30 August 1938

"The Cabinet held its meeting today, and the Government took one really ‘important decision’: to do nothing. Nevile Henderson attended the meeting to shed light on some issues. Tomorrow he is returning to Berlin, but contrary to yesterday’s rumours he is not carrying a ‘personal letter’ from Chamberlain to Hitler. He is not even meant to seek a meeting with Hitler or Ribbentrop. So, ‘wait and see’. England’s favourite policy!

* * *

An acquaintance of mine passed Halifax’s words to me: even though no decisions were taken at today’s Cabinet meeting, it was ascertained after three hours of debate that all ministers except one (who could it be? Kingsley Wood?) consider it impossible for Britain to stand aside if war breaks out over Czechoslovakia.

Very good. But what practical conclusions can be drawn from the above?
There may be two possible conclusions.

The first is to provide effective support to Czechoslovakia now, scare Hitler, and thus avert a war.

The second is to exert ‘friendly’ pressure on Czechoslovakia to the extent that it would surrender entirely to Hitler without fighting, and thus avoid war.

I have a strong suspicion that the Cabinet might draw the second conclusion."

"[Unbeknownst to Maisky, Chamberlain had just come up with the most ‘unconventional and daring’ plan ‘Z’, which ‘took Halifax’s breath away’: if the crisis in Czechoslovakia continued, he proposed to fly to Germany and meet Hitler to avert war.

On the eve of his departure for Geneva on 2 September, Litvinov asked Payart the French chargé d’affaires in Moscow, to convey to Bonnet the French foreign minister, that the Soviet Union stood steadfastly by its contractual commitments to Czechoslovakia in the event of an attack on her by Germany. He called for an immediate conference between Great Britain, France and the USSR to coincide with consultations between the representatives of the Soviet, French and Czech armed forces.
Payart, however, concealed the essence of the message (which he considered, without any reason, to be insincere) from his superiors.
Briefed by Litvinov, Maisky followed his own counsel, disclosing to wide circles the content of the proposals made to Payart.]"

31 August 1938

"Sir Horace Wilson visited me today and we had lunch together.
Wilson’s mood was completely different from how it had been four months ago. Then he had been full of energy, self-confidence and optimism. He believed that, together with Chamberlain, he was about to inscribe a new and glorious page into the book of European ‘appeasement’. Now W. looked somewhat gloomy, anxious and faded. And conversations with him assumed a despondent, almost panicky tone.
Indeed, the flowers have shed their petals and the fires died out...Hitler clearly inspires panic in him. He expects little but trouble from him. The four-power pact has retreated to a hazy distance. Czechoslovakia is the key problem today. If it is lost, the creation of ‘Mitteleuropa’ will be inevitable.

‘But if you are so well aware of the paramount importance of the Czechoslovak problem,’ I remarked, ‘why is Britain unwilling to take a clear and resolute stand? It could indeed restrain Hitler and prevent war.’
In reply, W. began to harp on the usual English tune. Public opinion ‘won’t understand’ a war over Czechoslovakia, the dominions are against the interference of their mother country in European affairs, the British rearmament programme is far from being completed (the production of aeroplanes only began to accelerate last July). France, Britain’s closest ally, is internally weak in financial, political and military terms (French aviation is not up to the mark, etc.). If only the conflict could be postponed for twelve or at least six months, Britain would feel stronger and everything would be different.

This familiar tune drove me out of my wits and I took the bull by the horns: ‘Let us assume,’ I began, ‘that public opinion won’t agree “to fight for Czechoslovakia”, as you say, though in fact the matter concerns not so much Czechoslovakia as the future of the British Empire. Let us assume this is really so, but isn’t it possible to put forward a slogan that is more comprehensible and closer to the ordinary Englishman, such as, “We will back France under any conditions”?’

W. shrugged his shoulders and began thinking aloud. Of course, a resolute statement like that could, quite probably, forestall a war. But that means challenging Germany! What for? To avert a hypothetical danger that will not become pressing for a few more years? How can one take responsibility for this? Fine if Hitler becomes scared. But what if he doesn’t? What if he charges on? It’s terrifying! No, better to wait and see. Maybe things will sort themselves out one way or another.

This is how the chief adviser to the prime minister feels today."

31 August 1939

"Another day of tension and suspense.
At about five o’clock, Agniya and I got into a small car and drove around town to see what was going on. It was the end of the working day. The usual hustle and bustle in the streets, on the underground, and on the buses and trams. But no more than usual. All the shops are trading. The cafés are open. The newspaper vendors shout out the headlines. In general, the city looks normal. Only the sandbags under the windows and the yellow signs with arrows pointing to the nearest bomb shelters indicate that England is on the verge of war.

In the evening, Agniya and I went to the Globe to see Oscar Wilde’s delicious comedy The Importance of Being Earnest. The actors were superb. An image of the ‘good old times’ – without automobiles, radio, airplanes, air raids, Hitlers and Mussolinis – seemed to come alive. People were funny and naive then, to judge by today’s standards. We laughed for two hours. That’s something to be grateful for.

When we got back from the theatre, the radio brought sensational news: the 16 points which Hitler demands from Poland. The immediate return of Danzig, a plebiscite in the ‘Corridor’, an international committee made up of Italian, British, French and Soviet representatives, a vote in 1940, and so on and so forth.

