The Day We Went to War Page 5

  18 June, DANZIG

  Nazi propaganda minister Dr Josef Goebbels delivers a violent speech at the end of the Free City’s Cultural Congress. He tells an enthusiastic crowd, ‘Danzig is German. It must return to Germany. It is our understandable clear, definite and sacred wish.’ Throughout the Free City, there are huge banners proclaiming, ‘We Want To Go Home To The Reich!’

  24 June, LONDON

  The Illustrated London News runs an advertisement from German Railways:

  Seeing is believing. Come and See Germany.

  Visitors from Britain are heartily welcomed at all times.

  They will find that friendliness and the sincere desire to help are the

  characteristics common to every German they meet.

  25 June, DANZIG

  Over 1,000 SS men from East Prussia have arrived in the Free City, ostensibly to take part in a sporting competition. This month has seen over fifty ‘incidents’ in which Danzig and Polish officials have clashed.

  25 June, WORTHING

  ‘News not good – the situation in Tiensin is very ugly – the Japs are behaving abominably, stripping Britons naked publicly and so on.’ (Joan Strange)

  29 June, TEDDINGTON

  ‘Lord Halifax gave a speech in which no doubt is left in German minds that we are only to take action if she starts.’ (Helena Mott)

  30 June, BERLIN

  Von Ribbentrop’s deputy State Secretary Ernst von Weizacker tells the French ambassador, ‘We are not on the eve of a tremendous eruption, unless it is provoked by Polish excesses.’

  30 June, WARSAW

  The Polish Government receives official notification that the German cruiser Koenigsberg will be making a courtesy visit to Danzig on 25 August.

  30 June, WORTHING

  ‘Everyone talking about Lord Halifax’s speech last night. “All Britain’s might behind her pledges – unchallengeable navy: air force to fear none.” It sounds like 1914 over again. Hitler is expected to snatch up Danzig – will this let loose the “dogs of war”?’ (Joan Strange)

  30 June, TEDDINGTON

  ‘German activity going on in Danzig. The Poles have been very patient and have handled the trouble in a statesman-like manner.’ (Helena Mott)

  July

  1 July, PARIS

  In an interview with the German ambassador, foreign minister Georges Bonnet reiterates France’s ‘firm determination’ to fulfil its obligations to Poland.

  2 July, LONDON

  As a further measure of Britain’s preparations for war, the formation of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force is given Royal Assent.

  4 July, HAMBURG

  The French consul general passes on to Paris some disturbing news that he has heard: ‘If some agreement is not shortly concluded between London, Paris and Moscow, the Soviet Government will be prepared to sign a non-aggression pact with the Reich for a period of five years.’

  4 July, LONDON

  The Daily Telegraph begins a campaign to bring Churchill into the government. The News Chronicle and Yorkshire Post also call for Churchill’s inclusion. Hoardings appear in London with the slogan, ‘What Price Churchill?’

  9 July, LONDON

  Sir Nevile Henderson returns from Berlin to consult his specialist. On examination it is found that the ambassador’s throat cancer is only in remission. At the Foreign Office, Oliver Harvey believes Sir Nevile is ‘quite unfit to be in such a post at such a time. He ought, of course to be withdrawn at once – if only because the policy he was chosen to represent, appeasement, in which he passionately believes, has been reversed, and so long as he is there Germany and everybody else will never believe we may not have more appeasement.’

  10 July, LONDON

  In the House of Commons, Chamberlain reviews the situation developing in Danzig. The Premier tells MPs that if Poland felt obliged to use force to maintain the status quo in Danzig, then Britain will go to her assistance.

  11 July: WASHINGTON DC

  President Roosevelt’s ‘Cash and Carry’ Neutrality Bill, which if passed would have greatly favoured Britain and France, fails in the Senate.

  13 July, LONDON

  Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Simon announces defence borrowings of £500 million.

  14 July, PARIS

  The French commemorate the 150th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille with a huge military parade. To demonstrate the solidity of the Entente Cordiale, a contingent of Scots Guards take part in the march past and RAF Wellington bombers fly over the French capital. British war minister Leslie Hore-Belisha is one of the guests of honour, seated next to Premier Daladier.

