PART IV: FINIS GERMANIAE
17 The Will for War
1 Below, Nicolaus von, Als Hitlers Adjutant 1939–45, Mainz, 198o, p 18o.
2 Note, General a.D. Liepmann, in Baumgart, Winfried, ‘Zur Ansprache Hitlers vor den Führern der Wehrmacht vom 22. August 1939. Eine quellenkritische Untersuchung’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 16, 1968, pp 120–49. For participants, content and course of conference in detail, see Boehm, Hermann and Baumgart, Winfried, ‘Miszelle: “Zur Ansprache Hitlers vor den Führern der Wehrmacht am 22. August 1939”’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 19, 1971, pp 294–304.
3 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprache’, p 144, n 97.
4 Ibid, p 145.
5 Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol 2, p 114. Cf also Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprache’, p 120, n 2.
6 For the various versions of the speech, particularly for discussions on the quality and authorship of the notes, including those by Canaris, see Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprache’, and Boehm and Baumgart, ‘Miszelle’. The two undated and unsigned jottings found later in OKW files were used as central documents by the prosecution at Nuremberg: IMG, vol XXVI, pp 338–46, document 798-PS (ADAP, series D, vol 7, pp 167–70, no 192) and IMG, vol XXVI, pp 523–4, document 1014-PS (ADAP, series D, vol 7, pp 171–2, no 193). For content and significance of the speech see also Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 409 ff and primarily Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp 292–6.
7 Below, Adjutant, p 181.
8 ADAP, series D, vol 7, pp 167–70.
9 Ibid, p 169.
10 Ibid, p 170.
11 IMG, vol 9, p 547, statement by Goering.
12 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 135f and 149, and Below, Adjutant, p 181.
13 ADAP, series D, vol 7, no 193, p 171f.
14 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 133f, n 57. Cf also Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 295. The Nuremberg prosecutors attached great weight to this sentence in document 1014-PS.
15 Ibid, p 172.
16 For the later reactions see Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 141, n 84 and p 146f, n 101; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 296f.
17 Quoted from Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 41i.
18 Below, Adjutant, p 182.
19 Copy, Abwehr II service diary, BA-MA, RW 5/497–499, photocopy at IfZ, F 23/i, hereafter ‘Lahousen diaries’, p 4, entry 23 August 1939, folio 7. British secret service expert and author Anthony Cave Brown, Bodyguard of Lies. The Extraordinary True Story behind D-Day, London, 1975, reprinted Guildford, 2002, p 176, originated the version whereby at Munich that evening the notes passed from Canaris to Oster, who gave them in his sleeping car to Berlin to his confidant, the deputy Dutch military attache, Gijsbertus Jacobus Sas. From Sas they passed to the resident SIS agent in Berlin, Major Francis Foley, from whom they went immediately to Paris and London. This variation does not occur elsewhere in the literature and I would like to thank Heinz Höhne for pointing it out.
20 Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol 2, p 119f.
21 Cf Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, pp 127 and 137, who indicates that Gisevius’s recollections are to be ‘treated with caution’, but argues convincingly that this was the document that caused Louis P Lochner to make a stronger case to the British ambassadorial adviser. This item (Nuremberg document L003, ADAP, series D, vol 7, p 170f) was not admitted in evidence at Nuremberg.
22 Groscurth diaries, p 179, entry 24 August 1939.
23 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 121f; Müller: Heer und Hitler, p 412f.
24 Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 143; cf also p 702, n 55 and communication from Krausnick to Baumgart in Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 121, n 11.
25 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 121f; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 412f.
26 All quotations from Nuremberg document L003, ADAP, series D, vol 7, p 171f.
27 Ibid, p 172.
28 Halder, war diary, vol I, p 30.
29 Cf also for detail ‘Die Errichtung der Hegemonie auf dem Europäischen Kontinent’, DRZW, vol 2, pp 92–104.
30 DRZW, vol 2, pp 104–10.
31 Schindler, Herbert, Mosty und Dirschau 1939. Zwei Handstreiche der Wehrmacht vor Beginn des Polenfeldzuges, Einzelschriften zur militärischen Geschichte des Zweiten Weltkrieges 7, Freiburg, 1979. Also see Höhne, Canaris, p 321f.
32 Schindler, Mosty und Dirschau, p 1o8ff.
33 Ibid, p 111.
34 Leverkuehn, DergeheimeNachrichtendienst, p 23; Buchheit, Geheimdienst, p 308.
35 Ibid, pp 308–9.
36 Schindler, Mosty und Dirschau, p 21.
37 Ibid, p 19.
38 Buchheit, Geheimdienst, p 309.
39 Abshagen, Canaris, p 198.
40 See Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 33of and Rauscher, Walter, Hitler und Mussolini. Macht, Krieg und Terror, Graz, Vienna and Cologne, 2001, p 316f.
41 For the background of Italian policy, of the initial determination for war – not only at this point in time – and its influence on Hitler’s policies cf also ‘Der Mittelmeerraum und Südosteuropa. Of Italy’s “non belligeranza” until the entry of the United States into the war’, DRZW, vol 3, Stuttgart, 1984, pp 5–8.
42 Moseley, Ray, Zwischen Hitler und Mussolini – Das Doppelleben des Grafen Ciano, Berlin, 1998, p m3; Rauscher, Hitler und Mussolini, p 330.
43 Schmidt, Statist, p 439.
44 Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 333; Rauscher, Hitler und Mussolini, p 330f.
45 Schmidt, Statist, p 439.
46 Moseley, Zwischen Hitler und Mussolini, p m3.
47 Ciano diaries ^39–43, quoted in Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 290 and Rauscher, Hitler und Mussolini, p 331.
48 Moseley, Zwischen Hitler und Mussolini, p 107; Rauscher, Hitler und Mussolini, p 332.
49 Below, Adjutant, p 178.
50 Roatta, report to Mussolini, 12 August 1939, IDocumenti Diplomatici Italiani (DDI), series VIII, vol XIII, Rome, 1953, no 10, p ii. Cf Siebert, Ferdinand, Italiens Weg in den Zweiten Weltkrieg, Frankfurt am Main 1962, p 252.
51 Magistrati, report to Ciano, 16 August 1939, DDI, series VIII, vol XIII, no 67, p 46b Cf Groscurth diaries, p 181, n 372 to entry 24 August 1939.
52 DDI, series VIII, vol XIII, no 67, p 47, n 1.
53 Cf Thielenhaus, Zwischen Anpassung und Widerstand, p 140ff.
54 Hill, Weizsäcker-Papiere 1933–1950, p 181.
55 Thielenhaus, Zwischen Anpassung und Widerstand, p 140.
56 Ibid, p 141.
57 Lahousen diaries, p i, entry 12 August 1939, IfZ, F 23/i, folio 4.
58 Cf additionally with examples Höhne, Canaris, p 322.
59 Ibid, p 323.
60 For Jost see Wildt, Generation, p 422, and also a short biography of Jost, ibid, p 936f.
61 See Lahousen, note: ‘Unternehmen Himmler’, undated, IfZ, ZS 658, folio 45; Lahousen diaries, p 2, entry 17 August 1939, IfZ, F 23Α, folio 5.
