The Day We Went to War by Terry Charman Read Free Book Online

Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, broadcasts an appeal for peace. The BBC refuses to relay the Duke’s speech, but it is heard by millions of Americans over the NBC network. The Duke tells his listeners, ‘I speak simply as a soldier of the last war, whose most earnest prayer is that such a cruel and destructive madness shall never again overtake mankind.’
    8 May, T EDDINGTON
    ‘The Duke of Windsor, speaking at Verdun to America, gave an exceedingly wise, sensible and necessary speech against war and in favour of exercising the same spirit of give and take in international affairs as one carries on in a regulated daily intercourse with individuals. He spoke well, with assurance and feeling. We should be proud he could undertake to do this for humanity’s sake.’ (Helena Mott)
    19 May, L ONDON
    The House of Commons debates Anglo-Soviet relations and the desirability of an alliance with the Russians. First World War Prime Minister David Lloyd George argues forcibly for such an alliance. If one is concluded, he tells MPs, then ‘the chances against war would go up’. Churchill agrees, and addressing the Prime Minister tells Chamberlain, ‘The question is how to make the system effective and effective in time.’
    19 May, P ARIS
    At the conclusion of Franco-Polish staff talks, an agreement is reached. French commander-in-chief General Maurice Gamelin promises that, if the Germans invade Poland, ‘France will launch an offensive against Germany with the main bodies of her forces, beginning on the fifteenth day from the first day of the French general mobilisation.’
    22 May, B ERLIN
    Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel, a military and political alliance between the two powers. The amorous Count Ciano signs for Italy. At a banquet to celebrate the ceremony he sits between Frau Goering and Frau Goebbels, ‘both of whom [find] it hard to cope with their table companion’s pronounced sexuality’. Goering is literally in tears as von Ribbentrop, and not himself, is awarded Italy’s highest order of chivalry. Ciano promises to try and obtain one for him.

    French foreign minister, Georges Bonnet (right) receives his Roumanian opposite number, Grigore Gafencu, at the Quai d’Orsay, Paris, 28 April 1939. Bonnet explained ‘the means by which he still steadfastly hoped to save the peace’.

    Italian and German foreign ministers Count Ciano and von Ribbentrop sign the Pact of Steel, Berlin, 22 May 1939. ‘As long as the Germans have need of us they will be courteous, and even servile, but at the first opportunity they will reveal themselves as the great rascals they really are,’ was the prophetic comment of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy.
    23 May, B ERLIN
    As Ciano leaves Berlin, Hitler meets with Goering and his military chiefs. He tells them, ‘It is not Danzig that is at stake. For us it is a matter of expanding our living space in the East, and making food supplies secure.’ To do this, the Fuehrer tells the others, Germany must, ‘attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity. We cannot expect a repetition of Czechia. There will be war.’
    24 May, W INNIPEG
    King George VI delivers an Empire Day speech on the first visit by a King and Queen of England to North America: ‘It is not in power or wealth alone, nor in dominion over other people, that the true greatness of an Empire consists. Those things are but the instrument; they are not the end, nor the ideal. The end is freedom, justice, and peace in equal measure for all, secure against attack from without and from within.’
    26 May, L ONDON
    The Military Training Bill receives Royal Assent. Registration will now take place on 3 June, and the first conscripts, who will be known as ‘Militiamen’, are going to be called up on 1 July.
    27 May, L ONDON
    Picture Post runs a feature entitled ‘Danzig: The Danger Spot: Maybe The Cause of A World War’. The same issue has an article on Britain’s volunteer firemen of the Auxiliary Fire Service in the