Niemieckie planowanie operacyjne do wojny z Polską 1938–1939 ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem roli Śląska oraz tzw. luki częstochowskiej
German Operational Planning for the War with Poland (1938–1939) with Particular Emphasis on the role of Silesia and the so-called Częstochowa Gap

Summary/Abstract: The article presents an in-depth look at the operational goals of the 10th Armyand their implementation, largely through the Częstochowa area, but also at thevery beginning of the preparations for aggression against Poland. A close look atthe German preparations for war with Poland allows us to move their beginning to late autumn of 1938, with political decisions in this respect invariably beingmade after 25 March 1939. At the current stage of research, it is difficult to de-termine whether the activities in the pre-preparatory period were carried out onthe initiative of the highest levels of Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) or whetherthey were carried out on the informal (oral) orders of the armed forces leadership(Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW) or perhaps directly or indirectly from theReich Chancellery (Adolf Hitler). Wherever the source of these initiatives is, theseworks are a fact that is tangible in the sources, which so far have been poorly –if not at all – recognized in historiography. This enables the creation of a studythat combines – according to the principle: from general to specific – both issueswithin the scope of one problem. Whereby one of these issues results from theother, inextricably linked by a series of cause-and-effect events, with the gradualnarrowing of the research area to one of the operational units subordinate to thecommand of German Army Group South (10th Army). The findings presented inthe article are, to a large extent, discussed extensively (not only in Polish historiog-raphy) for the first time.

• Details
• Contents