The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

by William Shirer

  79. Ibid., pp. 1015–16.

  80. Ibid., pp. 1022–23.

  81. Ibid., pp. 1010–11.

  82. Ibid., p. 1021.

  83. DBrFP, IV, No. 183.

  84. See DBrFP, VI, Nos. 329, 338, 346, 357, 358, 376, 399.

  85. Ibid.,

  86. Two dispatches of Aug. 1, DGFP, VI, pp. 1033–34.

  87. DBrFP, Appendix V, p. 763.

  88. Burnett’s letter in DBrFP, VII, Appendix II, p. 600; Seeds’s telegram, ibid., VI, No. 416.

  89. DGFP, VI, p. 1047.

  90. Ibid.,

  91. Ibid.,

  92. Ibid.,

  93. Ibid.,

  94. French Yellow Book, Fr. ed., pp. 250–51.

  95. Text of two letters, DGFP, VI, pp. 973–74.

  96. Attolico’s dispatch on his July 6 meeting with Ribbentrop is printed in I Documenti diplomatica italiani [hereafter cited as DDI], Seventh Series, XII, No. 503. I have used the quotation and paraphrasing from The Eve of the War, ed. by Arnold and Veronica M. Toynbee.

  97. Memo of Weizsaecker, DGFP, VI, pp. 971–72.

  98. The Ciano Diaries, pp. 113–14.

  99. lbid., pp. 116–18.

  100. The Ciano Diaries, pp. 118–19, 582–83. Ciano’s minutes of the meeting with Ribbentrop are in Ciano’s Diplomatic Papers, pp. 297–98; also in DDI, Eighth Series, XIII, No. 1. No German record of this meeting has been found.

  101. The captured German minutes of the meetings on Aug. 12 and 13 were presented at Nuremberg as documents 1871–PS and TC–77. The latter is the more complete and is published in English translation in NCA, VIII, pp. 516–29. I have used the version signed by Dr. Schmidt, in DGFP, VII, pp. 39–49, 53–56. Ciano’s record of his two talks with Hitler are in Ciano’s Diplomatic Papers, pp. 303–4, and in DDI, XIII, Nos. 4 and 21. Also the entries for Aug. 12 and 13, 1939, and Dec. 23, 1943, in his Diaries, pp. 119–20, 582–83.

  102. This extract from Halder’s diary is published in DGFP, VII, p. 556.

  103. See DDI, Seventh Series, XIII, No. 28, and DBrFP, VI, No. 662.

  CHAPTER 15

  1. Schnurre’s memo of the meeting, taken from his dispatch to the embassy in Moscow, Aug. 14, 1939, DGFP, VII, pp. 58–59.

  2. Text of Schulenburg’s letter, ibid., pp. 67–68.

  3. Text of Ribbentrop’s telegram, ibid., pp. 62–64.

  4. The memo of the British businessmen was found in a file of Goering’s office and is published in DGFP, VI, pp. 1088–93. There are numerous jottings on the document in Goering’s handwriting. “Oho!” he scribbled several times opposite statements that obviously he could not believe. The whole fantastic and somewhat ludicrous story of Dahlerus’ peace mission which brought him briefly to the center of the stage at a momentous moment is told in his own book, The Last Attempt. Also in his testimony at Nuremberg, TMWC, IX, pp. 457–91, and in Sir Lewis Namier’s Diplomatic Prelude, pp. 417–33; the chapter is entitled “An Interloper in Diplomacy.”

  5. Interrogation of Halder, Feb. 26, 1946, NCA, Suppl. B, p. 1562.

  6. Hassell, op. cit., pp. 53, 58–59.

  7. Thomas, “Gedanken und Ereignisse,” Schweizerische Monatshefte, December 1945.

  8. Memo of Canaris on conversation with Keitel, Aug. 17, 1939, NCA, III, p. 580 (N.D. 795–PS).

  9. Naujocks affidavit, NCA, VI, pp. 390–92 (N.D. 2751–PS).

  10. Dispatch of Schulenburg, 2:48 A.M., Aug. 16, DGFP, VII, pp. 7677. The ambassador gave a fuller account in a memo dispatched by courier, and he added details in a letter to Weizsaecker, ibid., pp. 87–90, 99–100.

  11. DBrFP, Third Series, VII, pp. 41–42. For Ambassador Steinhardt’s reports see U.S. Diplomatic Papers, 1939, I, pp. 296–99, 334.

