The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (62 page)

Another ruler became impressed by Nazi Germany’s growing power. When Hitler broke the Locarno Treaty and, in occupying the Rhineland, placed German troops on the Belgian border, King Leopold withdrew his country from the
Locarno Pact
and from its alliance with Britain and France and proclaimed that henceforth
Belgium
would follow a strict course of neutrality. This was a serious blow to the collective defense of the West, but in April 1937 Britain and France accepted it—an action for which they, as well as Belgium, would soon pay dearly.

At the end of May the Wilhelmstrasse had watched with interest the retirement of Stanley Baldwin as Prime Minister of Great Britain and the accession of Neville Chamberlain to that post. The Germans were pleased to hear that the new British Prime Minister would take a more active part in foreign affairs than had his predecessor and that he was determined to reach, if possible, an understanding with Nazi Germany. What sort of understanding would be acceptable to Hitler was outlined in a secret memorandum of November 10, written by Baron von Weizsaecker, then head of the Political Department of the German Foreign Office.

   An occasion for finding out what England would pay arose in November when
Lord Halifax
, with Mr. Chamberlain’s enthusiastic approval, made the pilgrimage to Berchtesgaden to see Hitler. On November 19 they held a long conversation, and in the lengthy secret German memorandum on it drawn up by the German Foreign Office
⁴⁶
three points emerge: Chamberlain was most anxious for a settlement with Germany and proposed talks between the two countries on a cabinet level; Britain wanted a general European settlement, in return for which she was prepared to make concessions to Hitler as regards colonies and Eastern Europe; Hitler was not greatly interested at the moment in an Anglo–German accord.

In view of the rather negative outcome of the talk, it was surprising to the Germans that the British seemed to be encouraged by it.
^*
It would
have been a much greater surprise to the British government had it known of a highly secret meeting which Hitler had held in Berlin with his military chiefs and his Foreign Minister exactly fourteen days before his conversation with Lord Halifax.

An indication of things to come and of the preparations that must be made to meet them had been given the commanders in chief of the three armed forces on June 24, 1937, by Field Marshal von Blomberg in a directive marked “Top Secret,” of which only four copies were made.
⁴⁷
“The general political situation,” the Minister of War and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces informed the three service chiefs, “justifies the supposition that Germany need not consider an attack from any side.” Neither the Western Powers nor Russia, he said, had any desire for war, nor were they prepared for it.

“Nevertheless,” the directive continued, “the politically fluid world situation, which does not preclude surprising incidents, demands constant preparedness for war on the part of the German armed forces … to make possible the military exploitation of politically favorable opportunities should they occur. Preparations of the armed forces for a possible war in the mobilization period 1937–38 must be made with this in mind.”

What possible war, since Germany need not fear an attack “from any side”? Blomberg was quite specific. There were two eventualities for war (
Kriegsfalle
) “for which plans are being drafted”:

The “assumption” in the first case was that the French might stage a surprise attack on Germany, in which case the Germans would employ their main forces in the West. This operation was given the code name “Red” (
Rot.
)
^*

For the second eventuality:

The war in the East can begin with a surprise German operation against Czechoslovakia in order to parry the imminent attack of a superior enemy coalition. The necessary conditions to justify such an action politically and in the eyes of international law must be created
beforehand.
[Emphasis by Blomberg.]

Czechoslovakia, the directive stressed, must be “eliminated from the very beginning” and occupied.

There were also three cases where “special preparations” were to be made:

   I. Armed intervention against Austria. (Special Case “Otto.”)

II. Warlike complications with Red Spain. (Special Case “Richard.”)

III. England, Poland,
Lithuania
take part in a war against us. (Extension of “Red/Green.”)

   
Case Otto
is a code name that will appear with some frequency in these pages. “Otto” stood for Otto of Hapsburg, the young pretender to the Austrian throne, then living in Belgium. In Blomberg’s June directive Case Otto was summarized as follows:

   The object of this operation—armed intervention in Austria in the event of her restoring the Monarchy—will be to compel Austria by armed force to give up a restoration.

   Making use of the domestic political dissension of the Austrian people, there will be a march to this end in the general direction of
Vienna
, and any resistance will be broken.

   A note of caution, almost of despair, creeps into this revealing document at the end. There are no illusions about Britain. “England,” it warns, “will employ all her available economic and military resources against us.” Should she join Poland and Lithuania, the directive acknowledges, “our military position would be worsened to an unbearable, even hopeless, extent. The political leaders will therefore do everything to keep these countries neutral, above all England.”

Although the directive was signed by Blomberg it is obvious that it came from his master in the Reich Chancellery. To that nerve center of the Third Reich in the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin there came on the afternoon
of November 5, 1937, to receive further elucidation from the Fuehrer six individuals: Field Marshal von Blomberg, Minister of War and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces; Colonel General Baron von Fritsch, Commander in Chief of the Army; Admiral Dr. Raeder, Commander in Chief of the Navy; Colonel General Goering, Commander in Chief of the Air Force; Baron von Neurath, Foreign Minister; and Colonel
Hossbach
, military adjutant to the Fuehrer. Hossbach is not a familiar name in these pages, nor will it become one. But in the darkening hours of that November day the young colonel played an important role. He took notes of what Hitler said and five days later wrote them up in a highly secret memorandum, thus recording for history—his account showed up at Nuremberg among the captured documents
⁴⁸
—the decisive turning point in the life of the Third Reich.

