Statesmen act serving the interests of their countries, not in accor-dance with ideological clichйs.
It would be too naive to think that “the free” Germany wasn’t controlled extremely tight by the ones who had defeated it in the First World War. There were so many ways to perform such control. Within the political sphere this part was fulfilled by the Social Democratic party of Germany. Its leaders, Streseman and Ebert, along with the “sleeping” Prince Max von Baden, skillfully staged the Revolution and the Kaiser’s abdication. Social Democrats became the ruling party. They wrote the Constitution with its never-ending elections cycles, and Ebert, their leader, became the first President of Germany1.
There were only three Presidents in the Weimar Republic, F. Ebert (1919–1925), P. Hindenburg (1925–1934) and A. Hitler (1934–1945). Germans’ attitude to Ebert, who signed the Treaty of Versailles, was obvious due to the fact that during his funeral Cardinal von Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich and Freising absolutely refused to order the church bells ring. And Ebert being the Jew provided Hitler with perfect grounds for anti-Semitic propaganda later.
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It was this party, or rather its foreign favorers, whom the country owned its political instability. In fact, elections were held much more often than once in two years. Germany was the Parliamentary Republic. To form the government a coalition should be established within the Parliament, and the majority of votes was required. Any moment it could have fallen into pieces, when some party would leave it because of some principal matter, and normally it was the Social-Democratic party1.
Let’s summarize. Owning to so “Democratic” democracy in Germany, which has never been anywhere in the World, over fourteen years (1919– 1933) the country passed not through seven2, but through nine Reichstag elections!3Plus Presidential elections, election to territorial and municipalparliaments. For instance, in 1932 the NSDAP participated in five full-term elective campaigns!4 Not only regular electors, but leaders of the NSDAP themselves were tired of permanent election fever. “We must come to power in the nearest future. Otherwise, we will have to convince ourselves during elections unto death”5, — Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary.
Moreover, not only the Parliament members were playing leapfrog, the Government was doing the same. During fourteen years of the Wei-mar democracy fourteen different persons served as Reichschancellor!6Tocomprehend all absurdity of this situation let us make a comparison. In nowadays England the Prime Minister Tony Blair headed the British Gov-ernment for 10 years, Margaret Thatcher did it for 12 years. They were one
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For example, one of the Reichstag assemblies had been in session for one day only before it was dissolved on September 12, 1932.
As the Constitution required it, twice a year.
19.01.1919; 06.06.1920; 04.05.1924; 07.12.1924; 20.05.1928; 14.09.1930; 31.07.1932; 06.11.1932; 05.03.1933. Let’s ignore the election on 12.11.1933, when only the Nazi were on the bulletin.
Two Presidential elections, two Reichstag elections and one election into local Parliaments (Bullok, A. Hitler and Stalin. V. 1. P. 302).
Kershow, I. Hitler. Rostov n/D, 1997. P. 82.
Gustav Bauer (1919–1920), Hermann Mьller (1920), Constantin Fehrenbach (1920–1921), Joseph Wirth (1921–1922), Wilhelm Cuno (1922–1923), Gustav Stresemann (1923), Wilhelm Marx (1923–1925), Hans Luther (1925–1926), Wilhelm Marx (1926–1928), Hermann Mьller (1928–1930), Heinrich Brьning (1930–1932), Franz von Papen (1932), Kurt von Schleicher (1932–1933), and Adolf Hitler (1933–1945).
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Thatcher and one Blair, not fourteen of them! Even Eltzin’s line of Prime Ministers was a sample of stability and order, if compared with the German pandemonium…
So, in this Tzardom of Absurd the Leader with the Party appeared, who denied all this carrousel entirely. This alone was enough to make people sympathetic. “Parties adherent to Marxism and their companions had 14 years to show what they were capable of. The result is on hand, it is a heap of ruins”1, — Hitler was smearing his opponents, using the situation in the country. Furthermore, he was a talented organizer and propagandist2.
Even red color of his flags wasn’t borrowed from Communists. Colors of the Nazi’s flag precisely repeated the flag of the Kaiser Germany, black, white and red3. (Social Democrats, who were the majority in the German Parliament and who deep-sixed their country to please their friends from the Entente in 1918, immediately put into use new colors of the German flag, black, red and yellow)4. Hitler manipulated emotions, telling people, “Elect us and everything will be just like old times”. Though, the Nazi’s program didn’t mention Majdanek, Auschwitz and the coming war with almost the whole World…
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People turned to the Nazi not because they fancied the NSDAP, but because they were fed up with parties alternative to Hitler. For instance, number of electors who voted for the social-Democratic party reduced from 37.9 % in 1919 to 18.3 % in March 1933, and the number of followers of the Democratic party of Germany reduced from 18.6 % to 0.8 % within the same period5.
However, even under these terms Hitler failed to win the election. The fact that the Nazi leader became the Chancellor because his party won the
Fest, I. Hitler. V. 2. P. 276.
Thus, the Nazi were the first to send their electors discs with recorded speeches of the Fьhrer in agitation purposes. By the way, this indirectly confirms that Hitler had vast electoral budgets (Melnikov, D., Chernaya, L. Offender number one. P. 130).
Black swastika in a white disc on a red flag.
After Hitler’s Germany was defeated, it was obviously impossible to keep swastika in the state flag, so colors of the German flag were turned to Weimar ones. They remain till the present time.
All values in regard to elections in Germany are provided in: Bullock A. Hitler and Stalin. V. 1. P. 3 of the cover.
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election is another convenient lie, speculated by historians. Adolf Hitler administered the oath of Reichschancellor on January 30, 1933. The election preceding this date was held on November 6, 1932 the NSDAP got 33.1 % of votes. Please, notice that election win is considered ultimate, if a party gets 50.1% of votes. In this case Head of such political party automatically becomes in charge of the government. However, the Nazi didn’t manage it! the NSDAP was the largest Parliamentary party, but it wasn’t voted for by the absolute majority of electors. Moreover, beside the previous election there was a negative trend in regard to voting for Hitlerites, as on July 31, 1932 they got 37.4 % of votes, whereas on November 6, 1932 they got 4.3 % less. By the way, the difference is not really impressive when expressed in percents, but it is quite remarkable when provided in number of votes. On July 31, 1932 Hitler was voted for by 13,745,800 Germans, though, three months later the number of the Nazi’s supporters reduced by 2 million (on November 6, 1932 they were 11,737,000)1.
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On March 1, 1933 they received 43.9 % of votes.
Hitler who won the election is a myth. He was simply appointed in charge of the country. Someone provided enough pressure on the German politi-cal elite, and Hitler’s shortcomings and eccentricity were kind of forgotten. How could that be possible?
The point is that collapse of Democratic institutions in Germany had started before the Nazi came to power. In March 1930 when Hitler received only 18.3 % of votes (and when Trotsky had been out of the USSR for about a year), it became obvious that despite all the effort and enormous financial support, its source unknown, Hitler would never win the Parliamentary election. The Germans had too much common sense for that. However, the British government wasn’t too pleased about it. Someone had to attack the USSR and to put things there as required by Ruler of the World. Thus, it was necessary to arrange the fallback. And it was arranged.
