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Poland

Front

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1939

September

01
03
04
- Germany cuts the Polish CorridorAfter the fighting in the Tuchola Forest the German 4th Army reached the Vistula and met the 3rd Army from East Prussia. The Pomorze Army lost two divisions.
06
- The Germans take KrakówOn 6 September 1939 the German 14th Army entered undefended Kraków. The Kraków Army was retreating to the Nida and Dunajec; the Wawel treasures had left.
10
- The bombing of WarsawOn 10 September 1939 Warsaw endured one of the worst days of the siege, with over a dozen Luftwaffe raids. Yet it had been bombed since the war began.
15
- The encirclement of WarsawOn 15 September 1939 the German 3rd Army reached Praga and cut Warsaw off from the east. A day later the defenders rejected a demand to surrender.
17
- Key eventThe Soviet invasion of PolandAt dawn on 17 September 1939 the Red Army entered Poland without a declaration of war, carrying out the secret protocol of its pact with Germany.
19
- German and Soviet troops meetThe Red Army took Wilno and met the Wehrmacht near Lwów and Brest. On 22 September Guderian handed Brest over to Krivoshein’s tank brigade.
27
- Key eventEstablishment of the Service for Poland's VictoryOn the night of 26-27 September 1939, in besieged Warsaw, Gen. Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz founded the Service for Poland's Victory, seed of the Home Army.
28
- The capitulation of WarsawOn 28 September 1939 Generals Kutrzeba and Blaskowitz signed the capitulation of Warsaw at Rakowiec, after its heaviest air raid and a general assault.

October

November

1940

February

10
- First deportation from the eastern landsOn 10 February 1940 the NKVD began deporting families of military settlers and foresters from the Kresy. NKVD documents put the total at nearly 140,000.

March

05
- Decision to shoot Polish prisonersOn 5 March 1940 the Politburo adopted Beria's proposal to shoot 14,700 Polish POWs and 11,000 prisoners without trial. Stalin was among the signatories.

April

13
- Second deportation from the eastern landsOn 13 April 1940 the NKVD deported about 61,000 people to Kazakhstan, mainly families of imprisoned officers, policemen and officials killed in those weeks.

June

September

19
- Witold Pilecki arrives at AuschwitzOn 19 September 1940 Witold Pilecki let himself be caught in a Żoliborz roundup to enter Auschwitz. As prisoner no. 4859 he built a camp resistance network.

October

02
- Key eventThe creation of the Warsaw GhettoOn 2 October 1940 Governor Ludwig Fischer ordered a “Jewish district” to be set up in Warsaw. By mid-November some 250,000 people had been forced to move.

November

15
- The Warsaw Ghetto is sealedOn the night of 15–16 November 1940 the Germans sealed the Warsaw Ghetto. Some 400,000 Jews were walled off; hunger and smuggling became daily life.

December

03
- First Government Delegate for PolandOn 3 December 1940 Gen. Sikorski appointed Cyryl Ratajski Government Delegate. A secret civil state administration began to take shape in occupied Poland.

1941

March

01
- Himmler orders the expansion of AuschwitzOn 1 March 1941 Himmler first visited Auschwitz. He ordered the camp enlarged for 30,000 prisoners and 10,000 prisoners provided to build the IG Farben plant.

May

22
- Fourth deportation from the eastern landsOn 21 May 1941 the NKVD began the last deportation from the Kresy. It came in waves until the German attack on the USSR and took tens of thousands of people.

July

10
- The Jedwabne pogromOn 10 July 1941 Polish residents of Jedwabne, acting on German inspiration, murdered their Jewish neighbours. The IPN puts the dead at no fewer than 340.

1942

February

14
- Key eventThe Union of Armed Struggle becomes the Home ArmyOn 14 February 1942 Gen. Sikorski renamed the ZWZ the Home Army. All underground soldiers in Poland came under the AK, commanded by Gen. Rowecki.

March

17
- Killing begins at BełżecOn 17 March 1942 the first transports of Jews from Lublin and Lwów reached the Bełżec camp. They were murdered in the gas chambers soon after arrival.

May

03
- Killing begins at SobibórOn 3 May 1942, according to the USHMM, regular transports of Jews began to reach the Sobibór camp. By autumn 1943 some 170,000–250,000 people were killed there.

July

22
- Key eventThe Great Deportation in the Warsaw GhettoOn 22 July 1942 the Germans began deporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka. By 21 September they had murdered at least 254,000 people there.
- The Treblinka extermination campOn 22 July 1942 the first transport left Warsaw for Treblinka II. The next day the camp began operating; the Germans murdered some 800,000–900,000 Jews there.

August

September

12
- The deportation of Jews from Stanisławów to BełżecOn 12 September 1942, Rosh Hashanah, German police rounded up thousands of Jews in the Stanisławów ghetto and sent them to their deaths at the Bełżec camp.

December

04
- The Council to Aid Jews “Żegota” is foundedOn 4 December 1942 the Council to Aid Jews “Żegota” was founded in Warsaw under the Government Delegation. It gave hiding Jews money, papers and shelter.

1943

January

18
- Key eventThe first armed resistance in the Warsaw GhettoOn 18 January 1943 the Germans resumed deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto. ŻOB fighters first resisted with arms; after four days the action was halted.

March

April

May

June

30
- Arrest of General RoweckiOn 30 June 1943 the Gestapo arrested Home Army commander Gen. Stefan Rowecki “Grot” at 14 Spiska Street in Warsaw. Gen. Komorowski took over.

July

August

October

14
- Key eventThe Sobibór uprisingOn 14 October 1943 prisoners of the Sobibór death camp killed a dozen or so SS men and guards. About 300 escaped to the forest; a few dozen survived the war.

November

1944

January

24
- Burdenko CommissionOn 24 January 1944 the Burdenko Commission signed a communiqué blaming the Katyn massacre on the Germans. It rested on evidence forged by the NKVD.

February

01
- Assassination of Franz KutscheraOn 1 February 1944 soldiers of the Home Army's Kedyw unit "Pegaz" shot Franz Kutschera, the SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw District, in Aleje Ujazdowskie.

July

August

September

October

November

26
- Key eventThe end of the gas chambers at BirkenauIn autumn 1944 the SS stopped gassing at Birkenau. On 26 November, by the accepted date, Himmler ordered the crematoria destroyed to hide the crime.

1945

January

February

March

30
- Key eventThe capture of DanzigOn 30 March 1945 the 2nd Belorussian Front and Polish tank crews took Gdańsk. The Main Town lay in ruins, much of it burned after the fighting had ended.

June

July

August