The Nazis invaded Poland on 1 September 1939.
The Nazis justified the invasion by suggesting that Poland had been planning to invade Germany, and with false reports that Poles were persecuting ethnic Germans.
On the 17 September, the Soviet Union joined forces with Germany and invaded Poland.
The Nazis and Soviets used an encirclement tactic to occupy Poland, sending troops in from all directions. Over 2000 tanks and 1000 planes were used to advance on Warsaw, the Polish capital. By the 27 September 1939, just 26 days after invasion, Poland surrendered to the Nazis.
Following the surrender, the Nazis and the Soviets divided Poland between them, as had been secretly agreed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
The western area of Poland was annexed into the Greater German Reich. The Soviet Union took the eastern section. On 23 October 1939, the area not annexed to Germany or the Soviet Union was placed under the control of a German administration led by Hans Frank. This administration was called the General Government.
The period of war following the invasion of Poland is often referred to as The Phoney War. This is because between the Allied declaration of war and the German invasion of France and the Low Countries there was little real action, with just one small land operation (when the French invaded Germany’s Saar district) in the whole of western Europe.
