The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

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Book: Read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany for Free Online
Authors: William L. Shirer
1939,
DGFP
, VII, pp. 58–59.
     2 . Text of Schulenburg’s letter,
ibid.
, pp. 67–68.
     3 . Text of Ribbentrop’s telegram,
ibid.
, pp. 62–64.
     4 . The memo of the British businessmen was found in a file of Goering’s office and is published in
DGFP
, VI, pp. 1088–93. There are numerous jottings on the document in Goering’s handwriting. “Oho!” he scribbled several times opposite statements that obviously he could not believe. The whole fantastic and somewhat ludicrous story of Dahlerus’ peace mission which brought him briefly to the center of the stage at a momentous moment is told in his own book,
The Last Attempt.
Also in his testimony at Nuremberg,
TMWC
, IX, pp. 457–91, and in Sir Lewis Namier’s
Diplomatic Prelude
, pp. 417–33; the chapter is entitled “An Interloper in Diplomacy.”
     5 . Interrogation of Halder, Feb. 26, 1946,
NCA
, Suppl. B, p. 1562.
     6 . Hassell,
op. cit.
, pp. 53, 58–59.
     7 . Thomas, “Gedanken und Ereignisse,”
Schweizerische Monatshefte
, December 1945.
     8 . Memo of Canaris on conversation with Keitel, Aug. 17, 1939,
NCA
, III, p. 580 (N.D. 795–PS).
     9 . Naujocks affidavit,
NCA
, VI, pp. 390–92 (N.D. 2751–PS).
    10 . Dispatch of Schulenburg, 2:48 A.M ., Aug. 16,
DGFP
, VII, pp. 7677. The ambassador gave a fuller account in a memo dispatched by courier, and he added details in a letter to Weizsaecker,
ibid.
, pp. 87–90, 99–100.
    11 .
DBrFP
, Third Series, VII, pp. 41–42. For Ambassador Steinhardt’s reports see
U.S. Diplomatic Papers, 1939
, I, pp. 296–99, 334.
    12 . Dispatch of Ribbentrop to Schulenburg, Aug. 16,
DGFP
, VII, pp. 84–85.
    13 .
Ibid.
, p. 100.
    14 .
Ibid.
, p. 102.
    15 . Dispatch by Schulenburg, 5:58 A.M ., Aug. 18,
ibid.
, pp. 114–16.
    16 . Dispatch of Ribbentrop, 10:48 P.M ., Aug. 18,
ibid.
, pp. 121–23.
    17 . Memo of Schnurre, Aug. 19,
ibid.
, pp. 132–33.
    18 . Dispatch of Schulenburg, 6:22 P.M., Aug. 19,
ibid.
, p. 134.
    19 . Dispatch of Schulenburg, 12:08 A.M ., Aug. 20,
ibid.
, pp. 149–50.
    20 . Churchill,
The Gathering Storm
, p. 392. He does not give his source.
    21 .
Ibid.
, p. 391.
    22 . Hitler’s telegram to Stalin, Aug. 20,
DGFP
, VII, pp. 156–57.
    23 . Dispatch of Schulenburg, 1:19 A.M ., Aug. 21,
ibid.
, pp. 161–62.
    24 . Dispatch of Ribbentrop, Aug. 21,
ibid.
, p. 162.
    25 . Dispatch of Schulenburg, 1:43 P.M., Aug. 21,
ibid.
, p. 164.
    26 . Stalin’s letter to Hitler, Aug. 21,
ibid.
, p. 168.
    27 .
NCA
, Suppl. B, pp. 1103–5.
    28 .
DBrFP
, VI, No. 376.
    29 . See
DBrFP
, Third Series, VII, Appendix II, pp. 558–614. The appendix contains a detailed day-to-day record of the military conversations in Moscow and constitutes the most comprehensive source I have seen of the Allied version of the talks. It includes reports to London, during the negotiations, by Air Marshal Burnett and Gen. Heywood, andthe final report of the British mission by Adm. Drax. Also, a verbatim account of the dramatic meeting of Gen. Doumenc with Marshal Voroshilov on the evening of Aug. 22, when the chief of the French military mission tried desperately to save the situation despite the public announcement that Ribbentrop was arriving in Moscow the next day. Also, the record of the final, painful meeting of the Allied missions with Voroshilov on Aug. 26. Volume VII also includes many dispatches between the British Foreign Office and the embassy in Moscow which throw fresh light on this episode.
    This section of the chapter is based largely on these confidential British papers. Unfortunately the Russians, so far as I know, have never published their documents on the meeting, though a Soviet account is given in Nikonov’s
Origins of World War II
, in which much use of the British Foreign Office documents is made. The Soviet version is also given in
Histoire de la Diplomatie
, ed. by V. Potemkin.
    30 . Paul Reynaud,
In the Thick of the Fight
, p. 212. Reynaud, pp. 210–33, gives the French version of the Allied negotiations in

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