Since March 1930 German principles of Parliamentary democracy were amended a bit2.
Even when Hitler became Chancellor, when Reichstag burnt down and the repressive apparatus was started, the Nazi didn’t manage to win the election.
The last true Parliamentary cabinet of the Weimar Republic was coalitional cabinet, headed by Hermann Műller. When time for “amendment” came, partners involved into the coalition brawled, and the cabinet was broke up (surely, you can imagine that German Social-Democrats made the coalition to fall apart, haven’t you?)
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Before that the leader of the Parliamentary majority could become Chancellor, but since then Reichschancellor was to be appointed by the President according to clause 48 of the Weimar Constitution. In other words, any citizen of Germany could be appointed to the post of the Government Head, even if he or she hadn’t win the Parliamentary election1.
However, it was a fallback. It was preferable that the Nazi would win “fair and square”. Considering the incredibly large amount of elections held in Germany on the eve of Hitler’s coming to power, one might think that it was intended to hold as much elections as needed to let the NSDAP win. Though, when it became obvious that it couldn’t have been managed, Hitler was simply appointed as Chancellor…
Could Hitler have been stopped? Yes, he could. It was necessary not to start the political carrousel in the country, not to make Germans allergic to elections and thus increase the amount of the NSDAP supporters. Ernst Hanfstaengl and others shouldn’t have been appointed to help the future Fьhrer to become a respectable politician with good manners2...
And the most important thing was that there were no ironclad basis for Hitler’s appointment to Reichschancellor post! Anyone could havebeen appointed to the post, except for the person which would become Offender Number One in the history of humanity due to this appointment. Everything could have been done, but only if Hitler’s coming to power wouldn’t have been required by the external forces, whom the German politics implicitly obeyed…
The Social-Democratic party of Germany realized orders of its foreign sponsors even in spite of the self-protection instinct, oddly hoping that Nazism wouldn’t destroy them. Hitler was appointed to Chancellor’s port on January 30, 1933. Next day the agency of Social-Democrats, the Vorwдrts newspaper addressed him with a feelingful article, saying “You are calling us November criminals, but could you, a representative
This isn’t commonly spoken of, but the “powerless” English queen isn’t obliged to appoint the Head of the winning party to the post of the Prime Minister. She can appoint anyone to that post. Though, why the constitutional monarch doesn’t use her powers which an absolute monarch also has, is a subject for another conversation.
The future Chancellor had rather peculiar manners. A big lover of sweets, Hitler could passionlessly add sugar powder to expensive dry wine right in front of the astonished company.
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of the working class, have become a Reichschancellor without us? Social Democracy provided workers with equal rights and respect. Only through us you, Adolf Hitler, have managed to become Reichschancellor”.
So, Adolf Hitler solved the first problem. Though, having become Reich-schancellor in January 1933, he had no opportunities to trigger a military conflict. The reason for that was rather unpoetic, as in fact he had no army. With the Reichswehr of one hundred thousand soldiers, having no tanks, aviation, heavy artillery or marine forces, the demoniac Fьhrer could have invaded the neighboring little Luxemburg, at most, and even for that he would need a permission of other countries. To start the Second World War Hitler had to form the army anew, to rename it, to arm it with the most modern arms and to increase it into 42 times!1
At this, the neighboring states should fail to notice militarization of Germany, should not comprehend a simple and obvious fact that if someone was setting up an enormous army, it wasn’t just for potato digging or fence painting. Armies are always arranged to make war! And if someone paid no attention to Hitler’s arrangements, thereby, they immediately became accomplices in his crimes, because they let the future killer make a knife, sharpen it and stab the victim with it.
Anyone understands that keeping an army costs a lot. It costs even more to rearm it. And only really astronomically large amounts would let to make the army 42 times bigger. Such task couldn’t be solved even by a mature country. If an empire is on the brink of collapse, if there are 6 million unemployed, if plants and factories are being closed because of cash outflow due to the global crisis, it is simply impossible. Economics won’t stand crazy increase of military expenses, living standards will de-crease, which will either result in revolution or rejection of the selected militaristic course.
However, we all know that Hitler managed that. How could he have done it? For instance, Stalin had to imply industrialization to recover the Economy in a similar situation. To make people work a lot and for low wages, they were forced to join kolkhozes (collective farms). Only due to inconceivable
When the Second World War started, which was on September 1, 1939, the German Army under a new name of Wehrmacht instead of Reichswehr had 4 million 233 thousand persons. In 1933 there were 100 thousand. (Martirosyan, A. Who brought war to the USSR. M., 2007. P. 412.)
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sacrifices and losses, at the expense of many human lives the powerful Red Army that succeeded in protection of Russia was arranged. Though, Hitler didn’t establish any kolkhozes and didn’t increase wages of the population, but decreased them. By 1938 the problem of unemployment in Germany was solved, and since 1936 there even was a shortage of workers, and the right to work was guaranteed by the law. Great residential blocks and loads of sports facilities were erected for workers. It seems incredible now, but it were the Nazi government, not Social-Democrats, who introduced paid vacations1. Five years after Hitler came to power nothing within the country reminded of the dreadful crisis past.
When the hope for the Nazi’s winning the election was lost,
Adolf Hitler was simply appointed Reichschancellor
What does that mean?
That doesn’t tell us of a “cannibalistic” essence of Communism or especial humaneness of Nazism. All the above-mentioned allows to make a single conclusion that someone provided Hitler with enormous financial sup-port! Someone provided money that made such economical boost possible.Construction of autobans and military orders alone couldn’t have recovered the Economy, as empty treasury would have to pay for all of it, and then
Seward, D. Napoleon and Hitler. P. 152.
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would sort of get all the money spent for guns and roads back. Though, Stalin and Russian Bolsheviks didn’t get any money. The only way to get money was to take it from their own population, and all ways were good for that. But it was not Hitler’s problem, as those who were moving him to power, provided him with money.
Unless we assume that the Hitler’s Economy wasn’t supported from the abroad, it worked like in a bad joke:
— Where do you get money from?
— From my bed-side table.
— Who puts it there?
— My wife does.
— And where does she get it from?
— I give it to her.
— But where do you get money from?
— Are you slow-witted? Didn’t I tell you I take it from my bed-side table?
To conceal the fact that the Nazi Germany was financially supported by the West, historians invented a simple trick. Data on economical wonders of the Hitler’s Reich are provided on one page, and data on Western support are given in another page. They provide extensive quotations from Hitler’s speeches about his wish to crash Communism, and almost evade his state-ments, which could throw light on his mysterious sponsors. However, such facts can’t be concealed completely, and they appear in the most unexpected places. For instance, the book of H. Picker “Hitler’s Table Talks” provides some curious story of how Fьhrer solved his economical tasks.
On January 30, 1933, when Hitler came to power, the Reich treasury had only 83 million Deutschmarks. Annual budget gap was 900 million, and 5 billion reparations should have been paid. Unjoyful arithmetic, indeed.
