6
Dec. 45
"The
date of attack: lst of September 1939;
time of attack: 4:45" —
inserted in red pencil — "this
time also applies to the operation at
Gdynia, Bay of Danzig and the Dirschau
Bridge.
"(3) In the West
it is important that the responsibility
for the opening of hostilities should
rest unequivocally with England and
France. At first, purely local action
should be taken against insignificant
frontier violations."
There
it sets out the details of the order which, for
the purpose of this Court, it is unnecessary to
read. That evening at 9 o'clock the German radio
broadcast the terms of the German proposals
about which they were so willing to enter into
discussions with the Polish Government. It sets
out the proposals at length. It will be
remembered that by this time neither Sir Nevile
Henderson nor the Polish Government nor their
Ambassador had yet been given their written copy
of them, and it is indeed a document which is
tempting to read — or to read extracts of
it simply as an exhibition or an example of pure
hypocrisy. I refer to the second paragraph
Document TC-72, Number 98, exhibit GB-39:
"Further,
the German Government pointed out that
they felt able to make the basic points
regarding the offer of an understanding
available to the British Government by
the time the Polish negotiator arrived
in Berlin."
Now,
we have heard the manner in which they did that.
They then say that:
"Instead
of a statement regarding the arrival of
authorized Polish personage, the first
answer the Government of the Reich
received of their readiness for an
understanding was the news of the Polish
mobilization; and only toward 12 o'clock
on the night of the 30th of August
1939, did they receive a somewhat
general assurance of' British readiness
to help towards the commencement of
negotiations.
"Although
the fact that the Polish negotiator
expected by the Government of the Reich
did not arrive removed the necessary
conditions for informing His Majesty's
Government of the views of the German
Government as regards a possible basis
for negotiation, since His Majesty's
Government themselves had pleaded for
direct negotiations between Germany and
Poland, the German Minister for Foreign
Affairs Ribbentrop gave the British
Ambassador, on the occasion of the
presentation of the last British note,
precise information as to the text of
the German proposals which will be
regarded as a basis of negotiation in
the event of the arrival of the Polish
Plenipotentiary."
And,
thereafter, they go on to set out the story, or
rather their version of the story, of the
negotiations over the last few days.