Warszawa Army The Warszawa Army ( ) was one of the Polish armies to take part in the Polish Defensive War of 1939 . Created on 8 September , eight days after the invasion begun , it was an improvised formation charged with the defence of the Polish [ [ Capital capital of Warsaw ( Warszawa ) . Tasks . [ [ File : Poland1939 GermanPlanMap . jpg | thumb | left | 300px | Forces as of 31 August and German plan of attack . ] ] [ [ File : Poland2 . jpg | thumb | right | 300px | Forces as of 14 September with troop movements up to this date . ] ] [ [ File : Poland1939 after 14 Sep . png | thumb | right | 300px | Forces after 14 September with troop movements after this date ] ] To defend the Polish capital Warsaw in the face of breakthrough by the German forces . Operational history . On 3 September 1939 the Minister of the Army ( " Min . Spraw Wojskowych " ) , general [ [ Tadeusz Kasprzycki ] ] , ordered general [ [ Walerian Czuma ] ] ( the Commander of the Border Guards - " Straż Graniczna " ) to organize a force to defend the city of Warsaw against a German attack . The city had been under constant attack by the [ [ Luftwaffe ] ] since the early morning of 1 September . Initially the only organized units available to him were four infantry battalions , anti - aircraft artillery and anti - aircraft machine guns detachments under colonel Kazimierz Baran , composed mostly of fire - fighter brigades and volunteers supervised by colonel [ [ Tadeusz Bogdanowicz ] ] and [ [ Julian Kulski ] ] , the deputy [ [ president of Warsaw ] ] . The AA artillery had 86 pieces of anti - aircraft artillery , as well as an unknown number of anti - aircraft machine guns . In addition there was an air force [ [ Pursuit Brigade ] ] which was equipped with 54 fighter aircraft . On the 5 and 6 September the air force and 11 batteries of anti - aircraft artillery were withdrawn to Lublin . Initially however parts of various army units , primarily of [ [ Łódź Army ] ] , retreating before the onslaught of German armor units , were added to his force . On 8 September General [ [ Juliusz Rómmel ] ] , the commander of the [ [ Łódź Army ] ] who had become separated from his operational units , arrived in Warsaw with his staff . The chief of staff of the [ [ Polish Armed Forces ] ] , general [ [ Wacław Stachiewicz ] ] ( then in [ [ Brześć ] ] ) , appointed him the overall commander of all forces defending Warsaw , including the Warsaw Defense Force , the [ [ Modlin Fortress ] ] and the army units immediately south and north - east of Warsaw During the next days , army units retreating in face of the onslaughts of the German armor and under continuous air attacks , fought their way through the German lines to the besieged capital , in particular from the [ [ Battle of Bzura ] ] . After 13 September Warsaw and Modlin were effectively surrounded . The only way the Polish units were able to reach the besieged area was through the [ [ Kampinos Forest ] ] between Warsaw and the Vistula river . On 22 September German forces cut through the remaining lines of communication between Warsaw and Modlin . On 26 September , after heavy bombardment had cut off water and the civilian population was starving , the city was forced to surrender . On 28 September the Polish forces in Warsaw capitulated ; fort Modlin capitulated the following day . Units . Commander : General [ [ Juliusz Rómmel ] ] Chief of staff : col [ [ Aleksander Pragłowski ] ] Deputy Commander : General [ [ Tadeusz Kutrzeba ] ] , was commander of [ [ Army Poznan ] ] - reached Warsaw 16 September . Commander of Warsaw Garrison : [ [ Walerian Czuma ] ] Warsaw West . Commander : General [ [ Walerian Czuma ] ] , Elements of [ [ Army Poznań ] ] Elements of [ [ Army Pomorze ] ] Warsaw East . Commander : 5 September Lt . Col . Julian Janowski ; from 15 September Gen . [ [ Juliusz Zulauf ] ] ( originally Commander of 5th Infantry Division ) Elements of [ [ Army Modlin ] ] Modlin Fortress . Commander : Gen . [ [ Wiktor Thommée ] ] - after 12 September . Elements of [ [ Modlin Army ] ] Elements of [ [ Poznań Army ] ] and [ [ Pomorze Army ] ] remains arrived from the [ [ Battle of Bzura ] ] after 18 September . Elements of [ [ Łódź Army ] ] arrived on 13 September . References . [ [ Category : Polish armies ] ] [ [ Category : Military units and formations of Poland in World War II ] ] [ [ Category : Military units and formations established in 1939 ] ]