It was only after a conference between the army commanders and Hitler at Obersalzburg, at which I was not present, that the commander of the Fourth Army, Colonel General von Kluge, told me what my mission really was. I then learned that my XIX Army Corps formed part of the Fourth Army. On my right, that is to the south, was General Strauss’s II Corps and on my left were frontier defence units under General Kaupisch: in the event of hostilities breaking out these latter were to be strengthened by the 10th Panzer Division which since March had been engaged on occupation duties in Prague and its neighbourhood. Behind my corps was stationed the army reserve, the 23rd Infantry Division from Potsdam. (See Appendix II.)
My task was to cross the River Brahe, with my right boundary the Zempolno and my left boundary running through Konitz, and to advance with all speed to the Vistula, thus cutting off and destroying the Polish forces in the so-called Polish Corridor. Strauss’s Corps on my right was similarly to advance to the Vistula, while General Kaupisch, on my left, was to move on Danzig.
Polish forces in the Corridor were estimated at three infantry divisions and the Pomorska Cavalry Brigade. They were reckoned to possess a limited number of Fiat-Ansaldo tanks. The Polish side of the border was fortified. We had good observation of their field works. A secondary line of defensive positions was to be anticipated along the River Brahe.
The attack was to take place early on the 26th of August.
By means of a secret agreement with the Russians during these days Hitler had ensured the protection of his rear in the event of war. Owing to Ribbentrop’s disastrous influence, illusions were still being cherished concerning the probable reactions of the Western Powers; it was considered unlikely that they would declare war.
In any case it is not with the knowledge of hindsight that I can declare that the attitude of the army was very grave indeed and that, had it not been for the Russian pact, there is no telling what the Army’s reactions might not have been. We did not go light-heartedly to war and there was not one general who would not have advocated peace. The older officers, and many thousands of men, had been through the First World War. They knew what war would mean if it were not simply confined to a campaign against the Poles. There was every reason to fear that this would not be the case, since after the creation of the Bohemian Protectorate the British had guaranteed Poland’s integrity. Each of us thought of the mothers and wives of our German soldiers and of the heavy sacrifices that they must be called upon to bear even if the outcome of the war were a successful one. Our own sons were on active service. My elder boy, Heinz Günter, was regimental adjutant of Panzer Regiment 35: my younger son, Kurt, had been commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion of the 3rd Panzer Division and so was in my Army Corps.
My last billet before the outbreak of war was at Dobrin near Preussisch-Friedland, where we were thoroughly spoiled by our dear hosts, the von Wilkens.
General Sketch Map 1.
The Advance into Poland Situation 31.8–5.9.39.
During the night of 25th–26th August the attack was cancelled. Certain troops had already begun to move forward and had to be recalled. It was plain that diplomatic manœuvres were in progress. There was a last flicker of hope that peace might yet be preserved. But nothing positive reached the troops at the front. On the 31st of August there was a new alert. This time it was serious. The divisions moved up to the forward positions from which they would attack across the frontier. The order of battle of my XIX Army Corps was as follows:
On the right, 3rd Panzer Division under General Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg, with the task of advancing between two streams—the Zempolno and the Kamionka—to the Brahe, of crossing the Brahe east of Pruszcz in the neighbourhood of Hammermühle, and of pushing on to the Vistula in the direction of Schwetz.
In the centre, the 2nd (Motorised) Infantry Division under General Bader, located north of the Kamionka between Grunau and Firchau, with the task of breaking through the Polish frontier defences and of advancing on Tuchel.
On the left, the 20th (Motorised) Infantry Division under General Wiktorin, located west of Konitz, with the task of occupying that town and then of advancing across the Tuchel Heath towards Osche and Graudenz.
The main effort was to be carried out by the 3rd Panzer Division reinforced by corps troops, with the Army reserve (23rd Infantry Division) following behind.
