215. IfZ, F34/1, Vormann, Fols.26–8; Ribbentrop Memoirs, 117. On the effect on Hitler’s prestige, Müller, Heer, 420 and n.206.
216. Schmidt, 462.
217. Schmidt, 459–61; IMG, x.240; Robert Coulondre, Von Moskau nach Berlin 1936–1939. Erinnerungen des französischen Botschafters, Bonn, 1950, 421–4; Weinberg II, 634 and n.32; Hofer, Entfesselung, 275; Graml, Europas Weg, 288–9.
218. Weinberg II, 635.
219. Ribbentrop Memoirs, 116–17. There is no corroborative support for Ribbentrop’s unlikely claim that, learning of the British-Polish pact, he had persuaded Hitler to halt the attack on Poland (Domarus, 1259; Schmidt, 459; Weinberg II, 637–8; and for Ribbentrop’s claim see also Bloch, 253). Below, 187, seems directly drawn from Ribbentrop’s memoirs and cannot be taken as supportive evidence. Brauchitsch — ‘not unjustifiably’, in Engel’s view — also claimed to have persuaded Hitler to postpone the attack (Engel, 59 (26 August 1939)). Goebbels makes it plain in his diary notes that it was the news from Mussolini that was decisive in the change of plan (TBJG, I/7, 78 (26 August 1939)).
220. A point made by Weinberg II, 635.
221. Ribbentrop Memoirs, 117; Bloch, 254.
222. Domarus, 1261.
223. IMG, iii.280.
224. Dahlerus, 53–6.
225. Domarus, 1261.
226. Domarus, 1264–5; CD, 135.
227. CD, 135; DGFP, D, VII, 324–6, N0.320.
228. TBJG, I/7, 80, 82–3 (28 August 1939, 29 August 1939).
229. Domarus, 1265–6.
230. Engel, 60 (27 August 1939, 29 August 1939).
231. Dahlerus, 56.
232. DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 283–4, Annex I to Doc.349.
233. Dahlerus, 56–66 (quotation, 66: ‘Sein ganzes Verhalten machte den Eindruck eines völlig Anormalen’).
234. Dahlerus, 69–70.
235. Dahlerus, 78–9.
236. DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 318–20, 321–2, Nos.402, 406.
237. DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 324, No.411, and, especially, 328, No.420.
238. TBJG, I/7, 80 (28 September 1939).
239. Groscurth, 187 (27 August 1939).
240. Halder KTB, i. 40 (28 August 1939).
241. TBJG, I/7, 81 (28 August 1939). Goebbels was evidently getting a preview on 27 August of the talk Hitler would give the next day.
242. Halder KTB, i. 38 (28 August 1939), trans. Halder Diary, 37.
243. Documents, 128, No.75; DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 330–32, 351–5, Nos.426, 455.
244. Henderson, 262.
245. Documents, 128–31, here 129, No.75; DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 352, N0.455.
246. DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 330, No.426; Alan Bullock, Hitler. A Study in Tyranny, (1952), Harmonds-worth, 1962, 541.
247. Documents, 126–8, No.74; DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 321, No.426.
248. Henderson, 262.
249. TBJG, I/7, 83 (29 August 1939).
250. TBJG, I/7, 84 (30 August 1939). The plebiscite idea formed part of the proposals read out by Ribbentrop at his meeting with Henderson late on the evening of 30 August (Documents, 146, N0.92).
251. IfZ, ED 100, Irving-Sammlung, Hitler-Dokumentation, Bd.20, Aug. 1939; Irving, Führer, 222–3; Irving, War Path, 255–6.
252. Henderson, 263. Shirer, 150–54, remarked on how few people, and those with grim, silent faces, had been there the previous evening when Henderson went to the Reich Chancellery.
253. Henderson, 265; Documents, 138, No.79 (text, 135–7, no.78); DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 374–5 (here 374), N0.490, 388–90 (here, 390), No.502; Domarus, 1285–7.
254. Henderson, 267.
255. Documents, 138–9, No.80; DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 376–7 (here 376), N0.493.
256. Documents, 140, No.82; DBFP, 3rd Ser., 400–401 (here 401), No.520.
257. Schmidt, 465.
258. Dahlerus, 99–100.
259. Documents, 139, Nos.81–2; DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 391, 400–401, Nos.504, 520; Henderson, 268–9.
260. Domarus, 1289.
261. Domarus, 1290 and n.809 for Hitler’s use of ‘Führer’ alone after decrees from now on (though not consistently).
262. Dieter Rebentisch, Führerstaat und Verwaltung im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Verfassungsentwicklung und Verwaltungspolitik 1939–1945, Stuttgart, 1989, 117–32; also Broszat, Staat, 382.
263. Schmidt, 465–9, here 467–8.
264. Henderson, 270–71; Documents, 142–3, N0.89, 145–6, no.92; DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 413–14, 432–3, Nos.543, 574; text of Hitler’s offer, Domarus, 1291–3. Schmidt claimed that Ribbentrop did not read the terms too quickly, though Henderson had noted that in his report to Halifax immediately after the meeting (Documents, 145, No.92 (DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 432–3, N0.574)). For Hitler’s order to Ribbentrop not to hand out the terms, see IMG, x. 311.
265. Documents, 146, No.92; DBFP, 3rd Ser., VII, 433, No.574.
266. Henderson, 271.
267. Schmidt, 469.
268. TBJG, I/7, 86 (31 August 1939).
