The Day We Went to War Read online

  April

  1 April, WILHELMSHAVEN

  Hitler attends the launching of the battleship Tirpitz. After the ceremony, the Fuehrer delivers a speech in which he makes thinly veiled attacks on Poland and Britain’s ‘encirclement policy’. He tells the crowd, ‘He who does not possess power loses the right to life.’ And in a strange echo of Stalin’s 10 March speech, Hitler says, ‘Anyone who declares himself ready to snatch the chestnuts out of the fire for the Western Powers must expect to burn his fingers.’

  1 April, MADRID

  The Spanish Civil War is officially announced to be at an end.

  3 April, BERLIN

  Hitler is presented with the Wehrmacht’s operational plans for ‘Case White’, the invasion of Poland and the destruction of its military forces. Hitler dictates a preamble to the directive which orders the armed forces to be ready to carry out ‘Case White’ at any time after 1 September 1939.

  4 April, LONDON

  Colonel Beck arrives in London for talks. An American reporter thinks Poland’s foreign minister looks like a ‘ham actor made up as the lean and hungry Cassius’. At the end of his discussions with British ministers, Chamberlain announces that Britain and Poland have agreed to sign a mutual assistance pact in the event of an attack ‘by a European power’. France also issues a similar pledge.

  5 April, LONDON

  The Government’s plans for civilian defence are debated in the House of Commons. Minister of Health Walter Elliot tells MPs that plans are being prepared for the immediate evacuation of 2,500,000 children in the event of war. It will be, Elliot tells them, ‘a colossal task’. The Minister then goes on to say that 279,435 Anderson shelters, providing cover for 1,500,000 people, have already been distributed, and 80,000 are being delivered each week.

  It is also revealed that twelve regional commissioners, ‘men of national standing, capable of undertaking great responsibilities’, are to be appointed. They will have sweeping powers in the event of their region being cut off from London by enemy action.

  7 April, ROME

  Mussolini, piqued at Hitler’s foreign policy successes and bloodless conquests, occupies his own client state of Albania. King Zog, Queen Geraldine and their day-old son Prince Leka flee the country, and Italian King Victor Emmanuel is proclaimed King of Albania. Count Ciano notes in his diary that ‘international reaction (is) almost nonexistent’ and that the British ‘protest’ note ‘might have been written by our own offices’.

  7 April, WORTHING

  ‘On an extra news bulletin at one o’clock heard that Italy has “smashed and grabbed” Albania. Just like Hitler and his methods. What will result? The nine o’clock news reports fighting there.’ (Joan Strange)

  8 April, VATICAN

  Much to the annoyance of Mussolini, the new Pope Pius XII denounces violations of international treaties.

  8 April, LONDON

  Picture Post publishes an article which argues that an Anglo-French alliance with Russia is now vital. It concludes, ‘Let Mr Chamberlain fly there.’

  8 April, TEDDINGTON

  ‘20,000 Italians land simultaneously at four Albanian towns. Zog’s queen had to travel to Greece two days after her baby was born. King Zog is expected to have gone too . . .’ (Helena Mott)

  13 April, BUCHAREST and ATHENS

  Roumania and Greece accept British and French guarantees similar to that already given to Poland.

  15 April, WASHINGTON DC

  President Franklin D. Roosevelt dispatches personal messages to both Hitler and Mussolini. He proposes an exchange of pledges of non-aggression pacts for ten or possibly twenty-five years between the dictators and thirty-one states. The pledges would then be followed by an international conference to discuss disarmament, raw materials and international trade. Mussolini is contemptuous of FDR’s proposal. ‘A result of progressive paralysis,’ he tells Count Ciano.

  16 April, WORTHING

  ‘Germany and Italy seem somewhat stunned by Roosevelt’s proposal. There is a very bitter anti-British press campaign going on in the German press just now and now Roosevelt will be vilified too.’ (Joan Strange)

  20 April, BERLIN

  Hitler’s fiftieth birthday is celebrated with a massive military parade. The British, French and American ambassadors are all conspicuous by their absence, but among the guests is Emil Hacha, now puppet President of the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The parade goes on for nearly five hours, and propaganda minister Dr Josef Goebbels enthuses, ‘The Fuehrer is fêted like no other mortal has ever been.’ Among the telegrams of congratulations is a restrained one from King George VI.

