Their Finest Hour (69 page)

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When the conferences were resumed on November 15:

Molotov mentioned the question of the strip of Lithuanian territory and emphasised that the Soviet Government had not received any clear answer yet from Germany on this question. However, it awaited a decision. Regarding the Bukovina, he admitted that this involved an additional territory, one not mentioned in the secret protocol. Russia had at first confined her demands to Northern Bukovina. Under the present circumstances, however, Germany must understand the Russian interest in Southern Bukovina. But Russia had not received an answer to her question regarding this subject either. Instead, Germany had guaranteed the entire territory of Rumania and completely disregarded Russia’s wishes with regard to Southern Bukovina.

The Fuehrer replied that it would mean a considerable concession on the part of Germany if even part of Bukovina were to be occupied by Russia….

Molotov, however, persisted in the opinion previously stated: that the revisions desired by Russia were insignificant.

The Fuehrer replied that if German-Russian collaboration was to show positive results in the future, the Soviet Government would have to understand that Germany was engaged in a life-and-death struggle which at all events she wanted to conclude successfully…. Both sides agreed in principle that Finland belonged to the Russian sphere of influence. Instead, therefore, of continuing a purely theoretical discussion, they should rather turn to more important problems.

After the conquest of England, the British Empire would be apportioned as a gigantic world-wide estate in bankruptcy of forty million square kilometres. In this bankrupt estate there would be for Russia access to the ice-free and really open ocean. Thus far a minority of forty-five million Englishmen had ruled six hundred million inhabitants of the British Empire. He was about to crush this minority. Even the United States was actually doing nothing but picking out of this bankrupt estate a few items particularly suitable to the United States. Germany, of course, would like to avoid any conflict which would divert her from her struggle against the heart of the Empire, the British Isles. For that reason, he (the Fuehrer) did not like Italy’s war against Greece, as it diverted forces to the periphery instead of concentrating them against England at one point. The same would occur during a Baltic war. The conflict with England would be fought to the last ditch, and he had no doubt that the defeat of the British Isles would lead to the dissolution of the Empire. It was a chimera to believe that the Empire could possibly be ruled and held together from Canada. Under those circumstances there arose world-wide perspectives. During the next few weeks they would have to be settled in joint diplomatic negotiations with Russia, and Russia’s participation in the solution of these problems would have to be arranged. All the countries which could possibly be interested in the bankrupt estate would have to stop all controversies among themselves and concern themselves exclusively with the partition of the British Empire. This applied to Germany, France, Italy, Russia, and Japan.

Molotov replied that he had followed the arguments of the Fuehrer with interest and that he was in agreement with everything that he had understood.

* * * * *

Hitler then retired for the night. After supper at the Soviet Embassy there was a British air raid on Berlin. We had heard of the conference beforehand, and though not invited to join in the discussion did not wish to be entirely left out of the proceedings. On the “Alert” all moved to the shelter, and the conversation was continued till midnight by the two Foreign Secretaries in safer surroundings. The German official account says:

Because of the air raid the two Ministers went into the Reich Foreign Minister’s air-raid shelter at 9.40
P.M.
in order to conduct the final conversation.

.  .  .  .  .

The time was not yet ripe, said Ribbentrop, for discussing the new order of things in Poland. The Balkan issue had already been discussed extensively. In the Balkans we had solely an economic interest, and we did not want England to disturb us there. The granting of the German guarantee to Rumania had apparently been misconstrued by Moscow…. In all its decisions, the German Government was guided solely by the endeavour to preserve peace in the Balkans and to prevent England from gaining a foothold there and from interfering with supplies to Germany. Thus our [German] action in the Balkans was motivated exclusively by the circumstances of our war against England. As soon as England conceded her defeat and asked for peace, German interests in the Balkans would be confined exclusively to the economic field, and German troops would be withdrawn from Rumania. Germany had, as the Fuehrer had repeatedly declared, no territorial interests in the Balkans. He could only repeat again and again that the decisive question was whether the Soviet Union was prepared and in a position to co-operate with us in the great liquidation of the British Empire. On all other questions we would easily reach an understanding if we could succeed in extending our relations and in defining the spheres of influence. Where the spheres of influence lay had been stated repeatedly. It was therefore – as the Fuehrer had so clearly put it – a matter of the interests of the Soviet Union and Germany requiring that the partners stand not breast to breast but back to back, in order to support each other in the achievement of their aspirations.

