LIGHTNING WAR it it was September 1 1939 A shrieking dive-bomber surged toward the siren filled the air The German ground It aimed for the target below Suddenly the pilot released the bomb He pulled his plane’s nose up and zoomed away The bomb made an earsplitting whistling noise as it fell to Earth Instantly a Polish bridge exploded into flames Debris shot in all directions Giant plumes of smoke went into the air More bombers appeared overhead They were ready to rain destruction on Poland Elsewhere German tanks barreled over the ground They smashed through Polish lines German dive-bombers appeared in the skies over Poland as Germany launched its invasion
Troops in trucks followed to trap the enemy From a harbor a German battleship fired its guns on a Polish city Germany was using a tactic known as blitzkrieg or lightning war Blitzkrieg uses unexpected strikes to win a quick victory It involves many advanced technologies Powerful weapons overwhelm defenders Radios allow the attackers to coordinate their invasion Invading troops rush through enemy defenses They paralyze their foes Poland’s outdated equipment was no match for the blitzkrieg The outnumbered Polish troops fought back fiercely But in just over a month Poland fell to Germany WAR BREAKS OUT Soon after the invasion the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany World War II 1939 1945 had begun Many of the seeds for the conflict had been planted after World War I 1914 1918 Following that war a losing Germany was punished harshly In the 6
RESOURCES OF POLAND AND GERMANY Germany’s military was much better equipped than Poland’s in 1939 What do you notice about the numbers of tanks aircraft and soldiers each country deployed during the invasion How does this help you understand Germany’s quick takeover 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 1,500,000 1,200,000 900,000 600,000 300,000 0 germany germany 950000 1500000 400 2315 880 2,750 poland germany poland poland TANKS AIRCRAFT SOLDIERS 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 7