62 Ibid, and p 3, entry 19 August 1939.
63 Wildt, Generation, p 392f; cf Wildt, Nachrichtendienst, p 264f.
64 Lahousen, statement to IMG, vol II, p 496f.
65 Lahousen diaries, p 2, entry 17 August 1939, IfZ, F 23/1, folio 5.
66 Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, vol 1, p 22; Höhne, Heinz, Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf– Die Geschichte der SS, Munich, 1984, pp 240–5; also Höhne, Canaris, p 325. No Polish uniforms were used during the raid on the Gleiwitz radio station because it had already been occupied by an SS unit. Cf Runzheimer, Jürgen, ‘“Der Uberfall auf den Sender Gleiwitz” im Jahre 1939’, in VfZ 10, 1962, pp 408–26.
67 Lahousen, note, ‘Unternehmen Himmler’, IfZ, ZS 658, folio 47; cf IMG, vol IV, p 270b Affidavit, Alfred Helmut Naujocks, 20 November 1945; Höhne, Orden unter dem Totenkopf, p 241 and Runzheimer, ‘Der Uberfall’, p 412.
68 Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, p 22.
69 Lahousen diaries, p 1, entry 17 August 1939, IfZ, F 23/1, folio 4.
70 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 19, entry 17 August 1939.
71 Canaris, note, ‘Aussprache mit Generaloberst Keitel am 17. August 1939’, BA/MA, RW 4/v. 764; reprinted in Abshagen, Canaris, pp 195–7; cf Höhne, Canaris, p 328f.
72 Ibid.
73 Cf Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 4070.
74 Groscurth diaries, p 180, entry 24 August 1939 (private diary).
75 Thomas, Georg, ‘Gedanken und Erinnerungen’, Schweizer Monatshefte 25, 1945, p 542f; Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol II, p 112f; IMG, vol XII, p 246, statement Gisevius. Cf Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 143 k Despite differing accounts it appears possible that one of the memoranda was given to Keitel before 25 August, and one on the 27th: see Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 702, n 61. For General Thomas see also Uberschar, Gerd R (ed), Hitlers militärische Elite, vol I: Von den Anfängen des Regimes bis Kriegsbeginn, Darmstadt, 1998, pp 248–57.
76 Thomas, ‘Gedanken und Erinnerungen’, p 542. Cf Gisevius, Biz zum betteren Ende, vol II, p 113.
77 ADAP, series D, vol VII, no 200, p 180; Schmidt, Statist, p 448; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–194$, p 299f; Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 346f.
78 Below, Adjutant, p 182.
79 According to Weizsäcker, Erinnerungen, p 252; cf Kershaw, Hitler 1936–194$, p 300.
80 Ibid.
81 Weizsäcker, Erinnerungen, p 252.
82 Cf Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 346.
83 Schmidt, Statist, p 444; Below, Adjutant, p 183.
84 Ibid.
85 Ahmann, Rolf, ‘Der Hitler–Stalin-Pakt: Nichtangriffs- und Angriffsvertrag?’, in Oberländer, Erwin (ed), Hitler–Stalin-Pakt 1939. Das Ende Ostmitteleuropas?, Frankfurt am Main, 1989. For the whole complex also see Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 340f; Hildebrand, Klaus, Das vergangene Reich – Deutsche Außenpolitik von Bismarck bis Hitler, Stuttgart, 1995, p 803ff, with rather differing interpretations; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 297.
86 Hildebrand, Das vergangene Reich, p 806.
87 Heinz, ‘Canaris’, p 108.
88 Ibid, p 109.
18 The Madness Unfolds
1 Krausnick, Deutsch and Kotze, ‘Introduction’, p 7.
2 Ibid, p 48 and Groscurth diaries, p 179, entry 24 August 1939 (private diary).
3 For Krichbaum and the GFP see principally: Brown, Paul B, ‘Forester to Feldpolizeichef: The Life and Counter-intelligence Career of Wilhelm Krichbaum’, paper presented at the Conference of the International History Study Group, Tutzing, 24–6 April 1998, and Brown, Paul B, ‘The Senior Leadership Cadre of the Geheime Feldpolizei, 1939–1945’, Nazi War Criminal Records Interagency Working Group, National Archives and Records Administration: Holocaust and Genocide Studies 17, no 2, Autumn 2003, pp 278–304. I thank Erich Schmidt-Eenboom for drawing my attention to the two texts and Paul Brown for his support during my research in Washington. Krichbaum left the liaison group on 23 September 1939; cf Krausnick, Deutsch and Kotze, ‘Introduction’, p 48, n 147, p 128, n 140 and Groscurth diaries, entry 23 September 1939, in ibid, p 278.
4 Ibid, p 128, n 140.
5 Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 307.
6 Groscurth diaries, p 183, entry 24 August 1939 (private diary).
7 Lahousen diaries, p 7, entry 25 August 1939, IfZ F 23/1, folio 10.
8 Ibid.
9 Groscurth diaries, p 184, entry 25 August 1939 (private diary).
10 Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 349; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 302.
11 Groscurth diaries, p 184, entry 25 August 1939 (private diary).
12 Schindler, Mosty und Dirschau, p 74.
13 Ibid, p 114.
14 Ibid, p 116, n 42.
15 Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 349.
16 Schmidt, Statist, p 452.
17 Ibid.
18 Keitel, statement, IMG, vol 10, p 578.
19 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 303.
20 Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol 2, p 132k also see Müller, Heer undHitler,p 413k This attempt to prevent the war and end the dictatorship has undergone various evaluations (Ritter, Gerhard, Carl Goerdeler und die deutsche Widerstandsbewegung, Stuttgart, 1956, p 498, n 54; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 414). For more recent opinions on the reactions of Canaris, Oster and others see Fest, Staatsstreich, p 114 and Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 316.
21 As portrayed by Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol 2, p 134ff. Kershaw points out that Gisevius did not claim to report Oster word for word, but guaranteed the sense of what he said. Cf Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 316 and p 1153, n 309.
22 Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol 2, p 135.
23 Ibid, p 136.
24 Fest, Staatsstreich, p 114.
25 Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol 2, p 136f.
26 Fest, Staatsstreich, p 114.
27 Kordt, Nicht aus den Akten, p 329.
28 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 316.
29 Lahousen diaries, p 8, entry 25 August 1939, IfZ F 23/1, folio 11.
30 Herzner, ‘Bericht über das Unternehmen gegen Bahnhof und Tunnel von Mosty in der Nacht vom 25У26. August 1939’, Handakte Herzner, Archive Heinz Höhne.