What’s this? A step back? Slowing down? I doubt it. It’s too late for Hitler to retreat. It’s almost certainly a manoeuvre. Is it an attempt to hoodwink the world’s public and perhaps the German people as well before a decisive ‘leap’?"

01 September 1939

"Yesterday’s doubts have been fully justified. Today, early in the morning, Germany attacked Poland without any prior warning and began bombing Polish cities. The Polish army and air force are putting up strong resistance everywhere.
So, war has begun. A great historical knot has been loosened. The first stone has rolled down the slope. Many more will follow. Today, the world has crossed the threshold of a new epoch. It will emerge from it much changed. The time of great transformations in the life of humankind is nigh.

[...]

Chamberlain, looking terribly depressed and speaking in a quiet, lifeless voice, confessed that 18 months ago (when Eden retired!) he prayed not to have to take upon himself the responsibility for declaring war, but now he fears that he will not be able to avoid it.
But the true responsibility for the unleashing of war lies not with the prime minister, but ‘on the shoulders of one man – the German Chancellor’, who has not hesitated to hurl mankind into the abyss of immense suffering ‘to serve his senseless ambitions’.

Chamberlain declared that today the British and French ambassadors in Germany handed Ribbentrop a note demanding that the German Government stop Germany’s aggression against Poland and withdraw German troops from her territory. Should this not be done (and the PM, of course, did not expect the demand to be fulfilled), the British and French ambassadors would have to ask for their passports, and Britain and France would come to the aid of Poland using all the means available to them.

This would mean war, a long and hard war, but ‘it only remains for us to grit our teeth and see it through to the end’. Strong and serious words. At times, Chamberlain even tried to bang his fist on the famous ‘box’ on the Speaker’s table. But everything cost him such torment and was expressed with such despair in his eyes, voice and gestures that it was sickening to watch him. And this is the head of the British Empire at the most critical moment in its history! He is not the head of the British Empire, but its grave-digger!...Unless an extraordinary miracle happens at the very last moment, Britain will find itself at war with Germany within the next 48 hours."

03 September 1939

"Today, the denouement really did take place.

At 9 a.m. Henderson, acting on instructions from London, handed Ribbentrop the ‘final note’, in which the British Government asked the German Government to present by 11 a.m. its final response to the note of 1 September, which contained the demand to withdraw German troops from Polish territory.
In addition, the British Government warned that if the German Government failed to present its reply before eleven o’clock, this would signify the breaking-off of relations and the beginning of war.

It goes without saying that no reply followed from Hitler. As a result, the prime minister went on air at 11.15 a.m. and declared that, as of then, Britain was at war with Germany.

Half an hour later the air filled with the bellowing sounds of the siren. People scampered off to their houses, the streets emptied, and cars stopped in the road. What was it? A drill? Or a genuine raid by German bombers?

Fifteen minutes of tension and anxiety – then we heard the prolonged siren wail: ‘all clear’! It had been just a drill. There were no enemy planes.

I got to Parliament by midday. I was a couple of minutes late because of the alarm. I took the first available seat in the second row. Chamberlain was already speaking. A darkened, emaciated face. A tearful, broken voice. Bitter, despairing gestures. A shattered, washed-up man. However, to do him justice, the prime minister did not hide the fact that catastrophe had befallen him.

‘This is a sad day for all of us,’ he said, ‘and to none is it sadder than to me. Everything that I have worked for, everything that I hoped for, everything that I have believed in during my public life – has crashed into ruins.’ I sat, listened and thought: ‘This is the leader of a great Empire on a crucial day of its existence! An old, leaky, faded umbrella! Whom can he save? If Chamberlain remains prime minister for much longer, the Empire is ruined.’"

08 September 1940

"It seems that the Germans themselves have realized the futility of their former tactics, because just yesterday they switched to new techniques of air warfare.

The Germans undertook a massive and intensive air raid of London yesterday afternoon. It was the first raid conducted on such a scale and with such intensity since the beginning of the war. The British were evidently shocked by the surprise attack and responded rather weakly. As a result the Germans succeeded in setting the dockyards on fire and demolishing many buildings and workers’ houses in the East End. The fire is still raging today.

I drove around the East End and stood on the hill in Greenwich Park from where I could clearly see columns of fire and clouds of smoke rising from various locations in the port. They say as many as 400 have been killed and 1,500 wounded. Raids continued throughout the night of the 7th to the 8th. German planes went on pounding the city, taking their bearings from the tongues of fire.

The workers’ districts – the East End and Kilburn – suffered most of all. Many proletarian shacks have been destroyed. Industrial facilities, power stations, gas plants and so on have escaped serious damage. The Finnish embassy, though, has been wrecked.

I don’t know whether or not the Germans are targeting military objects; if they are, they are doing a bad job of it.

It’s hardly surprising: yesterday and today the German planes have been flying at an altitude of about 7 kilometres. British resistance last night was very feeble. The sky was ablaze with searchlights, but they rarely picked out the enemy planes. The antiaircraft guns were mostly silent. Strange.

The people are greatly alarmed at the absence of any proper retaliation. The Government will face serious difficulties if this continues."