  12. Dispatch of Ribbentrop to Schulenburg, Aug. 16, DGFP, VII, pp. 84–85.

  13. Ibid., p. 100.

  14. Ibid., p. 102.

  15. Dispatch by Schulenburg, 5:58 A.M., Aug. 18, ibid., pp. 114–16.

  16. Dispatch of Ribbentrop, 10:48 P.M., Aug. 18, ibid., pp. 121–23.

  17. Memo of Schnurre, Aug. 19, ibid., pp. 132–33.

  18. Dispatch of Schulenburg, 6:22 P.M., Aug. 19, ibid., p. 134.

  19. Dispatch of Schulenburg, 12:08 A.M., Aug. 20, ibid., pp. 149–50.

  20. Churchill, The Gathering Storm, p. 392. He does not give his source.

  21. Ibid., p. 391.

  22. Hitler’s telegram to Stalin, Aug. 20, DGFP, VII, pp. 156–57.

  23. Dispatch of Schulenburg, 1:19 A.M., Aug. 21, ibid., pp. 161–62.

  24. Dispatch of Ribbentrop, Aug. 21, ibid., p. 162.

  25. Dispatch of Schulenburg, 1:43 P.M., Aug. 21, ibid., p. 164.

  26. Stalin’s letter to Hitler, Aug. 21, ibid., p. 168.

  27. NCA, Suppl. B, pp. 1103–5.

  28. DBrFP, VI, No. 376.

  29. See DBrFP, Third Series, VII, Appendix II, pp. 558–614. The appendix contains a detailed day-to-day record of the military conversations in Moscow and constitutes the most comprehensive source I have seen of the Allied version of the talks. It includes reports to London, during the negotiations, by Air Marshal Burnett and Gen. Heywood, and the final report of the British mission by Adm. Drax. Also, a verbatim account of the dramatic meeting of Gen. Doumenc with Marshal Voroshilov on the evening of Aug. 22, when the chief of the French military mission tried desperately to save the situation despite the public announcement that Ribbentrop was arriving in Moscow the next day. Also, the record of the final, painful meeting of the Allied missions with Voroshilov on Aug. 26. Volume VII also includes many dispatches between the British Foreign Office and the embassy in Moscow which throw fresh light on this episode.

  This section of the chapter is based largely on these confidential British papers. Unfortunately the Russians, so far as I know, have never published their documents on the meeting, though a Soviet account is given in Nikonov’s Origins of World War II, in which much use of the British Foreign Office documents is made. The Soviet version is also given in Histoire de la Diplomatie, ed. by V. Potemkin.

  30. Paul Reynaud, In the Thick of the Fight, p. 212. Reynaud, pp. 210–33, gives the French version of the Allied negotiations in Moscow in August 1939. He gives his sources on p. 211. Bonnet gives his version in his book Fin d’une Europe.

  31. The documents are in DBrFP, VII (see note 29 above). It is interesting that not a line on the Anglo–French diplomatic efforts in Warsaw to get the Poles to accept Russian help nor on the course of the military talks in Moscow was published in either the British Blue Book or the French Yellow Book.

  32. Dispatch of Ribbentrop, 9:05 P.M., Aug. 23, from Moscow, DGFP, VII, p. 220.

  33. Secret German memoranda, Aug. 24, ibid., pp. 225–29.

  34. Text of the Soviet draft, DGFP, VII, pp. 150–51.

  35. Gaus affidavit at Nuremberg, TMWC, X, p. 312.

  36. Text of the German–Soviet nonaggression pact and of secret additional protocol, signed in Moscow Aug. 23, 1939, DGFP, VII, pp. 245–47.

  37. Churchill, The Gathering Storm, p. 394.

  CHAPTER 16

  1. British Blue Book, pp. 96–98.

  2. Henderson’s dispatch, Aug. 23, 1939, ibid., pp. 98–100. German Foreign Office memo of meeting, DGFP, VII, pp. 210–15. Henderson reported on the second meeting on Aug. 24 (British Blue Book, pp. 100–2).

  3. Text of Hitler’s letter of Aug. 23 to Chamberlain, ibid., pp. 102–4. It is also printed in DGFP, VII, pp. 216–19.

  4. Text of Hitler’s letter to Mussolini, Aug. 25, DGFP, VII, pp. 281–83.

  5. Text of verbal declaration of Hitler to Henderson, Aug. 25, drawn up by Ribbentrop and Dr. Schmidt, DGFP, VII, pp. 279–84; also in British Blue Book, pp. 120–22. Henderson’s dispatch of Aug. 25 describing interview, British Blue Book, pp. 122–23. See also Henderson’s Failure of a Mission, p. 270.

