Poland
Tag
(197)1918
1919
1920
1921
1925
1926
1927
1929
1932
1934
1938
1939
March
April
July
August
- 25
- Key eventThe Anglo-Polish allianceOn 25 August 1939 Raczyński and Halifax signed a mutual assistance agreement in London. A secret protocol stated that the “European Power” meant Germany.
- Hitler halts the attack on PolandOn 25 August 1939 Hitler ordered an attack on Poland for the next dawn, but that evening revoked it after news of the London alliance and Mussolini's refusal.
September
- 01
- Key eventGermany invades PolandAt dawn on 1 September 1939 the Wehrmacht attacked Poland from the north, west and south without declaring war. The Slovak army struck alongside the Germans.
- The defence of Westerplatte beginsAt 4.45 a.m. on 1 September 1939 the battleship Schleswig-Holstein shelled the Polish depot on Westerplatte. Its garrison beat off two assaults that day.
- The bombing of WieluńOn the morning of 1 September 1939 Luftwaffe dive-bombers destroyed central Wieluń, a town with no troops or air defences. The first bombs hit its hospital.
- Germany annexes the Free City of DanzigOn 1 September 1939 Albert Forster proclaimed the Free City of Danzig part of the Reich, and the Reichstag confirmed it by law. Arrests of Poles began.
- The defence of the Polish Post Office in GdańskOn 1 September 1939 Polish postal workers held the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk for about 14 hours. After their surrender 38 were sentenced to death and shot.
- Hitler’s Reichstag speechOn 1 September 1939 Hitler told the Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House that since 5.45 Germany had been “returning fire”. He cast the war as self-defence.
- Britain and France demand a German withdrawal from PolandOn the evening of 1 September 1939 Henderson and Coulondre demanded that Germany withdraw from Poland. The notes were a warning, not an ultimatum.
- Roosevelt’s appeal to spare civiliansOn 1 September 1939 Roosevelt urged the belligerents not to bomb civilians. Hitler gave his pledge on the very day the Luftwaffe destroyed Wieluń.
- Operation TannenbergOn 1 September 1939 Security Police and SD Einsatzgruppen followed the Wehrmacht into Poland, carrying lists of names to “neutralise” Poland’s leading strata.
- 03
- Key eventBritain and France declare war on GermanyOn 3 September 1939 Britain at 11 a.m. and France at 5 p.m. found themselves at war with Germany. Warsaw cheered, but no real help arrived.
- Bloody Sunday in BydgoszczOn 3 September 1939 shooting broke out in Bydgoszcz amid retreating troops. Several hundred Germans died, and propaganda turned it into “Bloody Sunday”.
- The sinking of Wicher and GryfOn 3 September 1939 German dive bombers sank the destroyer Wicher and the minelayer Gryf in the naval port of Hel, Poland’s largest warships in the Baltic.
- The Legion of Czechs and SlovaksOn 3 September 1939 President Mościcki decreed a Legion of Czechs and Slovaks. Some 1,000 refugees from Czechoslovakia were to fight Germany beside the Poles.
- 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.
- Romania declares neutralityOn 6 September 1939 the Crown Council backed Romanian neutrality. Poland's ally stayed out of the war but agreed to let aid for Poland pass through.
- 18
- The Polish government crosses into RomaniaOn the night of 17–18 September 1939 the President, government and Commander-in-Chief crossed into Romania, hoping to reach France. They were interned.
- The escape of Orzeł from TallinnOn the night of 17–18 September 1939 ORP Orzeł, interned in Tallinn, escaped. Moscow said Estonia could not guard its neutrality and began to apply pressure.
- 28
- The German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship TreatyOn 28 September 1939 Ribbentrop and Molotov signed the Boundary and Friendship Treaty, moving the partition line to the Bug and giving Lithuania to the USSR.
- 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
December
1940
1941
March
May
June
July
- 02
- The Ponary massacre beginsOn 2 July 1941 Einsatzkommando 9 reached Wilno. In early July executions of Jews began in the pits at Ponary, and they went on for three years.
- The Hungarians in StanisławówOn 2 July 1941 Hungarian troops entered Stanisławów, abandoned by the Red Army. In late July the Germans took over, and with them came the Holocaust.
August
September
October
- 01
- The camp at MajdanekFrom 1 October 1941 the SS was to build a camp near Lublin for 50,000 Soviet prisoners of war. So began Majdanek, where nearly 80,000 people died.
- The Yom Kippur actions in the Wilno GhettoOn Yom Kippur, 1 October 1941, Germans and Lithuanians seized thousands of Jews in both Wilno ghettos. By 21 October the whole small ghetto lay dead at Ponary.
November
December
1942
January
February
March
May
June
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
December
1943
1944
January
February
May
July
August
- 06
- Black Sunday in KrakówOn 6 August 1944 the Germans carried out the largest round-up of the occupation in Kraków. Some 6,000–8,000 men were held as hostages in Płaszów camp.
- The Baligród massacreOn 6 August 1944 the UPA unit of “Burlaka” raided Baligród in the Bieszczady and murdered dozens of Polish men. The victims' memorial lists 42 names.
September
October
1945
January
February
March
April
May
- 02
- The flag over the ReichstagOn 2 May 1945 the German garrison of the Reichstag surrendered. The red banner had flown on the roof since 30 April; Khaldei's famous photograph was staged.
- The surrender of German forces in ItalyAt 2 p.m. local time on 2 May 1945 the Caserta surrender came into force. German forces in Italy were the first whole front of the Reich to lay down arms.