Robert Forczyk. Case White: the Invasion of Poland 1939. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2019

Robert Forczyk. Case White: The Invasion of Poland 1939. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2019. Illustrations. 416 pp. $30.00, cloth, ISBN 978-1-4728-3495-9. Reviewed by Jadwiga Biskupska (Sam Houston State University) Published on H-Poland (July, 2020) Commissioned by Anna Muller (University of Michigan - Dearborn) The popularity of the recent BBC/PBS docu‐ tioned only in passing. The study relies on an es‐ mentary series World on Fire and its sentimental tablished library of secondary sources and cam‐ portrait of Polish soldiers contesting Germans “on paign studies, supplemented with the memoirs and bicycles,” as Helen Hunt’s character repeatedly in‐ diaries of participants and some archival sources sists, demonstrates the need for a work like Robert on British decision-making. The maps interspersed Forczyk’s Case White: The Invasion of Poland, 1939. throughout are especially useful for visualizing the It promises an updated analysis of the military campaign as a series of regional conficts. campaign that began the Second World War. For‐ Though the heart of the book investigates the czyk is the author of numerous specialized cam‐ fighting itself, the treatment begins with a brief paign studies and his Case White is deliberately re‐ overview of Polish military history, “Poland Is Not visionist, dismissing much of the Western scholar‐ Lost,” followed by a very interesting chapter on ship on the Polish campaign as “lazy” and domi‐ how the new Polish Second Republic built an army nated by the German perspective (p. 10). Even and a military-industrial complex, and the politi‐ more ambitiously, Forczyk asserts that the 1939 co- cal and economic difficulties that stunted these ef‐ invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Sovi‐ forts, a chapter that should have wide interest. The et Union constituted “the greatest criminal con‐ central thesis in this discussion is that the Polish spiracy of the 20th century”—a bold claim consid‐ Army was on a successful modernization path by ering the bloodiness of the century—and therefore the late 1930s, but that this late date and limited fi‐ demands more consideration than it has gotten (p. nancial means meant that reforms were incom‐ 7). This volume is the first book-length study in plete at the time of the German invasion—a story English since Steven Zaloga and Victor Madej’s il‐ of a state caught mid-reform that was not unique lustrated The Polish Campaign 1939 (1985) and during the longer war. Chapters 3 and 4 consider should now be considered the definitive English- the military and diplomatic buildup to war, outlin‐ language treatment, though there is a much-deeper ing interwar German and Soviet military develop‐ Polish literature and source base. It covers the Ger‐ ments and the wrangling of alliances. Forczyk man and Soviet attacks on Poland and considers blames Polish military unpreparedness on Józef all branches of the German military and the com‐ Piłsudski’s narrowmindedness and financial limi‐ bat performance of the SS, though the police atroc‐ tations, but he sees the country’s political isolation ity campaign, Operation Tannenberg, is men‐ as largely the result of some combination of H-Net Reviews British indifference and hostility. Of note here is his power and armor was less effective than it later reminder that the Germans, Poles, and Soviets all became. The Polish defensive plan, which was to undertook politically motivated purges of their delay the German advance and then launch a sub‐ militaries during the 1930s and that these purges stantial counterattack, was foiled in both aspects had far-reaching consequences. primarily by poor coordination among Polish The book then provides a detailed story of the units as they retreated. As a general matter, For‐ five-week war, breaking it down into its major en‐ czyk asserts that Polish behavior—and especially gagements region by region, and opening with the decisions of lower-level commanders—should naval and air warfare but focusing primarily on not be dismissed outright and that some Polish ac‐ the land campaigns. Though military historians tions were effective in delaying the German ad‐ now begrudge the term, it is therefore an examina‐ vance, maintaining soldiers’ morale, and creating tion of Nazi Germany’s first stab at Blitzkrieg. The precedents upon which later military resistance heart of the book (chapters 5 and 6) is a campaign depended. Those with an interest in wartime resis‐ history analyzing how the Polish Army and tance will encounter some of its major players— Wehrmacht maneuvered and fought, how good Kazimierz Sosnkowski, Stefan Rowecki, Tadeusz their commanders’ decisions were, and how well Komorowski—in their 1939 exploits. they used the weapons they possessed. Forczyk is Though politics are bracketed once the fight‐ dismissive of Gerd von Rundstedt and thinks ing begins in this study, it provides context for the Heinz Guderian competent if overpraised; he con‐ behavior of Polish ethnic minorities, antisemitic siders the Polish commander in chief Edward atrocities, and the (mis)treatment of prisoners. Smigły-Rydz so bad—“disastrous” and “disgrace‐ Wehrmacht and SS atrocities against Polish sol‐ ful”—that his men were often better off when he diers and civilians, which Forczyk details at lost contact with them (pp. 255, 261). Chapter 7, Wieluń, Gdańsk, Bydgoszcz, Parzymiechy, Zim‐ “Apotheosis,” sandwiches a brief discussion of the nowo, Bolesławiec, Częstochowa, Milejów, Soviet invasion of eastern Poland between a two- Ciepielów, and Modlin, are a particular theme. part discussion of the siege and defense of War‐ This volume will allow historians of the war to saw. Though the detail in these chapters will likely understand how the campaign in Poland was con‐ overwhelm the nonspecialist, particular attention ducted and how later German campaigns emerged should be paid to the sections on aerial bombard‐ out of solutions to the mistakes of 1939. Its narra‐ ment, the Battle of the Bzura, and the fight for tive and detailed maps, images, and appendices Warsaw. Chapter 8, “Occupation,” is not primarily should be an asset to those interested in the Polish about occupation but about how the fighting end‐ wartime experience, and a complement to the lit‐ ed, and its opening campaign analysis should be erature on antisemitic violence and police and widely useful. Wehrmacht brutalization. Forczyk’s study of the Forczyk passes harsh judgment on German collapse of Poland and the start of the Second and Polish command decisions, and also on World War is the only account available in English French and British hesitation after their declara‐ that considers all three opponents in the cam‐ tions of war. His goal is not primarily to overturn paign. It demonstrates clearly that the Wehrmacht the conventional understanding of the campaign, in 1939 was not already an institution capable of which was that it was a decisive German victory, defeating France or invading the Soviet Union but but to complicate that portrait by explaining that that it developed from its experiences in Poland— the victory was more difficult than it is generally and that it had to do so. taken to have been and that German use of air 2 H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-poland Citation: Jadwiga Biskupska. Review of Forczyk, Robert. Case White: The Invasion of Poland 1939. H- Poland, H-Net Reviews. July, 2020. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55304 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.

Load more