https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffZUf0z3TrM
Discover the story of the 7th Polish Infantry Division in the first days of World War II. Watch the full film on YouTube. English subtitles can be generated automatically.
“Codename Warta. 7th Infantry Division, 1939” is a full-length docudrama dedicated to the combat operations of this unit, conducted along the Polish-German border in the area of Lubliniec and Częstochowa during the first days of the Second World War. The film’s title refers to the code word “Warta”, which was an established internal code confirming the beginning of armed aggression against Poland by regular German forces. The combat operations conducted by the 7th Infantry Division in September 1939 are an example of the fate of a military unit of the kind that has appeared many times throughout the history of warfare — a unit deliberately condemned by higher command to what might be described as a “suicidal mission.”
The execution of the extremely difficult task of tying down enormous Wehrmacht forces through delaying actions, as they advanced through the Częstochowa region directly towards Warsaw, carried a very real possibility that the Polish division would be destroyed within the first days of the war. Several days before the outbreak of hostilities, even the commander of the “Kraków” Army left the division’s officers under no illusions on this matter, stating pointedly:
“Gentlemen, you will find yourselves in a difficult situation. If I am able to, I will try to help you.”
The Polish side was fully aware of the enormous disparity in forces that would become apparent on the Częstochowa axis during the very first hours of the war. Despite this, the mission assigned to the 7th Infantry Division had to be carried out at all costs. Fighting almost alone, the division was to buy the time needed by other units of the Polish Army — regardless of the price…
