Germany invades Poland; Wieluń bombed for nine hours, Westerplatte shelled at dawn

Before dawn on September 1, 1939, Germany moved against Poland without a declaration of war. At around 4:40 a.m. by Polish accounts (German records say 5:40 a.m.), Luftwaffe Ju 87s began a nine-hour bombing of Wieluń, a town with no garrison and no anti-aircraft guns; five minutes later, the battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish outpost at Westerplatte. German armies pushed across the border at multiple points that same morning. Poland's defensive allies, Britain and France, would not declare war on Germany for two more days…