Original subtitles

The concept of Blitz Greek is that the

enemy cannot gain a fresh foothold

somewhere and offer major resistance.

It calls for certain elements above all

large armored units that can act

operationally with air support.

You also need the right leadership

culture.

Militarily, the focus is usually on the

enemy's capital. To win the war, you

have to take it.

It was of course important to the

Germans to capture Warsaw with as few of

their own casualties as possible, but

they did so relatively quickly because

the Po's willingness to defend and their

morale had already been broken.

>> During the war in Poland, Hitler had

already told his military leaders of his

decision to attack France.

The Germans planned to go through

Belgium and act as bait, so to speak,

for the Allies, but the actual

destructive thrust was to take place

further south through the Arden. It was

a huge gamble, and the Germans were

lucky that the French failed tactically

and operationally.

Somehow, Hitler seemed to have cornered

success,

and Germany's military leaders also

bathed in the charisma which he now

exuded.

In the first world war, Germany had

fought for four years without taking

Paris. Now, this had been achieved

within a few weeks. Naturally, this was

a phenomenal achievement that could not

only be exploited propagandistically. It

also made a massive impression on the

German people.

Actually,

the Blitzkrieg operations and the whole

myth surrounding them showed how quickly

battles or campaigns could be won and

individual countries and armies

defeated. But it was not a concept for

winning an entire war.

[music]

German tanks head westward in the Battle

of France in 1940.

These scenes were reconstructed for the

first Nazi documentary film in color.

The artillery attacks glorified

Germany's victory over its archeneemy in

[music] the west as the success of a

supposedly revolutionary military

strategy.

>> The Blitzkrie concept is actually an old

concept of the German general staff. It

is mobile warfare. The Germans had

always had far too few resources to

endure a long war. So the concept

developed that a battle of annihilation

had to be fought and that was only

possible by overrunning the enemy in a

mobile war.

[music]

When it came to grabbing the limelight

in German cinemas, the Vermacharked knew

no bounds. An entire village was

expertly reduced to rubble for the

cameras. Extras had to wear captured

French uniforms.

This was obviously not original footage

from the campaign in France where such

scenes would have been too difficult and

too dangerous to film. But army high

command spared no expense in presenting

Germany's glorious artillery in the

right screenlight and gunners could

blaze away to their hearts content.

In between the two world wars, German

military leaders had thought about to

conduct a future conflict

and the experience of the first world

war played a major role. Blitzkrieg was

a propaganda term. It sounded a lot more

forceful than talking about a swift

victory or a rapid operation or having

to decide a battle quickly.

The term blitzkrieg was actually coined

by an allied journalist because after

Germany's military successes in the

opening years of the war, the whole

world was asking how the Germans managed

to be so effective.

Well, the journalist replied, the German

army strikes Europe like a bolt of

lightning and registers victories at

lightning speed.

Captured French tanks served as props.

Pyro technicians created explosions for

the camera.

The artillery, of course, repulsed the

tank attack with ease. And the inferior

enemy could only flee in the face of

German superiority.

German hubris on the road to

destruction.

Berlin, early January 1939. A New Year's

reception for Hitler in the Chancellery.

The Furer finally wanted to launch the

war the Munich Conference had prevented

him from waging in 1938.

The efforts to maintain peace by

Europe's major powers could not deter

him from his original plan.

In reality, for Hitler, the peaceful

expansion of the German Reich from 1938

was designed solely to strengthen his

own and Germany's power base. The real

new order was to come through war. If

you look at national socialist ideology,

which was built on battle and survival

and on conflict between races, it was

actually just a logical step for this

new order in Europe to be introduced by

force of arms.

This rude awakening was not long in

coming. Following the annexation of the

Sudatan land, Hitler wanted to dismantle

Czechoslovakia. On March 15th, 1939,

60,000 German troops occupied what

remained of Czechoslovakia [music] in

just a few hours. The parade on Venusla

Square in Prague was humiliation for the

Czech nation.

Hitler had deliberately broken the

Munich agreement. Swine was the word he

used to describe the negotiating

partners from Great Britain and France

who had thwarted his plans for war back

then.

In visiting Prague Castle, Hitler made

it unmistakably clear that there would

be no further peace conferences.

