Hossbach conference

[ziggy wiseman]

Is it true that,at this "secret" meeting,Hitler planned to start the war against poland not before 1943?
I can't remember where i read that!

[Mike]

The war may have been very different if peace had held out until 1943. The next generation of tanks would have been built in large numbers. Jet fighters??. Submarines in larger quantity. Very scary.

[Starinov]

The war may have been very different if peace had held out until 1943. The next generation of tanks would have been built in large numbers. Jet fighters??. Submarines in larger quantity. Very scary.

I don't think that a next generation of tanks would be available in 1943 or Jet fighters. They were develloped because the enemy had something better and Wehrmacht's armament had to be improved. In 1938-39, Messerchmitt had already built a jeyt fighter: the OKW and the OKL was not interested. There was no serious plans for any Panthers or Tigers.

All the new equipment was made after the Wehrmacht started the war and could compare what it had with what others had.

[michael mills]

Is it true that,at this "secret" meeting,Hitler planned to start the war against poland not before 1943?

According to the "Hossbach Protocol", which purports to be a record of an address by Hitler on 15 November 1937 in the Reichs Chancellory to Reich Minister for War Field Marshal von Blomberg, Commander in Chief of the Army Freiherr von Fritsch, Commander in Chief of the Navy Grand Admiral Raeder, the Commander in Chief of the Air Force Colonel-General Goering, Reich Foreign Minister Freiherr von Neurath, and Colonel Hossberg, there was no mention of any war against Poland.

The main theme of the address was the need to conquer "Lebensraum", but specific territories are not mentioned. Hitler states that war with Britain and France would be inevitacble, since they would oppose the emergence of a strong German colossus in the middle of Europe. Before the war with those two countries, it would be necessary to conquer Czechoslovakia and Austria to protect Germany's flanks, since both countries were becoming stronger and could be allies for Britain and France; the two countries, once absorbed into Germany, would also provide a base for supplies. There is no mention of a need to attack Poland.

There is a mention of Poland in the following passage:

"Das Mass der Ueberraschung und der Schnelligkeit unseres Handelns sei fuer die Stellungnahme Polens entscheidend. Gegen ein siegreiches deutschland wird Polen - mit Russland im Ruecken - wenig Neigung haben, in den Krieg einzutreten. Einem militaerischen Eingreifen Russlands muesse durch die Schnelligkeit unserer Operationen begegnet werden; ob ein solches ueberhaupt in Betracht kommen werde, sei angesichts der Haltung Japans mehr als fraglich".

My translation:
"The degree of surprise and swiftness of our action is decisive for Poland's attitude. Against a victorious Germany, Poland - with Russia at its back - will have little inclination to enter the war. A military intervention by Russia will have to be countered by the swiftness of our operations; whether such (an intervention) will even come into consideration is more than questionable, given the position of Japan".

In the above passage, Hitler canvasses the possibility that POland would take advantage of a war between Germany and Britain/France to attack Germany; that would be prevented by Germany's rapid victory, and the threat to Poland's rear posed by Russia. Japan is seen as a deterrent to any intervention by Russia.

As is obvious, the question of a German attack on Poland does not arise. it is a matter of deterring Poland from entering the predicted war.

[ziggy wiseman]

[quote]The main theme of the address was the need to conquer "Lebensraum",
Michael,i'm pretty sure that "lebensraum" meant east for A.H.[/quote]