1056 Ch. 26 • World War IILooking east, the euphoric Hitler now demanded that Lithuania relin
quish the Baltic port of Memel, which had been given to Lithuania by the
Treaty of Versailles. Lithuania did so. He then insisted that Poland relin
quish the port of Gdansk (Danzig) and international access to the Polish
Corridor that had by virtue of the Treaty of Versailles separated East Prus
sia from the rest of Germany. As always, Hitler offered a concession that
would prove empty as soon as it had served its purpose: this time it was
support against the Soviet Union’s claim to parts of Poland that bordered
Ukraine.
The Polish government, which had been in a state of crisis since the
death of Jozef Pilsudski, its authoritarian ruler, in 1935, readied its mili
tary defenses. The British government, which had refused to consider any
alliances with the small states of Central Europe, now hurriedly signed a
pact with Poland on April 6, 1939, guaranteeing Polish independence and
assistance in case of German aggression. On April 26, Chamberlain—even
he had now lost his illusions—announced to the House of Commons that
conscription of men twenty and twenty-one years of age would begin. France
(which was now also committed to Poland by alliance) and Britain then
signed pacts with Romania and Greece and offered military support to
Turkey. Hitler probably hoped that rapid Polish capitulation in the face of a
German invasion might present its Western allies with a fait accompli that
could discourage a military response. But Hitler accepted the strong possi
bility that war would follow any German move against Poland, even though
he knew that the German economy could not reach full capacity for war
production until 1943.
Few statesmen in France or Great Britain still harbored any illusions
about what was next. British public opinion rapidly turned against appease
ment. Winston Churchill (1874-1965), one of the few British leaders who
had been convinced since 1936 that war against Hitler was inevitable,
called for an alliance with the Soviet Union against Germany. Discussions
with Soviet diplomats dragged on, stumbling on the refusal of either Poland
or Romania to accept Soviet troops on their territory, necessary to any effec
tive defense against a German attack. Chamberlain then heard rumors that
Stalin and Hitler were conducting diplomatic discussions, but laughed
them off.
Undeterred by Britain’s reaffirmation of its commitment to defend Polish
independence, or by doubts expressed by some of his confidants in April
1939, Hitler ordered the German army to prepare for an invasion of Poland
on the following September 1. He signed in May the “Pact of Steel,” a for
mal military alliance with Italy. Mussolini, who called the pact “absolute
dynamite,” nonetheless thought that he could continue to play off Ger
many, Britain, and France against each other. He had believed Hitler when
he said that he would not begin a war with Poland for several more years.
But knowing that doctored statistics could not hide the fact that Italy was