p Hitler called a conference of Wehrmacht Commanders on August 22, 1939, to tell them lie wanted the war to be started immediately. He claimed, and not without some reason, that although Britain and France had assumed certain obligations in respect of Poland, they would not actually fulfil them.^^207^^

p The German Nazis were no longer satisfied with their bloodless victories. They were preparing for a world war and wanted their recruits to be tried out in a local conflict, that is, in the war against Poland.

p Therefore, when the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs Ciano asked Ribbentrop: "What do you want: the Corridor 270 or Danzig?"—the German Minister cynically declared: " Neither the one, not^^1^^ the other. . . We want war." ^^208^^ Hitler informed the Italians that, in the opinion of the German General Staff, it would take from four to six weeks to put Poland to rout. Since autumn rains and slush hegin in Poland on October 15, "the last date for the beginning of the operation is the end of August." ^^209^^

In the course of the war with Poland, the Nazis planned to intimidate all of their other possible adversaries, particularly the small nations of Europe, with acts of vandalism without precedent in human history, to get them to surrender without resistance. The Nazis contemplated an inhuman extermination of the population of Poland also with a view to securing "living space" (Lebensraum) for the German "race of masters”. When it came to an armed struggle between Germany and Poland, Hitler told Ribbentrop, "the German Army will be acting cruelly and mercilessly. Throughout the world . . . the Germans are known as Huns, but what will take place in case of war with Poland will outmatch what the Huns did." ^^21^^°