  20 April, TEDDINGTON

  ‘Hitler’s birthday. He had an immense show of tanks, arms and aeroplanes for five solid hours. I hope he enjoyed himself.’ (Helena Mott)

  23 April, LONDON

  Roumanian foreign minister Grigore Gafencu, on a tour of European capitals, arrives in Britain. At an audience at Buckingham Palace with the King and Queen, Queen Elizabeth asks Gafencu what Hitler is like. The foreign minister replies that he got the impression that the Fuehrer could be ‘very simple in manner if he wished, but that made him all the more to be feared’. The Queen replies, ‘If he is simple, it might be that he is really great, unless it should be greatness of another sort.’ When Gafencu meets with Chamberlain, the Prime Minister is more forthright in his opinion of Hitler. ‘He is a liar,’ he tells the Roumanian statesman.

  26 April, LONDON

  Chamberlain announces to the Commons the introduction of compulsory military training. This is the first time that conscription has been introduced in peacetime in Britain, and the Prime Minister acknowledges that ‘it is a departure from our cherished ideals’. But Chamberlain tells MPs, ‘A very little weight one way or another might decide whether war is to come or not.’ The Military Training Bill for all men between the ages of twenty and twenty-one will be introduced on 1 May.

  28 April, BERLIN

  Hitler addresses the Reichstag. He denounces both the 1934 Non-Aggression Pact with Poland and the 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement, ‘since the British Prime Minister was not able to trust German assurances’. Hitler also sarcastically replies to President Roosevelt’s proposals of a fortnight ago. None of the states named by the President, Hitler says, feels threatened by Germany. But he boastfully reminds Roosevelt: ‘I have brought back to the Reich provinces stolen from us in 1919. I have led back to their native country millions of Germans who were torn away from us and were in misery . . . and Mr Roosevelt, without spilling blood and without bringing to my people, and consequently to others, the misery of war . . .’

  28 April, WORTHING

  ‘Hitler made his two-and-a-quarter-hour speech in the Reichstag in answer to Pres. Roosevelt’s Peace Statement. He demands Germany’s former colonies, denounces the Anglo-German Naval Treaty, makes demands on Poland. But on the whole the situation is no worse.’ (Joan Strange)

  29 April, LONDON

  Picture Post features a series of photographs of Prague under German rule. And in an article on economic appeasement, it argues strongly that ‘it is wicked to dream of trade agreements with Germany’.

  May

  3 May, MOSCOW

  Maxim Litvinov is replaced as Soviet foreign minister by Stalin’s right-hand man Vyacheslav Molotov. Litvinov, a Jew, has always been regarded as pro-Western and has followed a policy aimed at ‘collective security’ with his slogan, ‘Peace is Indivisible.’ His abrupt dismissal is seen by many as indication that Soviet foreign policy may now take a new direction. Oliver Harvey, Lord Halifax’s private secretary, wonders, ‘Does it mean Russia will turn from the West towards isolation? And if so, won’t she inevitably wobble into Germany’s arms?’

  4 May, TEDDINGTON

  ‘Litvinov, foreign minister of USSR after ten years, is superseded by Mr Molotov. This may make all the difference to the negotiations with Russia.’ (Helena Mott)

  Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin, flanked by Vya
cheslav Molotov (left) and Maxim Litvinov, walking in the Kremlin. Molotov replaced Litvinov as Soviet foreign minister, 3 May 1939. ‘The last great friend of collective security is gone.’

  5 May, WARSAW

  Colonel Beck makes a firm but essentially non-provocative speech in Parliament. He rejects the Nazis’ suggestion that the Anglo-Polish agreement presents any threat to Germany. Beck sees no reason why it should have led to Hitler cancelling the 1934 non-aggression pact.

  5 May, LONDON

  Picture Post publishes its first article in a series entitled ‘Britain Prepares’. It features the Territorial Army and shows how ‘Britain rebuilds her defences’. The same issue has examples of Nazi propaganda against Britain in the German press since Munich. Even ‘The Lambeth Walk’ has been attacked: ‘A degenerate dance? – no, a degenerate people!’

