Editing Gleiwitz incident (section)

{{Short description|Staged attack by Nazi forces to begin the invasion of Poland in 1939}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox operational plan
| name        = Gleiwitz incident
| partof      = [[Operation Himmler]]
| image       = File:Radiostacja Gliwice - przemasban101.png
|image_size =
| caption     = [[Gliwice Radio Tower]] in 2012 Szobiszowice district
| type        = [[False flag attack]]
| location    = [[Gliwice|Gleiwitz]], [[Upper Silesia]], [[Nazi Germany]] (today [[Gliwice]], Poland)
| map_type    = Germany 1937
| coordinates = {{coord|50.313370|18.689037|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| map_size    = 200
| map_caption = Location of the Gleiwitz radio tower in Nazi Germany (1937 borders)
| map_label   = Gleiwitz Radio Tower
| planned     =
| planned_by  =
| objective   = Pretext for the [[invasion of Poland]]
| target      =
| date        = {{Start date|1939|08|31|df=y}}
| executed_by = [[Schutzstaffel|German SS]]
| outcome     =
}}

The '''Gleiwitz incident''' ({{langx|de|Überfall auf den Sender Gleiwitz}}; {{Langx|pl|prowokacja gliwicka}}) was a [[false flag attack]] on the radio station ''Sender Gleiwitz'' in [[Gliwice|Gleiwitz]] (then Germany and now Gliwice, Poland) staged by [[Nazi Germany]] on the night of 31 August 1939. Along with some two dozen similar incidents, the attack was manufactured by Germany as a ''[[casus belli]]'' to justify the [[invasion of Poland]]. Prior to the invasion, [[Adolf Hitler]] gave a radio address condemning the acts and announcing German plans to attack Poland, which began the next morning.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Address by Adolf Hitler – September 1, 1939 |url=https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/document/HITLER1.htm |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=fcit.usf.edu}}</ref> Despite the German government using the attack as a justification to go to war with Poland, the Gleiwitz assailants were not Polish but were German SS officers wearing Polish uniforms. 

During his declaration of war, Hitler did not mention the Gleiwitz incident but grouped all provocations staged by the SS as an alleged "Polish assault" on Germany. The Gleiwitz incident is the best-known action of [[Operation Himmler]], a series of [[special operations]] undertaken by the ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS) to serve German propaganda at the outbreak of war. The operation was intended to create the appearance of a Polish aggression against Germany to justify the invasion of Poland. On September 3, [[United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1939)|Britain]] and [[French declaration of war on Germany (1939)|France]] declared war on Germany, and the European theatre of [[World War II]] had begun. Manufactured evidence for the Gleiwitz attack by the SS was provided by the undercover German SS officer [[Alfred Naujocks]] in 1945.