Editing History of Poland (section)

===Invasions and resistance===

[[File:Schleswig Holstein firing Westerplatte September 1939.jpg|thumb|right|German [[battleship]] {{SMS|Schleswig-Holstein||2}} [[Battle of Westerplatte|shells Westerplatte]], 1 September 1939]]

On 1 September 1939, Hitler ordered an [[invasion of Poland]], the opening event of [[World War II]]. Poland had signed an [[Anglo-Polish military alliance]] as recently as the 25th of August, and had long been in [[Franco-Polish alliance (1921)|alliance with France]]. The two Western powers soon declared war on Germany, but they remained largely inactive (the period early in the conflict became known as the [[Phoney War]]) and extended no aid to the attacked country. The technically and numerically superior ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' formations rapidly advanced eastwards and engaged massively in the murder of Polish civilians over the entire occupied territory.<ref name="Wrzesień '39">{{Harvnb|Wieliński|2011}}.</ref> On 17 September, a [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] began. The Soviet Union quickly occupied most of the areas of eastern Poland that were inhabited by a significant [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] and [[Belarusians|Belarusian]] minority.{{Ref label|h|h|none}} The two invading powers divided up the country as they had agreed in the secret provisions of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]. Poland's top government officials and military high command fled the war zone and arrived at the [[Romanian Bridgehead]] in mid-September. After the Soviet entry they sought refuge in [[Romania]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Buszko|1986|pp=362–369}}.</ref><ref name="Biskupski 214-215">{{Harvnb|Biskupski|2003|pp=214–215}}.</ref><ref name="Kochanski 59-93">{{Harvnb|Kochanski|2012|pp=59–93}}.</ref>

[[File:Poland in 1939.jpg|thumb|left|Map of Poland following the [[Invasion of Poland|German and Soviet invasions]] (1939)]]

Among the military operations in which Poles held out the longest (until late September or early October) were the [[Siege of Warsaw (1939)|Siege of Warsaw]], the [[Battle of Hel]] and the resistance of the [[Independent Operational Group Polesie]]. Warsaw fell on 27 September after a heavy German bombardment that killed tens of thousands civilians and soldiers.<ref name="Kochanski 59-93"/> Poland was ultimately partitioned between Germany and the Soviet Union according to the terms of the [[German–Soviet Frontier Treaty]] signed by the two powers in Moscow on 29 September.<ref>{{Harvnb|Czubiński|2009|pp=55–56}}.</ref>

[[Gerhard Weinberg]] has argued that the most significant [[Polish contribution to World War II]] was sharing its code-breaking results.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kozaczuk|Straszak|2004}}.</ref>  This allowed the British to perform the [[cryptanalysis of the Enigma]] and decipher the main German military code, which gave the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] a major advantage in the conflict.<ref name = "Winberg 2005 50">{{Harvnb|Weinberg|2005|p=50}}.</ref> As regards actual military campaigns, some Polish historians have argued that simply resisting the initial invasion of Poland was the country's greatest contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany, despite its defeat. The Polish Army of nearly one million men significantly delayed the start of the [[Battle of France]], planned by the Germans for 1939. When the Nazi offensive in the West did happen, the delay caused it to be less effective, a possibly crucial factor in the victory of the [[Battle of Britain]].<ref name="Brzoza Sowa 693–694"/>

After Germany invaded the Soviet Union as part of its [[Operation Barbarossa]] in June 1941, the whole of pre-war Poland was overrun and occupied by German troops.<ref>{{Harvnb|Davies|2001|pp=68–69}}.</ref>

[[File:Dywizjon 303 in color.jpg|right|thumb|Pilots of [[No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron]] won fame in the [[Battle of Britain]]]]

[[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German-occupied Poland]] was divided from 1939 into two regions: [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany]] directly into the [[German Reich|German ''Reich'']] and areas ruled under a so-called [[General Government]] of occupation.<ref name="playground 326-346">{{Harvnb|Davies|2005b|pp=326–346}}.</ref> The Poles formed an [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|underground resistance movement]] and a [[Polish government-in-exile]] that operated first in [[Paris]], then, from July 1940, in [[London]].<ref name="Czubiński 226"/> Polish-Soviet diplomatic relations, broken since September 1939, were resumed in July 1941 under the [[Sikorski–Mayski agreement]], which facilitated the formation of a Polish army (the [[Anders' Army]]) in the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Harvnb|Buszko|1986|pp=375–382}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Czubiński|2009|p=231}}.</ref> In November 1941, Prime Minister Sikorski flew to the Soviet Union to negotiate with Stalin on its role on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Soviet-German front]], but the British wanted the Polish soldiers in the [[Middle East]]. Stalin agreed, and the army was evacuated there.<ref>{{Harvnb|Czubiński|2009|pp=232–233}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Brzoza|2001|pp=316–317}}.</ref>{{Ref label|w|w|none}}

The organizations forming the [[Polish Underground State]] that functioned in Poland throughout the war were loyal to and formally under the Polish government-in-exile, acting through its [[Government Delegation for Poland]].<ref name="playground 344-346">{{Harvnb|Davies|2005b|pp=344–346}}.</ref> During World War II, hundreds of thousands of Poles joined the underground Polish [[Home Army]] (''Armia Krajowa''),<ref>{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=264–265}}.</ref> a part of the [[Polish Armed Forces in the West|Polish Armed Forces]] of the government-in-exile.<ref name="Czubiński 226"/> About 200,000 Poles fought on the [[Western Front (World War II)|Western Front]] in the [[Polish Armed Forces in the West]] loyal to the government-in-exile, and about 300,000 in the [[Polish Armed Forces in the East#Berling Army: 1943–1945|Polish Armed Forces in the East]] under the Soviet command on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]].<ref name="Brzoza Sowa 693–694">{{Harvnb|Brzoza|Sowa|2009|pp=693–694}}.</ref> The pro-Soviet resistance movement in Poland, led by the [[Polish Workers' Party]], was active from 1941. It was opposed by the gradually forming extreme nationalistic [[National Armed Forces]].<ref name="Czubiński 226">{{Harvnb|Czubiński|2009|p=226}}.</ref>{{Ref label|t|t|none}}

[[File:Stroop Report - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 09.jpg|thumb|right|[[Warsaw Ghetto Uprising]]]]

Beginning in late 1939, hundreds of thousands of Poles from the Soviet-occupied areas were deported and taken east. Of the upper-ranking military personnel and others deemed uncooperative or potentially harmful by the Soviets, about 22,000 were secretly executed by them at the [[Katyn massacre]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Czubiński|2009|pp=67–68}}.</ref> In April 1943, the Soviet Union broke off deteriorating relations with the Polish government-in-exile after the German military announced the discovery of mass graves containing murdered Polish army officers. The Soviets claimed that the Poles committed a hostile act by requesting that the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross]] investigate these reports.<ref>{{Harvnb|Buszko|1986|pp=382–384}}.</ref>

From 1941, the implementation of the [[Nazi Party|Nazi]] [[Final Solution]] began, and [[the Holocaust in Poland]] proceeded with force.<ref name="playground 337-343">{{Harvnb|Davies|2005b|pp=337–343}}.</ref> Warsaw was the scene of the [[Warsaw Ghetto Uprising]] in April–May 1943, triggered by the liquidation of the [[Warsaw Ghetto]] by German [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] units. The elimination of [[Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland]] took place in many cities. As the Jewish people were being removed to be exterminated, uprisings were waged against impossible odds by the [[Jewish Combat Organization]] and other desperate Jewish insurgents.<ref>{{Harvnb|Buszko|1986|pp=389–390}}.</ref>