Battle of Łódź (1939)

Battle of Łódź
Part of Invasion of Poland
Date September 6–8, 1939 Location Łódź, Poland Result German victory
Belligerents
Germany	Poland
Commanders and leaders
Gerd von Rundstedt	Juliusz Rómmel
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Battle of Łódź was fought on September 6–8, 1939, between the armies of Poland and Nazi Germany in World War II during the Invasion of Poland. The Polish forces were led by General Juliusz Rómmel.

The German aggression was anticipated by the Poles since spring of 1939, when Poland refused to join the Axis against the Soviet Union (see Polish Soviet War of 1919-1920). Poland’s strategy during the forecast war would be to stand the initial German attack and trigger France and Great Britain to declare the war on Germany, and, afterward, to execute a fighting retreat to the Romanian Bridgehead. Polish General Juliusz Rómmel was given command of the Łódź Army and to buy time to finish mobilization of his own army, leading three divisions, rushed to the border. He believed that only through mobility and continuous resistance ("fighting for every village"), the German advance could be slowed down enough to finish mobilization of his own army. The headquarters of the army were in the city of Łódź. The reason for the late mobilization was pressure from the French and the British not to mobilize. As of 29 August 1939, the Poles re—started the mobilization against the advice from Paris and London (see Jabłonków Incident, 25 August 1939).

The German Army attacked on September 1, 1939. Given the overwhelming military superiority in terms of numbers and equipment they had, and the strategic advantage of having the Poles surrounded on three sides (West from mainland Germany, North from East Prussia and South from former Czechoslovakia), they hoped for a quick and relatively bloodless victory. It should be noted that some modern historians repudiate the idea that Blitzkrieg was first used in the invasion of Poland (see section "Misconceptions" in Invasion of Poland). Adolf Hitler thought the French and British military leaders were incapable of even pushing the pencil to declare war on in the event of Germany invading Poland. He was wrong. On September 3, 1939, both countries declared war on Germany, but they failed to provide any meaningful support (see Western betrayal), and the only Allied attack (the Saar Offensive) did not result in any diversion of German troops.

...
Wikipedia