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#4474198 - 05/15/19 02:33 PM Little known historical events - WW II edition  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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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."


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
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#4474204 - 05/15/19 02:54 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW II edition [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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As a German, it is probably not surprising that I knew about it, yes; not necessarily about the specific name/place, but the general. Simply also for the reason that we always get to hear it with the record of the Reichstags address the next day, that is also referenced above.
Quote
Polen hat heute Nacht zum ersten Mal auf unserem eigenen Territorium auch mit bereits regulären Soldaten geschossen. Seit 5:45 Uhr wird jetzt zurückgeschossen!

Roughly: "Tonight, for the first time Poland fired shots on our own territory, also with regular troops. Since 5:45 we are now shooting back!"
In most (at least German) TV documentaries about the start of WW2 the staged attack becomes a topic, to denounce the claim in the speech, and to depict the criminal energy applied to it.

There is another incident a week earlier, that I only learned about in recent years (might have been a post on this forum):
Jabłonków incident
Quote
Jabłonków incident (Polish: Incydent jabłonkowski, Czech: Jablunkovský incident) refers to the events of the night of August 25/26, 1939, along the Polish-Slovak border, when a group of German Abwehr agents attacked a rail station in Mosty. The main purpose of the attack was to capture the Jablunkov Pass, with its strategic railroad tunnel, until the arrival of the German armed forces. The attackers were repelled by units of the Polish Army, and the incident is regarded as a prelude to the German invasion of Poland.[1] The Jabłonków Incident has been named the first commando operation of the Second World War.

Last edited by WhoCares; 05/15/19 03:04 PM.
#4485163 - 08/05/19 01:32 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW edition [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Not WWII, but suites well the "did you know..." theme, did you know about the first Americans fighting Bolshevism?
As it happens, this made the starting page of the German Wikipedia, as the ANREF got officially disbanded today 100 years ago.


American Expeditionary Force, North Russia , aka Polar Bear Expedition

Quote
The U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent the Polar Bear Expedition to Russia in response to requests from the governments of Great Britain and France to join the Allied Intervention in North Russia (also known as the North Russia Campaign). The British and French had two objectives for this intervention:[2]
  • preventing Allied war material stockpiles in Archangelsk (originally intended for the recently collapsed Eastern Front) from falling into German or Bolshevik hands
  • mounting an offensive to rescue the Czechoslovak Legion, which was stranded along the Trans-Siberian Railroad


Also worth noting the second expedition at the same time to Vladivostok, AEF in Siberia.


Last edited by WhoCares; 08/05/19 01:32 PM.
#4485164 - 08/05/19 01:36 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW edition [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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PanzerMeyer  Online Centaurian
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I'll add another interesting bit of trivia:


Martin Van Buren is the only POTUS to date whose native language was not English.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4485170 - 08/05/19 02:24 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW edition [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Yes knew about the "Gleiwitz Incident" PM.

How many know about the post WW2 plot by Jews to murder Germans?
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/jewish-avengers.html


There was only 16 squadrons of RAF fighters that used 100 octane during the BoB.
The Fw190A could not fly with the outer cannon removed.
There was no Fw190A-8s flying with the JGs in 1945.
#4485175 - 08/05/19 02:47 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW II edition [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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The road less traveled is filled with fewer needy people.
#4485178 - 08/05/19 02:50 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW edition [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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The only known bow kill in WW II by ‘Mad’ Jack Churchill https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/hitlers-wolfs-lair-plaque-stolen.html


EV's are the Devils matchbox.
#4485179 - 08/05/19 02:51 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW II edition [Re: Chef]  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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Originally Posted by Chef



I did not know about this incident. It's quite shameful and embarrassing but also not surprising considering the times.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4485211 - 08/05/19 06:56 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW II edition [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Here's one for you: 2nd Lt Owen John Bagget, a B-24 Pilot, shot down a Japanese fighter plane with a pistol while hanging from his parachute. Incredible, but true.

https://www.truthorfiction.com/owen-john-baggett-killed-japanese-pilot-mid-air/

#4485213 - 08/05/19 07:03 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW II edition [Re: Lucky_1]  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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PanzerMeyer  Online Centaurian
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Originally Posted by Lucky_1
Here's one for you: 2nd Lt Owen John Bagget, a B-24 Pilot, shot down a Japanese fighter plane with a pistol while hanging from his parachute. Incredible, but true.

https://www.truthorfiction.com/owen-john-baggett-killed-japanese-pilot-mid-air/



Wow. Talk about playing Battlefield 1942 for real! biggrin


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4485217 - 08/05/19 09:15 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW II edition [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Ice Cold in Alex or Eating in ...
In 1931 the sailors of the Royal Navy whose ships were anchored in the Cromarty Firth mutinied on the 15th of September that year partly because of a believed 25% pay cut for ratings and junior sailors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invergordon_Mutiny

One thing that is not mentioned in the article on Wikipedia is that in the aftermath of mutiny the Navy bought all the bars and hotels around the Cromarty Firth, they only got sold off in the early 1970s, my father looked in to buying a couple of them and had settled on Mansfield House in Tain but alas it was not to be, we ended up buying another hotel slightly further north. During the search for a decent hotel we learned quite a bit about the mutiny.

Lots of WW2 history around the area with airfields and such, I posted a thread on here a few years ago about a search for a crashed Sunderland Flying Boat, it had taken off from the Cromarty Firth near Alness during WW2.


Chlanna nan con thigibh a so's gheibh sibh feoil
Sons of the hound come here and get flesh
Clan Cameron
#4485306 - 08/06/19 06:02 PM Re: Little known historical events - WW II edition [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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"Anyone can shoot you down if you don't see him coming but it takes a wonderfully good Hun to bag a Camel if you're expecting him."
Tom Cundall.

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