31 Lahousen diaries, p 8, entry 26 August 1939, IfZ F 23/1, folio 11.
32 Report, Eickern, 26 August 1939, Handakte Herzner, Archive Heinz Höhne.
33 Radio message Striegau, 26 August 1939, Handakte Herzner, Archive Heinz Höhne.
34 Cf ‘Bericht vom 26.8. 1939 K.O.J. Besetzung Bahnh of Mosty und Tunnel’, Handakte Herzner, Archive Heinz Höhne. Cf the very divergent accounts from the German and Polish sides of the exact circumstances of Unternehmen Herzner, principally in Schindler, Mosty und Dirschau.
35 Herzner, ‘Bericht über das Unternehmen gegen Bahnhof und Tunnel von Mosty in der Nacht vom 25У26. August 1939’, Handakte Herzner, Archive Heinz Höhne, and Lahousen diaries, entry 26 August 1939, IfZ F 23/1, folio 11.
36 Lahousen diaries, p 8, entry 26 August 1939, IfZ F 23/1, folio 11.
37 Schlabrendorff, Fabian von, Offiziere gegen Hitler; bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Gero v. S. Gaevernitz, Zurich, 1946, p 32.
38 Groscurth diaries, p 185, entry 26 August 1939 and n 388 (private diary).
39 Fest, Joachim, Hitler – Eine Biographie, Munich, 1973, p 821.
40 Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 351.
41 Fest, Hitler, p 821.
42 Groscurth diaries, p 185, entry 26 August 1939 (private diary).
43 Ibid, p 186.
44 See above, similar entries by Halder in his War Diary.
45 Groscurth diaries, p 186, n 391.
46 Ibid, p 186, entry 26 August 1939 (private diary).
47 Ibid.
48 That would have been 31 August; the attack occurred on 7th Mobilisation Day. Brauchitsch informed Halder on 28 August that Hitler had set the definitive attack date for 1 September: Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 40.
49 Groscurth diaries, p 187, entry 27 August 1939 (private diary).
50 Thomas, Gedanken und Erinnerungen, p 542f; Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol II, p 113f; cf Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 145. It is not beyond doubt that the second memorandum reached Hitler; Schlabrendorff mentions only that Keitel dismissed all Thomas’s arguments and supported Hitler.
51 Groscurth diaries, p 190, entry 28 August 1939 (private diary).
52 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 38, entry 28 August 1939.
53 Groscurth diaries, p 190, entry 28 August 1939; similarly Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 38, following information from Groscurth and Oster. The content of the address quickly made the rounds. Reichstag Deputy Heinrich Ernst von Sybel, at breakfast on 29 August, spoke at length with Finance Minister Popitz, State Secretary Kempner, Chief of the OKW-Household Department Tischbein, Generalmajor Heinrici and Ambassador von Hassell: Hassell diaries, p 117f, entry 29 August 1939.
54 Groscurth diaries, p 190, entry 28 August 1939 (private diary).
55 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 38, entry 28 August 1939.
56 Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 353f.
57 Schmidt, Statist, p 456.
58 Ibid, p 459.
59 Hill, Weizsäcker-Papiere, p 163.
60 Groscurth diaries, p 195, entry 31 August 1939 (private diary).
61 Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol 2, p 138; cf IMG, vol XII, p 247, statement of Gisevius.
62 Lahousen, statement, IMG, vol II, p 490.
63 Fest, Staatsstreich, p 115.
19 The War of Extermination – Act One
1 Ueberschär, Gerd R, ‘Der militärische Widerstand, die antijüdischen Maßnahmen, “Polenmorde” und NS-Kriegsverbrechen in den ersten Kriegsjahren (1939–1941)’, in Ueberschär, Gerd R, (ed), NS-Verbrechen und der militärische Widerstand gegen Hitler, Darmstadt, 2000, p 34.
2 Hill, Weizsäcker-Papiere 1933–1950, p 164, note of 7 October 1939.
3 Ibid, p 173.
4 Ueberschär, ‘Widerstand’, p 34.
5 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 313.
6 Groscurth diaries, p 196, entry 1 September 1939 (private diary).
7 Ibid; Halder, War Diary, vol I, pp 50 and 52, entry 1 September 1939. Also see Schindler, Mosty und Dirschau, pp I20f and 150f.
8 Lahousen diaries, p II, entry I September 1939, IfZ, F 23/1, folio 14.
9 Runzheimer, ‘Der Uberfall’, p 409.
10 Lahousen, Erwin, ‘Das Unternehmen Himmler’, undated, IfZ, ZS 658, folio 45; IMG, vol II, p 497, statement by Lahousen. Abshagen, Canaris, p 207, writes – after Lahousen’s statement before the IMG – that Piekenbrock made the statement after the publication of the first Wehrmacht report. This is incorrect. See Runzheimer, ‘Der Uberfall’, p 410, n 11.
11 Interrogation of Lahousen at the Nuremberg OKW trial in Runzheimer, ‘Der Uberfall’, p 411.
12 Ibid, p 412, with n 21.
13 Höhne, Orden unter dem Totenkopf, pp 241–5.
14 Browning, Christopher R, Die Entfesselung der Entlösung – nationalsozialistishe Judenpolitik 1939–1942, Munich, 2003, p 35 and Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 426.
15 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 334.
16 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 44, entry 29 September 1939.
17 Herbert, Best, pp 234–40; Wildt, Generation, pp 426–8; Krausnick, Helmut, and Wilhelm, Hans Heinrich, Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskrieges – Die Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD 1938–1942, Stuttgart, 1981, p 40f.
18 Quotation from Herbert, Best, p 238.
19 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 44, entry 30 September 1939.
20 Herbert, Best, p 239.
21 Ibid, p 240.
22 For the ‘Bromberg Bloody Sunday’ in detail, see Wildt, Generation, pp 432–47; Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, pp 55–65.
23 Groscurth diaries, p 198 (private diary) and p 257 (service diary), entry 3 September 1939.
24 Ibid, p 257, entry 4 September 1939 (service diary).
25 Ibid, p 199, entry 5 September 1939 (private diary).
26 Ibid, p 260, entry 5 September 1939 (service diary).
27 Ibid, p 198, entry 3 September 1939 (private diary).
28 Ibid, p 200f, entry 8 September 1939 (private diary); cf Wildt, Generation, p 433f, with n 52.
29 Groscurth diaries, p 198, entry 4 September 1939 (private diary).
30 Ibid, p 198 ff, entries 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 September 1939 (private diary).
31 Ibid, p 199, with n 461 (private diary) and p 259 (service diary).
32 Werner Best dates the evening meal as the day of the British declaration of war, 3 September. According to the service diaries Canaris was at the Front that day. Presumably the visit occurred after his return. Groscurth’s diary entries do not mention it and Lahousen refers only to journeys and conferences planned by Canaris for the following week. See Best, ‘Canaris’, p 177.
