The German Fifth Column in Poland (10 page)

“
On September 1st in the district of Stryków we established the fact of the participation of civilians of the German minority, armed with rifles and pistols, in the action (massacring our prisoners). (Reported by a private of the 57th infantry regiment, who was taken prisoner in the woods, but escaped.)”

From a Polish Lieutenant of an artillery Regiment:
[60]

“The information transmitted by wireless transmitting and receiving sets were decoded mainly by the aid of an agreed key. House
chimneys were painted white; at night these chimneys were coloured with various colours in accordance with the agreed signal code. Objectives for bombardment were also indicated by rockets. The diversionist agents wore the uniforms of our officers, passed themselves off as liaison officers of the high command, and issued orders in its name. They passed themselves off as wounded and got themselves evacuated to the interior of the country. They had secret documents hidden under their false bandages. In the mountains the fire of the enemy artillery was directed by rockets from spies hidden on the summits. Diversionist agents, disguised in Polish officers' and soldiers'
uniforms, and also in civilian dress, descended in aeroplanes.”

From a Polish Lieutenant in a Regiment of Lancers:
[61]

“
There were parachutists in the forests. Despite all our efforts, their capture proved very difficult. But the local population helped a great deal. Thus, on September 6th, close to Łupkowo, as the result of information supplied by two shepherd lads, my lancers arrested two parachutist diversionist agents. They spoke Polish. I handed them over to my superior military authorities. Spies swarmed everywhere. One fact from many: Close to Łupków a German owner of a brickyard possessed a transmitting set and, moreover, indicated the direction of the wind to German airmen, from his yard. He was executed on September 6th.

“
Parachutists: On September 7th our lancers captured two parachutist diversionist agents in a clearing close to the Ryszki estate. They carried revolvers and explosive materials.”

From a Polish Sub
-lieutenant:
[62]

“In the forest near Tomaszów we discovered two German wireless transmitting posts in a dug-out.”

From another Polish Sub
-lieutenant:
[63]

“At Buznie I arrested the pastor Blümel and his son who were inculpated in diversionist activities, and handed them over to our State Military Police. I discovered proofs of the existence of a wireless transmitter and also three typewriters for writing pamphlets which were hidden under the altar of the Protestant church.”

From a Lieutenant Colonel of the Polish Army General Staff:
[64]

“The network of short-wave transmitter stations established by the German spies was so well arranged and the stations themselves so cleverly hidden that they were discovered only by chance. For instance, such stations were found in the tomb of a well-known industrialist at Poznań, in the house of a Protestant pastor at Luck, and in a hollow tree in a forest near Kowalewo in Pomorze."

From another Lieutenant Colonel of the Polish Army General Staff:
[65]

“In the course of domiciliary visits to Germans made between September 1st and 7th, in the Pomorze province, fifteen short-wave transmission stations were discovered.”

From a Polish Sub
-lieutenant:
[66]

“On September 6th, 1939, the command of the Gdynia defence came into possession of a short-wave transmitter set dropped by parachute from an aeroplane and found not far from a farm which belonged to a minority German of Polish citizenship.”

From a Polish Infantry Captain:
[67]

“On September 7th or 8th Lieutenant B. Z., now dead, of the 42nd Infantry Regiment, informed me that a short-wave station was said to
have been installed in the tower of the Protestant church at Białystok. He said that the pastor communicated with the enemy by means of this set.

“
On September 16th or 17th I was in Białystok when a German attack was made in the direction of the Central Railway Station. I myself heard revolver shots fired on the boulevard, in Piast Street, where I happened to be at the time. The firing caused a panic in this part of the town, which was on the farther side of the town from the actual hostilities. It was German agents trying to make a diversion.

“
On September 23rd, 1939, I was at Sejny. Here I heard that a student of the college at Sejny had been shot down piloting an aeroplane near Suwałki. This student admitted that he had been assigned the task of bombing Sejny. To establish his identity, the professor of his class was summoned to Suwałki, and recognized him at once.”

From a Polish Artillery Captain:
[68]

“From personal observation I was able to confirm that the Germans enrolled representatives of intellectuals, workers, and farmer classes for their espionage service. I learned from an eye-witness who arrested a forester named Muller at Biłgoraj that this man possessed a small short-wave set and a large number of photographs, which he sent to Berlin. Also through the wireless set diversionist agents communicated with German airmen. The diversionist agents were always in the uniform either of Polish soldiers or of Polish police.”