The meeting began at 4:15
P.M
. and lasted until 8:30, with Hitler doing most of the talking. What he had to say, he began, was the fruit of “thorough deliberation and the experiences of four and a half years of power.” He explained that he regarded the remarks he was about to make as of such importance that, in the event of his death, they should be regarded as his last will and testament.

“The aim of German policy,” he said, “was to make secure and to preserve the racial community and to enlarge it. It was therefore a question of space [
Lebensraum
].” The Germans, he laid it down, had “the right to a greater living space than other peoples … Germany’s future was therefore wholly conditional upon the solving of the need for space.”
^*

Where? Not in some far-off
Africa
n or
Asia
n colonies, but in the heart of Europe “in immediate proximity to the Reich.” The question for Germany was, Where could she achieve the greatest gain at the lowest cost?

The history of all ages—the
Roman Empire
and the British Empire—had proved that expansion could only be carried out by breaking down resistance and taking risks; setbacks were inevitable. There had never … been spaces without a master, and there were none today; the attacker always comes up against a possessor.

Two “hate-inspired” countries, Hitler declared, stood in Germany’s way:
Britain
and France. Both countries were opposed “to any further strengthening of Germany’s position.” The Fuehrer did not believe that the
British Empire
was “unshakable.” In fact, he saw many weaknesses in it, and he proceeded to elaborate them: the troubles with Ireland and India, the rivalry with Japan in the Far East and with Italy in the Mediterranean. France’s position, he thought, “was more favorable than that of Britain … but France was going to be confronted with internal political difficulties.” Nonetheless, Britain, France and Russia must be considered as “power factors in our political calculations.”

Therefore:

   Germany’s problem could be solved only by means of force, and this was never without attendant risk … If one accepts as the basis of the following exposition the resort to force, with its attendant risks, then there remain to be answered the questions “when” and “where.” There were three cases to be dealt with:

Case I: Period 1943–45

After this date only a change for the worse, from our point of view, could be expected. The equipment of the Army, Navy and Airforce … was nearly completed. Equipment and armament were modern; in further delay there lay the danger of their obsolescence. In particular, the secrecy of “special weapons” could not be preserved forever … Our relative strength would decrease in relation to the rearmament … by the rest of the world … Besides, the world was expecting our attack and was increasing its countermeasures from year to year. It was while the rest of the world was increasing its defenses that we were obliged to take the offensive.

Nobody knew today what the situation would be in the years 1943–45. One thing only was certain, that we could not wait longer.

If the Fuehrer was still living, it was his unalterable resolve to solve Germany’s problem of space at the latest by 1943–45. The necessity for action before 1943–45 would arise in Cases II and III.

Case II

If internal strife in France should develop into such a domestic crisis as to absorb the French Army completely and render it incapable of use for war against Germany, then the time for action against the Czechs had come.

Case III

If France is so embroiled by a war with another state that she cannot “proceed” against Germany….

Our first objective … must be to overthrow Czechoslovakia and Austria simultaneously in order to remove the threat to our flank in any possible operation against the West … If the Czechs were overthrown and a common German–Hungarian frontier achieved, a neutral attitude on the part of Poland could be the more certainly counted upon in the event of a Franco–German conflict.

But what would France, Britain,
Italy
and Russia do? Hitler went into the answer to that question in considerable detail. He believed “that almost certainly Britain, and probably France, had already tacitly written off the Czechs. Difficulties connected with the Empire and the prospect of being once more entangled in a protracted European war were decisive considerations for Britain against participation in a war against Germany. Britain’s attitude would certainly not be without influence on that of France. An attack by France without British support, and with the prospect of the offensive being brought to a standstill on our western fortifications, was hardly probable. Nor was a French march through
Belgium
and Holland without British support to be expected … It would of course be necessary to maintain a strong defense on our western frontier during the prosecution of our attack on the Czechs and Austria.”

Hitler then outlined some of the advantages of the “annexation of
Czechoslovakia
and Austria”: better strategic frontiers for Germany, the freeing of military forces “for other purposes,” acquisition of some twelve million “Germans,” additional foodstuffs for five to six million Germans in the Reich, and manpower for twelve new Army divisions.

He had forgotten to mention what Italy and Russia might do, and he now returned to them. He doubted whether the
Soviet Union
would intervene, “in view of
Japan
’s attitude.” Italy would not object “to the elimination of the Czechs” but it was still a question as to her attitude if Austria was also taken. It depended “essentially on whether the Duce were still alive.”

Hitler’s supposition for Case III was that France would become embroiled in a war with Italy—a conflict that he counted upon. That was the reason, he explained, for his policy in trying to prolong the Spanish
Civil War
; it kept Italy embroiled with France and Britain. He saw a war between them “coming definitely nearer.” In fact, he said, he was “resolved to take advantage of it, whenever it happened, even as early as 1938”—which was just two months away. He was certain that Italy, with a little German help in raw materials, could stand off Britain and France.

Thus as evening darkened Berlin on that autumn day of November 5, 1937—the meeting broke up at eight-fifteen—the die was cast. Hitler had communicated his irrevocable decision to go to war. To the handful of men who would have to direct it there could no longer be any doubt. The dictator had said it all ten years before in
Mein Kampf
, had said that
Germany must have
Lebensraum
in the East and must be prepared to use force to obtain it; but then he had been only an obscure agitator and his book, as Field Marshal von Blomberg later said, had been regarded by the soldiers—as by so many others—as “a piece of propaganda” whose “large circulation was due to forced sales.”