  16 July, MUNICH

  As a deliberate counter-blast to the Bastille commemoration, the Nazis mount a four day ‘Rally of German Art’. It is not entirely successful as it pours with rain on the main day of the festival. Hitler’s rostrum is soaked and the Fuehrer is in a very bad temper, having already lent his raincoat to his mistress, Eva Braun.

  16 July, LONDON

  Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists, holds a huge indoor rally at Earls Court exhibition hall. Mosley tells his audience: ‘If any country in the world attacks Britain then every single member of this great audience of British Union would fight for Britain [. . .] but a million Britons shall never die in your Jews’ quarrel. Why is it a moral duty to go to war if a German kicks a Jew across the Polish frontier . . .? We are going, if the power lies within us [. . .] to say that our generation and our children shall not die like rats in Polish holes.’

  16 July, TEDDINGTON

  ‘Hitler spoke for twenty minutes without mentioning the democracies, encirclement or the Jews. What’s happened to him? Mosley suggested return of colonies to Germany and possessions in east. Does he know even the rudiments of the matter? He just wants to ride in on some popular ignorant slogan . . . his worst characteristic is his intolerance and dislike of the Jews – while his own fortune is derived from one.’ (Helena Mott)

  ‘We had to join, we had to join, we had to join Belisha’s army. Ten bob a week, bugger all to eat, great big boots and blisters on your feet.’ Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha, addresses the first batch of Militiamen, July 1939.

  At Earls Court on 16 July 1939, British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley speaks to an audience of more than 20,000. ‘I am told that Hitler is mad. What evidence have they got so far that this man, who has taken his country from the dust to the height . . . has gone suddenly mad?’

  17 July, WARSAW

  General Sir Edmund Ironside, the Inspector-General of British Overseas Forces, arrives in Warsaw. He tells the British military attaché that his main task is going to be to try ‘to obtain a guarantee from the Poles that they will not precipitate a war through a corporal blowing up a bridge’.

  20 July, LONDON

  Birger Dahlerus, a Swedish businessman with connections both in Britain, where he worked as a young man, and in Germany, meets Lord Halifax. Dahlerus is setting himself up as unofficial peace broker between the two countries. He is on friendly terms with Goering and has arranged for Germany’s second man to meet some British businessmen on 7 August to discuss how peace can be maintained.

  22 July, LONDON

  In this week’s edition of Picture Post there appears a bi-lingual article ‘We Want Peace – Britain Does Not Hate Germany’. The magazine urges its readers to cut it out and send it to friends in Germany.

  29 July, LONDON

  Picture Post features an article entitled ‘And Still – War Clouds Over Danzig’. The magazine warns its readers: ‘As we move towards the 25th anniversary of the Great War, events are shaping themselves with a terrible similarity.’ In the same issue, the magazine’s proprietor Edward Hulton contributes an article with the headline ‘Mr Churchill Must Join the Cabinet’.

  31 July, DANZIG

  The Nazi-controlled Senate demands the withdrawal of all Polish customs officials from the Free City. Poland responds wi
th economic reprisals and a refusal to withdraw the officials.

  31 July, LONDON

  Chamberlain announces that an Anglo-French military mission will be going to Moscow for staff talks with the Soviets. Molotov has told William Strang, ‘If war comes with Germany, I wish to know exactly how many divisions each party will put into the field, and where they will be located.’

  August

  1 August, LONDON

  A Government announcement is made stating that in the event of war, petrol rationing will begin immediately.

  2 August, NEW YORK

  German Jewish physicist émigré Albert Einstein writes a letter to President Roosevelt, alerting FDR to the military potential of the splitting of the atom. A single atomic bomb, Einstein tells the President, if dropped on a port, ‘might destroy the whole port together with some surrounding territory’.

  2 August, MOSCOW

  British ambassador Sir William Seeds gives Molotov the names of the British military mission that is coming to Moscow. The Russians again feel insulted. None of the officers, headed by Admiral Sir Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle Drax, compares in seniority or importance to General Ironside, who was sent to Warsaw in July. In reproach, Molotov asks Sir William and Strang, ‘Do you not trust the Soviet Union? Do you not think we are interested in security too? It is a grave mistake. In time, you will realize how great a mistake it is to mistrust the government of the USSR.’