On the 1st of September at 04.45 hrs. the whole corps moved simultaneously over the frontier. There was a thick ground mist at first which prevented the air force from giving us any support. I accompanied the 3rd Panzer Brigade, in the first wave, as far as the area north of Zempelburg where the preliminary fighting took place. Unfortunately the heavy artillery of the 3rd Panzer Division felt itself compelled to fire into the mist, despite having received precise orders not to do so. The first shell landed 50 yards ahead of my command vehicle, the second 50 yards behind it. I reckoned that the next one was bound to be a direct hit and ordered my driver to turn about and drive off. The unaccustomed noise had made him nervous, however, and he drove straight into a ditch at full speed. The front axle of the half-tracked vehicle was bent so that the steering mechanism was put out of action. This marked the end of my drive. I made my way to my corps command post, procured myself a fresh vehicle and had a word with the over-eager artillerymen. Incidentally it may be noted that I was the first corps commander ever to use armoured command vehicles in order to accompany tanks on to the battlefield. They were equipped with radio, so that I was able to keep in constant touch with my corps headquarters and with the divisions under my command.
Sketch Map 1:
The Battle of Tuchel Heath. 2–3.9.39.
The first serious fighting took place north of Zempelburg in and around Gross-Klonia, where the mist suddenly lifted and the leading tanks found themselves face to face with Polish defensive positions. The Polish anti-tank gunners scored many direct hits. One officer, one officer cadet and eight other ranks were killed.
Gross-Klonia had once belonged to my great-grandfather, Freiherr Hiller von Gärtringen. Here, too, was buried my grandfather Guderian. My father had been born in this place. This was the first time I had ever set eyes on the estate, once so beloved by my family.
After successfully changing vehicles, I rejoined the 3rd Panzer Division whose most forward troops had now reached the Brahe. The bulk of the division was between Pruszcz and Klein-Klonia and was about to settle down for a rest. The divisional commander had been sent for by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army Group, Colonel-General von Bock, and was therefore absent. I asked the officers of the 6th Panzer Regiment who were there to tell me about the situation on the Brahe. The regimental commander did not believe that a passage of the river could be forced on that day, and he was eager to carry out the welcome orders for a rest. The corps order—that the Brahe should be crossed during the first day of the attack—had been forgotten. I walked angrily away and tried to decide what measures I should take to improve this unhappy state of affairs. A young Lieutenant Felix came over to where I was standing. He had taken off his tunic, his shirt sleeves were rolled up, and his arms were black with powder. ‘Herr General,’ he said, ‘I’ve just come from the Brahe. The enemy forces on the far bank are weak. The Poles set fire to the bridge at Hammermühle, but I put the fire out from my tank. The bridge is crossable. The advance has only stopped because there’s no one to lead it. You must go there yourself, sir.’ I looked at the young man in amazement. He made a very good impression and his eyes inspired confidence. Why should not this young lieutenant have done the trick of Columbus and the egg? I followed his advice and drove through a confusion of German and Polish vehicles along the narrow sandy track that led through the woods to Hammermühle, where I arrived between 16.00 and 17.00 hrs. A group of staff officers were standing behind a stout oak tree about 100 yards from the water’s edge. They greeted me with the cry: ‘Herr General, they’re shooting here!’ They were indeed, both the tank guns of the 6th Pa
nzer Regiment and the rifles of the 3rd Rifle Regiment blazing away. The enemy on the far bank sat in his trenches and was invisible. First of all I put a stop to the idiotic firing, in which I was ably assisted by the newly arrived commander of the 3rd Rifle Brigade, Colonel Angern. Then I ordered that the extent of the enemy’s defensive positions be established. Motor-cycle Battalion 3, which had not yet been in action, was sent across the river in rubber boats at a point that was not under enemy fire. When they had crossed successfully, I ordered the tanks over the bridge. They took the Polish bicycle company, which was defending this sector of the stream, prisoner. Casualties were negligible.
All available troops were immediately employed on building up a bridgehead. Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion 3 was ordered to push forward straight across the Tuchel Heath until it reached the River Vistula near Schwetz, with the mission of locating the main Polish forces and their reserves, if any. At about 18.00 hrs. the crossing of the Brahe was completed. During the night the 3rd Panzer Division reached its objective, Sviekatovo.
I returned to my corps headquarters at Zahn, which I reached at dusk.