Poland and the Nazi regime enjoyed good

relations. In March 1939, Foreign

Minister Yoakim von Ribbentrop traveled

to Warsaw.

Hitler's relationship with Poland

fluctuated greatly. Originally, he

wanted to have Poland as a junior

partner against the Soviet Union because

Poland too saw the Soviet Union as a

major enemy. So, Hitler thought this was

something he could utilize. But when the

polls hesitated, Hitler realized that he

could not take Poland as a junior

partner. Consequently, Poland was then

regarded as a Slavic state that was

racially inferior to the Germans.

Above all, Ribbentrop wanted Danzig to

be returned to the German Reich.

Polish forces stationed on the nearby

Westerplat peninsula [music]

were not allowed to set foot in the city

which had been independent since 1920

[music]

and was under the control of the League

of Nations. 95% of the citizens of

Danzig spoke German and the overwhelming

majority wanted Hitler to take them home

into the Reich.

Great Britain and France actually

accepted this demand. But for Prime

Minister Neville Chamberlain, the time

for negotiating had come because ever

since German troops had marched into

Prague, the Polish government had feared

[music] that Poland would become

Hitler's next victim.

>> Basically, the guarantee which the

British and French gave Poland put an

end to appeasement politics. The attempt

to restrain Hitler in some way and to

stop him from waging war had failed.

This was shown at the latest by his

treatment of Czechoslovakia. So a clear

signal had to come from London and Paris

to prevent a future conflict, possibly

even a major war. Hence the guarantee

statement to show that they were serious

that if the worst came to the worst,

appropriate preparations for war would

take place in Britain and France.

Early in April 1939,

the British Secretary of State for Air,

Sir Kingsley Wood, visited a bomber

factory in a war. or the aircraft it was

producing would attack German cities.

After the Munich Agreement, Britain had

rearmed. Nevertheless, the British did

everything to avoid antagonizing the

Germans. Secretly, however, Prime

Minister Chamberlain regarded Hitler as

a psychopath and wanted to gain time to

prepare his country for a long war

against Nazi [music] Germany.

Polish foreign minister Ysef Beck flew

to London to give formal approval to the

new alliance.

He stressed that the Polish army was

capable of repulsing the Vermacht.

When the Germans occupied Run

Czechoslovakia, the allies had already

stood firm. After saying that was now

the last step, they concluded assistance

treaties with Poland.

This was to show Hitler, take one more

step, there will be war.

But that didn't stop him because Hitler

knew anyway that he wanted a new order

in Europe under military circumstances.

>> Berlin, April 20th, 1939. Hitler arrives

at Un Lindon to attend a massive

military parade.

The bombastic celebrations to mark the

Furer's 50th birthday were, of course,

part of the Third Reich's preparations

for war. Nazi Germany was putting its

military might on display and the

propaganda machine even elevated the

myth it had created. That of Hitler as a

brilliant commander no one and nothing

could stop.

A closer look revealed the strategy of

the German armed forces. Its armor and

air force had been upgraded.

[music]

The problem was that the German armament

industry could not meet all the demands

from Berlin.

The buildup of the armored units was

still in full swing. The Vemach had

vehicles whose quality in

[clears throat] 1939 and 1940 would soon

prove inadequate.

And above all, it did not have enough

vehicles. That is why it was so

important for the Vermacht to

incorporate the Czech armaments industry

because tank production in

Czechoslovakia was at a top European

level.

Incorporation of the Czech arms industry

meant that when war began in 1939, 12%

of the Vermach's vehicles came from

Czechoslovakia.

12%

and in such a critical situation that

was highly significant for the Vermacht.

At a military parade in Warsaw, the

Polish army demonstrated its resolve to

resist the Vermacht.

The government left no doubt as to its

determination. It had ordered the

partial mobilization of its armed forces

as early as March 1939

and thus provoked Hitler. Polish

newspapers praised the strength of the

country's army. The British government

continued to trust in diplomacy and

deterrent. London threatened Hitler with

war, but wanted to avoid it at all cost.

The British had always wanted to curb

the polls a little. Don't mobilize so

openly, they said. We're not yet ready.

