Photojournalist Julien Bryan, the last neutral reporter left in Poland on September 1, 1939, filmed the horror and confusion of Warsaw during the Blitzkrieg for the world to see. Through actual footage taken during the siege, Bryan poignantly describes the frightening chain of events that finally resulted in the capitulation of Warsaw and Poland. During the early stages of the Blitzkrieg, civilians were commandeered to dig ditches, set tank traps and shore up fortifications. Then, as the Polish soldiers retreated, Warsaw was surrounded and besieged. German planes, triumphant in the skies, wreaked destruction on the city with aerial and incendiary bombs, while heavy artillery guns kept up an incessant bombardment. Hospitals and churches were ultimately targets and women were machine gunned from planes while digging potatoes for their hungry families. This historic film of the fall of Poland tells a story with a moral as relevant today as then. A powerful and still timely documentary. (Landers Film Reviews, October 1974)

Edited Film