| German Panzerkampfwagen I Ausstellung A and Panzergrenadiers of 35.Panzer-Regiment with a 75 millimeter (3 inch) leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 (“light Infantry Gun model 18”) and a Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) R75 motorcycle with sidecar are in the process of assaulting Grójecka Street between Siewierska Street and Grójecka Street. On September 8, 1939, 1 week into the Nazi invasion of Poland, Nazi Panzertruppen reached the gates of Warsaw. The Polish government and High Command had left the city, but a determined garrison awaited the enemy invader and the Poles were able to stave off 2 consecutive armored attacks to take the capital. Thus began a siege that would last for 3 weeks and subject the Warsaw Army of over 100,000 and the civilian population of over 1,000,000 to a ruthless campaign of aerial bombardment and heavy artillery shelling, causing tens of thousands of casualties and widespread destruction. The photos of the 1st penetration by tanks and infantry of the 4.Panzer-Division taken on September 9 became standard repertoire of German propaganda publications on the Blitzkrieg in Poland. On September 8 – 8 days after the start of the campaign and after an amazing dash of 50 miles (80 kilometers) in 10 hours – lead elements of the 4.Panzer-Division suddenly appeared on the outskirts of Warsaw. Taking advantage of the surprise, the Germans immediately launched an attack into the city, hoping to capture it on the run. The 1st attack, in the late afternoon of September 8 and by only 35.Panzer-Regiment, was quickly stopped by the fierce Polish resistance in the outer borough of Ochota. The 2nd attempt, by the entire division and on a double axis, on the morning of September 9 penetrated deeper into the city but was again repulsed in heavy fighting in Ochota and Wola. A Propaganda-Kompanie photographer, Bildberichter Otto Lanzinger (???? – 1940), accompanied 1 of the attacking columns into the city and his pictures have become iconic images of the 1939 fighting for Warsaw. These photographs were taken on Grójecka Street, the main thoroughfare entering Warsaw from the south-east and leading into the borough of Ochota, at its intersection with Siewierska Street. Grójecka was the axis of attack of 35.Panzer-Regiment both on the afternoon of September 8 and again during the morning of September 9. A 150 meters (340 feet) back along Grójecka, near its junction with Przemyska Street, Lanzinger pictured a 75 millimeter (3 inch) leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 (“light Infantry Gun model 18”) set up to engage enemy troops defending behind a barricade. The gun fired off a round and smoke curled from its barrel. Panzer I and IIs were waiting behind. At 1915 Hours that evening – a point in time when the panzers were still battling in Ochota – German radio in Berlin already broadcast the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht communiqué bringing the headline news that their troops had penetrated into Warsaw. During the night, the remaining elements of the division caught up with 35.Panzer-Regiment: the tanks of 36.Panzer-Regiment, the infantry of 12.Schützen-Regiment and 33.Infanterie-Regiment and the divisional artillery. Thinking he was now strong enough to take the city, Generalleutnant Reinhardt ordered the attack to be repeated the following morning with all available forces. 35.Panzer-Regiment, supported by 12.Schützen-Regiment, was to repeat its attack along the main road into Ochota. 36.Panzer-Regiment, supported by 33.Infanterie-Regiment and 2 engineer companies, was to launch an attack from positions further to the north, along the main road leading into the borough of Wola. At 0700 Hours on September 9, following a 10-minute preparatory artillery barrage on the city’s edge, the 4.Panzer-Division again moved into the assault. Dive bombing support was once more provided by Luftflotte 1, which had dispatched the Henshel HS-123s from II.(Schlacht)/Lehrgeschwader 2 and 140 Stukas from Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 and III./Sturzkampfgeschwader 51. Leading the attack into Ochota, the I.Abteilung of 35.Panzer-Regiment, under Kommandant Hauptmann Meinrad von Lauchert (August 29, 1905 – December 4, 1987), with infantry mounted on the panzers, once again rolled across the bridge, followed by more infantry and attached engineers. The 1st road barricade was eliminated. Despite strong Polish resistance a 2nd bridge was taken, and the tanks reached the streets of Warsaw. Once in the built-up area, the German infantry had to take each house and clear it. The Poles resisted fiercely with burst of machine gun fire, hand-grenades dropped from above and tossed from cellar openings, even with blocks of stones dropped from the roofs. Anti-tank mines buried in the road verges and adjoining fields disabled several panzers. The fiercest fighting in Ochota was at the barricade erected near the junction of Grojecka and Siewierska Streets and defended by the 4th Company of the 40th Regiment. The panzers attempted to continue by themselves. The lead tank, commanded by Leutnant Georg Claass (February 13, 1915 – September 9, 1939) of 1.Kompanie, was hit by a well-camouflaged anti-tank gun. The 1st round failed to knock it out but the 2nd set the vehicle on fire. Claass and his radio operator managed to bail out but both later succumbed to their wounds. The same Polish gun immobilized the vehicle of the regimental adjutant, Oberleutnant Heinz-Günther Guderian (August 23, 1914 – September 25, 2004), the son of the Panzer General. Dismounting and escaping through a courtyard gate, Guderian came across the tank of Leutnant Viktor Diergardt (???? – ????) and a platoon of infantry. Taking both under his