[b]17: THE LAUNCHING OF WORLD WAR II[/b]

 

 

AT DAYBREAK on September 1, 1939, the very date which Hitler had set in his first directive for "Case White" back on April 3, the German armies poured across the Polish frontier and converged on Warsaw from the north, south and west.

 

Overhead German warplanes roared toward their targets: Polish troop columns and ammunition dumps, bridges, railroads and open cities. Within a few minutes they were giving the Poles, soldiers and civilians alike, the first taste of sudden death and destruction from the skies ever experienced on any great scale on the earth and thereby inaugurating a terror which would become dreadfully familiar to hundreds of millions of men, women and children in Europe and Asia during the next six years, and whose shadow, after the nuclear bombs came, would haunt all mankind with the threat of utter extinction.

 

It was a gray, somewhat sultry morning in Berlin, with clouds hanging low over the city, giving it some protection from hostile bombers, which were feared but never came.

 

The people in the streets, I noticed, were apathetic despite the immensity of the news which had greeted them from their radios and from the extra editions of the morning newspapers. [i] Across the street from the Adlon Hotel the morning shift of laborers had gone to work on the new I.G. Farben building just as if nothing had happened, and when newsboys came by shouting their extras no one laid down his tools to buy one. Perhaps, it occurred to me, the German people were simply dazed at waking up on this first morning of September to find themselves in a war which they had been sure the Fuehrer somehow would avoid. They could not quite believe it, now that it had come.

 

What a contrast, one could not help thinking, between this gray apathy and the way the Germans had gone to war in 1914. Then there had been a wild enthusiasm. The crowds in the streets had staged delirious demonstrations, tossed flowers at the marching troops and frantically cheered the Kaiser and Supreme Warlord, Wilhelm II.

 

There were no such demonstrations this time for the troops or for the Nazi warlord, who shortly before 10 A.M. drove from the Chancellery to the Reichstag through empty streets to address the nation on the momentous happenings which he himself, deliberately and cold-bloodedly, had just provoked. Even the robot members of the Reichstag, party hacks, for the most part, whom Hitler had appointed, failed to respond with much enthusiasm as the dictator launched into his explanation of why Germany found itself on this morning engaged in war. There was far less cheering than on previous and less important occasions when the Leader had declaimed from this tribune in the ornate hall of the Kroll Opera House.

 

Though truculent at times he seemed strangely on the defensive, and throughout the speech, I thought as I listened, ran a curious strain, as though he himself were dazed at the fix he had got himself into and felt a little desperate about it. His explanation of why his Italian ally had reneged on its automatic obligations to come to his aid did not seem to go over even with this hand-picked audience.

 

[quote]I should like [he said] here above all to thank Italy, which throughout has supported us, but you will understand that for the carrying out of this struggle we do not intend to appeal for foreign help. We will carry out this task ourselves.[/quote]

 

Having lied so often on his way to power and in his consolidation of power, Hitler could not refrain at this serious moment in history from thundering a few more lies to the gullible German people in justification of his wanton act.

 

[quote]You know the endless attempts I made for a peaceful clarification and understanding of the problem of Austria, and later of the problem of the Sudetenland, Bohemia and Moravia. It was all in vain ...

 

In my talks with Polish statesmen ... I formulated at last the German proposals and ... there is nothing more modest or loyal than these proposals. I should like to say this to the world. I alone was in the position to make such proposals, for I know very well that in doing so I brought myself into opposition to millions of Germans. These proposals have been refused ....

 

For two whole days I sat with my Government and waited to see whether it was convenient for the Polish Government to send a plenipotentiary or not ... But I am wrongly judged if my love of peace and my patience are mistaken for weakness or even cowardice ... I can no longer find any willingness on the part of the Polish Government to conduct serious negotiations with us ... I have therefore resolved to speak to Poland in the same language that Poland for months past has used toward us ...

 

This night for the first time Polish regular soldiers fired on our own territory. Since 5:45 A.M. we have been returning the fire, and from now on bombs will be met with bombs.[/quote]

 

Thus was the faked German attack on the German radio station at Gleiwitz, which, as we have seen, was carried out by S.S. men in Polish uniforms under the direction of Naujocks, used by the Chancellor of Germany as justification of his cold-blooded aggression against Poland. And indeed in its first communiques the German High Command referred to its military operations as a "counterattack." Even Weizsaecker did his best to perpetrate this shabby swindle. During the day he got off a circular telegram from the Foreign Office to all German diplomatic missions abroad advising them on the line they were to take.

 

[quote]In defense against Polish attacks, German troops moved into action against Poland at dawn today. This action is for the present not to be described as war, but merely as engagements which have been brought about by Polish attacks' [1][/quote]

 

Even the German soldiers, who could see for themselves who had done the attacking on the Polish border, were bombarded with Hitler's lie. In a grandiose proclamation to the German Army on September 1, the Fuehrer said:

 

[quote]The Polish State has refused the peaceful settlement of relations which I desired, and has appealed to arms ... A series of violations of the frontier, intolerable to a great Power, prove that Poland is no longer willing to respect the frontier of the Reich.

 

In order to put an end to this lunacy, I have no other choice than to meet force with force from now on.[/quote]

 

Only once that day did Hitler utter the truth.

 

[quote]I am asking of no German man [he told the Reichstag] more than I myself was ready throughout four years to do ... I am from now on just the first soldier of the German Reich. I have once more put on that coat that was most sacred and dear to me. I will not take it off again until victory is secured, or I will not survive the outcome.[/quote]

 

In the end, this once, he would prove as good as his word. But no German I met in Berlin that day noticed that what the Leader was saying quite bluntly was that he could not face, not take, defeat should it come.

 

In his speech Hitler named Goering as his successor should anything happen to him. Hess, he added, would be next in line. "Should anything happen to Hess," Hitler advised, "then by law the Senate will be called and will choose from its midst the most worthy -- that is to say, the bravest  -- successor." What law? What Senate? Neither existed!

 

Hitler's relatively subdued manner at the Reichstag gave way to another and uglier mood as soon as he had returned to the Chancellery. The ubiquitous Dahlerus, in tow of Goering, found him there in an "exceedingly nervous and very agitated" state.

 

[quote]He told me [the Swedish mediator later testified] he had all along suspected that England wanted the war. He told me further that he would crush Poland and annex the whole country ...

 

He grew more and more excited, and began to wave his arms as he shouted in my face: "If England wants to fight for a year, I shall fight for a year; if England wants to fight two years, I shall fight two years ... " He paused and then yelled, his voice rising to a shrill scream and his arms milling wildly: "If England wants to fight for three years, I shall fight for three years ... "

 

The movements of his body now began to follow those of his arms, and when he finally bellowed: "Und wenn es erforderlich ist, will ich zehn Jahre kaempfen" ("And if necessary, I will fight for ten years") he brandished his fist and bent down so that it nearly touched the floor. [2][/quote]

 

Yet for all his hysteria Hitler was by no means convinced that he would have to fight Great Britain at all. It was now past noon, German armored columns were already several miles inside Poland and advancing rapidly and most of Poland's cities, including Warsaw, had been bombed with considerable civilian casualties. But there was not a word from London or Paris that Britain and France were in any hurry to honor their word to Poland.

 

Their course seemed clear, but Dahlerus and Henderson appeared to be doing their best to confuse it.

 

At 10: 30 A.M. the British ambassador telephoned a message to Halifax.

 

[quote]I understand [he said] that the Poles blew up the Dirschau bridge during the night. [ii] And that fighting took place with the Danzigers. On receipt of this news, Hitler gave orders for the Poles to be driven back from the border line and to Goering for destruction of the Polish Air Force along the frontier.[/quote]

 

Only at the end of his dispatch did Henderson add:

 

[quote]This information comes from Goering himself.

