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Siege of Warsaw (1939)
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Siege of Warsaw (1939)
The Siege of Warsaw was fought between the Polish Warsaw Army (Polish: Armia Warszawska, Armia Warszawa) garrisoned and entrenched in Warsaw and the invading German Army.
It began with huge aerial bombardments initiated by the Luftwaffe starting on September 1, 1939 following the German invasion of Poland. Land fighting started on September 8, when the first German armored units reached the Wola district and south-western suburbs of the city. Despite German radio broadcasts claiming to have captured Warsaw, the initial German attack was repelled and soon afterwards Warsaw was placed under siege. The siege lasted until September 28, when the Polish garrison, commanded under General Walerian Czuma, officially capitulated. The following day approximately 140,000 Polish troops left the city and were taken as prisoners of war. On October 1 the Wehrmacht entered Warsaw, which started a period of German occupation that lasted until the devastating Warsaw Uprising and later until January 17, 1945, when the Wehrmacht troops abandoned the city due to the advance of Soviet forces.
Around 18,000 civilians of Warsaw perished during the siege. As a result of the air bombardments, 10% of the city's buildings were entirely destroyed and further 40% were heavily damaged.
From the very first hours of World War II, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was a target of an unrestricted aerial bombardment campaign initiated by the German Luftwaffe, which was controlled by Hermann Göring. Apart from the military facilities such as infantry barracks and the Okęcie airport and aircraft factory, the German pilots also targeted civilian facilities such as water works, hospitals, market places and schools, which resulted in heavy human casualties that possibly led to the early surrender by lowering of morale of the Polish army defending the city.
The anti-aircraft defence of the capital was divided into active and passive parts. The former was composed mostly of units of the Pursuit Brigade (Brygada Pościgowa) under Colonel Stefan Pawlikowski, and anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns detachments under Colonel Kazimierz Baran. The Pursuit Brigade was equipped with 54 fighter aircraft, mostly the obsolete PZL P.7 and PZL P.11 types. The AA artillery had 86 pieces of anti-aircraft artillery, as well as an unknown number of other anti-aircraft machine guns. The latter was composed mostly of fire-fighter brigades and volunteers and was supervised by Colonel Tadeusz Bogdanowicz and Julian Kulski, the deputy president.
Initially the air defence of Warsaw was fairly successful and by September 6, 1939, the Pursuit Brigade had shot down 43 German aircraft, while anti-aircraft artillery had shot down a similar number of German bombers. There were also 9 unconfirmed victories and 20 damaged German planes. However, the brigade also suffered heavy losses, and by September 7 it had lost over 38 pieces of equipment, or approximately 70% of its initial strength, which greatly contributed to an early surrender.
The AA defence started to crumble when on September 5 by order of the military authorities 11 AA batteries were withdrawn from Warsaw towards the eastern cities of Lublin, Brześć and Lwów. Furthermore, as the war progressed, the German high command redirected more bombers to attack the city, especially the historical old town, the Royal Castle, Warsaw and other iconic monuments, significant to the Polish nation and its capital. At the peak of the initial bombing campaign on September 10, there were more than 70 German bombers above Warsaw. During that day, nicknamed "Bloody Sunday", there were 17 consecutive bombing raids.
On September 3, the forces of German 4th Panzer Division under Major general Georg-Hans Reinhardt managed to break through positions of the Polish Łódź Army near Częstochowa and started their march towards the river Vistula and Warsaw. The same day Polish Commander-in-chief, Marshal of Poland Edward Rydz-Śmigły ordered the creation of an improvised Command of the Defence of Warsaw (Dowództwo Obrony Warszawy). General Walerian Czuma, the head of the Border Guard (Straż Graniczna), became its commander and Colonel Tadeusz Tomaszewski its Chief of staff.
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Siege of Warsaw (1939)
The Siege of Warsaw was fought between the Polish Warsaw Army (Polish: Armia Warszawska, Armia Warszawa) garrisoned and entrenched in Warsaw and the invading German Army.
It began with huge aerial bombardments initiated by the Luftwaffe starting on September 1, 1939 following the German invasion of Poland. Land fighting started on September 8, when the first German armored units reached the Wola district and south-western suburbs of the city. Despite German radio broadcasts claiming to have captured Warsaw, the initial German attack was repelled and soon afterwards Warsaw was placed under siege. The siege lasted until September 28, when the Polish garrison, commanded under General Walerian Czuma, officially capitulated. The following day approximately 140,000 Polish troops left the city and were taken as prisoners of war. On October 1 the Wehrmacht entered Warsaw, which started a period of German occupation that lasted until the devastating Warsaw Uprising and later until January 17, 1945, when the Wehrmacht troops abandoned the city due to the advance of Soviet forces.
Around 18,000 civilians of Warsaw perished during the siege. As a result of the air bombardments, 10% of the city's buildings were entirely destroyed and further 40% were heavily damaged.
From the very first hours of World War II, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was a target of an unrestricted aerial bombardment campaign initiated by the German Luftwaffe, which was controlled by Hermann Göring. Apart from the military facilities such as infantry barracks and the Okęcie airport and aircraft factory, the German pilots also targeted civilian facilities such as water works, hospitals, market places and schools, which resulted in heavy human casualties that possibly led to the early surrender by lowering of morale of the Polish army defending the city.
The anti-aircraft defence of the capital was divided into active and passive parts. The former was composed mostly of units of the Pursuit Brigade (Brygada Pościgowa) under Colonel Stefan Pawlikowski, and anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns detachments under Colonel Kazimierz Baran. The Pursuit Brigade was equipped with 54 fighter aircraft, mostly the obsolete PZL P.7 and PZL P.11 types. The AA artillery had 86 pieces of anti-aircraft artillery, as well as an unknown number of other anti-aircraft machine guns. The latter was composed mostly of fire-fighter brigades and volunteers and was supervised by Colonel Tadeusz Bogdanowicz and Julian Kulski, the deputy president.
Initially the air defence of Warsaw was fairly successful and by September 6, 1939, the Pursuit Brigade had shot down 43 German aircraft, while anti-aircraft artillery had shot down a similar number of German bombers. There were also 9 unconfirmed victories and 20 damaged German planes. However, the brigade also suffered heavy losses, and by September 7 it had lost over 38 pieces of equipment, or approximately 70% of its initial strength, which greatly contributed to an early surrender.
The AA defence started to crumble when on September 5 by order of the military authorities 11 AA batteries were withdrawn from Warsaw towards the eastern cities of Lublin, Brześć and Lwów. Furthermore, as the war progressed, the German high command redirected more bombers to attack the city, especially the historical old town, the Royal Castle, Warsaw and other iconic monuments, significant to the Polish nation and its capital. At the peak of the initial bombing campaign on September 10, there were more than 70 German bombers above Warsaw. During that day, nicknamed "Bloody Sunday", there were 17 consecutive bombing raids.
On September 3, the forces of German 4th Panzer Division under Major general Georg-Hans Reinhardt managed to break through positions of the Polish Łódź Army near Częstochowa and started their march towards the river Vistula and Warsaw. The same day Polish Commander-in-chief, Marshal of Poland Edward Rydz-Śmigły ordered the creation of an improvised Command of the Defence of Warsaw (Dowództwo Obrony Warszawy). General Walerian Czuma, the head of the Border Guard (Straż Graniczna), became its commander and Colonel Tadeusz Tomaszewski its Chief of staff.
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