. The Poles fought fiercely and passionately for their homeland. That the campaign was so short says more about the military might of the German Army than about the Polish Army’s commitment.

Thirdly, it lays to rest any idea that Poland was not prepared for this War or that it relied on outdated tactics, usually referenced in the use of cavalry, especially against tanks. Poland did use cavalry, but only as part of the fighting force and only sparingly. Where cavalry was used it generally proved to be very effective. also, the Germans also had cavalry units as part of their Army.

This is a fine technical record of the September campaign that does full justice to the spirit and dedication of the Polish forces against ultimately overwhelming odds. The book does focus on the military activities and is perhaps a little dry for the casual reader. ( )

For Americans, World War II began in December of 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Poland, the war began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler's soldiers invaded, followed later that month by Stalin's Red Army. The conflict that followed saw the debut of many of the features that would come to define the later war-blitzkrieg, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate aerial bombing-yet it is routinely overlooked by historians. In Poland 1939, Roger Moorhouse reexamines the least understood campaign of World War II, using original archival sources to provide a harrowing and very human account of the events that set the bloody tone for the conflict to come.

Here is what I think of when I imagine the German invasion of Poland in September 1939: brave Polish cavalrymen with sabres drawn, charging against modern German tanks. Horses versus steel. The problem with that image, as Roger Moorhouse makes clear repeatedly in this book, is that it’s not true. It’s an invention of the German Nazi propaganda machine.

That’s not to say that the Germans didn’t start their campaign with huge advantages. They did. They had much more money and a bigger army that was more modern. And yet the Poles had a large army too, one that fought bravely for five weeks before capitulating.

And those cavalry charges? When they did happen, it often led to German defeat — because for German infantry, a mass of armed men charging at them on horseback was as terrifying in 1939 as it was for hundred of years before that. Moorhouse even finds an example of Polish cavalry clashing with German cavalry, because in 1939, both sides still relied on horses.

As in his previous book about the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Moorhouse in unsparing in his description of the role played by Stalin and the Red Army. He doesn’t even need to mention Katyn — its shadow hangs over the whole story.

The book is a story about two tragedies — the crushing of independent Poland between two totalitarian powers, and the obliteration of the real history of the country by both sides. The Soviets claimed that their intervention was merely to restore order once Poland had “collapsed”; they even lied to the Poles claiming that they would fight the Germans. And the Germans began lying about the Polish war even before it started, with their staged “atrocities” carried out by Poles against innocent Germans.

This is another excellent book by Moorhouse, and one hopes that next time someone mentions German tanks crushing Polish cavalry, this book will be cited to set the record straight. ( )