First to Fight

by Roger Moorhouse

  Zbigniew Gluza (ed.), Rok 1939: Rozbiór Polski (Warsaw 2009)

  Walter Gorlitz (ed.), The Memoirs of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (New York, 1965)

  Janina Grabowska-Chałka, Stutthof (Gdańsk, 2011)

  Olaf Groehler, Selbstmörderische Allianz: Deutsch-russische Militärbeziehungen 1920–1941 (Berlin, 1992)

  Jan Gross, Revolution from Abroad: The Soviet Conquest of Poland’s Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia (Princeton and Oxford, 2002)

  Czesław Grzelak, Sowiecki najazd 1939 r. Sojusznik Hitlera napada polskie Kresy – relacje świadków i uczestników (Warsaw, 2017)

  Czesław Grzelak, Szack–Wytyczno 1939 (Warsaw, 1993)

  Heinz Guderian, Panzer Leader (London, 1952)

  The Earl of Halifax, Fulness of Days (London, 1957)

  Richard Hargreaves, Blitzkrieg Unleashed: The German Invasion of Poland, 1939 (Barnsley, 2008)

  Nevile Henderson, Failure of a Mission (London, 1941)

  Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler was my Friend (Barnsley, 2011)

  Clare Hollingworth, The Three Weeks’ War in Poland (London, 1940)

  Hans-Adolf Jacobsen (ed.), Generaloberst Halder Kriegstagebuch, vol. 1 (Stuttgart, 1962)

  Tadeusz Jurga and Władysław Karbowski, Armia Modlin 1939 (Warsaw, 1987)

  Ryszard Juszkiewicz, Bitwa pod Mławą 1939 (Warsaw, 1979)

  Vladimir Karpov, Marshal Zhukov: Ego soratniki i protivniki v dni voĭny i mira (Moscow, 1992)

  Jan Karski, Story of a Secret State (London, 2011)

  Johann Graf von Kielmansegg, Panzer zwischen Warschau und Atlantik (Berlin, 1941)

  Victor Klemperer, I Shall Bear Witness: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer, 1933–1941 (London, 1998)

  Christoph Klessmann (ed.), September 1939: Krieg, Besatzung, Widerstand in Polen. Acht Beiträge (Göttingen, 1989)

  Halik Kochanski, The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War (London, 2012)

  Krzysztof Komorowski (ed.), Boje Polskie 1939–1945: Przewodnik Encyklopedyczny (Warsaw, 2009)

  Marta Korwin-Rhodes, The Mask of Warriors (New York, 1964)

  Eugeniusz Kozłowski (ed.) Wojna obronna Polski 1939 (Warsaw, 1979)

  Helmut Krausnick, Hitler’s Einsatzgruppen: Die Truppen des Weltanschauungskrieges, 1938–1942 (Frankfurt am Main, 1998)

  Andrzej Kunert and Zygmunt Walkowski, Kronika kampanii wrześniowej 1939 (Warsaw, 2005)

  Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Bitwa nad Bzurą (9–22 września 1939). Przyczynek do historii kampanii polsko-niemieckiej w obszarze: Poznań-Warszawa we wrześniu 1939 (Warsaw, 1957)

  Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Wojna bez walnej bitwy (Warsaw, 1998)

  Stephan Lehnstaedt and Jochen Böhler (eds), Die Berichte der Einsatzgruppen aus Polen 1939 (Berlin, 2013)

  Leo Leixner, From Lemberg to Bordeaux: A German War Correspondent’s Account of Battle in Poland, the Low Countries and France, 1939–1940 (London, 2017)

  Heinz Linge, With Hitler to the End (London, 2009)

  Gerhard Lubs, Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 5 (Berg Verlag, 1965)

  Hans von Luck, Panzer Commander (London, 1989)

  Roderick Macleod and Denis Kelly (eds), The Ironside Diaries, 1937–1940 (London, 1962)

  Stanisław Maczek, Od podwody do czołga (London, 1961)

  Janusz Magnuski and Maksym Kolomijec, Czerwony Blitzkrieg. Wrzesień 1939: Sowieckie Wojska Pancerne w Polsce (Warsaw 1994)

  Marta Markowska (ed.), The Ringelblum Archive: Annihilation – Day by Day (Warsaw, 2008)

  Jürgen Matthäus and Frank Bajohr (eds), The Political Diary of Alfred Rosenberg and the Onset of the Holocaust (USHMM/Lanham, Maryland, 2015)