  5 May, LONDON

  Chamberlain, ‘looking like a turkey who has missed his Christmas’, makes a statement on Anglo-Soviet relations. Former foreign secretary Anthony Eden, who resigned in February 1938 over Chamberlain’s policy towards the dictators, is disturbed about the progress of Britain’s negotiations with Russia. He believes that they lack boldness and imagination. Britain should be trying for a definite triple alliance with France and the Soviets. Eden met Stalin and other Soviet leaders on a trip to Russia back in 1935. He offers to go to Moscow as negotiator. His offer is not taken up.

  7 May, VERDUN

  From the First World War battlefield of Verdun, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, broadcasts an appeal for peace. The BBC refuses to relay the Duke’s speech, but it is heard by millions of Americans over the NBC network. The Duke tells his listeners, ‘I speak simply as a soldier of the last war, whose most earnest prayer is that such a cruel and destructive madness shall never again overtake mankind.’

  8 May, TEDDINGTON

  ‘The Duke of Windsor, speaking at Verdun to America, gave an exceedingly wise, sensible and necessary speech against war and in favour of exercising the same spirit of give and take in international affairs as one carries on in a regulated daily intercourse with individuals. He spoke well, with assurance and feeling. We should be proud he could undertake to do this for humanity’s sake.’ (Helena Mott)

  19 May, LONDON

  The House of Commons debates Anglo-Soviet relations and the desirability of an alliance with the Russians. First World War Prime Minister David Lloyd George argues forcibly for such an alliance. If one is concluded, he tells MPs, then ‘the chances against war would go up’. Churchill agrees, and addressing the Prime Minister tells Chamberlain, ‘The question is how to make the system effective and effective in time.’

  19 May, PARIS

  At the conclusion of Franco-Polish staff talks, an agreement is reached. French commander-in-chief General Maurice Gamelin promises that, if the Germans invade Poland, ‘France will launch an offensive against Germany with the main bodies of her forces, beginning on the fifteenth day from the first day of the French general mobilisation.’

  22 May, BERLIN

  Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel, a military and political alliance between the two powers. The amorous Count Ciano signs for Italy. At a banquet to celebrate the ceremony he sits between Frau Goering and Frau Goebbels, ‘both of whom [find] it hard to cope with their table companion’s pronounced sexuality’. Goering is literally in tears as von Ribbentrop, and not himself, is awarded Italy’s highest order of chivalry. Ciano promises to try and obtain one for him.

  French foreign minister, Georges Bonnet (right) receives his Roumanian opposite number, Grigore Gafencu, at the Quai d’Orsay, Paris, 28 April 1939. Bonnet explained ‘the means by which he still steadfastly hoped to save the peace’.

  Italian and German foreign ministers Count Ciano and von Ribbentrop sign the Pact of Steel, Berlin, 22 May 1939. ‘As long as the Germans have need of us they will be courteous, and even servile, but at the first opportunity they will reveal themselves as the great rascals they really are,’ was the prophetic comment of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy.

  23 May, BERLIN

  As Ciano leaves Berlin, Hitler meets with Goering and his military chiefs. He tells them, ‘It is not Danzig that is at stake. For us it is a matter of expanding our living space in the East, and making food supplies secure.’ To do this, the Fuehrer tells the others, Germany must, ‘attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity. We cannot expect a repetition of Czechia. There will be war.’

  24 May, WINNIPEG

  King George VI delivers an Empire Day speech on the first visit by a King and Queen of England to North America: ‘It is not in power or wealth alone, nor in dominion over other people, that the true greatness of an Empire consists. Those things are but the instrument; they are not the end, nor the ideal. The end is freedom, justice, and peace in equal measure for all, secure against attack from without and from within.’

  26 May, LONDON

  The Military Training Bill receives Royal Assent. Registration will now take place on 3 June, and the first conscripts, who will be known as ‘Militiamen’, are going to be called up on 1 July.

  27 May, LONDON

  Picture Post runs a feature entitled ‘Danzig: The Danger Spot: Maybe The Cause of A World War’. The same issue has an article on Britain’s volunteer firemen of the Auxiliary Fire Service in the magazine’s ‘Britain Prepares’ series.

