Battle of Częstochowa (1939)

On the first day of the German invasion the Polish Army 7th Infantry Division defending the Częstochowa region was assaulted by the 1st Panzer Division, 4th Panzer Division,4th Infantry Division, 14th Infantry Division, 31st Infantry Division and 46th Infantry Division.[3] Advance units in front of the main Częstochową defenses that were separated from each other battled with the German attackers for all the 1st September after which the Polish defenders retired to the main Częstochową defenses behind them.[3] On the same day as the Polish advance elements defend against the Wehrmacht attack in the evening at Gnaszyn position in the main defenses near Częstochową an ambush was conducted by the soldiers of the 25th infantry regiment who launched a surprise attack on a staff car alongside a motorcycle.[3] In this action the Polish soldiers found on the officers killed in the attack maps and captured a Oberstleutnant(lieutenant colonel or commissioned officer) who was sent to a field hospital.[3] Maps and vehicle captured in the ambush were sent to divisional HQ.[3] When Gnaszyn was under attack the German soldiers brutally repressed the Polish soldiers in revenge for the ambush.[3]

September 2 from the south of September 2, the Germans launched an intensive and ineffective reconnaissance artillery fire. On that day, the 7th anti-aircraft artillery battery shot down 6 German planes and damaged several more. On September 2, the Poles lost one machine (PZL.23 Karaś), during an air raid on a German column on the Truskolasy-Węczyca Wielka road, one plane from the 64 bomber squadron was lost, but the pilot managed to bring the plane back to its own lines. On September 3, a PZL.23 Karaś 22 bomber squadron was shot down by a German fighter, which crashed in Gnaszyn.

Around noon, an attack on the Lisiniec area started from the Szarlejka area. The advanced units retreated to the main line of defense, where the German attack broke down as a result of the fire of the Polish units. The Germans lost five tanks. Moreover, in the area of Czarny Las, a sharpshooter destroyed three armored cars, in which Poles found, among others, maps. In the late afternoon, a massive attack by German tanks and infantry was carried out on the defensive positions near Kiedrzyn, Lisiniec, Błeszne and Wrzosowa. The fights in Kiedrzyn between the 27th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Panzer Division lasted from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. In total, the Poles, defending themselves in shelters and artillery positions, destroyed over 40 German tanks and armored cars. In the area of Błeszno and Wrzosowa, some units of the 74th infantry regiment were forced out of their positions, but after the counterattack, the Germans were repelled, losing many killed, wounded, 30 prisoners and a few machine guns.

Subsequent attacks were successfully repelled until the evening. In view of the strong Polish resistance in Częstochowa, the Germans decided to encircle the city and the Polish division defending it. Counteracting this threat, the staff of the 7th Division on the night of September 2/3 withdrew the division from the still open ring to Janów. The last units left the city in the early morning of September 3, blowing up the bridges on the Warta River.

The defeat of the 7th Infantry Division on September 3–4 During the retreat to Janów and Złoty Potok, the 7th Infantry Division was defeated,[4] its commander, General Janusz Gąsiorowski, was taken prisoner, and staff documents, including the codes of the Polish Army, fell into German hands.