  Kurt Mehner (ed.), Die Geheimen Tagesberichte der Deutschen Wehrmachtführung im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945, vol. 1 (Osnabrück, 1995)

  Mikhail Meltyukhov, 17 Sentyabr’ 1939 (Moscow, 2009)

  Erich Mende, Das verdammte Gewissen (Munich, 1982)

  Georg Meyer (ed.), Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb: Tagebuchaufzeichnungen und Lagebeurteilungen aus zwei Weltkriegen (Stuttgart, 1976)

  Rolf Michaelis, SS-Heimwehr Danzig 1939 (Bradford, 1996)

  Janusz Miniewicz, Ośrodek oporu Węgierska Górka 1939 (Poznań, 2000)

  Ryszard Mirowicz, Edward Rydz-Śmigły: Działalność wojskowa i polityczna (Warsaw, 1991)

  Rochus Misch, Hitler’s Last Witness (Barnsley, 2014)

  Roger Moorhouse, Berlin at War: Life and Death in Hitler’s Capital, 1939–45 (London, 2010)

  Roger Moorhouse, The Devils’ Alliance: Hitler’s Pact with Stalin, 1939–1941 (London, 2014)

  Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey Pridham (eds), Nazism: 1919–1945, vol. 3 (Exeter, 1988)

  Stanisław Ostrowski, W Obronie polskości Ziemi Lwowskiej: Dnie pohanbienia 1939–1941. Wspomnienia (Warsaw, 1986)

  Richard Overy, 1939: Countdown to War (London, 2009)

  Jerzy Pertek, Mała flota wielka duchem (Poznań, 1989)

  Janine Phillips, My Secret Diary (London, 1982)

  Tomasz Piesakowski, The Fate of Poles in the USSR 1939–1989 (London, 1990)

  Polish Historical Commission, Polskie Siły Zbrojne na Zachodzie w drugiej wojnie światowej, vol. 1 (London, 1954)

  Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Polish White Book, vol. 1 (London, 1941)

  Polish Ministry of Information, The German Fifth Column in Poland (London, 1941)

  Alexander Polonius, I Saw the Siege of Warsaw (Glasgow, 1941)

  Marian Porwit, Komentarze do historii polskich działań obronnych 1939 r., vols 1–3 (Warsaw, 1983)

  Marian Porwit, Obrona Warszawy wrzesień 1939 (Warsaw, 1979)

  Anita Prażmowska, Britain, Poland and the Eastern Front 1939 (Cambridge, 1987)

  Jamie Prenatt, Polish Armour of the Blitzkrieg (Oxford, 2015)

  Bronisław Prugar-Ketling, Aby dochować wierności: Wspomnienia z działań 11. Karpackiej Dywizji Piechoty. Wrzesień 1939 (Warsaw, 1990)

  Wilhelm Prüller, Diary of a German Soldier (New York, 1963)

  Jerzy Przybylski (ed.), Kontradmirał Xawery Stanisław Czernicki (Gdynia, 2002)

  Jerzy Przybylski (ed.), Ostatnia wachta: Mokrany, Katyń, Charków (Gdynia, 2000)

  Richard Raack, Stalin’s Drive to the West, 1938–1945 (Stanford, 1995)

  Edward Raczyński, In Allied London (London, 1962)

  Tadeusz Rawski, Piechota w II wojnie światowej (Warsaw, 1984)

  Laurence Rees, World War Two Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (London, 2008)

  Willi Reibig, Schwarze Husaren: Panzer in Polen (Berlin, 1941)

  Leni Riefenstahl, The Sieve of Time (London, 1992)

  Andrew Roberts, The Holy Fox: A Life of Lord Halifax (London, 1991)

  Paweł Rokicki et al., A więc wojna: Ludność cywilna we wrześniu 1939 r. (Warsaw, 2009)

  Juliusz Rómmel, Za honor i ojczyznę: Wspomnienia dowódcy armii ‘Łódź’ i ‘Warszawa’ (Warsaw, 1958)

  Alexander Rossino, Hitler Strikes Poland (Lawrence, KS, 2003)

  Adam Rotfeld and Anatoly Torkunov (eds), White Spots – Black Spots: Difficult Matters in Polish–Russian Relations (Pittsburgh, 2015)

