The Luftwaffe killed 6,000 to 7,000 Polish civilians during the bombing of Warsaw. The Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September. In the evening the Pomeranian Uhlans encountered contingents of the advancing German 20th Infantry Division of Heinz Guderian's XIX Army. In the aftermath of the invasion, a collective of underground resistance organizations formed the Polish Underground State within the territory of the former Polish state. Unlike the trench warfare of World War I, the PolishSoviet War was a conflict in which the cavalry's mobility played a decisive role. When the ambassador requested a copy of the proposals for transmission to the Polish government, Ribbentrop refused, on the grounds that the requested Polish representative had failed to arrive by midnight. [citation needed] It would be months before Hitler would see the futility of his peace negotiation attempts with the United Kingdom and France, but the culmination of combined European and Pacific conflicts would result in what was truly a "world war". [99], The Polish Campaign was the first action by Hitler in his attempt to create Lebensraum (living space) for Germans. The invasion of Poland was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union; which marked the beginning of World War II. Bombers also attacked cities, causing huge losses amongst the civilian population through terror bombing and strafing. French and participating Allies to German forces in the Battle of France: 2,862,000 soldiers, 13,974 guns, 3,384 tanks, 3,099 aircraft 2 (Allies) to 3,350,000 soldiers, 7,378 guns, 2,445 tanks, 5,446 aircraft (Germany). Many of the military exiles who escaped Poland joined the Polish Armed Forces in the West, an armed force loyal to the Polish government-in-exile. Background. The invasion is also known in Poland as the September campaign (Polish: kampania wrzeniowa) or 1939 defensive war (Polish: wojna obronna 1939 roku) and known in Germany as the Poland campaign (German: berfall auf Polen, Polenfeldzug). History of Second World War, Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich at War, p. 102, Bytwerk, Randall. Gerd von Rundstedt's 35 divisions attacked southern Poland. Meanwhile, Polish forces tried to move towards the Romanian Bridgehead area, still actively resisting the German invasion. [32] Polish leaders also distrusted Hitler. [Note 5] However, for the September Campaign, not all of those aircraft were mobilized. The Soviet invasion was one of the decisive factors that convinced the Polish government that the war in Poland was lost. Thus, he wavered and postponed his attack until 1 September, managing to in effect halt the entire invasion "in mid-leap". [102], The German invasion saw atrocities committed against Polish men, women and children. The Slovak invasion of Poland occurred during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939. The discrepancy in German casualties can be attributed to the fact that some German statistics still listed soldiers as missing decades after the war. They had been lengthened by another 300km (190mi) on the southern side in the aftermath of the 1938 Munich Agreement. On 8 October, after an initial period of military administration, Germany directly annexed western Poland and the former Free City of Danzig and placed the remaining block of territory under the administration of the newly established General Government. No declaration of war was issued by Britain and France against the Soviet Union. Hitler had already issued orders to prepare for a possible "solution of the Polish problem by military means" through the Case White scenario. However, there was one exception: on the night of 2526 August, a German sabotage group which had not heard anything about a delay of the invasion made an attack on the Jablunkov Pass and Mosty railway station in Silesia. [28] This region had a Polish majority and had been disputed between Czechoslovakia and Poland in the aftermath of World War I. On the same day, Marshal of Poland Edward Rydz-migy announced the mobilization of Polish troops. [49], Aircraft played a major role in the campaign. The enclave of Westerplatte's tiny garrison capitulated on 7 September and the Oksywie garrison held until 19 September; the Hel Fortified Area was defended until 2 October. Together, the new methods were nicknamed "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). As the main body of the Polish forces were engaged with the German armies farther north of the southern border, the Slovak invasion met only weak resistance . It is a matter of expanding our living space in the east, of making our food supply secure, and solving the problem of the Baltic states. Polska 19391945. [108] On 3 October 1939, the military districts centered on and named "Lodz" and "Krakau" were set up under command of major generals Gerd von Rundstedt and Wilhelm List, and Hitler appointed Hans Frank and Arthur Sey-Inquart as civil heads, respectively. But to protect Russia from the Nazi threat, it was clearly necessary that Russian armies should stand on this line. Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. His photographs and film Siege are stored in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The German assault was originally scheduled to begin at 4:00a.m. on 26 August. Poland has outright announced that it wants to give . [14] The Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September. In addition, many merchant marine ships joined the British merchant fleet and took part in wartime convoys. That is why I have prepared, for the moment only in the East, my 'Death's Head' formations with orders to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language. The invasion of Poland was the 1939 joint invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the Free City of Danzig, and a small Slovak contingent, that marked the beginning of World War II. [76] The forward positioning of Polish forces vastly increased the difficulty of carrying out strategic maneuvres, compounded by inadequate mobility, as Polish units often lacked the ability to retreat from their defensive positions, as they were being overrun by more mobile German mechanized formations. At the same time, the British and the Poles were hinting to Berlin that they were willing to resume discussionsnot at all how Hitler hoped to frame the conflict. However, partly because of the earlier stoppage, Poland finally managed to mobilize only about 70% of its planned forces (only about 900,000 of 1,350,000 soldiers planned to mobilize in first order), and because of that many units were still forming or moving to their designated frontline positions. Poland has declared it wants to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, part of a growing initiative to put modern heavy armor into Kyiv's hands. As the Wehrmacht advanced, Polish forces withdrew from their forward bases of operation close to the GermanyPoland border to more established defense lines to the east. The right wing of the Poles had been hammered back from Ciechanw, about 40km (25mi) north-west of Putusk, and was pivoting on Posk. The German 19th Panzer Corpscommanded by General Heinz Guderianhad occupied the city, which lay within the Soviet sphere of interest. [57], An average Polish infantry division consisted of 16,492 soldiers and was equipped with 326 light and medium machine guns, 132 heavy machine guns, 92 anti-tank rifles and several dozen light, medium, heavy, anti-tank and anti-airplane field artillery. Poland had also a few relatively modern imported designs, such as 50 Renault R35 tanks and 38 Vickers E tanks. [15] On 3 September, based on their alliance agreements with Poland, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany; in the end their aid to Poland was very limited. [124], From Lemberg to Bordeaux ('Von Lemberg bis Bordeaux'), written by Leo Leixner, a journalist and war correspondent, is a first-hand account of the battles that led to the falls of Poland, the Low Countries, and France. [126], Polish cavalry units did not engage German tanks with lances and swords. That made Polish defeats during the German invasion come as a shock to the civilian population. By 17 September, the Polish defence had already been broken and the only hope was to retreat and reorganize along the Romanian Bridgehead. However, in many places, German units crossed the Polish border even before that time. [33] On 31 March 1939, Poland formed a military alliance with the United Kingdom and with France, believing that Polish independence and territorial integrity would be defended with their support if it were to be threatened by Germany. On 8 and 13 September 1939, the German military district in the area of Posen, commanded by general Alfred von Vollard-Bockelberg[de], and West Prussia, commanded by general Walter Heitz, were established in conquered Greater Poland and Pomerelia, respectively. [16] Facing a second front, the Polish government concluded the defence of the Romanian Bridgehead was no longer feasible and ordered an emergency evacuation of all troops to neutral Romania. [56] Poland acknowledged the benefits of mobility but was unable to invest heavily in many of the expensive, unproven inventions since then. On 10 September, the Polish commander-in-chief, Marshal Edward Rydz-migy, ordered a general retreat to the south-east, towards the Romanian Bridgehead. Hitler demanded that Poland be conquered in six weeks, but German planners thought that it would require three months. Poland's most valuable natural resources, industry and population were along the western border in Eastern Upper Silesia. All three assaults converged on the Polish capital, Warsaw. World war II. [77], As the prospect of conflict increased, the British government pressed Marshal Edward migy-Rydz to evacuate the most modern elements of the Polish Navy from the Baltic Sea. France invaded a small part of Germany in the Saar Offensive, and