Invasion of Poland

Title: War Department Film Bulletin: Issue No. 48 Restricted. Title: Invasion of Poland in 1939 by the German Army. German footage of the invasion of Poland. Wide shot of German tanks massed in a field. Tanks roll across the field and down a dusty road. German soldiers riding the tanks smile at the camera. Shots of the port of Danzig. The narrator notes that this is where the fighting began, where "Nazi secret agents had long plotted the revolt against law and order." Germans fire at Polish loyalists holed up in the post office. They spray gasoline on the building and set it on fire. Well-known shot of German motorcycle unit driving past sign in the Polish countryside. More battle scenes. Burning buildings. Nazis occupy a destroyed town. German soldiers march past the camera. Some of them smile. Germans repair a destroyed bridge over the Vistula so that the advance into Poland can continue. Tanks and trucks cross directly through the water at a shallow point. Such is the pace of the advance that German troops catch naps as they continue to move forward. The narrator says that "complete halt comes only during the lull between battle movements." German troops rest and clean and maintain their weapons and tanks by a roadside. German attack on the port city of Gdynia. German planes conduct reconnaissance and take aerial photographs over Polish territory. Development and analysis of aerial photographs in the field.