Opposing forces in the Polish September Campaign

Germany and Poland were opposing forces in the Polish September Campaign. Tactics and military hardware used in the Polish September Campaign varied between the two sides; The German economy was geared toward military production which supplied their armed forces with equipment that was often superior to their Polish counterparts. New tactics such as blitzkrieg (lightning war) punched holes in Polish lines and close air support provided by the world class Luftwaffe disrupted Polish supply and communications lines. Other German tactics included the targeting of civilian targets in terror bombings to inflict huge losses amongst the civilian population. In 1939 the German navy also had an advantage over the tiny Polish fleet.

Preparations for a defensive war with Germany were ongoing for many years but most plans assumed fighting would not begin before 1942. The Polish Army had about a million soldiers, but less than half were mobilised by the 1st September. The Polish-Soviet War showed Poland the benefits of mobility in military conflicts but Polish officials were unwilling (and unable) to invest heavily to make that a reality. Polish Cavalry brigades were still effectively used as mobile infantry but in the end fell against German tanks. The Polish Air Force lacked modern fighter aircraft for its highly trained pilots and German plans also had superior designs. The Polish Navy was a small fleet composed of destroyers and submarines. Some of which survived the campaign by escaping to the North Sea to join with the British Royal Navy.

Contents

1 Germany 1.1 Economic base 1.2 Wehrmacht 1.3 Luftwaffe 1.4 Kriegsmarine 2 Poland 2.1 Economic base 2.2 Polish Army 2.3 Polish Air Force 2.4 Polish Navy

Germany

Economic base

Germany was well prepared for the invasion of Poland, although it was not expecting this campaign to turn into a 6-year-long global conflict. The German economy was for years geared toward production of military equipment and supplies, and was fully capable of creating an army that could successfully invade its neighbours.

Wehrmacht

The firepower of a German infantry division far exceeded that of a Polish (as well as French and British) division. The standard Wehrmacht division on the eve of the Second World War included 442 machine guns, 135 mortars, 72 antitank guns, and 24 howitzers.

Germany had not only a large numerical advantage over Polish forces, but their organisation and command structure was much more efficient. While German forces were not as mobile or numerous as they would be in the later stages of the Second World War, the Wehrmacht had some 2,400 tanks organized into six armoured (panzer) divisions using revolutionary, new operational doctrine. In accordance with the ideas of Heinz Guderian, German tanks and mechanized support units (motorized artillery, etc.) were used in massive, mechanized spearhead (Schwerpunkt) attacks, serving as highly mobile units to punch holes in the enemy line and isolate selected enemy units, which the infantry would then encircle and destroy while the armored and mechanized forces pushed forward to repeat the process, eventually breaking through enemy frontlines and then dispersing, causing confusion in the rear areas and severing lines of supply and communication. Less mobile mechanized infantry and foot soldiers would then follow-up the panzer divisions' penetration into enemy territory. The Wermacht was closely supported by the Luftwaffe, especially by dive bombers that attacked and disrupted the enemy's supply and communications lines and spread panic and confusion in its rear, thus further paralyzing the enemy's defensive capabilities. Mechanization was the key to this German tactic first revealed in the September Campaign and nicknamed blitzkrieg (lightning war) by contemporary journalists, who found the name fitting because of the unprecedented speed and mobility that were its underlying characteristics.

Despite the term blitzkrieg being coined during the Polish September Campaign of 1939, historians generally hold that German operations during it were more consistent with more traditional methods. The Wehrmacht's strategy was more inline with Vernichtungsgedanken, or a focus on envelopment to create pockets in broad-front annihilation. Panzer forces were deployed among the three German concentrations without strong emphasis on independent use, being used to create or destroy close pockets of Polish forces and seize operational-depth terrain in support of the largely unmotorized infantry which followed.

Luftwaffe

Aircraft (particularly fighter and ground attack aircraft) played a major role in the fighting. Bomber aircraft purposefuly attacked cities and civilian targets causing huge losses amongst the civilian population in what became known as terror bombings. The Luftwaffe forces consisted of 1,180 fighter aircraft (mainly Me 109s), 290 Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers, 290 conventional bombers (mainly of the He 111 type), and an assortment of 240 naval aircraft. In total, Germany had close to 3,000 aircraft (~2,000 of them can be considered militarily modern) with half of them deployed on the Polish front.

The German Air Force, or Luftwaffe, was also the best force of its kind in 1939. It was a ground-cooperation force designed to support the army, but its planes were superior to nearly all Allied types. In the rearmament period from 1935 to 1939, the production of German combat aircraft steadily mounted, and the standardization of engines and airframes gave the Luftwaffe an advantage over its opponents.