The long road was deserted. Not a shot was to be heard. I was therefore all the more amazed to be stopped on the outskirts of Zahn by men of my own staff, whom I found busily engaged in setting up an anti-tank gun, steel helmets on their heads. When I enquired what the purpose of this was, I was informed that Polish cavalry was advancing towards us and would be upon us at any minute. I calmed them down and proceeded to get on with my work at headquarters.
Messages from the 2nd (Motorised) Infantry Division stated that their attack on the Polish wire entanglements had bogged down. All three infantry regiments had made a frontal attack. The division was now without reserves. I ordered that the regiment on the left be withdrawn during the night and moved to the right wing, from where it was to advance next day behind the 3rd Panzer Division and make an encircling movement in the direction of Tuchel.
The 20th (Motorised) Division had taken Konitz with some difficulty, but had not advanced any appreciable distance beyond that town. It was ordered to continue its attack on the next day.
During the night the nervousness of the first day of battle made itself felt more than once. Shortly after midnight the 2nd (Motorised) Division informed me that they were being compelled to withdraw by Polish cavalry. I was speechless for a moment; when I regained the use of my voice I asked the divisional commander if he had ever heard of Pomeranian grenadiers being broken by hostile cavalry. He replied that he had not and now assured me that he could hold his positions. I decided all the same that I must visit this division the next morning. At about five o’clock I found the divisional staff still all at sea I placed myself at the head of the regiment which had been withdrawn during the night and led it personally as far as the crossing of the Kamionka to the north of Gross-Klonia, where I sent it off in the direction of Tuchel. The 2nd (Motorised) Division’s attack now began to make rapid progress. The panic of the first day’s fighting was past.
Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion 3 had reached the Vistula during the night. At the farm of Poledno, near Schwetz, it had unfortunately through carelessness sustained considerable officer casualties. The main body of the 3rd Panzer Division was split into two by the Brahe and during the morning the Poles attacked the units on the eastern bank. It was noon before a counter-attack could be launched and the division could continue its fighting advance through the woods. The 23rd Infantry Division followed behind the 3rd Panzer Division by means of forced marches. Both the motorised infantry divisions were making good progress across the Tuchel Heath.
On the 3rd of September the 23rd Infantry Division, under General Graf Brockdorff, was committed between the 3rd Panzer Division, which had pushed on to the Vistula, and the 20th (Motorised) Infantry Division: by this manœuvre, after many critical moments and some heavy fighting, we succeeded in totally encircling the enemy on our front in the wooded country north of Schwetz and west of Graudenz. The Polish Pomorska Cavalry Brigade, in ignorance of the nature of our tanks, had charged them with swords and lances and had suffered tremendous losses. A Polish artillery regiment on the march towards the Vistula was overrun by our tanks and destroyed; only two of its guns managed to fire at all. The Polish infantry had had heavy casualties too. A portion of their supply and bridging columns was caught while withdrawing and annihilated.
On the 4th of September the noose was tightened about the encircled enemy. The battle for the Corridor was approaching its end. For a short time the 23rd Infantry Division was in trouble, but a regiment detached from the 32nd Infantry Division of General Strauss’s Corps soon cleared up the situation here.
The troops had fought brilliantly and were in good spirits. The casualties among our other ranks were small, but our losses of officers had been disproportionately heavy, for they had thrown themselves into battle with the greatest devotion to duty. General Adam, State Secretary von Weizsäcker and Colonel Freiherr von Funk had each lost a son.
On the 3rd of September I had visited the 23rd Infantry and 3rd Panzer Divisions and had thus had the opportunity of seeing my son Kurt and also the towers of Kulm, my birthplace, glittering in the sunshine on the far bank of the Vistula. On the 4th I watched the 2nd and 20th (Motorised) Infantry Divisions fight their way forwards through the woods; towards the end of the day I arrived at the former German military training area of Gruppe, west of Graudenz. That night I was with the 3rd Panzer Division which, with its back to the Vistula, was advancing westward for the final elimination of the enemy’s remnants in the pocket.
