Thursday, December 10, 2015

August 2, 1939: Einstein and the Atom Bomb

Wednesday 2 August 1939

Albert Einstein Charlie Chaplin worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin in 1931.

United States, Manhattan Project: Albert Einstein had been born in Ulm in the German Empire, but by 1939 he had been living abroad for decades. Einstein acquired Swiss citizenship in 1901 and worked in the patent office there while establishing his reputation as a scientist. Later, he visited New York in 1921, and Asia the following year. He still wasn't sure where he wanted to settle down - his native Germany still looked pretty good, but he was more appreciated abroad.

Einstein took a research fellowship at California Institute of Technology, and later a professorship there. By April 1933, he had decided that he no longer wished to live in Germany under the German regime. The Hitler regime had seized his property there to turn into a Hitler Youth camp. Einstein spent some time in Belgium deciding what to do next. Ultimately, he walked into the German consulate, renounced his German citizenship, sailed back to America with his wife, and settled in Princeton, New Jersey. He was only loosely affiliated with the university there, though many associate Einstein with Princeton.

"This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs."

By now, Einstein, a Nobel Prize winner, was the most famous scientist in the world. He spent time with Hungarian émigré Leó Szilárd and physicist Edward Teller, who informed him of the feasibility of an atomic bomb. Einstein admitted that he had never considered the idea, with which he is often wrongly tarred and feather by his critics. Realizing Einstein's celebrity status and international connections, Szilárd asked Einstein to sign a 2 August 1939 letter to President Franklin Roosevelt. It warned of the German work on the atomic bomb and proposed that the United States take action to develop one themselves.

October 11 1939 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Einstein Szilard

Albert Einstein and Leo Szilárd re-enact their August 1939 meeting about the letter the latter had drafted to President Roosevelt about the atomic bomb.

The letter will not be delivered to Roosevelt until 11 October 1939, when it will make a big impression on him, especially considering that the war in Europe had broken out in the meantime. The letter leads directly to the Manhattan Project and the successful development of the atomic bomb by the United States in 1945.

This - 2 August 1939 - is the single most significant date of World War II and it is not even mentioned in most histories of the war.

Future History: Horror Writer/Director West Craven is born in Cleveland, Ohio. Craven's top works include "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), which he writes, and "Scream" (1996), which he directs. He passes away in 2015.

Manhattan Project worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Calutron operators at the Manhattan Project.

Pre-War

8-9 November 1923: Beer Hall Putsch

December 20, 1924: Hitler Leaves Prison

September 18, 1931: Geli Raubal Commits Suicide

November 8, 1932: Roosevelt is Elected

30 January 1933: Hitler Takes Office
February 27, 1933: Reichstag Fire
March 23, 1933: The Enabling Act

June 20, 1934: Hitler Plans the Night of the Long Knives
June 30, 1934: Night of the Long Knives

August 1, 1936: Opening of the Berlin Olympics

September 30, 1938: The Munich Agreement
November 9, 1938: Kristallnacht

August 1, 1939: Flight Tests of B-17 Flying Fortress
August 2, 1939: Einstein and the Atom Bomb
August 7, 1939: Goering Tries to Broker Peace
August 14, 1939: Hitler Decides To Attack Poland
August 15, 1939: U-Boats Put To Sea
August 16, 1939: Incident at Danzig
August 20, 1939: Battle of Khalkhin Gol
August 22, 1939: Hitler Tips His Hand
August 23, 1939: Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact
August 25, 1939: Hitler Postpones Invasion of Poland
August 27, 1939: First Jet Flight
August 31, 1939: The Gleiwitz Operation

2019

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

August 20, 1939 - Battle of Khalkhin Gol

Sunday 20 August 1939

Battle of Khalkhin Gol worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Japanese forces marching against the Soviet Red Army at Khalkhin Gol.

Soviet-Japanese Military Action - Japan had been aggressive with its military throughout the 1930s. It confined that activity largely to the Chinese mainland, incurring little notice in the Western media. By and large, horrific as the human toll was, these military raids had little consequences extending into World War II. However, one did: the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.

