6
Dec. 45
On the
31st of March, the Prime Minister, Mr.
Chamberlain, spoke in the House of Commons, and
he explained that as a result of the
conversations that had been taking place between
the British and Polish Governments — I
quote from the last but one paragraph of his
statement:
"As
the House is aware, certain
consultations are now proceeding with
other governments. In order to make
perfectly clear the position of His
Majesty's Government in the meantime,
before those consultations are
concluded, I now have to inform the
House that during that period, in the
event of any action which clearly
threatened Polish independence and which
the Polish Government accordingly
considered it vital to resist with their
national forces, His Majesty's
Government would feel themselves bound
at once to lend the Polish Government
all support in their power. They have
given the Polish Government an assurance
to this effect.
"I may
add that the French Government have
authorized me to make it plain that they
stand in the same position in this
matter as do His Majesty's Government."
On
the 6th of April, a week later, a formal
communiqué was issued by the Anglo-Polish
Governments which repeated the assurance the
Prime Minister had given a week before and in
which Poland assured Great Britain of her
support should she, Great Britain, be attacked.
I need not read it all. In fact, I need not read
any of it. I put it in. It is TC-72, Number 18.
1 put it in as GB-40.
The anxiety and
concern that the governments of Poland and Great
Britain were feeling at that time appear to have
been well justified. During the same week, on
the 3rd of April, the Tribunal will see in the
next document an order signed by Keitel. It
emanates from the High Command of the Armed
Forces. It is dated Berlin, 3rd of April 1939.
Its subject is: "Directive for the Armed
Forces 1939-40":
"'Directive
for the Uniform Preparation of War by
the Armed Forces for 1939-40' is being
reissued.
"Part I
(Frontier Defense) and Part III (Danzig)
will be issued in the middle of April.
Their basic principles remain unchanged.
"Part II, Case White"
— which is the code name for the
operation against Poland — "Part
II, Case White, is attached herewith.
The signature of the Führer will be
appended later.
"The Führer
has added the following directives to
Case White: