Siege of Warsaw (1939)
German forces close around Warsaw and intensify the siege
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗On the day the ring closed around Warsaw, the garrison threw back three major German attacks — and at Grochów the 21st “Children of Warsaw” Infantry Regiment beat the German 23rd Infantry outright.
15 September 1939: the ring closes from the east
The German Third Army had broken through the Polish positions along the Narew on 12 September 1939 and marched south to cut Warsaw off from the east. On 15 September it reached the capital's eastern approaches and attacked the Praga district from both banks of the Vistula, completing the operational encirclement.
Intensive bombardment and heavy-artillery fire accompanied the closing ring; roughly 1,000 German guns were reported around the city.
On the Praga approaches, an assault begun during the night of 14–15 September was repelled by Polish defenders near the Warszawa Wschodnia freight station.
Three attacks thrown back, and a beating at Grochów
The Warsaw garrison repelled three major German attacks over the course of 15 September. The heaviest fighting on the eastern side ran through Grochów, where the Polish 21st “Children of Warsaw” Infantry Regiment under Colonel Stanisław Sosabowski defeated the German 23rd Infantry Regiment.
General Juliusz Zulauf entered the Praga bridgehead that day with his operational group — several infantry regiments and artillery — and took command of the sector, substantially strengthening Warsaw's eastern defences at the moment they were being tested.
By nightfall: besieged, not taken
No surrender demand was delivered on 15 September. German headquarters discussed one that day, along with a twelve-hour evacuation window for civilians toward Siedlce and Garwolin, but the planned leaflets were apparently not dropped and a proposal for an immediate assault was rejected that evening. The decision to send an officer with a formal demand was taken during the night of 15–16 September; Major Kiewitz went across under a flag of truce on the 16th, was kept waiting, and was sent back without an audience or having his papers accepted.
So the day ended with Warsaw under siege from the east as well as the west, still resisting and still not captured — and with the ring not yet airtight. A strip along the Vistula toward the Kampinos Forest and Modlin Fortress remained in Polish hands, and between 17 and 22 September units of the Poznań and Pomorze Armies walked into the city through it.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources 2 audit passes, 4 issues open Date disputed
How this was checked
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Date disputed. Sources disagree about when this happened.
What the sources leave uncertain
- September 15 is well supported for the German closure around Warsaw and the intensified fighting, but the listed event combines it with a surrender demand that occurred on September 16.
- “The siege begins” depends on definition: Luftwaffe attacks began September 1, ground fighting at Warsaw began September 8, and operational encirclement is commonly dated September 15.
- The encirclement was not immediately hermetic. A Polish-controlled strip toward Kampinos Forest and Modlin remained, and troops from the Bzura battle later reached Warsaw through that direction.
- Calling the Polish response a simple refusal compresses a more unusual episode: on September 16 the emissary was not granted an audience and his papers were not accepted.