Japan had occupied Manchuria (north of Korea) in 1931 and turned it into a puppet state named Manchukuo. This brought the Japanese into direct contact with the Soviets in Mongolia, removing the buffer between them. The result was a series of border incidents due to disagreement about the true border between the two adversaries. You might think that the Japanese, having absconded with such a huge territory, would just take a pass on pressing a meaningless border issue so as not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it was the 1930s and everyone was in everyone else's business.

Actually, somewhat surprisingly, headquarters in Japan did take that reasonable attitude. It was one of its last prudent military decisions. But this order was ignored.

The 1905 Battle of Tsushima off Korea was an epic Russian disaster that lingered in everyone's memory through the years. The Battle of Kalkin Gol turned the tables.

So, in a fit of common sense, Imperial Japanese Headquarters told the local army to stand down. However, the Japanese Kwantung Army was a loose cannon outfit that pretty much did what it wanted to do, led by leaders who fancied themselves crusading warlords. It ignored Tokyo and decided to settle the border issue by simply taking the disputed territory. The Kwantung Army began inconclusive skirmishing with the Soviets in May 1939, but this led nowhere. The Japanese then decided to settle matters once and for all in July. They sent in two roughly division-sized forces in a two-pronged assault designed to encircle Soviet forces on the river Khalkhin Gol. It was a classic double encirclement, then novel in modern warfare (though the tactic dated at least to the time of Hannibal) but much-practiced later in World War II.

The Japanese plan might have succeeded, but they were facing one Georgy Zhukov. Zhukov was to become famous during World War II as quite possibly the best General of the conflict, but at that time he was just a corps commander. He took over on 5 June 1939, bringing along reinforcements (part of being a favored General in those days was that you got stronger forces allocated to you than would otherwise be the case). Zhukov had literally hundreds of tanks, which he was not chary about using, making the operation a full-scale battle on a par with many of the famous engagements of the war. It was basically war games with live ammunition because everyone knew it would not evolve into a wider conflict. While the Japanese claimed to have destroyed more Soviet tanks than they lost (also a common claim by the Germans in subsequent years), ultimately they were repelled. The encirclement failed, the points of the attack failed to join, and the Japanese commander Yasuoka Masaomi was relieved.

While the Japanese attack had failed, they had occupied some territory and remained in their advanced positions. They may not have achieved their objective, but they also technically had not lost. Zhukov decided to settle matters. On 20 August, he attacked with three rifle divisions, two tank divisions and additional tank forces organized into two brigades. While Soviet divisions in those days were smaller than those in other armies, it was still a substantial force of about 500 tanks (while composed of weak BT-5 and BT-7 models, these were more than capable against the Japanese forces which were very light in armor). The Soviets also had some 557 aircraft and 50,000 men. The Soviets faced only one Japanese division - the disadvantage of having a failed encirclement was that the Japanese forces remained separate and could be defeated in detail. By the end of the month, the Japanese forces had been wiped out. A cease-fire was arranged in Moscow shortly afterward, made easier because now (temporarily) they essentially were on the same side against the Allies.

While there is doubt about the losses on both sides, there is no doubt that the Japanese lost, and lost badly. This was probably due to their deficiencies in armor and aircraft. The battle had several important consequences:

The Soviet military successes in the Far East encouraged Stalin to sign the 23 August Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact with Germany, which had many militarily adventurous aspects;
To some extent, the victory avenged the Soviet disaster at the 1905 Battle of Tsushima and restored Soviet prestige in the theater;
Zhukov burnished his credentials and returned to Moscow a hero, thereby accelerating his career rise;
Moscow got to practice an early form of Blitzkrieg (coordinated offensive attack by motorized forces and aircraft) and demonstrate it for the world;
Japan saw that the Soviets would not be an easy opponent and looked in other directions for future conquests.

