Occupation of the Jablunka Pass
The occupation of the Jablunka Pass was a commando operation in the run-up to the attack on Poland and thus before the beginning of the Second World War in Europe, which took place from 25 to 26 August 1939 under the direction of the Abwehr officer Erwin von Lahousen . It was supposed to secure the strategically important Jablunka Pass for the planned incursion of the Wehrmacht and to prevent the railway tunnel from being blown up below.
Events
The first plans for the attack on Poland set August 26, 1939 as the deadline. Adolf Hitler , however, took the short term from the order to attack distance . Meanwhile, the Wehrmacht's plans were already under way. Coming from north-western Slovakia , the Jablunka Pass was the gateway to the southern flank of the Polish army . When Hitler withdrew the order to attack, were already commands the defense go. The combat organization Jablunka (KOJ) under the command of Lieutenant Hans-Albrecht Herzner , an officer of Abwehr II, crossed the border at Čadca . The High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) withdrew the order to attack Poland on August 25, 1939 at 8:30 p.m. Due to a failure of the radio equipment, which did not work in the rugged and wooded landscape, the unit could no longer be informed in time.
The objectives of the mission were to take the pass, prevent the railway tunnel under the Jablunka pass from being blown up and dismantle all explosives. The structure that was preserved was to be handed over to the armed forces stationed in Žilina, who would move up the next day .
The group, about 30 men, led by ethnic Germans with military training , set out from Žilina. They were brought to the border in vehicles that later returned to Žilina. In a five-kilometer walk they climbed the Jablunka Pass to the border. From there they marched to Mosty u Jablunkova , a Czech town in the Olsa area , which was occupied by the Polish as a result of the Munich Agreement . The unit was partly dressed in Polish uniforms, which was a clear violation of the Hague Land Warfare Regulations . Meanwhile, the Wehrmacht feared that the troops, cut off from communications, could begin unwanted combat operations, but all attempts to search for or otherwise contact the unit failed.
The German raiding party missed all of its goals. The unit failed to take the railway tunnel. Even the station building was not fully occupied, as a Polish communication system in the basement that the operator used to inform the officials was not recognized.
When the Polish forces moved up and there was no reinforcement, Herzner decided to return to the Slovak border. The defense officer Erwin von Lahousen noted that the troop repelled an attack by the tunnel defenders and, on the orders of the 7th Infantry Division, managed to walk back to the border in six and a half hours.
On August 26, a delegation of German officers apologized to the Polish 21st Infantry Division for this incident caused by an insane person . At the beginning of the war on September 1st, the railway tunnel was blown up by the Polish military.
literature
- Franz Kurowski : The Brandenburger commandos. Germany's elite warrior spies in World War II. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg PA 2005, ISBN 978-0-8117-3250-5 ( Stackpole military history series ), full text online at Google Books .
- Julius Mader : Hitler's anti-spy generals testify. A documentary report on the structure, structure and operations of the OKW Secret Service Office Abroad / Defense with a chronology of its operations from 1933 to 1944. 2nd edition, Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1971.
- Karl Glaubauf , Stefanie Lahousen: Major General Erwin von Lahousen-Vivremont. A Linz defense officer in the military resistance. LIT-Verlag, Münster 2002.
Web links
- Vanguard in the waiting room , Spiegel article from 1966
Individual evidence
- ↑ See, Mader, p. 13.
- ↑ a b Vanguard in the waiting room , Der Spiegel 12/1966 of March 14, 1966, p. 78f. ( PDF, 318 kB ).
- ↑ Julius Mader: Hitler's espionage generals testify. P. 13.
- ^ Kurowski, p. 41.
- ^ Franz Kurowski: The Brandenburger commandos: Germany's elite warrior spies in World War II. P. 41 f.
- ↑ Julius Mader: Hitler's espionage generals testify. P. 13.
- ^ Secret order for Guillermo - Hitler's chief espionage Wilhelm Canaris. (Part III) In: Der Spiegel 36/1976.
- ^ Operational Group Bielsko of the Krakow Army. Position Cieszyn - Mosty - Jablonkow tunnel. (Polish, accessed August 12, 2010).
- ↑ Comments by Erwin von Lahousen, in: Secret order for Guillermo - Hitler's chief espionage Wilhelm Canaris. (Part III) In: Der Spiegel 36/1976.