  Stefan ‘Grot’ Rowecki, Wspomnienia i notatki czerwiec-wrzesień 1939 (Warsaw, 1957)

  Klemens Rudnicki, Last of the Warhorses(London, 1974)

  Kazimierz Ryś, Obrona Lwowa w 1939 roku (Palestine, 1943)

  Dieter Schenk, Die Post von Danzig: Geschichte eines deutschen Justizmords (Reinbek, 1995)

  Herbert Schindler, Mosty und Dirschau 1939 (Freiburg, 1971)

  Paul Schmidt, Hitler’s Interpreter (London, 1951)

  Mikhail Semiryaga, Tainy Stalinskoi Diplomatii (Moscow, 1992)

  Ben H. Shepherd, Hitler’s Soldiers: The German Army in the Third Reich (London, 2016)

  Stanisław Sosabowski, Freely I Served (Barnsley, 2013)

  Kazimierz Sosnkowski, Cieniom września (Warsaw, 1989)

  Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich (London, 1970)

  Alfred Spiess and Heiner Lichtenstein, Das Unterneh
men Tannenberg (Wiesbaden, 1979)

  Stanisław Stachiewicz, Wierności dochować żołnierskiej (Warsaw, 1998)

  Peter Stachura, Poland Between the Wars, 1918–1939 (Basingstoke, 1998)

  Zygmunt Stanicki, Obrona Warszawy w 1939 roku (Warsaw, 1961)

  Piotr Stawecki, Oficerowie dyplomowani wojska Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej (Wrocław 1997)

  Jerzy Strychalski, Bitwa pod Kałuszynem (Siedlce, 1985)

  Edward Roland Sword, The Diary and Despatches of a Military Attaché in Warsaw, 1938–1939 (London, 2001)

  Keith Sword (ed.), The Soviet Takeover of the Polish Eastern Provinces, 1939–1941 (Basingstoke, 1991)

  Ryszard Szawłowski (ed.), Wojna polsko-sowiecka 1939 (Warsaw, 1997)

  Władyław Szpilman, The Pianist (London, 2002)

  Antoni Szymański, Zły sąsiad: Niemcy 1932–1939 w oświetleniu polskiego attaché wojskowego w Berlinie (London, 1959)

  Hugh Trevor-Roper (ed.), Hitler’s War Directives 1939–1945 (London, 1964)

  Wacław Tym and Andrzej Rzepniewski (eds), Kępa Oksywska 1939: Relacje uczestników walk lądowych (Gdańsk, 1985)

  Nikolaus von Vormann, Der Feldzug 1939 in Polen (Weissenburg, 1958)

  Maria Wardzyńska, Był Rok 1939: Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce: Intelligenzaktion (Warsaw, 2009)

  Walter Warlimont, Inside Hitler’s Headquarters 1939–1945 (London, 1964)

  D. C. Watt, How War Came (London, 1989)

  Bernd Wegner (ed.), From Peace to War: Germany, Soviet Russia and the World, 1939–1941 (Oxford, 1997)

  Frederick Weinstein (ed.), Aufzeichnungen aus dem Versteck: Erlebnisse eines polnischen Juden 1939–1946 (Berlin, 2006)

  Gordon Williamson, Poland Betrayed (Barnsley, 2009)

  Wojciech Włodarkiewicz, Lwów 1939 (Warsaw, 2003)

  Witold Wojciechowski, Pamiętnik z wojny na morzu 1939–1943 (Gdańsk-Gdynia, 2014)

  Maciej Wojewoda and Jakub Wojewoda, Bitwa nad Bzurą (Warsaw, 2016)

  E. L. Woodward and R. Butler (eds), Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919–1939, Third Series, vol. IV, (London, 1951)

  Artur Wordzyński, W odwrocie i walce (Gdańsk, 2013)

  Janusz Wróbel (ed.), Wieluń był pierwszy. Bombardowania lotnicze miast regionu Łódzkiego we wrześniu 1939 (Łódz, 2009)

  Leszek Zaborowski (ed.), Chronicles of Terror, vol. 1 (Warsaw, 2018)

  Steven Zaloga, Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg (Oxford, 2002)

  Steven Zaloga and Victor Madej, The Polish Campaign 1939 (New York, 1985)

  Adam Zamoyski, The Forgotten Few (London, 1995)