 

Hitler may ask to see me after Reichstag as a last effort to save the peace. [3][/quote]

 

What peace? Peace for Britain? For six hours Germany had been waging war -- with all its military might -- against Britain's ally.

 

Hitler did not send for Henderson after his Reichstag speech, and the ambassador, who had accommodatingly passed along to London Goering's lies about the Poles beginning the attack, became discouraged -- but not completely discouraged. At 10:50 A.M. he telephoned a further message to Halifax. A new idea had sprung up in his fertile but confused mind.

 

[quote]I feel it my duty [he reported], however little prospect there may be of its realization, to· express the belief that the only possible hope now for peace would be for Marshal Smigly-Rydz to announce his readiness to come immediately to Germany to discuss as soldier and plenipotentiary the whole question with Field Marshal Goering. [4][/quote]

 

It does not seem to have occurred to this singular British ambassador that Marshal Smigly-Rydz might have his hands full trying to repel the massive and unprovoked German attack, or that if he could break off and did come to Berlin as a "plenipotentiary" it would be equivalent, under the circumstances, to surrender. The Poles might be quickly beaten but they would not surrender.

 

Dahlerus was even more active than Henderson during this first day of the German attack on Poland. At 8 A.M. he had gone to see Goering, who told him that "war had broken out because the Poles had attacked the radio station at Gleiwitz and blown up a bridge near Dirschau." The Swede immediately rang up the Foreign Office in London with the news.

 

"I informed somebody," he later testified in cross-examination at Nuremberg, "that according to the information I had received the Poles had attacked, and they naturally wondered what was happening to me when 1 gave that information." [5] But after all, it was only what H. M. Ambassador in Berlin would be telephoning a couple of hours later.

 

A confidential British Foreign Office memorandum records the Swede's call at 9:05 A.M. Aping Goering, Dahlerus insisted to London that "the Poles are sabotaging everything," and that he had "evidence they never meant to attempt to negotiate." [6]

 

At half after noon Dahlerus was on the long-distance phone again to the Foreign Office in London, and this time got Cadogan. He again blamed the Poles for sabotaging the peace by blowing the Dirschau bridge and suggested that he once again fly to London with Forbes. But the stern and unappeasing Cadogan had had about enough of Dahlerus now that the war which he had tried to prevent had come. He told the Swede that "nothing could now be done."

 

But Cadogan was merely the permanent Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, not even a member of the cabinet. Dahlerus insisted that his request be submitted to the cabinet itself, informing Cadogan haughtily that he would ring back in an hour. This he did, and got his answer.

 

[quote]Any idea of mediation [Cadogan said] while German troops are invading Poland is quite out of the question. The only way in which a world war can be stopped is (one) that hostilities be suspended, and (two) that German troops be immediately withdrawn from Polish territory. [7][/quote]

 

At 10 A.M. the Polish ambassador in London, Count Raczynski, had called on Lord Halifax and officially communicated to him the news of the German aggression, adding that "it was a plain case as provided for by the treaty." The Foreign Secretary answered that he had no doubt of the facts. At 10:50 he summoned the German charge d'affaires, Theodor Kordt, to the Foreign Office and asked him if he had any information. Kordt replied that he had neither information about a German attack on Poland nor any instructions. Halifax then declared that the reports which he had received "create a very serious situation." But further than that he did not go. Kordt telephoned this information to Berlin at 11:45 A.M.

 

By noon, then, Hitler had reason to hope that Britain, though it considered the situation serious, might not go to war after all. But the hope was soon to be dashed.

 

At 7:15 P.M. a member of the British Embassy in Berlin telephoned the German Foreign Office and requested Ribbentrop to receive Henderson and Coulondre "on a matter of urgency as soon as possible." The French Embassy made a similar request a few minutes later. Ribbentrop, having declined to meet the two ambassadors together, received Henderson at 9 P.M. and Coulondre an hour later. From the British ambassador he was handed a formal note from the British government.

 

[quote]... Unless the German Government are prepared [it said] to give His Majesty's Government satisfactory assurances that the German Government have suspended all aggressive action against Poland and are prepared promptly to withdraw their forces from Polish territory, His Majesty's Government will without hesitation fulfill their obligation to Poland. [8][/quote]

 

The French communication was in identical words.

 

To both ambassadors Ribbentrop replied that he would transmit their notes to Hitler, whereupon he launched into a lengthy dissertation declaring that "there was no question of German aggression" but of Polish aggression and repeating the by now somewhat stale lie that "regular" Polish troops had attacked German soil on the previous day. Still, the diplomatic niceties were maintained. Sir Nevile Henderson did not fail to note in his dispatch that night describing the meeting that Ribbentrop had been "courteous and polite." As the ambassador prepared to take his leave an argument arose as to whether the German Foreign Minister had gabbled the text of the German "proposals" to Poland at their stormy meeting two evenings before. Henderson said he had; Ribbentrop said he had read them "slowly and clearly and even given oral explanations of the main points so that he could suppose Henderson had understood everything." It was an argument that would never be settled -- but what difference did it make now? [9]

 

 

On the night of September 1, as the German armies penetrated further into Poland and the Luftwaffe bombed and bombed, Hitler knew from the Anglo-French notes that unless he stopped his armies and quickly withdrew them -- which was unthinkable -- he had a world war on his hands. Or did he still hope that night that his luck -- his Munich luck -- might hold? For his friend Mussolini, frightened by the advent of war and fearing that an overwhelming Anglo-French naval and military force might strike against Italy, was desperately trying to arrange another Munich.

 

[b]THE LAST-MINUTE INTERVENTION OF MUSSOLINI[/b]

 

As late as August 26, it will be remembered, the Duce, in ducking out of Italy's obligations under the Pact of Steel, had insisted to the Fuehrer that there was still a possibility of "a political solution" which would give "full moral and material satisfaction to Germany." [iii] Hitler had not bothered to argue the matter with his friend and ally, and this had discouraged the junior partner in the Axis. Nevertheless on August 31, as we have seen, Mussolini and Ciano, after being advised by their ambassador in Berlin that the situation had become desperate, had urged Hitler at least to see the Polish ambassador, Lipski, and had informed him that they were trying to get the British government to agree to the return of Danzig "as a first step" in peace negotiations. [iv]

 

But it was too late for Hitler to be tempted by such small bait. Danzig was a mere pretense, as the Fuehrer had told his generals. What he wanted was to destroy Poland. But the Duce did not know this. On the morning of September 1, he himself was confronted with the choice of immediately declaring Italy's neutrality or risking an attack by Britain and France. Ciano's diary entries make clear what a nightmare this prospect was for his deflated father-in-law. [v]

 

Early on the morning of September 1 the unhappy Italian dictator personally telephoned Ambassador Attolico in Berlin and, in the words of Ciano, "urged him to entreat Hitler to send him a telegram releasing him from the obligations of the alliance." [11] The Fuehrer quickly and even graciously obliged. Just before he left for the Reichstag, at 9:40 A.M., he got off a telegram to his friend which was telephoned through to the German Embassy in Rome to save time.

 

 

[quote]DUCE:

 

I thank you most cordially for the diplomatic and political support which you have been giving recently to Germany and her just cause. I am convinced that we can carry out the task imposed upon us with the military forces of Germany. I do not therefore expect to need Italy's military support in these circumstances. I also thank you, Duce, for everything which you will do in future for the common cause of Fascism and National Socialism.