If you get such economy, how soon will you be able to pay out the neces-sary amounts and make the army 42 times bigger EXCLUSIVELY ON YOUR OWN? The right answer is “never”, if things are being done fair and square. However, things are different, if it is a give-away game…
That is why Hitler was so confident. When the Minister of Internal Affairs von Papen told him that 5 billion should have been paid urgently, saying “We
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Why England and France didn’t care to avert the Second World War
are so lucky, they have asked for 150 billion before”1, the Fьhrer reasonably questioned him why and how they were going to pay that.
“We have to pay, — said von Papen, — because otherwise they will ar-rest our property abroad!”
“We don’t have anything”, — Hitler said and prohibited paying.
Hitler explained his point to the British Ambassador Horace Humboldt during presentation of credentials. “Do you imply that new Germany rejects obligations undertaken by its previous governments?”, the Ambassador asked and promised to inform the London Cabinet about that.
What happened next? Did Great Britain send a Note of Protest? Or a warning through diplomatic channels? Or did it apply some economical sanctions?
In a table-talk Hitler himself explained what happened next.
“England or France have never claimed us in regard to payments.
I’ve never been afraid of the British in this matter”2.
And as the British played the premier violin in the global political arena, Hitler could afford himself to be afraid of no one. That is where his bravery and economical miracles came from…
To be specific, the German economy started to recover as early as in 1924. It became obvious that the possible future war with Russia would re-quire not only leaders3, but a country -aggressor. Poland alone wasn’t able of defeating Russia. The French and the British didn’t want to fight themselves. A scenario of 1914 was good, but Germany was weaker than ever. It was necessary to recover it first. And voila, after the defeated country had been drained, its economical renewal starts. At first it was slow and inconspicu-ous. On August 16, 1924 representatives of the victorious powers accepted the so-called Dawes plan, which implied that the American capital would provide depleted Germany with loans to let it revive. After that Germany would continue paying reparations out. At this key sectors of German economy would have been acquired by American monopolies at a low price. Not two but three birds would be killed with one stone:
‰ the future aggressor would be prepared;
‰ income would be obtained due to capital penetration;
Picker, H. Hitler’s Table Talks. Smolensk, 1993. P. 54.
Ibid. P. 55.
This was taken care of, when Hitler was let out of prison before he stayed for at least ј of his term.
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‰ German economy would become very dependent on foreign investors,and consequently it would be easier to manipulate its politics. Germans received quite a lot of money, 190 million dollars1. At once,
right in August 1924, it made the rate of the German currency stable, and fearful times when milliards and trillions of Deutschmarks marks had been worth one dollar were gone. Still, other points of the plan weren’t as humane. Under the plausible pretext of reparation covering it was intended that the Allies would control the state budget of Germany, as well as currency circulation and credit, and railways. This was when “Putzi” Hanfstaengl appeared near Hitler, and the military attachй Truman Smith went to the parade of German politicians…
In fact, Germany was quietly occupied by America. That is why there was no need for “hard way” occupation of Ruhr by the French, so French and Belgian armies left. However, they were replaced by a special committee of experts, chaired by the General reparation agents. This authority started to supervise defeated Germany2.
(There was another curious aspect of the German economy revival through borrowings. Authors of the Dawes plan expected that German industrial products would be exported to the USSR and would disrupt industrialization, causing its unprofitability and inexpedience. And there is one more surprising coincidence, as one of the ideas of the Trot opposi-tion was to make Russia an agricultural country, a source of raw materials, whereas it was planned that equipment would be bought from abroad.)
No one knows exactly how much money was invested into recovery of Germany. According to different estimates, by 1930 it was about 28 to 30 billion dollars3. Curiously enough, total amount of reparation payments provided by Germany within this period hardly exceeded 10 billion Deutsche-marks4. This is what was going on when Germany was being considered as
Preparata, G. G. Hitler Inc. How Britain and America made the Third Reich. P. 249.
Germany was as delusively independent then, as, for instance, the modern Iraq is. The latter has its government, its flag, its official hymn, but it can’t make its own solutions. The West could do whatever it needed in Germany. The result is well-known. There were continuous elections, preterm release of Hitler, his appointment to the Chancellor’s post. Since 1918 till 1933 all events in Germany were taking place not because the Germans wished it.
Preparata, G. G. Hitler Inc. How Britain and America made the Third Reich. P. 251.
Ibid.
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a possible applicant to defeat Russia. German economy was receiving much more money than was being taken away. Naturally, such ratio assisted in recovery of the German industrial manufacturing, which reached the pre-war level by 1927.
Foreign capital was actively penetrating into all spheres of the Ger-man economy. The concern IG Farbenindustrie entered agreements with American and English chemical companies. According to the Agreement signed in 1926 it agreed to share the global gunpowder market with the American concern of DuPont and the English company Imperial Chemical Industries. The American company Standardoil owned about 90 % of all assets of the German-American oil company. The well-known and richest German Allgemeine Elektrizitдtsgesellschaft (General electrical company) was under control of American and English companies.
Readers who drive cars know that attribution of car brands to different countries is rather nominal. For instance, “German” Opel is owned by the General Motors concern, which also produces Chevrolet and other brands. However, not many know that Americans from General Motors have taken control over the Opel plant in Kцln as early as in the period described here! Trucks which German soldiers would later ride along European and Russian roads were mainly assembled from components brought from the USA!1 In 1929 Germany outrun England in steel and cast-iron melting, in electric energy production, in car manufacturing and other most important industries, taking the second place in the World… after the USA.
However, time passed, and the Dawes plan became out of date. Then another plan was developed by the Committee of financial experts, chaired by the American Banker Young O. This plan was accepted in 1929–1930. Reparation payments were slightly reduced, and the main thing was that the authority supervising Germany was eliminated. This may seem weird, if one forgets that after Trotsky had been exiled in January 1929, Hitler’s way to power entered its terminal stage. It was important that future activities of the Fьhrer wouldn’t have been noticed, so the supervising body was eliminated.
Young’s plan was cancelled in 1932, and Germany was almost relieved of reparation payments, despite only a small amount of it had been paid. Why so? Simply because in 1933 Adolf Hitler would become Chancellor, and he would have to make economic miracles. And he really would need money to do that…
Ovsyany, I. D. The Mystery of the War Being Born. M., 1971. P. 44–45.
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Here are some figures indicating the problems Hitler had to solve when he came to power. Budget expenses for armament since 1933 till 1939 were increased tenfold (from 1.9 billion Deutschemarks to 18.41 billion Deutsche-marks). In percents the values of increase are also impressive, it increased from 24 to 58 %1. Just compare, the most hazardous Communistic USSR, which supposedly was going to conquer the entire World, spent only 9 % of its budget for military expenses in 1934; France spent 8.1 %, Japan spent 8 %, and England, which was going to use others to fight, spent 3 %2.