From a Polish
platoon commander:
[69]

“Wherever the German troops advanced there were settlements of German colonists. (The houses of these colonists were distinguished by white crosses painted on the roofs.) In the forest close to Żychlin (Kutno) our wireless telegraphists discovered a shelter where a German wireless station had been installed for some long time. The aerial was hidden in one of the trees.”

From a Polish
pilot:
[70]

“I knew our camouflaged aerodrome at Werynia very well. It was some miles from the San. Imagine my astonishment when, coming down one day, when still some distance away I saw great white signs which had not been there before. I was uncertain whether to land or not. When I did land, I immediately ascertained the origin of these signs. A hurried inquiry revealed that they were the work of local Germans. Unfortunately, the culprits had fled, and we had no time to go in pursuit of the spies.”

From a Polish Captain, a
pilot observer:
[71]

“In the vicinity of Luck diversionist agents were dropped by parachute at night. These agents (among whom were women) lived in neighbouring German villages; they were provided with Polish documents in good order and evoked no suspicions whatever. Among other tasks they were to make agreed signals on the ground for advising the German airmen.

“
These signals were made in various ways:

“
I have seen photographs taken of these signals; some of them had the following forms:”

From a Polish Infantry Sub-lieutenant:
[72]

“On September 7th, 1939, I caught a German diversionist agent cutting wires in the Praga suburb of Warsaw. On searching his house I found weapons and maps. In another German house I found apparatus for making light signals."

From a Polish Captain of the Police Inquiry Board at Puck:
[73]

“The following were the signs agreed between the German airmen and diversionist agents during the Polish-German war.

1. Designs made by treading down tilled ground.

2. By the disposition of hay and corn stooks.

3. By scything grain according to the above designs.

4. By painting the roofs.

5. By light signals (rockets or lights in chimneys).

One of the principal purposes of all these activities was the spreading of panic among the civilian population which, in tens of thousands, blocked the roads, often completely paralysing the movements of troops.
  The Germans provoked this panic by resort to terror (see Lieutenant Colonel R.'s Deposition No. 24, which follows) by circulating alarming news and starting incendiary fires.

W
hile military operations were in progress there were numerous instances of engagements between Polish detachments and bands of subversive agents. These occurred most of all in Pomorze; none the less, in various districts of the country civilians carrying no identity papers fired on the Polish troops. It must be emphasized that, just as in the case of the German air force and motorized units, the German authorities made use primarily of the very young.

I
n view of the thorough nature and vast scale of the subversive activity it is not surprising that a very natural reaction led to a no less dangerous state of mind which saw spies and subversive agents everywhere. This state was also manifested among the Polish armies, and it must be assumed that the Germans foresaw and took account of this circumstance. For that matter it was considerably facilitated by the circumstances of the German-Polish war, and above all by the lack of liaison between the various detachments which were disorganized by the aggression of the German air force, the inadequate activity of the wireless, the lack of newspapers, the evacuation of the civil authorities, etc.

T
he subversive activities carried out by German agents in the rear of the Polish armies had for object:

1.
To collaborate actively with the air force, to indicate bombing objectives to it.

2. To destroy lines of communication (cutting telegraph and telephone wires, destroying railways, damaging bridges, etc.).

3.  To attack military transports.

4. 
To destroy public utilities services.

Deposition from Lieutenant Colonel R.:
[74]

“One of the principal objects of the German agents was to spread panic among the civilian population, following a method which was observable in numerous cases registered in the districts of Wyrzysk and Sempolno, in the south-western part of Pomorze.

“
Immediately the Germans marched into a Polish locality they arrested all the men, and forced the women and children to take to flight, informing them that all the men would be shot.

“
These women and children fled farther east, towards the centre of the country, and carried with them the population of the districts through which they passed. The crowds increased rapidly, blocking all the roads and obstructing the movements of troops.”

From a Lieutenant Colonel attached to the Polish Army General Staff:
[75]

“During the fighting close to Cracow the civilian population took to flight eastward, incited by minority agents.

