The Day We Went to War (6 page)

29 April, L
ONDON

Picture Post
features a series of photographs of Prague under German rule. And in an article on economic appeasement, it argues strongly that ‘it is wicked to dream of trade agreements with Germany’.

May

3 May, M
OSCOW

Maxim Litvinov is replaced as Soviet foreign minister by Stalin’s right-hand man Vyacheslav Molotov. Litvinov, a Jew, has always been regarded as pro-Western and has followed a policy aimed at ‘collective security’ with his slogan, ‘Peace is Indivisible.’ His abrupt dismissal is seen by many as indication that Soviet foreign policy may now take a new direction. Oliver Harvey, Lord Halifax’s private secretary, wonders, ‘Does it mean Russia will turn from the West towards isolation? And if so, won’t she inevitably wobble into Germany’s arms?’

4 May, T
EDDINGTON

‘Litvinov, foreign minister of USSR after ten years, is superseded by Mr Molotov. This may make all the difference to the negotiations with Russia.’ (Helena Mott)

Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin, flanked by Vyacheslav Molotov
(left)
and Maxim Litvinov, walking in the Kremlin. Molotov replaced Litvinov as Soviet foreign minister, 3 May 1939. ‘The last great friend of collective security is gone.’

5 May, W
ARSAW

Colonel Beck makes a firm but essentially non-provocative speech in Parliament. He rejects the Nazis’ suggestion that the Anglo-Polish agreement presents any threat to Germany. Beck sees no reason why it should have led to Hitler cancelling the 1934 non-aggression pact.

5 May, L
ONDON

Picture Post
publishes its first article in a series entitled ‘Britain Prepares’. It features the Territorial Army and shows how ‘Britain rebuilds her defences’. The same issue has examples of Nazi propaganda against Britain in the German press since Munich. Even ‘The Lambeth Walk’ has been attacked: ‘A degenerate dance? – no, a degenerate people!’

5 May, L
ONDON

Chamberlain, ‘looking like a turkey who has missed his Christmas’, makes a statement on Anglo-Soviet relations. Former foreign secretary Anthony Eden, who resigned in February 1938 over Chamberlain’s policy towards the dictators, is disturbed about the progress of Britain’s negotiations with Russia. He believes that they lack boldness and imagination. Britain should be trying for a definite triple alliance with France and the Soviets. Eden met Stalin and other Soviet leaders on a trip to Russia back in 1935. He offers to go to Moscow as negotiator. His offer is not taken up.

7 May, V
ERDUN

From the First World War battlefield of Verdun, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, broadcasts an appeal for peace. The BBC refuses to relay the Duke’s speech, but it is heard by millions of Americans over the NBC network. The Duke tells his listeners, ‘I speak simply as a soldier of the last war, whose most earnest prayer is that such a cruel and destructive madness shall never again overtake mankind.’

8 May, T
EDDINGTON

‘The Duke of Windsor, speaking at Verdun to America, gave an exceedingly wise, sensible and necessary speech against war and in favour of exercising the same spirit of give and take in international affairs as one carries on in a regulated daily intercourse with individuals. He spoke well, with assurance and feeling. We should be proud he could undertake to do this for humanity’s sake.’ (Helena Mott)

19 May, L
ONDON

The House of Commons debates Anglo-Soviet relations and the desirability of an alliance with the Russians. First World War Prime Minister David Lloyd George argues forcibly for such an alliance. If one is concluded, he tells MPs, then ‘the chances against war would go up’. Churchill agrees, and addressing the Prime Minister tells Chamberlain, ‘The question is how to make the system effective and effective in time.’

19 May, P
ARIS

At the conclusion of Franco-Polish staff talks, an agreement is reached. French commander-in-chief General Maurice Gamelin promises that, if the Germans invade Poland, ‘France will launch an offensive against Germany with the main bodies of her forces, beginning on the fifteenth day from the first day of the French general mobilisation.’

22 May, B
ERLIN

Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel, a military and political alliance between the two powers. The amorous Count Ciano signs for Italy. At a banquet to celebrate the ceremony he sits between Frau Goering and Frau Goebbels, ‘both of whom [find] it hard to cope with their table companion’s pronounced sexuality’. Goering is literally in tears as von Ribbentrop, and not himself, is awarded Italy’s highest order of chivalry. Ciano promises to try and obtain one for him.

French foreign minister, Georges Bonnet
(right)
receives his Roumanian opposite number, Grigore Gafencu, at the Quai d’Orsay, Paris, 28 April 1939. Bonnet explained ‘the means by which he still steadfastly hoped to save the peace’.

Italian and German foreign ministers Count Ciano and von Ribbentrop sign the Pact of Steel, Berlin, 22 May 1939. ‘As long as the Germans have need of us they will be courteous, and even servile, but at the first opportunity they will reveal themselves as the great rascals they really are,’ was the prophetic comment of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy.