Don't provoke Hitler. Full mobilization

would have been provocation. So the

British always tried to rein the Poles

in a little. That is why Poland was only

able to mobilize with a handbreak on, so

to speak.

Yet the Nazi regime found it hard to put

the Germans on course for war. The

traumatic memories of the First World

War had not been forgotten.

A German journalist noted that observers

cannot avoid the impression that people

are deliberately abandoning themselves

to uninhibited pleasure.

>> If you look at the mood in the summer of

1939, there was certainly no widespread

enthusiasm for war in Germany. That was

definitely not the case.

At the same time, however, the

government was engaged in subtly

orchestrated propaganda against Poland.

This varied from day to day.

In 1939, therefore, Poland was again

being built up as an adversary of

Germany,

and the plan to wage war on Poland was

already being accompanied by work on the

propaganda front.

On June 19th, 1939, propaganda minister

Yseph Gerbles visited Danzig. A regional

culture week was designed to reinforce

Nazi claims to the city.

The prominent visitor was given a

frenetic reception. In his speech, he

made Hitler's desire to annex Danzig

quite clear.

The right

mention

the hem.

On returning to Germany, Gerbles

launched a large-scale hate campaign

against Poland.

The propaganda centered on the allegedly

desperate situation of the German

minority in Poland.

Fore! Foreign! Foreign!

During the summer, Hitler withdrew to

Bavaria and only occasionally appeared

in public.

Meanwhile, plans for the invasion of

Poland were in full swing.

On August 22nd, Hitler invited his

military leaders, including the heads

and commanders of the army groups, and

explained to them that Poland was now

going to be destroyed, as he put it, but

that the Polish campaign was to be a

limited conflict. The Western powers

would not be involved. He then stunned

and at the same time reassured them with

the news that alliance negotiations were

currently in progress with the Soviets

and would soon be concluded. So the

German military no longer needed to

worry that a major world war was about

to begin because at the time no one

wanted that, especially Hitler. He

really believed that the Western powers

would do nothing but talk and engage in

saber rattling. But on no account would

they risk a new world war because of

Poland.

>> Hitler wanted to attack, but foreign

minister Ribbon was still involved in

secret negotiations with Moscow. The aim

was for archeneemy Ysef Stalin of all

people to become an ally of the Nazis.

The Furer sent a personal letter to Mr.

Stalin Moscow. [music]

For him, a pact with the Soviet Union

meant determining German politics in the

long run. It's not [music] clear if

Stalin actually believed that. However,

his reaction to the offer from Berlin

was unexpectedly positive.

[music]

On the Burghoff on August 16th, 1939,

Nazi leaders congratulated Hitler on his

25th military jubilee. Yoim von

Ribbentrop personally brought the good

news from Moscow.

>> Naturally, the pact between the Third

Reich and the Soviet Union, which was

signed on August 23rd, 1939, laid the

foundation for the German invasion of

Poland. It meant that Hitler could at

least be sure of no resistance from

Stalin and the Soviet side. that the

Russians would not attack Germany. That

could now be forgotten. It meant he had

a free hand, but so too did Stanley.

On August 22nd, Foreign Minister

Ribbentrop flew via Kernixburg to

Moscow. He had with him the draft of a

non-aggression pact. In negotiations,

agreement was quickly reached on the

final details.

A secret supplementary protocol divided

up Poland between Germany and the Soviet

Union.

The Red Army would occupy the east of

the country.

The German Soviet non-aggression pact

and especially the secret supplementary

protocol smoothed Hitler's path to war.

It was precisely what he had been

waiting for. Now with this Hitler and

Stalin pact, it was clear that the

Soviet Union did not constitute a threat

to the German Reich. On the contrary,

the two dictators were working on the

destruction of the Polish state.

>> Finally, the German delegation was

received by Stalin himself. The Soviet

leader had every reason to be satisfied.

He was also promised Finland, [music]

the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia

and Bessabia. [music] In his toast, he

said Hitler was one hell of a fellow.

[music] On the Burghoff, the Furer was

waiting impatiently for the relieving

news from Moscow. When Ribbentrop

finally confirmed the non-aggression

pact, Hitler was delighted. [music] Now,

he said, "Poland is in the position I

wanted it to be."