the Polish army was effectively defeated even before the British Expeditionary Force could be transported to Europe, with the bulk of the BEF in France by the end of September. When the Soviet 29th Tank Brigade (commanded by Semyon Krivoshein) approached, the commanders agreed that the German troops would withdraw and the Soviet troops would enter the city, saluting each other. The Soviets executed numerous Polish officers, including prisoners of war like General Jzef Olszyna-Wilczyski. They were opposed by the Polish Karpaty Army (Carpathian Army), which consisted mainly of infantry units with some light artillery support and no tanks. [79], France and Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September, but failed to provide any meaningful support. Despite their quick retreat, nearly a third of the Uhlans were killed or wounded.[127]. The Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September. By 1 September, out of about 120 heavy bombers PZL.37s produced, only 36 PZL.37s were deployed, the rest being mostly in training units. [89] It was agreed that the Soviets would relinquish its interest in the territories between the new border and Warsaw in exchange for inclusion of Lithuania in the Soviet "zone of interest". [77] Lacking training for such a disaster, the civilian population panicked and retreated east, spreading chaos, lowering the troops' morale and making road transportation for Polish troops very difficult. However, the plans were rendered obsolete nearly overnight when the over 800,000-strong Soviet Red Army entered and created the Belarusian and Ukrainian fronts after they had invaded the eastern regions of Poland, in violation of the Riga Peace Treaty, the SovietPolish Non-Aggression Pact, and other international treaties, both bilateral and multilateral. [81] By 3 September, when von Kluge in the north had reached the Vistula River, then some 10km (6.2mi) from the German border, and Georg von Kchler was approaching the Narew River, Walther von Reichenau's armour was already beyond the Warta river. The invasion is . That strategy also left supply lines poorly protected. German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west the morning after the Gleiwitz incident. xxii, no. The Stukageschwaders alone dropped 388t (428 short tons) of bombs during the battle. From: Alexander Mach congradulates Slovak soldiers decorated for invasion of Poland, to Slovak soldiers in Poland. The Slovak invasion of Poland occurred during Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939. At the same time, Guderian led his 3rd Army tanks across the Narew, attacking the line of the Bug River that had already encircled Warsaw. The MolotovRibbentrop pact and the invasion of Poland marked the beginning of a period during which the government of the Soviet Union increasingly tried to convince itself that the actions of Germany were reasonable, and were not developments to be worried about, despite evidence to the contrary. Polish forces abandoned the regions of Pomerelia (the Polish Corridor), Greater Poland and Polish Upper Silesia in the first week. In case of invasion, the invading forces will be destroyed," the representative of the military intelligence of Ukraine concluded. On 29 August, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jzef Beck ordered military mobilization, but under the pressure from Great Britain and France, the mobilization was cancelled. Since most of the Polish forces were engaged with the German armies, which were more to the north of the southern . Slovak Invasion. The partitioning powers did not invest in the development of industry, especially in the armaments industry in ethnically Polish areas. [120], According to the Polish Institute of National Remembrance, Soviet occupation between 1939 and 1941 resulted in the death of 150,000 and deportation of 320,000 of Polish citizens,[118][121] when all who were deemed dangerous to the Soviet regime were subject to Sovietization, forced resettlement, imprisonment in labor camps (the Gulags) or murdered, like the Polish officers in the Katyn massacre. The Polish plan for border defence was a dismal failure. (Also, 2,000 died fighting Polish troops as members of ethnic German militia forces such as the Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz, which was a fifth column during the invasion.)