BRUTE FORCE:
Germans marched through the streets of Polish towns and adorned
buildings with swastikas
Sept. 1, 1939
Storming into Poland
By Jodie Morse
Hitler, by
some reports, spent the week before the invasion confined to the Reich
Chancellery, the opulent quarter-mile edifice he had built to symbolize
Germany's might. During that time, he subsisted on a spartan diet of
vegetables, buttered bread and his custom-brewed 1%-alcohol beer. He
slept little, usually going to bed at sunrise.
The border fighting
began under cover of night. By dawn the Polish city of Dirschau was
under siege, and it was official: Germany had attacked its neighbor. At
10 a.m. Hitler finally emerged from his fortress. He was wearing a new
suit specially tailored for the occasion; it was lighter gray than the
regular army uniform, with shiny gold buttons, a swastika and the Iron
Cross medal he had won in the previous World War. As more than 1 million
troops flooded into Poland and began taking civilian prisoners, Hitler
drove to the Reichstag to appear before the Parliament. "I myself am
today, and will be from now on, nothing but the soldier of the German
Reich," he said. "I shall not take off this uniform until we have
achieved victory." Within two days Britain and France jumped to Poland's
defense, and World War II was under way in Europe.
TIME Cover
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