📅 On This Day in Military History

August 31

1 event across history

⚔️📍 Gleiwitz (Gliwice), Germany1939

Gleiwitz Incident — Germany Fakes an Attack to Start WWII

SS troops disguised as Polish soldiers staged a fake attack on a German radio station in Gleiwitz, leaving behind concentration camp prisoners dressed in Polish uniforms as 'evidence.' Hitler cited the staged incident as justification for invading Poland the next day.

The Gleiwitz incident was the false flag operation that Hitler used as propaganda to begin WWII; it established the template for staged provocations to justify military aggression.

Outcome

Germany invades Poland September 1; WWII begins