Kriegsmarine

At sea the odds against the German Kriegsmarine were much greater in September 1939 than in August 1914, since the Allies in 1939 had many more large surface warships than Germany. However, during the entire war there was to be no clash between the Allied and the German massed fleets, but only the individual operation of German pocket battleships and commerce raiders. In 1939 Germany did have an advantage over the tiny Polish fleet, and the Western Allies were unwilling and unprepared to challenge the Kriegsmarine on the small, land-locked Baltic Sea.

Poland

Economic base

Between 1936 and 1939, Poland invested heavily in industrialization of the Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy, chosen for being reasonably far from both the Soviet and German frontiers. That heavy spending on military industry pushed much of the spending on actual weapons into 1940–42. Poland had been preparing for defensive war for many years; however, most plans assumed German aggression would not happen before 1942. Polish military industry development and fortifications were scheduled to be completed in that year, and newer tanks and aircraft were just entering production or would shortly.

Starting in September 1936, France loaned Poland 2.6 billion francs over a 5-year period, which added 12% to the annual Polish military budget. The Polish defense budget for 1938–39 was 800 million złoty, of which:

• Armored force—13.7 million
• Artillery—16 million
• Air Force—46.3 million
• Navy—21.7 million
• Cavalry—58 million

To raise funds for industrial development, Poland was selling much of the modern equipment it produced; for example, anti-tank guns were sold to Britain and planes were exported to Greece.

Polish Army

The Polish Army was fairly strong in numbers (~1 million soldiers), but much of it was not mobilised by the 1st September, as the Polish government, advised in this by the British and French governments, constantly hoped that the war could be resolved (at least for the time being) through diplomatic channels. Less than half of the Polish armed forces had been mobilized by 1st September, and only one-quarter (600,000) were fully equipped and in assigned positions when hostilities commenced. Thus many soldiers, mobilised after 1st September, failed to reach the designated staging areas and, together with normal civilians, sustained significant casualties when public transport (trains and roads filled with refugees) became targets of the German Air Force.

Poland possessed numerically inferior armoured forces, and they were dispersed within the infantry and unable to effectively engage in any major armoured battles. The Germans opposing them had close to 3,000 tanks organised into independent divisions under blitzkrieg doctrine. In terms of equipment, the Poles had 132 of their own 7TP tanks and a few modern imported designs, such as 50 Renault R35 tanks (which never reached Poland before 1st September) and 38 Vickers E tanks, which were capable of destroying any German armour, including their heaviest Panzer IV. Of the 700 odd tanks remaining, 102 were obsolete First World War Renault FT-17 tanks and, not much better than armoured cars, 300 TK-3 and 274 TKS tankettes. In addition to tanks, Poland successfully used armoured trains against German forces, which were unprepared to face this kind of combat vehicle considered in 1939 so obsolete by German planners to be given any serious consideration. Although the trains proved indeed vulnerable to air attack, losses incurred against Polish trains convinced the Germans to reintroduce this type of vehicle into their own army after the September Campaign.

Experience in the Polish-Soviet War (1919–1921), the only recent, major conflict the independent Second Polish Republic took part in, shaped Polish Army organisational and operational doctrine. Unlike the First World War, this was a conflict in which the cavalry's mobility played a decisive role. Thus the Polish high command drew a lesson different from both the Western Allies and Germany with their western front experience. With their victory in the First World War, France and Britain remained conservative and expected the new conflict to be another of trench warfare. German military theories were based upon the notion that successful offenses would be based on new inventions—tanks and planes. Poland stood in the middle: acknowledging the benefits of mobility but unwilling (and unable) to invest heavily in the expensive and unproven new inventions, it turned to cavalry, which the Polish Army considered its elite corps. During the September Campaign, the Polish Cavalry would prove to be much more successful than anybody, the Germans included, could have anticipated. Polish Cavalry brigades were used as a mobile infantry and were quite successful against German infantry. Cavalry charges were rare but successful, especially when used against infantry in un-entrenched positions. However, while Polish cavalry matched German panzers in speed and anti-infantry effectiveness, in the end it simply could not stand its ground against tanks.

Among the interesting equipment Polish forces used with success was the 7.92 mm Karabin przeciwpancerny wz.35 anti-tank rifle. It was quite successful against German light tanks, although, as with most of modern Polish equipment, production was just beginning when the war started, and thus wasn't fielded in numbers large enough to significantly change the outcome of the war.

• Tanks
  • TK-3 and TKS, tankettes
  • 7TP, a light tank
• Anti-tank gun
  • Bofors wz.37

Polish Air Force

The Polish Air Force was at a severe disadvantage against the German Luftwaffe. Although its pilots were highly trained, the Polish Air Force lacked modern fighter aircraft, and the Germans had gross numerical superiority: Poland had approximately 400 modern and semi-modern aircraft (and another 400 obsolete transport, recon and training aircraft), including 169 fighters, and Germany had approximately 3,000 aircraft (albeit only half that number on the Polish front, with most of the remaining similarly as obsolete as the second 400 Polish aircraft). The Polish Air Force development program was slowed in 1926 in the aftermath of Józef Piłsudski's May coup d'etat, as Piłsudski considered the air force to be of less importance than other military branches.

