Wehrmacht invasion of Poland (1939)

Residents of a town in Polish Silesia greet passing German troops in September 1939. A German soldier removes the Polish coat of arms from the wall of a building and throws it onto the pavement.

A man standing on a ladder knocks a sign with a Polish street name off the corner of a building.

Local residents treat German soldiers to milk and pies.

Local Nazi activists ride in the back of a truck.

The barrier on the former Polish-German border is raised, German troops cross the border.

German infantry marches across the Polish border.

German soldiers and border guards push aside the barrier on the Polish border.

German cavalry attacks the enemy.

A navigator in the cockpit of a bomber.

View of a Polish settlement (top).

A German bomber in flight.

The German battleship Schleswig-Goldstein fires at the Polish naval base of Westerplatte towards Danzig on September 1, 1939. Officers on the battleship's bridge.

An officer on the battleship watches the results of the fire through binoculars.

The battleship's guns fire.

Panorama of explosions on the shore.

An officer at the rangefinder post.

Explosions on the shore.

The gunner of one of the deck guns at the sight.

The battleship's artillery fires.

A barge with cargo passes through a lock.

Map of western Poland.

Construction of a railway bridge across a river.