ABSTRACT
The German High Com m and’s (OKH) operational orders for the attack on Poland, codenamed ‘Plan W hite’, were finalized on 15 June 1939; Although Hitler was confident that Britain and France posed no serious threat, mistakenly believing that their attitude had not changed since Munich and that they would continue to prevaricate and appease, the Wehrmacht was less optimistic. For this reason the plan called for a swift campaign so that troops could be withdrawn to make up for the deficiencies o f the ‘West Wall’, a defensive system which had not yet been completed and which was only lightly manned. A rapid campaign would also make it possible to crush the Polish army before it had time to complete its mobilization and before it could be fully deployed to the west o f the Vistula and the Narew.
