Читать книгу Saviour of the Nation - Brian Hodgkinson - Страница 11

Upon the stage of British politics

Another actor rose to eminence.

The time had come for Baldwin to withdraw.

His powers were waning; he was not the man

To meet the challenge posed by Hitler’s threats.

Succeeding him came Neville Chamberlain,

A man of conscience, self-assured, austere,

Who brought to government much efficiency

Acquired by years in peacetime offices.

He sought to understand the claims of those

Who threatened to disrupt the world’s affairs:

If he could meet dictators face to face,

Discuss at length their problems, then assess

What compromise might meet their due demands,

Then none would have recourse to violent means.

Such was his view – negotiate, appease.

The path he trod, convinced of rectitude,

Was far too strait for men of Churchill’s ilk.

When Chamberlain soon planned to recognise

Italian claims on Ethiopia,

Eden resigned as Foreign Minister.

Henceforth he joined with that tiny band

Who stood opposed to Chamberlain’s designs,

And recognised increasingly the need

For Churchill’s hand on Britain’s helm of State.

The sacrifice of office Eden made

Awoke in Churchill feelings of respect,

And yet he also felt a dark despair

At this new step towards the brink of war.

Hitler was not chastened by the thought

That Chamberlain would meet his just demands.

Once more he’d break the treaty, threatening now

The Anschluss with his native Austria.

Courageously the Chancellor Schuschnigg tried

To show by plebiscite his country’s will,

But Hitler’s fury swept away such hopes.

Where music once had charmed the Viennese,

In Summer parks and vacant palaces,

There echoed now the clattering of tanks,

With harsh commands and footsteps of the Reich.

Just at the time when German soldiers marched

To implement the Anschluss, there occurred

A luncheon party at 10 Downing Street.

The guest of honour was von Ribbentrop,

Departing as the Reich’s ambassador,

To be, instead, its Foreign Minister.

Churchill, too, was present, and observed

A note was passed to Neville Chamberlain,

Who then seemed worried and pre-occupied.

Deliberately the Ribbentrops stayed late,

As though to hamper Chamberlain’s desire

To take some action over Austria.

When Churchill rose to leave, and said he hoped

That Anglo-German friendship would endure,

The wife of the ambassador was curt;

‘Make sure you do not spoil it!’ she replied.

The British government only could protest;

But Churchill spoke in quite another vein,

When, on the morrow, he addressed the House:

‘Again a solemn treaty is ignored,

To build, so it is claimed, a greater State;

Yet it transfers the Ostreich’s minerals,

And access to the Danube waterway.

Now south-east Europe lies at Hitler’s feet,

And Czechs and Slovaks henceforth are besieged.

How can appeasement check the Führer’s will?’

Already Wehrmacht generals had prepared

A detailed plan to seize Bohemia.

The pretext was the Czech Sudetenland,

Where Germans claimed they were deprived of rights.

A Nazi party there became the tool

For Hitler’s pressure on the Czech regime.

Their leader, Henlein, would not compromise.

At Hitler’s bidding all he would accept

Was full succession to the German Reich.

In Berlin’s Sportspalast the Führer spoke,

Calling the German people to their fate:

To fight for Lebensraum, for blood and race.

His petty figure, with a small moustache

And puffy features, grey hypnotic eyes,

Black thinning hair that fell across his brow,

Was magnified by words of monstrous power,

Harsh consonants and long emphatic vowels

That rose within him, surging from his throat

With growing volume as the speech progressed.

His grimaces and deft, expressive hands

Conveyed swift moods of satire, or of hate,

And angry exultation. Those who heard

Were moved from dull respect, or apathy,

To yearn for action, violence and revenge.

Upon their mountain lines the Czechs stood firm,

Expecting help from France. Across the world,

The news predicted European war.

At Scapa Flow the naval squadrons watched

For submarines and pocket battleships.

In London air defences were alert.

Trenches were dug amidst the Autumn leaves;

Near public buildings sentries stood on guard.

At main line stations children waved goodbye,

En route to farms and distant cottages.

This was the dress rehearsal for a war

No more confined to fields of Picardy.

No treaty bound the British to the Czechs,

And Chamberlain was eager to redress

Those grievances he thought were genuine.

