The Battle of Łódź was fought on September 6–8, 1939, between the armies of Poland and Nazi Germany in World War II during the Invasion of Poland. The Polish forces were led by General Juliusz Rómmel. Prelude The German aggression was anticipated by the Poles from the spring of 1939, when Poland refused to join the Axis against the Soviet Union (see Polish Soviet War of 1919-1920). Poland’s strategy during the forecasted war would be to withstand the initial German attack and trigger France and Great Britain to declare war on Germany, and, afterwards, to execute a fighting retreat to the Romanian Bridgehead. Polish General Juliusz Rómmel was given command of the Łódź Army and to buy time to finish the mobilization of his own army, he led three divisions in the direction of the border. He believed that only through mobility and continuous resistance ("fighting for every village"), the German advance could be slowed enough to finish mobilization of his own army. The headquarters of the army were in the city of Łódź. The reason for the late mobilization was pressure from the French and the British not to mobilize. As of 29 August 1939, the Poles re—started the mobilization against advice from Paris and London (see Jabłonków Incident, 25 August 1939). Germany's political blunder The German Army attacked on September 1, 1939. Given their overwhelming military superiority in terms of numbers and equipment, and the strategic advantage of having the Poles surrounded on three sides (West from mainland Germany, North from East Prussia and South from the former Czechoslovakia), they hoped for a quick and relatively bloodless victory. Some modern historians repudiate the idea that the Blitzkrieg was first used in the invasion of Poland (see ). Adolf Hitler thought the French and British military leaders were incapable of even pushing the pencil to declare war in the event of Germany invading Poland. He was wrong. On September 3, 1939, both countries declared war on Germany, but they failed to provide any meaningful support (see Western betrayal), and the only Allied attack (the Saar Offensive) did not result in any diversion of German troops. The taking of Łódź: the Polish blunder After the initial ambushes worked (Battle of Mokra), the Germans gained momentum and easily defeated the rear units of the Łódź Army (still in the process of mobilization). Łódź had fallen. The three divisions sent to the