  6. Coulondre’s dispatch, Aug. 25, French Yellow Book, Fr. ed., pp. 312–14.

  7. NCA, VI, pp. 977–98. From a file on Russo–German relations found in the files of the N
avy High Command.

  8. Schmidt, op. cit., p. 144.

  9. Ibid., pp. 143–44.

  10. Ciano Diaries, pp. 120–29.

  11. Weizsaecker memorandum, Aug. 20, DGFP, VII, p. 160.

  12. Mackensen letter to Weizsaecker, Aug. 23, ibid., pp. 240–43.

  13. Dispatch of Mackensen, Aug. 25, ibid., pp. 291–93.

  14. See DGFP, VII, note on p. 285.

  15. Mussolini’s letter to Hitler, Aug. 25, ibid., pp. 285–86.

  16. NCA, VI, pp. 977–78 (N.D. 170).

  17. Ribbentrop’s interrogation, Aug. 29, 1945, NCA, VII, pp. 535–36; Goering’s interrogation, Aug. 29, 1945, ibid., pp. 534–35; Keitel’s testimony on the stand at Nuremberg under direct examination, Apr. 4, 1946, TMWC, X, pp. 514–15.

  18. NCA, Suppl. B, pp. 1561–63.

  19. Gisevius, op. cit., pp. 358–59.

  20. Hassell, op. cit., p. 59.

  21. Thomas, “Gedanken und Ereignisse,” loe. cit.

  22. Testimony of Dr. Schacht, May 2, 1946, at Nuremberg, TMWC. XII, pp. 545–46.

  23. Testimony of Gisevius, Apr. 25, 1946, at Nuremberg, ibid., pp. 224–25.

  24. The texts of all these appeals are in the British Blue Book, pp. 122–42.

  25. Hitler to Mussolini, Aug. 25, 7:40 P.M., DGFP, VII, p. 289.

  26. Ciano Diaries, p. 129.

  27. Mussolini to Hitler, Aug. 26, 12:10 P.M., DGFP, VII, pp. 309–10.

  28. Ciano Diaries, p. 129. Mackensen’s report, DGFP, VII, p. 325.

  29. Hitler to Mussolini, Aug. 26, 3:08 P.M., DGFP, VII, pp. 313–14.

  30. Mussolini to Hitler, 6:42 P.M., Aug. 26, ibid., p. 323.

  31. Hitler to Mussolini, 12:10 A.M., Aug. 27, ibid., pp. 346–47.

  32. Mussolini to Hitler, 4:30 P.M., Aug. 27, ibid., pp. 353–54.

  33. Dispatch of Mackensen, Aug. 27, ibid., pp. 351–53.

  34. Daladier to Hitler, Aug. 26, ibid., pp. 330–31. Also in the French Yellow Book, Fr. ed., pp. 321–22.

  35. Halder’s diary, entry of Aug. 28, recapitulating “sequence of events” of previous five days. This portion is in DGFP, VII, pp. 564–66.

  36. Goering’s interrogation, Aug. 29, 1945, at Nuremberg, NCA, VIII, p. 534 (N.D.TC–90).

  37. TMWC, IX,p.498.

  38. The account of the doings of Dahlerus is based on his book, op. cit., and on his testimony at Nuremberg, where he learned how naïve he had been about his German friends. See above, note 4 for Chapter 15. It is substantiated by a great deal of material from the British Foreign Office published in DBrFP, Third Series, Vol. VII.

  39. DBrFP, VII, p. 287.

  40. Testimony of Dahlerus at Nuremberg, TMWC, IX, p. 465.

  41. DBrFP, VII, p. 319n.

  42. TMWC, IX, p. 466.

  43. DBrFP, VII, pp. 321–22.

  44. British Blue Book, p. 125, and DBrFP, VII, p. 318.

  45. Text of British note to Germany, Aug. 28, British Blue Book, pp. 126–28.

  46. Dispatch of Henderson to Halifax, 2:35 A.M., Aug. 29, ibid., pp. 128–31.

  47. Dispatch of Henderson to Halifax, Aug. 29, ibid., p. 131.

  48. Dispatch of Henderson, Aug. 29, DBrFP, VII, p. 360.

  49. Ibid.,

  50. Text of German reply, Aug. 29, British Blue Book, pp. 135–37.

  51. DBrFP, Third Series, VII, p. 393.

  52. Henderson, Failure of a Mission, p. 281.

  53. British Blue Book, p. 139.

  54. Text of Chamberlain’s note to Hitler, Aug. 30, DGFP, VII, p. 441.

  55. British Blue Book, pp. 139–40.

  56. Ibid., p. 140.

  57. lbid., p. 142.