Alone he flew to Nazi Germany

To wrangle with the Führer face to face.

Nothing could be agreed. A last appeal

Was made to Hitler for a conference.

At Munich airport Chamberlain was hailed

By SS guards of honour. There they met,

The Premiers of Britain and of France,

The Duce and the Führer of the Reich,

To sign away the freedom of the Czechs.

‘This is my final claim’, the Führer said,

‘On territory of European States.’

To London Neville Chamberlain returned,

Proclaiming, as Disraeli once had done,

That peace with honour came from Germany.

In Parliament the great majority

Acclaimed with cheers the Premier’s success,

And, in the country, who did not rejoice

That war had been averted? Who would dare

To speak against what Chamberlain had done

And brave the odium of decent men,

Who did not see his terrible mistake

In thinking he could trust the Führer’s word.

So, in the House, when Churchill rose to say

That we’d sustained a terrible defeat,

A total and unmitigated loss,

A storm of protest interrupted him.

But he continued, standing there unmoved,

Peering above his glasses at these men

Whose views he scorned. ‘Why have we failed to pledge

The safety of the brave and stubborn Czechs?

Now all is over. Silent and bereft,

The Czech Republic falls in the abyss;

Her people ruined, industry curtailed,

And worst of all, the line of forts is lost –

What is to stop the German conqueror?

This is the grievous consequence of years

Of futile good intentions and neglect

Of British power, especially in the air.

We stand devoid of strength, now, in this hour.

In eastern Europe there is little choice.

Each power will seek the best terms it can get.

The Danube valley, with its corn and oil,

Is open to the Germans. From Berlin

Will radiate a new economy.

Relieved of all anxiety in the east,

The Nazi rulers have a freer choice.

Next year their army will exceed the French.

We have but added four battalions here,

Whilst Germany has gained in hundreds more.

We have not just abandoned one small State,

A long way off, as once our Premier said,

And of which we know nothing. Not at all!

We have to think of what the Nazis are.

Of German people we make no complaint;

Our hearts go out to them. They have no power.

But, with their Nazi leaders, nothing more

Than diplomatic contacts should be made.

Our democratic life and Nazi rule

Can have no friendship. Are we to depend

Upon their will; to meet with their demands?’

At this point Churchill paused. He looked most grim,

And rubbed his hands, quite slowly, on his coat,

The fingers all extended, whilst he thought,

And then, as though selecting every phrase,

He spoke again, yet more deliberately.

‘What measures can we take in our defence?

Our island’s independence has been lost

By weakness in the air. We must regain it.

All our efforts must seek this one end:

Creation of an air force strong enough

To vanquish any that may reach our shores.

I do not grudge our people – brave and loyal,

Who never flinched last week beneath the strain –

I do not grudge them their relief and joy

At learning that they would not have to face

The worst ordeal at this, the present, time.

But they should know the truth; that we sustained,

Without a war, defeat. That we have passed

A milestone in our history, and have seen

The whole of Europe terribly deranged.

Do not suppose that this is now the end.

This is the foretaste of a bitter cup,

Which will be proffered to us year by year.’

Though in the country many came to feel

That Churchill’s view was right – that none could trust

The word of Adolf Hitler – only few,

Amongst the politicians, lent support:

Eden, Bracken, Boothby, Nicolson,

And now Duff Cooper, who alone resigned

In protest at the Munich settlement.

Yet soon new evidence of Nazi crime

Was shown to the world. A Jewish youth,

Outraged by how his parents were expelled

From where they lived at home in Germany,

Shot dead a German diplomat in France.

The Nazis seized upon this incident.

Throughout the Reich the stormtroops ran amok.

Jews were tormented, beaten up or killed,

Or forced to do humiliating tasks,

Like scrubbing paving stones in city streets.

Their synagogues were burnt, their houses wrecked,

Their property was stolen or destroyed.

‘I can remember’, Clement Attlee said,

‘How once when Churchill told me of the Jews,

That, as he spoke, the tears poured down his cheeks.’

Now on the bright Kurfurstendamm there lay,

Where rich Berliners nonchalantly strolled,

The broken glass of Jewish window fronts.

Already Hitler’s generals had been told

To plan an armed assault upon the Czechs.

Internal chaos would be his excuse,

For in Slovakia ambition grew

For independence from the rule of Prague.

Whilst Nazi agents fostered this intent,

The Führer met the Slovak Premier.

The Czech Republic’s aging President

Was forced to call for Germany’s support.

Without a shot, the Wehrmacht entered Prague.

Steel helmets ringed the statue of Jan Hus,

First martyr for his people’s liberty;

And high above Hradcany castle flew

The swastika of red and white and black.

Czechs had not shouted, like Sudeten Deutsch,

Like Rhinelanders and many Austrians,

For German rulers, for the Herrenvolk.

This was invasion of a foreign State.

How many dreams were shattered by this news!

Appeasement was dismissed, and Chamberlain,

Who did not like to find he’d been deceived,

Now pledged support for Poland; though he knew

That only Russians could defend the Poles –

And they would not be welcomed. Many saw

That Churchill’s warnings now were justified;

And in the press, in homes and clubs and bars,

Where people spoke reluctantly of war,

Persistent murmurs grew for his return.

On Poland now the Führer’s venom turned.

The British government, bound to its support,

Could not ignore the part that Russia played.

Yet Chamberlain was cautious. Who could trust

A nation in the hands of Bolsheviks?

To some in Britain, Hitler was the shield

Against the Marxist threat to western powers,

Just as – they argued – Franco had preserved

The Spanish nation from the Soviets.

And so a minor diplomat was sent

To come to terms with Stalin, who himself

Had little cause to welcome such a pact.

Had Britain helped the Czechs? What would they do

To come to the assistance of the Poles?

Such doubts and hesitations bred the chance

For Hitler to astound the world again.

For years he had abused the Soviets

As Communists and agents of the Jews,

But now he looked to short-term strategies

To isolate his foes. The time was ripe

To deal with Poland; so on either side

The seeds of crude hypocrisy were sown.

Negotiations secretly began,

Even whilst the British envoy sat

In futile talks with Stalin’s acolytes.

Beyond midsummer England’s mood had changed.

In Parliament and populace alike

The belief arose that war was imminent.

The pledge to Poland would not be disowned.

Meanwhile Churchill visited the French,

Questioned their generals, cast a careful eye

On troops and weapons, maps and battle plans.

He noted how the Rhine was well secured,

But how the Ardennes forest offered scope

For armoured groups to hide from air assault.

The French, he saw, no longer countenanced

A vehement attack – no more la gloire –

But favoured now invincible defence,

Especially on the line of Maginot.

Yet even he did not appreciate

How vulnerable this was. It will not break,

Without the enemy suffering heavy loss,

And then, meanwhile, the battle could be won,

Was his conclusion, much as others thought.

On his return, the shocking news was heard

Of Ribbentrop’s success. A pact was signed

Between the two opposed dictatorships.

Stalin obtained a cordon sanitaire

Along the Baltic shores, and Hitler won

Unhindered power to terrorise the Poles.

Once more partition would be Poland’s fate.

The chill of Autumn touched all English hearts.

War now was certain. Yet, released from doubt,

The people were at once more resolute.

Britain confirmed the Polish guarantee,

And put her air defences on alert.

Reservists were called up, and on the sea

The navy watched, once more, for submarines.

Where now were allies strong enough to check

The menace of a re-armed Germany?

Towards the great republic in the west

The hopes of Churchill turned. Was he himself

Not half American? His broadcast speech

Appealed to values shared: a common tongue,

The love of freedom, and a firm belief

In what the founding fathers had decreed –

That no one is above the rule of law –

As one man was in Nazi Germany.

Already, in his mind, he had conceived

The vision of a western partnership,

A grand alliance, whose abundant wealth

Would render it, in time, invincible.

Meanwhile Hitler raged against the Poles,

And, on a pretext, German armies struck.

A battleship bombarded Danzig’s port.

From London Neville Chamberlain still sent

A last despairing plea to save the peace.

The German Chancellor did not reply.

In Parliament the nation’s will was heard,

When ‘Speak for England’ echoed round the House.

An ultimatum finally was sent.

No answer came. The British were at war;

And with them stood, as once before, the French.