Read The Day We Went to War for Free Online

have to furnish extensive land forces as well as the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. But one eager would-be recruit, on presenting himself at a recruiting office, is first asked, ‘Could you come back tomorrow morning?’ On doing so, he is told, ‘Well, you see, we can’t do anything until after Easter, but you’ll certainly get a letter from us then.’
    30 March, W ARSAW
    At the Foreign Ministry, British ambassador Sir Howard Kennard delivers the terms of Britain’s guarantee to Poland. Colonel Beck accepts them ‘between two flicks of his cigarette ash’.
    31 March, L ONDON
    In the House of Commons, Chamberlain announces the news of the British guarantee to Poland. He tells MPs, ‘In the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence, and which the Polish Government accordingly considered it vital to resist with their national forces, His Majesty’s Government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Polish Government all support in their power.’
    Labour’s deputy leader Arthur Greenwood says, ‘The PrimeMinister’s statement may prove as momentous as any made in this House for a quarter of a century.’ And anti-appeaser Alfred Duff Cooper, who resigned over Munich, is incredulous at Chamberlain’s reversal of policy: ‘Never before in our history have we left in the hands of one of the smaller powers the decision whether or not Great Britain goes to war.’
    31 March, B ERLIN
    Hitler, on hearing of the British guarantee, falls into a terrible rage. ‘I’ll a brew them a devil’s stew that they’ll choke on,’ he raves to his staff.
    31 March, B ucharest
    Roumanian foreign minister Grigore Gafencu, on hearing of the guarantee, says, ‘The British must be mad. Poland is the least moral country in Europe.’
    31 March, W ORTHING
    ‘Mr Chamberlain made an important announcement to the Commons which was specially broadcast at four o’clock, committing us definitely to Poland.’ (Joan Strange)
    31 March, T EDDINGTON
    ‘Chamberlain three o’clock in the House – England will go to war for Poland – well! Well! Well! “Bound to give Polish government all the help in our power.” Question . . . whether Russia and other powers will not join in a conference against aggression?’ (Helena Mott)
    April
    1 April, W ILHELMSHAVEN
    Hitler attends the launching of the battleship Tirpitz . After the ceremony, the Fuehrer delivers a speech in which he makes thinly veiledattacks on Poland and Britain’s ‘encirclement policy’. He tells the crowd, ‘He who does not possess power loses the right to life.’ And in a strange echo of Stalin’s 10 March speech, Hitler says, ‘Anyone who declares himself ready to snatch the chestnuts out of the fire for the Western Powers must expect to burn his fingers.’
    1 April, M ADRID
    The Spanish Civil War is officially announced to be at an end.
    3 April, B ERLIN
    Hitler is presented with the Wehrmacht’s operational plans for ‘Case White’, the invasion of Poland and the destruction of its military forces. Hitler dictates a preamble to the directive which orders the armed forces to be ready to carry out ‘Case White’ at any time after 1 September 1939.
    4 April, L ONDON
    Colonel Beck arrives in London for talks. An American reporter thinks Poland’s foreign minister looks like a ‘ham actor made up as the lean and hungry Cassius’. At the end of his discussions with British ministers, Chamberlain announces that Britain and Poland have agreed to sign a mutual assistance pact in the event of an attack ‘by a European power’. France also issues a similar pledge.
    5 April, L ONDON
    The Government’s plans for civilian defence are debated in the House of Commons. Minister of Health Walter Elliot tells MPs that plans are being prepared for the immediate evacuation of 2,500,000 children in the event of war. It will be, Elliot tells them, ‘a colossal task’. The Minister then goes on to say that 279,435 Anderson shelters, providing