Nein!

Finally, on 31 August, after some further diplomatic shadow-boxing designed to conceal his intentions, the Führer again gave the order to launch the attack on Poland at dawn the following day.

A few minutes after eight o’clock that evening, a small group of German SS troops dressed in Polish uniforms ‘seized’ the German wireless station at Gleiwitz, close to the Polish frontier, broadcasting some violently anti-German messages before withdrawing and leaving behind several of their dead. In fact the ‘dead Polish attackers’ were pro-Polish German Silesians captured the previous day. Along with several prisoners from Dachau, the captured men had been first dressed in Polish uniforms, then killed with lethal injections, and finally shot and disfigured to prevent identification. Their corpses were left scattered around Gleiwitz as ‘Polish casualties’ of the ‘attack’.

At dawn the following morning, on the pretence of retaliating for the previous night’s provocations, Hitler launched five Panzer divisions in a massive two-pronged attack supported by aircraft and tanks. Their orders were to wipe Poland off the map. Two days later, the world was at war.

Bumping into Hans Bernd Gisevius in a Tirpitzufer corridor on the day war was declared, Wilhelm Canaris growled, ‘Finis Germaniae’ – thus ends Germany.

* The others were Fabian von Schlabrendorff, Theo and Erich Kordt, and Lieutenant Colonel Count Gerhard von Schwerin, who was sent by the German general staff.

† The building is still there, at Noordeinde 148. It is now a restaurant called ‘Het Heden’ (The Future). During the war it was owned by a Mrs Jansen, who also operated another accommodation address for Thümmel at her home. Thanks to Mike Van der Heijden for his help in finding this address and the history attached to it. See Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog – Deel 2 – Neutraal.

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