In his reply Molotov stated that the Germans were assuming that the war against England had already actually been won. If, therefore, as had been said in another connection, Germany was waging a life-and-death struggle against England, he could only construe this as meaning that Germany was fighting “for life” and England “for death.” As to the question of collaboration, he quite approved of it, but he added that they had [to] come to a thorough understanding. This idea had also been expressed in Stalin’s letter. A delimitation of the spheres of influence must also be sought. On this point, however, he (Molotov) could not take a definitive stand at this time, since he did not know the opinion of Stalin and of his other friends in Moscow in the matter. However, he had to state that all these great issues of tomorrow could not be separated from the issues of today and the fulfilment of existing agreements….

Thereupon Herr Molotov cordially bade farewell to the Reich Foreign Minister, stressing that he did not regret the air-raid alarm, because he owed to it such an exhaustive conversation with the Reich Foreign Minister.

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When in August, 1942, I first visited Moscow I received from Stalin’s lips a shorter account of this conversation which in no essential differs from the German record, but may be thought more pithy.

“A little while ago,” said Stalin, “the great complaint against Molotov was that he was too pro-German. Now everyone says he is too pro-British. But neither of us ever trusted the Germans. For us it was always life and death.” I interjected that we had been through this ourselves, and so knew how they felt. “When Molotov,” said the Marshal, “went to see Ribbentrop in Berlin in November of 1940, you got wind of it and sent an air raid.” I nodded. “When the alarm sounded, Ribbentrop led the way down many flights of stairs to a deep shelter sumptuously furnished. When he got inside, the raid had begun. He shut the door and said to Molotov: ‘Now here we are alone together. Why should we not divide?’ Molotov said: ‘What will England say?’ ‘England,’ said Ribbentrop, ‘is finished. She is no more use as a Power.’ ‘If that is so,’ said Molotov, ‘why are we in this shelter, and whose are these bombs which fall?’ ”

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The Berlin conversations made no difference to Hitler’s deep resolve. During October, Keitel, Jodl, and the German General Staff had under his orders been forming and shaping the plans for the eastward movement of the German armies and for the invasion of Russia in the early summer of 1941. It was not necessary at this stage to decide on the exact date, which might also be affected by the weather. Having regard to the distances to be traversed after the frontiers were crossed, and the need of taking Moscow before the winter began, it was obvious that the beginning of May offered the best prospects. Moreover, the assembly and deployment of the German Army along the two-thousand-mile front from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and the provision of all the magazines, camps, and railway sidings, was in itself one of the largest military tasks ever undertaken, and no delay either in planning or in action could be tolerated. Over all hung the vital need for concealment and deception.

For this purpose two separate forms of cover were used by Hitler, each of which had advantages of its own. The first was an elaborate negotiation about a common policy based on the partition and distribution of the British Empire in the East. The second was the domination of Rumania, Bulgaria, and Greece, with Hungary on the way, by a steady influx of troops. This offered important military gains, and at the same time masked or presented an explanation for the building-up of the German armies on the southern flank of the front to be developed against Russia.

The negotiations took the form of draft proposals by Germany for the accession of Soviet Russia to the Three-Power Pact at the expence of British interests in the Orient. If Stalin had accepted this scheme events might for a time have taken a different course. It was possible at any moment for Hitler to suspend his plans for invading Russia. We cannot attempt to describe what might have happened as the result of an armed alliance between the two great empires of the Continent, with their millions of soldiers, to share the spoil in the Balkans, Turkey, Persia, and the Middle East, with India always in the background and with Japan as an eager partner in the “Greater East Asia Scheme.” But Hitler’s heart was set on destroying the Bolsheviks, for whom his hatred was mortal. He believed that he had the force to gain his main life-aim. Thereafter all the rest would be added unto him. He must have known from the conversations at Berlin and other contacts that the proposals which he made Ribbentrop send to Moscow fell far short of Russian ambitions.