33 Ibid.
34 Cf the recent study by John Horne and Alan Kramer, Deutsche Kriegsgreuel 1914, Hamburg, 2004.
35 Wildt, Generation, p 436f.
36 Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, p 55, with n 134; Herbert, Best, p 593, n 316; Wildt, Generation, p 439.
37 Ibid.
38 See for the discussion of the events Wildt, Generation, p 439ff; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 336; Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, p 55ff.
39 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 336.
40 For the divergent details see Wildt, Generation, p 439f, n 71.
41 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 336.
42 Wildt points out, contrary to the general interpretation, that Himmler’s orders of 3 September were in reaction to Bromberg. Wildt, Generation, p 434, n 53.
43 Ibid, p 433 and Herbert, Best, p 240.
44 Ibid.
45 Wildt, Generation, p 414ff.
46 Ibid, p 447f, with n 96.
47 Protocol of Conference of Departmental Chiefs, 7 to 8 September 1939 in Herbert, Best, p 241.
48 Groscurth diaries, p 201, entry 8 September 1939 (private diary).
49 Ibid, p 202, entry 9 September 1939 (private diary).
50 Ibid, in his service diary Groscurth put the time of his appointment with Halder (1615hrs) but made no mention of the content of the conversation: ibid, p 265.
51 Cf opinions of Herbert, Best, p 241 and Wildt, Generation, pp 447 and 449.
52 File note by Oberstleutnant von Lahousen on the conference in the Führer’s train on 12 September 1939 at Illnau and Vienna, 14 September 1939, BA-MA, N 104/3; Groscurth papers, reproduced in Groscurth diaries, pp 357–9, document 12; cf statement of Lahousen at Nuremberg: IMG, vol II, pp 492–5.
53 Galicia and White Russia played an important role for some time in the Abwehr plans for the war against Poland. See ‘Ergebnis der Besprechung der Abwehr II-Referenten der Abwehrstellen VIII und XVII beim Chef der Abt II der Amtsgr. Ausland/Abwehr’, 3 July 1939, BA-MA, RW 5/123; ‘Bericht Lahousen an Chef der IV. Abt. d. GenStH über die Ausbildung von Angehörigen der OUN far den Uberfall auf Polen’, 15 July 1939, BA-MA, RW 5/699; ‘Direktive Lahousens zur Kampfausbildung von Angehörigen der OUN’, 4 August 1939, BA-MA, RW 5/699; Lahousen diaries, entry 15 August 1923 and 8 and 25 August 1939, IfZ, F 23/1. For Abwehr planning and activities with regards to the Ukraine and Galicia, cf Höhne, Canaris, pp 304–9, 323f and 342ff
54 IMG, vol II, p 494, Lahousen statement.
55 File note, Lahousen, 14 September 1939.
56 IMG, vol II, p 493, Lahousen statement.
57 File note, Lahousen, 14 September 1939.
58 Ibid and IMG, vol II, p 493, statement of Lahousen.
59 Ibid, p 494. Keitel avoided recollecting any details of this conference to the Nuremberg judges, but admitted to having repeated ‘frankly’ what had been discussed in his presence by Brauchitsch and Hitler. IMG, vol X, p 580, statement of Keitel.
60 Cf principally Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, p 64ff; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 427ff; and Browning, Entfesselung, pp 34–48 and 116–29f.
61 File note, Lahousen, 14 September 1939; cf IMG, vol II, p 493, statement of Lahousen.
62 Nikolaus von Vormann, ‘Erinnerungen’ (unpublished, IfZ 34/2), quoted in Höhne, Canaris, p 349.
63 IMG, vol II, p 494, statement of Lahousen.
64 File note Lahousen, 14 September 1939.
65 Groscurth diaries, p 204, entry 13 September 1939 (private diary).
66 Ibid, p 286, entry 13 September 1939 (service diary).
67 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 71, entry 13 September 1939.
68 Conference note, Oberquartiermeister IV for ObdH, Generaloberst von Brauchitsch, 17 September 1939, BA-MA N 104/3 reproduced in Groscurth diaries, p 360, document 13; cf here et seq principally Wildt, Generation, p 451ff and Browning, Entfesselung, p 38ff.
69 Conference note, 17 September 1939.
70 Ibid.
71 This is denied by Wildt, Generation, p 452.
72 Groscurth diaries, p 206, entry 18 September 1939 (private diary).
73 Cf DRZW, vol 2, p 126f; Hoensch, JörgK, ‘Der Hitler–Stalin-Pakt und Polen’, in Oberländer, Erwin (ed), Hitler–Stalin-Pakt 1939. Das Ende Ostmitteleuropas?, Frankfurt am Main 1989, p 51 (with facsimile of the secret protocol, p 127O; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 329.
74 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 80.
75 Groscurth diaries, p 208, entry 22 September 1939 (private diary).
76 Lahousen, personal list of Abw. Abt. I (1938-mid 1943), NA, KV 2/173, Lahousen file.
77 Report by Generalmajor Lahousen on Canaris secret organisation, part II, p 2, PRO KV 2/173, Lahousen file.
78 Groscurth diaries, p 206, entry 18 September 1939 (private diary).
79 DRZW, vol 2, p 130f; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 328.
80 Groscurth diaries, p 272, n 771. See also Browning, Entfesselung, p 55. On 15 September 1939 a corresponding order was issued by the chief of the Sicherheitspolizei to the Army chief of police OKW (Abwehr). On 20 September 1939 Heeresgruppe Süd sent a corresponding telex to AOK’s 8, 10 and 14; see Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, p 46, n 82.
81 Figures from Browning, Entfesselung, p 633, n 66. Browning refers to Madajczyk, Czeslaw, Die Okkupationspolitik Nazideutschlands in Polen 1939–1945, Berlin, 1987, p 28.
82 Groscurth diaries, p 209, n 509. See also Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 427, n 21; Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, p 54b Browning (Entfesselung, p 39) makes Groscurth incorrectly Ic of 14.Armee and even has him reporting to Canaris.
83 Browning, Entfesselung, p 39.
84 Note, Groscurth, ‘Mündliche Orientierung am 22. 9. 1939 durch Major Radke’, BA-MA N 104/3. Reproduced in Groscurth diaries, p 361, document 14.
85 Ibid.
86 See Wildt, Generation, p 453.
87 Note, Groscurth, ‘Mündliche Orientierung am 22.9. 1939’, reproduced in Groscurth diaries, document 14, pp 361–3.
88 Ibid; cf Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 432f; Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, p 69f and Browning, Entfesselung, p 39f.
89 Groscurth diaries, p 277, entry 23 September 1939 (service diary); Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, p 54, with n 130.
90 Groscurth diaries, p 282, entry 27 September 1939 (service diary).
91 Cf the recent results of research in Wildt, Generation, p 452f; Browning, Entfesselung, p 41f.
92 Janssen and Tobias, Sturz, p 239.
93 ‘Bericht des Leutnants Rosenhagen über den Tod des Generaloberst Frhr. v. Fritsch vom 26. 9. 1939’, reproduced in Groscurth diaries, Appendix i, document 16, p 365^ cfJanssen and Tobias, Sturz, p 248f.
