Battle of Lvov (1939)
| Battle of Lwów | |||||||
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| Part of Invasion of Poland | |||||||
 Polish field artillery in Lwów 1939 |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Germany Soviet Union
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 Poland
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Ferdinand Schörner Filipp Golikov
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 Władysław Langner Franciszek Sikorski
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| Strength | |||||||
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German: 1st Mountain Division, 2nd Mountain Division, part of 7th Infantry Division, part of 5th Panzer Division Soviet:6th Army |
11 infantry battalions 5 batteries of artillery (mainly 75 mm guns) 2 armoured trains 1 cavalry unit 1 engineering platoon and a small number of soldiers who had retreated into the city from elsewhere |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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926+ wounded 608+ sick |
Unknown | ||||||
German–Soviet victory
German 1st Mountain Division: 484 killed (including 116 from Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 99.)
918 wounded
608 sick
Soviet: 24th Armoured Brigade: 4 KIA and 8 WIA on 22 September
The Battle of Lwów (sometimes called the Siege of Lwów) was a World War II battle for the control over the Polish city of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) between the Polish Army and the invading Wehrmacht and the Red Army. The city was seen as the key to the so-called Romanian Bridgehead and was defended at all cost.
Initially, the town of Lwów was not to be defended as it was considered too deep behind the Polish lines and too important to Polish culture to be fought over in warfare. However, the fast pace of the Nazi invasion and the almost complete disintegration of the Polish reserve Prusy Army after the Battle of Łódź resulted in the city being in danger of a German assault. On September 7, 1939, general Władysław Langner started to organise the defence of the city. Initially the Polish forces were to defend the Bełżec — Rawa Ruska — Magierów line against the advancing German forces. General Rudolf Prich was given command of the Polish forces in the area and on September 11 he prepared a plan of defence of the area. The Polish units were to defend the line of the San river, with nests of resistance along the Żółkiew - Rawa Ruska - Janów (also called Yaniv or Ivano-Frankove) to the west of the river Wereszycą — Gródek Jagielloński line.
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