 

ADOLF HITLER [vi] [12][/quote]

 

At 12:45 P.M., after having addressed the Reichstag and after having, apparently, recovered from the effects of his outburst to Dahlerus, Hitler was moved to send a further message to Mussolini. Declaring that he had been prepared to solve the Polish problem "by negotiation" and that "for two whole days I have waited in vain for a Polish negotiator" and that "last night alone there were fourteen more cases of frontier violation" and that consequently he had "now decided to answer force with force," he again expressed his gratitude to his welshing partner.

 

[quote]I thank you, Duce, for all your efforts. I thank you in particular also for your offers of mediation. But from the start I was skeptical about these attempts because the Polish Government, if they had had even the slightest intention of solving the matter amicably, could have done so at any time. But they refused ...

 

For this reason, Duce, I did not want to expose you to the danger of assuming the role of mediator which, in view of the Polish Government's intransigent attitude, would in all probability have been in vain ...

 

ADOLF HITLER [13][/quote]

 

But Mussolini, prompted by Ciano, made one last desperate effort to expose himself to the danger of being a mediator. Already on the previous day, shortly after noon, Ciano had proposed to the British and French ambassadors in Rome that, if their governments agreed, Mussolini would invite Germany to a conference on September 5 for the purpose of "examining the clauses of the Treaty of Versailles which are the cause of the present troubles."

 

It might have been thought that the news of the German invasion of Poland the next morning would have rendered Mussolini's proposal superfluous. But to the Italian's surprise Georges Bonnet, the French Foreign Minister and master appeaser, telephoned Francois-Poncet, who was now the ambassador of France in Rome, at 11:45 A.M. on September 1 and asked him to tell Ciano that the French government welcomed such a conference provided that it did not try to deal with problems of countries not represented and that it did not restrict itself to seeking "partial and provisional solutions for limited and immediate problems." Bonnet made no mention of any withdrawal of German troops or even of their halting, as a condition for such a conference. [14] [vii]

 

But the British were insistent upon that condition and succeeded in carrying the badly divided French cabinet along with them so that identical warning notes could be delivered in Berlin on the evening of September 1. Since the text of those notes giving notice that Britain and France would go to war unless the German troops were withdrawn from Poland was made public the same evening, it is interesting that Mussolini, now clutching desperately at every straw -- or even at straws which were not there -- went ahead the next morning in a further appeal to Hitler just as if he, the Duce, did not take the Anglo-French warnings at face value.

 

September 2, as Henderson noted in his Final Report, was a day of suspense.  [viii] He and Coulondre waited anxiously for Hitler's reply to their notes, but none came. Shortly after midday Attolico, somewhat out of breath, arrived at the British Embassy and told Henderson he must know one thing immediately: Was the British note of the previous evening an ultimatum or not?

 

"I told him," Henderson later wrote, "that I had been authorized to tell the Minister of Foreign Affairs if he had asked me -- which he had not done -- that it was not an ultimatum but a warning." [16]

 

Having received his answer, the Italian ambassador hastened down the Wilhelmstrasse to the German Foreign Office. Attolico had arrived at 10 o'clock that morning at the Wilhelmstrasse with a communication from Mussolini and, being told that Ribbentrop was unwell, handed it to Weizsaecker.

 

[quote]September 2, 1939

 

For purposes of information, Italy wishes to make known, naturally leaving any decision to the Fuehrer, that she still has the possibility of getting France, Britain and Poland to agree to a conference on the following bases:

 

1. An armistice, which leaves the armies where [emphasis in the original] they now are.

 

2. Convening of the conference within two to three days.

 

3. Settlement of the Polish-German dispute, which, as matters stand today, would certainly be favorable to Germany.

 

The idea, which originally emanated from the Duce, is now supported particularly by France. [ix]

 

Danzig is already German, and Germany has already in her hands pledges which guarantee her the greater part of her claims. Moreover, Germany has already had her "moral satisfaction." If she accepted the proposal for a conference she would achieve all her aims and at the same time avoid a war, which even now looks like becoming general and of extremely long duration.

 

The Duce does not want to insist, but it is of the greatest moment to him that the above should be immediately brought to the attention of Herr von Ribbentrop and the Fuehrer. [17] [/quote]

 

No wonder that when Ribbentrop, who had quickly recovered from his indisposition, saw Attolico at 12:30 P.M., he pointed out that the Duce's proposal could not be "reconciled" with the Anglo-French notes of the evening before, which had "the character of an ultimatum."

 

The Italian ambassador, who was as anxious as his chief to avoid a world war and certainly more sincere, interrupted Ribbentrop to say that the British and French declarations "had been superseded by the latest communication from the Duce." Attolico, of course, had no authority whatsoever to make such a statement, which was not true, but at this late hour he probably thought he could lose nothing by being reckless. When the German Foreign Minister expressed his doubts, Attolico stuck to his view.

 

[quote]The French and British declarations [he said] no longer came into consideration. Count Ciano had telephoned only at 8:30 this morning, that is to say at a time when the declarations had already been given out on the radio in Italy. It followed that the two declarations must be considered as superseded. Count Ciano stated moreover that France in particular was greatly in favor of the Duce's proposal. The pressure comes at the moment from France but England will follow. [18][/quote]

 

Ribbentrop remained skeptical. He had just discussed Mussolini's proposal with Hitler, he said, and what the Fuehrer wanted to know was: Were the Anglo-French notes ultimata? The Foreign Minister finally agreed to Attolico's suggestion that the Italian envoy should immediately consult Henderson and Coulondre to find out.

 

That was the reason for Attolico's call at the British Embassy. "I can still see Attolico, no longer in his first youth," Schmidt, who acted as interpreter, wrote later, "running out of Ribbentrop's room and down the steps to consult Henderson and Coulondre A half hour later Attolico came running back, as breathless as he had left." [19]

 

Regaining his breath, the Italian ambassador reported that Henderson had just told him the British note was not an ultimatum. Ribbentrop replied that while "a German reply to the Anglo-French declarations could only be negative the Fuehrer was examining the Duce's proposals and, if Rome confirmed that there had been no question of an ultimatum in the Anglo-French declaration, would draft an answer in a day or two." When Attolico pressed for an earlier answer, Ribbentrop finally agreed to reply by noon the next day, Sunday, September 3.

 

Meantime in Rome Mussolini's hopes were being smashed. At 2 P.M. Ciano received the British and French ambassadors and in their presence telephoned to both Halifax and Bonnet and informed them of Attolico's talks with the German Foreign Minister. Bonnet was effusive as usual and, according to his own account (in the French Yellow Book), warmly thanked Ciano for his efforts on behalf of peace. Halifax was sterner. He confirmed that the British note was not an ultimatum -- one marvels at the splitting of hairs among the statesmen over a single word, for the Anglo-French declarations spoke for themselves unequivocably -- but added that in his own view the British could not accept Mussolini's proposal for a conference unless the German armies withdrew from Poland, a matter on which Bonnet again was silent. Halifax promised to telephone Ciano the decision of the British cabinet on that.

 

The decision came shortly after 7 P.M. Britain accepted the Duce's offer on condition that Hitler pull back his troops to the German frontier. The Italian Foreign Minister realized that Hitler would never accept this and that "nothing more could be done," as he put it in his diary.

 

[quote]It isn't my business [he added] to give Hitler advice that he would reject decisively and maybe with contempt. I tell this to Halifax, to the two ambassadors and to the Duce, and finally I telephone to Berlin that unless the Germans advise us to the contrary we shall let the conversations lapse. The last note of hope has died. [20][/quote]

 

And so at 8: 50 P.M. on September 2 the weary and crushed Attolico once more made his way to the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin. This time Ribbentrop received him in the Chancellery, where he was in conference with Hitler. A captured Foreign Office memo records the scene.

