.gif)
Battle of Lwów (1939)
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Lwów was a battle for the control over the Polish
city of Lwów
between the Polish Army and the invading Wehrmacht
and the Red Army
. The city was seen as the key to the so-called Romanian Bridgehead
and was defended at all cost.
was not to be defended as it was considered too deep behind the Polish lines and too important to Polish culture to be used in warfare. However, the fast pace of the German assault and the almost complete disintegration of the Polish reserve Prusy Army
after the Battle of Łódź resulted in the city being in danger of a German assault. On September 7, 1939, general Władysław Langner started to organise the defence of the city. Initially the Polish forces were to defend the Bełżec — Rawa Ruska — Magierów line against the advancing German forces. General Rudolf Prich
was given command of the Polish forces in the area and on September 11 he prepared a plan of defence of the area. The Polish units were to defend the line of the San river
, with nests of resistance along the Żółkiew - Rawa Ruska - Janów
— Gródek Jagielloński line.
The following day the first German motorised units under Colonel Ferdinand Schörner
arrived to the area. After capturing Sambor
(some 66 kilometres from Lwów), the German commander ordered his units to break through the weak Polish defences and capture the city of Lwów as soon as possible. The German assault group was composed of two motorised infantry companies and a battery of 150 mm guns. The group outflanked the Poles and reached the outskirts of the city, but was bloodily repelled by the - numerically inferior - Polish defenders. The Polish commander of the sector had only three infantry platoons and two 75 mm guns, but his forces were soon reinforced and held their positions until dawn. The same day the command of the city's defence was passed to General Franciszek Sikorski, a World War I
and Polish-Bolshevik War veteran, and brother of General Władysław Sikorski.
The following day the main forces of Colonel Schörner arrived and at 14.00 the Germans broke through to the city centre, but were driven back after heavy city fighting with the small infantry units formed of local volunteers and refugees. To strengthen the Polish defences, on September 13 General Kazimierz Sosnkowski
left Lwów for Przemyśl
and assumed command over a group of Polish units trying to break through the German lines and reach the city of Lwów.
The German commander decided to fall back and encircle the city waiting for more reinforcements to arrive. His forces achieved a limited success and captured the important suburb of Zboiska
together with surrounding hills. However, the Polish forces were also reinforced with units withdrawn from central Poland and new volunteer units formed within the city. In addition, the Polish 10th Motorised Brigade under Colonel Stanisław Maczek arrived and started heavy fighting over the suburb of Zboiska. The town was re-captured by the Polish forces, but the surrounding hills remained in German hands. The hills gave a good overview of the city centre and the German commander placed his artillery there to shell the city. In addition, the city was almost constantly bombed by the Luftwaffe
. Among the main targets for the German air force and artillery were churches, hospitals, water plant and power plants.
Lwow was completely encircled by German XVIII Corps units by 14 September.
declared all pacts with Poland null and void as the Polish state had in their opinion ceased to exist, and joined Nazi Germany
in the occupation of until then Polish territories. The forces of the 6th Red Army
of the Ukrainian Front
under Filipp Golikov
crossed the border just east of Lwów and started a fast march towards the city. The Soviet invasion made all plans of the defence of the Romanian Bridgehead
obsolete and the Polish commander of the defence of Lwów decided to withdraw all his units to the close perimeter and decided to defend only the city itself instead of screening the whole area. This strengthened the Polish defences. On September 18 the German air force dropped thousands of leaflets over the city urging the Poles to surrender. This was ignored and a general assault was started on the city, but yet again it was repelled.
The intervention of the Red Army on 17 September made necessary some changes in the German plan of operations.
In the early morning of September 19 the first Soviet armoured units arrived to the eastern outskirts of the city and the suburb of Łyczaków. After a short fight the Soviet units were pushed back. However, overnight the Soviet forces completed the encirclement of the city and joined up with the German army besieging Lwów from the west.
The Polish defences were composed mainly of field fortifications and barricades constructed by the local residents under supervision of military engineers. General Sikorski ordered organised defence of the outer city rim, with in-depth defences prepared. In the morning of September 19 the first Soviet envoys arrived and started negotiations with the Polish officers. Colonel Ivanov, the commander of a tank brigade, announced to the Polish envoy Colonel Bronisław Rakowski that the Red Army entered Poland to help it fight the Germans and that the top priority for his units was to enter the city of Lwów.
The same day the German commander sent his envoy and demanded that the city be surrendered to Germany. When the Polish envoy replied that he had no intention of signing such a document, he was informed that the general assault was ordered on September 21 and that the city would most surely be taken. The Hitler's evacuation order from September 20 instructed Rundstedt
to leave the reduction of Lwow to the Russians. The attack planned by XVIII Corps for 21 September was cancelled, and the corps prepared to move to the of the west of Vistula-San River line. The Polish garrison of Lwow abruptly and unexpectedly surrendered to the German 1st Mountain Division on 21 September. The following day General Sikorski decided that the situation of his forces was hopeless. The reserves, human resources and materiel
were plentiful, but further defence of the city would be fruitless and would only result in more civilian casualties. It was decided to start the surrender talks with the Red Army.
