Russia’s Foreign Ministry is trying to spread more blatant (“absolutely insolent” in Zeman’ words) lies about the beginning of WWII, claiming that Hitler planned the attack on Poland before the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The fact that this claim is a lie is probable by many
documents and in fact has been accepted by a Russia until Putin decided to become a historian the way Stalin was an expert on linguistics.
Here is a fragment from Peter Hoffman’s famous book on the German military resistance against Hitler describing the events leading to the
Here is a fragment from Peter Hoffman’s famous book on the German military resistance against Hitler describing the events leading to the
invasion of Poland.
Hitler’s original plan was to attack Poland on the 25th of August. The German generals who knew that Germany was not n a position to conduct a long war tried to persuade Hitler to give up the idea and in case he did not accept their arguments were
Hitler’s original plan was to attack Poland on the 25th of August. The German generals who knew that Germany was not n a position to conduct a long war tried to persuade Hitler to give up the idea and in case he did not accept their arguments were
ready to stage a coup d’etat. On the night 24-25th German troops captured a tunnel between Poland and Slovakia, through which German army was supposed to pass. At this point Hitler lost his nerve and stopped the operation in its tracks. That is the kind of thing that no commander
would ever normally do: as it is extremly demoralising for the troops. Although Hoffmann does not say it her, we actually know what happened. Hitler received a letter from Chamberlain saying that no matter what happened, England would honor its guarantee to Poland.
German Chief of Staff Halder and the chief of the Abwehr Canaris who were the leaders of the plot though that they had won, Canaris announced that Hitler was now so discredited he would not stay long in power. However, two days later, Hitler wrote to General Thomas (who sent him
lots of tables and graphs showing that Germany was economically incapable of conducting a war) a reply which said that since the Soviet Union was now on Germany’s side, his concerns were no longer valid. Although Hitler temporarily lost his nerve on the 25th after receiving the
letter from Chamberlain, he was reassured by Stalin, who knew exactly what his German ally wanted to do. German invasion began a few days later.