 

[quote]The Italian Ambassador brought the Foreign Minister the information that the British were not prepared to enter into negotiations on the basis of the Italian proposal of mediation. The British demanded, before starting negotiations, the immediate withdrawal of all German troops from the occupied Polish areas and from Danzig ...

 

In conclusion the Italian Ambassador stated that the Duce now considered his mediation proposal as no longer in being. The Foreign Minister received the communication from the Italian Ambassador without comment. [21][/quote]

 

 

Not a word of thanks to the tireless Attolico for all his efforts! Only the contempt of silence toward an ally who was trying to cheat Germany of its Polish spoils.

 

The last slight possibility of averting World War II had now been exhausted. This apparently was obvious to all except one actor in the drama. At 9 P.M. the pusillanimous Bonnet telephoned Ciano, confirmed once more that the French note to Germany did not have the "character of an ultimatum" and reiterated that the French government was prepared to wait until noon of September 3 -- the next day -- for a German response. However, "in order for the conference to achieve favorable results," Bonnet told Ciano, the French government agreed with the British that German troops must "evacuate" Poland. This was the first time Bonnet had mentioned this -- and now only because the British had insisted upon it. Ciano replied that he did not think the Reich government would accept this condition. But Bonnet would not give up. He sought during the night a final escape from France's obligations to the now battered and beleaguered Poland. Ciano recounts this bizarre move in the first paragraph of his diary entry for September 3.

 

[quote]During the night I was awakened by the Ministry because Bonnet had asked Guariglia [the Italian ambassador in Paris] if we could not at least obtain a symbolic withdrawal of German forces from Poland ... I throw the proposal in the wastebasket without informing the Duce. But this shows that France is moving toward the great test without enthusiasm and full of uncertainty. [22][/quote]

 

[b]THE POLISH WAR BECOMES WORLD WAR II[/b]

 

Sunday, September 3, 1939, in Berlin was a lovely, end-of-the-summer day. The sun was shining, the air was balmy -- "the sort of day," I noted in my diary, "the Berliner loves to spend in the woods or on the lakes nearby."

 

As it dawned a telegram arrived at the British Embassy from Lord Halifax for Sir Nevile Henderson, instructing him to seek an interview with the German Foreign Minister at 9 A.M. and convey a communication the text of which was then given.

 

The Chamberlain government had reached the end of the road. Some thirty-two hours before, it had informed Hitler that unless Germany withdrew its troops from Poland, Britain would go to war. There had been no answer, and now the British government was determined to make good its word. On the previous day it had feared, as Charles Corbin, the French ambassador in London, had informed the hesitant Bonnet at 2:30 P.M., that Hitler was deliberately delaying his reply in order to grab as much Polish territory as possible, after which, having secured Danzig, the Corridor and other areas, he might make a "magnanimous" peace proposal based on his sixteen points of August 31. [23]

 

To avoid that trap Halifax had proposed to the French that unless the German government gave a favorable reply within a few hours to the Anglo-French communications of September 1, the two Western nations should declare themselves at war with Germany. Following a British cabinet meeting on the afternoon of September 2, when a definite decision was made, Halifax suggested specifically that the two allies present an ultimatum to Berlin that very midnight which would expire at 6 A.M. on September 3.24 Bonnet would not hear of any such precipitate action.

 

Indeed, the badly divided French cabinet had had a difficult time over the past week reaching a decision to honor France's obligations to Poland  -- and to Britain -- in the first place. On the dark day of August 23, overwhelmed by the news that Ribbentrop had arrived in Moscow to conclude a Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact, Bonnet had persuaded Daladier to call a meeting of the Council of National Defense to consider what France should do. * Besides Premier Daladier and Bonnet, it was attended by the ministers of the three armed services, General Gamelin, the chiefs of the Navy and Air Force and four additional generals -- twelve in all.

 

The minutes state that Daladier posed three questions:

 

[quote]1. Can France remain inactive while Poland and Rumania (or one of them) are being wiped off the map of Europe?

 

2. What means has she of opposing it?

 

3. What measures should be taken now?[/quote]

 

Bonnet himself, after explaining the grave turn of events, posed a question which was to remain uppermost in his mind to the last:

 

[quote]Taking stock of the situation, had we better remain faithful to our engagements and enter the war forthwith, or should we reconsider our attitude and profit by the respite thus gained? ... The answer to this question is essentially of a military character.[/quote]

 

When thus handed the ball, Gamelin and Admiral Darlan answered

 

[quote]that the Army and Navy were ready. In the early stages of the conflict they can do little against Germany. But the French mobilization by itself would bring some relief to Poland by tying down some considerable German units at our frontier.

 

... General Gamelin, asked how long Poland and Rumania could resist, says that he believes Poland would honorably resist, which would prevent the bulk of the German forces from turning against France before next spring; by then Great Britain would be by her side. [x][/quote]

 

After a great deal of talk the French finally reached a decision, which was duly recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

 

[quote]In the course of the discussion it is pointed out that if we are stronger a few months hence, Germany will have gained even more, for she will have the Polish and Rumanian resources at her disposal.

 

Therefore France has no choice.

 

The only solution ... is to adhere to our engagements to Poland assumed before negotiations were started with the U.S.S.R.[/quote]

 

Having made up its mind, the French government began to act. Following this meeting on August 23, the alerte was sounded, which placed all frontier troops in their war stations. The next day 360,000 reservists were called up. On August 31 the cabinet published a communique saying France would "firmly fulfill" its obligations. And the next day, the first day of the German attack on Poland, Bonnet was persuaded by Halifax to associate France with Britain in the warning to Berlin that both countries would honor their word to their ally.

 

But on September 2, when the British pressed for an ultimatum to be presented to Hitler at midnight, General Gamelin and the French General Staff held back. After all, it was the French who alone would have to do the fighting if the Germans immediately attacked in the West. There would not be a single British trooper to aid them. The General Staff insisted on a further forty-eight hours in which to carry out the general mobilization unhindered.

 

At 6 P.M. Halifax telephoned Sir Eric Phipps, the British ambassador in Paris: "Forty-eight hours is impossible for British Government. The French attitude is very embarrassing to H. M. Government."

 

It was to become dangerously so a couple of hours later when Chamberlain rose to address a House of Commons whose majority of members, regardless of party, was impatient at the British delay in honoring its obligations. Their patience became almost exhausted after the Prime Minister spoke. He informed the House that no reply had yet come from Berlin. Unless it did, and contained a German assurance of withdrawal from Poland, the government would "be bound to take action." If the Germans did agree to withdraw, the British government, he said, would "be willing to regard the position as being the same as it was before the German forces crossed the Polish frontier." In the meantime, he said, the government was in communication with France about a time limit to their warning to Germany.

 

After thirty-nine hours of war in Poland the House of Commons was in no mood for such dilatory tactics. A smell of Munich seemed to emanate from the government bench. "Speak for England!" cried Leopold Amery from the Conservative benches as the acting leader of the Labor Opposition, Arthur Greenwood, got up to talk.

 

"I wonder how long we are prepared to vacillate," said Greenwood, "at a time when Britain and all that Britain stands for, and human civilization, are in peril ... We must march with the French ... "

 

That was the trouble. It was proving difficult at this moment to get the French to march. But so disturbed was Chamberlain at the angry mood of the House that he intervened in the sharp debate to plead that it took time to synchronize "thoughts and actions" by telephone with Paris. "I should be horrified if the House thought for one moment," he added, "that the statement that I have made to them betrayed the slightest weakening either of this Government or of the French Government." He said he understood the French government was "in session at this moment" and that a communication would be received from it "in the next few hours." At any rate, he tried to assure the aroused members, "I anticipate that there is only one answer I shall be able to give the House tomorrow ... and I trust the House ... will believe me that I speak in complete good faith ... "

 

The inexorable approach of the greatest ordeal in British history was announced, as Namier later wrote, "in a singularly halting manner."

