Goering and has arranged for Germany’s second man to meet some British businessmen on 7 August to discuss how peace can be maintained.
22 July, L ONDON
In this week’s edition of Picture Post there appears a bi-lingual article ‘We Want Peace – Britain Does Not Hate Germany’. The magazine urges its readers to cut it out and send it to friends in Germany.
29 July, L ONDON
Picture Post features an article entitled ‘And Still – War Clouds Over Danzig’. The magazine warns its readers: ‘As we move towards the 25th anniversary of the Great War, events are shaping themselves with a terrible similarity.’ In the same issue, the magazine’s proprietor Edward Hulton contributes an article with the headline ‘Mr Churchill Must Join the Cabinet’.
31 July, D ANZIG
The Nazi-controlled Senate demands the withdrawal of all Polishcustoms officials from the Free City. Poland responds with economic reprisals and a refusal to withdraw the officials.
31 July, L ONDON
Chamberlain announces that an Anglo-French military mission will be going to Moscow for staff talks with the Soviets. Molotov has told William Strang, ‘If war comes with Germany, I wish to know exactly how many divisions each party will put into the field, and where they will be located.’
August
1 August, L ONDON
A Government announcement is made stating that in the event of war, petrol rationing will begin immediately.
2 August, N EW Y ORK
German Jewish physicist émigré Albert Einstein writes a letter to President Roosevelt, alerting FDR to the military potential of the splitting of the atom. A single atomic bomb, Einstein tells the President, if dropped on a port, ‘might destroy the whole port together with some surrounding territory’.
2 August, M OSCOW
British ambassador Sir William Seeds gives Molotov the names of the British military mission that is coming to Moscow. The Russians again feel insulted. None of the officers, headed by Admiral Sir Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle Drax, compares in seniority or importance to General Ironside, who was sent to Warsaw in July. In reproach, Molotov asks Sir William and Strang, ‘Do you not trust the Soviet Union? Do you not think we are interested in security too? It is a grave mistake. In time, you will realize how great a mistake it is to mistrust the government of the USSR.’
2 August, B ERLIN
Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop meets informally with the Soviet chargé d’affaires. He tells the Russian, ‘From the Baltic to the Black Sea, there was no problem which could not be solved to our mutual advantage.’
2 August, L ONDON
Despite the growing crisis over Danzig, Chamberlain proposes that the Commons adjourn until 3 October. Churchill is both aghast and furious at the Prime Minister’s complacency over the international situation. He tells the House, ‘At this moment in its long history it would be disastrous, it would be pathetic, it would be shameful for the House of Commons to write itself off as an effective and potent factor . . .’
Churchill’s view is echoed in a brave and passionate intervention by thirty-two-year-old Tory backbencher Ronald Cartland, who reminds MPs, ‘We are in the situation that within a month we may be going to fight – and we may be going to die.’
Despite these warnings, Chamberlain’s adjournment wins by 245 votes to 129.
4 August, D ANZIG
Poland informs the Nazi-dominated Danzig Senate that in two days’ time it will be arming its customs officials in the Free City. Any interference with their duties, the Poles warn the Senate, will be regarded as a violent act and will be treated accordingly. The Senate protests strongly at the arming of the men.
5 August, T ILBURY
The Anglo-French military mission leaves for Leningrad (St Petersburg), on SS City of Exeter . The ship has a maximum speed of only eleven knots, and the journey will take over four days. Again, the Russians are not impressed. They have serious doubtsabout the
22 July, L ONDON
In this week’s edition of Picture Post there appears a bi-lingual article ‘We Want Peace – Britain Does Not Hate Germany’. The magazine urges its readers to cut it out and send it to friends in Germany.
29 July, L ONDON
Picture Post features an article entitled ‘And Still – War Clouds Over Danzig’. The magazine warns its readers: ‘As we move towards the 25th anniversary of the Great War, events are shaping themselves with a terrible similarity.’ In the same issue, the magazine’s proprietor Edward Hulton contributes an article with the headline ‘Mr Churchill Must Join the Cabinet’.
31 July, D ANZIG
The Nazi-controlled Senate demands the withdrawal of all Polishcustoms officials from the Free City. Poland responds with economic reprisals and a refusal to withdraw the officials.
31 July, L ONDON
Chamberlain announces that an Anglo-French military mission will be going to Moscow for staff talks with the Soviets. Molotov has told William Strang, ‘If war comes with Germany, I wish to know exactly how many divisions each party will put into the field, and where they will be located.’
August
1 August, L ONDON
A Government announcement is made stating that in the event of war, petrol rationing will begin immediately.
2 August, N EW Y ORK
German Jewish physicist émigré Albert Einstein writes a letter to President Roosevelt, alerting FDR to the military potential of the splitting of the atom. A single atomic bomb, Einstein tells the President, if dropped on a port, ‘might destroy the whole port together with some surrounding territory’.
2 August, M OSCOW
British ambassador Sir William Seeds gives Molotov the names of the British military mission that is coming to Moscow. The Russians again feel insulted. None of the officers, headed by Admiral Sir Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle Drax, compares in seniority or importance to General Ironside, who was sent to Warsaw in July. In reproach, Molotov asks Sir William and Strang, ‘Do you not trust the Soviet Union? Do you not think we are interested in security too? It is a grave mistake. In time, you will realize how great a mistake it is to mistrust the government of the USSR.’
2 August, B ERLIN
Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop meets informally with the Soviet chargé d’affaires. He tells the Russian, ‘From the Baltic to the Black Sea, there was no problem which could not be solved to our mutual advantage.’
2 August, L ONDON
Despite the growing crisis over Danzig, Chamberlain proposes that the Commons adjourn until 3 October. Churchill is both aghast and furious at the Prime Minister’s complacency over the international situation. He tells the House, ‘At this moment in its long history it would be disastrous, it would be pathetic, it would be shameful for the House of Commons to write itself off as an effective and potent factor . . .’
Churchill’s view is echoed in a brave and passionate intervention by thirty-two-year-old Tory backbencher Ronald Cartland, who reminds MPs, ‘We are in the situation that within a month we may be going to fight – and we may be going to die.’
Despite these warnings, Chamberlain’s adjournment wins by 245 votes to 129.
4 August, D ANZIG
Poland informs the Nazi-dominated Danzig Senate that in two days’ time it will be arming its customs officials in the Free City. Any interference with their duties, the Poles warn the Senate, will be regarded as a violent act and will be treated accordingly. The Senate protests strongly at the arming of the men.
5 August, T ILBURY
The Anglo-French military mission leaves for Leningrad (St Petersburg), on SS City of Exeter . The ship has a maximum speed of only eleven knots, and the journey will take over four days. Again, the Russians are not impressed. They have serious doubtsabout the
Similar Books