As we know, Adolf Hitler managed his task outright. Within an in-credibly short term, within 6 years at the helm, he managed to build the military machine of immense power. Historians call it the Nazi economical miracle. They fervently argue, if doubtless economical growth in Hitler’s times was real or was it alike an economical pyramid, where war was the best way to get out of a dead-end. Strangely enough, both parties involved in this abstract discussion are wrong. Both growth and depression of the German economy weren’t caused by any inner reasons. The Nazi success was financially supported and organized by the entire “civilization” of that period, as Russian lovers of Western countries like to call them. That is why it wasn’t Hitler who determined when the German industry should stop or continue developing. Obviously, Germany wasn’t capable of keeping that immense expenses for armament without extraneous help. Consequently, there were only two possible outcomes, either the German economy should have got new assets from the outside, meaning it should have been finan-cially supported further, or the war with Russia should have been started, which Hitler was being raised for. Owners of the World, the Anglo-Saxons, really didn’t like wasting their money. It was more economically (not even politically!) profitable to start the shooting war soon. The earlier it would be started, the less money they would have to provide to the bottomless Hitlerite military machine. That is why it would have been better to start the war in 1938, not in 1939. And starting the war in 1939 would have brought more profit than in 1940.
Hitler’s way to power was a continuous incredible political and economi-cal triumph. He succeeded in one thing after another, until it all ended in grand failure…
How the German sword was forged. M., 2007. P. 13.
Ibid.
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There can be no miracles either in economy or politics! Every suc-cessful deed of the empire is provided by someone’s painstaking labor and by loads of everyday activities, invisible to outsiders. And there is a long list of defects and specific omissions behind every failure. However, this is so when success or failure are within the scope of possible. Whenever something incredible occurs, something that historians later call a miracle or unbelievable success, the background is much more simple.
Every story of phenomenal success of one party is always a story where the party on the other side of political barricades has betrayed its interests.The more unbelievable is the miraculous success of one country, the more leaders of another country have played along with it. Thus, Hitler’s in-credible success in the global scene didn’t depend on his outstanding diplomatic or political talents, but was determined by the preliminary agreed retreat of England, the USA and France.
Could militarization of Germany have been stopped? Could Hitler have been prevented from forming the new powerful Wehrmacht? Could the German plants be prevented from production of the newest tanks and airplanes?
Surely, all of that was possible. In fact, nothing even should have been done in this regard. According to the Treaty of Versailles Germany was absolutely unarmed and could in no way resist external pressure, supported with armed forces. In due time the French occupied the Ruhrland without any resistance from the teeny German army. When Hitler came to power, the German army was still as teeny as it was before. So, the demoniac Fьhrer could repel the outside threat with nothing but his gift of oratory. He had no legal opportunities to increase and rearm his army. New divisions weren’t needles in a haystack. Intelligence Service of any other country would notice that the competitor’s army increased several times. Formation of new divi-sions required arms, uniforms, premises, and people, at last.
There was no national compulsory service in Germany with its army of one hundred thousand. However, to qualitatively increase the army tenfold, it was a must to have it. In fact, the only thing which should have been done to prevent the Second World War was not to let the Nazi put national com-pulsory service in. In that case all their other actions would be senseless, as the army wouldn’t be able to fight without people. They couldn’t call in all the German men, as it would cause economic collapse. The army would be increased gradually, letting new recruits in one by one.
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However, after new recruits would join the German army, it wouldn’t be ready to fight for several years, as new soldiers would require training. “There was no possibility of Germany creating an army which could face the French Army until conscription had been applied for several years. Here was a line which could not be transgressed without an obvious and flagrant breach of the Treaty of Versailles. In all these years the German Army might nourish and cherish its military spirit and tradition, but it could not pos-sible even dream of entering the lists against the long-established unbroken developments of the armed, trained, organized manpower which flowed and gathered naturally from the French military system”1.
Future victims of Hitlerite aggression had great advantage. They had armed forces, whereas Germany didn’t have any, in fact. Even the neighbor-ing France had a larger army, and there was Great Britain, too. At German borders there were Czechoslovakian and Polish armies, allies of London and Paris, and each of these was larger than the German army. All competitors of Germany had tanks, airplanes and combat vessels. Whereas, the Nazi came to power armed only with “progressive doctrine” of their Fьhrer. It would have been enough to inform the violent German leaders through diplomatic channels that in case national compulsory service was put in, the Western countries would react rather harsh and might even occupy Germany. Such announcement could be made openly. People of European countries would get the message right, after all the victims of the First World War Paris and London would by no means let Berlin to restore its military powers. By no means at all.
Though, no one stopped Hitler in that simply way. Why so? Did they fail to comprehend that creation of a new army required new soldiers? Didn’t they think of how Hitler would set manufacturing of military machines? Didn’t they know there was nothing to resist him with? These are questions for kindergarten boys, but when it comes to statesmen, we shall consider, if we interpret reasons of their actions right.
If leaders of the Western World wished to prevent the coming war, they would have been able to do it either without any blood spilt, or spilling a minor amount of blood, if compared with what happened later. And the author of this book is not the only person to think so. “Up till 1934 at least German rearmament could have been prevented without the loss of a single
Churchill, W. The Second World War. P. 35.
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life”1, Winston Churchill wrote later. Why hasn’t it been prevented? Churchill provides no answer to that in his memoirs. However, there is a fixed rule obvious to any reasonable person. If politicians see a danger and deliberately do nothing to prevent it, then they need it to be there!
If Hitler wasn’t stopped, when he was getting ready for the war, then the war was just what they needed. They means not only the Fьhrer, but leaders of England, France and the USA, who in fact were the ones acting in the global scene. To exonerate them from responsibility the legend was started, firstly by Western historians, then with help of Suvorov-Rezun. The legend said that the German army was rearmed that fast, because the USSR helped it, having established training centers, where German military men learnt the ABC of winning. The lay public gets an impression that aggres-sive Russian Bolsheviks let the German military men to their polygons and trained them there, using the newest Russian tanks and airplanes with the aim to exaggerate the World War…
Let’s make things clear. The USSR had three military facilities, where German officers were trained, indeed. These were the tank school in Kazan, the flight school in Lipetsk and the chemical site Tomka. Though, if we take a closer look, we’ll see that claiming Stalin trained and armed the German army is absurd. It is not by chance that books accusing Russia — the USSR — of training future Hitlerites don’t ever provide specific figures…
Development of top-secret joint military projects followed the Treaty of Rapallo, signed by Germany and Russia in 1922. Despite during the First World War Russians and Germans fought each other, they were both de-feated to satisfaction of the Anglo-Saxon. Correspondingly, both countries didn’t have opportunities for development of modern military equipment production, and neither they could train their military men appropriately. Germany was prohibited to do it, and the USSR was isolated and didn’t have its own production base. Consequently, both countries, not only Germany, were interested in cooperation, which would let them not to fall behind the leading military empires.
Let’s start with tanks. During the First World War Russia didn’t manage to start producing them. That is why the Red Army used foreign armored vehicles, and these weren’t the most recent models. What don’t the writers accusing the USSR of training Germans like to write about in their books?
Churchill, W. The Second World War. V. 1. P. 38.
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About specific things, models of tanks. Otherwise, it would be obvious that Germans weren’t trained in Russia, using the Russian tanks and learning from the Russian teachers. Everything was so very different there.
The Agreement about the joint tank school was signed on October 2, 1926 in Moscow. It was the German party, who undertook all expenses for keeping the school and buying the equipment necessary for its operation, including the tanks. The Soviet party provided technical workers for work-shops, workers and security.