 

Chamberlain well understood, as the confidential British papers make clear, that he was in deep trouble with his own people and that at this critical moment for his country his own government was in danger of being overthrown.

 

As soon as he left the Commons he rang up Daladier. The time is recorded as 9: 50 P.M. and Cadogan, listening in, made a minute of it for the record.

 

[quote]CHAMBERLAIN: The situation here is very grave ... There has been an angry scene in the House ... if France were to insist on forty-eight hours to run from midday tomorrow, it would be, impossible for the Government to hold the situation here.

 

The Prime Minister said he quite realized that it is France who must bear the burden of a German attack. But he was convinced some step must be taken this evening.

 

He proposed a compromise ... An ultimatum at 8 A.M. tomorrow ... expiring at noon... .

 

Daladier replied that unless British bombers were ready to act at once it would be better for French to delay, if possible, for some hours attacks on German armies.[/quote]

 

Less than an hour later, at 10:30 P.M., Halifax rang up Bonnet. He urged the French to agree to the British compromise, an ultimatum to be presented in Berlin at 8 A.M. on the morrow (September 3) and to expire at noon. The French Foreign Minister not only would not agree, he protested to Halifax that the British insistence on such speed would create a "deplorable impression." He demanded that London wait at least until noon before presenting any ultimatum to Hitler.

 

[quote]HALIFAX: It is impossible for H. M. Government to wait until that hour . . It is very doubtful whether the [British] Government could hold the position here.[/quote]

 

The House of Commons was to meet at noon, on Sunday, September 3, and it was obvious to Chamberlain and Halifax from the mood of Saturday evening's session that in order to survive they would have to give Parliament the answer it demanded. At 2 o'clock the next morning the French ambassador in London, Corbin, warned Bonnet that the Chamberlain cabinet risked overthrow if it could not give Parliament definite word. Halifax, at the close of his telephone conversation with Bonnet, therefore informed him that Britain proposed "to act on its own."

 

The telegram of Halifax to Henderson reached Berlin about 4 A.M. [xi] The communication he was to make to the German government at 9 A.M. on Sunday, September 3, recalled the British note of September 1 in which Great Britain declared its intention of fulfilling its obligations to Poland unless German troops were promptly withdrawn.

 

[quote]Although this communication [it continued] was made more than 24 hours ago, no reply has been received but German attacks upon Poland have been continued and intensified. I have accordingly the honor to inform you that, unless not later than 11 A.M., British summer time, today September 3, satisfactory assurances to the above effect have been given by the German Government and have reached His Majesty's Government in London, a state of war will exist between the two countries as from that hour. [26] [xii]

 

In the early predawn Sabbath hours Henderson found it difficult to make contact with the Wilhelmstrasse. He was told that Ribbentrop would not be "available" at 9 A.M. on the Sunday but that he could leave his communication with the official interpreter, Dr. Schmidt.

 

On this historic day Dr. Schmidt overslept, and, rushing to the Foreign Office by taxi, he saw the British ambassador already mounting the steps to the Foreign Office as he arrived. Ducking in by a side door, Schmidt managed to slip into Ribbentrop's office just at the stroke of 9 o'clock, in time to receive Henderson on the dot. "He came in looking very serious," Schmidt later recounted, "shook hands, but declined my invitation to be seated, remaining solemnly standing in the middle of the room." [28] He read out the British ultimatum, handed Schmidt a copy, and bade him goodby.

 

The official interpreter hastened down the Wilhelmstrasse to the Chancellery with the document. Outside the Fuehrer's office he found most members of the cabinet and several ranking party officials collected about and "anxiously awaiting" his news.

 

[quote]When I entered the next room [Schmidt later recounted] Hitler was sitting at his desk and Ribbentrop stood by the window. Both looked up expectantly as I came in. I stopped at some distance from Hitler's desk, and then slowly translated the British ultimatum. When 1 finished there was complete silence.

 

Hitler sat immobile, gazing before him ... After an interval which seemed an age, he turned to Ribbentrop, who had remained standing by the window. "What now?" asked Hitler with a savage look, as though implying that his Foreign Minister had misled him about England's probable reaction.

 

Ribbentrop answered quietly: "I assume that the French will hand in a similar ultimatum within the hour." [29][/quote]

 

His duty performed, Schmidt withdrew, stopping in the outer room to apprise the others of what had happened. They too were silent for a moment. Then:

 

[quote]Goering turned to me and said: "If we lose this war, then God have mercy on us!"

 

Goebbels stood in a corner by himself, downcast and self-absorbed. Everywhere in the room I saw looks of grave concern. [30][/quote]

 

In the meantime the inimitable Dahlerus had been making his last amateurish effort to avoid the inevitable. At 8 A.M. Forbes had informed him of the British ultimatum which was being presented an hour later. He hastened out to Luftwaffe headquarters to see Goering and, according to his later account on the stand at Nuremberg, appealed to him to see to it that the German reply to the ultimatum was "reasonable." He further suggested that the Field Marshal himself, before 11 o'clock, declare himself prepared to fly to London "to negotiate." In his book the Swedish businessman claims that Goering accepted the suggestion and telephoned to Hitler, who also agreed. There is no mention of this in the German papers, and Dr. Schmidt makes it clear that Goering, a few minutes after 9 o'clock, was not at his headquarters but at the Chancellery in the Fuehrer's anteroom.

 

At any rate, there is no doubt that the Swedish intermediary telephoned the British Foreign Office -- not once but twice. In the first call, at 10:15 A.M., he took it upon himself to inform the British government that the German reply to its ultimatum was "on the way" and that the Germans were still "most anxious to satisfy the British Government and to give satisfactory assurances not to violate the independence of Poland." (!) He hoped London would consider Hitler's response "in the most favorable light." [31]

 

Half an hour later, at 10:50 A.M. -- ten minutes before the ultimatum ran out -- Dahlerus was once more on the long-distance line to the Foreign Office in London, this time to present his proposal that Goering, with Hitler's assent, fly immediately to the British capital. He did not realize that it was past time for such diplomatic antics, but he was soon made to. He was given an uncompromising answer from Halifax. His proposal could not be entertained. The German government had been asked a definite question, "and presumably they would be sending a definite answer." H. M. Government could not wait for further discussion with Goering. [32]

 

Whereupon Dahlerus hung up and disappeared into the limbo of history until he reappeared, briefly, after the war at Nuremberg -- and in his book  -- to recount his bizarre attempt to save world peace. [xiii] He had meant well, he had striven for peace; for a few moments he had found himself in the center of the dazzling stage of world history. But as happened to almost everyone else, the confusion had been too great for him to see clearly; and as he would admit at Nuremberg, he had at no time realized how much he had been taken in by the Germans.

 

Shortly after 11 A.M., when the time limit in the British ultimatum had run out, Ribbentrop, who had declined to see the British 'ambassador two hours before, sent for him in order to hand him Germany's reply. The German government, it said, refused "to receive or accept, let alone to fulfill" the British ultimatum. There followed a lengthy and shabby propaganda statement obviously hastily concocted by Hitler and Ribbentrop during the intervening two hours. Designed to fool the easily fooled German people, it rehearsed all the lies with which we are now familiar, including the one about the Polish "attacks" on German territory, blamed Britain for all that had happened, and rejected attempts "to force Germany to recall their forces which are lined up for the defense of the Reich." It declared, falsely, that Germany had accepted Mussolini's eleventh-hour proposals for peace and pointed out that Britain had rejected them. And after all of Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler it accused the British government of "preaching the destruction and extermination of the German people." [xiv]

 

Henderson read the document ("this completely false representation of events," as he later called it) and remarked "It would be left to history to judge where the blame really lay." Ribbentrop retorted that "history had already proved the facts."

