Operation Himmler and Its Role in War

Battleship Schleswig-Holstein opens fire on the Polish military transit depot at Westerplatte in the Free City of Danzig on the Baltic Sea, but the attack is repulsed. At the same time, the Luftwaffe attacks several targets in Poland, among them Wieluń, the first town in the war to be carpet bombed by the Germans. Shortly before 6:00 a.m., the German Army passes the Polish border in great numbers from north and south, together with Slovak units. In the same day, the Free City of Danzig is annexed by Germany. Resisters entrenched in Danzig's Polish Post Office are overwhelmed. Adolf Hitler cites alleged Polish border attacks that happened during the false flag Operation Himmler as a reason for war during his 1 September 1939 Reichstag speech. The Italian government announces that it will maintain a condition of 'non-belligerence' in the conflict. Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, and Sweden immediately declare their neutrality. Portugal proclaims that it will remain neutral in the war. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes an emergency military budget. The British War Secretary Leslie Hore-Belisha orders the War Office to begin the general mobilization of the British Armed Forces. In a mass evacuation effort (code named 'operation Pied Piper') the British authorities relocate 1,473,000 children and adults from the cities to the countryside. The adults involved were teachers, people with disabilities and their helpers, mothers with preschool children. Acting on account of their governments, the ambassadors of France and Britain demand the German government to cease all hostile activities and to withdraw its troops from Poland. The President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt sends an appeal to all European powers involved in the crisis asking them to abstain from bombing civilian and unfortified cities. Germany's Führer, Adolf Hitler, answers immediately assuring the American chargé d'affaires Alexander C. Kirk that the Luftwaffe will only attack military targets. The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain also promises to abide to the request, as does Poland's ambassador to the US Jerzy Antoni Potocki. The Einsatzgruppen initiate the Operation Tannenberg in Poland, which would kill around 20,000 selected Poles in two months. Wartime blackouts are put in place throughout Britain, Germany, and France. The Slovak State suspends the country's civil liberties.