While it is dangerous to read too much into an isolated, basically inconclusive (in a strategic sense) engagement, the Battle of Khalkhin Gol had drastic consequences for world history. Due to this battle, Stalin felt free, especially given the intelligence received from Soviet spies such as Richard Sorge, to reduce his defensive strength facing Japan to the bare minimum during the darkest early days of World War II in 1941. This contributed to the successful defense of Moscow in December 1941 and the subsequent successful Soviet counterattacks. The battle also dissuaded the Japanese from attacking north in 1941 against the weakened Soviet Union, which would have made much better sense from a strategic perspective than what they chose to do. Ultimately, Japan attacked south for "easy" conquests, and this had catastrophic - actually fatal - consequences for the Axis.

Zhukov at the Khalkhin Gol battle.

Pre-War

Saturday, December 5, 2015

September 30, 1938: The Munich Agreement

September 30, 1938

Chamberlain Hitler Munich Agreement worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler in Munich.

Germany and England, Diplomacy: Adolf Hitler, a native Austrian, had a keen understanding of international relations in central Europe. He viewed the state of Czechoslovakia, formed out of whole clothe following World War I, as easy prey. It was composed of the old German provinces of Bohemia and Moravia and many - not just Hitler - saw it as a rump state that rightly belonged to Germany. There were 3 million ethnic Germans living in the so-called Sudetenland, a Czech region bordering Germany which comprised the country's prime defense zone against Germany. As part of his desire to reinstate the territories of the old German Empire, Hitler saw Czechoslovakia as a nuisance to be handled as expeditiously as possible, preferably without incurring a larger war which the German military - still re-arming - could not enter with confidence.

The 12 March 1938 Anschluss (German union with Austria) stoked the Sudeten people's desire to have the same happen to them. Throughout 1938, ethnic Germans under the leadership of gymnastics teacher Konrad Heinlein and his Sudeten Germany Party agitated for German intervention. While they may have had some legitimate grievances against the government of Prague, such as being under-represented in government jobs and the like, they were culturally free and lawful Czech citizens. Hyped stories of Czech intimidation of the Sudeten Germans began to appear in the German press, most or all of them fabricated or at least dramatically exaggerated.

Munich Agreement worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Czech border defenses occupied by Germany after the Munich Agreement.

Hitler, after much back-and-forth with the British, who were the Czechs' nominal protectors, decided that enough was enough. In late May 1938 he decided to invade Czechoslovakia under military operation Case Green. Case Green was scheduled for that October, with the intervening time to be used to exert diplomatic pressure on the Czech government and create distance between them and the British. For his part, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain also saw Czechoslovakia as a problematic flash point which could trigger a war with Germany for which the British public also was unprepared.

While Hitler continued his campaign of intimidation against the Czechs, including browbeating President Edvard Beneš, the British and Czechs gradually came to the realization that the situation was tactically hopeless. The Czechs knew that their only hope lay in strong support from the Western Allies who had created their state, and tepid British support gave them little hope.

The event culminated in the Munich Agreement of 29-30 September 1938, when Chamberlain flew to Munich and, along with representatives from France and Italy (but not Czechoslovakia), signed the infamous Munich Agreement (actually signed during the early hours of 30 September but dated the previous day). It gave Germany carte blanche to occupy the Sudetenland, which it quickly did by 10 October, in exchange for leaving the rest of Czechoslovakia alone. The British thereby avoided a war that Hitler also did not feel prepared for, at the cost of the integrity (and ultimately the existence) of the Czech state. The Munich Agreement led within months to the complete occupation of the remainder of now-defenseless Czechoslovakia by Germany and other nearby countries.

The Munich Agreement was a disaster for everyone but the Germans. The legend of "appeasement" that grew out of Chamberlain's attempt to prevent war by giving the aggressor Hitler what he desired remains a cliché - in fact, it is probably the most enduring one from the 20th century after the "Titanic" metaphor for total disaster. As for Germany, the Munich Agreement was one of Hitler's biggest and most unalloyed triumphs. He incorporated the former Czech state into Germany's expanding empire and got some excellent soldiers from the Sudeten population, most notably tank ace Kurt Knispel, along with important arms manufacturers and a quiet area relatively free from later Allied bombing raids.

