Day-by-Day Timeline of Events
Thursday, August 31st, 1939
Adolf Hitler provides the final orders for the invasion of Poland.
Friday, September 1st, 1939
German airborne elements begin bombardment of Polish defensive targets. At 6:00 AM, 50 German divisions making up Army Group North and Army Group South flood into Poland. Army Group South's mission is the capture of the Polish capital of Warsaw.
Saturday, September 2nd, 1939
The governments of Britain and France deliver their ultimatums to German officials in regards to the German invasion of Poland.
Wednesday, September 6th, 1939
The Polish government and military command flee Warsaw.
Wednesday, September 6th, 1939
German forces advance beyond Lodz.
Wednesday, September 6th, 1939
German forces take Krakow.
Friday, September 8th, 1939
The German Tenth Army reaches the Warsaw perimeter.
Friday, September 8th, 1939
The German Fourteenth Army arrives near Przemysl.
Friday, September 8th, 1939
General Guderian's tank force reaches the Bug River just east of the Polish capital.
Friday, September 8th, 1939
German ground forces arrive at the outskirts of the Polish capital of Warsaw, covering an astounding 200 miles in a single week.
Saturday, September 9th, 1939
Polish Poznan army units launch a counter-offensive against the German army at Kutno on the Bzura.
Sunday, September 10th, 1939
Polish forces at the Modline fortress some 20 miles north of Warsaw fall under siege to the German Army.
Sunday, September 17th, 1939
Soviet army elements begin their invasion of Poland from the east. Attacks occur near Vilnius and Bialystok.
Sunday, September 17th, 1939
Polish resistance at the Bzura River north of Lodz finally surrender to the Germans. Some 170,000 Polish prisoners are taken captive.
Monday, September 18th, 1939
The Polish city of Vilnius falls to the Soviet army.
Monday, September 18th, 1939
The Polish government flees to Romania and is held. A government-in-exile is hastily arranged.
Tuesday, September 19th, 1939
German and Soviet army elements finally meet one another in Poland at Brest-Litovsk.
Friday, September 22nd, 1939
The Polish city of Bialystok falls to the Soviet Army.
Friday, September 22nd, 1939
The Polish City of Lwow falls to the Soviet Army.
Wednesday, September 27th, 1939
The Polish capital of Warsaw officially falls.
Thursday, September 28th, 1939
Polish forces fighting it out at the Modline fortress officially surrender.
Friday, September 29th, 1939
The German-Soviet Boundary Friendship Treaty is signed between German representative von Ribbentrop and Soviet representative Molotov. Poland is divided into a western zone under German control and an eastern zone under Soviet control.
Monday, October 2nd, 1939
The last valiant gap of Polish resistance - numbering some 4,500 soldiers under the command of Admiral Unruh - north of Danzig on the Polwysep Helski peninsula falls to the Germans.
Sunday, April 14th, 1940
An Allied rescue force made up of British, Polish, and French begin arriving at Namsos, Alesund, and Narvik.
Saturday, April 20th - April 30th, 1940
The German defense at Trondheim holds and prepares for reinforcements.
Sunday, May 5th, 1940
French and Polish forces land at Tromso and Harstad.
Tuesday, November 26th, 1940
The construction of a ghetto in the Polish capital of Warsaw is begun in an effort to corral the local Jewish populations.
Sunday, September 17th, 1944
General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, approves General Montgomery's Operation Market Garden.
Sunday, September 17th, 1944
Operation Market Garden is activated. Parachute landings take place at Eindhoven, Veghel, Grave and Oosterbeek.
Friday, September 22nd, 1944
Elements of the Polish Parachute Brigade, delayed multiple times from earlier participation in the operation, finally land south of Arnhem. Their mission is to reinforce the battered British 1st Airborne Division.
Wednesday, September 27th, 1944
Despite valliant actions, the Polish Parachute Brigade is forced to surrender at Arnhem.
Saturday, July 1st, 1944
Plans by the Polish Army are laid out for a resistance and uprising in the Capital City of Warsaw against their German overseers.
Saturday, July 1st, 1944
Lieutenant-General Komorowski heads up the resistance plans as Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Home Army in Warsaw.
Wednesday, July 26th, 1944
The Polish government, in exile since the fall of their country to the invading Germans, communicates with the British government for help in staging the uprising.
Thursday, July 27th, 1944
The British government promises what it can and this emerges in the form of scattered air drops of weapons and supplies.
Monday, July 31st, 1944
Soviet Army forces close in on German defenders in Warsaw.
Tuesday, August 1st, 1944
Three Soviet Army Fronts converge on the outskirts of Warsaw, prompting Polish General Komorowski to greenlight the uprising.
Tuesday, August 1st, 1944
Roughly 30,000 Poles and scattered firearms make up the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising.
Tuesday, August 1st, 1944
Uprisings begin across the Polish capital of Warsaw.
Tuesday, August 1st, 1944
Upon hearing of news of the Polish uprising, an infuriated Adolph Hitler swears punishment and commits more of his troops within the Capital limits.
Thursday, August 10th, 1944
German Army forces continue to relocate to Warsaw in an attempt to quell the Polish uprising.
Sunday, August 20th, 1944
German Army soldiers now number some 21,300 personnel in Warsaw.
