A Tax Examination

[Adler]

Braunschweig, German Reich, February 1932

Adolf Hitler wanted to become a German. He had been an Austrian subject despite the fact living in Germany and fighting for it. Indeed he wasn't an Austrian subject any more, as he had lost the nationality in 1925. However, he wanted to become German President in 1932. And so he had a problem. If he really was allowed to run for the office as Reichspräsident he needed the German passport. Until now all German states had refused to naturalize him. The only other possibility to become a German citizen was to become an official of one German state. Several attempts had been made before, but all had failed. Now, early February 1932, the NSDAP in Braunschweig was negotiating with the DVP. Hitler should become Regierungsrat in the Braunschweig embassy in Berlin.

POD: Although the DVP was positive, DVP leader Dingeldey demanded a police testimony and tax testimony, that everything was allright.

So several tax collectors from Braunschweig were examining the tax books of Hitler. Although he was a millionaire, he did not pay enough taxes. The income from his book "Mein Kampf" were not taxed at all.

Although this examination was done in secrecy like the whole affair, the result was published and led to the famous 1932 Tax Scandal. The DVP went on distance to Hitler very fast and refused to make him an official. They justified their actions as help for a former German soldier of ww1. They argued, they wanted to make no mistake in this case and so they had to proof him, like they would have done with every other foreigner, who wanted to become an official. And this time the examination found a mistake, which they could not forgive so fast, especially as millions of Reichsmark were not paid, and that in a time, where the Germans needed every Mark and when over six millions were out of work.

Hitler stood in front of the ruins of his career. He did not become a German and could not run for office. Indeed all he got was troubles with the tax and penal authorities. And a scandal. He needed a new plan.

TBC

Adler

P.S.: This is no invented story but true. Hitler became some difficulties with the tax authorities when he was already chancellor. Now he had them a little earlier.

 

[Adler]

Election of the Reichspräsident

On March 1st Adolf Hitler was arrested because of defraudation of tax. Shortly before Reichspräsident Hindenburg had declared to run for office again. Ernst Thälmann would run for the KPD and Gustav A. Winter for the victims of the inflation. As Hitler could not run for office, the NSDAP was in severe troubles whom to run. Now it was the hour of the Strasser brothers. They tried to take over the party. Indeed they achieved to let Gregor run for the office. However, an internal opposition under Himmler, Göring and Goebbels was formed. They were still loyal to Hitler, who was furious to see the Strassers run for the office.

As the Strassers needed now support in the centre, they tried to alter their left positions. In the speech in the Berlin Sportpalast Gregor made it clear, he would recognize private property, private enterprises, would be against the compulsory acquisition of the industry and against the Soviet system. Strasser also met with industry tycoons to calm them down and possibly to get help from them. But there he achieved little.

Another problem for the brothers was the split of the Harzburg front. After the scandal became public end of February, Hugenberg and Duesterberg did not support the NSDAP any more. In contrast.

For the NSDAP the situation became more and more severe. Not only that many voters would likely go, many donators would do the very same. Indeed it was only the money of Fritz Thyssen, who saved the campaign and the party for the moment.

In the campaign the SA and SS were rallying for Strasser. But it became more and more clear that he would lose the elections. Hindenburg had the support of the conservative and liberal parties as well as from the SPD. The SPD fought with Hindenburg, as they feared to become a president of Hitler's grace. The other argument was to keep a "communist disguised as nazi" out of the office. Both, SPD and KPD, fought each other more in these elections as they did with the Nazis.

The election took place on March 13th. Due to the circumstances Gregor Strasser made it to 25,9% of the votes, much more, than it was predicted. Ernst Thälmann got 13,2% and Duesterberg 6,8%. Winter only 0,3%. Hindenburg however, got 54,6% and was reelected.

On Monday, March 14th, Hitler was released. He had made a deal with the tax authorities. He would pay 3 million Reichsmark. That hurt him significantly. He had nothing left as reserves. Furthermore, he had to fight for the leadership of the party again.