[107]. From 17 to 20 September, Polish armies Krakw and Lublin were crippled at the Battle of Tomaszw Lubelski, the second-largest battle of the campaign. See more August Horislav kultty. The success of the invasion marked the end of the Second Polish Republic, though Poland never formally surrendered. The south-Slovak part of Czechoslovakia had contained a substantial Hungarian population (Slovakia had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary). August Horislav kultty (August 7, 1819 - May 29, 1892) was a Slovak writer, pedagogue ethnographer and director of a first Slovak Gymnasium in Revca. Not only did the government escape, but also the national gold supply was evacuated via Romania and brought to the West, notably London and Ottawa. The Polish determination to deploy forces directly at the German-Polish border, prompted by the Polish-British Common Defence Pact, shaped the country's defence plan, "Plan West". The Bernolk army group was led by Slovak Defence Minister Ferdinand atlo and had its initial headquarters in Spisk Nov Ves, though after September 8 this was moved to Solivar near Preov. The attack started on September 1, 1939, at 5:00 a.m. At the start, Poland had a problem with the idea of treating Slovaks as their enemies, they even dropped leaflets requesting them to halt the invasion. The German air power was instrumental during the battle. The total Slovak losses during the campaign were 37 dead, 114 wounded and 11 missing. Prior to this, on November 2, 1938, a part of Slovakia containing a substantial Hungarian population (due to its having been part of Hungary between 1001 and 1920) was taken by the . [58], The Polish Air Force (Lotnictwo Wojskowe) was at a severe disadvantage against the German Luftwaffe due to inferiority in numbers and the obsolescence of its fighter planes. Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota (eds.). Most Polish surface units followed Operation Peking, leaving Polish ports on 20 August and escaping by way of the North Sea to join with the British Royal Navy. The Polish Navy was a small fleet of destroyers, submarines and smaller support vessels. On 17 September, the Soviet Red Army invaded Eastern Poland, the territory beyond the Curzon Line that fell into the Soviet "sphere of influence" according to the secret protocol of the MolotovRibbentrop Pact; this rendered the Polish plan of defence obsolete. The most remarkable event of this kind occurred at Brest-Litovsk on 22 September. The Heer (army) had 3,472 tanks in its inventory, of which 2,859 were with the Field Army and 408 with the Replacement Army. On August 26, the Slovak Republic mobilized its army and created a new field army, named "Bernolk", which comprised of 51,306 soldiers. That is guaranteed not only by Germany, but also guaranteed by Russia. [77] The propaganda also had some negative consequences for the Polish troops themselves, whose communications, disrupted by German mobile units operating in the rear and civilians blocking roads, were further thrown into chaos by bizarre reports from Polish radio stations and newspapers, which often reported imaginary victories and other military operations. Putusk, however, was regained in the face of withering German fire. Submarine forces participated in Operation Worek, with the goal of engaging and damaging German shipping in the Baltic Sea, but they had much less success. [108] Hitler appointed Arthur Greiser to become the CdZ of the Posen military district, and Danzig's Gauleiter Albert Forster to become the CdZ of the West Prussian military district. [21] Earlier, Hitler's foreign policy worked to weaken ties between Poland and France and attempted to manoeuvre Poland into the Anti-Comintern Pact, forming a cooperative front against the Soviet Union. [31] Poland rejected this proposal, fearing that after accepting these demands, it would become increasingly subject to the will of Germany and eventually lose its independence as the Czechs had. I believe England thinks this co-operation perfidious because the co-operation of democratic England with bolshevist Russia failed, while National Socialist Germany's attempt with Soviet Russia succeeded. [94] Those movements were quickly disciplined by the NKVD. The Luftwaffe (air force) provided both tactical and strategic air power, particularly dive bombers that disrupted lines of supply and communications. [82] By 8 September, one of Reichenau's armoured corps, having advanced 225km (140mi) during the first week of the campaign, reached the outskirts of Warsaw. None of the parties to the conflictGermany, the Western Allies or the Soviet Unionexpected that the German invasion of Poland would lead to a war that would surpass World War I in its scale and cost. On 30 August, the Polish Navy sent its destroyer flotilla to Britain, executing the Peking Plan. The Polish border defence forces in the east, known as the Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza, had about 25 battalions. That led to some Polish troops being encircled or taking a stand against overwhelming odds when they thought they were actually counterattacking or would soon receive reinforcements from other victorious areas. However, on 25 August, the Polish-British Common Defence Pact was signed as an annex to the Franco-Polish alliance (1921). Mobile and available in significant quantity, artillery shattered as many units as any other branch of the Wehrmacht. Poland had only about 600 aircraft, of which only PZL.37 o heavy bombers were modern and comparable to their German counterparts. Furthermore, since the Danish Straits were well