The Battle of Węgierska Górka was a two-day-long defence of a
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
fortified area in south of
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
during the opening stages of the
Invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
of 1939.
Although the Polish position was not completed and only five bunkers were manned, the line was defended for two days and nights against superior German forces of the
German 7th Infantry Division. One of the bunkers was successfully evacuated by the
Polish 1st Mountain Brigade, but the others lacked radio receivers and did not receive the order to retreat. Eventually, the Germans managed to break through the Polish positions, but with heavy casualties on their side and with a significant delay.
History
Before the battle
Following the
German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Poland's southern border became vulnerable to a possible German invasion. Because of that, in April 1939 the General Inspectorate of the Armed Forces dispatched
Col. Tadeusz Zieleniewski to prepare plans of fortifications along the border to cover the southern flank of the
Kraków Army in case of an armed conflict with
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. The plan assumed creation of four major fortified areas sealing all four river valleys in the area. The
Soła valley was to be blocked by 20 large bunkers located around the village of
Węgierska Górka, the
Koszarawa was to be sealed in
Korbielów,
Krzyżowa and
Przyborów, the
Skawa
Skawa (german: Schaue) is a river in southern Poland, a right tributary of the Vistula. It originates in the Western Carpathians (Beskids), is long and drains . It passes several towns: Jordanów, Maków Podhalański, Sucha Beskidzka, Wadowice ...
shielded in
Bystra and
Jordanów
Jordanów, is a town in southern Poland, on the Skawa river. As of 2018, the town had a population of 5,360.
History
Jordanów was founded in 1564 by Spytek Wawrzyniec Jordan on the salt road from Kraków and Wieliczka to Orava and Hungary. In ...
, while the
Raba River valley was to be defended by bunkers built in
Raba Niżna
Raba Niżna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Mszana Dolna, within Limanowa County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Mszana Dolna, west of Limanowa, and south of the regi ...
. The plan was accepted on 24 June and the construction at Węgierska Górka and Korbielów started almost immediately, in early July.
The bunkers around Węgierska Górka were to form a crescent-shaped defensive position guarding the village and the town in the valley between the hills of over 1000 metres of altitude. All works were carried out by a mobilized unit of Work Battalions led by Major Śliwiński, with civilians forbidden to enter the construction area. The bunkers were of different types, but all of them were large, able to house at least one
anti-tank gun, several
heavy machine gun
A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...
s and a crew of up to 20 soldiers. The walls and ceilings were made of reinforced concrete mixed with dense
porphyry rocks, which added to their impregnability. All bunkers in the area had code-names starting with the letter W. Despite the plans, in less than two months only five bunkers were more or less ready. On 1 September 1939, at the moment of the German invasion, only four were manned: Wędrowiec (''Traveller''), Wąwóz (''Gorge''), Waligóra (Mountaincracker - name of a folk tale hero) and Włóczęga (''Hobo''). The fifth one, Wyrwidąb (also named after a folk tale hero) had to be abandoned due to lack of crews. The remaining 15 bunkers were at different stages of construction and most of them were little more than concrete foundations.
The four bunkers were also only provisionally prepared. All of them lacked heavy machine gun (HMG) cupolas that were to be mounted on top of the ceilings to cover the battlefield with machine gun fire. There was neither electricity nor telephone network and the only means of communication were ''signal pipes'', steel tubes with reflectors for
Morse code communication, completely unusable in the dense smoke of the battle. The lack of electricity also resulted in the crew resorting to usage of kerosene lamps and candles, while the electric water pumps were not operational at all. Finally, the bunkers were insufficiently supplied with ammunition, which was to be delivered on 1 September but in reality never reached the troops.
Opposing forces
The four bunkers were manned with the 70 men strong ''151st fortress company "Węgierska Górka"'' under the command of Captain
Tadeusz Semik. The trenches around the bunkers were manned by the
Border Defence Corps
The Border Protection Corps ( pl, Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza, KOP) was a military formation of the Second Polish Republic that was created in 1924 to defend the country's eastern borders against armed Soviet incursions and local bandits. Other ...
battalion "''
Berezwecz''" under Major
Kazimierz Czarkowski and the position was reinforced with two batteries of light artillery and one battery of mountain artillery from the 55th Light Artillery Regiment of the
Polish 1st Mountain Brigade. In addition, the Polish forces were reinforced with small detachments of other units, among them two platoons of reserve forces of the "''Żywiec''" National Defence battalion and a small detachment of the mobilized
Border Guard. Altogether, Captain Semik had roughly 1,200 men at his command.
Against the Polish forces stood the entire
German 7th Infantry Division, a part of the XVII Corps of the
German 14th Army under
Wilhelm List
Wilhelm List (14 May 1880 – 17 August 1971) was a German field marshal during World War II who was convicted of war crimes by a US Army tribunal after the war. List commanded the 14th Army in the invasion of Poland and the 12th Army in the ...
. The division, commanded by Major General
Eugen Ott, was composed of three infantry regiments, reinforced with heavy artillery (150 mm). Altogether, the German commander had roughly 17,000 men at his disposal, more than ten times the number available to his opponent.