The students of this school were to learn using British and French military machines. How did “foreign” tanks get to the USSR? The Soviet Intelligence Service hardly could have stolen them, though, it wasn’t necessary. It were the Germans, who had to buy and bring the tanks to the Soviet Union by means of certain affairs. Thus, the Red Army didn’t spend a kopek, but obtained the newest pieces of foreign military machines. And in fact we provided the Germans only with our lands.
However, it took longer for the German party to obtain the tanks than it was expected. For instance, in 1927 the school had only two tanks, as well as two caterpillar tractors, two trucks, two passenger cars and two motorbikes. Ten military machines promised by Germans arrived as late as in the beginning of 19291. Only since then students could get complete education. Training in the school continued till 1933, when the school was eliminated on Hitler’s order.
When someone tells us that German tankers learned to fight in the USSR, we should remember that there were no German students in Russia, when the Fьhrer started to rearm his army. During the entire period of its existence three classes of German students graduated from it, 10 students in academic year 1929/30, 11 students in 1931/32, and 9 students in 19332. The total was 30 students. There is no need to explain that Hitler had much more tankers than that, and it can’t be stated that the USSR provided serious input to development of German armored forces.
It was rather similar with “production” of German aces. First attempts towards establishment of the joint flying school in Lipetsk were made in 1923, when the German Military Ministry bought some Dutch single-seat
The Military Historic Magazine. 1993. No. 6. P. 39–44. No. 7. P. 41–44. No. 9. P. 36–42.
Gorlov, S. A. Top-secret: Moscow-Berlin Alliance, 1920–1933. M., 2001. P. 220.
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fighters from the Fokker company through an intermediary. Officially the order was performed for airpowers of Argentina. Just like it was with tanks, acquisition and delivery of planes from Germany to Russia took long. Comprehensive training began only in the second semester of 1926. Please, notice that the flying school had only foreign airplanes, including 34 Fokker fighters, 8 Heinkel reconnaissance planes, trainer aeroplanes Albatros, Heinkel, Junkers and one transport Junkers. How come? In fact, the USSR, so very “aggressive” and “wishing to conquer the World”, wasn’t able to produce good airplanes in 1926. Industrialization was only coming. Actually, the Soviet Union offered its skies to the German, whereas the latter brought whatever else was required, at the same time teaching our pilots and design engineers. Actually, only the attending personal was 100 % “ours”, which was cleaners and security. The Lipetsk flying school was headed by a Reichswehr officer, students were taught by German teachers, applying German programs1.
For example, in 1932 the school staff was 303 persons, including 43 Ger-mans, 26 Soviet military pilots and 234 Soviet workers, mechanical engineers and clerks. Whenever accidents occurred in the school, dead Germans were sent home in hearses, packed into boxes signed “Machine components”, which was done for conspiracy reasons. Totally 120 German airplane fight-ers and 100 airplane observers were trained or retrained in the flying school of Lipetsk2. Was it much or little? They were more than tankers, but it still wasn’t enough for the German military air forces. And there is one more thing. It was rather difficult for Germany to train its tankers in its own lands. They were either trained in tractors or in wooden models of tanks, mounted on passenger cars. It was easier with pilots, as military pilots are not really different from the civil ones. The latter only needed to be retrained a bit. Civil aviation wasn’t prohibited in Germany. By 1932 illegal military flying schools in Braunschweig and Rechlin trained about 2,000 future Luftwaffe pilots3. Consequently, the Lipetsk school didn’t provide crucial input into training of the Nazi Luftwaffe. Obviously, this school also was closed in 1933 on Hitler’s direction. The official reason for that was the need to save money…
Pykhalov, I. The Great Belied War. M., 2005. P. 25.
Sobolev, D. A., Khazanov, D. B. German trace in history of the Russian aviation.M., Rusavia, 2000. P. 119.
Ibid. P. 126.
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So, finally, presence of Soviet-German projects provided zero risk to safety of the USSR and other countries. Instead, having entered partnership with Germany, leaders of the Red Army got access to modern equipment and experience of the Germans.
And all of it was for money of the Germans. Having finished coopera-tion on Hitler’s order, the Germans left the USSR and left all property of the schools to the Red Army.
The third facility established due to cooperation of the Red Army and Reichswehr was the chemical site Tomka, located not far from the Volsk town in the Saratov region. There Soviet students learnt to use chemical weapons and counteract to them1. 400 thousand of chemical projectiles remaining since the First World War became unfit for use, and the USSR started to produce new chemical weapons only after cooperation with its German partners. Who knows, Germans may have understood the Red Army potential and decided against using chemical weapons during the coming Great Patronymic War…
But no, military power of the Germans was forged somewhere else. If previously German generals used any opportunity for military coopera-tion with both East and West, new Reichschancellor of Germany abruptly stopped dealing with the USSR and totally concentrated on dealing with European empires. Military schools in the USSR weren’t needed any lon-ger, as West was ready not to notice rapid growth of the German army. Everything could be done in the native Fatherland since then. And Hitler did. Only two years past since he came to power, and “On March 9, 1935, the official constitution of the German Air Force was announced, and on March 16 it was declared that the German Army would henceforth be based on national compulsory service”2.
The West didn’t react to that. Why? May Paris and London have been so scared of the news that Germany had combat aviation, that they were afraid to talk to the Fьhrer in the language of ultimatums? May the German airplanes have been better and newer than the foreign ones, and retrained civil pilots and graduates of the Lipetsk school have been experienced and invincible? Our historians explain these and all others steps made back by the West in regard to Hitler, saying that the former were unwilling to fight
Pykhalov, I. The Great Belied War. M., 2005. P. 35–38.
Churchill, W. The Second World War. V. 1. P. 37.
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and were afraid of the German air forces. Though, as soon as one looks through facts, he will learn that these statements are absolutely false.
After having been defeated in the First World War the Germans handed over to the Entente 20 thousand airplanes and 27 thousand engines1. After that Germany was prohibited to have air forces since 1918 till 1935. Natu-rally, the Germans were working on new models of airplanes, but it must be understood that real work started only in 1933, when Hitler came to power with his carte blanche for army development.
Fearsome German “crop dusters” which were so much “afraid of”
in London and Paris
The job started, but when national compulsory service was introduced, the airpowers weren’t rearmed, and their rearmament had hardly even started. The German airpowers in 1936 were as similar to airpowers used during the Second World War as a plane of 1914 is alike a jet fighter, used in the end of the Second World War. Only the name was alike, nothing else. If you want to check it, watch German newsreel of that time. When Hitler came to power, parades were being held all the time. Look closer on airplanes in the air. Powerful Luftwaffe used in 1935 to 1936 were… “crop dusters”. Biplanes with nacelles were very similar to our famous night-bomber U2, nicknamed “crop duster”. Watch newsreel of German parades of that period and experience utter disbelief.
Shunkov, V. N. Wings of the Third Reich. Minsk, 2004. P. 3.
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The World War would start as soon as in three years, and there were sym-metrical lines of fighters, reconnaissance planes and bombers in the German skies, all of them corn dusters!
