subject: The Invasion Of Poland [print this page] The Invasion Of Poland The Invasion Of Poland
The first official act of war on Polish territory begun at 04:40 hours with the Luftwaffe bombing of the town Wielun, which official sources stated there were little or no significant military targets situated in the town, regardless the German Dive Bombers destroyed 75 percent of the towns infrastructure killing 1200 people mainly civilians. One of the first buildings to be destroyed was the Hospital easily recognised by a large red cross painted on the roof, despite this the Luftwaffe continued to bomb the site without compassion in a number of raids which finally ended at 14:00 hours. Five minutes later after the start of the bombing at Wielun, the German Navy opened fire shelling the coastal town of Westerplatte situated on the Baltic coast. The Battle of Westerplatte begun when the German Battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire shelling the Polish Garrison guarding the coastal town, quickly followed by a German Marine attack which was repelled, the Polish forces severely outnumbered continued to defend bravely repelling a further two attacks that day. At 05:00 hours the main German ground invasion began when the German Tenth Army of Army Group South crossed the Polish border, joined by the 31st Infantry Division as well as the 1st and 4th Panzer Divisions, quickly seizing the towns Krzepice and Starokrzpice after the capture of the towns the civilians were pushed towards the Polish lines and the towns razed to the grounds. Following these swift victories the German divisions were then split into three separate assault groups the 1st Panzer division would head directly for the town Klobuck defended by the Polish 7th Infantry Division while the 4th Panzer division would separate into two columns their task to outflank the Polish positions surrounding the town of Mokra. While the tanks were heading for their targets Stuka Dive Bombers were sent to bomb and weaken the Polish defensive positions surrounding the German tanks targets. On their way to Mokra the 4th Panzer Division defeated the 21st Polish Uhlans defending the village Wilkowieck. With this secure the Panzers confidently headed towards Mokra, however the earlier bombing by the Luftwaffe's dive bombers inflicted minimal damage to the Polish defensive lines. When the German tanks were within 150 metre's of Mokra they were met by an intensive barrage of ant-tank shelling from 37mm Bofors Anti-tank guns, forcing the Panzers to retreat 400 metres from the town, where they began to shell the Polish positions. But when further vehicles were destroyed by the Pole's the German's were forced to fully retreat, leaving exposed German Infantry in a field directly in front of the Polish lines completely exposed. Polish troops then attacked the exposed Germans forcing them to retreat with heavy casualties, with many German troops taken prisoner.
