The Road to War - August 1939

The last month of peace begins in a dark and dense mood. The key to all action is Soviet Union though few believe that war is still avoidable. Hitler terminates preparations for the “Fall Weiss” (Case White), the plan for invasion of Poland. But for that to happen he has to void at all costs a double front war. On the other hand, failing to carry a policy of Appeasement with Hitler, France and Great Britain know that they are ill prepared for war in 1939. They need to contain Hitler and since the United States are unwilling to even discuss any intervention in Europe, a pact with USSR is badly needed… As negotiations between France, Great Britain and Soviet Union stall in the discussion of military details, the Germans leap from a successfully economic negotiation to an extended political agreement on the division of East Europe…

2 – Albert Einstein sends a letter to President Roosevelt concerning the possibility to develop some kind of bomb using Uraniun. Some consider this the beginning of The Manhattan Project.

15 – The movie Wizard of Oz, based in the famous novel by L. Frank Baum, premieres in the United States.

19 – Hitler, still unsure of the outcome of the talks with the Russians but certain of the outcome, orders the move forward on the Fall Weiss, the plan for the invasion of Poland. Several naval units such as the Graf Spee, the Deutschland and several submarines leave their bases to position in several locations.

20 – In the inner Mongolia, the soviets under General Zhukov’s command, defeat the Japanese ending the border confrontations in that location

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