  27 May, MOSCOW

  New Anglo-French proposals for a three-power agreement on countering German aggression are sent to Moscow for consideration. The Foreign Office believes that they meet all previous Soviet requirements. But the Russians want guarantees to the Baltic states to be included, and also a military agreement to come into force before a political one.

  31 May, MOSCOW

  Molotov delivers a speech on Soviet foreign policy. It is not well received in London. Oliver Harvey writes in his diary, ‘Molotov has said in his speech that our proposals are so confused that he cannot make out whether we really want an agreement or not; and that in any case he is about to negotiate a Soviet-German commercial agreement.’

  Meanwhile, Chamberlain is away fishing in Wales and Lord Halifax is on his estate in Yorkshire.

  June

  3 June, LONDON

  Peace campaigner Margery Corbett Ashby, writing to Picture Post, believes, ‘perhaps, until after the harvest, we may be safe from war’.

  8 June, WASHINGTON DC

  King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive during the first-ever British state visit to the USA. The British sovereigns stay with the Roosevelts and are given hot dogs at a picnic lunch. The President shakes his famous Dry Martini cocktails for the King, and the two men discuss the international situation. FDR tells the King of his intention to try and get America’s Neutrality Act revised in order to help Britain and France. He also says that if war comes then US warships will sink German U-boats on sight, ‘and wait for the consequences . . . If London was bombed USA would come in.’ The Royal visit is a great success at every level.

  8 June, LONDON

  Lord Halifax tells peers that the Government hopes that German – Polish differences can still be settled by peaceful discussion. But he warns them, ‘If an attempt were made to change the situation by force, in such a way [as] to threaten Polish independence, that would inevitably start a conflagration in which this country would be involved.’

  9 June, TEDDINGTON

  ‘Japs are threatening English and French settlements. Filthy little tricksters – thinking to carry out the same threats and scoundrelly behaviour as Hitler. But the world is getting tired of these methods.’ (Helena Mott)

  12 June, LONDON

  William Strang of the Foreign Office’s Central Department leaves for Moscow. He is to try and expedite the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations that are in danger of stalling badly. The Russians are less than flattered that such a comparatively junior official is being sent to them. Unwelcome comparisons with Chamberlain’s own three trips to Germany, on which Strang actu
ally accompanied the Prime Minister, are being made in Moscow.

  14 June, TIENTSIN

  Tension rises between Britain and Japan following the alleged murder of a Japanese official by two Chinese citizens. The Japanese claim the Chinese have taken refuge in the International Concession, and launch a systematic campaign of harassment and humiliation of British residents of the Concession.

  14 June, LONDON

  National Gallery Director Sir Kenneth Clark and his wife Jane give a dinner party. American political pundit Walter Lippman tells the other guests that US ambassador Joseph Kennedy has told him that war is inevitable, and that Britain will be defeated. Guest of honour Winston Churchill is indignant and refutes the ambassador’s claims. Although at the outset of the ‘almost inevitable war’, Britain may very well suffer severe setbacks, Churchill tells the company: ‘Yet these trials and disasters . . . will but serve to steel the resolution of the British people, and to enhance our will for victory . . . Yet supposing Mr Kennedy were correct in his tragic utterance, then I for one would willingly lay down my life in combat, rather than, in fear of defeat, surrender to the menaces of these most sinister men.’

  14 June, TEDDINGTON

  ‘The Japs blockaded Tiensin – British and French concession. Jap sentries are manning all the barbed wire fences and searching everyone. . . Englishmen received the same treatment as coolies! I have no words to denounce the policy that has placed our men abroad in such ambiguous positions. It is a disgusting and crying shame for Baldwin, MacDonald and Chamberlain, besides a lasting let down of our pride.’ (Helena Mott)

  15 June, LONDON

  Lord Chatfield, Minister of Coordination of Defence, gives a speech in which he says that every day that war is postponed is of the greatest value to Britain in building up her defences.

  17 June, MOSCOW

  William Strang meets with Soviet foreign minister Molotov for the first time. Molotov is contemptuous of the British proposals for an Anglo-French-Soviet front against Hitler. He tells Strang, ‘If you think that the Soviet Government is likely to accept these proposals, then you must think we are nitwits and nincompoops!’