And it’s not a joke. Those planes didn’t have any protective covers for pilots, and to make pictures the second pilot of the reconnaissance plane simply had to hang over the board. Shooters with machine-guns weren’t protected in any way, either. Is that a small thing? Oh no, it is an indicator of the aircraft engineering level. I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I looked through some documents. I remember ravenous silhouettes of German fighters and bombers from movies about the Great Patronymic War. When have the Germans managed to manufacture those, if in 1936 Germany didn’t have a single plane like that, which would glorify Luftwaffe in the coming war?
In 1936 Germany had biplane Ne 51. It was a typical “corn duster”. It was even used during the first stage of the Second World War, though as early as in Spain it had become obvious that it was hopelessly out-of-date in regard to Soviet models of fighters, which were used by Republicans1. However, in 1936 Ne 51 wasn’t an old thing for German airpowers, it was the most recent development. History of this plane started in 1931, when the Ministry of Transport in Germany on the Reichswehr order asked the Heinkel Company to design a one- place biplane fighter2. In November 1932 the pilot plane made its first flight. And in spring 1934 these planes were put into mass production. However, as Hitler hadn’t yet announced Luftwaffe formation, these planes had civil marks and registration. So, would Hitler manage to scare the entire Europe with these “most recently developed” “crop dusters” in some two years?
German armies got the German planes, which we normally see in shots and movies much later. Let’s follow the order. The most well-known and outnumbered German fighter- plane of the Second World War was Mess-erschmitt Bf.109. Its prototype was first produced in the end of 1932, and its pilot version took the first flight on May 28, 19353. The dreadful war machine, in one copy, though, was equipped with a British engine of the Roll-Royce Company, Kestrel V. Why a British engine? Simply because German engines of that grade weren’t yet ready. So the British “comrades”
Shunkov, V. N. Wings of the Third Reich. P. 206.
Ibid. P. 205.
Ibid. P. 106.
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helped. At that time England was the main exporter of weapons and army goods in the World…
However, the pilot plane wasn’t the one to have the British motor. All serially produced Messerschmitt planes had been equipped with these engines until the German industry managed to produce enough engines of that type, “In 1935 11 of 28 types of military planes were equipped with British and American motors, supplied by Rolls-Royce, Armstrong Siddeley, Pratt & Whitney and others”1.
Successful performance flights made Willy Messerschmidt’s fighter- plane the favorite. However, German pilots mistrusted these planes at first. Why so? Because they were so used to nacelles of their “corn dusters”, and new planes had a tightly closed cabin!
However, we needn’t care about fears of German pilots. We are more interested in dates, when loads of these fighter-planes were delivered to flying units, when leaders of England and France were “so much afraid” of them. Production statistics in regard to these planes couldn’t provide a basis for such fears. In 1936 two pilot planes were produced, in 1937 — 54 planes.
Well, may be, Hitler some problems with these fighter-planes, but things were much better with other plane types? Let’s follow history of the famous dive bomber Junkers-87. It was called Stuka for short. It was this plane that dropped the first bomb during the Second World War. These bombers were stroking our positions in Soviet movies, howling and falling in long piques.
By the way, the idea of providing these planes with sirens that would howl when a plane falls in a pique belonged to Hitler himself. Still, not always his intervention channeled things right. “Impeccant” Fьhrer made mis-takes just like everyone else. Hitler was allergic to horses, so he dismissed all cavalry divisions but one. Absence of cavalry played a low-down trick with Germans, when they fought in Russia, in impassable dirt2.
When did this wonderful enemy plane appeared? It turned out in the end of 1935, and its serial production started in 19373.
So, it is rather weird, the West was desperately afraid of Luftwaffe, which in 1936 didn’t have at least one really modern plane!
Ovsyany, I. D. The Mystery of the War Being Born. P. 44.
See Hanfstaengl, E. Hitler. The Missing Years. P. 57.
Shunkov, V. N. Wings of the Third Reich. P. 294.
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Winston Churchill was a British patriot and one of the most famous leaders of Great Britain. That is why he couldn’t just tell how it all happened. However, one of his phrases should make Reader thoughtful. “Up till the middle of 1936 Hitler’s aggressive policy and treaty-breaking had rested not upon Germany’s strength, but upon the disunion and timidity of France and Britain and the isolation of the United States”1.
Well, the alibi was absolute, there was dissociation, timidity and isola-tion. We can see how “isolated” the USA was, checking how many American Intelligence Officers like Ernst Hanfstaengl were hanging around Hitler. Now, the facts:
‰ On September 19, 1934, modern equipment for aviation plants, whichcost 1 million golden dollars, was delivered from the USA to Germany. Later this equipment was used to produce German planes2;
‰ At the same time Germany received many military patents from Ameri-can companies Pratt & Whitney, Duglas and Bendix Aviation3, so the famous bombers “Stuka” (Junkers-87) were constructed in accordance with technologies brought from Detroit4.
This is background for “dissociation” and “timidity” of Paris and London. We can’t pay too much attention to technical details, so let’s summarize for short. In 1936, when Hitler was already “afraid of”, he had neither modern airplanes, nor tanks. The first really worthy tank of the Hitlerite Reich was Pz III, which was put to production in 1938. Modernized versions of its predecessor Pz II F with additional front armor plate (which prevented tanks from becoming easy trophy of the enemy) were put into production in June 1940. That is why Winston Churchill wrote in his memoirs, “The vast tank production with which they broke the French font did not come into existence till 1940”5.
Why should winners of the First World War in 1936 become afraid of the ones defeated, humiliated and unarmed, when there were absolutely no grounds for that? However, it is this “fear” that is used to explain, why Hitler so easily managed to get the lost German lands back. Saarland of
Churchill, W. The Second World War. V. 1. P. 172.
Preparata, G. G. Hitler Inc. How Britain and America made the Third Reich. P. 332.
Ibid. P. 333.
Ibid.
Churchill, W. The Second World War. V. 1. P. 151.
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Germany was taken away from the country and was managed by the League of Nations. To turn the country into a powerful aggressor, Hitler firstly had to get back all regions, recently taken away from his country. Though, Britain, France and America, who had pulled Germany to pieces in Ver-sailles, aided him to do it. Germany should have become strong. However, as it was too weak and was at the very first stage of its rearmament, it was kind of indecent to be afraid of its Reichswehr of one hundred thousand. Having no other decent alibi, they had to act in a clear diplomatic way, through Referendum…
Firstly, the Fьhrer returned Saarland to the fold of the Third Reich. After it had been rejected from Germany, the League of Nations undertook its management in 1919. Its coal mines were handed over to the French as a reparation payment. Residents of Saarland lived like that for 16 years, and nobody ever asked what they thought of it. And all of a sudden they were offered to decide if they wanted to join the Nazi Germany, the Democratic France or to remain with the League of Nations.
At first sight, there was nothing to find fault with. Only some minor de-tails and little things incited suspicions. Hitlerite Germany started a violent propagandistic campaign among the population of the region and even in France itself. However, Paris didn’t agitate people at all. Moreover, two days before plebiscite the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Laval announced, “France doesn’t care of the results”. Imagine how people of Saarland, who were fighting for joining the France, felt after such announcement. British diplomats also provided their lepton. They assumed a rather weird posi-tion, positively objecting that the League of Nations should keep its power in Saarland. In opinions of the British, this was a disabling burden for the prototype of the modern UNO. Thus, outcome of the Referendum on Janu-ary 13, 1935, was predetermined in advance. Finally, 90 % of people voted for reunion with Germany.
