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That's the Explorers Podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to History of the Second World War.

Episode 129, September campaign part 21, the end.

This week, a big thank you goes out to Tobias, Jim, Rhett, and David for choosing to become members. You can find out more information about becoming a member

over at History of the Second World War.com slash members. A German invasion was always going to be

challenging for Poland to survive.

From a military perspective, Poland alone had little chance of successfully defending itself

from its larger western neighbor.

But the speed of the German advance, and then the combined German-Soviet victory, was still shocking.

The Polish military was the fourth largest in Europe in 1939. It had spent

years preparing for the German attack, and the attack developed largely as Polish planners had expected,

but still the defense did not end well. By the end of the third week of September, truly

organized Polish resistance had ended, and while there were a few more pockets of resistance that would surrender in the third week of September, truly organized Polish resistance had ended,

and while there were a few more pockets of resistance that would surrender in the final days of September and into early October, these final units would surrender themselves well after

there was any doubt in the eventual outcome. During the campaign, both civilians and soldiers

all over Poland would be killed, injured, or forced to flee their homes,

and the Polish military would be effectively destroyed. This episode will start with the discussion

...