TBC

Adler

 

[Adler]

On March 15th Hitler met with his clostest alliies in Munich, Goebbels, Göring and Himmler. He wanted to know the situation. Goebbels told him, the party was about to split between the Strasser brothers and the ones supporting Hitler. However, Röhm had seen the "right" moving of the Strassers as betrayal, so that at least the SA was still loyal to Hitler. But that was not the only problem. Many donators had stopped spending their money for the party. If it continued, the party would be bancrupt in fall. Göring told him, that Hindenburg would now never select him as chancellor. He had talked to his son Oskar, but he made it clear, there was nothing to do. If there was no scandal... Furthermore, he had a talk with v. Hammerstein-Equord last night. He made it clear, too, that the Reichswehr would fight any uprising of the SA. Goebbels added, he had heard rumors about the banning of SA and SS.

Hitler knew now the situation. Last year he had hesitated to make a coup as he did not know, if the Reichswehr would support him. Now he had the choice: Either to make a coup and hope, the Reichswehr would join him nonetheless, which was very unlikely, or to become a private citizen, as the NSDAP had no chances any more.

He knew, what to do.

TBC

Adler

 

[Richter10]

This is a very interesting idea - Hitler got stumped by the Tax auditors! .

What apparently put Germany into a possible Civil War...

 

[Wendell]

This is a very interesting idea - Hitler got stumped by the Tax auditors! .

What apparently put Germany into a possible Civil War...

I'm curious what this might mean for the Strasser brothers in the long term. Although, Roehm moving away from their position here seems too contrived to me.

 

[Adler]

The Strassers were moving away from their "left" position very quickly after the elections. Here I made them doing it a bit earlier. Thus they alianated Röhm, who was still dreaming about a revolution in 1934. Ironically Hitler is now needing Röhm and has to act.

Adler

 

[Pangur]

This is a very interesting idea - Hitler got stumped by the Tax auditors! .

What apparently put Germany into a possible Civil War...

Shades of Al Capone. A very inventive way to remove him from the picture

 

[Adler]

The Civil War

On March 17th at 01.00 AM the Nazi Uprising, also called Munich Uprising of German Civil War, started. Hitler played va banque. Although there were plans for a coup since 1931 at least, they all were made for times of more preparations. Now everything was ordered within two days. It was sped up as Hitler got to know, Wilhelm Groener, minister of the interior, would forbid the SA and SS the very next day, March 18th.

Hitler had lost the control over big parts of the party. Many followed now Strasser. He was "burnt" in their eyes. Luckily he had been able to convince Röhm, so SA and SS were under his control. The SA had 200.000 men and SS had 50.000 men.

So the coup had two directions. Indeed it was a double coup. Once to get control over Germany, but twice, too, to regain the control over the party. One of the tasks was to kill the Strassers and some other members of the party.

Under greatest secrecy Röhm had ordered the mobilisation of his thugs. Officially to make demonstrations, they would be informed not shortly before the coup started.

However, some SA members and a high NSDAP member betrayed Hitler. However, it was way too late to make good preparations as well. So in the first moments of the coup key locations were occupied by the SA. In Berlin Heydrich killed Gregor Strasser but failed to kill Otto. Otto was warned soon enough and could flee.

But not all key locations everywhere could be conquered. Several police stations and military bases were warned and could repell the attackers and go into the offensive. In Hamburg communists attacked the Nazis and made bloody streetfights. The same happened in Saxony.

After the first crucial hours Hitler was aware, that he had failed. Yes, he had succeeded in taking Königsberg, parts of Pommerania and Silesia as well as Braunschweig, the left part of the Rhineland and nearly all of Bavaria, but everywhere else the coup had failed. At some points nothing happened at all, where the SA members did not come or even went home. In other cases they surrendered without a fight. True, there were still some spots in the other territories, where they fought, but that would be over soon enough.

Indeed the last pockets were cleared within three days. On March 20th, after rumors of a Polish invasion came up, the Königsberg SA garrison surrendered to the Reichswehr. While this was not true, nobody reall knows, who made these rumors.