Concluding an alliance with Stalin was

of course a coup that was successful in

two ways. Militarily because it

prevented a war on two fronts and

politically because the allies in the

west were shocked. This was something

they hadn't expected

to pull the Soviet Union over to their

side. A Franco British delegation had

also traveled to Moscow. But they were

diplomats who did not have the authority

to sign a treaty. They did not even get

to see Stalin and [music] returned home

empty-handed.

In maneuvers, the French army showed its

strength. A plan even existed for it to

march straight into Germany's rur

district [music] in the event of war.

The Germans knew that they had to defeat

the Poles relatively quickly because at

the same time to the west of the Reich

they were facing the French. But there

they could only deploy second rate units

because the mass and indeed the elite of

the German army and air force was

engaged in Poland. [snorts]

>> Poland had a major problem simply from a

geographical point of view.

Strategically, it was already as good as

encircled even before the war began.

What is more, the Polish army

considerably overestimated its own

ability.

>> Poland published maneuver footage, which

was also shown in Britain and France.

What the pictures could not hide was the

lack of equipment and a modern strategic

concept.

In the meantime, Polish customs

officials on the Danzig city boundary

[music] had been issued with arms.

Foreign Minister Joseph Beck thought

that Hitler needed to be faced with grim

determination. The message was that

Poland would defend itself and on no

account just hand over Danzig to the

Germans.

Militarily the Vermach was superior to

the Polish army in many ways in men and

material.

But I don't think that was so decisive.

We should always remember that these

armies consisted of conscripts who four

weeks earlier perhaps had been

civilians. They were then put in uniform

and first had to learn what war meant.

And that also has to be taken into

account with regard to the military

leadership.

We are not talking about professionals

who had already fought in many wars and

could thus rely on recent comprehensive

experience of warfare.

No, these armies first had to learn what

it meant to wage war.

On the evening of August 24th, 1939,

Nazi television broadcast a documentary

on soldier comrades open day at the

Gross Deutsand Guards Regiment in

Berlin.

First and foremost, the Hitler Youth was

mobilized. [music] It had been preparing

for action for years.

for

this.

Hitler had planned to attack Poland on

August 26th, the day before an armored

infantryman took this amateur footage

near the border with Poland.

54 German divisions with 3,600 armored

vehicles and around 1 and a half million

troops were on standby.

Initially, German military plans

provided for a classic pinser movement.

Two large army groups advancing in the

south from Celisia and Slovakia and in

the north from Pomerania and East

Prussia towards Warsaw and the Vistula

would encircle the mass of the Polish

army in a large pinser movement.

The Polish military leadership aided

this plan by moving its troops

relatively close to the border. In other

words, this deployment of the Polish

forces actually benefited the Germans.

>> On August 25th, 1939, Danzig was also

preparing for military conflict.

The Nazis had created an [music] SS home

guard of about 1,500 men.

These armed thugs were supposed to

defend the city from attack by Polish

forces.

In the morning, the German warship

Holstein entered Danig Harbor.

>> The Schlesig Holstein was one of the few

warships the Treaty of Versailles had

allowed the German Reich to keep. It was

almost cynical for the Schles Holstein

of all ships to be sent into Dansik Bay.

After all, it was supposed to be on a

voyage of friendship and peace. But the

vessel already had Viam troops hidden in

its hold because the plan was for it to

shell the Vesta Plata Peninsula and thus

fire the opening shots of the war

against Poland.

In the meantime, Hitler had arrived at

the Chancellery. At 3 p.m., he issued

the order to attack, but Germany's

Italian allies suddenly decided that

they did not want to participate after

all. At 700 p.m., Hitler called a stop

to everything.

The days immediately preceding the

invasion of Poland were marked by

repeated postponement of the German

assault. The German plan was clear.

There was going to be an invasion. The

only question now was whether this would

take place a few days sooner or later.

Even so, in this phase, Hitler was

afraid that, as he put it, some swine

might put forward another peace treaty.

He was worried that on the foreign

policy front, someone would get in his

way. He wanted war.

On August 26th, Neville Henderson, the

British ambassador in Berlin, returned

to London. This time, the British were

not prepared to accommodate Hitler in

any way whatsoever.