“R
umours circulated among the regiments that the orders given had been revoked, and that they had been advised to throw down their arms.

“
When the Polish regiments found themselves obliged to cross the Hungarian frontier German agents persuaded the soldiers that their higher commands had ordered them to abandon their arms.”

From a Polish Lieutenant:
[76]

“I became certain that, before the German motorized columns undertook any action of any large dimensions, rumours were put into circulation by their agents in our rear that the German tanks had already reached this or that locality. These rumours did not correspond in the least to the reality. These agents were regularly concealed by the German colonists.”

From a Sub
-lieutenant in th
e
Polish Artillery:
[77]

“False news spread for the purpose of provoking panic was the order of the day. The German agents in Pomorze disorganized the military transports by attacking them with machine-guns, while others, disguised as Polish soldiers, gave the signal for flight, as the result of which the road was swiftly blocked by lorries, wagons, etc. Frequently the German airmen took the opportunity to machine-gun the transports by flying low over them.

S
ubversive agents, frequently disguised as Polish officers or soldiers, distributed leaflets urging the soldiers to mutiny against their officers. Two agents were captured close to Solec Kujawski while attempting to destroy telephone cables. On one of them anti-Polish leaflets were found.”

From a Lieutenant attached to a Divisional Staff in the Polish Infantry:
[78]

“In order to demoralize the Polish troops the Germans scattered leaflets which read more or less as follows: ‘The Polish Army is broken up, all Poland is in German occupation. To obtain an honourable peace
arms must be laid down immediately. The Polish soldiers fighting in the rear of the German armies will be treated as ordinary bandits and shot. The Germans are bringing order and peace with them, they intend to spare the Polish self-respect. When the German troops entered Cracow the German command made a point of setting a guard of honour over
Marshal Piłsudski's tomb. You must surrender at once! In that case all the Polish soldiers will be treated well.’

“‘W
arsaw has fallen,’ was proclaimed in leaflets from September I3th onward, and the Breslau wireless station, broadcasting on the Warsaw station’s wavelengths, repeated the statement.”

From a Polish Infantry Sub
-lieutenant:
[79]

“I was in Bydgoszcz on September 3rd, 1939, while Polish troops were still in the town. I was witness of the following scene: about ten in the morning several minority Germans who spoke Polish well, so far as a hurried examination enabled one to determine, rushed into the street, shouting that the German armies had already entered the town and were already in its suburbs. The transports were seized with panic and took to flight. I was on duty in the centre of the town, and, accompanied by police authorities, at once made in a car for the Inowroclaw road, where, aided by several other officers, I managed to halt the flight. The force stationed in the town withstood a fusillade from the German organized elements, and a regular battle took place in the streets.”

From a Polish Calvary Lieutenant:
[80]

“On September 1
st
, 1939, I read a German leaflet, according to which any Polish soldiers fighting in the rear of the German Army and captured with arms in hand would not enjoy combatants’ rights, but would be treated and punished as francs-tireurs. The leaflet was in two languages, Polish and German.”

From a Second Lieutenant in the Polish Infantry:
[81]

“The German infantry employed certain signals used by the Polish Army, such as ‘cease fire.’ This caused considerable confusion among our regiments, especially if fighting was taking place at night.”

From a Polish Cavalry Lieutenant:
[82]

“The German aeroplanes scattered leaflets which said, inter alia: ‘Soldiers, you are fighting like lions, but your sacrifice will be in vain, you are lost! Cease fighting.’ Appeals of this kind were also made by wireless. The German spies and subversive agents knew Polish very well. In addition their directors were provided with Polish-German vocabularies.”

From a Polish Major:
[83]

“The detachments of subversive agents were perfectly acquainted with the terrain, and developed their activity immediately in the rear of the combatant armies by attacking not only transports but also isolated detachments of infantry, batteries, etc.

