How 'Operation Himmler' sparked WWII: Disguised as Polish saboteurs, the Nazis attacked a GERMAN radio station to give them an excuse to invade Poland on this day 82 years ago… leading to Britain declaring war on Germany 48 hours later

UK Daily Mail ^ | 09/01/2021 | Ed Wight and Harry Howard

[DFG]

As night began to fall on 31 August, 1939, a small, hand-picked team of SS troops crept into the then German city of Gleiwitz.

Disguised as Polish saboteurs, their mission was to launch an attack on the city's main radio station to give Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler a justification for invading Poland.

It was part of what was codenamed Operation Himmler - the false flag attacks carried out by the Fuhrer's military intelligence service the Abwehr, along with the feared SS and the Gestapo to give the impression of Polish aggression towards Germany.

Entering through the back door, they locked three technicians into the basement before broadcasting a short message in Polish saying: 'Attention! This is Gliwice. The broadcasting station is in Polish hands.'

To make the raid seem more convincing, German concentration camp prisoners dressed in Polish army uniforms were given lethal injections and then shot in the face to avoid identification.

Their corpses were later shown to journalists as 'proof' of Polish provocation.

Within hours, the incident was being reported across Germany, where it was picked up by the BBC and the Reuters news agency.

A few hours later, the German battleship SMS Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Westerplatte peninsula, on what is now Poland's Bay of Gdansk. At the same time, 29 German Stuka dive bombers hit the small Polish town of Wieluń.

[rfreedom4u]

At the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the start of the war Polish man asked me: If a Polish soldier comes upon both a German and Russian soldier at the same time, which one does he shoot first?

The German because business before pleasure!

[dfwgator]

Yes, I’ve heard that one many times.

[dfwgator]

The Soviets would have made a deal with the French and British, but basically the Soviets demanded at least half of Poland for the deal. The Poles wouldn’t bite, and that’s why Stalin made the deal with Hitler, Hitler let him have half of Poland (well at least for a few years).

[pierrem15]

When 1 out of every 5 inhabitants of the country was murdered by either the Germans or the Russians, it’s hard to forget.

[dfwgator]

“With the Germans, we lose our lives, with the Russians, we lose our souls.” - General Anders

[ProtectOurFreedom]

My great-grandparents had lived in the Langfuhr district of Danzig since the late 1890s. Their house was only about 5 km from the Westerplatte peninsula and fort. The house still stands today and looks a lot like it did in 1930 except it was converted to multi-family housing.

My great-grandfather was fairly prosperous in the new battery business and owned factories in Langfuhr. On September 1-7, they had a ring-side seat to the opening of WW II. I'm sure they could hear the SMS Schleswig-Holstein bombardment of Westerplatte and later could see and hear the Stuka dive bombers attacking Westerplatte.

It must have been a horribly frightening experience. Of course, that brief battle in Danzig was nothing compared to what was to come via the Soviet invasion from the east in late 1944 and early 1945.

[rxh4n1]

After that, the Western Allies allowed Stalin to keep his ill-gotten gains. Poland was thrown under the bus again.

[rmlew]

Why isn’t East Prussia German in that map?

[nutmeg]

.