Hitler made radio speeches from Munich, but he wasn't heard any more.

On March 17th General der Infanterie Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord had mobilised the Reichswehr and led them into the fights. The police forces of the states were temporarily under his control. Furthermore, he ordered the private armies of the parties under his control. So excluding the police he controlled also over 3,5 million additional men. The DNVP and the democratic parties had rallied to do so. The DNVP was very aware, that Hitler wanted the power alone. Also they had broke the alliance with him. Furthermore one SS member had tried to kill Hugenberg but failed.

With these forces the Nazi pockets in Pommerania and Silesia fell very fast. Braunschweig surrendered without a fight. Not to enfury foreign powers Reichsbanner units were sent into the Rhineland. Together with the police they were able to reconquer it. On March 26th the Rhineland was liberated, but with higher losses among the Reichsbanner units, as they lacked proper training and equipment.

Only two days later the offensive against Bavaria took place. Reichswehr forces met little resistance at first, but were stopped for a short time near Munich. Here Hitler's last stand took place. Here he had about 100.000 men, among them his SS.

Eventually, on March 31st, Munich was enclosed. Many Nazis had tried to run but were caught. Hitler refused to go. On April 3rd Munich was stormed the first time. Indeed the Nazis were able to repell the first attack. But not the second. After a mock attack from Unterschleißheim in the north, a major assault started in the west from Fürstenfeldbruck.

On April 4th Hitler and his last thugs were enclosed in the Bürgerbräukeller. There were some more pockets, but they were kept isolated. When it was clear, that Hitler was in the Bügerbräukeller the building was stormed by Reichswehr soldiers.

It is still a controversy, who killed Hitler. He was found with a bullet in his head among the defenders. If he killed himself or if he was shot, nobody knows for sure, as his body was cremated and the ashes put into the Danube near Passau at the German-Austrian border.

Hitler was dead and his uprising had failed. Himmler was captured alive and later beheaded because of murder and high treason. Göring had switched the sides in the very last moment and betrayed Hitler. Goebbels committed suicide as did his pregnant wife Magda. Heydrich could escape to Austria.

The uprising was over. But the shock waves ran through Germany, Europe and the world.

TBC

Adler

 

[Adler]

Aftermath, Part 1: The interior consequences

The NSDAP was history. Also in Austria the party needed to be dissolved, indeed so they avoided a ban there as well. Needless to say SA and SS were forbidden as well.

10.954 Nazis and 2.599 Reichswehr soldiers, including Stahlhelm and Reichsbanner, had died. 48.998 Nazis were captured. Most of the lower charges were pardoned. However, 897 Nazis were imprisoned and charged. Of them 601 were found guilty. Although most of them were sentenced to only light penals, there were also some death penalties. One of them was Himmler, who was executed in December 1932.

When the last Nazis surrendered, the martial law, which was in force since March 17th, was put out of force again on April 30th. Shortly after chancellor Brüning was fired, as Hindenburg had lost the faith in him. Indeed he made him responsible, that a civil war had happened, although he had no guilt. But not only Brüning alone had to go. Kurt von Schleicher, who had wanted to use the SA as a kind of militia in times of war, had lost his face as well and resigned.

So it was Wilhelm Groener, who would become chancellor. Originally Franz von Papen was regarded as replacement, but he wasn't chosen because of his ideas to form an alliance with France against the Soviets. But Groener had led the forces in the fights against the Nazis and was regarded well with Hindenburg. So he was chosen.

The Reichstag was disbanded and the elections were to be held on June 4th 1932.

The German party system was shaken as well. The NSDAP was history. With many politicians either dead or captured, the remainders chose either to join the DNVP or entered the newly formed Deutschnationale Faschistische Partei (DNFP), which was founded by Hermann Göring and Otto Strasser.

Surprisingly the elections took place in a calm atmosphere. As most armed forces were still supervising law and order, nobody was really able to make much troubles.