2019

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

August 31, 1939 - The Gleiwitz Operation

Thursday 31 August 1939

Alfred Naujocks and the Gleiwitz radio tower.

Germany, Diplomacy: Following several days of covert diplomacy with Great Britain, France and Poland, events culminate on 29 August with a German ultimatum to Poland (the "Sixteen Points"). While the Sixteen Points are intentionally framed as reasonably as possible in order to appear attractive to the British, the Polish Ambassador Lipski, for the time being, ignores the entire document as diplomatically offensive. This is precisely what the Germans are counting on. Lipski falls into the trap set by Hitler to create another thin pretext for military action and reasons for the British to not support the Poles. It is a standard Hitler tactic, and it proceeds exactly as planned.

With the diplomatic pretext working, the German High Command (OKW) issues final orders for Case White, the invasion of Poland, just after noontime. Negotiations via Birger Dahlerus continue with the British virtually around the clock. As expected, the Polish refusal to consider the Sixteen Points immediately (as demanded) is used by the Germans in an attempt to fracture Western support for Poland. There are a few very subtle signs of this possibly happening, as the British at least keep talking to Dahlerus in London and make vague statements that leave open the possibility of further negotiations.

Germany, military affairs: With negotiations sputtering along with Great Britain to prevent it from honoring its defense obligations to Poland, Adolf Hitler on 28 August rescheduled Case White (the invasion of Poland) for 1 September 1939. However, in a desire to create a military pretext for the invasion (in addition to the diplomatic pretext), several months previously he had asked his SS chief Heinrich Himmler to craft a sequence of border "incidents" to "justify" military action. Collectively, these incidents would proceed under the code name "Operation Himmler." In later parlance, these are "false flag" operations, perhaps the first in history.

One of these incidents, and the most notorious, was Operation Grandmother Died ("Unternehmen Grossmutter Gestorben"). This would involve a supposed Polish attack on a German radio station that was close to the border at Gleiwitz. Why the Poles would suddenly attack a random German radio station was unclear, but it made sense to the Germans.

SS-Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) Alfred Naujocks organizes the plan. He uses one Franciszek Honiok, a Catholic Polish farmer who had proven troublesome to local German authorities in Silesia. Honiok had been arrested the previous day on a pretext. On 31 August, he is given a lethal injection and then, dressed in a Polish uniform, driven to the radio station. There, he is shot multiple times and left on the station steps. Afterward, Naujocks has someone broadcast a message in Polish urging an invasion of Germany. Then, he and his soldiers leave. The incident forms a major pretext (a "provocation") for Hitler's speech to the Reichstag the following morning "justifying" the unprovoked German invasion of Poland.

By some interpretations, Honiok becomes the first casualty of World War II.

Franciszek Honiok.

Pre-War

September 1939

September 1, 1939: Invasion of Poland
September 2, 1939: Danzig Annexed
September 3, 1939: France, Great Britain Declare War
September 4, 1939: First RAF Raid
September 5, 1939: The US Stays Out
September 6, 1939: Battle of Barking Creek
September 7, 1939: Polish HQ Bugs Out
September 8, 1939: War Crimes in Poland
September 9, 1939: The Empire Strikes Back
September 10, 1939: The Germans Break Out
September 11, 1939: Battle of Kałuszyn
September 12, 1939: The French Chicken Out
September 13, 1939: The Battle of Modlin
September 14, 1939: Germany Captures Gdynia
September 15, 1939: Warsaw Surrounded
September 16, 1939: Battle of Jaworów
September 17, 1939: Soviets Invade Poland
September 18, 1939: Lublin Falls
September 19, 1939: Germans, Soviets Hook Up
September 20, 1939: the Kraków Army Surrenders
September 21, 1939: Romania Convulses
September 22, 1939: Joint Soviet-German Military Parade
September 23, 1939: The Panama Conference
September 24, 1939: The Luftwaffe Bombs Warsaw
September 25, 1939: Black Monday for Warsaw
September 26, 1939: Warsaw on the Ropes
September 27, 1939: Hitler Decides to Invade France
September 28, 1939: Warsaw Capitulates
September 29, 1939: Modlin Fortress Falls
September 30, 1939: Graf Spee on the Loose
2019

