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Authors: Terry Charman
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international situation’ von Ribbentrop should go to Moscow by 23 August at the latest.
20 August, O UTER M ONGOLIA
In an undeclared war, Soviet forces under General Georgi Zhukov engage the Japanese in the biggest battle fought since the First World War. Over 150,000 troops are involved, and the Russians employ 690 tanks and 300 aircraft. The Japanese suffer their greatestmilitary reverse to date, with over 18,000 casualties and the loss of 300 ’planes.
21 August, W ILHELMSHAVEN
Pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee departs to take up its war station off the coast of Brazil.
21 August, H OLLYWOOD
Charlie Chaplin, born just four days before Hitler in April 1889, delays the production of his new film, tentatively called The Dictators . Chaplin ‘hesitates to go before the cameras while the European situation remains so uncertain’. It is rumoured that the US State Department is also bringing pressure on the British-born Chaplin ‘to avoid incensing Hitler and Mussolini in the present delicate state of international relationships’.
21 August, O BERSALZBERG
At 10.50pm, Stalin’s reply arrives while Hitler, Eva Braun and their guests are having dinner. The Soviet dictator agrees to von Ribbentrop’s coming to Moscow on 23 August. Hitler is overjoyed. He bangs the table so hard that the glasses and cutlery rattle, and exclaims, ‘I have them! I have them!’
21 August, B ERLIN
Just before midnight, German home service radio announces the news of the pact with Russia. Propaganda minister Dr Goebbels writes confidently in his diary, ‘We’re on top again. Now we can sleep more easily.’ From Berlin, The Times correspondent notes that among ordinary Germans the initial reaction is: ‘This means that nobody will dare fight against us, and we can do just as we please.’ But many old Nazi Party members are dismayed at a pact with the Bolsheviks. The garden of the Brown House, the Nazi Party headquarters in Munich, is reportedly littered with the Party’s swastika badges thrownthere by disillusioned Nazis. Official and public opinion in Japan, Spain, Italy and Hungary is also aghast at Hitler’s volte face.
21 August, T EDDINGTON
‘Tension increasing – nurses called up, soldiers being inoculated – heavy troops being called up – Poland advises foreigners to leave.’ (Helena Mott)
22 August, L ONDON
The Cabinet meets to discuss the crisis. Lord Halifax rather airily dismisses the German–Soviet non-aggression pact as ‘perhaps of not very great importance’. During the nine o’clock news this evening it is announced that Parliament is being recalled. This is the first time that this has been done over the radio. Chamberlain, mindful of the accusations levelled at Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey in August 1914, writes to Hitler:
Whatever may prove to be the nature of the German-Soviet Agreement, it cannot alter Great Britain’s obligation to Poland which His Majesty’s Government have stated in public repeatedly and plainly and which they are determined to fulfil.
It has been alleged that, if his Majesty’s Government had made their position more clear in 1914, the great catastrophe would have been avoided. Whether or not there is any force in that allegation, His Majesty’s Government are resolved that on this occasion there shall be no such tragic misunderstanding.
The Prime Minister’s message is dispatched to the Berlin embassy for Sir Nevile Henderson to personally deliver to Hitler.
22 August, W ILHELMSHAVEN
The German submarine U-30 commanded by Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp leaves base to take up its war station in the Atlantic Ocean. Twenty other U-boats also leave this week.
22 August, O BERSALZBERG
Hitler addresses his military chiefs on the imminent invasion of Poland. He tells the generals that with the non-aggression pact with Russia, he now has Poland ‘in the position in which I want her’. He is scornful of Chamberlain and Daladier: ‘our enemies are small fry. I saw
20 August, O UTER M ONGOLIA
In an undeclared war, Soviet forces under General Georgi Zhukov engage the Japanese in the biggest battle fought since the First World War. Over 150,000 troops are involved, and the Russians employ 690 tanks and 300 aircraft. The Japanese suffer their greatestmilitary reverse to date, with over 18,000 casualties and the loss of 300 ’planes.
21 August, W ILHELMSHAVEN
Pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee departs to take up its war station off the coast of Brazil.
21 August, H OLLYWOOD
Charlie Chaplin, born just four days before Hitler in April 1889, delays the production of his new film, tentatively called The Dictators . Chaplin ‘hesitates to go before the cameras while the European situation remains so uncertain’. It is rumoured that the US State Department is also bringing pressure on the British-born Chaplin ‘to avoid incensing Hitler and Mussolini in the present delicate state of international relationships’.
21 August, O BERSALZBERG
At 10.50pm, Stalin’s reply arrives while Hitler, Eva Braun and their guests are having dinner. The Soviet dictator agrees to von Ribbentrop’s coming to Moscow on 23 August. Hitler is overjoyed. He bangs the table so hard that the glasses and cutlery rattle, and exclaims, ‘I have them! I have them!’
21 August, B ERLIN
Just before midnight, German home service radio announces the news of the pact with Russia. Propaganda minister Dr Goebbels writes confidently in his diary, ‘We’re on top again. Now we can sleep more easily.’ From Berlin, The Times correspondent notes that among ordinary Germans the initial reaction is: ‘This means that nobody will dare fight against us, and we can do just as we please.’ But many old Nazi Party members are dismayed at a pact with the Bolsheviks. The garden of the Brown House, the Nazi Party headquarters in Munich, is reportedly littered with the Party’s swastika badges thrownthere by disillusioned Nazis. Official and public opinion in Japan, Spain, Italy and Hungary is also aghast at Hitler’s volte face.
21 August, T EDDINGTON
‘Tension increasing – nurses called up, soldiers being inoculated – heavy troops being called up – Poland advises foreigners to leave.’ (Helena Mott)
22 August, L ONDON
The Cabinet meets to discuss the crisis. Lord Halifax rather airily dismisses the German–Soviet non-aggression pact as ‘perhaps of not very great importance’. During the nine o’clock news this evening it is announced that Parliament is being recalled. This is the first time that this has been done over the radio. Chamberlain, mindful of the accusations levelled at Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey in August 1914, writes to Hitler:
Whatever may prove to be the nature of the German-Soviet Agreement, it cannot alter Great Britain’s obligation to Poland which His Majesty’s Government have stated in public repeatedly and plainly and which they are determined to fulfil.
It has been alleged that, if his Majesty’s Government had made their position more clear in 1914, the great catastrophe would have been avoided. Whether or not there is any force in that allegation, His Majesty’s Government are resolved that on this occasion there shall be no such tragic misunderstanding.
The Prime Minister’s message is dispatched to the Berlin embassy for Sir Nevile Henderson to personally deliver to Hitler.
22 August, W ILHELMSHAVEN
The German submarine U-30 commanded by Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp leaves base to take up its war station in the Atlantic Ocean. Twenty other U-boats also leave this week.
22 August, O BERSALZBERG
Hitler addresses his military chiefs on the imminent invasion of Poland. He tells the generals that with the non-aggression pact with Russia, he now has Poland ‘in the position in which I want her’. He is scornful of Chamberlain and Daladier: ‘our enemies are small fry. I saw
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