1939 Invasions

The 1939 Invasions of Poland

Poland had only regained being an Independent Country in 1918 (after World War 1.)

On September 1, 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the north and west.

At the time Poland had the 5^th Largest Military in the World with 1 Million Soldiers (for Comparison the US Military had 300,000 Soldiers in 1939.)

On September 3, 1939 the United Kingdom and France declared War on Nazi Germany (due to a March 1939 Defense Agreement with Poland.)

On September 10, 1939 Canada declared War on Nazi Germany (it was the first time Canada had independently been able to declare War and not automatically be in a War whenever the United Kingdom declared it.)

While France and the United Kingdom were now at War with Nazi Germany neither Country sent any real aid and no Soldiers to help Poland.

The Germans laid Siege and bombed Warsaw from September 8-28, 1939.

18,000  Poles in Warsaw were killed by the German Bombing and 10% of the City was destroyed.

On September 17, 1939 the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east.

The Nazis and the Soviets became Allies when they signed the Molotov-Rippentrop Agreement in August 1939 (and would stay Allies until June 1941.)

In June 1941 the Nazis invaded Soviet-Occupied Poland as well as the Soviet Union.

 

17,629 Germans Soldiers were killed during the 1939 Invasion.

1,475 Soviet Soldiers were killed during the 1939 Invasion.

66,000 Polish Soldiers were killed were killed by the Germans during the 1939 Invasion.

7,000 Polish Soldiers were killed by the Soviets during the 1939 Invasion.

 

20 Million Polish Civilians lived under Nazi Occupation (from September 1939-May 1945.)

13.5 Million Polish Civilians lived under Soviet Occupation (from September 1939-June 1941 and then German Occupation from June 1941-May 1945.)

 

450,000 Polish Soldiers were taken Prisoner-of-War by the Soviets and used as Forced Labor Prisoners inside the USSR.

21,857 Polish Military Officers were murdered by the Soviets in the Katyn Massacre of April 1940 in Soviet Russia.

300,000 Polish Soldiers  were taken Prisoner-Of-War by the Germans and used as Forced Labor Prisoners in Concentration and Death Camps.

 

1,500,000 Polish Civilians living under Soviet Occupation (from September 1939-May 1945) were deported to the USSR where they lived and died in harsh, sub-human conditions.

1,000,000 Polish Civilians deported to the Soviet Union died or were killed.

 

 

200,000 Polish Children were kidnapped by the Germans and sent to Orphanages and Families inside Germany to be raised on German Children.

3.1 Million Polish Men and Women were arrested and deported from Poland to be used as Forced Labor in Germany.

 

90% of Warsaw was destroyed and 700,000 People (92,000 Jewish Poles and 608,000 Non-Jewish Poles) were killed inside Warsaw upon the end of World War 2 due to the German Siege of Warsaw in 1939, the German Occupation from 1939-1945, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 and the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

292,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children from Warsaw were deported to Death Camps outside the Capital and murdered by the Germans.

 

3 Million Jewish-Polish Men, Women and Children were killed by either the Germans or the Soviets from 1939-1945.

5.6  Million Non-Jewish Polish Men, Women and Children were killed  by either the Germans or the Soviets from 1939-1945

 

Nazi Germany was defeated on May 8, 1945.

 

Poland was under Direct Soviet Occupation from May 1945 until July 1952.

Communist Poland was a Satellite Country of the Soviet Union from 1952 until 1989.

It was illegal to mention the Soviet Crimes committed in Poland from 1939-1945 during the Cold War.

 

The Soviet Union collapsed on December 25, 1991.

 

The Last Russian Soldier left Poland on September 18, 1993.

The Soviet Union only Officially admitted to the Katyn Massacre in 1991 (a few months before the USSR collapsed.)

In 2009 Russian President Putin Officially called the Molotov-Rippentrop Agreement “immoral.”

In 2010 Russia Officially condemned what the Soviets had done in the Katyn Massacre.