For his part, the Furer threatened to

accept the possibility of war with the

Western powers.

For weeks, the leader of the SS, Hinrich

Himmler, had been planning actions that

would give Hitler a reason to declare

war on Poland. The head of the security

police, Reinhard Hydrich, had prepared

everything for weeks. He had also been

organizing the systematic persecution of

the Polish intelligencia and the

elimination of Poland's Jews.

The plans for the German invasion of

Poland already provided for elements

that deviated from so-called

conventional warfare. In this case, it

was not only about the military conquest

of a certain area. It also involved the

persecution and murder of people who

according to international military law

should be protected. In other words,

civilians. But we know that the task

forces of the security police have been

told that in areas already occupied by

the Germans, so-called enemies of the

Reich were to be arrested on a massive

scale and in specific cases murdered.

>> These pictures were taken in Warsaw in

1939 by an American tourist. The Polish

capital was home to the biggest Jewish

community in Europe. The country as a

whole had a Jewish population of more

than 3.3 million. During the Second

World War, around 90% were [music]

murdered.

>> The new date for the attack was

September [music] 1st. The evening

before, a special SS unit had attacked

the German broadcasting station [music]

at Glyitz in Silasia. The men wore

Polish uniforms. Listeners to the radio

station heard a call for action against

foreign domination by Germans. This was

the reason to attack which Hitler had

ordered.

>> The Glitz broadcasting station was one

of many actions designed to create a

propagandistic reason to attack Poland.

The fact that in the end it was Glitz

was simply because the other actions

were even less successful. And even

Glavitz was a totally amateurish

operation. Everyone could see through

it. But that didn't matter. The next

day, Hitler said in the end, the winner

will decide whether or not that was an

adequate reason. He knew full well that

it was all so transparent. But the Vesta

Plata Peninsula was something totally

different.

Danzig Harbor on the morning of

September 1st, 1939.

Stationed on the nearby Vesta Plata

[music] Peninsula was a Polish garrison.

Nazi radio broadcast live.

At 447, the warship fired the first

salvo. The Second World War began with a

lie.

The naval shock troops hidden in the

hold of the Schlesvig Holstein tried in

vain to storm the Vesta Platter.

The defenders only surrendered after a

week of continuous shelling.

Case white had begun. Nazi propaganda

camera teams took iconic footage which

still symbolizes the Blitzkrieg myth

even today, but it has little to do with

reality.

Hitler had achieved his goal.

Everything was going according to plan.

The vehem was clearly superior to the

Polish army both in men and material.

The Poles were in fact confident that

although they might not be able to

defeat the Germans, they could resist

them long enough for the Western Allies,

the British and the French to enter the

war and relieve the pressure on the

Polish front.

On September 1st, nearly 2,000 German

Air Force planes were also operational

and ready to attack Polish cities. The

raids also killed thousands [music] of

civilians in the small town of Van, for

example, which was attacked by dive

[music] bombers.

In a surprise attack in the early

morning, the Germans had occupied public

facilities in the free city of Danzig,

which since 1920 had been under the

control of the League of Nations.

But around 50 Polish civil servants had

dug in at Danzig post office. The

defenders had received arms and

ammunition from Warsaw several weeks

before. They were to hold the position

until the Polish army arrived.

But the brave men were fighting a losing

battle. When the Germans set fire to the

building, the remaining defenders gave

[music] up. They were sentenced to death

by court marshal and executed.

The sixth tank regiment left its

positions in Transpomerania and also

entered northern Poland. As an American

journalist commented [music] later, the

veh advanced with the precision of a

steamroller.

Polish armored units that confronted the

invaders were eliminated.

[music]

>> The main mistake the Poles made was that

in trying to defend as much Polish

territory as possible, they had spread

their forces too widely. They were just

not strong enough to do that. Instead,

they should have marshaled their forces

and focused on defending just one main

focal point.

France had also signed an assistance

treaty with Poland. [music]

Prime Minister Edoard Daladier ordered

mobilization.

[music]

Hardly anyone believed that France and

Great Britain really would sacrifice the

lives of their troops for Danzig.

