82 years ago on September 1, 1939 at 4:40 The Germans bombed the defenseless Polish city of Wieluń.
The first war crime against the city's defenseless population was committed here. At least several hundred inhabitants died. Many people have not woken up anymore ..
The raid was carried out suddenly, without any declaration of war to Poland by the Third Reich. It resulted in the destruction of the town's buildings in 75%, including the hospital and monuments.
One of the darkest chapters in human history has begun
On September 1, 1939, at 4:45 a.m., the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte. Over 3,000 German soldiers from sea, land and air set off to storm the Military Transit Depot.
The battleship arrived on a training and courtesy mission to the Free City of Gdańsk, and on the morning of September 1, 1939, it opened fire without declaring war.
Warsaw, September 1939
A Polish soldier oversees a group of civilians who are digging an anti-tank ditch along the street to slow down the movement of the German army.
Photo: Julien Bryan
Father and daughter at the first aid station.
They were wounded during the German bomb attack on Warsaw in September 1939 in a place with no military targets.
The first German bombs fell on the capital on September 1. The bombing lasted until September 27, 1939. Bombs were intentionally dropped on hospitals and cemeteries, and German planes flew very low over the city to be able to shoot people with machine guns.
Photo: Julien Bryan
Children digging anti-aircraft ditches together with the director of the kindergarten, Irena Zgrych, the sister of the author of the photograph.
The works were carried out next to the kindergarten at 10 Bugaj Street.
The author of the photo: Tadeusz Bukowski
September 1, 1939 - The attack of the Germans on the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk.
The postmen retreated to the cellars. The Germans poured hectoliters of benzol and gasoline into the building and set the building on fire.
At 7 p.m., the postmen surrendered. The first to come out with a white flag was the last director of the Gdańsk Post and Telegraph District, Dr. Jan Michoń, at whom the Germans fired a machine gun. He died on the spot, receiving a fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was followed by the last head of the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk, Józef Wąsik, whom the Germans set on fire with a flamethrower. The other postal workers could not count on honorary treatment either. They were not soldiers, the Germans found them guilty of unjustified resistance.
The defense lasted from morning to evening on September 1, 1939.
By the end of September, 38 postmen were sentenced to death. They were shot on October 5.
12-year-old Kazia Mika over the body of her sister killed during a German air raid in September 1939 in Warsaw.
"Young girls pick up the last potatoes from the field. German planes are coming. They shoot once, twice, drop bombs. Andzia falls. 12-year-old Kazia leans over her sister's corpse. Julien Bryan, an American photographer, sees the scene. .
Photo by Julien Bryan
Defense Campaign, September 1939
A German looking at the bodies of fallen Polish soldiers.