The SPD got 25,6% of all votes, the KPD 20,4, the Zentrum 15,0, the DNFP 10,8, the DNVP 8,2, DVP 4,9, DStP 3,8, BVP 3,2 and others 8,1%. The Weimar coalition (SPD, Zentrum, DVP, DStP, BVP) was restored again. After long talks it was decided to accept Groener as chancellor.

Cabinett Groener (I):

Chancellor: Wilhelm Groener (no party)
Vice Chancellor: Otto Wels (SPD)
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Konstantin v. Neurath (no party)
Minister of Inner affairs: Carl Severing (SPD)
Minister of Finances: Paul Moldenhauer (DVP)
Minister of Justice: Theodor v. Guérard (Zentrum)
Minister of economy: Rudolf Schmidt (SPD)
Minister of Food: Hermann Dietrich (DStP)
Minister of Work: Rudolf Wissel (SPD)
Minister of the Reichswehr: Wilhelm Groender (no party)
Minister of traffic: Adam Stegerwald (Zentrum)
Minister of post: Georg Schätzel (BVP)

Germany had a stable government again, at least for the moment.

But foreign trouble was still existing.

TBC

Adler

 

[Van555]

now take austria! at some point

It just Germany+ Austria looks so nice on the map.

 

[Adler]

Aftermath, Part 2: The foreign consequences

When in February 1932 the Geneva conference World Disarmament Conference started, Germany took part of it, but was not accepted as equal. Ambassador Nadolny tried to change that, when the news about the Nazi uprising changed the situation dramatically.

Before the German Reich argued, that they had kept all disarmament clauses of the Versailles Treaty. However, the other signators did not do so. Indeed the Versailles disarmament was justified, that it was only the first step, and the other nations would disarm as well. That was even again guaranteed in a note from the French to the German government in 1920. However, nothing had happened. Indeed France had even made treaties against Germany with the Poles and the Czechs, not regarding, if it was a defensive or an offensive war.

Until March not much had changed. The uprising did. The German army at once had mobilised the party armies as well. The French were screaming bloody murder. They demanded at once a return to the status quo ante. Nadolny replied, that it was a situation of emergency. He furthermore argued, that it was now obvious, that the Reichswehr was too weak even to cope with a band of Nazi gangsters without help.

Due to the British government supporting partially the German point of view, France did not act against this violation of the Versailles Treaty.

The situation changed again, when the uprising was over. France again demanded the retreat of the German forces in the Rhineland, the disarmament of all party armies and the reducing of the Reichswehr. Nadolny simply said: No.

The French were nearly starting to consider a war, when the British calmed them down. They had been the opinion, that Versailles was a bit too much and needed a revision as well. Furthermore, they did not want to have the Germans becoming Red or Brown. The uprising of a better prepared communistic coup might have been successful. At least that was the point the German delegation had spread in informal talks. The British were sure, that this was at least possible. Also, the French had reacted very hostile towards Germany. And now the balance of power was not existing. It had to be rebalanced.

The talks continued until June only about this topic. Some had wanted to wait for the new government. It was a shock for the French, that Groener remained the chancellor. They had hoped for another chancellor to "negotiate".

On June 19th the new Foreign Minister von Neurath came and held this speech:

Gentlemen,

thirteen years ago my country had to sign the dictate of Versailles. We did so, but only under protest. We had been surrendering, when Wilson's 14 points program was granted as base. We were betrayed. But we had to sign. Again, we were granted an army to be able to defend ourselves. But as the fights with the Poles and the recent uprising tells us, we could not. So we were betrayed again. And we were betrayed a third time, when it was guaranteed, that the other signators would disarm on their own. They did not. In contrast, France signed military alliances against us with several neighbours. This must come to an end. Now.

We do retreat from this conference. It failed. It is senseless for us. Note, that we still don't want to rearm with all means. We still would argue and find a compromise. But we are not even regarded as equals here. Thus we have to go. We are willing to come back, but not before the attitude here has changed dramatically.

Au revoir.

