4

Appeasement

Spring 1937

Upon the stage of British politics

Another actor rose to eminence.

The time had come for Baldwin to withdraw.

His powers were waning; he was not the man

To meet the challenge posed by Hitler’s threats.

Succeeding him came Neville Chamberlain,

A man of conscience, self-assured, austere,

Who brought to government much efficiency

Acquired by years in peacetime offices.

He sought to understand the claims of those

Who threatened to disrupt the world’s affairs:

If he could meet dictators face to face,

Discuss at length their problems, then assess

What compromise might meet their due demands,

Then none would have recourse to violent means.

Such was his view – negotiate, appease.

The path he trod, convinced of rectitude,

Was far too strait for men of Churchill’s ilk.

When Chamberlain soon planned to recognise

Italian claims on Ethiopia,

Eden resigned as Foreign Minister.

Henceforth he joined with that tiny band

Who stood opposed to Chamberlain’s designs,

And recognised increasingly the need

For Churchill’s hand on Britain’s helm of State.

The sacrifice of office Eden made

Awoke in Churchill feelings of respect,

And yet he also felt a dark despair

At this new step towards the brink of war.

Hitler was not chastened by the thought

That Chamberlain would meet his just demands.

Once more he’d break the treaty, threatening now

The Anschluss with his native Austria.

Courageously the Chancellor Schuschnigg tried

To show by plebiscite his country’s will,

But Hitler’s fury swept away such hopes.

Where music once had charmed the Viennese,

In Summer parks and vacant palaces,

There echoed now the clattering of tanks,

With harsh commands and footsteps of the Reich.

Just at the time when German soldiers marched

To implement the Anschluss, there occurred

A luncheon party at 10 Downing Street.

The guest of honour was von Ribbentrop,

Departing as the Reich’s ambassador,

To be, instead, its Foreign Minister.

Churchill, too, was present, and observed

A note was passed to Neville Chamberlain,

Who then seemed worried and pre-occupied.

Deliberately the Ribbentrops stayed late,

As though to hamper Chamberlain’s desire

To take some action over Austria.

When Churchill rose to leave, and said he hoped

That Anglo-German friendship would endure,

The wife of the ambassador was curt;

‘Make sure you do not spoil it!’ she replied.

The British government only could protest;

But Churchill spoke in quite another vein,

When, on the morrow, he addressed the House:

‘Again a solemn treaty is ignored,

To build, so it is claimed, a greater State;

Yet it transfers the Ostreich’s minerals,

And access to the Danube waterway.

Now south-east Europe lies at Hitler’s feet,

And Czechs and Slovaks henceforth are besieged.

How can appeasement check the Führer’s will?’

Already Wehrmacht generals had prepared

A detailed plan to seize Bohemia.

The pretext was the Czech Sudetenland,

Where Germans claimed they were deprived of rights.

A Nazi party there became the tool

For Hitler’s pressure on the Czech regime.

Their leader, Henlein, would not compromise.

At Hitler’s bidding all he would accept

Was full succession to the German Reich.

In Berlin’s Sportspalast the Führer spoke,

Calling the German people to their fate:

To fight for Lebensraum, for blood and race.

His petty figure, with a small moustache

And puffy features, grey hypnotic eyes,

Black thinning hair that fell across his brow,

Was magnified by words of monstrous power,

Harsh consonants and long emphatic vowels

That rose within him, surging from his throat

With growing volume as the speech progressed.

His grimaces and deft, expressive hands

Conveyed swift moods of satire, or of hate,

And angry exultation. Those who heard

Were moved from dull respect, or apathy,

To yearn for action, violence and revenge.

Upon their mountain lines the Czechs stood firm,

Expecting help from France. Across the world,

The news predicted European war.

At Scapa Flow the naval squadrons watched

For submarines and pocket battleships.

In London air defences were alert.

Trenches were dug amidst the Autumn leaves;

Near public buildings sentries stood on guard.

At main line stations children waved goodbye,

En route to farms and distant cottages.

This was the dress rehearsal for a war

No more confined to fields of Picardy.

No treaty bound the British to the Czechs,

And Chamberlain was eager to redress

Those grievances he thought were genuine.

Alone he flew to Nazi Germany

To wrangle with the Führer face to face.

Nothing could be agreed. A last appeal

Was made to Hitler for a conference.

At Munich airport Chamberlain was hailed

By SS guards of honour. There they met,

The Premiers of Britain and of France,

The Duce and the Führer of the Reich,

To sign away the freedom of the Czechs.

‘This is my final claim’, the Führer said,

‘On territory of European States.’

To London Neville Chamberlain returned,

Proclaiming, as Disraeli once had done,

That peace with honour came from Germany.

In Parliament the great majority

Acclaimed with cheers the Premier’s success,

And, in the country, who did not rejoice

That war had been averted? Who would dare

To speak against what Chamberlain had done

And brave the odium of decent men,

Who did not see his terrible mistake

In thinking he could trust the Führer’s word.

So, in the House, when Churchill rose to say

That we’d sustained a terrible defeat,

A total and unmitigated loss,

A storm of protest interrupted him.

But he continued, standing there unmoved,

Peering above his glasses at these men

Whose views he scorned. ‘Why have we failed to pledge

The safety of the brave and stubborn Czechs?

Now all is over. Silent and bereft,

The Czech Republic falls in the abyss;

Her people ruined, industry curtailed,

And worst of all, the line of forts is lost –

What is to stop the German conqueror?

This is the grievous consequence of years

Of futile good intentions and neglect

Of British power, especially in the air.

We stand devoid of strength, now, in this hour.

In eastern Europe there is little choice.

Each power will seek the best terms it can get.

The Danube valley, with its corn and oil,

Is open to the Germans. From Berlin

Will radiate a new economy.

Relieved of all anxiety in the east,

The Nazi rulers have a freer choice.

Next year their army will exceed the French.

We have but added four battalions here,

Whilst Germany has gained in hundreds more.

We have not just abandoned one small State,

A long way off, as once our Premier said,

And of which we know nothing. Not at all!

We have to think of what the Nazis are.

Of German people we make no complaint;

Our hearts go out to them. They have no power.

But, with their Nazi leaders, nothing more

Than diplomatic contacts should be made.

Our democratic life and Nazi rule

Can have no friendship. Are we to depend

Upon their will; to meet with their demands?’

At this point Churchill paused. He looked most grim,

And rubbed his hands, quite slowly, on his coat,

The fingers all extended, whilst he thought,

And then, as though selecting every phrase,

He spoke again, yet more deliberately.

‘What measures can we take in our defence?

Our island’s independence has been lost

By weakness in the air. We must regain it.

All our efforts must seek this one end:

Creation of an air force strong enough

To vanquish any that may reach our shores.

I do not grudge our people – brave and loyal,

Who never flinched last week beneath the strain –

I do not grudge them their relief and joy

At learning that they would not have to face

The worst ordeal at this, the present, time.

But they should know the truth; that we sustained,

Without a war, defeat. That we have passed

A milestone in our history, and have seen

The whole of Europe terribly deranged.

Do not suppose that this is now the end.

This is the foretaste of a bitter cup,

Which will be proffered to us year by year.’

Though in the country many came to feel

That Churchill’s view was right – that none could trust

The word of Adolf Hitler – only few,

Amongst the politicians, lent support:

Eden, Bracken, Boothby, Nicolson,

And now Duff Cooper, who alone resigned

In protest at the Munich settlement.

Yet soon new evidence of Nazi crime

Was shown to the world. A Jewish youth,

Outraged by how his parents were expelled

From where they lived at home in Germany,

Shot dead a German diplomat in...