German attack on Poland

Staged by the SS, in an outrageous scheme to fake a Polish attack on the German radio transmitter at Gleiwitz (Upper Silesia) along with other staged incidents, Adolf Hitler creates a pretence to justify an attack against Poland on the morning of 1 September 1939. In a scornful message broadcast on the Reich’s radio network, the „Führer“ announces: „Since early this morning, 5:45 o’clock, now we are returning fire!“ For all practical purposes, Poland’s defenders have no effective means of resisting the material, technological and tactical superiority of the Wehrmacht.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration German soldieres marching through Warsaw in September 1939

The world public becomes witness to the first „Blitzkrieg (lightning war)“ in history. France and Great Britain honour their guarantees of support for Poland and declare war against the Third Reich on 3 September. On 17 September Soviet troops also attack from the East: Moscow assures itself – in accordance with the „Hitler-Stalin Pact“ concluded a week earlier – its portion of the „polish spoils“. By 1941 the war which has now broken out in Europe will escalate into the Second World War.