Prewar German-Polish Border Incidents

[David Thompson]

I found this affidavit in "Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression" vol. V, pp. 230-31. Note that the incidents are not restricted to the well-known attack on the radio station at Gleiwitz. While interesting, this is clearly just a hearsay account. If I find any more information, I'll post it.

[barbarosa]

i have read this before. great job in locating it.

[David Thompson]

Thanks, barbarosa. As I find more primary source material on this subject, I'll post it.

[barbarosa]

wow!

[David Thompson]

Here is the affidavit of Alfred Naujocks on the Gleiwitz incident -- the nominal reason for the German attack on Poland on 1 Sept 1939. The affidavit is taken from Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. 5, pp. 390-92:

[DennisW]

Is there any new information on the names of Sender Gleiwitz personnel present at the time of the raid and of Naujocks's men?

[little grey rabbit]

It is worth noting neither Mildner or Naujocks ever faced any legal repercussions for their claimed involvement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Mildner
Says he escaped from custody and may have gone to Argentina. Naujocks came over to the Allies in 1944 (IIRC) and was trying to defect. He appears to have had a successful life in West Germany as a business man and minor player in the demimonde of German espionage - which considering he also had some involvement in Venlo suggests an extremely forgiving nature by the British Secret Service.

[gebhk]

It is debatable if the attack on the Polish Border Guard post at Jeziorki at 01.20 o 1/9/39 by a German diversionary unit was the first act of war or the last (of many) border incidents. Depending on how you view this, Piotr Konieczka, who was killed while covering the withdrawal of the rest of his colleagues with the post's MG may be the first allied casualty of WW2 (assuming we subscribe to the Eurocentric view that WW2 started in 1939 ).

[gebhk]

A large number of border incidents occured on the night of 25-26 August because not all German units were notified in time of the postponement of the invasion of Poland until 1/9/39. One notable incident occured in the Jablonkow Pass on the Polish-Slovak border. German irregulars were to sieze the Railway station at Mosty and the Polish end of the strategically important railway tunnel underneath the pass to prevent its destruction (the tunnel was mined and the charges were armed nightly after the last train of the day had passed through).

Unaware of the change of plan, a 30-odd group of irregulars recruited mainly from the 'Kampf-Organisation' drawn from the German minority of Tesin (Cieszyn), under the command of Abwehr lieutenant Hans-Albrecht Herzner, set off over the mountains. Between 3-4 they opened fire on the railway station and the nearby school building which served as quarters for the Polish sappers responsible for securing the tunnel. They then moved in and captured the railway station and took some men on their way to work prisoner. They had made two critical errors however. Firstly the firing had alerted the men of the Polish Border Guard and detail of the 4th Podhale Infantry Regiment tasked with the security of the tunnel which was promptly sealed against any intervention. Secondly they failed to locate the underground communications centre on the station itself. Thus a female telegraphist was able to keep the Polish authorities abreast of developments.

When Herzner eventually managed to contact his expected relief and became aware of the situation, the unit had no option but to withdraw as speedily as possible across country. The Germans apologised, blamed 'irresponsible elements' for the provocation and made vague promises of punishing those responsible (Herzner was 'punished' by being awarded one of the first Iron Crosses of the war!).

Incidentally the Gleiwitz incident appears to have been the culmination of a longer campaign. According to an analysis by KM Pospieszalski of documentary evidence published by Edmund Osmanczyk, some 180 attacks were planned against 223 German facilities, privately and publicly owned, on both sides of the border, to feed German propaganda of 'Polish atrocities against Germans' in the summer of '39. In practice around 30 or so appear to have been carried out including, in the main, the burning of German-owned farmsteads but also on occasion attacks against businesses, flats, German caultural institutions and monuments. It is impossible to be precise because in the absence of surviving formal reports on the implementation of the plan, this has to be extrapolated from German nad Polish reporting of incidents involving targets outlined in the plan. Clearly some events may have been coincidental (fire was a regular aspect of country life - wooden buildings and straw combined with naked flame for cooking, heating and lighting are not a good recipe for fire safety). On the other hand, other incidents not in the plan, nevertheless bear all the hallmarks of actions in the plan. Some actions are known to have been abandoned in the last minute while others still were thwarted by the police and other security services.

[Ypenburg]

Is there any new information on the names of Sender Gleiwitz personnel present at the time of the raid and of Naujocks's men?

An extensive and very detailed research was done by Jürgen Runzheimer. The research, in which he demonstrates various statements by Naujocks as inaccurate, was printed in the "Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte', 10. Jahrgang 1962, 4. Heft/Oktober. Download here: http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/vierteljahrs ... 1953-2008/

Runzheimer was in contact with Naujocks, personnel of the sender, locals and members of the local Schutzpolizei.

[DennisW]

Yes, Runzheimer was in contact and gave his note to the IfZ in Munich but they did not respond to inquiries. I've produced a short book on the topic that's available via Amazon at http://amzn.to/1mJObXt. Sadly, I was unable to update the full names of the station personnel and attackers from reliable sources.

[DavidFrankenberg]

The Doctor who made the injection in order to make sleep the "canned good" was named Dr Strassburger.

The US seemed to be very interested in him. I guess they were interrested about his technic to put to sleep someone successfully for several hours without killing him.
I dont know if they finally got him.

An other border incident happened in Hohenlinden.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Guys,

I have the following old note:

"The Danzig SA’s contribution to mounting German pressure on Poland was to harass and attack the officious Polish customs officials allowed by the League of Nations to operate in the territory. Over 14-21 May there were border incidents at Pieckel, the Tczew bridge and nearby Kohling. The trouble climaxed on 21 May when an SA man from Marienburg in East Prussia was shot dead after an attack on Polish customs inspectors at Kalthof on the Danzig side of the border. His public burial on 24 May gave Nazi propaganda just the sort of Party martyr it needed."

Cheers,

Sid.

[wm]

The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles were responsible for that, not the League of Nations.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi wm,

And who administered the WWI settlement in Danzig?

Cheers,

Sid