Poland's existence in 1939 was a direct consequence of the Allied victory over the Central Powers in World War I and of the partial break-up of the Russian Empire after the Russian Revolution. In 1914, Poland did not exist as a nation; it had been divided up between its powerful neighbors in the late 18th century. Poles found themselves in the Russian, German or Austrian armies, sometimes opposite one another in the trenches. Each side promised the Poles a new country carved out of the other sides territory. The Central Powers (Germany and Austria), having captured a significant part of Russian Poland, proclaimed a new Polish state in November of 1916.

In late 1918, as the German and Austrian Empires collapsed, the new Polish state filled the vacuum and attempted to occupy territories with significant Polish populations. There ensued a series of wars between Poland and every one of its neighbors except Rumania. The fighting ended by mid-1921, as much by exhaustion as any other reason. League of Nations mediation played a part in the coming of peace, at least on the western frontier.

One of the League's more unfortunate creations was the so-called Polish corridor, a narrow outlet to the sea through East Prussia. This division of their territory was intensely resented by the Germans. To soften the blow to Germany somewhat, the area's great port, Danzig, was made a "free city" under neither Polish nor German administration.

The Poland that reemerged was impoverished, devastated by war and surrounded by hostile neighbors. Germany, the Soviet Union, and the successor states of the Austrian and Czarist Empires all lost territory to the new Poland. None were reconciled to their loss. As Hitler rose, Germany became especially strident in its demands for the return of territories held until 1918.

As a result of this tension with most of its neighbors, Poland spent a higher percentage of its GNP on its military than any nation in Europe in the 1920's and early 1930's. But Poland was a poor country, and funds for expensive items such as motorization, aircraft, and armor were limited.

Another problem Poland faced was a lack of defensible frontiers. Most of Poland is one vast plain, cut by large rivers and filled with extensive forests, especially in the east. It was therefore the natural invasion route for anyone entering Europe from the east or attacking Russia from the west. Only in the south is there a "natural" frontier-the Carpathian Mountains. And only in the south did Poland have a friend, Rumania, another beneficiary of the Allied victory in 1918. Poland's only formal ally was France. The French considered their alliance with Poland to be a very important part of their defense strategy--so important, in fact, that when Poland was attacked, France finally acted to curb Hitler's ambitions and declared war on Germany.

Even Poland's ever-optimistic High Command had no illusions about the nation's ability to withstand Germany alone. Germany would overpower them in time. Actually, Polish intelligence was excellent. It was Poland, after all, that had broken the German "Enigma" code in 1933. The High Command's ability to evaluate the information was another matter, however. It assumed the Germans could not be as strong as intelligence indicated they were.

They held other illusions, too: about the speed with which the German Army could move, about the significance of direct air-support on the battlefield, about the possibility of the overtly hostile Nazi and Communist governments of Hitler and Stalin making a deal, and, most importantly, about France's willingness and ability to go on the offensive.

In any event, the Poles never contemplated surrender. Poland would not cease fighting merely because its army had been defeated and its territory occupied. The Polish plan, Zachod (West), envisioned a delaying action on the borders, followed by a fighting withdrawal into the southern part of the country, with the army finally crossing the border into Rumania to carry on the war however and wherever possible. The Poles expected it would take about six months for the Germans to destroy them. They hoped an Allied offensive would save them before this happened.

Army

The Polish Army was divided into 10 Corps districts. These were administrative entities only, and at the time of mobilization, units would be assigned to armies or operational groups disposed along the frontiers. In September 1939, Poland formed seven armies and 5 operational groups, the latter usually about the size of a normal corps. Divided among these were 39 infantry divisions, 11 cavalry brigades, and two mechanized brigades, though not all of these formations were fully mobilized when Germany attacked. Poland's active army was backed by a large active reserve which was to bring the regular army up to strength at mobilization, a national guard, Obrona Narodowa (ON), of older-age groups and by the 24,000-strong frontier guards, Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza (KOP).

The strength of the army was about 1.5 million, with a large number of men still unmobilized.

Poland 1939

Introduction
Infantry
Cavalry
Artillery
Armor
Air Force
Navy
Campaign Overview