August 25, 1939 - Hitler Postpones Invasion of Poland

Friday 25 August 1939

Adolf Hitler reading newspaper worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Adolf Hitler engaging in his common pursuit of reading the newspaper.

Germany, Military Decisions - Adolf Hitler had planned 26 August as the date of the invasion of Poland, and this plan continued until the early evening of 25 August 1939. The pact with the Soviet Union of the previous day (dated 23 August) had seemed to make this a date certain. However, several events suddenly happened to cause a change in plans, and Hitler postpones the invasion of Poland at the last minute.

First, the Luftwaffe's intelligence service (the Forschamgsamt) reports that Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano was preparing to inform Berlin that Italy would not participate in an invasion. Second, the French ambassador informs Hitler that France would honor its defense guarantee to Poland. Third, news reports say that Great Britain also now has ratified a similar agreement with Poland. All three events were completely unexpected.

All of this rattles Hitler. He had been relying on advice from his own foreign minister von Ribbentrop that the western powers would stand aside. He also had taken Italian support from his friend, Italian Duce Benito Mussolini, for granted. Hitler tells General Keitel to "Stop everything!" and later states that the postponement will only be for "four or five days." Hermann Goering, meanwhile, continues using a businessman intermediary, Swede Birger Dahlerus of the Electrolux company, to remove Great Britain from the equation. Dahlerus, who is engaging in perhaps the first instance of shuttle diplomacy, is in London this day acting as an unofficial German ambassador. However, he has little to work with and is not making much progress.

Birger Dahlerus.

Terrorism: Five people are killed in an explosion in Coventry. Police quickly suspect the IRA.

Future History: Director John Badham is born on 25 August 1939. He becomes famous in the 1970s for films such as "Saturday Night Fever."

Pre-War

Monday, November 23, 2015

August 23, 1939: Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact

Wednesday 23 August 1939

Ribbentrop Molotov Stalin worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Molotov, Ribbentrop, and Stalin in Moscow on 23 August 1939 (Federal Archive).

German/Soviet Relations: After an overnight flight from Germany in Hitler's personal Condor, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop concludes an alliance in Moscow with his counterpart Molotov and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin. The final question concerned the fate of Latvia, upon which Stalin insisted. Upon Hitler's acquiescence to this condition, the Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact is concluded and dated 23 August 1939, though actually signed at 2 a.m. on the 24th.

The pact provides in pertinent part that:

The question of whether the interests of both parties make the maintenance of an independent Polish state desireable and how the frontiers of the state should be drawn can be definitely determined only in the course of further political developments. In any case, both governments will resolve this question by means of friendly understanding.

Basically, the two parties had decided that what Poland's government wanted was irrelevant, and they would decide the country's fate. There also were secret protocols, not disclosed for many years, dividing up the Baltic states between the two powers.

Unbeknownst to the Germans, the pact had been in doubt until shortly before Ribbentrop's visit. The last straw for Stalin to throw in with Hitler was the Polish government's refusal to allow British and French troops on their territory in mid-August. It was this event that decided the timing of the pact and gave Ribbentrop the green light to fly to Moscow.

It is Ribbentrop's shining moment. He will never be in such favor as he is when he returns to Berlin. Hitler, however, gives a speech taking personal credit for the agreement. When Ribbentrop's repeated assurances that the British and French will not intervene to protect Poland are shown to be false only days later, he will quickly fall from grace.

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Molotov and Ribbentrop in Moscow on 23 August 1939.

Pre-War

2019

August 14, 1939: Hitler Decides To Attack Poland

Monday 14 August 1939

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Hitler at the Berghof, 14 August 1939.