  Edmund Zarzycki, Działalność hitlerowskiego Sądu Specjalnego w Bydgoszczy w latach 1939–1945 (Bydgoszcz, 2000)

  Brunon Zwarra, Wspomnienia Polaków-Gdańszczan (Gdańsk, 2002)

  Index

  The page references in this index correspond to the print edition from which this ebook was created, and clicking on them will take you to the the location in the ebook where the equivalent print page would begin. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.

  aircraft: British, 69; French, 70; German, 19, 25, 267; Polish, 47, 107, 244, 267; Soviet, 165

  AK see Armia Krajowa

  Akimov, Boris, 224

  Albertów, 35

  Amery, Leo, 72–3

  Anders, Brigadier-General Władysław, 86, 87, 153–4, 232, 233–4

  Andreas-Friedrich, Ruth, 80

  Appelius, Mario, 196

  Armia Krajowa (AK; ‘Home Army’), 250

  armoured trains: German, 30, 194; Hitler’s, 94, 95; Polish, 33–4, 86, 154, 165, 193, 194, 214–15

  artillery see weapons and equipment

  Astakhov, Georgy, 54–5

  atrocities: against civilians, 34–6, 96–100, 106–7, 113–18, 129–31, 135–9, 147–9, 186, 190–3, 200, 249–50, 263–5; drugs as cause of, 114–15; German propaganda on, 117–18; against Jews, 106–7, 136–8, 148, 208–9, 264, 265; Katyń massacres, 175, 219, 228; partisan psychosis, 113–14; against prisoners of war, 113, 135, 245–7, 255–6; racism as cause of, 115, 136–8; Soviet and Soviet-inspired, 172–8, 218–19, 235, 245–7, 265; statistics, 138

  Attlee, Clement, 72

  Attolico, Bernardo, 60

  Aurich, Willi, 102

  Austria, 37, 38, 40

  Bąkowski, Roman, 146

  Bakunin, Mikhail, 41

  Banach, Professor Stefan, 205

  Bardziński, Lieutenant Janusz, 145

  Bartosz Głowacki (train), 165, 214–15

  Bartoszewicz, Józef, 175

  Baur, Hans, 193, 198

  Beck, Colonel Józef, 51, 58, 66, 71–2, 82–3

  Berlin: atmosphere at outbreak of war, 16, 17–18; Kroll Opera House, 15–17

  Bernau, 4

  Bethke, Police General Willi, 14–15

  Białystok, 220–1

  Biegański, Seweryn, 133

  Bischoff, SS-Sturmbannführer Helmut, 130

  Black Madonna, 106

  Błądzim, 90, 91

  Blaskowitz, General Johannes, 248

  Bletchley Park, 228

  Blitzkrieg, 105, 265–6

  Błonie massacre, 148

  Blyskawica, ORP, 20

  Bołbott, Lieutenant Jan, 166–7

  Böll, Heinrich, 114–15

  Bołtuć, Brigadier-General Mikołaj, 144, 197

  bombing, 22–3, 86–7, 109–10, 119, 138–9, 155–60, 200–4, 237, 238–41, 263–4

  Bonnet, Georges, 70, 71, 75

  Borders, Battle of the (1939), 85

  Bormann, Martin, 94, 184, 189

  Borowska Góra (Borowa Heights), 108–9

  Bortnowski, General Władysław, 29–30, 93–4, 144

  Borysław (Boryslav), 176

  Brda river, 90, 91

  Bremen, 126

  Brest, 118, 165, 221–5, 227

  Briesen, General Kurt von, 143

  Britain: alliance with Poland, xviii, 50–2, 58, 59–60, 63–4; and assistance for Poland, xx, 66, 83–4, 126–9, 155, 160, 237, 269; attempted alliance with Soviet Union, 53–4; and build-up to Second World War, 49–54, 57–60, 63–4; German bombing, 238; historical relations with Poland, 41; Hitler offers alliance to, 58–60, 63; Hitler’s attitude to, 56; military strength, 69–70, 126; Polish navy takes refuge with, 20; reaction to Soviet invasion of Poland, 178–83; Soviets and Germans discuss, 252, 253; war declared by, 65–73, 75–81