  2 August, BERLIN

  Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop meets informally with the Soviet chargé d’affaires. He tells the Russian, ‘From the Baltic to the Black Sea, there was no problem which could not be solved to our mutual advantage.’

  2 August, LONDON

  Despite the growing crisis over Danzig, Chamberlain proposes that the Commons adjourn until 3 October. Churchill is both aghast and furious at the Prime Minister’s complacency over the international situation. He tells the House, ‘At this moment in its long history it would be disastrous, it would be pathetic, it would be shameful for the House of Commons to write itself off as an effective and potent factor . . .’

  Churchill’s view is echoed in a brave and passionate intervention by thirty-two-year-old Tory backbencher Ronald Cartland, who reminds MPs, ‘We are in the situation that within a month we may be going to fight – and we may be going to die.’

  Despite these warnings, Chamberlain’s adjournment wins by 245 votes to 129.

  4 August, DANZIG

  Poland informs the Nazi-dominated Danzig Senate that in two days’ time it will be arming its customs officials in the Free City. Any interference with their duties, the Poles warn the Senate, will be regarded as a violent act and will be treated accordingly. The Senate protests strongly at the arming of the men.

  5 August, TILBURY

  The Anglo-French military mission leaves for Leningrad (St Petersburg), on SS City of Exeter. The ship has a maximum speed of only eleven knots, and the journey will take over four days. Again, the Russians are not impressed. They have serious doubts about the sincerity of the Western Allies in wishing to enter into a military alliance. On board, the British and French confer in the children’s playroom. French captain André Beaufre notes how agreeable life is on the City of Exeter with ‘copious repasts of curry served by Indian stewards in turbans’.

  5 August, CHARTWELL (Westerham, Kent)

  Churchill has written an article for this week’s Picture Post on the outbreak of the Great War, twenty-five years ago this week. The magazine asks: ‘Will There Be War Again?’

  7 August, SOENKE-NISSEN-KOOG (German-Danish border)

  Birger Dahlerus hosts a meeting between Goering and seven British businessmen. They tell the field marshal both orally and in a memorandum that Britain will stand by its obligations to Poland. Goering gives them his solemn assurance ‘as a soldier and statesman’ that he will do everything he can to avert war. Dahlerus will be continuing his unofficial peacemaking for the rest of the month, going backwards and forwards between Britain and Germany.

  8 August, LONDON

  Winston Churchill broadcasts to the United States. He tells his American listeners, ‘If Herr Hitler does not make war, there will be no war. No one else is going to make war. Britain and France are determined to shed no blood except in self-defence or defence of their Allies.’ He finishes by calling for a future system of human relations ‘which will no longer leave the whole life of mankind dependent upon the virtues, caprice, or the wickedness of a single man’.

  8 August, WORTHING

  ‘News still bad from Danzig and Hitler ominously quiet – ugly!’ (Joan Strange)

  9 August, BERLIN

  Luftwaffe chief Goering is reported as saying, ‘The Ruhr will not be subjected to a single bomb. If an enemy bomber reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Goering: you can call me Meier.’ (Meier is the German equivalent of Smith or Jones.)

  9 August, MARGATE

  Fifteen London holidaymakers take part in a snap poll on the international situation. ‘Do you think we should go to war to defend Danzig?’ they are asked. Seven say yes, four no, and four are undecided. They are then asked, ‘Do you think there will be a war?’ Eight say no, four yes and three are undecided. ‘Do you think Hitler wants war, or is he bluffing?’ is the final question and all fifteen reply, ‘No, he’s bluffing.’

  9 August, WEYMOUTH

  King George VI inspects 133 ships of the Royal Navy’s Auxiliary Fleet. Many people are reminded that a similar review by the King’s father took place just before war broke out in 1914.

  9 August, LONDON

  There is a practice blackout in the capital tonight. Superintendent Reginald Smith of the Metropolitan Police’s ‘K’ Division goes to the top of Marble Arch to see how effective it is. The superintendent thinks London looks like ‘a Gruyere cheese with a candle behind it’. In blacked-out Trafalgar Square a number of drunks splash in the fountains, bawling out the song, ‘Show Me the Way to Go Home’.