  58. Schmidt, op. cit., pp. 150–55. Also Schmidt’s testimony at Nuremberg, TMWC, X, pp. 196–222.

  59. TMWC, X, p. 275.

  60. Schmidt, op. cit., p. 152.

  61. DGFP, VII, pp. 447–50.

  62. Henderson’s Final Report, Cmd. 6115, p. 17. Also his book, op. cit., p. 287.

  63. DBrFP, VII, No. 575, p. 433.

  64. TMWC, IX, p. 493.

  65. Henderson’s wire to Halifax, 12:30 P.M., Aug. 31, DBrFP, VII, p. 440; letter to Halifax, ibid., pp. 465–67; wire, 12:30 A.M., Sept. 1, ibid., pp. 468–69. Kennard’s wire to Halifax, Aug. 31, ibid., No. 618.

  66. DBrFP, VII, pp. 441–43.

  67. British Blue Book, p. 144.

  68. Ibid., p. 147.

  69. Ibid., p. 147.

  70. Text of Polish written reply to Britain, Aug. 31, ibid., pp. 148–49; Kennard’s dispatch, Aug. 31 (it was not received in London until 7:15p.M.), ibid., p. l48.

  71. For Lipski’s Final Report, see Polish White Book. Extracts are published in NCA, VIII, pp. 499–512.

  72. DGFP, VII, p. 462.

  73. Lipski’s version in his Final Report, loc. cit. Dr. Schmidt’s German account of the interview is in DGFP, VII, p. 463.

  74. The German text of Hitler’s directive is in TMWC, XXXIV, pp. 456–59 (N.D. C–126). English translations are given in NCA, VI, pp. 935–39, and DGFP, VII, pp. 477–79.

  75. Hassell, op. cit., pp. 68–73.

  76. Dahlems’ testimony at Nuremberg, TMWC, IX, pp. 470–71; Forbes’s answer to questionnaire submitted by Goering’s lawyer at Nuremberg is quoted in Namier, Diplomatic Prelude, pp. 376–77. Henderson’s account is in his Final Report, p. 19.

  77. DBrFP, VII, p. 483. Henderson’s later account of the dispatch is given in his Final Report, p. 20, and in his book, op. cit., pp. 291–92.

  78. TMWC, II, p. 451.

  79. Naujocks affidavit, loc. cit.

  80. DGFP, VII, p. 472.

  81. Gisevius, op. cit., pp. 374–75.

  CHAPTER 17

  1. DGFP, VII, p. 491.

  2. From Dahlems’ book, op. cit., pp. 119–20; and from his testimony on the stand at Nuremberg, TMWC, IX, p. 471.

  3. DBrFP, VII, pp. 466–67.

  4. ibid.

  5. TMWC, IX, p. 436. Dahlems testimony, as printed here, contains a typographical error which makes him say the Poles “had been attacked,” and is therefore totally misleading.

  6. DBrFP, VII, pp. 474–75.

  7. Ibid., Nos. 651, 652, pp. 479–80.

  8. The text is in DGFP, VII, p. 492, and in the British Blue Book, p. 168. Dr. Schmidt’s notes on Ribbentrop’s comments to Henderson and Coulondre are in DGFP, VII, pp. 493 and 495, respectively.

  9. Schmidt’s version of the argument in DGFP, VII, p. 493; Henderson gave his account briefly in his dispatch on the evening of Sept. 1, 1939 (British Blue Book, p. 169).

  10. DBrFP, VII, No. 621, p. 459.

  11. Ciano Diaries, p. 135.

  12. DGFP, VII, p. 483.

  13. Ibid., pp. 485–86.

  14. Bonnet to François-Poncet, 11:45 A.M., Sept. 1, French Yellow Book, Fr. ed., pp. 377–78. Mussolini’s proposal for a conference on September 5 was outlined in a dispatch from François-Poncet to Bonnet Aug. 31, ibid., pp. 360–61.

  15. DBrFP, VII, pp. 530–31.

  16. Henderson’s Final Report, p. 22.

  17. Text in DGFP, VII, pp. 509–10.

  18. From Schmidt’s memo, on which this scene is based, ibid., pp. 512–13.

  19. Schmidt, op. cit., p. 156.

  20. Ciano Diaries, pp. 136–37.

  21. DGFP, VII, pp. 524–25.

  22. Ciano Diaries, p. 137. De Monzie, a defeatist French senator, confirms the story in his book Ci-Devant, pp. 146–47.

  23. Corbin’s dispatch, French Yellow Book, Fr. ed., p. 395.

  24. This section is based on DBrFP, VII, covering Sept. 2–3. There is an excellent summary, based on the confidential British Foreign Office papers and on the scant French sources available, in The Eve of the War, 1939, ed. by Arnold and Veronica M. Toynbee. Namier, Diplomatic Prelude, also is useful. I have purposely omitted the references to scores of documents in DBrFP in order to avoid cluttering the pages with numerals.