<sod>Prior to the [[Invasion of Poland]] (Plan White) in September 1939, small groups of German special forces dressed in civilian clothes crossed the Polish border the night before to seize key strategic points before dawn on the day of the invasion. Battalion ''Ebbinghaus'' engaged in atrocities against Poland's population and captured PoWs.{{sfn|Warzecha|2003|pp=55–60}}{{Efn|On 4 September, members of the ''Freikorps Ebbinghaus'' executed 17 defenders of Pszczyna among them boy scouts from the Pszczyna secondary schools and 29 citizens of Orzesze who were tortured before execution. See: ''The fate of Polish children during the last war'' by Roman Hrabar, Zofia Tokarz, Jacek Edward Wilczur, Rada Ochrony Pomników Walki i Męczeństwa (Poland) Interpress, 1981. Also reference: Rocznik przemyski – Volume 21 – p. 130<eod>
<sod>Prior to the [[Invasion of Poland]] (Plan White) in September 1939, small groups of German special forces dressed in civilian clothes crossed the Polish border the night before to seize key strategic points before dawn on the day of the invasion.{{sfn|Bassett|2011|p=177}} Battalion ''Ebbinghaus'' engaged in atrocities against Poland's population and captured PoWs.{{sfn|Warzecha|2003|pp=55–60}}{{Efn|On 4 September, members of the ''Freikorps Ebbinghaus'' executed 17 defenders of Pszczyna among them boy scouts from the Pszczyna secondary schools and 29 citizens of Orzesze who were tortured before execution. See: ''The fate of Polish children during the last war'' by Roman Hrabar, Zofia Tokarz, Jacek Edward Wilczur, Rada Ochrony Pomników Walki i Męczeństwa (Poland) Interpress, 1981. Also reference: Rocznik przemyski – Volume 21 – p. 130<eod>