On this day 72 years ago, a German army of nearly 2 million soldiers invaded Poland, officially commencing World War II.
Ever since Hitler came to power in 1933, he preached the philosophy of Lebensraum (Living Space): captured territory, purged of the "lesser races," and occupied by native Germans. He also spoke about his desire to "rescue" East Prussia, which was separated from the Fatherland by Poland. As part of the non-agression pact with Russia, Hitler would only take half of the country and leave the rest for Stalin.
Despite popular myths, the Poles fought like tigers. Their air force alone destroyed 25% of the Luftwaffe that took part in the invasion. They were preparing more elaborate defenses, but it fell apart when the Soviets invaded on September 17. The army never officially surrendered, and Poland harbored one of the largest resistance movements in all of Europe.
On October 6, the last operational Polish unit was captured at Lublin by the Red Army.
Poland was carved up into military districts controlled by the Germans and Soviets. The nation would be used to house the Nazi's concentration camps. Borders between Nazi and Soviet would change hands many times during the war. Each time, thousands of innocents were coldly slaughtered.
American correspondant William Shirer was in Berlin on the day of the attack. He recorded in his diary that the German people were standing in the streets, silent and stunned, that they were once again at war with Britain and France. One WWI vet told him that he had not forgotten what war was like, and if the government knew, they would not lead the nation into one.
We all know the rest of the story, as told by the graves of tens of millions. The most destructive war in human history to date began in a remote corner of the world most people had never heard of.
