182. The sixty-five French divisions available for an assault on Germany from the West in September 1939 had massively outnumbered the Wehrmacht units, which were so heavily committed in Poland. But they were never sent into action. (DRZW, ii.18–19, 270. See also Andreas Hillgruber, Hitlers Strategic Politik und Kriegführung 1940–1941, (1965), 3rd edn, Bonn, 1993, 34–5, 53.)
183. See Domarus, 1369–70, for Hitler’s suggestion to the Swedish intermediary Dahlerus on 26 September that he would guarantee security for Britain and France, needed peace to cultivate — a task requiring at least fifty years — the newly-won territories in Poland (a state which would not be allowed to be recreated), and could offer Britain peace within fourteen days without loss of face. As usual, this ‘generosity’ was coupled with threats. He had destroyed Poland within three weeks. The British (Engländer) should reflect on what could happen to them within three months. If they wanted a long war, Germany would hold out and reduce England to a heap of rubble. Some of these sentiments were repeated in Hitler’s Reichstag speech of 6 October. (See Domarus, 1388ff.)
184. Irving, HW, 25. The British War Cabinet put out the announcement on 9 September that it expected a three-year war to quell rumours that British action depended upon events in Poland (The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, 215 and n).
185. DRZW, ii.240.
186. Below, 210. He had already learned from Schmundt on 8 September that Hitler was intending to attack France as soon as possible. Hitler, according to Below, spoke about this to his closest military advisers on a number of occasions during the following days and was determined to launch the attack in October or November.
187. Halder KTB, i.86–90 (27 September 1939); trans. Halder Diary, 62–6.
188. DRZW, ii.238.
189. Warlimont, 37.
190. Seraphim, Rosenberg-Tagebuch, 99 (29 September 1939).
191. Domarus, 1392.
192. Domarus, 1390.
193. Domarus, 1389, 1393.
194. Domarus, 1393.
195. Chamberlain asked who stood in the way of genuine peace in Europe, and answered his own rhetorical question: ‘It is the German Government, and the German Government alone’ (cit. Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, 223). All unofficial feelers in the following months met with a similar response.
196. Halder KTB, i. 99 (7 October 1939); Müller, Heer, 475.
197. Halder KTB, i. 100 (9 October 1939); Müller, Heer, 476.
198. Cit. Müller, Heer, 476.
199. Warlimont, 50; Müller, Heer, 476.
200. Halder KTB, i. 101–3 (10 October 1939); Müller, Heer, 476; Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, Dokumente zur Vorgeschichte des Westfeldzuges 1939–1940, Göttingen/Berlin/Frankfurt, 1956, 4–20, Nr.3, S.4ff., here, 15, 19. See also DRZW, ii.239; and Hillgruber, Strategie, 45–6. Hitler remained convinced that he had been correct in his views when he referred to the memorandum in December 1944. (Helmut Heiber (ed.), Lagebesprechungen im Führerhauptquartier. Protokoli’fragmente aus Hitlers militärischen Konferenzen 1942–1945, Deutsche Buch-Gemeinschaft edn, Berlin/Darmstadt/Vienna, 1963 (=LB Darmstadt), 284.)
201. Halder KTB, i. 101 (10 October 1939).
202. Weisungen, 37–8.
203. Weizsäcker, Erinnerungen, 268.
204. Halder KTB, i. 107 (16 October 1939, mistakenly dated the following day).
205. Halder KTB, i.iii (22 October 1939); Jacobsen, Vorgeschichte, 41 (for confirmation on 27 October 1939).
206. TBJG, I/7, 150 (12 October 1939).
207. TBJG, I/7, 153 (14 October 1939). ‘Die Engländer müssen durch Schaden klug werden.’
208. TBJG, I/7, 164 (22 October 1939).
209. Groscurth, 385; and see Müller, Heer, 493.
210. TBJG, I/7, 180 (3 November 1939).
211. TBJG, I/7, 184 (7 November 1939). The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) ended the religious and political conflicts of the Thirty Years War, but did so by weakening the central authority of the Holy Roman Empire to the advantage of the individual states. Territorial concessions had also to be made to France and Sweden, while Switzerland and the Netherlands finally established their independence of the Reich. That the settlement was anathema to Hitler is plain to see.
212. TBJG, I/7, 187 (9 November 1939).
213. Dülffer, Marine, 541ff.