. The Red Army accepted all conditions proposed by general Władysław Langner. The privates and NCOs were to leave the city, register themselves at the Soviet authorities and be allowed to go home. The officers were to be allowed to keep their belongings and leave Poland for whichever country accepted them. The same day the Soviet forces entered the city and a period of Soviet occupation started. The act of surrender signed in the morning was broken by the Soviets shortly after noon, when the NKVD
started arresting Polish officers. They were escorted to Tarnopol, from where they were sent to various Gulag
s in Russia, mostly to the infamous camp in Starobielsk. Most of them, including general Stanisław Sikorski himself, were murdered in what became known as the Katyn Massacre
in 1940.
The German units consisted of an entire 1st Mountain Division.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
city of Lwów
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
between the Polish Army and the invading Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. The city was seen as the key to the so-called Romanian Bridgehead
Romanian Bridgehead
The Romanian Bridgehead was an area in southeastern Poland, now located in Ukraine. During the Polish Defensive War of 1939 , on September 14 the Polish Commander in Chief Marshal of Poland Edward Rydz-Śmigły ordered all Polish troops fighting east of the Vistula to withdraw towards Lwów, and...
and was defended at all cost.
First clashes
Initially, the town of LwówLviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
was not to be defended as it was considered too deep behind the Polish lines and too important to Polish culture to be used in warfare. However, the fast pace of the German assault and the almost complete disintegration of the Polish reserve Prusy Army
Prusy Army
The Prusy Army was one of the Polish armies to fight during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. Created in the summer of 1939 as the main reserve of the Commander in Chief, it was commanded by Gen. Stefan Dąb-Biernacki. One of the meanings of Prusy in Polish is Prussia, but this name only served as a...
after the Battle of Łódź resulted in the city being in danger of a German assault. On September 7, 1939, general Władysław Langner started to organise the defence of the city. Initially the Polish forces were to defend the Bełżec — Rawa Ruska — Magierów line against the advancing German forces. General Rudolf Prich
Rudolf Prich
Rudolf Prich was a Polish military officer and a generał dywizji of the Polish Army. He was among the Polish officers murdered by the Soviet Union during the Katyń massacre....
was given command of the Polish forces in the area and on September 11 he prepared a plan of defence of the area. The Polish units were to defend the line of the San river
San River
The San is a river in southeastern Poland and western Ukraine, a tributary of the Vistula River, with a length of 433 km and a basin area of 16,861 km2...
, with nests of resistance along the Żółkiew - Rawa Ruska - Janów
Janów
Janów is a very common placenames in Poland. It may refer to:* Janów Lubelski - town in Poland* Janów Poleski - the Polish name for Ivanava, a town in Belarus...
— Gródek Jagielloński line.
The following day the first German motorised units under Colonel Ferdinand Schörner
Ferdinand Schörner
Ferdinand Schörner was a General and later Field Marshal in the German Army during World War II.-Early life:Schörner was born in Munich, Bavaria...
arrived to the area. After capturing Sambor
Sambor
Sambor - is a Slavic name, consists of words: "sam" - alone, and "bor" - war, fight, warrior, and may refer to:-People:* Sambor, a prince of Rugia * Sambor I, Duke of Pomerania * Sambor II, Duke of Pomerania -Places:...
(some 66 kilometres from Lwów), the German commander ordered his units to break through the weak Polish defences and capture the city of Lwów as soon as possible. The German assault group was composed of two motorised infantry companies and a battery of 150 mm guns. The group outflanked the Poles and reached the outskirts of the city, but was bloodily repelled by the - numerically inferior - Polish defenders. The Polish commander of the sector had only three infantry platoons and two 75 mm guns, but his forces were soon reinforced and held their positions until dawn. The same day the command of the city's defence was passed to General Franciszek Sikorski, a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and Polish-Bolshevik War veteran, and brother of General Władysław Sikorski.
The following day the main forces of Colonel Schörner arrived and at 14.00 the Germans broke through to the city centre, but were driven back after heavy city fighting with the small infantry units formed of local volunteers and refugees. To strengthen the Polish defences, on September 13 General Kazimierz Sosnkowski
Kazimierz Sosnkowski
Kazimierz Sosnkowski was a Polish independence fighter, politician and Polish Army general.-Life:Sosnkowski served successively as founder and first commander of Związek Walki Czynnej , chief of staff of the 1st Brigade of the Polish Legions, Polish minister of military affairs, vice-president of...
left Lwów for Przemyśl
Przemysl
Przemyśl is a city in south-eastern Poland with 66,756 inhabitants, as of June 2009. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship; it was previously the capital of Przemyśl Voivodeship....
and assumed command over a group of Polish units trying to break through the German lines and reach the city of Lwów.
