Siege of Warsaw (1939)
The Siege of Warsaw in September 1939 cost the lives of around 18,000 civilians. The air raids alone left one building in every ten in the Polish capital completely destroyed, and another four in ten heavily damaged. The defenders were a patchwork of regular soldiers, rear-guard troops, and volunteers, among them women and children. Against them stood the invading German army and a Luftwaffe that began bombing the city on the first day of the war. German radio even announced that Warsaw had been captured. The first assault, however, had been beaten back. How did a capital with so few fighters organise a defence at all? Why did its air defences wear down so quickly? And what finally brought its commanders to the negotiating table?
From the 1st of September 1939, Luftwaffe bombers under Hermann Göring's command went after targets across Warsaw. Military sites were on the list, including infantry barracks, the Okęcie airport, and an aircraft factory. So were water works, hospitals, market places, and schools. The heavy civilian casualties may have shaken the morale of the Polish army defending the city and nudged it toward an early surrender.
Fifty-four fighters made up the Pursuit Brigade under Colonel Stefan Pawlikowski, and most were obsolete PZL P.7 and PZL P.11 types. Colonel Kazimierz Baran led the anti-aircraft artillery and machine-gun detachments. They had 86 guns, plus an unknown number of machine guns. Passive defence fell to fire-fighter brigades and volunteers. Colonel Tadeusz Bogdanowicz and the deputy president, Julian Kulski, supervised them.
By the 6th of September 1939, the Pursuit Brigade had shot down 43 German aircraft. The anti-aircraft artillery claimed a similar number of bombers. Nine further victories were unconfirmed, and 20 German planes were damaged. The price was steep. By the 7th of September, the brigade had lost more than 38 pieces of equipment, roughly 70% of its starting strength.
On the 5th of September, the military authorities had ordered 11 anti-aircraft batteries out of Warsaw. They were sent east, toward Lublin, Brześć, and Lwów. As the war went on, the German high command sent more bombers against the old town, the Royal Castle, and other monuments dear to the Polish nation. On the 10th of September, more than 70 German bombers were over the city. The day was nicknamed Bloody Sunday, and it brought 17 consecutive raids. It would not be the worst day of the bombing.
On the 3rd of September 1939, the German 4th Panzer Division under Major General Georg-Hans Reinhardt broke through the Polish Łódź Army near Częstochowa. It then began its march toward the river Vistula and Warsaw. That same day, Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły, the Polish commander-in-chief, ordered an improvised Command of the Defence of Warsaw, called Dowództwo Obrony Warszawy in Polish. He gave it to General Walerian Czuma, head of the Border Guard, with Colonel Tadeusz Tomaszewski as chief of staff.
Czuma inherited almost nothing. Most of the city authorities had left, together with a large part of the police, the fire fighters, and the military garrison. Warsaw was left with four battalions of infantry and a single battery of artillery. The garrison's spokesman even issued a communique ordering all young men to leave the city.
Stefan Starzyński, the president of Warsaw, answered the panic. Czuma appointed him Civilian Commissar of Warsaw. Starzyński organised a Civil Guard to take the place of the departed police and fire fighters. He ordered city administrators back to their posts. In daily radio releases, he asked civilians to build barricades and anti-tank barriers in the streets and on the outskirts.
On the 7th of September, the 40th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the Children of Lwów, was passing through Warsaw. Lieutenant Colonel Józef Kalandyk commanded it, and it was bound for positions with the Army Pomorze. The regiment was stopped in the capital and joined the defence.
On the morning of the 8th of September 1939, the German XVI Panzer Corps captured the suburbs of Grójec, Radziejowice, Nadarzyn, Raszyn, and Piaseczno. At exactly 5pm, the 4th Panzer Division attacked Ochota, Warsaw's western borough. The Polish defenders repulsed the assault. The Germans took heavy casualties and lost many Panzer I and Panzer II tanks.
The following day, the 4th Panzer Division returned with added artillery and motorized infantry. It struck toward Ochota and Wola. Polish 75 mm anti-tank guns fired at point-blank range. Barricades on the main streets did the rest, and every attack and surprise thrust was turned back.
Most of the field fortifications stood west of the city limits. They were manned by General Czuma's troops and by a growing stream of volunteers, mostly civilians, including women and children. Rear-guard troops and units pulling back from the front joined them. At the crossing of Opaczewska and Grójecka streets, the 4th company of the 40th Children of Lwów Regiment held one barricade. After the war, a monument was built on that spot.
Where weapons ran short, ingenuity filled the gap. One street leading toward the city center was flooded with turpentine from a nearby factory. When German tanks approached, the liquid was set alight, and the tanks were destroyed without a single shot fired.
The 4th Panzer Division lost roughly 80 of the approximately 220 tanks that took part in the assault. It then had to retreat westward to help stop a Polish counter-offensive on the Bzura River.
By the 8th of September 1939, General Czuma had gathered the equivalent of two infantry divisions. He also had 64 pieces of artillery and 33 tanks. Twenty-seven of those tanks were of the Vickers E, 7TP, and R-35 types, and six were TK-3 and TKS tankettes. That same day, Marshal Rydz-Śmigły created an improvised Warsaw Army under General Juliusz Rómmel. It combined the forces defending Warsaw and Modlin Fortress with Polish units along the Narew and the Vistula, between Warsaw and the Pilica river.
Czuma stayed in command of the Warsaw Defence Force and split it into two sectors. Lieutenant Colonel Julian Janowski took the East sector, in the Praga district. Colonel Marian Porwit took the West.
The Army Poznań under General Tadeusz Kutrzeba and the Army Pomorze under General Władysław Bortnowski attacked the left flank of the German forces advancing on Warsaw. The offensive later became known as the Battle of Bzura. German commanders pulled the 4th Panzer Division out and sent it to Kutno to meet the threat. A weakened German 31st Infantry Division took its place. The desperate attempt to buy time for Warsaw had worked.
