The German Fifth Column in Poland by Aleksandra Miesak Rohde Read Free Book Online

of fierce fighting going on in the streets adjacent to the main street where this artillery affair took place, but I stood at the door of a house in one of these streets where I had taken cover from an air raid. Looking out into the sunlit street I saw at one end an old lady and gentleman taking their dog for a walk, and at the other end I saw Polish soldiers going along in single file on both sides of the street close to the houses to get protection from the bombing planes.
    “From later reports we learned that the Germans h ad miscalculated; they had believed that the German troops would enter the town on the 3rd, and hence the augmented shooting, as they threw off all pretence of moderation, but the troops did not appear until the afternoon of the 5th.
    “A bout 4 p.m. I went home up the main street, stopping to watch two guns firing at three planes high overhead, but apart from that the street was perfectly quiet. Later reports explained that the frontier guards and some artillery had held up the enemy on our part of the frontier, hence the delay in their progress.
    “ 4.9. Was a day of anxious waiting, I do not even remember whether there was an air raid.
    “ 5.9. More air raids. I was in the town and had to take shelter three times. Finally went to a friend living in the main street. About 2 p.m. the firing became much hotter and seemed to come closer, we still thought it was increased sniping. About half an hour later, as the noise increased, one of our number went down to see what was on, and returned a few minutes later saying that the Germans were in the town.
    “ I at once started for home and near the place where I was fired at on Sunday saw the body of a young air-raid warden who had been shot through the head —of course, non-combatant and unarmed. Went to the Red Cross first-aid station where I saw a Red Cross stretcher-bearer dying, he had been killed by a hand-grenade, of which the Volksdeutsche seemed to have an unlimited quantity. As I was going through the street a group of people called me to take cover as sniping was going on. As I entered a house there was a flash of a rifle from an opposite window, evidently the Germans in this part of the town had not yet heard of the troops.
    “ When I reached home I heard that a young man and a young woman living in the house (air-raid wardens) had been shot, the man through the window of his room, he died two days later, and the woman as she left the house to go to her duties; she is crippled for life.
    “ From this time on life was a nightmare of horrors. The Germans started the campaign of lies about the Polish atrocities on the so-called ‘Bloody Sunday,’ and almost the first victims of this campaign were a number of young boy scouts, from 12 to 16 years of age, who were set up in the Old Market against the wall of the Municipal Museum and shot. No reason was given.
    “ A devoted priest who rushed to administer the Last Sacrament was shot too. He received five wounds. A Pole said afterwards that the sight of those children lying dead was the most piteous of all horrors he saw. That week those murders continued. Thirty-four of the leading tradespeople and merchants of the town were shot and many other leading citizens. The square was encircled by military with machine-guns.
    “ Among the thirty-four was a man whom I knew who was too ill to take any part in politics or public affairs. When the execution took place he was too weak to stand and fell down, they beat him and dragged him again to his feet.
    “ Another of the first victims was the seventeen-year-old only son of a well-known surgeon who had died a year before. The father had been greatly esteemed by all and had treated Poles and Germans with the same care and devotion.
    “ We never heard what the poor lad was accused of.
    “ An instance of one horrible execution was related by a friend of mine. This person was standing at a window which overlooked a garden of the Polish Club, when the