The policy of the the big lie in operation around the globe
The Japanese attempt to conquer
China got fully under way with a serious of amphibious landings at Liuhe aimed
at taking the major commercial city of Shanghai. It was the start of the most
intensive and bloodiest part of the conventional land war. The Japanese Foreign
Minister was unwise enough to conduct a press conference in Tokyo to present
Japan’s goals. The true Japanese motives could not, of course, be communicated
honestly, so he launched into a rambling and incoherent exposition devoid of
any real meaning. The Times
correspond was reduced to quoting it verbatim as it defied paraphrase. Hirota was to be the only Japanese civilian executed for major war crimes.
The British destroyer HMS Havock was damaged by a torpedo from
the Italian submarine Inde as it
patrolled the Spanish coast to enforce the policy of non-intervention in the
conflict promoted by Britain and France. The attack did not prompt Britain to
any substantial action against Italy and its feebly outraged denial of any
involvement was allowed to pass largely unchallenged. The only British response
was to send more ships to the Mediterranean.
The contribution of national
political leaders to the congress of the Auslandsorganisation
(foreign organization) of the German Nazi party went well beyond supportive
platitude. The AO was a major tool in co-opting Germans living abroad into the
purposes of the Nazi regime. Goering was especially aggressive in setting out
the support that they could expect from the mother country, expressing enormous
pride at the vision of Germany’s new warships visiting foreign ports in an
implicit threat to the governments of those countries should they show the
least inclination to maltreat the local German population. He also warned imaginary
Jewish representatives of German firms abroad from supporting a Jewish boycott
of German goods which he threatened would cause reprisals in Germany.
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