In 1939, the Polish main fighter, the PZL P.11, designed in early the 1930s, was becoming obsolete. The slightly better PZL P.24 was used solely for export, and PZL P.50s and several other projects, which were supposed to have better parameters than contemporary German fighters, were still on the drawing board. As a result, the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110 fighters were faster and better armed than anything the Poles had in 1939, and most German bombers could also outrun the Polish fighters. On the other hand, P.11s were more maneuverable, and despite the German superiority in speed, armament and numbers, P.11s downed a considerable number of German aircraft, including fighters. The exact numbers are not verified, but some sources claim that at least one German aircraft was shot down for each P.11 lost (a figure of 107 to 141 German aircraft shot down for the loss of 118 Polish aircraft is most often given).

One of the most interesting units in the Polish Air Force arsenal was the PZL.37 Łoś twin-engine medium bomber. Before the war it was one of the world's most modern and outstanding bombers. Smaller than most contemporary medium bombers, it was still able to carry a heavier bomb load than comparable aircraft, including the famous Vickers Wellington. It was relatively fast and easy to handle, and thanks to a landing gear with double wheels, it could operate from rough fields or meadows. The only drawback was its relatively weak defensive armament, consisting of 3 machine guns. Its range was also limited, but the Łoś was not meant to be a long-range bomber. During the September Campaign, despite their good performance, they were too few in number to change the outcome and, often lacking fighter cover, sustained heavy losses.

Few Polish Air Force planes were destroyed on the ground as most had been deployed to temporary, secret airstrips. The fighter planes were grouped in 15 escadres. Five of them constituted the Pursuit Brigade (Brygada Pościgowa), deployed in the Warsaw area. The bombers, grouped in 9 escadres of the Bomber Brigade (Brygada Bombowa), attacked armoured columns, suffering heavy losses. Seven reconnaissance and 12 observation escadres, attached to various Polish Armies, were intensively used for reconnaissance. However, the Polish pilots, while highly trained and motivated, faced a numerically superior opponent in superior designs with a much better command structure. Germany achieved air superiority around day three of the campaign, although the Polish Air Force managed to remain operational for the first two weeks of the September Campaign. At that point, the Polish Air Force ceased to exist as a fighting force, as most of its planes were either destroyed in combat or, facing rapidly advancing German troops, had to be abandoned on the ground due to lack of supplies and spare parts. A few remaining aircraft were either captured by the Germans or withdrawn to Romania and taken over by that country. A great number of pilots and air crews managed to break through to France and later Britain through various routes.

• Airplanes:
  • PZL P.7, fighter
  • PZL P.11, fighter
  • PZL P.24, fighter, an export variant of the PZL P.11, not used during the September Campaign
  • PZL.37 Łoś, twin-engine medium bomber
  • PZL.23 Karaś, light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft
  • Lublin R-XIII, observation, close reconnaissance and army cooperation plane,
  • RWD-14 Czapla, observation, close reconnaissance and army cooperation plane
  • RWD-8, training aircraft

Polish Navy

The Polish Navy was a small fleet composed of destroyers and submarines. Most Polish surface units followed Operation Pekin, leaving Polish ports on 20th August, evading German forces and escaping to the North Sea to join with the British Royal Navy. Submarine forces were participating in Operation Worek, with the goal of engaging and damaging German shipping in the Baltic Sea, but with much less success.

• Warships (in service during September 1939)
  • ORP Gryf, large minelayer, sunk by German bombers near Hel
  • ORP Błyskawica, a destroyer, escaped to United Kingdom
  • ORP Wicher, a destroyer, sunk by German bombers near Hel
  • ORP Grom, a destroyer, escaped to United Kingdom
  • ORP Burza, a destroyer, escaped to United Kingdom
  • ORP Orzeł, a submarine, escaped to United Kingdom
  • ORP Sęp, a submarine, interned in Sweden
  • ORP Wilk, a submarine, escaped to United Kingdom
  • ORP Ryś, a submarine, interned in Sweden
  • ORP Żbik, a submarine, interned in Sweden
  • ORP Mewa, Jaskółka, Rybitwa, Czajka, Żuraw, Czapla - 6 small minesweepers. ORP Mewa, Jaskółka and Czapla were sunk by German bombers near hel and Oksywie, others have been captured and salvaged by Germans.
  • ORP Mazur, old torpedo destroyer from First World War, sunk by German bombers near Hel
  • two gunboats

In addition, many ships of the Polish Merchant Navy joined the British merchant fleet and took part in various convoys during the war.

See also: Opposing forces in the Polish September Campaign, 1926, 7TP, Air support, Airplane, Anti-tank rifle, Antitank gun, Armoured car, Armoured fighting vehicle, Armoured train