German Military Strategy: On this day, Adolf Hitler holds a meeting at the Berghof in Berchtesgaden with his ministers and military leaders. He declares that it is his unalterable will to invade Poland later that month. He sets a tentative date of 26 August. The code for the operation is Case White (code names were sometimes re-used).

On the same day, Hitler decides to send Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Moscow to see if he can arrange an alliance with the Soviets. Moscow had been signaling since the spring (such as by Stalin replacing a pro-Western foreign minister with his crony Molotov, seen as more pro-German) that it was interested in developing closer relations with Germany. The feeling in Berlin was that Soviet Premier Josef Stalin had felt betrayed by the Western Allies' 1938 Munich Agreement, and believed he could not trust them. In addition, Stalin felt that the western powers had snubbed him, most recently by sending two low-ranking officers to see him about a military alliance rather than someone more senior.

Hitler, realizing that a deal might be obtainable against all the odds, instructed his Foreign Minister to go in person (rather than an underling as originally planned) in order to flatter Stalin. At this point, though, there is no indication that anything immediate would come of the talks, and nobody knows how Stalin would react to a German invasion of Poland. For Ribbentrop, it is a sweet chance to get back at the British, who he felt had mistreated him when he was ambassador to England in 1937.

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Joachim von Ribbentrop.

Pre-War

November 9, 1938: Kristallnacht

November 9, 1938

Kristallnacht worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Germany, Holocaust: Kristallnacht is the name given to an organized outburst by Hitler's forces against indigenous Jews and Jewish-owned businesses throughout Germany and Austria. It took place on the night of 9-10 November 1938. It is sometimes described as the beginning of the Holocaust against Jews throughout Europe - though another significant date was 20 January 1942 and the Wannsee Conference..

The genesis of the incident was somewhat convoluted. Herschel Grynszpan was a Polish Jew living in Paris. On 27 October 1938, his family was suddenly expelled from Hanover, Germany, where they had been living since 1911. Some days later, Herschel received a postcard from his family that they had sent from the Polish border. This infuriated Herschel, who immediately bought a pistol and ammunition. In an agitated state, he went to the German embassy on 7 November 1938, asked to see any German official, and met minor functionary Ernst vom Rath. Grynszpan immediately shot vom Rath, hitting him twice and leading to Rath's death on 9 November - coincidentally, the anniversary of the failed 1923 coup that was celebrated widely in Hitler's Germany. Somewhat ironically, the randomly selected vom Rath was an anti-Third Reich conspirator himself under watch by the Gestapo.

The German state reacted instantly to the shooting. Jewish children were barred from elementary schools, Jewish publications were halted, and other harsh measures were adopted. Adolf Hitler, in Munich commemorating the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, canceled a speech. It instead was given by Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels. Goebbels used the speech to incite the events that followed, saying that any reprisals taken against Jews for the shooting were "not to be hampered."

Police forces throughout Greater Germany, primarily SA Brownshirts, immediately took the hint and began destroying Jewish businesses and institutions. Some 200 synagogues were destroyed, over 7,000 Jewish stores and Jewish cemeteries were vandalized. In addition, many Jews were beaten to death or injured, and 30,000 men reportedly were sent to concentration camps. The Jewish community also was fined 1 billion reichsmarks. All of this greatly understates the damage to the Jewish community.

Not everyone in the German hierarchy was pleased. Some saw it as an example of Goebbels leveraging his friendship with Hitler to his own political advantage. Hermann Goering was in charge of economic policy, and he had to use scarce foreign currency to repair the damage. Plate glass, for instance, had to import, and Goering complained loudly about the expense at the next cabinet meeting. Many of the Jewish businesses were actually renting from non-Jewish landlords, and much was insured by the non-Jewish German insurance industry. Heinrich Himmler also thought that Goebbels had been "stupid" for having incited the riots - he likely felt that the Jews could have been destroyed without the damage and diplomatic fall-out. Relations with other countries - which theretofore had been correct, if adversarial - were poisoned, and Germany became a pariah state except amongst its closest allies.