A draft, bearing no date, of a Four-Power Pact was found in the captured correspondence of the German Foreign Office with the German Embassy in Moscow. This apparently formed the basis for Schulenburg’s conversation with Molotov reported on November 26, 1940. By this Germany, Italy, and Japan were to agree to respect each other’s natural spheres of influence. In so far as these spheres of interest came into contact with each other, they would constantly consult each other in an amicable way with regard to the problems arising therefrom.

Germany, Italy, and Japan declared on their part that they recognised the present extent of the possessions of the Soviet Union and would respect them.

The Four Powers undertook to join no combination of Powers and to support no combination of Powers which was directed against one of the Four Powers. They would assist each other in economic matters in every way and would supplement and extend the agreements existing among themselves. The agreement would continue for a period of ten years.

To this there was to be a secret protocol by which Germany declared that, apart from the territorial revisions in Europe to be carried out at the conclusion of peace, her territorial aspirations centred in the territories of Central Africa; Italy declared that, apart from territorial revisions in Europe, her territorial aspirations centred in the territories of Northern and Northeastern Africa; Japan declared that her territorial aspirations centred in the area of Eastern Asia to the south of the Island Empire of Japan; and the Soviet Union declared that its territorial aspirations centred south of the national territory of the Soviet Union in the direction of the Indian Ocean.

The Four Powers declared that, reserving the settlement of specific questions, they would mutually respect these territorial aspirations and would not oppose their achievement.
³

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As was expected, the Soviet Government did not accept the German project. They were alone with Germany in Europe, and at the other side of the world Japan lay heavy upon them. Nevertheless they had confidence in their growing strength and in their vast expanse of territory, amounting to one-sixth of the land-surface of the globe. They therefore bargained toughly. On November 26, 1940, Schulenburg sent to Berlin the draft of the Russian counter-proposals. These stipulated that the German troops should be immediately withdrawn from Finland, which, under the Compact of 1939, belonged to the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence; that within the next few months the security of the Soviet Union in the Straits should be assured by the conclusion of a mutual assistance pact between the Soviet Union and Bulgaria, which geographically is situated inside the security zone of the Black Sea boundaries of the Soviet Union, and by the establishment of a base for land and naval forces of the U.S.S.R. within range of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles by means of a long-term lease; that the area south of Batum and Baku in the general direction of the Persian Gulf should be recognised as the centre of the aspirations of the Soviet Union; that Japan should renounce her rights to concessions for coal and oil in Northern Sakhalin.

No effective answer was returned to this document. No attempt was made by Hitler to split the difference. Issues so grave as these might well justify a prolonged and careful study in a friendly spirit by both sides. The Soviets certainly expected and awaited an answer. Meanwhile on both sides of the frontier the forces, already heavy, began to grow, and Hitler’s right hand reached out towards the Balkans.

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The plans prepared on his instructions by Keitel and Jodl had by now reached sufficient maturity to enable the Fuehrer to issue from his headquarters on December 18, 1940, his historic Directive Number 21.

OPERATION
B
ARBAROSSA

The German Armed Forces must be prepared
to crush Soviet Russia in a quick campaign
⁴
even before the conclusion of the war against England.

For this purpose the
Army
will have to employ all available units, with the reservation that the occupied territories must be secured against surprise attacks.

For the Air Force it will be a matter of releasing such strong forces for the eastern campaign in support of the Army that a quick completion of the ground operations may be expected and that damage to Eastern German territory by enemy air attacks will be as slight as possible. This concentration of the main effort in the East is limited by the requirement that the entire combat and armament area dominated by us must remain adequately protected against enemy air attacks, and that the offensive operations against England, particularly her supply lines, must not be permitted to break down.

The main effort of the
Navy
will remain unequivocally directed against
England
even during an eastern campaign.

I shall order the
concentration
against Soviet Russia possibly eight weeks before the intended beginning of operations.

Preparations requiring more time to begin are to be started now – if this has not yet been done – and are to be completed by
May 15, 1941.

It is to be considered of decisive importance, however, that the intention to attack is not discovered.

