Free The German Fifth Column in Poland by Aleksandra Miesak Rohde

some three kilometres to the north and west of the town. On Sunday morning all the main streets were crowded with people fleeing in the direction of Inowroclaw and Lekno, but only a very few troops were left.
    “ The Polish civil population did not possess any arms. Suddenly about eleven o'clock in the morning innumerable rifle shots were fired at the civil population and the rest of the troops, from house roofs, from the towers of the Protestant church, those of the Jesuits’ church, from the old market, and the Protestant cemetery.
    “ Machine-guns were mounted on the tower of th e Protestant church, on Liberty Square, on the roof of the large shop at the corner of Dworcowa Street and Danzig Street, and on the tower of the Jesuits’ church and that of the Protestant church on Koscielecki Square. Bydgoszcz Germans as well as others from neighbouring villages, all of them equipped with arms, were in ambush on the roofs of private houses. As Germans captured on Sunday afternoon and Monday avowed, the Germans were to enter Bydgoszcz on Sunday afternoon. So they had begun to fire to provoke a panic, to disorganize the Polish troops and to spread terror among the civil population. But during Saturday night Polish troops advanced towards Bydgoszcz from the south-east. Swinging round to the south of Bydgoszcz, the Polish troops succeeded in attacking the German troops in the west of the town on their flank. They managed to drive the Germans back westward and to the south of Koronowo some forty kilometres to the south-west of Bydgoszcz. The Germans failed to enter Bydgoszcz on the Sunday, and it was the Polish Army which returned. But the Bydgoszcz Germans did not stop shooting. They were invested by the Polish troops, who cleared the houses and roofs of the armed Germans.
    “ The Germans who did not perish on the spot were tried by courts martial and shot. And that was the ‘bloody Sunday’ of Bydgoszcz, September 3rd, 1939. It was not the Poles who organized a pogrom of the Germans, for the Polish civil population did not possess weapons. On the contrary, it was the German minority which, taking up arms and occupying positions dominating the town, fired on the Polish troops.
    “ So it is quite understandable that when the Polish soldiers returned more than one German perished.
    “ The fact that the Poles committed no atrocity against the Germans captured with weapons in their hands has been testified to by a German doctor. He reported that he had examined the bodies and had found no trace of ill-treatment.”
     
    CHAPTER FOUR - PARACHUTISTS AND DIVERSIONISTS ATTACHED TO THE GERMAN ARMED FORCES

G eneral Observations
    THE German diversionist activities in all their multifarious forms and considerable dimensions constitute a unique feature in the history of war. They played a primary role in the success of the German Army's offensive, and were meticulously prepared long before the war.
    Parachute descents were only one of the methods by means of which diversionist agents were deposited behind the Polish lines. In any case, there is nothing to indicate that the number dropped in this way exceeded fifteen persons at any given point.
    The activities carried out by the agents as part of the German Army's methods of fighting consisted of:
The utilization everywhere of the German minority, which was thoroughly acquainted with the given region and terrain.
The descent of parachutists in small groups at a large number of spots situated in the front line, as well as behind the lines often at a great distance from the actual fighting.
    It must be especially emphasized that the Germans ’ subversive activities were particularly favoured by the fact that the Polish authorities were too slow in arresting elements suspected of conduct injurious to the State.  It is now known that this attitude arose from a fear that Germany might exploit any such preventive measures as a proof of Poland’s bellicose intentions. It is very probable