8. Fall Weiß
One immediate, and very unwelcome, reaction to the initiation of
Fall Weiß was the first crack in the Hamburg Pact. Romania, always the most liberal of the Balkan states, refused to support the invasion of Poland even indirectly. King Carol withdrew from his alliance with Germany, leaving the Reich scrambling to adjust plans. With Romania providing a blockade of sorts, both Bulgaria and Greece- loyal to the Pact -were suddenly cut off. Yugoslavia was supremely unwilling to allow travel between the Hamburg Pact states, especially with the common knowledge that Bulgaria wanted Macedonia.
Plans would have to be changed, but even this was truly a side-show. The Pact hadn't been called into the war with Poland.
That may yet happen, however, as the French made their own displeasure known. The troops in the Maginot Forts mobilized, manning their defensive stations as the French Air Force began flying over the Rhine. No offensive moves were made, the embassy in Berlin making it clear this was just a defensive move. France was not, yet, declaring war on the Republic. Nor did Britain make any hostile moves, seemingly content with their guarantee of Czechoslovakia.
The truth was rather more complex, as both Entente states were running around wondering what to do. This was unknown in Germany at the time however, where the only moves made was a reinforcing of the Westwall positions across from the Maginot.
Potentially more worrying was the Soviet reaction. Molotov, their Foreign Minister, had been attempting for some time to make a treaty with Germany. Divide Poland between the Reich and the USSR...West Prussia and Danzig going back to Germany, with the eastern territories Poland took in their war in the early '20s going back to Stalin. Unsurprisingly, Weimar rebuffed all moves in that direction. This war was not one to dismember Poland, like the Imperial states had done in the past. This was a war to return German land, nothing more, nothing less.
Stalin was furious when he found out however. The Soviet leader started spouting speeches condemning the 'Imperialist aggression against the Polish State', even though he would do the same. The Soviets were ignored for the most part...the prevalent view in the
Reichsheer being that the Red Army would collapse like a deck of cards in a war. Their officer corps was gutted, and with the resurgent Republic of China on their Siberian border, they couldn't spare enough to cover all their flanks even with the legendary Russian manpower reserves.
OKR could not have known how prescient the 'fall like a stack of cards' viewpoint was however...
And in any case, as German troops crossed into Poland, the point was redundant. Motorized formations quickly overrun the Polish defenses, pushing deep into West Prussia. Only in the East, where the
Heer was limited in numbers, did the Poles put up any noticeable resistance. Even this was weak however...the Poles obviously not expecting such a sudden attack.
Guderian's
Blitzkrieg was proving its worth.
Danzig, the flashpoint of the War, fell quickly to General Eicke's 32. Infantry. The city welcomed its liberators, the majority German population welcomed back into the Republic. The Poles were noticeably less pleased by this turn of events, but there was little they could reasonably do. The war turned south quickly, as Danzig's fall signaled a collapse in Polish morale.
This was very noticeable, in the fact that within days of Danzig's liberation, most of West Prussia was back in German hands. The East still held somewhat strong, but even there the Polish forces were falling back. It was also here that a soon to be famous General began his career. General Erwin Rommel and his Seventh Panzer Division took the town of Kaliz entirely on their own, with only limited infantry support. This was far from the only impressive note in the career of the Ghost of the Steppes and his Ghost Division, however.
That is for a latter day however. For now, the green Seventh pushed towards Warsaw.
For all the speed and skill of Rommel and his men however, they were not
quite fast enough. The first attempt to take Warsaw was forced back. The exhausted German forces were unable to breach the final Polish lines. Men and what few tanks Poland had left took up positions in ruined buildings and hastily dug trenches, holding back the German advance. The Weimar Coalition had made very clear that indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas was out of the question. As a result, it was down entirely to the men on the ground to take the Capital.
And for that, they would need time to rest and reorganize.
The Poles spent the time organizing their own defenses. Reserves were called up, and men and material flowed into Warsaw from the East. Even men from the Soviet border were pulled back, everything the young state had going into defending their city. Thousands of Polish soldiers took up defensive positions, every gun from old Russian arms to modern British weapons shipped in before Danzig had fallen went into the defense of the city. Taking Warsaw would not be an easy task for the
Reichsheer.
The Poles, of course, also hoped that such a destructive battle would not be needed. They sent an offering of peace to the German Reich...returning most of the disputed territory back to the Weimar Republic. However, noticeable portions of German territory was still in Polish hands, and leaving that territory in their control would leave the returned lands at risk. Nothing less than a full surrender could be accepted...to ensure that the Poles wouldn't come back after recovering.
Orders came to Rommel, to lead the assault on Warsaw. The more senior generals, Manstein, Rundstedt or Guderian, were all engaged in other portions of the front. This left the relatively green Rommel in charge of the assault by default. Five divisions, two Panzer and three Infantry, were gathered for the final assault. These forces were matched against a drained Warsaw Garrison, forces attempting to cover too many directions at once as other German units moved against the flanks of the Warsaw Corridor from north and south.
The multi-pronged assault was more than the city could take. After several days of fierce combat, the Garrison surrendered. Warsaw had fallen...
...and with it, the Polish Republic. All the disputed territory of Prussia was returned to the German Reich, as a friendly government was installed in Warsaw. The latter portion of the Peace Treaty had fierce arguments rage in the
Reichstag, but in the end it was considered necessary.
If nothing else, because Stalin loomed to the East...and Poland could never hope to stand against the Soviets on their own, not with so much territory returned to Germany. The Polish and German forces, only recently fighting each other, marched together to the East...to guard against Soviet aggression...
