Under Hitler's jackboot

70 years ago this weekend Hitler marched into Czechoslovakia, humiliating the British who had tried to appease him and unleashing the Nazi terror that would soon engulf nearly all Europe...

Hitler forced Czech president Emil Hacha to capitulate Hitler forced Czech president Emil Hacha to capitulate

HITLER'S face was flushed with rage as he roared at Dr Emil Hacha. The diminutive President of Czechoslovakia had been pleading for his country and his pitiful tones only infuriated the bullying tyrant further.

The Führer then announced his patience with the Czechs had ended and that, within a few hours, the German Army would invade.

This showdown occurred in Berlin just after 3am on March 15, 1939. Hours later, 70 years ago this weekend, Nazi troops streamed across the Czech border and the world stood on the cusp of calamity.

For the nervous Hacha, whose serious heart condition rendered him breathless in front of the ranting Hitler, it meant his countrymen had only two options. They could offer what would be futile resistance and face violent defeat or he could sign a document ordering them to receive the incoming Nazi troops peacefully.

Crowds greet Adolf Hitler upon his arrival in Reichenberg on December 3 1938 Crowds greet Adolf Hitler upon his arrival in Reichenberg on December 3 1938

 

Hacha, a morally strong man, continued to hesitate. This sent Hitler into a wild fury. He ordered the trembling president into a next room, where Reich Marshall Goering and foreign minister Von Ribbentrop were waiting for him.

They pounced on the hapless Hacha, badgering him into signing the document on the table before him. Still the Czech president refused. Von Ribbentrop even thrust a pen into Hacha's hand as Goering shrieked: "Unless you sign the document now, half of your capital Prague will be flattened by the German air force in hours."

This proved too much for Hacha and he collapsed on the floor. Now the two Nazis panicked, fearing that they had killed the president with their bullying.

The were left helpless to German military might

They rushed in Hitler's physician, Dr Theodor Morell, who injected Hacha with vitamins to revive him. Then a telephone was thrust into his hand and he was forced to call his government in Prague and instruct them to surrender to the Nazi troops.

After this, Hacha was ushered back into Hitler's presence. At 3.55am he signed the document that stated he had "confidently placed the fate of the Czech people and country in the hands of the Führer and the German Reich".

Two hours later, in the middle of a snowstorm, the German army rolled into hapless Czechoslovakia, the first non-Germanic territory to be taken by the Nazis. It was a moment of infamy and one of bitter condemnation for Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who had sacrificed Czechoslovakia. Six months earlier in a broadcast made on September 7, 1938, his words encapsulated Britain's policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany.

"How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing, " he said in sentiments which now sound so cynical in the light of events.

He continued: "However much we may sympathise with a small nation confronted by a big and powerful neighbour, we cannot, in all circumstances, undertake to involve the whole British Empire in war on her account."

The Czechoslovak crisis had erupted after Hitler demanded that the country's Germanspeaking border regions, the Sudetenland, be annexed to the Third Reich. Typically citing fabricated reports of Czech oppression of the country's significant German minority, Hitler had whipped the German people into a frenzy over the Sudetenland. His rasping rhetoric sent chills down the spines of Europe's leaders, fearful of another war.

Britain had no mutual defence treaty with Czechoslovakia but the country was treaty-bound to defend France, which in turn was obliged to defend the Czechs.

Thus the Government was worried that if France was drawn into an armed conflict with Germany, Britain too would be sucked into a new European war. Chamberlain's solution was appeasement, to give Hitler what he wanted in return for a vague promise of "peace in our time".

Chamberlain had flown to Munich in September 1938 to reach agreement with Hitler.

Without consulting the Czechs, he gave in to the Führer's demands that the Sudetenland should be handed over to Germany. Chamberlain also agreed that those areas containing more than 50 per cent Germans within them should be handed back to Germany. He also managed to get the Czechs and French to agree.

Confident that Hitler would abide by the Munich Agreement, Chamberlain returned to Britain waving a "scrap of paper" signed by himself and Hitler, which assured the world that their two countries would never go to war. But, as history proves, it bore a futile message - a year later Hitler plunged Europe into the darkness of the Second World War.

Three weeks after signing the Munich Agreement, Hitler called his generals together to plan for the "liquidation of the remainder of Czechoslovakia". His original scheme was to smash the country with a sudden military strike. Then he intended to make a victorious entry into Prague, like a modern-day Caesar returning from war. But he had been amazed, even overwhelmed, by the remarkable eagerness of Britain and France to serve up Czechoslovakia to him like a "steaming meal on a plate".

However he complained privately: "That fellow Chamberlain spoiled my entrance into Prague."

Although Hitler had craftily promised that the Sudetenland would be his last territorial demand in Europe, it was only a beginning.

By now the Nazis were experts at the art of stealing other people's countries. They would subtly arouse political unrest in an area and initiate a propaganda campaign that cited so-called wrongs against the local German population.

When political leaders came to see Hitler to resolve this phony crisis, they would be offered help in the form of a German army of occupation aimed at "restoring order".

After his troops marched in, Hitler announced triumphantly: "Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist!" On the evening of March 15 he made his long-awaited entry into Prague, standing in his open Mercedes, at the head of a 10-vehicle convoy.

 

But unlike in Vienna, when the Nazis annexed Austria a year earlier, there were no cheering crowds waving swastika flags.

Hitler was furious to observe that the streets were totally empty and he was greeted only by an eerie silence.

The world reeled in horror as the events unfolded. In Britain people waited for Chamberlain to react to the incredible happenings, which were in violation of the Munich Agreement. He responded by weakly proclaiming the British were not bound to protect the country since it no longer existed after the Slovakia half had voted for independence on March 14.

This feeble statement caused an uproar in the Commons and Chamberlain was lambasted for his lack of moral outrage and failure to condemn Hitler's gangster diplomacy. Winston Churchill, for so long a lone voice in the Commons against the threat of Hitler, was now finally heeded as he warned of the need for the country to prepare for war.

Belatedly, Chamberlain had a change of heart. In a new speech, he apologised for his lukewarm reaction to Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia and recited a lengthy list of broken promises made by Hitler. "The Führer, " he said, "has taken the law into his own hands."

He added: "No greater mistake could be made than to suppose that because it believes war to be a senseless and cruel thing, this nation has so lost its moral fibre that it will not take part to the utmost of its power in resisting such a challenge if it ever were made."

The next day Britain informed the Nazis that Hitler's occupation of Czechoslovakia was "a complete repudiation of the Munich Agreement". The French also lodged a strong protest. Hitler shrugged off their objections.

On March 31 Chamberlain issued a formidable declaration, along with France, guaranteeing joint backing for Hitler's next likely victim, Poland, from Nazi aggression.

The era of Hitler's arrogant, bloodless conquests was over. Even he knew the next time that German troops rolled into a foreign country, the result would be a shooting war.

By invading Czechoslovakia, Hitler had taken a massive stride towards the abyss of war.

By September his jackboot had landed in Poland - and the war began.

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