There is speculation that Goebbels was really only seeking to curry favor with Hitler due to clouds hanging over his own head regarding his infidelities, and also simply to enhance his standing within the party after some ineffective propaganda efforts. However, he was simply taking advantage of hatred and resentment that had been building throughout the German dominions. He lit the fuse, but the box of dynamite already was there.

Josef Goebbels around the time of Kristallnacht, minding his children.

Pre-War

Sunday, November 22, 2015

February 27, 1933: Reichstag Fire

February 27, 1933

Reichstag Fire worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Politics, Germany: Having only recently been appointed Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was anxious to consolidate his power. Within a month, that hope became a certainty with the Reichstag Fire of 27 February 1933.

Hitler's initial plan to achieve dominion was through the ballot box. Elections were planned for 5 March 1933. Despite the power of Hitler's NSDAP, it never had achieved a majority of the vote. A week before the vote, though, a fire broke out in the Reichstag during the evening. Hermann Goering was on the site of the fire quickly to coordinate firefighting efforts, but the building was gutted.

Suspicion focused immediately on communist insurgents. Marinus van der Lubbe, a young communist, was captured at the scene and took credit for the fire. He alone was convicted of it, and he was beheaded in January 1934. There is a reason to believe that van der Lubbe was insane, and in any event, his conviction was overturned decades after the war based on a 1998 German law providing that all convictions under Hitler's rule were null and void.

It is easy to assume that because Goering was on the scene that he had something to do with it and used the communist as a patsy. Given Adolf Hitler's free use of false-flag incidents throughout their reign, this is quite possible.

The fire had many consequences aside from the death of van der Lubbe. It led directly to the Reichstag Fire Bill which was passed the day after the fire, and the Enabling Act which was passed on 23 March 1933. Together, those bills created a dictatorship under Adolf Hitler. In addition, the decision of the court not to convict other alleged perpetrators of the fire led Hitler to create a new People's Court which became infamous for handing out death sentences.

The suspect van der Lubbe on trial.

Pre-War

March 23, 1933: The Enabling Act

March 23, 1933

Adolf Hitler worldwartwodaily.filminspector.com

Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House after the passage of the Enabling Act.

Politics, Germany: Having been appointed Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler wasted no time consolidating his power. After the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933, ostensibly the work of Communist terrorists, there was a sense of urgency for the protection of the state. This resulted in the Reichstag Fire Decree of 28 February 1933, which suspended civil liberties in Germany. This was quickly followed by the so-called Enabling Act of 23 March 1933. These two acts essentially imposed martial law on Germany.

The Reichstag and Reichsrat, under obvious coercion by SA members observing the proceedings, passed a bill called "Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich ( "Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich")," afterward called the Enabling Act. In the key part, it provided in Article 3:

Laws enacted by the Reich government shall be issued by the Chancellor and announced in the Reich Gazette.

In essence, the Enabling Act gave Chancellor Hitler absolute power, over and above the constitution, to issue whatever decrees he saw fit. President Paul von Hindenburg quickly signed it into law. The law by its terms lasted four years and was subject to renewal - which it was, twice. The law was entirely constitutional due to Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution then in effect, which specifically gave the legislature the ability to confer such power.

Due to the human death toll that resulted from Hitler's consolidation of power, this bill was one of the most significant of the 20th Century.

Pre-War

June 30, 1934: Night of the Long Knives

June 30, 1934

Night of the Long Knives worldwartwodaily.filmiinspector.com

Politics, Germany: In an effort to consolidate his power, Adolf Hitler embarks on a mass killing spree of various rivals, enemies and occasionally mistaken victims. The incident is given a long-standing German expression for a purge, "The Night of the Long Knives," and the expression comes to refer to this incident alone. The primary intended victims include Ernst Röhm, the head of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary Brownshirts, and Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had opposed and terminated the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. The purge is directed at enemies of the German leaders.