94 Cf Ludwig Beck’s letter to his brother Wilhelm, 22 September 1939: ‘I knew that he was looking for the opportunity to die nobly.’ Reproduced in Müller, Beck, p 589, Document 58.
95 Hassell diaries, p 127, entry ii October 1939. Also see the anonymous letter to OKH dated 27 September 1939 from NCOs and men returning to Berlin repeating the rumours surrounding the death of Fritsch and making undisguised threats to Himmler. Reproduced in Groscurth diaries, document 17, p 367. For the falsity of these rumours see Rosenhagen’s statement. Also Brausch, Gerd, ‘Der Tod des Generalobersten Werner Freiherr von Fritsch’, Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen 5, pp 95–112.
96 Groscurth diaries, p 210, entry 29 September 1939 (private diary).
97 Cf Janssen and Tobias, Sturz, p 251, according to whom Hitler’s participation was prevented by bad flying weather; for the same reason Keitel did not arrive until the last minute. Groscurth remarked in his diary that there were hardly any SS to be seen: ‘only Goebbels, Ley, Frick, Lutze were there.’ Groscurth diaries, p 210, entry 29 September 1939 (private diary).
98 From DRZW, vol 2, p 131.
99 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 331f; DRZW, vol 2, p 137.
100 According to former Abwehr officer Reile, Oscar, Geheime Ostfront – Die deutsche Abwehr im Osten 1921–1945, Munich, 1963, p 309f; cf Höhne, Canaris, p 346. For Horatzek see: article in Die Nachhut, 11/12 and 15 February 1971, p 4, BA-MA, Msg 3/22–1.
101 On 3 October, von Rundstedt took over the entire military command in the newly erected Grenzabschnitten Nord, Mitte und Süd (3., 8. and 14.Armee) and also became military commander of Posen and Danzig-West-Prussia, DRZW, vol 2, p 132.
102 Groscurth diaries, p 216, entry 9 October 1939 (private diary).
103 Field letter from Groscurth to his wife, 10 October 1939, from Groscurth diaries, p 2l6, n 546.
104 Graml, Hermann, ‘Die Wehrmacht im Dritten Reich’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 45, 1997, p 373.
105 Cf Ueberschär, ‘Widerstand’, p 35.
106 Hassell diaries, p 127, entry ii October 1939.
107 Halder, letter to Canaris, 12 October 1939, BA-MA, MSg i/1186.
20 The Spirit of Zossen
1 See also Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, pp 85–7.
2 Graml, ‘Wehrmacht im Dritten Reich’, p 373.
3 From Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe, p 86.
4 Graml, ‘Wehrmacht im Dritten Reich’, p 325.
5 Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, pp 128–39.
6 Buchheit, Geheimdienst, p 73f; Reile, Geheime Ostfront, p 310f.
7 Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, p 128.
8 Basset, Hitler’s Spy Chief, pp 219, 230, 262 insinuates that Halina Szymanska was the intermediary for messages between Canaris and the British Secret Service head Stewart Menzies. The sources are not complete.
9 Here et seq Smid, Dohnanyi – Bonhoeffer, pp 227–30; Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, pp 14–21.
10 Cf note of Christina Dohnanyi, IFZ, ZS 603 folio 35.
11 Smid, Dohnanyi – Bonhoeffer, p 228.
12 Ibid, p. 229; Thielenhaus, Zwischen Anpassung und Widerstand, p 154.
13 Umbreit, Hans, ‘Der Kampf um die Vormachtstellung in West europa’, DRZW, vol II, p 238f; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 364f; Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 101, entry 10 October 1939.
14 Umbreit, ‘Kampf um die Vormachtstellung’, pp 237 and 242f.
15 Groscurth diaries, p 216, n 546.
16 Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 481; Deutsch, Harold C, Verschwörung gegen den Krieg Der Widerstand in den Jahren 1939–1940, Munich 1969, p 76. Groscurth stated in his entry of 5 October 1939 that Canaris did not want ‘to have anything more to do with the skinny generals. They are all talking already about the attack in the West against Holland and Belgium that is in preparation.’ That Canaris had these conversations at the Western Front, as the literature asserts, mostly based on a report by Lahousen, is out of the question since the named conversational partners were in the East at the time, as was Groscurth. Groscurth diaries, p 201f, entries 9 and 11 October 1939 (private diary).
17 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 105, entry 14 October 1939.
18 Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 280, with n 59; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 367; Weizsäcker, Erinnerungen, p 269f.
19 Groscurth diaries, p 218, entry 16 October 1939 (private diary).
20 Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 490.
21 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 368.
22 Smid, Dohnanyi – Bonhoeffer, p 232.
23 Kordt, Nicht aus den Akten, p 358.
24 Groscurth diaries, p 219, entry 19 October 1939, with n 566; memorandum reproduced in ibid, document 70, pp 498–503 and Kordt, Nicht aus dem Akten, pp 359–65; Ueberschär, Gerd R, ‘Militäropposition gegen Hitlers Kriegspolitik 1939 bis 1941. Motive, Struktur und Alternativvorstellungen des entstehenden militärischen Widerstandes’, in Schmädecke, Jürgen, and Steinbach, Peter (eds), Der Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus – Die deutsche Gesellschaft und der Widerstand gegen Hitler, Munich and Zürich, 1985, p 349.
25 Müller, Heer und Hitler, pp 494ff and p 502b.
26 Groscurth diaries, p 220, entries 22–5 October 1939 (private diary).
27 Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 495, indicates the error of some references to Canaris’s activities during this phase.
28 Ueberschär, ‘Militäropposition’, p 350; Ueberschär, Gerd R, Generaloberst Franz Halder. Generalstabschef, Gegner und Gefangener Hitlers, Göttingen and Zürich, 1991, p 40f; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 508f.
29 Groscurth diaries, p 222, entry 1 November 1939 (private diary), with n 578; cf Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 511, n 249.
30 Groscurth diaries, p 222, entry 1 November 1939 (private diary); for the interpretation of this entry see Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 51iff, with which I concur. From the entry it is not completely clear whether the objection regarding the ‘missing man’ came from Halder or Groscurth.
31 Groscurth diaries, p 222, entry i November 1939 (private diary).
32 Thus Vogel, Thomas, ‘Die Militäropposition gegen das NS-Regime am Vorabend des Zweiten Weltkriegs und während der ersten Kriegsjahre (1939–1941), in Aufstand des Gewissens. Militärischer Widerstand gegen Hitler und das NS-Regime 1933 bis 1945, a companion volume to the open exhibition of the Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamtes, Hamburg, Berlin and Bonn, 2001, p 199.