V. Neurath and the whole German delegation left Geneva the very same day. In the meantime the German rearmament started.

TBC

Adler

 

[Adler]

Military Decisions

Shortly after the Nazi uprising started, Minister Groener decided to expand the army after the uprising to 16 infantry divisions with about 18.000 men each and thus more than doubling the army within the next six months after the restoring of peace. Furthermore, a number of new weapon systems was to be introduced.

To speed up the developement of the navy, the cruiser "F" was to be built in early 1933. Plannings for Panzerschiffe D and E were to be sped up. Also two new destroyer types should be developed. Most secretly a new battleship design, several Uboat designs and a new weapon system, a carrier.

For the Luftwaffe about 6 squadrons of fighters with 16 planes, type Ar 64, was to be formed secretly. Do 11 bombers, He 50 Stukas, He 45 and He 46 reconaissance planes and He 59 torpedo bombers were also ordered in low numbers.

The Heer would be enlarged and receive also modern equipment, including tanks. As there was no working designs one thought to buy a foreign design. That could only be Swedish or Soviet designs, as they would be the only ones to sell Germany tanks. Because of better secrecy and a good deal with Stalin, the T-26 tank was chosen. 200 twin turreted tanks were bought and sent to Germany as "farm tractors". Both turrets had an MG and no gun. So it was decided by the Germans to rebuild one turret the way to carry a 3,7 cm gun. As, however, the 1933 plans were acquired as well, the single turreted T-26 was to be built as well. As the 3,7 cm gun was seen as way too small by the tank crews and the 4,5 cm gun of the Soviets better replaced by a German 5 cm gun, it was finally decided to replace the Russian gun with a 5 cm gun. So it was decided to stop the production of the 3,7 cm PAK and replace it with the 5 cm gun as well, despite the resistance of the infantry, which found the 3,7 cm gun as sufficient and not too heavy.

Due to the acquiring of the T-26, used later as PzKw 26 (r) the German developed types I and II were not accepted as being inferior to the T-26. However, bigger tanks were needed later.

Groener was careful not to introduce too many weapons and to make it still possible to rejoin the Geneva talks. And here something happened as well...

TBC

Adler

 

[Adler]

The Geneva Conference of World Disarmament

As soon as Germany had quitted the conference, the alarm bells rang with the Entente Powers. There were long discussions between them what to do. Especially France was a problem. In the end, however, it was decided to try to get the Germans back to the negotiation table. That was better than having them outside.

In early September the Entente powers agreed to reinvite the Germans. The subsequent discussions between them and Germany lasted a month. Finally the Germans returned to the conference. They did so under two conditions.

The first one was the acceptance as equal. This was generally accepted. The second one was the end of paying reparations. Germany should pay another 3 billion Goldmark in obligations with 5% interests. This part should only become in force, if the interallied debt question was solved. However, the USA refused to do so. That's why France and Britain stopped paying the debts. The Germans did so as well. Although not becoming in force, this Treaty of Lausanne effectively ended the payment of reparations.

Back at Geneva the delegations discussed the reduction of the forces. It was discussed, which weapon systems should be seen as offensive and thus banned, or which system was to be seen as defensive. Here the talks were long and not very productive. A German diplomat joked: "When is a tank defensive? If it is a French one. When is an aircraft carrier defensive? If it is a British one. When is a fortress offensive? If it is a German one!"

During the talks the German government was starting to rebuild the forces. The party armies were dissolved, as this was one condition the Entente demanded, and which was accepted to show good will. Groener had already planned something like this. While many of the best soldiers were taken over by the Reichswehr, others were taken over by the new Reichsgrenzschutz. The RGS was seen as a police force in Germany with 40.000 men in two "divisions". Although most of them were stationed in the Rhineland, officially to keep the public order after the civil war, there were two divisions, Division West and Division Ost. They were paramilitaries though and had combat designations for times of war.

In this moment in late 1932 the news of a Franco-Soviet Nonagression pact was made public. Stalin made this turn as he thought to get better terms with the French. Furthermore, he was fearing the German build up. Yes, he would keep the treaties with Germany, but would not sign more.

