On land, in the air and at sea - in the clash with the Second Polish Republic, the Germans had no chance. Our troops were overwhelmingly successful, and the invaders fled where pepper grows. This - according to the Polish press - was the situation in September 1939. Well, "the first casualty of war is the truth" ...
If you believe the Polish newspapers of September 1939, the Germans were miserably losing their blitzkrieg, and the mighty army of the Second Polish Republic succeeded after success. Journalists could not help but admire England and France, who so effectively helped our countrymen, and Hitler's "absurd" territorial demands were simply mocked. Berlin was in ruins, the Führer was planning an escape, and ORP Wicher was terrifying at sea. No one doubted that the outcome of this war was a foregone conclusion. Of course, in favor of the Poles!
Hurrayoptimism? Wishful thinking? Blind faith in rumors? Why did the press on the Vistula spread the war "fake news" 80 years ago? And what did the front pages actually say?
"In the name of God - to victory! We will win the war ”
With this joyful headline, they greeted their readers on Sunday, September 3, "ABC. Daily news ". The daily quoted the words of the then Prime Minister, Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, who thundered from the rostrum during the extraordinary session of the Sejm:
We are calm - we are confident about the fate of the nation and the state. We will win the war that is imposed on us, because Józef Piłsudski taught us how to gain independence and how to defend it. (...) We will win this war, because we have the commander-in-chief of Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz and we will fulfill all his orders with tough soldier obedience leading Poland to victory in God's name.
At the same time, the newspaper emphasized that Hitler primarily cares about the Polish sea - and thanks to the victory in the war, Poles will enjoy wide access to the Baltic Sea. Well, time has shown that neither the late Piłsudski nor Śmigły-Rydz, who was on his way to Romania two weeks later, were unable to stop the catastrophe.
photo. National Library / Polona / public domain
"30 Polish planes bombed Berlin"
The successful raid of our pilots, which was announced on September 5 in the evening edition of "Czas", was to prove that "German anti-aircraft artillery works completely wrong". The daily also reassured Poles that our troops were withdrawing from the position, but they were doing it… on schedule. Journalists were still optimistic that we would win.
"Kurjer Poranny" also informed about the raid on the capital of the Third Reich:" This morning, 30 Polish planes appeared over Berlin and bombed military facilities, inflicting enormous damage ". It is a pity that no Berliner had a chance to notice the attack - no Polish planes reached there then ...
photo. National Library / Polona / public domain
"Poland can mobilize six million soldiers"
Such support for the French army was announced on September 10 by the Lviv "Dziennik Polski". This would mean that after a week and a half of devastating fighting we still have more forces than France … But no one bothered it. After all - as the newspaper reported - the successes of Hitler, who boasted about his victory, are temporary, the Germans are terrified by the offensive, and aviation and armored equipment donated by the British and French is already approaching the Vistula.
In fact, in September 1939, around 900,000 soldiers were mobilized in the Second Polish Republic (out of less than 1.5 million planned).
photo. National Library / Polona / public domain
"The German offensive against Poland - broken"
According to the editors of Express Poranny, September 13 was actually after the war. The Germans on the Western Front were forced to retreat, while in Poland their defenders' resistance collapsed. As the daily reported:"Contrary to reassuring German news, between 12,000 and 15,000 German soldiers have died on the Polish front in the last two days," and "hospitals are overcrowded with the wounded."
photo. National Library / Polona / public domain
"Two German divisions defeated"
September 14 “Good evening! Kurjer Czerwony "reported that Polish troops took 1,000 prisoners of war, many tanks and war material, and" Polish airmen knocked down 35 German airplanes. " Moreover, Hitler's soldiers were forced to fight on two fronts - and it was not about fighting the French on the Western Front. The improvised army of "Warsaw" and the army of "Poznań" were supposed to take on the Wehrmacht forceps.
