First War Casualty in Poland 1 September 1939?

[RobPal]

This image and backstory can be found in _THE MERMAID AND THE MESSERSCHMIDT_ by Rulka Langer (Publisher Aquila Polonica, 2nd Ed. 2009)

A first person account by a woman who lived through the invasion of Poland from the beginning, 1939-1940 and barely escaped with her life and two children.

[michael mills]

This image and backstory can be found in _THE MERMAID AND THE MESSERSCHMIDT_

A double-tailed mermaid is the patroness of Warsaw. She wears a helmet and carries a shield.

[Njorl]

A double-tailed mermaid is the patroness of Warsaw. She wears a helmet and carries a shield.

Warsaw has a few patrons, but none of them is the mermaid. She is only in Warsaw's coat of arms.

Coat of arms of Warsaw:

This pattern was officially introduced on January 31st 1938, and reintroduced on August 15th 1990.

Grand coat of arms of Warsaw

Source for both: Warsaw municipality page http://herb.um.warszawa.pl/

Regards,
MJU

[Piotr Kapuscinski]

a bit earlier 'active' in crossing borderlines....

Some more examples (apart from those already listed by me above):

23 January 1939: German Ju-52 violated Polish airspace, demonstratively flying over the Naval Port in Gdynia.

On 15 March 1939 Nazi Germany broke the Munich Agreement, destroying a country which had Anglo-French guarantees, occupying areas which had never been part of Germany, losing credibility in the international area (everyone realized that agreements signed with Germany are worth as much as paper used to print them). Shortly after that Germany officially negated validity of treaties ending the First World War.

On 21 March 1939 German minister of foreign affairs said: "Polish minister must come to Berlin to finally solve the contentious questions!". Day later - on 22 March 1939 - 62 warships of Kriegsmarine (including 3 pocket battleships) - entered the waters of Central Baltic in a spectacular Demonstration Of Power against Poland.

Only between 3 and 20 April 1939, there were 60 cases of Luftwaffe planes violating Polish airspace. By the end of April 1939 a protest was entered to the German Embassy in Warsaw regarding these violations.

Without response from the German Embassy.

[michael mills]

occupying areas which had never been part of Germany

Actually, Bohemia had been a constituent part of the medieval German state, the Holy Roman Empire, from the 10th Century until the abolition of the Empire by Napoleon in 1806.

The Kings of Bohemia had been one of the Prince Electors of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Under the Luxemburg dynasty in the 14th Century, Prague was the capital of the German state, the seat of the Emperor, who was also the King of Bohemia, and of the Imperial Chancery. It was also the location of the first German university.

Modern standard German has its origins in the German dialect spoken in Prague and used by the Imperial Chancery.

The cities and towns of Bohemia were ethnically German until the middle of the 19th Century.

Day later - on 22 March 1939 - 62 warships of Kriegsmarine (including 3 pocket battleships) - entered the waters of Central Baltic in a spectacular Demonstration Of Power against Poland.

Why do you assume that this exercise by the German Navy was directed against Poland?

It could just as easily have been aimed against the Soviet Union, the other major naval power in the Baltic, with its base at Leningrad.

[Piotr Kapuscinski]

Actually, Bohemia had been a constituent part of the medieval German state, the Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was not an exclusively German state. It included Kingdom of Germany, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of Bohemia (temporarily also Kingdom of Burgundy), and other states - of which some were German. But don't claim that for example Kingdom of Italy was German, or even that Kingdom of Bohemia was German.

Map: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... R_10Jh.jpg

Kingdom of Italy as member-state of the Holy Roman Empire:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of ... man_Empire

The Kings of Bohemia had been one of the Prince Electors of the Holy Roman Emperor.

So had been the Arch-Chancellors of Italy.

It was also the location of the first German university.

A "German" University... of course - and Jan Hus (Czech & anti-German) was its most famous rector.

Prague was the capital of the German state

The capital of the German state, Königreich Deutschland - which included areas of modern Germany, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, Slovenia and parts of modern Switzerland & France - was of course Aachen.

Prague was the capital of the Czech state - namely, Kingdom of Bohemia.

The cities and towns of Bohemia were ethnically German until the middle of the 19th Century.

They were not ethnically German. They had mixed Czech-German-Jewish population.

But of course lingua franca in the cities and towns of Bohemia was German. In mid-19th century ethnic composition didn't suddenly & drastically change as some may think - simply German stopped to be lingua franca.

Why do you assume that this exercise by the German Navy was directed against Poland?

Because it was organized one day (22.03.) after lack of Polish reaction to German demand (21.03.).

Under the Luxemburg dynasty in the 14th Century

What about time when Bohemia was under Polish-Lithuanian Jagiellon dynasty in 15th - 16th centuries?

It could just as easily have been aimed against the Soviet Union, the other major naval power in the Baltic, with its base at Leningrad.

But Germans didn't demand the return of Leningrad to Germany - they demanded the return of Gdansk.

[Marcus]

Please get back to discussing the first casualties in Poland, the past of Bohemia is the topic for another thread.

/Marcus

[gebhk]

Apologies for this act of necromancy, but tbought some minor corrections to Piotr's excellent chronology might be useful should someone want to use it in the future.

4:45 - German units launch full scale attack everwyhere, Schleswig-Holstein opens fire on Westerplatte
4:50 - rifleman Jezierski is KIA on Westerplatte (sentry No 3) in the bombardment of Schleswig-Holstein
5:05 - elder sergeant Wojciech Najsarek is KIA on Westerplatte, second Polish victim of the battle

S-X opened fire at 04.47 as evidenced by the ship's log book

Strzelec Konstanty Jezierski was killed by a rifle shot according to acounts - tough possibly an MG round. I know Piotr doesn't say he was killed by S-X gunfire but it might be assumed from the text. Also Jezierski was not Sentry No 3 but in Guardhouse 3 (which I expect is what Piotr meant). Some authors calculate his TOD to be around 05.00

Starszy sierzant rezerwy Wojciech Najsarek was probably not, technically, the second Polish fatality of the battle. That unfortunate 'honour' goes either to Strzelec Bronislaw Uss, one of the 'Prom' position crew, fatally wounded whilst liquidating the Schupo guardhouse on the German side of the wall, nearest the 'Prom' position, who was either killed outright or died soemwhat later from his wounds (accounts differ) or to kapral Andrzej Kowalczyk, also wounded in the same action but killed later by an artillery round while being evacuated just after 9 am. Najsarek was mortally wounded in the first minutes of the attack on Westerplatte but probably died in hospital in the evening.

[LAstry2]

Question as of 1 September 1939

First Polish Military Casualty
First Polish Civilian Casualty


Then the pre offical casyalties August 1939
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=119944&hilit=Theodor+Koppenhagen

[LAstry2]

of note Kazimera Mika passed away at 93
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view ... ajaxserp=0