PZ 5749/39(1) 'Propaganda: Articles forwarded to Persian Gulf, Kabul & Katmandu for dissemination' [‎217r] (433/715)

consequence of this refusal, the Polish Government mobilised part
of its forces (the German army was already largely mobilised), and
the British guarantee to Poland was given on the 31st March.
12. The Ides of March constituted in fact the parting of the
r ways and were directly responsible for everything which happened
thereafter. Thenceforward no small nation in Europe could feel
itself secure from some new adaptation of Nazi racial superiority
and jungle law. The Polish guarantee was followed by unilateral
guarantees on Britain’s part to Greece and Boumania as well as by
an attempt on the part of the British and French Governments to
induce the U.S.S.R. to join in a peace front against aggression,
ill-faith and oppression. The Nazi Government, for its part and
with considerable success in Germany, represented this attempt as
a renewal of the alleged pre-war British policy of encirclement. As
a war-cry for the German people it was exceedingly effective up to
the signature of the Russo-German non-aggression pact on the
28rd August. The rest of Nazi propaganda was on two entirely
contradictory lines either of which was destined, according to the
development of the situation, to serve Herr Hitler’s purpose. The
first spread the persistent report that Britain would never go to war
for the sake of Danzig. It was calculated to undermine the confidence
of the Poles and to shake the faith of the smaller Powers, as well
as of the United States of America, in the determination of Britain
to resist any further German aggression. The second represented
Britain as resolved to make war at the first opportunity on Germany
in any case and in order to crush her before she became a too
formidable political and economic rival. Both were fallacies but
the Germans are a credulous race and, since the first has failed,
it is the latter argumentation which forms the basis of Germany’s
present war propaganda.
13. Up to the beginning of August, though the clouds were
black and the peace front negotiations dragged on interminably, the
situation remained serious but not immediately dangerous. Instead,
however, of there being any sign of a relaxation of tension at Danzig
the position there had gradually become more and more strained.
From the end of March till the end of August all personal contact
between Warsaw and Berlin was suspended. The remilitarisation
of the Free City, alleged by the Germans to be purely defensive, but
no less adaptable for offensive purposes, had proceeded apace, and
other measures had been taken indicative of a German intention to
effect a sudden coup there. The Poles for their part, in view of
the great increase in arms smuggling, had been obliged to strengthen
their customs inspectors by a number of frontier guards. They had
also taken certain economic counter-measures of a nature to
prejudice the trade of the Free City.
14. What was, however, even more ominous were the extensive
preparations which were being made by the Germans for the