Such was the state of Hitler's readiness to risk all, as soon as the pact was ratified on 27th February 1935, the German high command were issued final orders on 2nd March and the German 'army' entered the zone on 7th March. By all accounts, it was not an army - at Nuremberg it was stated to be one division, the Allies thought it was three, and Hitler said that he only had four brigades - but in spite of the fact that this was the most serious violation of the Treaty so far, an open defiance of it, not one of the Allies, and in particular not the French, made any sort of attempt to march in themselves in defence of the Versailles Treaty.
As noted, this violation was deliberately planned and carried through by Hitler in the certain knowledge that he would be allowed to keep what he took. And it was the gateway through which he now pushed at ever increasing speed in fulfilling what he saw as his destiny. At this point the Allies could have stopped him, destroyed his so-called army, and ensured Hitler's downfall, all with no danger of full-scale war. What should have been routine intelligence gathering was either not carried on by the Allies, or they were completely incompetent at it. They overestimated the German army strength by 200% and, probably, were completely incorrect in their knowledge of the arms available, the ability of German factories to provide more, and the army reserves available. We have all paid the most terrible price for this complete lack of preparation.