“
In one district a priest told me that when the Germans took Sochaczew on September 6th and 7th, they consisted of only six hundred men, infantry, tanks, and artillery. But they were followed by a thousand Germans dressed in Polish uniforms. In addition ninety-five German peasants of Polish citizenship were captured, carrying bundles containing various articles which they had pillaged. The majority of them had Polish mobilization orders calling them to their regiments in Pomorze and Poznańia, and dated between August 14th and 28th, 1939. All except one were Protestants, and they were wretchedly clothed. They were judged guilty of pillage and desertion. Others had German staff maps on the scale of 1:100,000. When examining the papers of another group of Germans, I found three words written in pencil: ‘Trojanowski, Sanki, Gąbin.’  The meaning of this was found to be: ‘Inform the German General Staff at Trojanowski mill that the Polish staff is being transferred by night from Sanki to Gąbin.’ Of course, the Polish staff remained at Sanki, but Gąbin was bombarded the next day.”

From a Polish Lieutenant in a Cavalry Brigade:
[84]

“When the war broke out my detachment was in the district of Lubna, situated some six kilometres from Czersk and about twenty kilometres from Chojnice.

“
The Germans began the war with a diversionist action. On September 1st, before dawn, the German frontier railway station sent a telephonogram to the station at Chojnice, to ask that two passenger trains alleged to be taking Poles sent from Germany back to their own country should be allowed to pass through. Transit traffic being a normal operation on this line, the ruse succeeded, and Chojnice gave the order for the said trains to be allowed through. But instead of the passenger trains advised, an armoured train arrived, preceded by a railway light car, also armoured, to which (a characteristic detail) a Polish flag had been fixed.

“
The armoured train immediately opened fire on the town with its guns, while the light car was engaged farther into our territory and was only demolished there. I assisted at the examination of the men it was carrying. Of course none of them could say how it happened that they had made treacherous use of the Polish flag. But our soldiers had realized that they were faced with German troops only when the latter opened fire on them.

“
The diversion activities practised by the German colonists began during the night of September 1st/2nd. In Pomorze they were favoured by wooded districts and by the difficult terrain, which enabled the local population to orientate well and to hide. That very night we saw coloured rockets bursting again and again, indicating the disposition of our troops to the enemy army. All the time we were at the front we could see rockets wherever there were German colonists in the vicinity, and not only in Pomorze, but also close to Włocławek and Ciechocinek. Several times we were able to arrest the men carrying out diversionist activity, and each
time we found them in possession of German-made cartridges for rocket-firing. They were always colonists established in Poland.

“
In addition to rockets, the German diversionists also had another method of indicating by night the route and the direction our troops were taking. Objects situated close to the route were set on fire without good reason, and always in such a manner as to indicate the beginning of our column. The fire was lighted before the arrival of our troops, and we were never able to lay our hands on the incendiaries. The local Polish population informed us that they were armed men assigned to diversionist activities. At night the line of burning objects even better revealed the line of our route and our roads.

“
On September 4th our detachment was transferred to Łęgnowo, close to Brdyujście, in the neighbourhood of Bydgoszcz. I must mention that at that time this district was still a great distance from the front line. At Łęgnowo, where there was a large number of German colonists, diversionist activities took on very considerable proportions. Thus, during billeting operations my corporal, Grodecki, and another of my subordinates were fired at from rifles when they entered houses. In the same district a considerable store of picks, spades, and wire-cutters, some six hundred items altogether, was found in the Protestant church. They were implements collected in readiness for the demolition of the nearby line of defence. The pastor had fled to Germany on the eve of the war. In this same Łęgnowo we were attacked by a diversionist band, and firing lasted an hour.

“
Afterwards we were stationed at the village of Cierpice. Close to Cierpice is the German village of Nieszawka, consisting of some sixty houses. In this village I found a small short-wave wireless transmitter in a box not much bigger than a matchbox. In the same village we were frequently fired on during the night by Germans. We managed to capture one, who admitted that his band numbered three hundred men, and that during the day they hid on the bank of the River Vistula. At night they fired on the Polish detachments and massacred men who had been outstanding in public activities or were members of Polish societies. In the same village I ascertained that the liaison among the Germans was organized by a system of couriers.

“
On September 6th, as we were entering the village of Lubienka, to the north of Toruń, I saw a desperate woman running towards me. She complained that the proprietor of a local restaurant and the miller of Lubienka, both of them Germans, had killed her husband. The man, as I was able to determine for myself, had been simply assassinated.  Summing up, I affirm that during all these days our soldiers had not a moment of respite and had to be prepared against sudden aggression at any moment.”

From a Polish Second Lieutenant of Artillery:
[85]