Kp. Lt.Grabert (Kpfgr.Ebbinghaus)
In the night from 31.Aug. to the 1.Sept. K-Trupps of Kampfgruppe Ebbinghaus
Sneaked across the polish border and infiltrated polish territory. Here first fire-fights occurred with polish police and security forces.
Lt.Grabert commands the 80 men strong “Deutsche
Kompanie” made up from polish speaking Volksdeutsche from the “Industrieschutz
Oberschlesien” and the “Sudetendeutsches Freikorps”.
The company crosses the border a few hours
prior to the attack of the Germany on Poland.
Polish volunteers guide them from Bihacz to the
road to Koenigshütte. The Germans wear railway-workers clothes and are equipped
with thermos-flasks filled with explosives and small arms. Trucks await them on
the road and transport them to their mission target. It is the important
railway installation at Kattowitz.
Polish security forces guard all the bridges
and roads they are passing but not the target of Kompanie Grabert. So they
secure their objectives around midnight.
At 2.00 o´clock a train arrives on the scene
embarking polish troops. Grabert can hear them. They know that german soldiers
occupy the area and want to attack the big ware-house that is occuppied by a
group of german soldiers..
He cannot help them because he has to secure
several other objectives. The Poles start to attack the building. Grabert and
one of his men sneak to the engine of the troop train and capture the two
personnel.
Before, he ordered some other men of the
company to make some “noise” at a bridge near the area. Two “polish workers”
(Kpfgr.Ebbinghaus) shout for help and tell the polish soldiers attacking the
building that German soldiers are to destroy the nearby bridge.
The polish officer has to react. He leaves a
small commando at the building, orders his men to jump on the train (operated
by Grabert) and go to the bridge.
Grabert starts the train and heads west where
he thinks that he will find advancing german troops. Soon he sees some German
vehicles on the road next to the railtrack, stops the train and reports the
astonished german officer that he has some polish soldiers in the train.
The poles surrender and the railway
installations at Kattowitz are handed over undamaged.
Many other K-Trupps accomplished their mission
successfully and are ordered to build a new special-unit for this kind of
warfare soon known as the “Brandenburger”.