Friday, August 4th, 1944
Realizing their chances of victory are slim against well-trained and well-armed Germans, Polish Authorities once again ask the Allies - including the Soviets - for assistance in maintaining the uprising.
Friday, August 11th, 1944
Sensing complete destruction of Warsaw and its people, the Pope himself appeals to the Allies for help.
Friday, August 11th, 1944
The Red Army finds themselves some 12 miles outside of Warsaw proper, having advanced into the Polish suburbs.
Wednesday, August 16th, 1944
Sensing his own political interests and conquests, Soviet leader Josef Stalin rejects a direct call for aid for the Poles.
Sunday, August 20th, 1944
The swift and thorough German response has divided the Polish resistance into three distinct groups, all cut off from one another.
Sunday, August 20th, 1944
The German Army begins their final push to crush the Polish response.
Friday, August 25th, 1944
SS Obergruppenfuhrer Erich von dem Bach-Zelweski details the final German push.
Friday, August 25th, 1944
The Germans begin their counter-offensive against the remaining Pole units.
Saturday, September 16th, 1944
Pressured by the Americans and British, Stalin gives in - just a little - and delivers a meager air drop of arms consisting of just fifty pistols and a pair of machine guns.
Monday, September 18th, 1944
American B-17 bombers land at Poltava, now under Soviet control, to refuel. Onboard are arms and supplies meant for the Polish resistance.
Monday, September 18th, 1944
Josef Stalin refuses further Allied use of his forward airfields to resupply the Polish insurgents.
Monday, September 25th, 1944
American air drops deliver their much-needed cargo to the Polish resistance below. However, the drop zones are in firm German control and supplies are captured soon after landing.
Saturday, September 16th, 1944
Polish Army units fighting alongside the Soviet Army make a dash to support their comrades in Warsaw, this against the orders of Soviet High Command.
Sunday, September 17th, 1944
Under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Zygmunt Berling, the 1st Polish Army forces engage the Germans in Warsaw but are ultimately driven back in retreat.
Thursday, September 21st, 1944
For his actions in disobeying Soviet Army orders, Berling is stripped of his army command.
Monday, October 2nd, 1944
Polish General Komorowski, sensing total defeat imminent, orders his Polish insurgents to surrender to the Germans.
Tuesday, October 3rd, 1944
Polish military forces all surrender to the German Army, ending the valliant uprising.
Tuesday, October 31st, 1944
Some 250,000 Polish civilians and soldiers of Warsaw will meet their end through execution or deportation to Nazi concentration camps as a result of the Warsaw uprising.
Tuesday, January 11th, 1944
The first major Allied offensive to take Cassino is launched.
Friday, February 11th, 1944
A blanket retreat is enacted by the Allies in an attempt to regroup and plan a new strategy to take Cassino.
Tuesday, February 15th, 1944
Following the Allied aerial bombardment, the second major Allied offensive to take Cassino is launched.
Saturday, February 19th - March 13th, 1944
The Italian winter makes its arrival and postpones any further Allied offensives for the next month.
Wednesday, March 15th, 1944
A third major Allied offensive is put into action.
Wednesday, March 15th, 1944
Artillery guns open up on Cassino while 600-plus Allied bombers attempt to shake the German defenders.
Wednesday, March 15th - March 21st, 1944
Positions on Monte Cassino are officially in Allied hands.
Wednesday, March 22nd, 1944
With mounting losses in both manpower and tanks, further Allied thrusts are called off.
Thursday, March 23rd - May 10th, 1944
A lengthy six-week period allows the Allies to rebuild their forces - though this period allows the Germans to increase their defensive foothold.
Thursday, May 11th, 1944
The fourth offensive to take Cassino is put into action.
Thursday, May 11th, 1944
A combined British, Polish and American assault converge on Cassino involving the British 13th Corps, the Polish II Corps and the US 5th Army.
Thursday, May 18th, 1944
The Poles take Monte Calvario.
Thursday, May 18th, 1944
Monte Cassino falls to the Allies, costing some 50,000 casualties along both sides of the battlefield.
Thursday, July 13th, 1944
A new Soviet land offensive is launched with elements of the Soviet 1st and 4th Ukranian Fronts. Their target is Germany Army Group North in the Ukraine on their way to southern Poland.
Wednesday, August 30th, 1944
The massive Soviet offensive ends with much of the German-held territories now in Russian hands. The Soviet Army has made it as far as the outskirts of Warsaw in Poland with a front running from Lithuania in the north, through Belorussia in the center and Poland/Ukraine in the south.
Friday, January 12th, 1945
The Red Army enacts a massive offensive against German foes along the East Front. His targets are German Army Group A and Army Group Center located in East Prussia and Poland. The battle line is a long running front from the Lithuanian coast down to the Balkans region.
Tuesday, January 16th, 1945
Adolf Hitler reorders his forces, weakening key areas of defense, to attempt a flanking manuever against the Red Army near Poznan.
Wednesday, January 17th, 1945
The Polish capital city of Warsaw officially falls to the advancing Soviet Army.
Thursday, February 22nd, 1945
Poznan falls to the Soviet Army after the defending German troops surrender.
Saturday, February 24th, 1945
General Konev's 1st Ukranian Front claims Lower Silesia.