33 Halder, letter to Walter Baum, 3 June 1957, IfZ, ZS 240, vol V, here from Höhne, Canaris, p 367.
34 Note, Lahousen, ‘Zur Vorgeschichte des Anschlags vom 20. Juli 44’, IfZ, ZS 658, folio 8.
35 Kordt, Nicht aus den Akten, p 371.
36 As it was also misunderstood, when Halder let Oster and other civilian conspirators such as Goerdeler, Schacht and Beck know, they should hold themselves in readiness from 5 November, not on the 5th. Halder had no specific action to set the coup in motion; for him it all depended on Hitler’s reaction and was linked to the clarification of several open questions such as the troop units to be involved. Cf Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 520.
37 Cf statement of Brauchitsch, IMG, vol XX, p 628; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 370; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 520; according to Müller the talks were longer and Keitel was summoned after half an hour.
38 Ibid, cf Groscurth diaries, p 224, n 589.
39 Ibid, p 224, entry 5 November 1939 (private diary).
40 Ibid, p 225.
41 Ibid, and n 590.
42 Copy note, Inga Haag, 4 April 1948, IfZ, ZS 2093, p 2f.
43 Gisevius, Bis zum bitteren Ende, vol II, p 159.
44 According to Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 527.
45 Ibid, pp 527–9 for the comprehensive talk by Müller.
46 Deutsch, Verschwörung, p 251; in research the discussion is either avoided or it is accepted that Halder wanted to transfer the responsibility to Canaris and the Abwehr. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 370; Ueberschär, ‘Militäropposition’, p 350; also Halder, War Diary, p 42; Fest, Staatsstreich, p 130; Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 168; Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 179; Höhne, Canaris, p 375, presumes an ‘act of desperation’ on Groscurth’s part.
47 Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 530.
48 Groscurth diaries, p 225, entry 6 November 1939 (private diary).
49 Gisevius, Bis zum bitteren Ende, vol II, p 161.
50 Ibid, p 162.
51 Ibid, p 162ff; Groscurth diaries, p 225, entry 6 Novemer 1939 (private diary); Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 531f; Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 179f; Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 170.
52 Deutsch, Verschwörung, p 259. The Oster-Gisevius trip is described in detail ibid, p 256ff; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 532ff; Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 170k The accounts differ because of the confusion between Gisevius’s and Vincenz Müller’s versions as to whether they visited Witzleben or Müller first.
53 Deutsch, Verschwörung, p 259ff; Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 171.
54 Gisevius, Bis zum bitteren Ende, vol II, p 165.
55 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 371. Agents of the Abwehr posing as opponents of the Nazi regime succeeded in making contact with two senior MI6 officers in Holland. When Heydrich found out, he sent Schellenberg to meet them. The operation was run from Berlin by SS-Sturmbannführer Helmut Knochen. Canaris stated that he knew nothing of the Venlo affair. Undoubtedly it signalled the intention of the SD to pursue its own ambitions in foreign espionage. Among the more recent accounts are Doerries, Reinhard R, Hitler’s Last Chief of Foreign Intelligence. Allied Interrogations of Walter Schellenberg, London and Portland, 2003, pp 11–14; Cave Brown, Bodyguard ofLies, pp 186–92; Cave Brown, Anthony, The Secret Servant. The Life of Sir Stewart Menzies, Churchill’s Spymaster, London, 1988, pp 208–23. Accounts of those involved are Best, S Payne, The Venlo Incident, London, 1950; Schellenberg, Walter, Memoiren, London, 1956, pp 79–89; Schulze-Bernett, Walter, ‘Der Grenzzwischenfall bei Venlo/ Holland’, DieNachhut, 2, 1973, pp 1–9, BA-MA, MSg 3–22/1.
56 Gisevius, Bis zum bitteren Ende, vol II, p 169; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 536.
57 Groscurth diaries, p 228f, entries 10 and ii November 1939 (private diary).
58 Gisevius, Bis zum bitteren Ende, vol II, p 171.
59 Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 542Í; Vogel, ‘Militäropposition’, p 204.
60 Groscurth diary, p 230, entry 13 November 1939 (private diary).
61 Ibid, p 231, entry 14 November 1939 (private diary); differs over the content of the conversation with Gisevius, Bis zum bitteren Ende, vol II, p 172f.
21 ‘Now There is No Going Back’
1 Gisevius, Bis zum bitteren Ende, vol II, p 173 f.
2 Vogel, ‘Militäropposition’, p 205.
3 See Groscurth diaries, p 234, entry 10 December 1939 (whole entry in private diary). Groscurth was also present for this address. See also Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 548f, with n 463. A version of the speech probably taken down by Groscurth is reproduced in Groscurth diaries, Appendix I, document 40, pp 414–18; cf Kershaw, Hitler 1936– 1945, p 377ff.
4 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp 377–80 and Groscurth diaries, p 234, n 638.
5 Groscurth diaries, p 234, entry 10 December 1939 (whole entry in private diary).
6 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 132, entry 23 November 1939; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 550; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 380.
7 Graml, ‘Wehrmacht im Dritten Reich’, p 372.
8 From Groscurth diaries, p 426f, document 43: ‘Blaskowitz ans OKH, 27 November 1939’. Cf Graml, ‘Wehrmacht im Dritten Reich’, p 374 and principally Browning, Entfesselung, p I20f.
9 Engel, Gerhard, Heersadjutant bei Hitler 1938–1943. Aufzeichnungen des Majors Engel, edited and with commentary by Hildegard von Kotze, Schriftenreihe der Vierteljahrshefte filr Zeitgeschichte 29, Stuttgart, 1974, p 68, entry 18 November 1939. The date may be erroneous, as suspected by the IfZ editor. Engel did not date his notes until after the war (see ibid, p 67, n 196), or possibly there was another, earlier note (see Groscurth diaries, p 80; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 437f; Müller, Vorgeschichte, p 100, n 37, and p 101, n 43a). See also Browning, Entfesselung, p 121 and p 647, n 138.
10 Browning, Entfesselung, p 128.
11 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 380.
12 Hassell diaries, p 147, item subsequent to entry 30 November 1939.
13 Groscurth diaries, p 238, entry 19 December 1939 (private diary).
14 Ibid, entry 21 December 1939.
15 Ibid, p 241, entry 13 January 1940.
16 Ibid, p 242, entry 16 January 1940; Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 159, entry 16 January 1939.
17 Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 160, entry 18 January 1940.
18 Vogel, ‘Militäropposition’, p 206.
19 Groscurth, letter to his wife Charlotte, i February 1940, BA-MA, N 104/8.
20 Krausnick, Deutsch and Kotze, Einführung, pp 85–95.
21 Groscurth diaries, p 246, entry 14 February 1940 (private diary).
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid, p 247, entry as above.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid, n 688.
26 See Draft, Christine v. Dohnanyi, IfZ, ZS 60, folio 56fMeyer, Unternehmen Sieben, p 21; Smid, Dohnanyi – Bonhoeffer, p 235 with reference to the Dohnanyi documentation.