 

I was standing in the Wilhelmstrasse before the Chancellery about noon when the loudspeakers suddenly announced that Great Britain had declared herself at war with Germany. [xv] Some 250 people -- no more -- were standing there in the sun. They listened attentively to the announcement. When it was finished, there was not a murmur. They just stood there. Stunned. It was difficult for them to comprehend that Hitler had led them into a world war.

 

Soon, though it was the Sabbath, the newsboys were crying their extras. In fact, I noticed, they were giving the papers away. I took one. It was the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, its headlines marching in large type across the page:

 

[quote]BRITISH ULTIMATUM TURNED DOWN

 

ENGLAND DECLARES A STATE OF WAR WITH GERMANY

 

BRITISH NOTE DEMANDS WITHDRAWAL OF OUR TROOPS IN THE EAST

 

THE FUEHRER LEAVING TODAY FOR THE FRONT[/quote]

 

The headline over the official account read as though it had been dictated by Ribbentrop.

 

[quote]GERMAN MEMORANDUM PROVES ENGLAND'S GUILT[/quote]

 

"Proved" though it may have been to a people as easily swindled as the Germans, it aroused no ill feelings toward the British during the day. When I passed the British Embassy, from whose premises Henderson and his staff were moving to the Hotel Adlon around the corner, a lone Schupo paced up and down before the building. He had nothing to do but saunter back and forth.

 

The French held out a little longer. Bonnet played for time until the last moment, clinging stubbornly to the hope that Mussolini might still swing a deal with Hitler which would let France off the hook. He even pleaded with the Belgian ambassador to get King Leopold to use his influence with Mussolini to influence Hitler. All day Saturday, September 2, he argued with his own cabinet, as he did with the British, that he had "promised" Ciano to wait until noon of September 3 for the German answer to the Anglo-French warning notes of September 1, and that he could not go back on his word. He had, to be sure, given this assurance to the Italian Foreign Minister over the phone -- but not until 9 o'clock on the evening of September 2. [xvi] By that time the Duce's proposal for a conference was as dead as stone, as Ciano had tried to tell him. And by that hour, too, the British were pleading with him to present a joint ultimatum to Berlin at midnight.

 

Shortly before midnight on September 2, the French government finally reached a decision. At precisely midnight, Bonnet wired Coulondre at Berlin that in the morning he would forward the terms of a "new demarche" to be made "at noon to the Wilhelmstrasse." [xvii]

 

This he did, at 10:20 A.M. on Sunday, September 3 -- forty minutes before the British ultimatum ran out. The French ultimatum was similarly worded except that in case of a negative reply France declared that she would fulfill her obligations to Poland "which are known to the German government" -- even at this final juncture Bonnet held out against a formal declaration of war.

 

In the official French Yellow Book the text of the French ultimatum wired to Coulondre gives 5 P.M. as the time limit for the German response. But this was not the hour set in the original telegram. At 8:45 A.M. Ambassador Phipps had notified Halifax from Paris: "Bonnet tells me French time limit will only expire at 5 o'clock Monday morning [September 4]." That was the time given in Bonnet's telegram.

 

Though it represented a concession wrung by Daladier early Sunday morning from the French General Staff, which had insisted on a full forty-eight hours from the time the ultimatum was given Berlin at noon, it still irritated the British government, whose displeasure was communicated to Paris in no uncertain terms during the forenoon. Premier Daladier therefore made one last appeal to the military. He called in General Colston, of the General Staff, at 11:30 A.M. and urged a shorter deadline. The General reluctantly agreed to move it up by twelve hours to 5 P.M.

 

Thus it was that just as Coulondre was leaving the French Embassy in Berlin for the Wilhelmstrasse, Bonnet got through to him on the telephone and instructed him to make the necessary change in the zero hour. [34]

 

Ribbentrop was not available to the French ambassador at the noon hour. He was taking part in a little ceremony at the Chancellery, where the new Soviet ambassador, Alexander Shkvarzev, was being warmly received by the Fuehrer -- an occasion that lent a bizarre note to this historic Sabbath in Berlin. Coulondre, insistent on following the letter of his instructions to call at the Wilhelmstrasse at precisely twelve noon, was therefore received by Weizsaecker. To the ambassador's inquiry as to whether the State Secretary was empowered to give a "satisfactory" answer to the French, Weizsaecker replied that he was not in a position to give him "any kind of reply."

 

There now followed at this solemn moment a minor diplomatic comedy. When Coulondre attempted to treat Weizsaecker's response as the negative German reply which he fully anticipated and to hand to the State Secretary France's formal ultimatum, the latter declined to accept it. He suggested that the ambassador "be good enough to be patient a little longer and see the Foreign Minister personally." Thus rebuffed -- and not for the first time -- Coulondre cooled his heels for nearly half an hour. At 12:30 P.M. he was conducted to the Chancellery to see Ribbentrop. [35]

 

Though the Nazi Foreign Minister knew what the ambassador's mission was, he could not let the opportunity, the very last such one, slip by without treating the French envoy to one of his customary prevarications of history. After remarking that Mussolini, in presenting his last-minute peace proposal, had emphasized that France approved it, Ribbentrop declared that "Germany had informed the Duce yesterday that she also was prepared to agree to the proposal. Later in the day," Ribbentrop added, "the Duce reported that his proposal had been wrecked by the intransigence of the British Government."

 

But Coulondre, over the past months, had heard enough of Ribbentrop's falsifications. After listening a little longer to the Nazi Foreign Minister, who had gone on to say that he would regret it if France followed Great Britain and that Germany had no intention of attacking France, the ambassador got in the question he had come to ask: Did the Foreign Minister's remarks mean that the response of the German government to the French communication of September 1 was negative?

 

"Ja," replied Ribbentrop.

 

The ambassador then handed the Foreign Minister France's ultimatum, prefacing it with a remark that "for the last time" he must emphasize the "heavy responsibility of the Reich Government" in attacking Poland "without a declaration of war" and in refusing the Anglo-French request that German troops be withdrawn.

 

"Then France will be the aggressor," Ribbentrop said.

 

"History will be the judge of that," Coulondre replied.

 

On that Sunday in Berlin all the participants in the final act of the drama seemed intent on calling upon the judgment of history.

 

Although France was mobilizing an army which would have overwhelming superiority for the time being over the German forces in the west, it was Great Britain, whose army at the moment was negligible, which loomed in Hitler's feverish mind as the main enemy and as the antagonist who was almost entirely responsible for the pass in which he found himself as September 3, 1939, began to wane and pass into history. This was made clear in the two grandiose proclamations which he issued during the afternoon to the German people and to the Army of the West. His bitter resentment and hysterical anger at the British burst forth.

 

[quote]Great Britain [he said in an "Appeal to the German People"] has for centuries pursued the aim of rendering the peoples of Europe defenseless against the British policy of world conquest ... [and] claimed the right to attack on threadbare pretexts and destroy that European state which at the moment seemed most dangerous ...

 

We ourselves have been witnesses of the policy of encirclement ... carried on by Great Britain against Germany since before the war ... The British war inciters ... oppressed the German people under the Versailles Diktat ...

