Chapter 5 War or intimidation?

In the autumn of 1939, is there really going to be war this time?Did Hitler really want to start a war?Or is it still the same as in Czechoslovakia in 1938, and only wants to use very limited pressure (military and non-military) to solve the problem of Danzig and the Polish corridor? Is it war or intimidation?Anyone who is not really acquainted with political developments, especially Hitler's own intentions, feels at a loss on this question at this time. In all respects, despite the White Operations Plan, it is still easy to understand that all military measures taken during August 1939 were intended only to increase political pressure on Poland.Since the summer, under Hitler's order, the so-called East Wall (Ostwall, that is, the line of defense equivalent to the Siegfried Line in the east) has been built at a frantic speed.Many divisions (including the 18th Division) took turns to work on the Polish border, changing shifts every few weeks.If Hitler wanted to attack Poland, what was the purpose of these efforts?Even if he were completely duplicity and intended to start a two-fronted war, the construction of the Eastern Wall would still be inexplicable, because in that environment the only appropriate course of action for Germany should be that Poland should first be brought down, and that in the West Temporarily take the defensive position.The opposite solution, that is, to temporarily hold the defensive in the east and launch an offensive in the west first, should not be considered, because the proportion of troops is not sufficient, and nothing is done for the offensive in the west. plans or preparations.Therefore, if there is any reason for the construction of the Eastern Wall in the present situation, it may be that a large number of troops are deliberately concentrated on the Polish border to increase political pressure.Even in late August, certain infantry divisions had been deployed on the east bank of the Oder, and armored and motorized divisions had moved into concentration areas on the west bank of the river, but it still could not be considered a real preparation for an attack.Maybe it's just a political pressure.

Even so, all the usual training programs continued as usual.On August 13th and 14th, I completed my last divisional exercise at Newhammer.This ended with a military parade, with Admiral Rundstedt as Grand Reviewer.On August 15, the Artillery, in cooperation with the Air Force, held a large-scale firing exercise.This time an unexpected tragedy happened.A whole squadron of dive bombers, because they got wrong information about the height of the clouds, failed to pull up in time during the dive, and all crashed into a forest.There was another regiment-level exercise the next day, so all units of the division returned to the defense one after another to continue their normal garrison tasks. It was only a few days before they drove to the border of Silesia.

On August 19th, Rundstedt and I were ordered to go to Obersalzberg to attend a conference on the 21st.On August 20th we drove from Liegnitz, spent the night at my brother-in-law's villa near Linz, and arrived in Berchtesgaden the next morning.All the commanders-in-chief of the army groups, the commanders of the army groups and their chiefs of staff were reporting to Hitler, as well as the generals of the navy and air force of a considerable rank. The meeting was held in the large drawing room of his villa, from where he could see Salzburg in the distance.In fact, it was not so much a meeting as a lecture, since Hitler, based on this experience, never held a public discussion since the meeting before the Czech crisis in which he had an argument with the chiefs of staff up.Shortly before Hitler arrived, Goering appeared first.His appearance is very special.Up to this point I had thought that we were here for a serious purpose, but Göring's presence seemed to be giving a masquerade ball.He wore a white shirt with a soft collar, over which he had a green jacket with large yellow leather buttons.Underneath he was wearing gray shorts and long gray stockings, which served as a foil to his big belly.The elegant silk stockings were offset by a pair of big boots.Strangest of all, he wore a red leather and gold knife belt, and hung a jeweled dagger.

I couldn't help whispering to my neighbor, Gen‧V‧Salmuth: I believe this fat man is the most armed man here! Hitler's speech this time was often cited in subsequent Nuremberg prosecution documents.Some people say that Hitler once said a lot of foul language, and Goering was very happy that the war was coming, and once jumped on the table and shouted long live victory!None of these words are true.True, Hitler's tone of voice suggested that he had made up his mind, but he was a very good psychologist, and his words were always noble in such meetings. Greiner's 1939 | 1944 Supreme Commander of the German Army has a correct record of the content of this speech.It is based on the war log of Col. Warlimont and the shorthand of Adm. Canaris.In addition, the diary of Col｜gen‧Halder also collected a lot of information about this speech.In addition, in addition to these records, I think there are some things that should also be described, which I heard Hitler say personally on other occasions.

For our group of generals who do not belong to the highest rank, the impression we get is roughly as follows. Hitler was absolutely determined this time, and wanted to achieve a total solution to the Depok problem, even at the cost of war.However, if the Poles had succumbed to German pressure, a peaceful solution was not hopeless, and Hitler was even more convinced that the West might not resort to force.He once spared no effort to explain this theory.His main reasons are as follows: (1) Britain and France are still far behind in terms of armaments, especially in terms of air force and air defense. (2) The only way for Western countries to provide any effective assistance to Poland is to attack the Siegfried Line.But Western countries do not have the power to do so, nor are they willing to take the risk, because it would require the sacrifice of a great deal of blood. (3) The international situation, especially the tense situation in the Mediterranean, is enough to restrict the freedom of action of Britain. (iv) the domestic situation in France, and (v) the personalities of the responsible statesmen.Hitler believed that neither Chamberlain nor Daladier dared to make the decision to declare war.

Although Hitler's judgments about the situation in Western countries seemed reasonable in many respects, I do not believe that his audience was completely convinced by them.The British guarantee was indeed the only real obstacle to his design, but it was also very important! In my opinion, everything Hitler said about what would be done in the event of war with Poland cannot be explained as a policy of annihilation, as is the view contained in the Nuremberg indictment.When Hitler demanded the swift and merciless destruction of the Polish Army, it was a purely military consideration, which should be the goal of any major offensive.In any case, he did not tell us at that time how the Poles should be treated in the future.

