Eighty years ago, Hitler enlightens his henchmen in Danzig and London is plunged (a bit) into darkness
There was a disturbing echo of
the Munich crisis a year before, when Albert Forster the Nazi Gauleiter of
Danzig and Zaske, his propaganda chief,
were summoned to meet the Führer at Berchtesgaden, in the same way
that Konrad Henlein had been called to receive his final instructions before
triggering the final moves to sever the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. Hitler
had already declared a “war of nerves” over Danzig, but his discussion with his
subordinates in Danzig translated almost immediately into ever more
provocations directed at the Polish authorities. Just as they had awaited
Hitler’s speech at the Nuremberg rally in mid-September 1938 as the likely
trigger for the final moves, London now looked to his speech marking the 25th
anniversary of Germany’s victory over Russia at Tannenberg on 27th August
as the moment when he would show his hand.
The British population were given
an unmistakable sign that the government thought war might be close, in the form
of a massive exercise to test black-out precautions in major cities, but it was
conducted with certain traditional, reassuring British features. The exercise was
put back from the first night it was due to happen because of weather
conditions; heavy cloud meant that it would have been pointless. When it did
occur, it became the occasion for an impromptu celebration, with dense crowds
at Piccadilly Circus at 1.30am. Doubtless they were also attracted by the
social possibilities that the black-out offered. Disturbingly for the authorities,
discipline was poor and observers in aircraft overflying London were able to
see bright lights at considerable distances. Fear of the Luftwaffe only went so
far.
The headwinds that President
Franklin D. Roosevelt faced in any attempt to bring the US onto the side of the
democracies in Europe were clear when Senator Robert Taft declared he would present
himself to be the Republican candidate against the incumbent in the Presidential election
of 1940. Taft was ferociously isolationist and, as the son of a former
President, had a high profile. In the event his views were too extreme for
mainstream Republicans and the more centrist figure of Wendell Wilkie went on
to secure the nomination. But the isolationist community was large, strong and
well-organized; Roosevelt could not risk provoking it.
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