 

Soldiers of the Western Army! [Hitler said in an appeal to the troops who for many weeks could only face the French Army] ... Great Britain has pursued the policy of Germany's encirclement ... The British Government, driven on by those warmongers whom we knew in the last war, have resolved to let fall their mask and to proclaim war on a threadbare pretext ...[/quote]

 

There was not a word about France.

 

In London at six minutes past noon, Chamberlain addressed the House of Commons and informed it that Britain was now at war with Germany. Though Hitler, on September 1, had forbidden listening to foreign broadcasts on the pain of death, we picked up in Berlin the words of the Prime Minister as quoted over the BBC. To those of us who had seen him risking his political life at Godesberg and Munich to appease Hitler, his words were poignant.

 

[quote]This is a sad day for all of us, and to none is it sadder than to me. Everything that I have worked for, everything that I have believed in during my public life, has crashed into ruins. There is only one thing left for me to do: that is, to devote what strength and powers I have to forwarding the victory of the cause for which we have to sacrifice so much ... I trust I may live to see the day when Hitlerism has been destroyed and a liberated Europe has been re-established.[/quote]

 

Chamberlain was fated not to live to see that day. He died, a broken man -- though still a member of the cabinet -- on November 9, 1940. In view of all that has been written about him in these pages it seems only fitting to quote what was said of him by Churchill, whom he had excluded from the affairs of the British nation for so long and who on May 10, 1940, succeeded him as Prime Minister. Paying tribute to his memory in the Commons on November 12, 1940, Churchill said:

 

[quote]... It fell to Neville Chamberlain in one of the supreme crises of the world to be contradicted by events, to be disappointed in his hopes, and to be deceived and cheated by a wicked man. But what were these hopes in which he was disappointed? What were these wishes in which he was frustrated? What was that faith that was abused? They were surely among the most noble and benevolent instincts of the human heart -- the love of peace, the toil for peace, the strife for peace, the pursuit of peace, even at great peril and certainly in utter disdain of popularity or clamor.[/quote]

 

His diplomacy having failed to keep Britain and France out of the war, Hitler turned his attention during the afternoon of September 3 to military matters. He issued Top-Secret Directive No. 2 for the Conduct of the War. Despite the Anglo-French war declarations, it said, "the German war objective remains for the time being the speedy and victorious conclusion of the operations against Poland ... In the West the opening of hostilities is to be left to the enemy ... Against Britain, naval offensive operations are permitted." The Luftwaffe was not to attack even British naval forces unless the British opened similar attacks on German targets -- and then only "if prospects of success are particularly favorable." The conversion of the whole of German industry to "war economy" was ordered. [36]

 

At 9 o'clock in the evening Hitler and Ribbentrop left Berlin in separate special trains for General Headquarters in the East. But not before they had made two more diplomatic moves. Britain and France were now at war with Germany. But there were the two other great European powers, whose support had made Hitler's venture possible, to consider: Italy, the ally, which had reneged at the last moment, and Soviet Russia, which, though distrusted by the Nazi dictator, had obliged him by making his gamble on war seem worth the taking.

 

Just before leaving the capital, Hitler got off another letter to Mussolini. It was dispatched by wire at 8:51 P.M., nine minutes before the Fuehrer's special train pulled out of the station. Though not entirely frank nor devoid of deceit it gives the best picture we shall probably ever have of the mind of Adolf Hitler as he set out for the first time from the darkened capital of the Third Reich to assume his role as Supreme German Warlord. It is among the captured Nazi papers.

 

[quote]DUCE:

 

I must first thank you for your last attempt at mediation. I would have been ready to accept, but only on condition that some possibility could have been found to give me certain guarantees that the conference would be successful. For the German troops have been engaged for two days in an extraordinarily rapid advance into Poland. It would have been impossible to allow blood which was there sacrificed to be squandered through diplomatic intrigue.

 

Nevertheless, I believe that a way could have been found if England had not been determined from the outset to let it come to war in any case. I did not yield to England's threats because, Duce, I no longer believe that peace could have been maintained for more than six months or, shall we say, a year. In these circumstances, I considered that the present moment was, in spite of everything, more suitable for making a stand.

 

... The Polish Army will collapse in a very short time. Whether it would have been possible to achieve this quick success in another year or two is. I must say, very doubtful in my opinion. England and France would have gone on arming their allies to such an extent that the decisive technical superiority of the German Wehrmacht could not have been in evidence in the same way. I am aware, Duce, that the struggle in which I am engaging is a struggle for life and death ... But I am also aware that such a struggle cannot in the end be avoided, and that the moment for resistance must be chosen with icy deliberation so that the likelihood of success is assured; and in this success, Duce, my faith is as firm as a rock.[/quote]

 

Next came words of warning to Mussolini.

 

[quote]You kindly assured me recently that you believe you can help in some fields. I accept this in advance with sincere thanks. But I also believe that, even if we now march down separate paths, destiny will yet bind us one to the other. If National Socialist Germany were to be destroyed by the Western democracies, Fascist Italy also would face a hard future. I personally was always aware that the futures of our two regimes were bound up, and I know that you, Duce, are of exactly the same opinion.[/quote]

 

After recounting the initial German victories in Poland, Hitler concluded:

 

[quote]... In the West I shall remain on the defensive. France can shed her blood there first. The moment will then come when we can pit ourselves there also against the enemy with the whole strength of the nation.

 

Please accept once more my thanks, Duce, for all the support you have given me in the past, and which I ask you not to refuse me in the future either.

 

ADOLF HITLER [37][/quote]

 

Hitler's disappointment that Italy did not honor her word, even after Britain and France had honored theirs by declaring war on this day, was kept under tight control. A friendly Italy, even though nonbelligerent, could still be helpful to him.

 

But even more helpful could be Russia.

 

Already on the first day of the German attack on Poland the Soviet government, as the secret Nazi papers would later reveal, had rendered the German Luftwaffe a signal service. Very early on that morning the Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, General Hans Jeschonnek, had rung up the German Embassy in Moscow to say that in order to give his pilots navigational aid in the bombing of Poland -- "urgent navigation tests," he called it -- he would appreciate it if the Russian radio station at Minsk would continually identify itself. By afternoon Ambassador von der Schulenburg was able to inform Berlin that the Soviet government was "prepared to meet your wishes." The Russians agreed to introduce a station identification as often as possible in the programs over their transmitter and to extend the broadcasting time of the Minsk station by two hours so as to aid the German flyers late at night. [38]

 

But as they prepared to leave Berlin late on September 3 Hitler and Ribbentrop had in mind much more substantial Russian military help for their conquest of Poland. At 6:50 P.M., Ribbentrop got off a "most urgent" telegram to the embassy in Moscow. It was marked "Top Secret" and began: "Exclusive for the Ambassador. For the Head of Mission or his representative personally. Special security handling. To be decoded by himself. Most secret."

 

In the greatest of secrecy the Germans invited the Soviet Union to join in the attack on Poland!

 

[quote]We definitely expect to have beaten the Polish Army decisively in a few weeks. We should then keep the territory that was fixed at Moscow as a German sphere of interest under military occupation. We should naturally, however, for military reasons, have to continue to take action against such Polish military forces as are at that time located in the Polish territory belonging to the Russian sphere of interest.

 

Please discuss this at once with Molotov and see if the Soviet Union does not consider it desirable for Russian forces to move at the proper time against Polish forces in the Russian sphere of interest and for their part to occupy this territory. In our estimation this would be not only a relief for us, but also be in the sense of the Moscow agreements and in the Soviet interest as well. [39][/quote]

 

That such a cynical move by the Soviet Union would be a "relief" to Hitler and Ribbentrop is obvious. It would not only avoid misunderstandings and friction between the Germans and the Russians in dividing up the spoils but would take some of the onus of the Nazi aggression in Poland off Germany and place it on the Soviet Union. If they shared the booty, why should they not share the blame?