Hundreds [music] of thousands of

Frenchmen responded to the call to arms,

hoping that this time too it would be a

false alarm. [music]

The governments in Paris and London

demanded that Germany withdraw its

troops from Poland and gave Hitler an

ultimatum. It remained unanswered.

War was now inevitable.

2 days after Germany invaded Poland,

France and Britain both declared war on

the German rush.

It was thus clear that this was not

going to be just a local conflict, but a

European war.

In the days that followed, Commonwealth

countries like Canada, Australia, and so

on also declared war on Germany.

So at an early stage, it became evident

that the war could and probably would

assume a global dimension.

But the problem now, especially from the

Polish point of view, was that the

French and the British were not taking

any military action to relieve Poland.

They continued to sit on the border

instead of attacking the German Reich.

air raid alarm [music] in Paris.

The French were afraid of German air

strikes, so they practiced seeking

refuge in shelters and using gas masks.

The people were far from enthusiastic

about the news that mobilization had

been ordered.

>> Nothing. the guarantee of assistance

that had been given to Poland made a

declaration of war politically

inevitable. But in contrast to Paris in

London, there was still heated

discussion as to whether this really was

the right moment for such step. Most

people, however, said that Hitler had

already been given numerous chances. If

we let him get away with it this time,

they reckoned he'll never tow the line.

We have to go to war. But that first

meant getting British troops across the

channel to mainland Europe.

units of the British Expeditionary Force

saying their farewells on the British

Channel Island of Gernzi. Just like in

the First World War, the British and the

Canadians would come to the help of the

French if the [music] Germans really did

attack in the West as well. Initially,

six divisions were dispatched to the

continent. Nine others would follow.

But even so, the Western powers did

nothing to help Poland.

Hitler had taken a great risk and he'd

been lucky.

Tanks were at the heart of the

Blitzkrieg strategy.

The amateur filmmaker with the Sixth

Tank Regiment documented his unit's

advance.

We have to dismiss the notion that the

German army only advanced into Poland

with tanks.

Only a very small section of the army

was motorized or even armored.

Time and again, however, it was these

units which decided battles. So, what we

have here is an army with a small elite

and a large mass of infantry, which was

not necessarily always decisive on the

battlefield.

The German tanks had a massive advantage

in that they were equipped with radios,

so tank commanders could communicate

with one another and take swift

decisions on the battlefield.

The coordinated Vermacht thrusts put the

Polish armed forces under huge pressure.

On September 6th, the 10th Army broke

through the Polish defensive front in

depth.

The concept of blitzkrieg always

conjures up this concept of huge tank

units swarming through a country.

The truth is that 90% of the veh

consisted of uniformed pedestrians of

middle age. It was a large conscripted

army that had been made mobile. But at

the most, the actual mechanized

spearheads accounted for just 10% of the

German armed forces.

>> On September 5th, the chief of the

general staff, France Halder, was

certain that the enemy is as good as

defeated,

but bloody battles still took place with

the Germans too suffering many

casualties.

>> The army which attacked Poland had no

battle experience. Its soldiers

encountered violence and saw corpses for

the first time, irrespective of whether

they were Polish or German.

Before then, that had not been part of

everyday life for these men,

so they had to get used to violence, but

they had already been shaped

ideologically.

The young generation of conscripts had

of course spent 5 years with the Hitler

youth.

So this was a generation that had

already been shaped ideologically.

>> Even before the campaign, Hitler had

said his goal was to obliterate Poland.

France Halder noted clearance measures,

Jews, intelligencia, clergy, nobility.

The security police began with the

purging that had been planned

>> in the towns and villages that had been

captured. They seized card indexes of

the inhabitants to determine who might

be dangerous.

Naturally, lists identifying the Jewish

inhabitants of these places were also

confiscated immediately.

And in addition to securing this

information, first and foremost, the

security police task forces were ordered

to persecute those who were to be seen

as enemies of the Third Reich.

>> The Vermach received no [music] orders

instructing soldiers to murder

civilians,

but agitators warned young troops in

particular about the Jewish population.

Resistance, they said, was to be

expected everywhere and had to be met

with drastic measures.

Consequently, massacres were soon taking

place.

>> The following situation occurred in

Konsia in September 1939.