The German commander decided to fall back and encircle the city waiting for more reinforcements to arrive. His forces achieved a limited success and captured the important suburb of Zboiska
Zboiska
Zboiska – Boyscza 1361, Boyska 1398, Boyschcze 1402, Bogiska 1437, Szboyska 1539, Zboiska alias Uhrynowce 1676, village in East Małopolska in the Lesser Beskid mountains, Bukowsko rural commune, parish in Bukowsko....
together with surrounding hills. However, the Polish forces were also reinforced with units withdrawn from central Poland and new volunteer units formed within the city. In addition, the Polish 10th Motorised Brigade under Colonel Stanisław Maczek arrived and started heavy fighting over the suburb of Zboiska. The town was re-captured by the Polish forces, but the surrounding hills remained in German hands. The hills gave a good overview of the city centre and the German commander placed his artillery there to shell the city. In addition, the city was almost constantly bombed by the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
. Among the main targets for the German air force and artillery were churches, hospitals, water plant and power plants.
Lwow was completely encircled by German XVIII Corps units by 14 September.
New enemy
On September 17, 1939, the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
declared all pacts with Poland null and void as the Polish state had in their opinion ceased to exist, and joined Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in the occupation of until then Polish territories. The forces of the 6th Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
of the Ukrainian Front
Ukrainian Front
Ukrainian Front may refer to several Soviet fronts of the Second World War:* Ukrainian Front formed during the Polish September Campaign*1st Ukrainian Front, renamed from Voronezh Front on October 20, 1943....
under Filipp Golikov
Filipp Golikov
Filipp Ivanovich Golikov, was a Soviet military commander, promoted Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1961.Golikov saw service during the Russian Civil War...
crossed the border just east of Lwów and started a fast march towards the city. The Soviet invasion made all plans of the defence of the Romanian Bridgehead
Romanian Bridgehead
The Romanian Bridgehead was an area in southeastern Poland, now located in Ukraine. During the Polish Defensive War of 1939 , on September 14 the Polish Commander in Chief Marshal of Poland Edward Rydz-Śmigły ordered all Polish troops fighting east of the Vistula to withdraw towards Lwów, and...
obsolete and the Polish commander of the defence of Lwów decided to withdraw all his units to the close perimeter and decided to defend only the city itself instead of screening the whole area. This strengthened the Polish defences. On September 18 the German air force dropped thousands of leaflets over the city urging the Poles to surrender. This was ignored and a general assault was started on the city, but yet again it was repelled.
The intervention of the Red Army on 17 September made necessary some changes in the German plan of operations.
In the early morning of September 19 the first Soviet armoured units arrived to the eastern outskirts of the city and the suburb of Łyczaków. After a short fight the Soviet units were pushed back. However, overnight the Soviet forces completed the encirclement of the city and joined up with the German army besieging Lwów from the west.
The Polish defences were composed mainly of field fortifications and barricades constructed by the local residents under supervision of military engineers. General Sikorski ordered organised defence of the outer city rim, with in-depth defences prepared. In the morning of September 19 the first Soviet envoys arrived and started negotiations with the Polish officers. Colonel Ivanov, the commander of a tank brigade, announced to the Polish envoy Colonel Bronisław Rakowski that the Red Army entered Poland to help it fight the Germans and that the top priority for his units was to enter the city of Lwów.
The same day the German commander sent his envoy and demanded that the city be surrendered to Germany. When the Polish envoy replied that he had no intention of signing such a document, he was informed that the general assault was ordered on September 21 and that the city would most surely be taken. The Hitler's evacuation order from September 20 instructed Rundstedt
Gerd von Rundstedt
Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt was a Generalfeldmarschall of the German Army during World War II. He held some of the highest field commands in all phases of the war....
to leave the reduction of Lwow to the Russians. The attack planned by XVIII Corps for 21 September was cancelled, and the corps prepared to move to the of the west of Vistula-San River line. The Polish garrison of Lwow abruptly and unexpectedly surrendered to the German 1st Mountain Division on 21 September. The following day General Sikorski decided that the situation of his forces was hopeless. The reserves, human resources and materiel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
were plentiful, but further defence of the city would be fruitless and would only result in more civilian casualties. It was decided to start the surrender talks with the Red Army.
Surrender
On September 22, 1939, the act of surrender was signed in the suburb of WinnikiWinniki
Winniki may refer to the following places:*Winniki, Masovian Voivodeship *Winniki, Opole Voivodeship *Winniki, West Pomeranian Voivodeship...
. The Red Army accepted all conditions proposed by general Władysław Langner. The privates and NCOs were to leave the city, register themselves at the Soviet authorities and be allowed to go home. The officers were to be allowed to keep their belongings and leave Poland for whichever country accepted them. The same day the Soviet forces entered the city and a period of Soviet occupation started. The act of surrender signed in the morning was broken by the Soviets shortly after noon, when the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
started arresting Polish officers. They were escorted to Tarnopol, from where they were sent to various Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
s in Russia, mostly to the infamous camp in Starobielsk. Most of them, including general Stanisław Sikorski himself, were murdered in what became known as the Katyn Massacre
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
in 1940.
Order of battle
The Polish defences were still not organised enough and consisted only of token forces. General Sikorski had approximately 11 infantry battalions, 5 batteries of artillery (mainly 75 mm guns), cavalry unit, engineering platoon and a small number of soldiers who retreated into the city.The German units consisted of an entire 1st Mountain Division.