Battle of Wizna

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Battle of Wizna (Poland)
Battle of Wizna
Battle of Wizna
Place of battle
Strękowa Góra, the ruins of the bunker, the place of death of Captain Władysław Raginis

The Battle of Wizna ( Polish Obrona Wizny ) or Polish Thermopylae ( Polish Polskie Termopile ) occurred between September 6 and 10, 1939, during the German invasion of Poland . Because of the strength ratio of 55: 1 for the attacker, this battle is characteristic of the beginning of the Second World War .

Preparations

Around 1939 there were several Polish positions around Wizna , which were part of a defensive line that ran along the Narew River . East of the city of Wizna there was a river crossing that was of extremely important strategic importance. To the north of the crossing, the Biebrza flows into the Narew. In this area there are large swamps that could only be crossed again in Osowiec-Twierdza . Marshes also stretched south of the city.

The Wizna defensive position consisted of unfinished fortifications, the construction of which began in the spring of 1939. The positions were divided into two lines of defense. The first, so-called advanced line, consisted of two light bunkers in the village of Włochówka and a non-fortified position in Grądy-Woniecko . The main line of defense (second line of defense) extended from the villages of Kołodzieje and Giełczyn on the right bank of the Narew via Strękowa Góra to the village of Maliszewo . The defensive positions were laid out in such a way that they took advantage of the mountains 4 km away. Because of this, one could see the valley well from the positions. The following fortifications were built on the defense line:

  • Giełczyn-Kołodzieje - 3 bunkers
  • Góra Strękowa - 3 bunkers
  • Kurpiki - 1 bunker.
  • Maliszewo - 1 bunker.
Ruins of one of the bunkers, Kurpiki

The bunkers, which were located near Wizna, were built in the style customary for the Second Polish Republic . Each bunker, with the exception of the "light fortifications", was manufactured individually. Efforts were made to adapt the bunkers as cheaply as possible to the terrain and to take into account the requirements of the respective defensive section. The bunkers at Wizna were all single-storey reinforced concrete structures . Heavy machine guns could be fired from the side from the bunkers , and the bunkers were equipped with armored domes that could be used for observation, among other things.

The incomplete completion led to two major weaknesses in the defensive positions. One of the weak points of this defensive position was the lack of grenade launchers and anti-tank guns . Another weak point of the defense lines was the small number of bunkers, as this meant that the individual fortifications were so far apart that they could not support each other adequately. This made it possible for the Wehrmacht to shut down one bunker after the other.

Course of the fighting

Course of the fighting
Funeral of Captain Władysław Raginis and Lieutenant Stanisław Brykalski, Wizna, 10 September 2011

The commander of the Polish positions was Captain Władysław Raginis , who swore not to hand over the positions to the enemy alive. The fighting lasted between September 7 and 10, 1939. The defensive position of Wizna is also known as "Polish Thermopylae". 720 Polish defenders faced well over 40,000 attackers of the XIX. Army corps under General of the Panzer Troop Heinz Guderian in Army Group North opposite. The lack of artillery support on the part of the Poles and the numerical superiority of soldiers and tanks on the part of the Wehrmacht enabled the Germans to storm and blow up the bunkers. The Polish garrisons offered great resistance and delayed the advance of the XIX century. Army Corps. The main reason for this was the demolition of the bridge over the Narew on September 7th by Polish pioneers when German tanks tried to cross it. A quick bypass of the Polish positions was now not possible. This forced the Wehrmacht to build a time-consuming floating pontoon bridge over the Narew, which was 60 meters wide at this point. The commander of the position, who released the soldiers of the last bunker from their oath, while he himself remained in his position and killed three German soldiers storming the bunker and himself with a hand grenade , became the symbol of the defense .

losses

The exact number of victims on both sides has not yet been clarified. According to war archives, there are said to have been at least ten destroyed tanks and some destroyed armored personnel carriers on the German side . At least 70 prisoners are recorded on the Polish side.

literature

  • Janusz Piekalkiewicz (ed.): Poland campaign. Hitler and Stalin smash the Polish Republic. Pawlak, Herrsching 1989, ISBN 3-88199-580-3 .
  • Moczulski, Leszek : Wojna polska: Rozgrywka dyplomatyczna w przededniu wojny i działania obronne we wrześniu-październiku 1939. 1st edition, Poznań 1972. Warszawa: Bellona, ​​2009.
  • Heinz Guderian : memories of a soldier. 16th edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-87943-693-2 .

Web links

Ruins of one of the bunkers, today there is a memorial here
Commons : Battle at Wizna  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Bitwa pod Wizną . Kampania Wrześniowa 1939. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
  2. ^ Leszek Moczulski: Wojna Polska 1939 . Warszawa: Bellona, ​​2009, p. 765, ISBN 978-83-11-11584-2 .