According to decision of the League of Nations Saarland was returned to the Reich’s fold. When the French General Staff demanded that Germany was prohibited to locate its military contingent in Saarland, the French Government declined the project of this resolution…
One shouldn’t be surprised about the weird position of Pierre Laval, the Ministry For Foreign Affairs in France. It is enough to remember what happened to his predecessor on this post, Louis Barthou. When studying biography of this French politician, you can only wonder for how long he
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survived. Those getting on the way of such powerful forces and processes of global politics don’t normally linger on the Earth. Louis Barthou was one of not many Western politics, who conceived aspiration for peace in its simplest sense, as prevention of the potential aggressor from recovery. It was he who headed the notorious Reparation Committee, which consid-ered how much money Germany would have to pay after the First World War. On January 9, 1924 he chaired the Committee meeting, where it was decided that Germany failed to fulfill its reparation obligations under the Treaty of Versailles with three votes of France, Belgium and Italy against one vote of England. After that the French occupied Ruhr, which was not only drastic, but even violent.
When on February 8, 1934 Louis Barthou got his ministerial portfo-lio, he displayed his aspiration to as violent repression of Hitler. And we understand that Great Britain absolutely couldn’t agree to that. Barthou’s policy got in the way of preparation of the new World War. For instance, this Minister of Foreign Affairs in France notified the Chairman of the Geneva Disarmament Conference, the British citizen Henderson, that
Germany shouldn’t be considered “equal” in regard to armament. And at that time Hitlerite German was only making its first timid steps to build up its muscles. Instead of surrendering everything to Hitler Barthou intensi-fied relations with French allies. In 1934 he visited Warszawa and Prague. While Poland and Czechoslovakia were ready to rear-strike Germany, Paris could sleep fast. After coming back from this trip Barthou suggested the so-called Eastern Pact, which would ensure safety both to Western and Eastern Europe. Finally, on September 15, 1934 France invited the USSR to join the League of Nations. Activities of Louis Barthou in every way conflicted efforts required for reinforcement of Hitlerite Germany. By the end of September of that year he prepared a project of a joint agreement, according to which France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Romania should together ensure independence of Austria.
And reckoning was fast. On October 9, 1934 Barthou was “incidentally” killed by a Croatian terrorist, who attempted to murder the Yugoslavian King Alexander during his visit to France. Some researches will tell you that Barthou became the victim of the German Intelligence Service during the Teutonic Sword Operation. It is so, indeed. But question yourself, why Germans would kill Louis Barthou, if any reasonable French minister would act in the same way?
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Ensuring safety of France and suppressing German aggression in the egg is a sacred liability of every patriot of this country. If, God forbid, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in France is murdered nowadays, will France enter a union with Iran or the Northern Korea? What kind of Intelligence Service will start shooting all French Ministers of Foreign Affairs one by one, hoping that sooner or later a traitor ready to betray his Motherland will appear in Paris? The German Intelligence Service simply couldn’t annihilate everyone in top echelons of power, rooting for their country!
Murdering Barthou had sense only if the Germans knew that his death would be followed by surrender of all its stands by France and that Bar-thou was the only person preventing it! And German leaders could get such information only through their secret contacts with the British and the French Governments.
Rather suspicious circumstances of the murder also suggest something like that. It was announced that special precautions would be taken, though the promised escort of Mobile Guards wasn’t there. And the procession itself was moving as slowly as a leisurely pedestrian. When the car reached the Exchange Building in Marseilles, someone whistled. A man ran out of the crowd, broke through (!) guards and unstopped climbed the running board. Then the stranger made several shots, and the King was outright dead, and Barthou was fatally wounded1. Right after his death the new Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Laval “set-out to reach a lasting Franco-German settlement…”2
Could Hitler have been stopped? Yes, he could. To do so the French and British Governments had to prohibit Referendum in Saarland. Ger-man wouldn’t be able to resist: it had neither tanks, nor airplanes, nor soldiers. However, everyone was teaming up Hitler, contrariwise. And it was a very important first advancement of the Nazi. After it triumphs would go one by one. I don’t feel like overloading this book with detailed description of political intrigues of that days, because that way it will be entirely about implausible and weird political position of France and Great Britain. The Reader may take any book about this historic period and see for yourself.
Ovsyany, I. D. The Mystery of the War Being Born. P. 47–48.
Bullock, A. Hitler and Stalin. V. 2. P. 123.
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We shall only notice one obvious fact that Adolf Hitler was “an ingenious politician” as long as his Western partners were playing a give-away game with him, frowning and making announcements pro forma1.
When Hitler announced introduction of national compulsory service, England issued “a protest”2, and France issued “a strong protest”3, however, no real political actions were taken. Though, some actions were taken, to be accurate. The British Delegation headed by John Simon and accompanied by Lord Anthony Eden arrived to see Hitler in Berlin. Visit of those serious-minded gentlemen indicated that the British wanted “to solve the case peacefully”. Firstly, the “anxious” British delegates exchanged friendly smiles and handshakes with Adolf Hitler. Paul Schmidt, the Fьhrer’s interpreter, especially remarked in his memoirs that there was no anxiety in faces of the arrived British. After that friendly negotiation took place.
P. Schmidt provided some peculiar evidence about supposed fears of the British. When the British asked Hitler about power of the German Luftwaffe, the Fьhrer lied not moving a muscle that it equaled the Brit-ish air forces. “As I see, both British are surprised and even skeptic about Hitler’s announcement, the interpreter wrote. — My impression was later confirmed by Lord Londonderry, the British Minister of air forces, whose meetings with Gцring I usually attended as the interpreter”. There you are.
The British didn’t believe that Hitler had air forces comparable with their own, and they instantly became “afraid” of him and let him to arm further at a quick rate4.
On June 18, 1935 “the German Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipo-tentiary” Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the Anglo-German Naval Agree-ment with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain Samuel Hoare5.
This wasn’t only about Hitler. V. I. Lenin amazed his comrades with the same “ingenious” foreseeing of events. In fact, he simply knew that A. F. Kerensky was playing a give-away game with him (Facts and details of this game is described in: Starikov, N. 1917. Not Revolution but a Special Operation!).
Schmidt, P. Hitler’s Interpreter. Smolensk, 2001. P. 10.
Ibid.
Quote from the book: Schmidt, P. Hitler’s Interpreter. P. 23.
Samuel John Gurney Hoare, Viscount Templewood, a rather remarkable person. In 1917 he was the Russian Intelligence Resident and applied much strain to organize events in February and October. In 1935 he had a new job from his Motherland,
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According to that Agreement Germany could legally construct war ships in case “the German Navy was limited to 35 % of the total power of the British Navy”. According to the Treaty of Versailles Germany was prohibited to have its own submarines. Now Germans were entitled to construct submarines in case their tonnage was below 45 % of the submarine forces of Great Britain. If Germany wished to increase that limit, it would have to inform the Brit-ish Government. It was rather provocative that Germans had to get final permissions to construct their new submarines not in Berlin, but in London!