The preparations of the High Commands are to be made on the following basis:

 

I.
General Purpose:

The mass of the Russian
Army
in Western Russia is to be destroyed in daring operations, by driving forward deep armoured wedges, and the retreat of units capable of combat into the vastness of Russian territory is to be prevented.

In quick pursuit a line is then to be reached from which the Russian Air Force will no longer be able to attack German Reich territory. The ultimate objective of the operation is to establish a defence line against Asiatic Russia from a line running approximately from the Volga River to Archangel. Then, in case of necessity, the last industrial area left to Russia in the Urals can be eliminated by the Luftwaffe.

In the course of these operations the Russian
Baltic Sea Fleet
will quickly lose its bases and thus will no longer be able to fight.

Effective intervention by the Russian
Air Force
is to be prevented by powerful blows at the very beginning of the operation.

 

II.
Probable Allies and their Tasks:

1. On the flanks of our operation we can count on the active participation of
Rumania
and
Finland
in the war against Soviet Russia.

The High Command will in due time concert and determine in what form the armed forces of the two countries will be placed under German command at the time of their intervention.

2. It will be the task of
Rumania,
together with the force concentrating there, to pin down the enemy facing her, and in addition to render auxiliary services in the rear area.

3.
Finland
will cover the concentration of the redeployed German
North Group
(parts of the XXI Group) coming from Norway and will operate jointly with it. Besides, Finland will be assigned the task of eliminating Hango.

4. It may be expected that
Swedish
railroads and highways will be available for the concentration of the German North Group, from the start of operations at the latest.

 

III.
Direction of Operations:

A.
Army
(hereby approving the plans presented to me):

In the zone of operations divided by the Pripet Marshes into a southern and northern sector, the main effort will be made
north
of this area. Two Army Groups will be provided here.

The southern group of these two Army Groups – the centre of the entire front – will be given the task of annihilating the forces of the enemy in White Russia by advancing from the region around and north of Warsaw with especially strong armoured and motorised units….Only a surprisingly fast collapse of Russian resistance could justify aiming at both objectives simultaneously….

The Army Group employed south of the Pripet Marshes
is to make its main effort in the area from Lublin in the general direction of Kiev, in order to penetrate quickly with strong armoured units into the deep flank and rear of the Russian forces and then to roll them up along the Dnieper River.

The German-Rumanian groups on the right flank are assigned the task of:

(a)
protecting Rumanian territory and thereby the southern flank of the entire operation;

(b)
pinning down the opposing enemy forces while Army Group South is attacking on its northern flank and, according to the progressive development of the situation and in conjunction with the Air Force, preventing their orderly retreat across the Dniester during the pursuit;

[and]
in the north,
of reaching Moscow quickly.

The capture of this city means a decisive success politically and economically, and, beyond that, the elimination of the most important railway centre.

B.
Air Force
:

Its task will be to paralyse and to eliminate as far as possible the intervention of the Russian Air Force, as well as to support the Army at its main points of effect, particularly those of Army Group Centre and, on the flank, those of Army Group South. The Russian railroads, in the order of their importance for the operations, will be cut or the most important near-by objectives (river crossings) seized by the bold employment of parachute and airborne troops.

In order to concentrate all forces against the enemy Air Force and to give immediate support to the Army, the armament industry will not be attacked during the main operations. Only after the completion of the mobile operations may such attacks be considered – primarily against the Ural region….

IV. All orders to be issued by the Commanders-in-Chief on the basis of this directive must clearly indicate that they are
precautionary measures
for the possibility that Russia should change her present attitude towards us. The number of officers to be assigned to the preparatory work at an early date is to be kept as small as possible; additional personnel should be briefed as late as possible, and only to the extent required for the activity of each individual. Otherwise, through the discovery of our preparations – the date of their execution has not even been fixed – there is danger that most serious political and military disadvantages may arise.

V. I expect reports from the Commanders-in-chief concerning their further plans based on this directive.

The contemplated preparations of all branches of the Armed Forces, including their progress, are to be reported to me through the High Command [
O.K.W.
]

A
DOLF
H
ITLER
⁵

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