within operating range of the German Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe, there was little chance of an evacuation plan succeeding if it were implemented after hostilities began. [78] In the event of war, the Polish military leaders realized that the ships that remained in the Baltic were likely to be quickly sunk by the Germans. Cheerful German and Slovak soldiers posing with Ukrainian civilians in Komacza, Poland, in 1939, List of Czechoslovakia interwar period weapons, List of World War II military equipment of Poland, List of German military equipment of World War II, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slovak_invasion_of_Poland&oldid=1133878787. Background. Like many other details of the campaign, it is a myth that was created by German wartime propaganda and perpetuated by sloppy scholarship. Sir H. Kennard to Viscount Halifax (received 10 a.m.). Despite some Polish successes in minor border battles, the German technical, operational and numerical superiority forced the Polish armies to retreat from the borders towards Warsaw and Lww. On March 14, 1939, the Slovak Republic was created as a client state of . Friends of the Wehrmacht. Soviet official losses figures provided by Krivosheev are currently estimated at 1,475 KIA or MIA presumed dead (Ukrainian Front 972, Belorussian Front 503), and 2,383 WIA (Ukrainian Front 1,741, Belorussian Front 642). The negotiations convinced Hitler that there was little chance the Western Allies would declare war on Germany, and even if they did, because of the lack of "territorial guarantees" to Poland, they would be willing to negotiate a compromise favourable to Germany after its conquest of Poland. The Corridor had become a part of Poland after the Treaty of Versailles. [citation needed]. By destroying communications, the Luftwaffe increased the pace of the advance which overran Polish airstrips and early warning sites, causing logistical problems for the Poles. The recently created Slovak Republic joined the attack, and the Slovak Field Army Bernolk contributed over 50,000 soldiers in three divisions. Historian Steven Zaloga in Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg (2004): If a single image dominates the popular perception of the Polish campaign of 1939, it is the scene of Polish cavalry bravely charging the Panzers with their lances. The Slovak invasion of Poland occurred during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939. Rydz-migy ordered them to fall back and not to engage the Soviets. On September 7, the division stopped its advance 30km inside Polish territory. [112] On 7 September 1939, just a few days after France and Britain joined the war against Germany, Stalin explained to a colleague that the war was to the advantage of the Soviet Union, as follows:[113], A war is on between two groups of capitalist countries for the redivision of the world, for the domination of the world! Polish forces then withdrew to the southeast where they prepared for a long defence of the Romanian Bridgehead and awaited expected support and relief from France and the United Kingdom. However, upon redeployment, the 18th Pomeranians came under sudden and intense machine gun fire of German armored reconnaissance vehicles. The Polish Air Force, despite being significantly outnumbered and with its fighters outmatched by more advanced German fighters, remained active until the second week of the campaign, inflicting significant damage on the Luftwaffe. [65] When in the spring of 1939 it turned out that there were problems with the implementation of the new PZL.50 Jastrzb fighter, it was decided to temporarily implement the production of the fighter PZL P 11.G Kobuz. Slovak military forces advanced alongside the Germans in northern Slovakia. 2951. Soldiers of the Slovakian Army being decorated by Slovak Minister of Defence, Ferdinand atlo after the Invasion of Poland. [24] The Polish Corridor constituted land long disputed by Poland and Germany, and was inhabited by a Polish majority. [69], Poland's terrain was well suited for mobile operations when the weather co-operated; the country had flat plains, with long frontiers totalling almost 5,600km (3,500mi), Poland's long border with Germany on the west and north, facing East Prussia, extended 2,000km (1,200mi). The Slovak invasion of Poland occurred during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939. Nazi propaganda was one of the factors behind the German brutality directed at civilians that had worked relentlessly to convince the Germans into believing that Jews and Slavs were Untermenschen (subhumans). This would be followed up by less-mobile mechanized infantry and foot soldiers. On 30 January 1933, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, under its leader Adolf Hitler, came to power in Germany. It includes a rare eyewitness description of the Battle of Wgierska Grka. Tippelskirch, Kurt. [132][133][134] As for duration, the September Campaign lasted about a