27 Smid, Dohnanyi – Bonhoeffer, p 235.
28 Deutsch, Verschwörung, p 117, quoting conversations with Josef Müller.
29 Ibid; see also Graml, ‘Fall Oster’, p 34ff.
30 Meyer, Winfried, ‘Nachrichtendienst, Staatsstreichvorbereitung und Widerstand – Hans von Dohnanyi im Amt Ausland/Abwehr 1939–43’, in Meyer, Verschwörer im KZ, p 90.
31 Ibid.
32 Deutsch, Verschwörung, p 117, quoting conversations with Josef Müller.
33 Höhne, Canaris, p 372.
34 Lahousen, ‘Geheimorganisation Canaris’, Part II, p. 41, BA-MA, MSg 1/2812.
35 Groscurth diaries, p 299, entry 20 October 1939 (private diary), with n 862; at the conclusion of the Müller journey, per a file note by Dohnanyi found amongst the Zossen material, according to Huppenkothen. See also ‘Protokoll der Besprechung mit Frau v. Dohnanyi am 1. Dezember 1952’, p 7, IfZ, ZS 603, folio 17, in the ‘Europäischen Publikation’ publishing project, in which Müller and Lahousen took part.
36 See Müller, Josef, ‘Report on Conversation at the Vatican and in Rome between November 6th and 12th, 1939’, copy, IfZ, ZS 659, folios 1–130.
37 Ueberschär, ‘Militäropposition’, p 353. For the negotiations and strategies developed by Müller and Kaas see Müller’s above-mentioned report, which should be accepted with due caution, also Ludlow, Peter, ‘Papst Pius XII., die britische Regierung und die deutsche Opposition im Winter 1939/40’, Vierteljahrshefte fir Zeitgeschichte 22, 1974, pp 299–341, containing also Osborne’s reports to Lord Halifax on the audiences granted on 12 January and 7 February 1940.
38 Höhne, Canaris, p 380.
39 See Meyer, ‘Nachrichtendienst’, p 92.
40 Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, p 21; Meyer, ‘Nachrichtendienst’, p 92; Smid, Dohnanyi – Bonhoeffer, p 237.
41 Thomas, Georg, ‘Gedanken und Ereignisse’, Schweizer Monatshefte, 25, 1945, p 548, who used this as a part of his defensive strategy under interrogation, not knowing that the Vatican talks had been set up by Oster and Dohnanyi. Meyer, ‘Nachrichtendienst’, p 92.
42 See the margin entries in Halder, War Diary, vol I, p 245ff., entries of 4 and 5 April 1940.
43 Dohnanyi, Christine von, ‘Aufzeichnung über das Schicksal der Dokumenten-sammlung meines Mannes’, IfZ, ZS 603, folios 27–30, copy folio 30a–!; printed in Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, pp 1047–52; for the complicated underlying history and Halder’s manoeuvres see Smid, Dohnanyi – Bonhoeffer, pp 238–41.
44 Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 212, which gives the reaction of Brauchitsch in detail.
45 Interview with Franz Liedig by Helmut Krausnick and Harold C Deutsch, IfZ, ZS 2125, folio 5f.
46 See also Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, and also, Thun-Hohenstein, Remedio Galeazzo Graf von, ‘Widerstand und Landesverrat am Beispiel des Generalmajors Hans Oster’, in Schmädecke and Steinbach, Widerstand, pp 751–62.
47 Ueberschär, ‘Militäropposition’, p 355.
48 Thun-Hohenstein, ‘Widerstand und Landesverrat’, p 760.
49 Raeder, Mein Leben, vol II, p 200.
50 Maier, Klaus A, and Stegemann, Bernd, ‘Die Sicherung der Europäischen Nordflanke’, in DRZW, vol II, p 196f.
51 Ibid, p 212.
52 Brammer, Uwe, Spionageabwehr und ‘Geheimer Meldedienst’. Die Abwehrstelle im WehrkreisX Hamburg 1935–194$, Einzelschriften zur Militärgeschichte 33, Freiburg, 1989, p 117.
53 Interview with Franz Liedig by Helmut Krausnick and Harold C Deutsch, IfZ, ZS 2125, folio 6.
54 Ibid.
55 Maier and Stegemann, ‘Sicherung’, p 212.
56 Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 190.
57 Ibid.
58 Jodl diaries, entry 7 May 1940, IMG, vol XXVIII, p 428, document 1890-PS.
59 For the history and activity of the ‘Research Bureau’ – Forschungsamt – see Gellermann, Gtother W, . . . und lauschten für Hitler. Geheime Reichssache: Die Abhörzentralen des Dritten Reiches, Bonn, 1991, pp 104–11.
60 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–194$, p 399–405, quotation p 405.
61 Höhne, Canaris, p 396.
62 Copy, Huppenkothen statement, ‘Verhältnis Wehrmacht–Sicherheitspolizei, II. Teil’, p 2, IfZ, ZS 249, folio 18.
63 The assertion of Josef Müller that Canaris had sent him back to Rome as an intermediary in his own affair, where he then developed the tale that the informer came from amongst Ribbentrop’s colleagues and had passed it to Italian Foreign Minister Ciano has nothing to commend it. Müller, Konsequenz, p 151f.
64 The Jewish agent was German émigrée Gabriel Ascher, who lived and worked in Stockholm as correspondent for a Swiss newspaper. Deutsch, Verschwörung, p 175f; Müller, Konsequenz, p 153f.
65 Copy, Huppenkothen statement, ‘Verhältnis Wehrmacht–Sicherheitspolizei, II. Teil’, p 2, IfZ, ZS 249, folio 18.
22 Operation Felix
1 Schreiber, Gerhard, ‘Die politische und militärische Entwicklung im Mittelmeerraum 1939/40’, DRZW, vol III, p 178.
2 Ibid, p 179.
3 See also Halder, War Diary, vol II, pp 31 and 45, entries re conferences of 21 and 30 July 1940.
4 Schreiber, ‘Entwicklung’, p 166, with n 25.
5 Ibid, p 181.
6 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 20, entry 13 July 1940.
7 Preston, Franco, p 368.
8 Burdick, Charles B, Germany’s Military Strategy and Spain in World War II, Syracuse, New York, 1968, p 24.
9 This is according to Höhne, Canaris, p 405; Burdick states that Pardo was a General Staff officer and Vigón Minister for War; the latter is definitely wrong. Höhne makes Martinez Campos a colonel and chief of the Secret Intelligence Service of the Spanish Army; Preston thinks he was not a colonel but a general and chief of the General Staff. Preston also has Vigón as Air Force Minister – which is questionable as to timing – while for Höhne he was a major-general and chief of the General Staff. As regards the mission of Canaris I have mainly followed Burdick, who bases his material on the basis of an exchange of correspondence with Mikosch, Witzig and Leissner, and an interview with Langkau. Burdick, Military Strategy, pp 25–9.