German soldiers had been killed near the

village and word spread amongst the men

that somehow this had not happened in

normal combat, that the man had been

ambushed or shot by Polish partisans,

even though there was no proof of this.

So Jews in the village who had had

nothing whatsoever to do with the

incident were rounded up and made to dig

graves for the German troops who had

been killed.

The men in the detachment supervising

the job were very edgy and aggressive.

They began mishandling the Jews who had

only been brought there to work. The

situation got out of hand. The Jews were

beaten up and some of them of course

panicked and tried to run away.

At that moment a German officer in a

military vehicle appeared on the scene.

He saw soldiers and Jews in a tussle and

Jews running away and immediately opened

fire on them.

Then not only the officer, the soldiers

themselves also began shooting at the

fleeing Jews.

The officer faced a court marshal

because he had opened fire first and

caused the situation to escalate.

But the sentence he was given was

ridiculously light.

But other soldiers who had used their

weapons never even stood trial.

Film director [music] Lenny Reefenstyle

witnessed the massacre in which 22

people were murdered.

In her memoir, she claimed to have made

a complaint [music] to the Vermacht

because of the incident, but that can no

longer be checked because, as in most

cases of this kind, there were no

particular consequences.

In some cases, the murder of Jewish

Poles was investigated. Not always for

humanitarian or legal reasons though,

but because by their nature such crimes

threatened military order.

So the motivation for pursuing such

cases varied.

Some war crimes in Poland were

prosecuted, but such cases were hushed

up relatively quickly. Poland was the

transition to a new form of warfare. The

reason why the situation did not become

more radicalized is simply because the

war was soon over.

>> On September 8th, 1939, a loudspeaker

vehicle in Offenberg in Bardon broadcast

news of victories in Poland. The local

daily press also printed special reports

from army high command. The Germans were

amazed that their fathers, husbands, and

sons had overrun Poland so quickly.

The Poland campaign saw the first

encirclement battles.

The Germans repeatedly tried to surround

Polish units to cut them off from their

supplies and forced them to surrender

more quickly.

Despite fierce resistance from the

Poles, slowly but surely, the Germans

advanced closer and closer to Warsaw.

Hitler appeared close to the front even

though the campaign had only just begun.

He was highly interested in the military

achievements of his forces although he

rarely intervened in discussions by his

generals.

>> The war in Poland began with two

flanking attacks which initially were

also relatively successful. The speed of

the assaults also put most of the Polish

army in a precarious position. The Poles

were forced to retreat.

However, along the Bzura River west of

Warsaw, a situation developed which was

definitely critical for the Vermacht for

several days.

But in the end, the German army came out

on top.

The Poles resisted for several days, but

on September 16th, 1939, they had to

accept defeat here, too.

>> I think the Polish government already

knew that the war was lost. It now had

very little political scope left. All

that remained was to flee the country

and go into exile. That was clear at the

very latest when the Red Army invaded

from the east. There was no way the

Polish army could survive against two

adversaries.

On September 17th, a million Soviet

troops marched into eastern Poland to

occupy the Russian sphere of interest

outlined in the secret supplementary

protocol to the non-aggression pact.

Hitler now concentrated on taking the

Polish capital. He had no feelings for

its civilian population. In warfare, he

said, it is not who is about right, it

is about who is victorious.

He demanded a brutal approach and

maximum severity. The vermach had to

show no sympathy.

Hitler

>> Hitler wanted Warsaw to fall before the

Soviets arrived because at the time the

demarcation line was to be the river

Vistula. How? He said, can we get Warsaw

to surrender quickly? Various approaches

were suggested. Some said by bombing it.

At least we now have the chance to show

how a city can be destroyed with bombs

and fire. But others didn't think this

was a good idea. They preferred to

starve the Poles into submission. The

Poles reckoned they could hold out.

Barricades were erected in the capital

in expectation of a German assault.

In Warsaw, 120,000 poles dug in.

[music] A decision now had to be taken.

Was it to be urban warfare with high

German losses or barbaric destruction

from the air?

[music]

>> Warsaw was encircled and Hitler and

Guring decided to force its surrender

with bombing [music] raids.

That was justified, they said, because

the Poles had called for their capital

to be defended.

[music]