| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 01.09.12 18:22l 48 Lines 2010 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 27644_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Sep 1
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<JE7YGF<N9PMO<XE1FH<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120901/1608Z 27644@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.52
.
Sep 1, 1939:
Germany invades Poland
On this day in 1939, German forces bombard Poland on land and
from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and
ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun.
The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended
to wage war--what would become the "blitzkrieg" strategy. This
was characterized by extensive bombing early on to destroy the
enemy's air capacity, railroads, communication lines, and
munitions dumps, followed by a massive land invasion with
overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery. Once the
German forces had plowed their way through, devastating a swath
of territory, infantry moved in, picking off any remaining
resistance.
Once Hitler had a base of operations within the target country,
he immediately began setting up "security" forces to annihilate
all enemies of his Nazi ideology, whether racial, religious, or
political. Concentration camps for slave laborers and the
extermination of civilians went hand in hand with German rule of
a conquered nation. For example, within one day of the German
invasion of Poland, Hitler was already setting up SS "Death's
Head" regiments to terrorize the populace.
The Polish army made several severe strategic miscalculations
early on. Although 1 million strong, the Polish forces were
severely under-equipped and attempted to take the Germans head-on
with horsed cavaliers in a forward concentration, rather than
falling back to more natural defensive positions. The outmoded
thinking of the Polish commanders coupled with the antiquated
state of its military was simply no match for the overwhelming
and modern mechanized German forces. And, of course, any hope the
Poles might have had of a Soviet counter-response was dashed with
the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Nonaggression Pact.
Great Britain would respond with bombing raids over Germany three
days later.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
Outpost Version 2.6.0 c27
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
