4 Dec. 45
for
which they had prepared so long and so
thoroughly They waged it so fiercely that within
a few weeks Poland was overrun.
On the
23rd of November 1939 Hitler reviewed the
situation to his military commanders and in the
course of what he said he made this observation:
"One
year later Austria came; this step was
also considered doubtful. It brought
about an essential reinforcement of the
Reich. The next step was Bohemia,
Moravia, and Poland. This step also was
not possible to accomplish in one move.
First of all the Western Fortifications
had to be finished . . . . Then followed
the creation of the Protectorate, and
with that the basis for action against
Poland was laid. But I was not quite
clear at the time whether I should start
first against the East and then in the
West, or vice versa . . . . The
compulsion to fight with Poland came
first. One might accuse me of wanting to
fight again and again. In struggle, I
see the fate of all beings."
He was not sure where to attack first. But that
sooner or later he would attack, whether it were
in the East or in the West, was never in doubt.
And he had been warned, not only by the British
and French Prime Ministers but even by his
confederate Mussolini, that an attack on Poland
would bring England and France into the war. He
chose what he thought was the opportune moment,
and he struck.
Under these
circumstances the intent to wage war against
England and France, and to precipitate it by an
attack on Poland, is not to be denied. Here was
defiance of the most solemn treaty obligations.
Here was neglect of the most pacific assurances.
Here was aggression, naked and unashamed, which
was indeed to arouse the horrified and heroic
resistance of all civilized peoples, but which,
before it was finished, was to tear down much of
the structure of our civilization.
Once
started upon the active achievement of their
plan to secure the domination of Europe, if not
of the world, the Nazi Government proceeded to
attack other countries, as occasion offered. The
first actually to be attacked, actually to be
invaded, after the attack upon Poland, were
Denmark and Norway.
On the 9th of
April 1940 the German Armed Forces invaded
Norway and Denmark without any warning, without
any declaration of war. It was a breach of the
Hague Convention of 1907. It was a breach of the
Convention of Arbitration and Conciliation
signed between Germany and Denmark on 2 June
1926. It was, of course, a breach of the
Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. It was a violation
of the Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and