Primary Sources of the September Campaign

[Broletariat90]

I'm currently working on a paper focusing on the September Campaign of 1939. I'm really trying to focus on how the Poles were portrayed by journalists, photographers, generals and historians as completely incompetent and backwards equipment wise compared to Germany. I also am trying to address the falsehood of the German Army being completely mechanized/motorized which was spread by the press. I have tons of secondary sources but what I'm really lacking is primary. Does anyone know of any good primary sources that they could recommend. I'm really interested in finding any photo albums of the Polish Army or anything written by an actual participant on the Polish side. Sadly I can't read Polish so that does limit what I can use.

 

[keynes2.0]

You could probably get some decent primary sources for the germans not being completely mechanized by just going on the wikipedia OOB pages and looking at the sources.

 

[Andre Bolkonsky]

I'm sure you've mentioned the Poles walking by, looking at the actual armor on the German tanks rather than the cardboard cutouts they drove around in Russia? Lancer Cavalry, modern AT!

As a counterargument, make sure you mention the Polish Intelligence knowing the invasion is coming but not pushing troops up on the border to protect their codebreaking endeavors, especially smuggling out hard data on the Enigma Machine to Britain, that's enough of a headline to get you to where you need to go if you're not there already. It can be found in any discussion of the foundations of ULTRA.

Good luck.

 

[Andre Bolkonsky]

Google something called 'eyewitness to history' and reference the Polish invasion, I can't link because of forbidden imagery. But it has actual commentary from some Poles with footnotes.

There is an article in Der Spiegel about this specifically dated 2011 very critical of Germany. I cannot link it because of forbidden topics, but it has some good stuff in there for you.

 

[Tommy4ever]

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

You can certainly see what journalists were saying the time, and without even going to a physical archive - the above link has dozens of UK newspapers for 1939. I don't know other countries' materials so I can't help you with the German or Polish press. I'd imagine Germany has similar online access to historical newspapers if you can find someone who knows where to look, but would be surprised if Poland did.

 

[pithorr]

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

You can certainly see what journalists were saying the time, and without even going to a physical archive - the above link has dozens of UK newspapers for 1939. I don't know other countries' materials so I can't help you with the German or Polish press. I'd imagine Germany has similar online access to historical newspapers if you can find someone who knows where to look, but would be surprised if Poland did.

https://polona.pl/search/?query=Wrzesień_1939
In Polish of course

 

[Tommy4ever]

https://polona.pl/search/?query=Wrzesień_1939
In Polish of course

I was wrong to underestimate you .

 

[pithorr]

Try Steven Zaloga: https://www.worldcat.org/title/poland-1939-the-birth-of-blitzkrieg/oclc/53276520

 

[Broletariat90]

What I'm using as a basis is something out of my own schools archives.
http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/pol/search/searchterm/
I'm using Harrison Forman's diary along with the article he published for Travel Magazine. If you look at some of the captions, they are pretty ridiculous .
http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/pol/id/96/rec/22
The Bofors 37 was actually a pretty decent piece of equipment in the early war.
http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/pol/id/90/rec/25
This one is also pretty funny considering all armies including the Germans still used horses.

*I hope these links don't break any forum rules. But they are just too interesting not to share.

I do know the World War II Museum in Gdansk has temporary exhibit about recently found photo negatives of the Polish Army prior to the invasion but I can't find them online and I don't know if it's entirely ethical to site something currently in a physical exhibit.

If you are all interested I'd share my proposal and you can feel free to let me know if it makes any sense.

Thanks for all the help.