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Page 2
During this two days of fighting and in the week prior to Ist September, whole comedies and tragedies had played themselves out in the diplomatic halls of Berlin, London, Paris and Rome; Warsaw, as had been the case with Prague, was really only a nuisance as the big boys played. On the opposite side, Hitler had bought Russia's acquiescence so that all the activity from the West was of little consequence. He had set his path and needed only to make appropriate noises while his armies completed their final preparations. But even megalomaniac dictators do have occasions of self-doubt, and a combination of Mussolini's reneging on the Pact of Steel on 25th August, and Britain's signing of a proper agreement of mutual assistance with Poland on the same day, made Hitler call off the planned start of the invasion of 26th. (Only direct action by senior officers getting in front of their advancing troops, managed to stop the whole juggernaut but, even then, there were some incursions into Polish territory and exchanges of fire.) However, within 24 hours, Hitler had recovered his confidence and set the date for 1st September, which had been his first choice, months before. It was Mussolini's anxiety not to be drawn in to a war for which he had already told Hitler he would not be ready until at least 1942, that caused the most disturbance to both sides. At one point it seemed that there might even be some sort of Munich-type betrayal, but even the thickest of heads in various chancelleries could see that would only postpone the inevitable. Whether it was believable or not, Hitler intended to take his course, which could only lead to world war.
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The copyright of the article Poland and Blitzkrieg - Page 2 in The Third Reich is owned by William Waller. Permission to republish Poland and Blitzkrieg - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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