In Geneva both delegations, the French and the German, accused the other side to break treaties. The atmosphere became soon very frosty.

To calm down the situation the British government made the proposal to limit the German Reichswehr to 200.000 men and would also limit the French forces to a similar niveau. The French denied to do so and demanded a probation phase of four years until the German Reichswehr was allowed to be rebuilt.

That was refused by the German government. They again retreated again. Although the new US president Roosevelt tried to make another attempt to restart the negotiations in 1933, which was supported by the Germans, this failed due to the French refusal.

The conference was as dead as a Dodo.

Adler

 

[Advernt]

Hmm, so this is a no Hitler timeline, and no Nazi's in power? A single Tax Examination completely alters the course of world history,

 

[Adler]

Preparations

Today it is said, Germany got out of the troubles of the World Economy Crisis because of the rearmament and the building of Autobahnen. Well, this was not everything.

In early 1932 Brüning had saved much money in order to invest, when the crisis was over (procyclic economy policy or deflation policy). Groener did the opposite. He ordered to build the Reichsautobahnen to get work for millions of unlearned unemployees.

As well he had talks with the bosses of the great enterprises. He gave the advice to hire skilled workers as the Reichswehr was going to rearm soon.

But to do so he also needed resources. And most of them could only be paid on the world market with foreign currencies. And these currencies Germany did not have. Also rearmament was costly. Over short or long more money was needed.

Here something had to be done as well.

TBC

Adler

 

[historyfool]

Subscribed

 

[Adler]

Rearmament 1933

Jasta 1 "Richthofen" was the first operational squadron of the newly formed Luftwaffe in January 1933. Shortly after further units were officially formed.

January 1933 had been a critical moment. Groener officially withdrew Germany from all restrictions of the Versailles treaty. France again screamed bloody murder. However, no one was really hearing on them. So their actions remained limited.

With the announcement of two more Panzerschiffe to be built at the same moment, the Royal Navy became nervous. While a balanced German fleet was considered as the most desirable, a fleet for cruiser warfare, cruisers, Uboats and Panzerschiffe, was the most problematic one for the Royal Navy. Furthermore, the French were regarded as the main problem, why Germany had left the conference.

Although Germany had left the conference, the talks kept up. Finally France accepted an army of 200.000 men for Germany and France, but insisted on the Versailles treaty in the other parts. Especially an air force remained forbidden. The new US president Roosevelt had proposed to ban heavy motorized artillery, tanks and bombers altogether, which was accepted and supported by the German government. But this proposal failed due to the French refusals. In a last step Groener let the French know, he would accept a rate of 50% of the Luftwaffe in comparasition to the French one and also would not build any bombers, the French refused again.

In this moment also the British military attaché in Berlin was informed, that Germany would build Uboats as well. Additionally Germany would want to come to an agreement with Britain to avoid "tragic misunderstandings" as no action was meant against Britain.

The British were furious about the French, as they had brought them into this position. Because of this the British agreed to talk to the Germans. In June 1933 the German and British foreign ministers came together and made an agreement to allow the German government a ratio of 35% of the British fleet, Uboats even 100%, under the caveat of a new naval conference. That was accepted, despite several officers saw a problem. Indeed the fleet was still smaller than the French one and would be kept to these numbers.

For France and Poland this was a serious blow. Indeed France was going to start a series legal battle within the League of Nations. In their eyes Germany was bound to Versailles not only by signing Versailles, but also entering the League of Nations. The British step was not more than a backstabbing. This led to a massive cooling in the Anglo-French relations in the next years. Both nations, France and Poland, did not accept these actions. In contrast, they made a treaty addendum of mutual assistance in the case of war between Germany and France or Poland.

Germany was now allowed to build:

183.750 ts BBs (30.000 ts built)
47.000 ts CVs
51.000 ts CAs
67.000 ts CLs (35.400 ts built)
52.000 ts DDs (9.600 ts built)
24.000 ts SSs

In the next moment a plan was made to buld up the navy. In a first move a tanker of 12.000 grt being built was bought to make a test bed for a carrier out of her.

