Hitler searches for 'inspiration' as he ponders whether to launch attack
News Letter - November 4, 1939 "NOBODY in Germany, not even Hitler, can answer the question of what Hitler will do next," wrote a Havas correspondent from the frontlines of the war in an article which was published in the News Letter on this day in 1939.
The correspondent continued: "It is true on the Western front everything is carefully prepared for a great offensive. Troops are permanently standing ready to attack at the first signal. But this signal does not come as Hitler, who should give it, has examined the Western front problem from every aspect without finding a solution."
The dispatch added: "At the beginning of the war he said that to break through the Maginot Line would be worth the loss of 1,800,000 men, but the General Staff, who consider that a frontal offensive would be virtual suicide, succeeded in dissuading him from this plan." And now Hitler seemed baffled at what to do next.
The Havas correspondent continued: "If Germany is awaiting Hitler's decision, Hitler himself appears to be waiting for 'inspiration'. In search of this "inspiration" he had turned his focus east.
The dispatch continued: "While waiting, he has turned again to the Eastern problem. He spends hours at the newly created Migration Department, which he visits several times a day. Poring over atlases he studies the possibility of repatriating German minorities abroad in order to secure foreign exchange for the Reich."
Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, continued to draw Stalin into the war. The report declared: "Ribbentrop . . . works desperately to bring Stalin into the conflict. He is proposing in exchange for a military alliance a division of influence in the Balkans." It added: "It is confirmed, too, that leaders of former Macedonian organisations have been received in Wilhelmstrasse. The general object is to stir the Balkans up."
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Wednesday 15 February 2012
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