Battle of the Border

Forces as of 31 August and German plan of attack.

Date	1–4 September 1939
Location	Poland, partially Germany
Result	German victory

Belligerents

Germany

Poland

Commanders and leaders

Fedor von Bock

Emil Krukovich-Pshedzhimirsky

The Battle of the Border (Polish: Bitwa graniczna) refers to the battles that occurred in the first days of the German invasion of Poland in September, 1939. The series of battles ended in a German victory, as Polish forces were either destroyed or forced to retreat.

The Polish defense plan (Plan Zachód) called for a defense of Poland's borders in case of invasion from Germany. Much of Poland's new industry and major population centers were located in the border area (particularly in Silesia); however, the lengthy border was very difficult to defend properly. The plan was criticized by some of the Polish military and Western advisors, but supported by politicians who feared the effect of abandoning a significant part of the population to the enemy without a fight, and who were further discouraged from abandoning those territories as the Polish allies (France and the United Kingdom) did not guarantee the Borders of Poland and might well decide to allow the Germans to take the Polish Corridor they demanded in exchange for peace (pursuing a policy of appeasement).

The German invasion plan (Fall Weiss) called for the start of hostilities before the declaration of war and for the Blitzkrieg doctrine of lightning war to be pursued. German units were to invade Poland from three directions:

All three assaults were to converge on Warsaw, while the main Polish army was to be encircled and destroyed west of the Vistula.

Poland, which already had a smaller population and thus a smaller military budget and army than Germany, was further disadvantaged because Poland was unsure whether the war would start already, and its armed forces were not fully mobilized by 1 September.

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