Battle
At half past 4 in the morning, on 1 September, the German 7th Infantry Division crossed the Polish border in the area of
Milówka and started their assault towards the Polish positions. Their orders were to break through the weak Polish defences and outflank the
Kraków Army, thus preventing it from withdrawing eastwards. However, the division was stopped by a delaying action of two Polish infantry companies of the reserve National Defence and Border Defence Corps. Although the Germans outnumbered the Polish forces stationed along the border at least 100 to 1, it was not until the late evening that they finally arrived at the area of Milówka, located only from the border. Under such circumstance the weak Polish units withdrew to the main lines of the defence in front of Węgierska Górka. The Germans arrived there early in the morning of the following day.
The German infantry tried to storm the Polish positions on the run, but were bloodily repelled. The German commander then called for artillery and aerial bombardment of the Polish lines and repeated the assaults, which however were all repelled by the infantry battalion manning the field fortifications around the bunkers. By the end of the day the Poles claimed eight enemy armoured vehicles and tanks, while the Germans were forced back to their initial positions between Milówka and Węgierska Górka. However, other German units in the area were more successful and
Janusz Gaładyk, the commander of the Polish 1st Mountain Brigade, ordered all Polish units in the area to withdraw overnight to the area of
Oczków, where they were to shield the flank of the
Polish 21st Infantry Division. However, as the battle continued throughout the night, the orders reached only the "Waligóra" bunker, artillery units and parts of the "Berezwecz" battalion, while the crews of the remaining three bunkers and the infantry units shielding them remained on their positions.
The heavy fighting for the area continued until the early morning. "Waligóra" was manned by seven soldiers from a routed unit and continued to fire at the Germans after the original crew withdrew. However, they were armed with their personal rifles only and had no ammunition left, which forced them to capitulate soon afterwards. All of them were subsequently executed by the Germans.
[See General reference No.1] With the Polish infantry and artillery units withdrawn, by dawn the Germans finally managed to outflank the Polish positions and partially encircle them. The crews however decided to continue the struggle until their ammunitions ran out. After a night-long heavy fight, the crew of the "Włóczęga" fired their last ammunition at half past 8 o'clock in the morning and capitulated. This sealed the fate of the nearby "Wędrowiec", as its sides were now open to enemy fire. The German infantry were now able to approach it and throw grenades through the unsealed MG turret shaft. Although no Polish soldiers were wounded, this allowed the Germans to tow anti-tank guns right outside the sealed bunker and fire directly into the MG and artillery nests. The crew withdrew to the safe part of the bunker and continued the fight with rifles, but the bunker's HMG and the 37 mm anti-tank gun were destroyed. Finally, at 5 o'clock in the evening "Wędrowiec" also capitulated. This allowed the Germans to gain free passage towards
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
and the rear of the withdrawing
Kraków Army. The crew of the "Wąwóz" continued the fight, but the German commander decided to avoid further losses and bypassed it. Realizing this, the crew withdrew overnight and joined other Polish units still in the area.
Eyewitness account
''
From Lemberg to Bordeaux
Leo Leixner (1908–1942) was an Austrian journalist and war correspondent. He is known for his boo''From Lemberg to Bordeaux'' a first-hand account of war in Poland, the Low Countries, and France, 1939–40, during World War II.
Early life and e ...
'' ('Von Lemberg bis Bordeaux'), written by
Leo Leixner
Leo Leixner (1908–1942) was an Austrian journalist and war correspondent. He is known for his boo''From Lemberg to Bordeaux'' a first-hand account of war in Poland, the Low Countries, and France, 1939–40, during World War II.
Early life and e ...
, a journalist and war correspondent, is a first-hand account of the battles that led to the fall of Poland, the low countries, and France. It includes a rare eye-witness description of the Battle of Węgierska Górka. In August 1939, Leixner joined the Wehrmacht as a war reporter, was promoted to sergeant, and in 1941 published his recollections. The book was originally issued by
Franz Eher Nachfolger
Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH (''Franz Eher and Successors, LLC'', usually referred to as the Eher-Verlag (''Eher Publishing'')) was the central publishing house of the Nazi Party and one of the largest book and periodical firms during the Third Rei ...
, the central publishing house of the Nazi Party.
See also
*
List of World War II military equipment of Poland Polish Armament in 1939–45 article is a list of equipment used by Polish army before and during the Invasion of Poland, foreign service in British Commonwealth forces and last campaign to Germany with the Red Army in 1945.
Aircraft
Local de ...
*
List of German military equipment of World War II
The following is a list of German military equipment of World War II which includes artillery, vehicles and vessels. World War II was a global war that was under way by 1939 and ended in 1945. Following political instability build-up in Europe from ...
Notes and references
::In-line:
::General:
*
*
* Stanley S.Seidner, ''Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz Rydz and the Defense of Poland'', New York, 1978.
External links
Simplified map of the battlefield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegierska Gorka
Battles of the Invasion of Poland
Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)
September 1939 events