Battle of Łódź

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

v • d • e Invasion of Poland Westerplatte – Danzig – The Border - Krojanty – Chojnice – Grudziądz – Lasy Królewskie – Mokra – Danzig Bay – Pszczyna – Mława – Tuchola Forest – Jordanów – Borowa Góra – Mikołów – Węgierska Górka – Tomaszów Mazowiecki – Wizna – Łódź – Przemyśl – Piotrków – Różan – Radom – Łomża – Wola Cyrusowa – Warsaw – Gdynia – Hel – Bzura – Jarosław – Kałuszyn – Węgrów – Wilno – Lwów – Modlin – Kobryń – Brześć – Kępa Oksywska – Tomaszów Lubelski – Wólka Węglowa – Kampinos Forest – Janów, Wereszyca, and Hołosko – Krasnystaw – Grodno – Łomianki – Sarny – Cześniki – Krasnobród – Władypol – Szack – Wytyczno – Parczew – Kock

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

Prelude

Poland had long anticipated a war would break open with Germany by March 1939. This was anticipated when Nazi Germany was making frequent demands for the return of the Port of Danzig and the Polish Corridor.^[1] Germany lost the Polish Corridor and the Port of Danzig following World War I. It had prepared a strategy and built up its military in preparation to retain it. Poland’s strategy was to throw everything they had at the frontlines, near the border with Germany. Meanwhile munitions and arms would be stockpiled in the southeast region of the country, to provide a last stand against the German invasion. This strategy was sought to buy more time for Poland in hopes of a quick counterattack by its allies of France and Britain.^[2] Polish General Juliusz Rómmel was given command of the Łódź Army and was expected to defend the city of Łódź. Łódź was a strategic city the Poles needed to hold as it provided a link to the southern and northern flanks of the Polish Army.

Poland's military blunder

General Rómmel made several crucial mistakes with the Łódź Army when the war began. His most significant mistake was dislocating the Łódź Army too close to the German border, which was to help stall the German advance early.^[3] However, the new military strategy Blitzkrieg, introduced by the Germans, had destroyed all theories of war up until this event. The German Blitzkrieg (lightning war) relied on the speed of the tanks advance to encircle the enemy into a trapped pocket, then continue deep into enemy territory while the pocket is bombarded. With Rómmel’s army near the border of Germany, it was cut off from the German spearhead within the first week of September 1939. Without any natural defenses, Rómmel’s army was easily outmaneuvered and cut off from the rest of the Polish army. General Rómmel and his staff were separated from his army and managed to retreat east before the Łódź Army was trapped in a pocket. He headed for Warsaw where they arrived in the night of September 7 to prepare to defend the capital city of Poland.

The German invasion

When the German Forces crossed the border into Poland, Poles, Jews, and soldiers all worked together to build trenches and fortify the city of Łódź. However, the German Army advanced too quickly with their Blitzkrieg strategy, making the defense network in the city ineffective against the German invasion.

In the central sector of the German invasion of Poland, the Leibstandarte joined up with the German 4th Panzer Division and advanced towards Łódź. Being a motorized and armored regiment, it easily destroyed the Polish defenders in its path.^[4] By September 6, two Wehrmacht army groups had linked up at Łódź, which is located in central Poland. While Łódź was under the control of the Wehrmacht, the 4th Panzer Division continued to advance east towards Warsaw. With Germany capturing the city, Poland was cleaved in half, trapping the bulk of the Polish army against the German border. Two days later, the bulk of the Polish forces were separated into five pockets near Pomerania, Pozan, Kraków, Carpathia, and Łódź. The Łódź army, trapped in a pocket just west of the city of Łódź was continuously bombarded by the German Luftwaffe (air force) and artillery fire. The Łódź Army later surrendered running out of food and ammunition. By September 8, the German advance stalled at the gates of Warsaw, which was remembered as the Siege of Warsaw. Germany had managed to cover 140 miles in only eight days!^[5] If Poland was to survive, it needed to cut off the German supply lines at Łódź.

Polish counterattack

With the German advance stalled at Warsaw, the Polish Army launched a counterattack between Łódź and Warsaw in hopes off cutting off the German army's supply lines and recapturing the city of Łódź . After three days of bitter fighting, Germany defeated the desperate Polish counterattack.^[6] A week after the outbreak of World War Two, the city of Łódź was occupied by Germany on September 8, 1939.^[1] The Wehrmacht proved too strong for the Polish forces. Recognizing the failed counterattack, all Polish forces were ordered to fall back, regroup in Eastern Poland for a last stand, and wait for aid from Great Britain and France, which would never come.

Aftermath

Western Poland fell completely under the control of Nazi Germany on October 6, 1939. By 1940 the city of Łódź was renamed Litzmannstadt and became an important industrial city for the German war machine. Munitions were manufactured in the newly established Ghetto Litzmannstadt by Jewish slave labor. At the end of the war Łódź was liberated by the Soviet Army on January 17, 1945, without substantial damage to the city.

Notes

References

• Burdick, Charles B. (1968), Germany's Military Strategy and Spain in World War II, New York: Syracuse University Press 
• Remak, Joachim (1969), The Nazi Years: A Documentary History, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall 
• Williamson, Gordon (1995), The Blood-Soaked Soil, Osceola, WI: Motorbooks, International 

External links

• Invasion of Poland: 1 Sep 1939 - 6 Oct 1939, ww2db.com, http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=28, retrieved 2008-02-17