Having felt such permissiveness, Hitler started to behave more boldly. “Hanfstaengls” surrounding him assured him that any his further steps would be absolutely unpunished. On March 7, 1936 he brought troops into the demilitarized Rhineland. None of the countries were entitled to keep their troops in those lands, annexed from Germany, which created a buffer zone between France and Germany. And Hitler boldly violated this international agreement.
“We were sure that the paper war would most certainly lead to the real war… My friend from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the point of view, which many of our department held to, “If France cares a bit about its safety, it should immediately bring troops to Rhineland”1.
Such attitude was common not only among politicians, but also among German military men. They told about it during Nuremberg Trial. “They (the French. — N. S.) could have kicked us out in two twos…”2, said Field marshal Keitel.
“I have to testify that the French covering army could have literally blown us off ”3 , Colonel Jodl testified.
German divisions which had intruded Rhineland couldn’t resist attack of the French, indeed. In fact, this “operation” of the German army was very alike a cheap vaudeville. Five infantry regiments were put in trains. Soldiers and officers thought that they were going for maneuvers, and thus they weren’t either morally or technically ready for real war. It was only in
he was helping Adolf Hitler to recover military power of Germany fast. In 1939 he became British Ambassador to Spain, through which the Nazi contacted the Western world. Samuel Hoare was in the middle of these events.
Schmidt, P. Hitler’s Interpreter. P. 46–47.
Melnikov, D., Chernaya, L. Criminal Number One. P. 270.
Ibid.
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carriages that commanders of regiments opened sealed orders and learnt they were going to occupy Rhineland. Only three trains with one regiment in each crossed Rhine. One headed to Aachen, another to Trier and the third one to Saarbrьcken. Other German troops didn’t intrude into the restricted area.
However, leaders of the German army were terrified. Having no possibil-ity to persuade Hitler to cancel that “suicidal” order, the military men sent Hermann Gцring with that mission. Though, that didn’t help. “The Fьhrer assured us that France wouldn’t act”, General Blomberg said later. “…During their conversation Hitler overpersuaded Gцring and lured him to his side”1. The only thing that was achieved was that the Fьhrer agreed to withdraw his troops in case of any encounter with the French army. And true, thirteen divisions of the French army moved towards the border. But… they didn’t advance further2. Despite the fact that they were absolutely entitled to do so. The international community represented by the League of Nations acknowledged that Germany had violated the Treaty of Versailles and had directly threatened safety of France3.
Why was Hitler so sure that the French would act despite the basic self-protection sense? Why did he choose to pull all the eggs in one basket? A fire-fight with a French squadron would lead to withdrawal of troops, Hitler losing face and his possible dethronement. The answer is provided in the book of Raymond Cartier, issued without delay in 1948. Hitler thought that France had lost its independence and had become a dependent coun-try. “The Fьhrer, said Gцring, often said that France wouldn’t do anything until England approved it, and that Paris had become a diplomatic affiliate of London. Consequently, it was enough to settle thing with England, and everything would be fine in the West”4.
Hitler knew that France wouldn’t do anything. All Hitler’s “bold” ac-tions were firstly discussed with the Great Britain government through back channels. And only after that they were put to life. So much for “ingeniousness”…
Cartier, R. Les secrets de la guerre devoilйs par Nuremberg. M., 2005. P. 38.
Melnikov, D., Chernaya, L. Criminal Number One. P. 270.
Schmidt, P. Hitler’s Interpreter. P. 52.
Cartier, R. Les Secrets De La Guerre Dйvoilйs Par Nuremberg. P. 39.
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However, with much wisdom comes much sorrow. And much troubles. Despite full loyalty of the French and the British promised to the Fьhrer, some randomness couldn’t be left out. What if commander of some regiment would disobey the order from Paris? Hitler’s entire career was at stake, so he was rather thrilled. He often said later, “Forty eight hours after the troops invaded Rhineland were the most restless in my life”1.
His trouble was generously compensated, though. “The Fьhrer is glowing. England is motionless…”2, Goebbels wrote in his diary. However, Hitler’s interpreter Paul Schmidt, who expected the West to react violently, wrote something absolutely different in his memoirs, “For reasons absolutely incomprehensible for us in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs France rested satisfied with summoning the League Board…”3
So, could Hitler have been stopped? Indeed, he could. Instead of agree-ments he should have been send ultimatums and the Nazi viper should have been crushed in the egg, in its cradle. Then not a single bomb would have fallen in London and Paris, millions of people wouldn’t have got into concentration camps, and European Jews and Gypsies wouldn’t have been totally extirpated. However, if Western Democratic countries took their hard line, Hitler wouldn’t have been able to attack Russia, which was his main task…
To make solving of that task possible all “progressive humanity” of that period “failed to notice” the Nazi crimes and “failed to hear” anybody’s evi-dence of how they treated human lives. Though, such crimes and evidence were quite a lot till the end of 1935. The point is that in September of that year the Nazi Germany openly accepted Nuremberg Laws. This is what two legal acts are called in historiography, The Reich Citizenship Law and The Law for Protection of German Blood and German Honour,announced in the NSDAP Conference and accepted with one voice by the Reichstag Session (which was summoned in Nuremberg specially for the Party’s Conference). These laws once and for all determined the racist es-sence of Nazism. According to Clause 2 of the Reich Citizenship Law only a person with “German or kindred blood, and whose actions prove the wish and capability to loyally serve the German nation and the Reich” could be
Schmidt, P. Hitler’s Interpreter. P. 48.
Kershaw, I. Hitler. P. 180.
Schmidt, P. Hitler’s Interpreter. P. 48.
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a citizen”. In this way a stroke of a pen made all German Jews, who were over half a million, lost their German citizenship1.
The Law for Protection of German Blood and German Honour intro-duced some restrictions unprecedented in a civilized European country of 30-ies of the XX century. Under color of “racial defilement” marriages and even extramarital intercourse between the Jews and “citizens of Ger-man and kindred blood” were prohibited. Such marriages were announced void even if they had been concluded abroad. The Jews were prohibited to hire Aryan women younger than 45 to serve in the house. The Jews were deprived of the right to display the national German flag and even to use fabrics of that color!
The Racist Legislation was rapidly expanding. As definition of the Jew wasn’t clearly identified in Nuremberg Laws, on November 14, 1935, the comment was issued providing executives a straight explanation.
‰ “A Jew can’t be the Reich citizen. He can’t vote on political matters. Hecan’t take public posts”;
‰ “A Jew is a person who had three pureblood Jew grandparents”.Further the criteria for determination of Jews and Jewish crossbreeds
from mixed marriages, the term of Non-Aryan was introduced. 12 more decrees were issued, which prohibited certain professions, limited liberty of movement for Jews and made it obligatory to mark IDs of the Jews as “Jude” (“The Jew”).
All these insane decrees of the Nazi weren’t kept secret from the interna-tional community. These were rather official laws of the German state. Their observance was controlled, their violence was punished by fine payment or imprisonment. How did the international community react to that? Were there protests, or boycotts, or cut off of diplomatic ties?
Political elite of that time reacted in a rather weird way.
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