command he continued the attack. Advancing through courtyards and gardens, Leutnant Wilhelm Esser (???? – ????) and 2 platoons of tanks from the 2.Kompanie were able to advance as far as the railway line, where Polish defenses knocked out his radio. Oberfeldwebel [????] Ziegler (???? – ????) in his Panzerkampfwagen III assumed command of the remaining vehicles and managed to advance as far as the main railway station. All by himself in the middle of the capital, he eventually had to pull back. Leutnant Gerhard Lange (July 14, 1916 – April 10, 1996) worked his way forward to an enemy artillery position and opened fire on the guns with everything he had. The Poles attacked by throwing shaped charges against his tracks, which tore off 1 of the roadwheels and blocked his turret, and he too had to pull back. Throughout the battle the Stukas of Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 and III./Sturzkampfgeschwader 51 gave support by attacking the Polish main artillery positions which were located in Praga, on the far side of the city and east of the Vistula. In addition to dive bombing the gun sites, they swooped down on the city’s main avenues and on the railways in an attempt to obstruct Polish troop movements. Around 0900 Hours, Oberst Heinrich Eberbach (November 24, 1895 – July 13, 1992) committed the II.Abteilung, under Kommandant Major Wilhelm Hochbaum (August 3, 1898 – June 12, 1971), which had been held in reserve and was supported by another battalion of 12.Schützen-Regiment, to the area 1 kilometer (a little more than half a mile) north of the main road, where the Polish defenses appeared less well organized. This force initially made good progress, overrunning Fort Szczesliwice, 1 of the old fortifications surrounding the capital. However, as they reached the park beyond, the mounted riflemen received rifle and machine- gun fire from the high rises on the left. Just as they deployed to engage it, Polish artillery fell among them and a few vehicles caught fire. Meanwhile, Polish anti-tank guns stopped the advance of the tanks. Oberleutnant Heinz Morgenroth (???? – ????), the commander of the 8.Kompanie, was fatally wounded. Of the 2 panzer platoons that advanced into the park, only 3 tanks came back. The story was much the same with 36.Panzer-Regiment, attacking north of the railway line and into Wola. Here too, well-placed Polish 75 millimeter (3 inch) armata wz.1897 anti-tank guns firing at pointblank range, and the barricades erected on main streets, managed to repel the German assault. The civilian population took an active part in the fighting and the Germans were halted with severe losses. On several occasions the Poles made up for their lack of armament by ingenuity. Colonel Zdzislaw Pacak-Kuzmirski (January 6, 1911 – January 27, 1981), commander of the 8th Company of the 40th Regiment, found a 100 barrels of turpentine in the Dobrolin Factory and ordered his men to position these in front of the barricade at the intersection of Wolska, Elekcyjna and Redutowa Streets. When the German armor approached, the liquid was ignited and several tanks were destroyed without a single shot being fired. The TP-7 tanks of the Warsaw Defense Command were actively engaged in the battles. Those of the 1st Light Tank Company joined in the heavy fights around Okecie airport, but they were no match for the German panzers and suffered considerable losses. Those of the 2nd Company took part in the successful defense of Wola. At 1000 Hours, after 3 hours of fruitless attack, Generalleutnant Georg-Hans Reinhardt (March 1, 1887 – November 23, 1963) Kommandant of 4.Panzer-Division, saw that the fighting could not be prolonged if his command was to remain as an operational unit and ordered his men to retreat to their initial line of departure. Casualties in tanks and infantry had been very heavy. Of the 220 tanks that had taken part in the assault, some 80 had been lost. 35.Panzer-Regiment alone, which had started the assault with a 120 tanks, had only 57 left operational, including a single Panzerkampfwagen IV. Even the command tank of Generalleutnant Max von Hartlieb-Walsporn (October 20, 1883 – July 25, 1959), commander of the 5.Panzer-Brigade, which controlled the 2 Panzer Regiments, was immobilized by anti-tank fire as it made its way back. When the XVI.Armeekorps sent an order to renew the attack immediately, Reinhardt drove back to the corps command post and convinced General der Kavallerie Erich Hoepner (14 September 1886 – 8 August 1944) that this was absolutely impossible. All that could be done for now was to lay siege to the capital from the west. During the night, a large number of the disabled panzers, including some that had run over mines, were recovered by their crews, in some cases from out of the Polish lines. Additional reinforcements arrived in the form of Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte-SS “Adolf Hitler,” the Führer’s bodyguard unit, turned into a motorized infantry unit and commanded by SS-Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich (May 28, 1892 – April 21, 1966). It was a hopeless battle that could only end in defeat and on September 27 the Polish garrison capitulated. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2098.jpg |
| Image Size | 764.89 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 3500 x 2407 |
| Photographer | Otto Lanzinger |
| Photographer Title | Kreigsberichter |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | September 9, 1939 |
| Location | |
| City | Warsaw |
| State or Province | Warsaw |
| Country | Poland |
| Archive | National Digital Archives of Poland |
| Record Number | 16103 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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