Poland in the Second World War
The Unbowed Eagle
Tour Introduction
This 9-night and 10-day tour explores the dramatic course of the Second World War in Poland and the country’s tragic fate between the pounding forces of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
Occupied, oppressed and terrorised the Polish nation endured suffering on an immense scale and the tour pays tribute to the victims of racial and ethnic violence as well as those who stood up bravely to subjugation. Starting at Gdańsk where the first shots of the war were fired we enjoy the moving Westerplatte site and new Museum of the Second World War.
We move via the dominating fortress of Malbork to the remarkable Wolf’s Lair, Hitler’s headquarters on the Eastern Front. We then move to Warsaw discussing the early events of the war when Germany moved rapidly across the country. At the Warsaw Rising Museum we learn about the incredible revolt against the German occupiers in 1944 and nearby examine the traces of the enormous Jewish Ghetto and its chilling narrative. We also examine the German and Soviet battles for Warsaw including a visit to the Modlin Fortress.
Travelling by comfortable coach, staying in the region’s best hotels, and eating in quality restaurants we move through some of the most evocative sites of the war in eastern Europe.
Highlights
• Travel in the company of an expert historian and specialist in the war in Eastern Europe
• Visit key sites connected with the war including Westerplatte, Modlin Fortress and Malbork Castle
• Tour the enormous Nazi bunker complexes of the Wolf’s Lair and Mamerki, the former the site of Von Stauffenberg’s assassination attempt on Hitler
• Explore the events of the 1944 Rising and battle for Warsaw at the Warsaw Rising Museum and Palmiry Massacre site
• Visit some of the best military museums in Poland including the newly opened Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk
Tour Details
Background
In 1918 the independence of Poland was restored after 123 years of foreign dominance. But trapped between the growing menace of a resurgent Germany and a meddling Soviet regime the country faced an uncertain future.
The signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in 1939 spelled disaster for Poland and Germany invaded on 1st September followed by the Soviets on 17th. German forces pushed Polish armies back to successive defensive lines but after the repulsion of a brave Polish counterattack at the Bzura and defeat at the Battle of Kock the Second Polish Republic ceased to exist. Under dual occupation Poles suffered immeasurably and on the German side Jews started to be annihilated en masse.
The failed Warsaw Ghetto (1943) and Warsaw (1944) risings, as well as a determined resistance movement, failed to throw off the shackles of occupation. On 22nd June 1941 Hitler turned on his erstwhile ally and ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union under Operation Barbarossa.
Poland in its entirety became part of the Nazi Empire until a massive Soviet counterattack under Operation Bagration (June-August 1944) expelled German forces from Soviet territory and eventually liberated Poland. The war was over but Poland had suffered enormous physical and material destruction and the loss of an estimated 17% of its population.
Poland’s indestructible soul will ‘rise again like a rock, which may for a spell be submerged by a tidal wave, but which remains a rock’
Winston Churchill, 1st October 1939