10 Ibid, p 25 and Schreiber, ‘Entwicklung’, p 182. See also the report of the Italian Navy Secret Service chief, Alberto Lais, following a visit by Canaris to Rome on 22 July 1939; this was after Canaris had spoken with Franco in Spain on the Gibraltar problem and the setting up of German bases for the event of war: DDI, series VIII, vol XII, no 638, p 485ff.
11 Burdick, Military Strategy, p 25.
12 Ibid, n 30.
13 Ibid, p 26.
14 Schreiber, ‘Entwicklung’, p 182; Burdick, Military Strategy, p 27. Abwehr-Hauptmann Hans-Jochen Rudloff was supposedly making a reconnaissance in Spain at the beginning of July (Höhne, Canaris, p 409), or perhaps at the same time as Canaris’s mission, although independent of it (Burdick, Military Strategy, p 29), or perhaps in common with Canaris’s troops (Buchheit, Geheimdienst, p 375), the purpose being to see if it would be possible to siphon a Brandenburger unit through Spain without anybody noticing, and to ship artillery round to Tarifa and Ceuta at the same time. The accounts seem to go back to Rudloff and Oscar Reile, Geheime Westfront. Die Abwehr 1935–1945, Munich, 1962, p 283ff. The idea of a secret one-man operation in parallel to Canaris has little to commend it.
15 Halder, War Diary, vol II, pp 46–50, entry 31 July 1940; Schreiber, ‘Entwicklung’, p 184f.
16 Burdick, Military Strategy, p 35, OKW War Diary, vol I.
17 Schreiber, ‘Entwicklung’, p 185f.
18 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 60, entry 9 August 1940.
19 Schreiber, ‘Entwicklung’, p 187f, with corresponding references to the OKW War Diary.
20 Ibid, p 187, n 31; OKW War Diary, vol I, p 22 (12 August 1940).
21 Lahousen diaries, p 90, entries 16–24 August 1940, IfZ F 23/1, folio 93.
22 Burdick, Military Strategy, p 41.
23 Preston, Franco, p 372.
24 Schreiber, ‘Entwicklung’, p 188, n 136.
25 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 86, entry 3 September 1940.
26 Ibid, p 100, entry 14 September 1940. But soon Canaris and the chief of the Operational Division at General Staff, General Hans von Greiffenberg, could report that the preparations for the capture of Gibraltar were in hand, see ibid, p 104, entry 17 September 1940.
27 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 440.
28 Ibid, p 441.
29 Preston, Franco, p 387.
30 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 128, entry 7 October 1940.
31 Ibid, p 137, entry 15 October 1940.
32 See ibid, p 134, entry 13 October 1940.
33 Ibid, p 140, entry 16 October 1940. Alcazar was the old Moorish fortification in the centre of Toledo that Franco dallied to liberate on the road to Madrid.
34 Picker, Henry (ed), Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ungekürzte Neuausgabe, Berlin, 1999, p 614 (7 July 1942).
35 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 442.
36 Hill, Weizsäcker-Papiere 1933–1950, p 221, entry 21 October 1940.
37 Full coverage of the negotiations is in Schmidt, Statist, pp 500–3; also Preston, Franco, p 395ff.
38 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 444.
39 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 158, entry 1 November 1940.
40 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 445.
41 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 157, entry 1 November 1940.
42 Ibid, p 159, entry 2 November 1940.
43 Burdick, Military Strateggy, p 67.
44 Halder, War Diary, vol II, pp 164–8, entries 4–6 November 1940.
45 Lahousen diaries, p 98f, entries 5 and 6 November 1940, IfZ F 23/1, folio 101f.
46 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 175, entry ii November 1940; Burdick, Military Strategy, pp 76 and 80ff.
47 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 1192, entry 25 November 1940; Burdick, Military Strategy, p 80.
48 Schreiber, ‘Entwicklung’, p 213.
49 Burdick, Military Strategy, p 81ff.
50 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 209f, entry 5 December 1940 (square brackets in original).
51 Burdick, Military Strategy, p 103ff, who sets the date of the journey three days too early; Preston, Franco, p 412f; Crozier, Franco, p 336; the script of the ensuing conversation between Canaris and Franco is reproduced in: Detwiler, Donald S, Hitler, Franco und Gibraltar, Wiesbaden, 1962, pp 123–5; Höhne, Canaris, p 420f; ADAP, series D, vol XII, no 500, p 852f.
52 ADAP, series D, vol XII, no 500, p 852f; Detwiler, Hitler, Franco und Gibraltar, p 124, quoted here from Höhne, Canaris, p 420.
53 Schreiber, ‘Entwicklung’, p 213; OKW War Diary, vol I, p 222 (10 December 1940).
54 Halder, War Diary, vol II, p 218, entry 8 December 1940.
55 See additionally Klink, Ernst, ‘Die militärische Konzeption des Krieges gegen die Sowjetunion’, in DRZW, vol 4, part IV, p 238.
56 Preston, Franco, p 412.
57 Papeleux, Léon, Ľadmiral Canaris entre Franco et Hitler – Le role de Canaris dans les Relationsgermano-espagnoles 1915–1944, Casterman, 1977, p 138.
58 Weizsäcker, Erinnerungen, p 297.
59 Hill, Weizsäcker-Papiere 1933–1950, p 228, n 13 December 1940.
60 Ibid, p 229, n 18. 12. 1940.
61 Hassell diaries, p 216.
62 Cave Brown, Bodyguard of Lies, p 213.
63 Thus is the inclination of Colvin, Chief of Intelligence, p 12/ff, who relies on conversations with Lahousen and Canaris’s adjutant Jenke. Stefanie Lahousen quotes her husband as saying after the war that the final report on the negotiations with Franco had already been dictated by Canaris before the talks had concluded, which strengthens the suspicion that Canaris was working towards a Spanish ‘No’. Statement by Stefanie Lahousen to the author, 3 January 2006. That Lahousen accompanied Canaris to Spain is not corroborated by the service diary; Lahousen seems to have been at Besanjon in France between 6 and 9 December 1940 on Operation Felix business. Lahousen diaries, p 106, IfZ, F 23/1, folio 109.
64 Ibid, p 128.
65 Quoted from ibid; and the same words in Cave Brown, Bodyguard of Lies, p 214. The work of the German emigrant Werner Emil Hart (actually Aron), who returned to Germany from exile in Britain in 1951, offering his services and a batch of material on the Abwehr to the publishing project Europäische Publikationen, corresponds in detail to Colvin’s account. Ausarbeitung Werner Emil Hart Dezember 1953, IfZ, ZS 1984, folio 131ff. As was apparent for accompanying correspondence, those involved were not fully sure about Hart’s manuscript. It is extraordinarily precise in many details but it is quite possible that Hart had seen Colvin’s book. Bassett relies extensively on Hart: Bassett, ‘Canaris’, p 198ff.