The German Question, Part One Hundred Thirty-Five

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part One
"War Comes To Europe"

Unlike the well trained and equipped Czechoslovak military, the Polish military lagged behind in the development of modern armaments and military tactics. The German forces became famous for their use of air power to strike quickly at enemy air units, whose planes often were destroyed in great numbers while still on the ground, and to hit military targets near the front lines, but also to bomb targets like railways, supply areas, and industrial complexes far behind the lines. The fast charging tanks (the Panzers), motorized infantry and mobile artillery developed breakthroughs, which were then consolidated by well trained German infantry. The Polish army lacked significant armor, although they had purchased some tanks from both France and Britain. As was often the case for many armies at that particular moment, the Poles tended to disperse the tanks to support their infantry (again, the Germans tended to use their tanks in large formations to batter their way through enemy lines and into rear command and supply areas, sowing chaos as they went). The Poles also had some fine horse cavalry units, but they were outmatched by modern tactics and weaponry.*

The Germans had been "claiming" abuse of German minorities in Poland, and that Polish troops had been raiding German border areas. I can't tell you that all of this was 100% nonsense, but much of it was just that. Further, to give "cover" for their invasion of Poland, concentration camp inmates were dressed in Polish uniforms, killed, and left around German border installations to make it look as if Polish troops had attacked across the border. Germans, also in Polish uniforms, fired some rounds to make things seem real, and in one place, a German radio station was "captured" and a message broadcast in Polish. While people in other countries were skeptical of German claims of breeches of their border by Poland, you must remember that most Germans had only one source of information, Nazi leader Josef Goebbels' propaganda machine.

So during the early hours of September 1, 1939 German forces crossed the border into Poland. German units in Danzig seized most of the areas of the city. Hitler summoned the Reichstag into emergency session to give a speech dealing with why he sent troops into Poland. Essentially the speech was a declaration of war on Poland, and Hitler appeared at the Reichstag in a military jacket, claiming to be "the first soldier of the German Reich." Thereafter, Hitler always wore a military jacket for all public appearances. During the speech, he made the claims about mistreatment of Germans living in Poland and about how Polish troops had fired on German soil. He attempted to make the whole matter appear to be a large German counterattack, rather than an invasion, even saying in reference to Polish gunfire on German territory, "Since 5:45 (a.m.) we have returned fire; and from now on, bomb will be met by bomb."** The last part of the speech was an attempt to rally the German public to war.*** After Hitler finished, the delegates formally voted to make Danzig a part of Germany, not that the vote was ever in question.

What would Britain and France do now?

* True horse cavalry units were not dead by World War Two, but many countries were converting cavalry units to light mechanized forces, with light tanks and armored cars. There was a tendency to keep the term "cavalry," and the associated "dragoons," "lancers," or hussars," for the sake of tradition in many units, and that is still true today. Horse cavalry were still around during World War Two, and some military forces, like the Red Army of the Soviet Union, made great use of them. The Germans had a full division of cavalry when the war started, but they later converted that division to an armored unit. They later formed a variety of cavalry units, although often they were a mixture of horse cavalry and light mechanized units.

** "Seit 5 Uhr 45 wird jetzt zurückgeschossen; und von jetzt ab wird Bombe mit Bombe vergolten."

*** As during the crisis over the Sudetenland, there were many foreign press people in Germany, especially in Berlin, at this time. Reports say the German public was depressed about the possibility of war, and Hitler was very disappointed in public reaction to reports of the outbreak of war, especially as he drove to the Reichstag to give his war speech, as there were no cheering crowds to greet him.

WORD HISTORY:
Cavalry-The ultimate origin of this word's ancestor is unknown. It is not uncommon for some (especially Americans?) to mistakenly pronounce it as if it were spelled "cal-vary," as in Mount Calvary. It was borrowed into English around the mid 1500s from French "cavalerie," a word they got from Italian "cavalleria, " which meant "force of mounted troops." This in turn came from "cavaliere," which meant "mounted soldier, horseman." This is the source of English "cavalier," which was likewise borrowed into English during the 1500s, and which came to mean more than just "horseman" in English, but rather "a mounted noble or knight." The Italian form went back to Latin "caballarius," which too meant "horseman, mounted soldier," and it was derived from Latin "caballus," which simply meant "horse" (modern Italian has "cavallo" and Spanish has "caballo," for example, as their words for "horse"). Latin "possibly" got the word from Greek, which had "kaballes," meaning "nag," but where Greek got that word is unknown. German, too, borrowed the word for cavalry from French as "Kavallerie," and for those studying German, it is feminine; thus, "die Kavallerie."