Battle of Mława

Battle of Mława

Part of: Invasion of Poland , World War II

Soldiers of the German Wehrmacht with MG34 shouldered during the attack on Poland

date	September 1st to 3rd, 1939
place	near Mława , Poland
output	German victory
consequences	Continuation of the advance towards Modlin Fortress

Parties to the conflict
German Empire	Poland
Commander
Georg von Küchler	Emil Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski Wilhelm Liszka-Lawicz
Troop strength
5 infantry divisions and the Kempf Panzer Division of the 3rd Army	2 infantry divisions of the Modlin Army
losses
1,800 dead 3,000 wounded 1,000 missing	1,200 dead 1,500 wounded

Battle of Mława

Situation in what was then Poland

The Battle of Mława , also known as the Defense of the Mława Position, was one of the first battles during the invasion of Poland and therefore also during the Second World War in general. The battle took place between September 1 and 3, 1939 north of the northern Polish city of Mława . The opponents were the 3rd Army of the German Wehrmacht under the command of General der Artillerie Georg von Küchler and the Polish Modlin Army under General Emil Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski .

prehistory

According to the Treaty of Versailles , the border between the German Empire and the newly created Polish state was around 120 km north of the Polish capital, Warsaw . Because of the endangered situation, during the Polish mobilization in March 1939, the Modlin Army under Brigadier General Emil Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski was formed as the main defense in the north of Poland along the border with East Prussia , in order to be able to prevent advances from there to Warsaw. The army got its name from its headquarters , which was located in the Modlin Fortress near Warsaw. Due to the increasing danger of war in 1939, it was decided to fortify the positions in the center of the Modlin Army north of Mława with a series of field fortifications and bunkers. This line of defense was named Mława position .

Dispositions of the armies on August 31, 1939 and German plan of attack

The army's main line of defense was to be the Vistula and Narew rivers . There were some 19th century fortifications in this area, but the plain to the north was largely defenseless. To ensure a delay in the German attack, the General Staff of the Polish Army decided to position the Modlin Army on the border with East Prussia, which should be held for as long as possible. After that, the army was supposed to retreat behind the river line, which was to be held together with the "Narew Independent Operation Group", with slow fighting.

After the start of the secret Polish mobilization in March 1939, the 20th Polish Infantry Division was subordinated to the Modlin Army and moved to the Mława area. In addition, in addition to a few train loads of concrete and other building materials, the army received a number of pioneer battalions to expand the Mława position. On June 19, 1939, the planning was finished and on July 3, the Polish Commander-in-Chief Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły ordered the start of the expansion.

The line of trenches and concrete bunkers , surrounded by armored trenches and other obstacles, was to be built along a low moraine ridge overlooking the valley of the Mławka River north of the city. The river itself could be blocked by a dam, which increased the defensive value of the position. In the center was the swampy Niemyje marshland, which was impassable for armored vehicles. The flanks on either side of the swamp should be paved. The western flank was to be fortified with 68 concrete bunkers, the much shorter eastern flank with 25 bunkers.

The 20th Division was stationed in Baranowicze during peacetime . In the event of war with the Soviet Union , it was to use some German fortifications from the First World War that had been built in 1915 on the front line . Many of their soldiers could therefore fall back on experience in defending fortified positions.

The construction of the fortress in the western section of the front near the town of Mława began on July 14, 1939. The work was mostly carried out by the soldiers themselves, who were commanded by the commander of the 20th Pioneer Battalion, Major Juliusz Levittoux. Construction of the bunkers on the eastern flank near the village of Rzęgnowo began on August 12, with the soldiers soon being voluntarily assisted by a number of civilians who helped dig trenches. However, the positions and many of the bunkers were not completed until the outbreak of war.

Course of the battle

Reconstruction of the battle in 2012

At noon on September 1, 1939, the Polish defensive position occupied by the 20th Infantry Division was attacked by troops of the 1st Army Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Walter Petzel . Despite the German air and tank support, the Polish army struck the first German attack with anti-tank guns of the Armata ppanc type . wz. 36 back. Von Küchler ordered his troops to continue their attacks, which the Polish troops were all able to repel. This meant that the Germans had to retreat to their starting positions in the evening.

The following afternoon the German artillery began heavy fire at the Rzegnów position on the Polish right flank. After two hours of artillery bombardment, the attack on the Polish positions began. In the melee attacked the Polish forces faltered. After a counterattack by the 79th Polish Infantry Regiment failed, Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski ordered the 20th Infantry Division to withdraw to the east and prepare the defense of the right flank between the villages of Dębsk and Nosarzewo. At the same time, the 8th Polish Infantry Division , which until then had been held in reserve near Ciechanów , was being prepared for a counterattack.

