Gallery

 

Training Ship on Cruise, Misses Review, Sails for Danzig with Marines
The Ship of the Line, built in 1906, is now being used as a Kadettenschulschiff(Cadet Training Ship) and completed its third training voyage (to the West Indies, Spain, Azores, England) late 1938. Reviewing the flotilla in Kiel harbor from the Gneisenau were Hitler and Admiral von Horthy however, the Schleswig-Holstein was not in the line of ships - it was not fast enough! This review was on the 22nd August, 1938. Participating ships in the Blue line included the battleship Schiesien, the cruisers Leipzig, Nãmberg and Köln. In the Red line were Panzezschiffe Deutschland, Scheer and GrafSpee, with torp edo boats, destroyers and numerous airplanes in formation.

Original plans of the Third Reich called for a visit of the cruiser Konigsbergto Danzig on the 25th of August, 1939, in time for participation in a ceremony honoring German naval war dead. However, the consulate was told on the 24th that the Konigsberg was experiencing engine trouble and its place would be taken by the training ship Schies wig-Holstein.


The next notable event in the life of the Schleswig-Holstein, after installation of its new flak guns, was raising anchor and steaming out of Swinemunde harbor at 1100 hours on 24.8.39. Kommandent Kleikamp called all of the officers and men together for a pep talk, and excitement ran through the ship. He referred to their position at this point of their history and the fact that he had spent eight days with the Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine from Berlin, gathering information and learning of the latest political situations, such as progress in Moscow between Ribbentrop and the Soviets.

On 27June, 1939, British Ambassador to Poland, Kennard, sent a message to Lord Halifax, saying that the previous week was “increasingly eventful”. German Automobile Association members had been required to answer questions about their vehicles. Owners of trucks were required to have them inspected by the military police in Langfuhr, where each was registered with a military identificat ion number. The Poles installed anti-tank ditches on the road to Gdynia, requiring the Danzig border to be closed on the 28th. Kennard noted that the Danzig Freikorps now consisted of 4,000 armed men, with new barracks in Praust. German engineers were constructing two pontoon bridges across the Vistula and Nogat, in case the Dirschau bridge were not available to their troops. The world’s largest Youth Hostel, which today is the police building on Bischofsberg, now housed German troops, surr ounded by barbed wire. Pravda reported “...Danzig is invaded by hordes of tourists”.

On the 23rd of June, Gauleiter Forster was named by the senate to be head of state of Danzig (Staatsoberhaupt), with the Free City proclaimed to be joined to the Reich.

Hitler’s code word for the attack on Poland was ‘Fischen”or ‘Fishing”, and he notified Consul- General Richard von Janson that a sealed encelope was to be opened only after he received a telegram with that word. The attack was set by Hitler to be 26 August at 4:30A.M. The Königsberg was expected on the 25th, but the consulate was notified on the 24th of the change in plans. Janson received a teleg ram at 8:50PM. on the 25th: ‘26 Fishing 4:30”, meaning to open the sealed envelope the next morni ng. In less than an hour, a secçnd telegram cancelled the first. (More in next Report.)
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Attack Plan for the Polish Post Office -

Fifth Column Gathers Information on Defense of Heveliusplatz Building
The 1 September 1939 attack on the polnische Post was not left to chance by the Nazi attackers. This document from the Gdarisk Postal Aithives proves that espionage detailed the “massive building’s” defenses and described all aspects of the assault plan. These copies of the original documents are, of course, in German, and we won’t translate since they can easily be understood with an elementary dictionary. Manpower and armament are detailed in this July, 1939, study, on the next six pages. >

 
Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 83 - April - May - June - 1994, Page 22.