  British army, 69, 126

  British Communist Party, 179

  Brittain, Vera, 78–9

  Bromberg see Bydgoszcz

  Broszki (Brozhky), 234

  Brunsbüttel, 126

  Bryan, Julien, 120, 156–8, 198–9

  Brykalski, Lieutenant Stanisław, 131

  Brzeszczyński, Stefan, 161–2

  Budy Iłkowskie, 146

  Bug river, 152

  Burhardt-Bukacki, Lieutenant-General Stanisław, 84

  Burza, ORP, 20

  Busch, Fritz-Otto, 257

  Bydgoszcz (Bromberg), 96–8, 116–18, 129–31

  Byelorussians in Poland: as excuse for Soviet invasion, 162, 163, 185, 268; Polish fear of, 176–7, 225–6; statistics, 44; support given to Soviets, 175–6, 217, 219, 221–2, 223

  Bzura, Battle of the (1939), 140–50

  Cadogan, Alexander, 182

  camps, 175, 191–3

  Canaris, Admiral Wilhelm, 52

  Carton de Wiart, Colonel Adrian, 36, 57–8, 118, 124

  casualties, 263

  cavalry: myths about, 32; Polish, 30–2, 109, 146–7, 152–3, 196–7, 232, 234–5; and Polish doctrine, 46

  Chamberlain, Neville: and assistance for Poland, 83, 127, 128–9; and Munich, 50; and Soviet invasion of Poland, 181–2; war declared by, 66–8, 71, 72–3, 75–9

  Channon, Henry ‘Chips’, 57, 68

  Charlejów, 259

  Chatfield, Lord, 66–7

  Chechło, 114

  Chojnice, 30, 90

  Cho
mętowska, Zofia, 119, 176, 225–6, 245, 259

  Chortkiv see Czortków

  Churchill, Winston, 42, 71, 76, 79, 178, 181

  Chyliński, Thaddeus, 199

  Ciano, Count Galeazzo, 71

  Ciechanów, 86

  Ciepelów massacre, 113

  Cieszyn, 3

  code-breakers, evacuation of, 227–8

  Colville, John, 79, 178

  communications, 110

  Corbin, Charles, 76

  Coventry, 238

  Cripps, Sir Stafford, 54

  Czechoslovakia, 42, 49–50, 96

  Czernicki, Rear-Admiral Xawery, 228

  Częstochowa, 106–7

  Czortków (Chortkiv), 166

  Czuma, General Walerian, 120, 122, 159

  Czyżewski, Colonel Ludwik, 149–50

  Dąb-Biernacki, General Stefan, 232, 233

  Dąbek, Colonel Stanisław, 186–8

  Dąbrowski, Dariusz, 174

  Dąbrowski, Captain Franciszek, 102

  ‘Dąbrowski’s Mazurka’, 39–40

  Daladier, Édouard, 63, 74, 128–9, 181–2

  Danzig (Gdańsk): atrocities, 35, 190–3; fighting near, 186–90; German capture, 9–15, 101–4; history, 9–10; Hitler’s speech at, 184–6; Polish Post Office, 14–15

  de Gaulle, Charles, 46

  Déat, Marcel, 74

  Dęblin, 25

  Dębowa Łęka see Geyersdorf

  Deraźne (Derazhne), 228

  Derezinski, Franciszek, 116–17

  Dinort, Oskar, 22

  doctrine and tactics: Blitzkrieg, 105, 265–6; Polish, 46, 89; tanks, 47

  Döhring, Herbert, 81

  Domizlaff, Major Ottomar, 26

  Dorant, Captain Tadeusz, 255

  drugs, 114–15

  Dudzik, Ryszard, 191, 192–3

  Dukla Pass, 207

  Dzisna, 166

  Eberhardt, Major-General Friedrich, 103, 104

  Einsatzgruppen, 130–1, 208–9, 249–50

  ‘Enigma’, 227–8

  Epler, Colonel Adam, 219, 258–9

  Esebeck, Colonel Hans-Karl von, 152

  ethnic cleansing see atrocities

  First World War (1914–18), 42, 43

  Forster, Albert, 184

  Frampol, 138–9

  France: alliance with Poland, xviii, 50–2, 58, 63–4; and assistance for Poland, 84, 123–9, 155, 160, 162, 269; attempted alliance with Soviet Union, 53–4; German invasion, 264–5; Hitler’s attitude to, 56; military strength, 70; pre-war relations with Poland, 45; Saarland invasion, 123–6, 160, 162; and Soviet invasion of Poland, 181–3; war declared by, 68, 70–1, 74–5, 76, 79–80