Seventy-five years ago today, on August 28th, 1939, as time grew short, Swedish businessman Birger Dahlerus, who had somehow become the go-between for Hitler and Chamberlain, was meeting in London (where the evacuation of children, the issuance of gas masks, and the organization of air-raid shelters and counter-measures was well under way) with the PM, Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, and British Ambassador to Berlin Sir Neville Henderson, the latter having also flown in for the consultations. Somehow Dahlerus gave Chamberlain the impression that Danzig was Hitlers main point of contention. Immediately Chamberlain, whose faith in appeasement had been wounded but not destroyed by the Nazi violation of the Munich Accords, seized on the idea, and it was decided to pressure the poles, and specifically Polish Foreign Minister Col. Beck, into negotiating with Hitler. This was how Chamberlains Foreign Office would spend the time remaining to them, trying to force the Poles to the table. As part of their negotiation strategy, they encouraged the Poles to continue to delay their full mobilization. Still seeking to avoid provoking Hitler, the Poles agreed. The disastrous sequel to this was that about half of Polish reserves would never make it into battle. Also on this day, the Nazi press, which had banner headlines daily about fabricated Polish atrocities and troop movements, published the texts of letters exchanged between Hitler and Daladier. William Shirer was near an older German man reading the letters in a newspaper, and they fell into conversation. Ja, they forget what war is like, Shirer quoted him, but I dont. I remember. That evening, Berlin saw huge numbers of troops move through town, not in organized columns or troop trains but in delivery vans, horse-drawn wagons, and other commandeered vehicles. Shirer got the impression they were not the best troops Germany had, and it is tempting to speculate they were not on their way to the front, but rather reserves that had been called up and brought in from elsewhere in case disorder broke out in Berlin when war was declared.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 15:20:50 +0000
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