The 48 hours after the march into the
Rhineland were the most nerve-racking of
my life. If the French had opposed us then
we would have had to withdraw. Our forces
were not strong enough to even put up
with moderate resistance."

The 48 hours after the march into the
Rhineland were the most nerve-racking of
my life. If the French had opposed us then
we would have had to withdraw. Our forces
were not strong enough to even put up
with moderate resistance."

The British were busy all through early 1939 trying to negotiate an agreement with the Soviet Union. Even up to the stunning surprise of the Von Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, a success in the British negotiations was awaited. The Poles were against it; they wanted no truck with Moscow. But I thought the British-Soviet negotiations would succeed in spite of the Poles, and said so. Now that this is all in the past, one sees that Stalin signed the pact with Hitler for two reasons, one being to partition a hostile Poland and annex a part of it, the other being to buy time to prepare for an attack Hitler might launch against the Soviet Union."