The Corridor was pierced. We were available for fresh employment. While we had been fighting hard, the political situation had taken a serious turn for the worse. England and, under pressure from England, France had declared war on the Reich; this destroyed our hope of an early peace. We found ourselves engaged in a second World War. It was plain that it must last a long time and that we would need all the fortitude of which we were capable.
On the 5th of September our corps had a surprise visit from Adolf Hitler. I met him near Plevno on the Tuchel-Schwetz road, got into his car and drove with him along the line of our previous advance. We passed the destroyed Polish artillery, went through Schwetz, and then, following closely behind our encircling troops, drove to Graudenz where he stopped and gazed for some time at the blown bridges over the Vistula. At the sight of the smashed artillery regiment, Hitler had asked me: ‘Our dive bombers did that?’ When I replied, ‘No, our panzers!’ he was plainly astonished. Between Schwetz and Graudenz those elements of the 3rd Panzer Division not needed for the encirclement of the Poles were drawn up: these included the 6th Panzer Regiment and the 3rd Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion with my son Kurt. We drove back through parts of the 23rd and 2nd (Motorised) Infantry Divisions. During the drive we discussed at first the course of events in my corps area. Hitler asked about casualties. I gave him the latest figures that I had received, some 150 dead and 700 wounded for all the four divisions under my command during the Battle of the Corridor. He was amazed at the smallness of these figures and contrasted them with the casualties of his own old regiment, the List Regiment, during the First World War: on the first day of battle that one regiment alone had lost more than 2,000 dead and wounded. I was able to show him that the smallness of our casualties in this battle against a tough and courageous enemy was primarily due to the effectiveness of our tanks. Tanks are a life-saving weapon. The men’s belief in the superiority of their armoured equipment had been greatly strengthened by their successes in the Corridor. The enemy had suffered the total destruction of between two and three infantry divisions and one cavalry brigade. Thousands of prisoners and hundreds of guns had fallen into our hands.
As we neared the Vistula we could see the silhouette of a town against the sky across the river. Hitler asked if that was Kuhn. I replied: ‘Yes, that is Kulm. In March of last year I had the privilege of greeting you in your birthplace; today you are with me in mine. I
was born in Kulm.’ Many years later Hitler was to recall this scene.
Our conversation turned on technical matters. Hitler wanted to know what had proved particularly satisfactory about our tanks and what was still in need of improvement. I told him that the most important thing now was to hasten the delivery of Panzers III and IV to the fighting troops and to increase the production of these tanks. For their further development their present speed was sufficient, but they needed to be more heavily armoured, particularly in front; the range and power of penetration of their guns also needed to be increased, which would mean longer barrels and a shell with a heavier charge. This applied equally to our anti-tank guns.
With a word of recognition for the troops’ achievements Hitler left us as dusk was falling and returned to his headquarters.
It was noteworthy that the civilian population, which was re-emerging from its hiding-places now that the fighting was over, cheered as Hitler drove past and brought him flowers. The town of Schwetz was decorated with our national colours. The impression made by his visit on the troops was a very good one. Unfortunately as the war went on Hitler visited the front less and less frequently, and in the final stages not at all. By so doing he lost contact with the feelings of the troops and was no longer able to understand their achievements and their sufferings.
On the 6th of September the corps staff and the advance guards of the divisions crossed the Vistula. Corps headquarters was set up in Finkenstein, in the very beautiful castle that belonged to Count Dohna-Finckenstein and which Frederick the Great had given to his minister, Count von Finckenstein. Napoleon had twice used this castle as his headquarters. The Emperor first came there in 1807, when he took the war against Prussia and Russia over the Vistula and into East Prussia. After crossing the poor and monotonous Tuchel Heath, Napoleon exclaimed at the sight of the castle: ‘Enfin un château!’ His feelings are understandable. It was there that he had planned his advance towards Preussisch-Eylau. A mark of his presence was still to be seen in the scratches left by his spurs on the wooden floor. He was there for the second time before the Russian campaign of 1812; he spent a few weeks in the castle in the company of the beautiful Countess Walewska.
Panzer Leader Page 10