Posted By: PanzerMeyer
Little known historical events - WW II edition - 05/15/19 02:33 PM
How many of you here have heard of the "Gleiwitz Incident"? Some fascinating stuff for sure and it's rather surprising to see that even a fascist dictator still felt it necessary to find a justification for invading another country.
"On 10 August 1939, Reinhard Heydrich directed Naujocks of his mission to lead a small group of German operatives to seize the Gleiwitz radio station.[7] Thereafter, on the night of 31 August, Naujocks led the attack on the German radio station Gleiwitz, one of twenty-one similar concentrated attacks that the Germans quickly attributed to the Polish. Once inside the radio station, a short broadcast of an anti-German message in Polish was made (although sources vary on the content of the message). Shots were then fired in the studio and a corpse left on the floor near the microphone.[8]
To add documented proof of this attack, the SD operatives placed fictitious Polish troops (corpses of prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp who had been dressed in Polish uniforms provided by the Abwehr, killed by lethal injection, and then shot for appearance) around the 'attacked' radio station for selected members of the press to see at the site of the incident.[1] These attacks, but not exclusively the Gleiwitz incident, formed Hitler's justification to the Reichstag regarding the necessary "pacification" of Poland, thereby setting Second World War in Europe into motion.[9]
More recently, in his investigation the author and researcher Jak Mallmann-Showell has suggested that Naujocks' claims as to his actions at the Gleiwitz radio station may have been a fabrication to curry special handling by the Allies after the war. Mallmann-Showell has discerned that Naujocks is the one source for the details of his personal actions on the night of 31 August 1939. He also avers that the Poles may have accessed the site to obtain Enigma machine secrets for the allies.[clarification needed][10]
Later, on 9 November 1939, Naujocks (along with Walter Schellenberg) participated in the Venlo incident, which saw the capture of two British SIS agents, Captain Sigismund Payne Best and Major Richard Henry Stevens in the Netherlands.[3]
In early 1940, Naujocks was put in charge of the counterfeiting unit of the SD charged with forging British bank notes under Operation Andreas. By late 1940 Naujocks had been removed from his position after he fell out of favor with Heydrich.
In 1941, he was dismissed from the SD after disputing one of Reinhard Heydrich's orders. He was demoted and had to serve in the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front. In 1943, due to his health, he was sent to the West, where he served as an economic administrator the following year for German troops in Belgium, while involving himself in the deaths of several Belgian Underground and Danish resistance members.[3]
After his promotion to Obersturmführer (first lieutenant) he participated in sabotage and terrorist actions against the Danish population from December 1943 until autumn 1944, as the leader of the "Peter Group", including the murder of a Lutheran pastor Kaj Munk.[11] Later leadership passed to SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Alexander Friedrich Schwerdt (SS-Jagdverbände). Circa November 1944, Naujocks turned himself over to American forces, who subsequently placed him in detention as a possible war criminal by the end of the war."
"On 10 August 1939, Reinhard Heydrich directed Naujocks of his mission to lead a small group of German operatives to seize the Gleiwitz radio station.[7] Thereafter, on the night of 31 August, Naujocks led the attack on the German radio station Gleiwitz, one of twenty-one similar concentrated attacks that the Germans quickly attributed to the Polish. Once inside the radio station, a short broadcast of an anti-German message in Polish was made (although sources vary on the content of the message). Shots were then fired in the studio and a corpse left on the floor near the microphone.[8]
To add documented proof of this attack, the SD operatives placed fictitious Polish troops (corpses of prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp who had been dressed in Polish uniforms provided by the Abwehr, killed by lethal injection, and then shot for appearance) around the 'attacked' radio station for selected members of the press to see at the site of the incident.[1] These attacks, but not exclusively the Gleiwitz incident, formed Hitler's justification to the Reichstag regarding the necessary "pacification" of Poland, thereby setting Second World War in Europe into motion.[9]
More recently, in his investigation the author and researcher Jak Mallmann-Showell has suggested that Naujocks' claims as to his actions at the Gleiwitz radio station may have been a fabrication to curry special handling by the Allies after the war. Mallmann-Showell has discerned that Naujocks is the one source for the details of his personal actions on the night of 31 August 1939. He also avers that the Poles may have accessed the site to obtain Enigma machine secrets for the allies.[clarification needed][10]
Later, on 9 November 1939, Naujocks (along with Walter Schellenberg) participated in the Venlo incident, which saw the capture of two British SIS agents, Captain Sigismund Payne Best and Major Richard Henry Stevens in the Netherlands.[3]
In early 1940, Naujocks was put in charge of the counterfeiting unit of the SD charged with forging British bank notes under Operation Andreas. By late 1940 Naujocks had been removed from his position after he fell out of favor with Heydrich.
In 1941, he was dismissed from the SD after disputing one of Reinhard Heydrich's orders. He was demoted and had to serve in the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front. In 1943, due to his health, he was sent to the West, where he served as an economic administrator the following year for German troops in Belgium, while involving himself in the deaths of several Belgian Underground and Danish resistance members.[3]
After his promotion to Obersturmführer (first lieutenant) he participated in sabotage and terrorist actions against the Danish population from December 1943 until autumn 1944, as the leader of the "Peter Group", including the murder of a Lutheran pastor Kaj Munk.[11] Later leadership passed to SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Alexander Friedrich Schwerdt (SS-Jagdverbände). Circa November 1944, Naujocks turned himself over to American forces, who subsequently placed him in detention as a possible war criminal by the end of the war."