 

The most gloomy German of any consequence in Berlin that Sunday noon after it became known that Britain was in the war was Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, Commander in Chief of the German Navy. For him the war had come four or five years too soon. By 1944-45, the Navy's Z Plan would have been completed, giving Germany a sizable fleet with which to confront the British. But this was September 3, 1939, and Raeder knew, even if Hitler wouldn't listen to him, that he had neither the surface ships nor even the submarines to wage effective war against Great Britain.

 

Confiding to his diary, the Admiral wrote:

 

[quote]Today the war against France and England broke out, the war which, according to the Fuehrer's previous assertions, we had no need to expect before 1944. The Fuehrer believed up to the last minute that it could be avoided, even if this meant postponing a final settlement of the Polish question... .

 

As far as the Navy is concerned, obviously it is in no way very adequately equipped for the great struggle with Great Britain ... the submarine arm is still much too weak to have any decisive effect on the war. The surface forces, moreover, are so inferior in number and strength to those of the British Fleet that, even at full strength, they can do no more than show that they know how to die gallantly ...  [40][/quote]

 

Nevertheless at 9 P.M. on September 3, 1939, at the moment Hitler was departing Berlin, the German Navy struck. Without warning, the submarine U-30 torpedoed and sank the British liner Athenia some two hundred miles west of the Hebrides as it was en route from Liverpool to Montreal with 1,400 passengers, of whom 112, including twenty-eight Americans, lost their lives.

 

World War II had begun.

 

_______________

 

[b]Notes:[/b]

 

 i. Hitler's proclamation to the Army announcing the opening of hostilities was  broadcast over the German radio at 5:40 A. M., and the newspaper extras were on  the street shortly after. See below, p. 599.

 

ii. The German operation to seize the Dirschau bridge over the Vistula before the  Poles could blow it up had been planned early in the summer and appears constantly  in the papers for "Case White:' It was specifically ordered in Hitler's Directive No. 1 on August 31. Actually the operation failed, partly because early-morning  fog hampered the dropping of paratroopers who were to seize the bridge.  The Poles succeeded in blowing it up just in time.

 

iii. See above, pp. 566-67.

 

iv. See above, p. 588.

 

v. Actually Mussolini's decision was conveyed to Britain the night before. At 11:15 P.M. on August 31 the Foreign Office received a message from Sir Percy Loraine in Rome: "Decision of the Italian Government is taken. Italy will not fight against either England or France ... This communication made to me by Ciano at 21:15 [9:15 P.M.] under seal of secrecy." [10]

 

That evening the Italians had been given a scare by the British cutting off all telephone communication with Rome after 8 P.M. Ciano feared it might be the prelude to an Anglo-French attack.

 

vi. At 4:30 P.M., following a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Rome, the  Italian radio broadcast the Council's announcement "to the Italian people that  Italy will take no initiative in the way of military operations." Immediately afterward Hitler's message to Mussolini releasing Italy from its obligations was broad·  cast.

 

vii. Twice during the afternoon of September 1, Bonnet instructed Noel, the French ambassador in Warsaw, to ask Beck if Poland would accept the Italian proposal for a conference. Later that evening he received his reply: "We are in the midst of war as the result of unprovoked aggression. It is no longer a question of a conference but of common action which the Allies should take to resist." Bonnet's messages and Beck's reply are in the French Yellow Book.

 

The British government did not associate itself with Bonnet's efforts. A Foreign Office memorandum signed by R. M. Makins notes that the British government "was neither consulted nor informed of this demarche." [15]

 

viii. The previous afternoon, on instructions from Halifax, Henderson had burned his ciphers and confidential documents and officially requested the United States charge d'affaires "to be good enough to take charge of British interests in the event of war." (British Blue Book, p. 21.)

 

 

ix. Ciano claims that the note was sent as the result of "French pressure." (Ciano  Diaries, p. 136.) But this is surely misleading. Though Bonnet was doing all he  could to get a conference, Mussolini was pushing the proposal even more desperately.

 

x. The minutes of the meeting, drawn up by General Decamp, chief of Premier  Daladier's military cabinet, came to light at the Riom trial. The paper was never  submitted to other members of the meeting for correction, and General Gamelin  in his book, Servir, claims it was so abbreviated as to be misleading. Still, even the  timid generalissimo confirms its main outlines.

 

xi. In his book, Servir, Gamelin admits that he hesitated to call attention to some of France's military weaknesses because he did not trust Bonnet. He quotes Daladier as later telling him, "You did right. If you had exposed them, the Germans would have known about them the next day."

 

Gamelin also claimed (in his book) that he did point out at this conference the weakness of France's military position. He says he explained that if Germany "annihilated Poland" and then threw her whole weight against the French, France would be in a "difficult" situation. "In this case," he said, "it would no longer be possible for France to enter upon the struggle ... By spring, with the help of British troops and American equipment I hoped we should be in a position to fight a defensive battle (of course if necessary). I added that we could not hope for victory except in a long war. It had always been my opinion that we should not be able to assume the offensive in less than about two years ... that is, in 1941-2."

 

The French generalissimo's timid views explain a good deal of subsequent history.

 

 

xii. The Foreign Secretary had sent Henderson two warning telegrams during the night. The first, dispatched at 11:50 P.M., read:

 

[quote]I may have to send you instructions tonight to make an immediate communication to the German Government. Please be ready to act. You had better warn the Minister for Foreign Affairs that you may have to ask to see him at any moment.[/quote]

 

It would seem from this telegram that the British government had not quite made up its mind to go it alone despite the French. But thirty-five minutes later, at 12:25 A.M. on September 3, Halifax wired Henderson:

 

[quote]You should ask for an appointment with M.F.A. [Minister for Foreign Affairs] at 9 A.M. Sunday morning. Instructions will follow. [25] [/quote]

 

The decisive telegram from Halifax is dated 5 A.M., London time. Henderson, in his Final Report, says he received it 4 A.M.

 

 

xiii. Halifax sent an additional wire, also dated 5 A.M., informing the ambassador  that Coulondre "will not make a similar communication to the German Government  until midday today (Sunday)." He did not know what the French time limit  would be but thought it "likely" to be anything between six and nine hours. [27]

 

xiv. He reappeared for a moment on September 24 when he met with Forbes at Oslo  "to ascertain," as he told the Nuremberg tribunal before he was shut off, "if there  was still a possibility of averting a world war." [33]

 

xv. So shoddy was this hastily prepared note that it ended with this sentence: "The intention, communicated to us by order of the British Government by Mr. King- Hall, of carrying the destruction of the German people even further than was done through the Versailles Treaty, is taken note of by us, and we shall therefore answer any aggressive action on the part of England with the same weapons and in the same form." The British government had, of course, never presented to Germany any intentions of Stephen King-Hall, a retired naval officer, whose newsletters were a purely private venture. In fact, Henderson had protested to the Foreign Office against the circulation of King-Hall's publication in Germany and the British government had requested the editor to desist.

 

xvi. In London at 11:15 A.M. Halifax had handed the German charge d'affaires a formal note stating that since no German assurances had been received by 11 A.M., "I have the honor to inform you that a state of war exists between the two countries as from 11 A.M. today. September 3."

 

xvii. See above, p. 608.

 

xviii. But even after that, it will be remembered (see above, p. 608), Bonnet made a last-minute effort to keep France out of the war by proposing, during the night, to the Italians that they get Hitler to make a "symbolic" withdrawal from Poland.

 

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