p The spring of 1939 proved to be the last one before the war. A certain calm which was in evidence during the winter months was coming to an end. That was the calm before the storm. The Nazi Reich was heading for war.

By March the Nazi plans of aggression began to materialise. Here is how they were set out on March 13 by Ribbentrop’s adviser Peter Kleist who had helped him work out those plans. The decision was to occupy the whole of Czechoslovakia whereupon Germany would be holding Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia in her grip and would have created a military threat to Poland. The annexation of Memel would enable Germany to "strike root, solid and firm, in the Baltic as well”. Whereas in earlier times, the idea was to involve Poland in war against the USSR, now Germany’s intentions had changed. "It is obvious,” Kleist said, "that Poland must first be territorially divided (with the regions once belonging to Germany being detached and a West Ukrainian state formed under a German protectorate) and politically organised (with Polish state leaders reliable from the German point of view being appointed) . . . .” All those measures were to strengthen Germany’s rear whereupon the idea was to launch an "action against the West”. Somewhat later he specified that the rout of Poland would be followed by a "Western phase" which was to have ended in the defeat of France and Britain. After that, the "great and decisive clash with the Soviet Union .and the smashing of the Soviets would become possible." ^^1^^