For other ships the number of slips had to be kept in mind. For capital ships there were these slip ways existing:

Slip 1 Blohm & Voß, Hamburg
Slip 2 Blohm & Voß, Hamburg
Slip 2 Kriegsmarinewerft, Wilhelmshaven
Slip 1 Deutsche Werke, Kiel
Slip 2 Deutsche Werke, Kiel
Slip 2 Germaniawerft, Kiel
2 Slips Deschimag Bremen
1 slip Howaldtswerke, Kiel

Furthermore, new ships needed to be designed as well. In 1933 the first 16 Type II and 2 Type I Uboats were ordered as well as a prototype destroyer and destroyer leader. Furthermore the Panzerschiffe were redesigned. Although having a bigger displacement, they were rated as fast battleships with 35.000 ts and 6 38 cm guns, officially they were still 26.000 ts and would carry 9 28,3 cm guns. Nevertheless it was decided to upgun them before, so that indeed never the turrets of the 28 cm guns were built, but the 38 cm one from the beginning.

The Luftwaffe was to be rebuilt as well. Each squadron would eventually a group and each group a wing. For the army it was the same. Here it helped that the conscription was reintroduced in 1933 as well, although not many men were drafted in the beginning.

TBC

Adler

 

[Adler]

Polish reactions 1932-1933

Like France Poland was not very keen to see German rearmament. The Polish government became very nervous indeed. Indeed in 1931 Marshall Pilsudki talked to US president Hoover and said, "that due to an attack of irregular German forces, Poland is forced to invade Germany to solve this problem once and for all". Any German rearmament was seen as threat. So Poland was the first to set signs.

In June 1932 several British destroyers visited Danzig. The Polish destroyer Wicher was not allowed by the Danig senate to enter the harbour. The Polish destroyer did so nevertheless and entered the harbour of the Westerplatte.

The Westerplatte is a peninsula in Danzig, opposite to the harbour in Neufahrwasser. Here the Poles had an ammunition depot guarded by 88 men. This depot was made in 1924 as Poland had no functional harbour, as Gdingen was still not usable. In the Polish-Soviet War German stevedores had refused to unload Polish war materials. Indeed British soldiers had to do. Because of that the depot of the Westerplatte was granted by the League of Nations, despite the protest of the Senate. In 1932, however, Gdingen was fully operational and there was no need anymore for the use of the Westerplatte.

Only a few weeks later, after the Germans had left the Geneva Disarmament talks, Pilsudki sent messages to Paris to make a preventive strike on Germany. The Paris government, knowing the war weariness of the own population, did not accept. (OTL this did not happen).

In this moment Poland made a major coup with Stalin. The signing of the Soviet Polish Non-Aggression Treaty gave Poland much more space to manouver. Like the treaty with France, Poland was given support by the USSR in the case of war. That Stalin had sold some of his tanks to Germany, was not mentioned by him.

In the light of these treaties Pilsudski sent two new messages to Paris in February and April 1933. With the old content of making a preventive war against Germany. To prepare so elite forces were moved to the border of East Prussia. But also a marine battalion was sent to defend the Westerplatte. Round 2 of the Westerplatte affair started.

At once the Senate went to Geneva to protest against this action. After some weeks the Poles were forced to retreat. While was Paris still against a preventive war, all Polish plans had to be abandoned. The other aim, to weaken the DNVP senate of Danzig, in the hope a Weimar coalition would replace it, failed as well. Indeed it was a success for the DNVP.

Chancellor Groener was well aware about the situation, as the Polish ambassador had said to the German official Meyer from the foreign office while talking about the new Polish consul in Königsberg and the German military attaché in Warsaw, "if that makes still sense to man these posts, as we are on the very eve of a war between Germany and Poland." Groener knew too well, that Germany had no chances to win such a war, especially if the French would join. But they did not.

That gave the Germans time, as the Poles did not make more attempts in 1933.

TBC

Adler