At the same time the newspaper warned against the Führer's double marauding in Berlin , who:"his name is Fryderyk Hosubka and he has been taken with honor once as Hitler in Pomerania." Meanwhile, "in fact, Hitler is very mentally ill and stays in his private sanatorium in Berchtesgaden." Although it is still more likely than the revelations of the "Warsaw Evening", which assured that the Chancellor of the Reich was planning to step down and, like Napoleon ... escape to Elba.
"We beat the Germans on land and at sea"
On the same day, "Polska Zbrojna", declaring that "We are all soldiers", on the same day published a triumphant note about the whole series of our victories:from the recapture of Łódź, through the merger of the Pomeranian and Poznań armies in the vicinity of Kutno, to the successes of our destroyers in the Baltic Sea. The whole is provided with a motivational quote from Piłsudski.
In addition, the journalist, expressing contempt for the enemy with a lowercase letter in the title, threatened:“As you can see from these news, was easier to enter than to even think about retreat. Whoever invaded the Polish lands - will die ”.
photo. National Library / Polona / public domain
"The desperate counterattacks of the Germans"
According to Express Poranny, nothing could stop the Allied offensive, and Poland, with "the two most powerful empires in the world" at its side, had no reason to fear - her case was won.
On September 17, the day the Soviet troops entered the territory of the Second Republic of Poland, the daily was optimistic about the heavy losses that the Polish-English fleet and the Polish-French air force were to inflict on the enemy. The newspaper also reported on the subsequent bombings of Berlin (the German capital should turn into rubble at this stage), the death of the Kriegsmarine submarines and attacks by Polish kamikaze pilots ...
"German losses:100,000 killed and wounded"
Such a state of losses on the side of the Third Reich was reported on September 18 by Nasz Przegląd. In addition, the newspaper informed about 5,000 prisoners of war and 100 destroyed tanks near Lviv. Even the aura was favorable for the Poles. As reported by the Warsaw daily:
Germany's war plans on the Polish drone are already subject to implementation difficulties due to deteriorating weather conditions. According to an announcement by the British BBC radio station, the Polish army has been resisting the German invasion of Poland for two days so firmly that the German army had to withdraw in many places.
photo. National Library / Polona / public domain
"The Sea Battle of Gdynia will change the situation in Poland"
It would seem that on September 19, when the news of the Soviet invasion spread and the fact that the Wehrmacht was steadily moving forward could no longer be concealed, the frequency of false, over-optimistic news would slightly decrease. In fact, it was quite the opposite. For example, "Kurjer Codzienny" in the evening edition reported not only about the "avalanche of cannons and soldiers" that launched an attack in the West, but also about the extraordinary victories of the ORP Wicher destroyer.
Many newspapers wrote about the successes of the latter (including the aforementioned "Nasz Przegląd", which, on the occasion of the note on the sinking of the U-boat, informed that:"The destroyer took on board the crew of the sunken ship"). The problem is that since September 3, Wicher has been resting peacefully at the bottom of the Baltic Sea ...
photo. National Library / Polona / public domain
"Germany and Russia want peace"
Such incredible information was given on September 30 by "Illustrated Daily Kuryer". At this stage, the fate of the war was in fact a doomed - although not in the way that journalists publishing in the then Polish press would have liked. But the sobering was slowly coming. And so "Kuryer" blamed England for pushing Poland to war:
We were tearing for free, our eyes staring at the blue of the sky and waiting for the sight of steel English birds, we were left alone. England, saving itself from collapse, threw us to the feeding of Germany's cannons, believing that the German sword would get blunt enough at chopping Polish necks.
photo. National Library / Polona / public domain
Poles, come on!
But where did the previous false information come from? Well, the internet did not exist yet, official announcements from the high command were like medicine, and the newspapers somehow had to fill their headlines. It is therefore not surprising that this or that journalist sometimes let his imagination run wild. Then others copied the revelations - and the disinformation grew.
On the other hand, positive news from the front certainly raised morale among soldiers and civilians. Who knows, maybe if it weren't for the war "fake news", the 1939 blitzkrieg would have turned out to be lightning fast ...