Hitler began serious planning for the invasion of Poland in May 1939. Hitler was in a hurry and needed Soviet neutrality, in case France did declare war after he invaded Poland. In August 1939 a non-aggression pact was negotiated between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The two countries secretly agree to divide Poland roughly along the Vistula River.
Germany invades Poland from three sides on September 1, 1939 with 1.8 million Germany troops, supported by 2,600 tanks and over 2,000 aircraft. The agreement with France and Britain had been that the Polish army would hold down the Germans for two weeks until the French arrived. Poland holds on for four weeks. France and Britain declare war on Germany on September 3, but not one soldier is ever sent to Poland.
The Poles fought valiantly; the Germans lost 50,000 men, 697 planes and 993 tanks and armoured cars. But the effort cost the Poles nearly 200,000 in dead and wounded. The Soviet Army attacks and invades Poland from the East on September 17, 1939.
We found a village nearby where the peasants gave us some food and put us up for a little bit. Glab kept telling the peasants ‘Don’t worry, the Polish Army will come. The Russian army will come.’
The armies didn’t come, but refugees started coming back in hordes south towards Krakow. People who ran east found the Russian Army, so they turned around and came back. People who ran north found that Warsaw had fallen to the Germans. With nowhere to go, people turned around and headed home.
With nowhere to go but back to Krakow, we tried sailing, but that meant going upstream. Remember by now the river water is cold. We managed to rig a sail up on each of our kayaks – as soon as we turned a corner there were German soldiers standing on the side of the river with their guns pointed at us. Glab decided to dive into the river and swim away. It was so cold you could see the German’s misty breath. Glab came out of the water with his hands up, but the guard was laughing so hard at Glab shivering in his wet underwear, and us two Polish idiots trying to sail upstream, he didn’t even point his gun. Glab managed a ‘Heil Hitler’ or something, and I grabbed the vodka (we always had vodka) to try and warm up Glab. – Henry Zguda
Sources: Johnson; Zamoyski