  10 August, BERLIN

  Reinhard Heydrich gives orders to SS major Alfred Naujocks to simulate an attack on the Gleiwitz radio station near the border with Poland. It must look as if the attacking forces are Poles. Heydrich tells Naujocks, ‘Practical proof is needed for these attacks of the Poles for the foreign press as well as German propaganda.’ Heydrich gives the operation the codename Himmler after his chief, the head of the SS.

  11 August, OBERSALZBERG

  League of Nations High Commissioner in Danzig, Swiss diplomat Carl Burckhardt, has an audience with Hitler, ‘the most profoundly feminine man’ he has ever encountered. Burckhardt has also never met before ‘any human being capable of generating so terrific a condensation of envy, vituperation and malice’ as Hitler does. The Fuehrer tells Burckhardt that ‘the Polish army already has the mark of death stamped on its countenance’. Then Hitler, with astonishing frankness, tells the Swiss that everything he is undertaking is fundamentally aimed at Russia, just as he wrote in Mein Kampf back in 1925. If Britain and France are so stupid as not to recognise this, he tells the Swiss diplomat, then he will be forced to join with Russia in order to annihilate them. Then, he will turn on Russia and gain the Lebensraum (living space), so vital for the German race. Back home in Basle, Burckhardt reports the conversation to British and French diplomats. He fails, however, to mention Hitler’s remarks about Russia because he believes ‘a German-Soviet pact was simply too absurd to contemplate’.

  11 August, WORTHING

  ‘Danzig events look ugly – Herr Forster has been to see Hitler and made violent anti-British and anti-French speech to the Danzigers on his return.’ (Joan Strange)

  12 August, MOSCOW

  The Anglo-French military mission begins their first formal discussions with the Soviets. The Russian delegation is headed by Soviet Commissar for Defence, Marshal Klementi Voroshilov, a crony of Stalin’s. Voroshilov is not over-endowed with brains. ‘He would have made a good sergeant-major in anyone else’s army’ is the general opinion of him among Western m
ilitary attachés. The talks get off to a bad start with suspicion on both sides. Captain André Beaufre of the French part of the military mission comments that the British and French strongly suspect ‘The Soviet had organized the conference in order to obtain, on the eve of war, an idea of our plans, and then naturally, to pass them on to Germany.’ The talks will continue inconclusively until a final meeting on 25 August. The great stumbling block is the Poles’ refusal to have Red Army troops on their soil, even in the event of a German invasion. Their attitude is summed up by commander-in-chief Marshal Smigly-Rydz: ‘With the Germans we risk the loss of our liberty, but with the Russians we lose our soul.’

  12 August, OBERSALZBERG

  Count Ciano has arrived from Rome for talks with von Ribbentrop and Hitler. Ciano is told quite frankly by von Ribbentrop that it is not a question of Germany wanting Danzig or the Polish Corridor. Hitler wants war. Ciano records in his diary, ‘The decision to fight is implacable . . . I am certain that even if the Germans were given more than they ask for they would attack just the same, because they are possessed by the demon of destruction.’ In between his meetings with Count Ciano, Hitler sets the date for the invasion of Poland. It will begin on Saturday, 26 August at 4.30am.

  12 August, OBERSALZBERG

  During the discussions with Count Ciano, von Ribbentrop is called to the telephone. The foreign ministry in Berlin tells him that the Russians are now prepared to open talks in Moscow.

  14 August, MOSCOW

  The German ambassador calls on the Soviet foreign ministry with a message that von Ribbentrop is willing to fly to Moscow, ‘to lay the foundations for a final settlement of German-Russian relations’.

  16 August, DOORN

  Ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, living in exile in Holland, receives two British visitors, John Wheeler-Bennett and Robert Bruce Lockhart. In discussing the present crisis he tells them, ‘Don’t go away with the idea that Russia and Germany will go to war.’ And as they leave, Wilhelm ruefully comments, ‘The machine is running with him as it ran away with me.’