Various units of the routed Prusy Army reached the city and joined its defenders. New units were also created in Warsaw from the reserve centres of the 8th Infantry Division and the 36th Infantry Regiment, known as the Academic Legion. On the 11th of September, the Polish commander-in-chief ordered Warsaw defended at all costs, despite the possible heavy casualties and civilian losses.
On the 12th of September 1939, the German 3rd Army under General Georg von Küchler broke through Polish lines along the Narew river. It marched south to cut Warsaw off from the east. Cavalry units under Władysław Anders attacked it, but after heavy fighting the counter-offensive failed. Other units fought near the Narew under General Juliusz Zulauf, then retreated, and reached Warsaw on the 14th of September. They became the core of the defence of Praga.
On the 15th of September, German forces reached Warsaw from the east, and the capital was under siege. Only a strip of land along the Vistula, leading to the Kampinos Forest and Modlin Fortress, remained in Polish hands. The same day, the 3rd Army attacked Praga from both sides of the Vistula. Around Grochów, the German 23rd Infantry Regiment was annihilated by the 21st Infantry Regiment, the Children of Warsaw. Colonel Stanisław Sosabowski commanded it and was later promoted to general.
After the Battle of Bzura ended, the remnants of the Poznań and Pomorze armies broke through the German encirclement. They reached Warsaw and Modlin between the 18th and the 21st of September, coming through the Kampinos Forest. The defenders now numbered approximately 140,000 soldiers. The Germans were preparing an all-out assault with 13 divisions and one thousand artillery pieces.
After the 20th of September, German forces on the eastern bank of the Vistula attacked Praga every day. The Poles counter-attacked successfully each time. On the 22nd of September, German forces reached the Vistula and cut the last lines of communication between Warsaw and Modlin. Heavy railway guns and mortars shelled the city day and night, and two entire air fleets raided civilian and military targets alike. On the 24th of September, all German units around Warsaw were placed under General Johannes Blaskowitz.
An initial German attack on the 23rd of September 1939 was repulsed. The next one began on the 25th of September with an artillery and air bombardment that included 1,200 aircraft. The day became known as Black Monday, and it became a legend in the history of Warsaw.
Early the following morning, the German general assault began on all fronts of the encircled city. Five divisions, the 10th, 18th, 19th, 31st, and 46th, attacked the western parts of Warsaw. Four more, the 11th, 32nd, 61st, and 217th, attacked the east.
The infantry had heavy support. Roughly 70 batteries of field artillery and 80 batteries of heavy artillery backed the attack. The 1st and 4th air fleets bombarded the city continuously, causing heavy losses among civilians.
On the 26th of September, the Forts of Mokotów, Dąbrowski, and Czerniaków fell to the German assault. That same day, General Rómmel opened talks with the German commander.
General Czuma had gathered enough forces and war material to defend Warsaw for several weeks longer. The situation of the civilians, however, grew more tragic each day. Constant bombardment of civilian facilities, together with shortages of food and medical supplies, caused heavy casualties. German bombers destroyed the water works. Every borough lacked drinking water, and lacked water to put out the fires started by the bombing.
The strategic picture had also darkened. The Soviet Union had entered the war, and the Western Allies sent no support. Both made the defence of the city seem pointless and badly demotivated the volunteers.
At 12:00 on the 27th of September, a ceasefire agreement was signed and all fighting halted. Warsaw soon capitulated, and the garrison under General Czuma officially surrendered on the 28th of September. Several units refused to lay down their arms. Generals Czuma and Rómmel had to visit their commanding officers in person.
On the 29th of September, the garrison began to hide or destroy its heavy armament. On the 30th of September, Polish forces started their evacuation to German prisoner of war camps. The next day, German units entered the capital, and the occupation that followed lasted until the 17th of January 1945, when Wehrmacht troops left as Soviet forces advanced. Some of the war material hidden on the 29th of September was later used in the Warsaw Uprising.
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Common questions
When did the Siege of Warsaw take place in 1939?
The Siege of Warsaw followed the German invasion of Poland, with aerial bombardment starting on the 1st of September 1939. Land fighting began on the 8th of September, the city was besieged from the 15th of September, and the garrison capitulated on the 28th of September.
Who commanded the Polish defence in the Siege of Warsaw?
General Walerian Czuma commanded the Command of the Defence of Warsaw. General Juliusz Rómmel led the improvised Warsaw Army, and Stefan Starzyński served as Civilian Commissar of Warsaw.
How many civilians died in the Siege of Warsaw?
Around 18,000 civilians of Warsaw died during the Siege of Warsaw. Air bombardment completely destroyed 10% of the city's buildings and heavily damaged a further 40%.
What was Black Monday in the Siege of Warsaw?
Black Monday was the 25th of September 1939, when a German attack began with an artillery and air bombardment that included 1,200 aircraft. It became a legend in the history of Warsaw.
Why did Warsaw surrender in the Siege of Warsaw?
Warsaw surrendered because of mounting civilian suffering, a lack of food, medical supplies, and water, and the destruction of its water works. The Soviet Union's entry into the war and the absence of Western Allied support also made further defence seem pointless.
How did the Battle of Bzura affect the Siege of Warsaw?
The Polish offensive of the Poznań and Pomorze armies, later called the Battle of Bzura, forced the Germans to pull the 4th Panzer Division away from Warsaw and send it to Kutno. A weakened 31st Infantry Division replaced it, which bought time to organise the defence of the city.
All sources
4 references cited across the entry
- 1Zaloga, S.J., 2002, Poland 1939, Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd.,