23 May, B
ERLIN

As Ciano leaves Berlin, Hitler meets with Goering and his military chiefs. He tells them, ‘It is not Danzig that is at stake. For us it is a matter of expanding our living space in the East, and making food supplies secure.’ To do this, the Fuehrer tells the others, Germany must, ‘attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity. We cannot expect a repetition of Czechia. There will be war.’

24 May, W
INNIPEG

King George VI delivers an Empire Day speech on the first visit by a King and Queen of England to North America: ‘It is not in power or wealth alone, nor in dominion over other people, that the true greatness of an Empire consists. Those things are but the instrument; they are not the end, nor the ideal. The end is freedom, justice, and peace in equal measure for all, secure against attack from without and from within.’

26 May, L
ONDON

The Military Training Bill receives Royal Assent. Registration will now take place on 3 June, and the first conscripts, who will be known as ‘Militiamen’, are going to be called up on 1 July.

27 May, L
ONDON

Picture Post
runs a feature entitled ‘Danzig: The Danger Spot: Maybe The Cause of A World War’. The same issue has an article on Britain’s volunteer firemen of the Auxiliary Fire Service in the magazine’s ‘Britain Prepares’ series.

27 May, M
OSCOW

New Anglo-French proposals for a three-power agreement on countering German aggression are sent to Moscow for consideration. The Foreign Office believes that they meet all previous Soviet requirements. But the Russians want guarantees to the Baltic states
to be included, and also a military agreement to come into force before a political one.

31 May, M
OSCOW

Molotov delivers a speech on Soviet foreign policy. It is not well received in London. Oliver Harvey writes in his diary, ‘Molotov has said in his speech that our proposals are so confused that he cannot make out whether we really want an agreement or not; and that in any case he is about to negotiate a Soviet-German commercial agreement.’

Meanwhile, Chamberlain is away fishing in Wales and Lord Halifax is on his estate in Yorkshire.

June

3 June, L
ONDON

Peace campaigner Margery Corbett Ashby, writing to
Picture Post
, believes, ‘perhaps, until after the harvest, we may be safe from war’.

8 June, W
ASHINGTON
DC

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive during the first-ever British state visit to the USA. The British sovereigns stay with the Roosevelts and are given hot dogs at a picnic lunch. The President shakes his famous Dry Martini cocktails for the King, and the two men discuss the international situation. FDR tells the King of his intention to try and get America’s Neutrality Act revised in order to help Britain and France. He also says that if war comes then US warships will sink German U-boats on sight, ‘and wait for the consequences . . . If London was bombed USA would come in.’ The Royal visit is a great success at every level.

8 June, L
ONDON

Lord Halifax tells peers that the Government hopes that German – Polish differences can still be settled by peaceful discussion. But he
warns them, ‘If an attempt were made to change the situation by force, in such a way [as] to threaten Polish independence, that would inevitably start a conflagration in which this country would be involved.’

9 June, T
EDDINGTON

‘Japs are threatening English and French settlements. Filthy little tricksters – thinking to carry out the same threats and scoundrelly behaviour as Hitler. But the world is getting tired of these methods.’ (Helena Mott)

12 June, L
ONDON

William Strang of the Foreign Office’s Central Department leaves for Moscow. He is to try and expedite the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations that are in danger of stalling badly. The Russians are less than flattered that such a comparatively junior official is being sent to them. Unwelcome comparisons with Chamberlain’s own three trips to Germany, on which Strang actually accompanied the Prime Minister, are being made in Moscow.

14 June, T
IENTSIN

Tension rises between Britain and Japan following the alleged murder of a Japanese official by two Chinese citizens. The Japanese claim the Chinese have taken refuge in the International Concession, and launch a systematic campaign of harassment and humiliation of British residents of the Concession.

14 June, L
ONDON

National Gallery Director Sir Kenneth Clark and his wife Jane give a dinner party. American political pundit Walter Lippman tells the other guests that US ambassador Joseph Kennedy has told him that war is inevitable, and that Britain will be defeated. Guest of honour Winston Churchill is indignant and refutes the ambassador’s claims.
Although at the outset of the ‘almost inevitable war’, Britain may very well suffer severe setbacks, Churchill tells the company: ‘Yet these trials and disasters . . . will but serve to steel the resolution of the British people, and to enhance our will for victory . . . Yet supposing Mr Kennedy were correct in his tragic utterance, then I for one would willingly lay down my life in combat, rather than, in fear of defeat, surrender to the menaces of these most sinister men.’

14 June, T
EDDINGTON

‘The Japs blockaded Tiensin – British and French concession. Jap sentries are manning all the barbed wire fences and searching everyone. . .
Englishmen
received the same treatment as
coolies
! I have no words to denounce the policy that has placed our men abroad in such ambiguous positions. It is a disgusting and crying shame for Baldwin, MacDonald and Chamberlain, besides a lasting let down of our pride.’ (Helena Mott)