Nothing surprised everyone more than anything, and at the same time made the most impressive impression, than the announcement of the imminent signing of a treaty with Russia.While we were traveling, we had already read in the newspapers the news of an economic agreement with Russia, which was enough to attract everyone's attention.Now at the meeting, Foreign Minister V. Ribbentrop bid farewell to Hitler in front of us, saying that he would immediately fly to Moscow to sign a non-aggression pact with Stalin.Hitler declared that by using this method, he also took away the trump card in the hands of the Western countries, and in the future even the blockade against Germany will no longer be effective.Hitler also hinted that in order to facilitate the conclusion of this agreement, he had also made considerable concessions to Russia on the Baltic Sea and on the question of the eastern border of Poland, but there is no reason for his statement, which can explain For the complete partition of Poland.In fact, we now know that Hitler considered keeping Poland as a buffer state even after the campaign had begun.

From hearing Hitler's speeches, both Rundstedt and I (and perhaps, presumably, the other generals as well) have come to the conclusion that war is not absolutely inevitable.Two factors in particular lead us to believe that a peaceful solution can still be achieved in the last five minutes, as in Munich. First, this German-Russian treaty now makes Poland's position, from the very beginning, almost hopeless.Suppose the British have actually lost the weapons of the blockade.Then, in order to aid Poland, bloody attacks on the western front must be adopted, so under the oppression of France, this seems to be enough for the British to persuade the Warsaw authorities to make concessions.Likewise, Poland would be able to see in the future that British guarantees were practically worthless.Because if a war breaks out, the Russians will definitely attack its rear in order to realize its desire to recover the old territories.So under such circumstances, can the Warsaw authorities not yield?

Another consideration is the meeting that we just attended.What is this for?Hitherto, the intention to attack Poland had been, as far as military matters were concerned, disguised as much as possible.The presence of troops in the east was explained by the construction of eastern fortifications; in order to conceal the movement of troops into East Prussia, a huge Tannenberg commemorative meeting was specially arranged.Germany was not formally mobilized either.Although these measures may not escape the attention of the Poles, and they are obviously intended as political pressure, they still try to keep them secret and use various deception methods at the same time.But now when the crisis was reaching its climax, Hitler suddenly summoned all senior generals to Obersalzburg for a meeting. This was an operation that was difficult to keep secret.From our point of view, this seems to be the culmination of a policy of deliberate intimidation.In other words, Hitler may have been more thunderous than rainy, and regarded this meeting as a final pressure.

Admiral Rundstedt and I were thinking just that when we left Berchtesgaden.He went all the way to our headquarters in Lech (Neisse), and I spent another day with my family in Liegnitz.This can be proved that in my heart, I do not believe that war will break out. On August 24, Admiral Lundest formally took over command of the Army Group.On August 25th, at 3:25 p.m., we received a telegram from Army Headquarters: Execution of Operation White: D-Day 26, 8:0430 H.M. It was the decision to war, the decision we didn't want to believe was possible, and it finally became a fact. Our headquarters are at the Holy Cross Monastery in Lech.While I was having dinner with Admiral Rundest, Army Headquarters telephoned the following order:

Do not start hostilities.Stop all troop movements.Still continue to mobilize.The deployment of the White Plan and the Western Plan is still progressing at the scheduled speed. All soldiers can understand the difficulties that such a back-and-forth action can cause in the last five minutes.Within a few hours, all three armies had advanced straight to the border, from Lower Silesia to the eastern part of Slovakia, and now they were ordered to stop. Headquarters, at least up to the division level, was also on the move, and radio communications were restricted by secrecy.In spite of all the difficulties, in due course we communicated the order to all concerned.This is a first-class achievement for a staff officer in charge of operations and communications.Nevertheless, a motorized regiment in eastern Slovakia stopped them only when an officer in a Fieseler Storch landed in the dark at the head of the column. Why Hitler stopped suddenly at this time, he never told us the reason.All we have heard is that negotiations are continuing. It is worth noting that we soldiers feel shaken by such leadership.Because the decision to start a war is the most serious event for a head of state, how can it be so capricious. It seemed absolutely impossible for anyone, having made such a decision, to rescind the intention within a few hours, especially in a military sense, which would place him at an extreme disadvantage.When I described the Upper Salzburg Conference, I pointed out that all military actions were aimed at surprising the enemy.No mobilization was publicly announced and the date for the first draft was set for August 26th, the date of the scheduled invasion.This means that when we enter Poland, the force we can use is limited to the total armored and motorized forces we have, plus a limited number of infantry divisions, which are already in the border area, or can be immediately Combat.But now the opportunity to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to capture the enemy no longer exists.Because even if the troops move to the concentration area behind the border in the dark, they still cannot avoid the enemy's attention, especially the motorized troops in the assembly area west of the Oder River must be in daylight in order to cross the river. lined up in formation.Therefore, if it is really preparing for battle, another new measure must be taken now, ordering all mobilized troops to invade the enemy's territory.In any case, the element of surprise is lost. As for the original decision to start the war, we cannot think that Hitler was frivolous by nature and did not think about things, so we can only think that everything is just a continuation of diplomatic tactics, and its purpose is only to increase pressure on the Poles.Therefore, when we received a new order at 17:00 on August 31st: D-Day 1,9:0445 H:H, Admiral Lundster and I were still deeply skeptical, In particular, there is no news that the negotiations have failed.In our own army group, however, this time because of the experience of August 25, we have prepared all precautions in case we run into another precipice.The General and I waited until midnight, hoping that we would come back again. It was only when midnight had passed that the last possibility of stopping the fighting was completely eliminated.From then on, there are no longer any doubts, and only force can be used to solve it!