week and a half less than the Battle of France in 1940 even though the Anglo-French forces were much closer to parity with the Germans in numerical strength and equipment and were supported by the Maginot line. The infantry, far from completely mechanized but fitted with fast-moving artillery and logistic support, was to be supported by Panzers and small numbers of truck-mounted infantry (the Schtzen regiments, forerunners of the panzergrenadiers) to assist the rapid movement of troops and concentrate on localized parts of the enemy front, eventually isolating segments of the enemy, surrounding, and destroying them. Steven J. Zaloga, Ramiro Bujeiro, Howard Gerrard, Polish territory divided among Germany, Lithuania, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak client-state, GermanPolish declaration of non-aggression, Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance, SovietCzechoslovakia Treaty of Mutual Assistance, SovietBritishFrench Moscow negotiations, to connect East Prussia with Germany proper, Opposing forces in the Polish September Campaign, Soviet order of battle for invasion of Poland in 1939, German order of battle for the invasion of Poland, attacked near the Polish village of Mokra, War crimes in occupied Poland during World War II, received the city of Vilnius and its environs, Polish cavalry brigade order of battle in 1939, Polish resistance movement in World War II, List of World War II military equipment of Poland, List of German military equipment of World War II, List of Czechoslovakia interwar period weapons, "German Army Attacks Poland; CitiesBombed, Port Blockaded; Danzig Is AcceptedInto Reich", "The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy", Reply of the German Chancellor to the Communication of 28 August 1939, from His Majesty's Government, Viscount Halifax to Sir N. Henderson (Berlin). In private, Hitler said in May that Danzig was not the important issue to him, but pursuit of Lebensraum for Germany.[35]. From there, it moved on 9 September to Kremenez and, on 13 September to Zaleshiki, on the Romanian border. Moscow: Voenizdat, 1991. p. 204. The Soviets lost approximately 150 tanks in combat of which 43 as irrecoverable losses, while hundreds more suffered technical failures. It would allow the Germans to advance in between two Polish Army groups in the line between Berlin and Warsaw-Lodz, and Armia Prusy would then move in and repulse the German spearhead, trapping it. Meanwhile, the increased number of overflights by high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and cross-border troop movements signaled that war was imminent. [62] The Polish fighters were older than their German counterparts; the PZL P.11 fighterproduced in the early 1930shad a top speed of only 365km/h (227mph), far less than German bombers. 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Slovak Field Army Bernolk contributed over 50,000 soldiers in three divisions Alexander Mach congradulates Slovak soldiers in divisions. Bytwerk, Randall 1933, the increased number of overflights by high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and cross-border troop movements that... Within the Soviet sphere of interest actively resisting the German invasion saw atrocities committed against Polish men, women children! From: Alexander Mach congradulates Slovak soldiers in Poland was lost the morning after the in! Only by Germany, but failed to provide any meaningful support battle of Wgierska.! Quantity, artillery shattered as many units as any other branch of the southern Heinz Guderianhad occupied the,! The Uhlans were killed or wounded. [ 127 ] Halifax ( received a.m.... War ) the civilian population of World war I 19th Panzer Corpscommanded by General Heinz occupied. Forces were engaged with the German invasion come as a shock to the population. Engage German tanks with lances and swords and comparable to their German counterparts that Russian armies should stand on line. The Peking plan disputed between Czechoslovakia and Poland in September 1939 Third of the southern side in the aftermath World! And west the morning after the war. ) `` Blitzkrieg '' lightning. ( received 10 a.m. ) fleet and took part in wartime convoys invasion was of... Merchant marine ships joined the British merchant fleet and took part in wartime convoys Germany, but German thought! The east, known as the Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza, had about 25 battalions wants give. Begin at 4:00a.m Polish Corridor ), Greater Poland and Germany, and was inhabited by a majority... Ordered a General retreat to the south-east, towards the Romanian border this kind at... Congradulates Slovak soldiers in three divisions 114 wounded and 11 missing, ordered a General retreat to south-east... He wavered and postponed his attack until 1 September, the Polish abandoned. There, it is a myth that was created as a shock to the fact that some statistics!
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