The purge takes place in Germany from Saturday, June 30 to July 2, 1934. There is no known exact figure for the number of people killed. Most estimates are around 100 victims. The Gestapo and the SS under the command of Heinrich Himmler carry out the murders, with the background support of regular Heer and Luftwaffe troops. The code word for the operation is "Hummingbird."

Hitler flies to Munich the night before, with both local troops and the elite SS Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler" honor guard at his disposal. Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders are vacationing at nearby Bad Wiessee. Local leaders tell Hitler that Röhm's men have been taking over the city, which is Hitler's original base, and Hitler tells Goebbels to telephone Goering in Berlin the code word "Kalibri" to begin the purge. Hitler has given Goering complete dictatorial powers to implement the plan using all of the resources of the state. Hitler himself drives out with his boys that morning to Röhm's resort hotel, where (accounts vary) Hitler walks in, finds Röhm with another man, confronts Röhm personally, and orders his arrest.

Ernst Röhm.

Leading figures of the left-wing Strasserist faction of the NSDAP, along with its figurehead, Gregor Strasser, are murdered, as well as prominent conservative anti-Hitler leaders. It is not a political purge except as related to individuals' attitude towards Hitler. Many of those killed are in the SA. Goering personally leads an armed assault on the SA headquarters on Wilhelm Strasse.

Just to give a brief flavor of the victims:

Former Reich Chancellor General von Schleicher (and his wife);
Journalist Fritz Gerlicht, who had betrayed the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch and with whom Goering had a personal score to settle;
The former head of the Prussian Police Erich Klausener, whom Goering had sacked the year earlier;
Berlin SA commander Karl Ernst, pulled off a cruise ship on which he was about to set out on a honeymoon.

It is a highly erratic process. Teams of SS killers seek out people they don't know personally from lists that don't include any other details. A few people are killed by mistake simply because they have a similar name as an intended victim. Some victims get temporary reprieves on orders from the German hierarchy but are shot later anyway when the person "in the know" leaves. A few originally intended victims escape completely, such as Franz von Papen, who is on a hit list but then is spared on Goering's direct order after being arrested. Goering orders some killings completely without Hitler's knowledge, as in the case of a Röhm deputy whom Hitler goes to telephone but then has to be told has been executed. Hitler originally wants to spare Röhm for old time's sake, but Goering and the others convince him otherwise. Decisions are made on the fly, many at the very last moment and many orders are either not carried out or are willfully disobeyed. If you were owed money by Goering or had once looked at him the wrong way, you might not survive the day. They even joked about offing a society lady who annoyed them with her pretensions.

Strangely enough, the entire affair is legal. The Enabling Act of 1933 empowers Hitler to take whatever actions he deems necessary for the good of the state. Hitler is congratulated on his "success" by many German politicians afterwards, sometimes as the killings are still taking place. President Hindenburg, near death from old age, is kept informed throughout and sends a telegram congratulating Hitler on his "energetic and victorious action." Only in 1945 and thereafter at the post-war tribunals do the facts come to light and some wholly inadequate justice dispensed.

Kriegsmarine: Pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee is christened by Gräfin Huberta von Spee, daughter of Vizeadmiral Maximilian Graf von Spee, the ship's namesake, at the Marine Werft, Wilhelmshaven. It glides down the slipway next to its sister ship, the Scharnhorst, also under construction.

Admiral Graf Spee worldwartwo.filminspector.com

US Homefront: At the Amateur Athletic Union national championships at Marquette Stadium in Milwaukee on June 30, 1934, Ralph Metcalfe wins the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, pulling out the former by a hair over Jesse Owens, his biggest rival and future Olympic teammate. Metcalfe becomes the first athlete since the 1890s to win two events in the AAU championships three years in a row. Owens, Metcalfe and Hitler will all meet in August 1936 at the Olympic Games.

Jesse Owens Ralph Metcalfe worldwartwo.filminspector.com

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Wednesday 2 August 1939

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September 30, 1938

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September 1939

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February 27, 1933

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