Reconstruction of the battle in 2012

The 8th Division reached the combat area in the morning hours of September 3rd. Since the Masovian Cavalry Brigade , which was operating further east, was also threatened by German armored troops, Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski ordered the division forces to be split in two and attacked in two directions: towards Grudusk east of Mława and towards Przasnysz . However, disagreements and actions by a German fifth column in the Polish hinterland led to chaos. In the evening most of the 8th Infantry Division was destroyed and only the 21st Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Stanisław Sosabowski managed to withdraw from the fighting in the direction of Modlin. Nevertheless, further German attacks on the flanks of the 20th Infantry Division failed.

Reconstruction of the battle in 2012

On September 3, German pioneers were finally able to sever the Polish tank barriers, using local civilians as human shields . This allowed the German troops to take many bunkers on the Polish left flank, but the troops were still unable to advance east. On the right flank in the front section of the Rzegnów position east of the swamp, the German attacks were more successful. In the late evening the German corps Wodrig finally broke through the lines of the Polish 79th Infantry Regiment into the hinterland, which widened the gap in the front around Grudusk.

Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski, realizing the danger of a possible encirclement, ordered the retreat of the 20th Infantry Division and the remnants of the 8th Division in the direction of Warsaw and Modlin, thus finally giving up the fortified positions.

consequences

monument

The Modlin Army's retreat began early in the morning on September 4th. Although the position was abandoned, the German losses were considerable and an immediate pursuit of the defeated Polish troops was not possible. However, the Polish troops in the thinly forested area south of Mława, which offers little protection, continued to be bombed by the air force and fired at low altitude, with high losses of soldiers and equipment.

On September 6, the troops of the 1st Army Corps and the Wodrig Corps crossed the Narew at Pułtusk and Różan without resistance and reached the Modlin-Warsaw area on September 13. The Polish plan to defend the great rivers thus collapsed and Warsaw was also enclosed from the east.

Associations involved

Poland

Polish Army	army	division	unit	Surgical site
Edward Rydz-Śmigły HQ in Warsaw	Modlin Army Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski	20th Liszka-Lawicz Infantry Division	78th Słucker Infantry Regiment Dudziński	northeast of Mława
			79. Lew Sapieha Regiment of Slonim -Protect Zaborowski	Rzegnowo position
			80th Nowogródek Fedorczyk Rifle Infantry Regiment	north of Mława
		8th Infantry Division Wyrwa-Furgalski	13th Infantry Regiment	in reserve
			21st Warsaw Infantry Regiment Sosabowski	in reserve
			32nd Infantry Regiment	in reserve

Germany

army	corps	division	unit	Surgical site
3rd Army Georg von Küchler	I. Army Corps Petzel	Panzer Division Kempf Kempf	7th Panzer Regiment
			SS Infantry Regiment (motorized) "Germany"
		11th Infantry Division Bock	2nd Infantry Regiment
			Infantry Regiment 23
			44th Infantry Regiment
		61st Infantry Division Hänicke	151st Infantry Regiment
			162nd Infantry Regiment
			176th Infantry Regiment
	Army Corps Wodrig Wodrig	1st Infantry Division from Kortzfleisch	1st Infantry Regiment
			22nd Infantry Regiment
			43rd Infantry Regiment
		12th Infantry Division von der Leyen	27th Infantry Regiment
			48th Infantry Regiment
			89th Infantry Regiment
	Army Reserve Wodrig	217th Baltzer Infantry Division	311 Infantry Regiment
			346th Infantry Regiment
			389th Infantry Regiment

literature

• Wojciech Zalewski, Andrzej Aksamitowski: Mława 1939 . Altair, Warsaw 1996, ISBN 83-8621731-6 .
• Pozycja Mława . In: Fortyfikacje polskie II Rzeczypospolitej (1918–1939) . Archived from the original on April 2, 2005. Retrieved May 29, 2005.

Web links

Commons : Battle of Mława  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Battle of Mława on 1939.pl (Polish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wojciech Zalewski, Andrzej Aksamitowski, Andrzej Aksamitowski: Mława 1939 . Altair, Warsaw 1996, ISBN 83-8621731-6 .
2. ^ Ryszard Juszkiewicz: Bitwa pod Mławą . Książka i Wiedza, Warsaw 1987, ISBN 83-05-11720-0 , p. 245 .