The beginning of World War II (1939)

German soldiers open and raise the barriers on the German-Polish border on September 1, 1939. A Wehrmacht cavalry unit crosses the border into Poland.

Polish cavalrymen during an attack.

A German soldier tears the coat of arms of Poland from the wall and throws it onto the pavement.

Residents of Paris read mobilization notices pasted on the walls of houses.

View of the square in front of the recruiting office, filled with mobilized men.

Mobilized men are sent to assembly points.

Panorama of a burning Polish farm.

Refugees flee to the rear, carrying their belongings.

Cows at the gate of an abandoned burning farm.

View of a destroyed farm, carcasses of dead cows lie.

Bombers of one of the Luftwaffe squadrons at the airfield early in the morning.

German pilots during their morning wash near one of the residential barracks at the airfield.

A bomber taking off, a fuel tanker near one of the planes (panorama).

A truck towing a sled with a bomb to an aircraft.

A German checkpoint with a machine gun at the entrance to the bridge, a sentry at the checkpoint.

Lifting a box of equipment to the firing position of a German anti-aircraft gun located on the roof of a building.

The crew of an anti-aircraft gun during a rest in a specially equipped attic, a panorama of the position of one of the guns.

German pilots near aircraft at the airfield play cards and read newspapers during a rest.

A view of the nose of one of the bombers.

German pilots rest under the wings of aircraft on the grass of the airfield.

Pilots sleep on the grass near the landing gear of an aircraft.

Headlines of news reports in German newspapers about the aggravation of relations with Poland in late August 1939.