The memory about the Invasion of Poland 1939 - today's events

On Wednesday, September 1, 2010, Polish Greatness (Blog) will present a Special Presentation online documenting the events of the September Campaign of 1939. Daily news reports will be posted on this blog along with archival video and photos. This is a unique opportunity to experience the news events as they happened. Subscribe to an RSS feed so you do not miss a thing!

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Regards

[Moved from]: BBC Radio archives: Hear the news of 1 September 1939

BBC reports about Hitler's 16-point proposal to "resolve" the Polish "Question," the commencement of the invasion, and the memories of William Forrest, a British newspaper reporter based in Warszawa. Nothing like hearing the radio broadcasts of the day:

bbc.co.uk/archive/keywords/53/2.shtml

Thanks for that link, it's interesting stuff.

Although when listening to the report about the 16-point proposal, one should probably remember that Hitler had already ordered the invasion of Poland before the proposal was announced.

Poland commemorates 75 years since invasion - dawn ceremony

bbc.com/news/world-europe-29009120

Merged: Invasion of Poland board game!



theguardian/technology/2015/apr/27/seven-days-of-westerplatte-board-game-poland-second-world-war

This actually looks quite good. I don't do board games but still interesting.

Merged: Tajemnice Westerplatte on Polsat tv channel wright now!

So far so good I have to admit (after watching it for 5 minutes)

Unfortunately, the choice of location for the ceremony was rather poor - it should have been held in Wieluń. This would have placed more emphasis on the barbarism of a regime like Nazi Germany (carefully planned and executed air raid on defenceless civilian population which destroyed the city in 75%) and what's more important cruelty of any war in general. As it happened, we got more of the same ideology stemming from PRL...

moved from

September 1st 1939........ 80 years ago today.
An important date in Polish history.

youtu.be/BmiMN2v0o04

Eighty years ago today.
Very few survive to tell the tale.
But it must be repeated,so that people remember......

youtu.be/tPPaP0mNhso

Home

And even fewer to explain to what extent Poland brought it upon itself and could have minimized the destruction, as such subjects, analysis and conclusions are taboos. Unfortunately, Poland is not unique in this distaste to look inward.

@Rich Mazur
Could you elaborate on your ridiculous claim, please?

Dougpol in agrees completely with Rich Mazur shocker!!
PIS are busy rewriting all history to show that all Poles acted with the highest valour - at ALL times.
Complete nonsense of course. There is nothing especially historic about the Polish nation as a whole that sets it at the top of some imaginary "Bravery" table, as the evidence shows. Meanwhile PIS carry on with their censorship, and it is up to the old to educate their families about the truth.

Doug,you are politicizing this.
This is the history my family taught me as a child in the sixties....... way before PIS.

All ruling elites re-write history to cover their blunders and not to be forced to explain why so many died needlessly. It's a bit*ch to tell the parents that their son died for nothing. It's so easy to recite poems, erect monuments, and hope that those will prevent annoying questions. Like, why fight if by the end week one it was clear the "allies" were not marching in to the rescue. Delivering a piece of paper to the Germans was not rescue.

My family were not "ruling elites", they told me as it was, the good and the bad.
The Polish history I have read in the last 40 years backs them up.
That history was not written by ruling elites, in fact,some of it wasn't even written by Poles.
Ever heard of Norman Davies?
Read his history of Poland.

Merged:

Operation: Fall Weiss (Invasion of Poland 1939)

81 years ago humanity said: «No!» to National-Socialism. Poland being first on the frontline remembers it's finest heroes who layed down their lives for the cause of freedom.

I remember

There were plenty of those who said "yes". Italy, Japan, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia officially supported Hitler. If Nazis would be clever they would attract many more supporters among occupied Slavic territories. Many people just tired of Stalin and other rulers.

@Vlad1234
Those states fought merely only for their own self interests, many of them being deluded of a shift in power.

Of course, you should know that Polish cavalry purposefully charging against German tanks is a malicious myth invented by German propagandists. If such charges took place, they were accidental when the cavalry charged against infantry and suddenly tanks appeared from behind.

• 
  MYTH!
  

@pawian
Very true
Polish cavalry at the time (the one on horseback) was mounted infantry. Most of military units at the time consisted of regular infantry (German forces included)

Real Polish cavalry was lead by Gen. Maczek with his tanks, didn't lose a single battle during ww2 if I recall. (They were able to retreat through Hungary and fought on western allies side later on)

Yes, but when needed, they made a few successful charges with sabres in hands, breaking German infantry units.

And if they ran into German tanks, it was by pure accident.

Well, Pawian, my understanding, with the help of an actual cavalry member(Rustejko, like me), they run into terrified German foot soldiers and the German
tanks run into them. The tragic end of the story.

Yes, sort of.
However, the message of Polish cavalry storming tanks has been propagated by Polish cinema itself.

In this film you can see two charges. The first one is against mechanised infantry with cannons, while the other against tanks which is absurd.

youtube.com/watch?v=Gi0SbZ7X7gQ

What was the plan?

Also, did anybody ask horses what they thought about running against German tanks? I wouldn't.

You wouldn`t what exactly??? Ask horses, think or run against German lines????