From the outbreak of European war in September 1939,
When Germany attacked Poland, Hitler had gone on to conquer Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Holland and Belgium. On 25 June 1940 France surrendered, allowing itself to be partitioned, retaining only the southern portion of the country, which was governed by a puppet government. With the United States still maintaining its neutrality and the Soviet Union actively in league with Hitler over Poland, by July 1940 Britain stood truly alone with its empire against the bloated Nazi Reich.
The question on everyone’s lips was, when would the invasion of Britain begin? If the British had transported over 300,000 men across the Channel at Dunkirk under attack from the Luftwaffe, what was to stop the Germans moving a similar number of men across under the eyes of the RAF? British troops had left all their equipment in France, and the fledgling Home Guard was preparing to contest the landing of German parachutists armed with little more than kitchen knives and hastily improvised spears... or at least that was the common view of the situation around the world.
On 16 July Hitler had issued a directive to prepare for the invasion of the British Isles, which was to be codenamed Seelowe (Sealion). On the evening of 19 July 1940, American CBS journalist William L. Shirer attended a session of the German Reichstag, during which Hitler gave a speech. In Shirer’s opinion it was one of the Fuhrer’s finest — a dramatic final peace offer to the British people. It concluded:
In this hour I feel it to be my duty before my own conscience to appeal once more to reason and common sense in Great Britain as much as elsewhere.
I consider myself in a position to make this appeal since I am not the vanquished begging favours, but the victor speaking in the name of reason.
I can see no reason why this war must go on.1
Shirer left the session and drove to the radio studio in Berlin from where he planned to report the speech in his broadcast back to the United States.
While he was driving to the studio, in London another journalist was preparing to make a broadcast, this time on the BBC German Service. Denis
Sefton Delmer was a journalist for the British Daily Express newspaper. Born to an Australian father in Berlin, Delmer had grown up in the German capital and had unique understanding of the German character and mentality. Working for the Daily Express, Delmer was the first British journalist to interview Hitler and was also acquainted with the likes of Goring, Goebbels and Himmler, having charted their rise to power through the 1930s.
As the war broke out, Delmer moved to Paris and then, as France began to fall, moved with the French government to Bordeaux. From there he managed to get on a liner bound for Britain. Looking for a job, the 36-year-old Delmer considered that he was too unfit for active service but mi ght make himself useful in the secret service, in view of his background in Germany and his understanding of the German language and people. However, the very credentials that made him suitable for such a post led many to wonder if he was not a Nazi stooge himself and so the secret services kept their distance. Instead he was invited to work on the BBC’s German broadcasts by Duff Cooper, the Minister of Information. His first broadcast was scheduled for the evening of Friday 19 July.
It thus became Delmer’s first duty to respond to Hitler’s triumphant Reichstag speech. This was a daunting prospect. Delmer had never spoken on the radio before, but he had a good idea how to put Hitler’s nose out of joint — which was the agreed intention of the broadcast. Delmer sat before the microphone and, using his best deferential German, addressed the German nation:
Herr Hitler, you have on occasion in the past consulted me as to the mood of the British public. So permit me to render your Excellency this little service once again tonight. Let me tell you what we here in Britain think of this appeal of yours to what you are pleased to call our reason and common sense. Herr Fuhrer and Reichskanzler, we hurl it right back at you, right in your evil-smelling teeth...2
In Berlin various Nazi officers and officials were listening to the BBC broadcast intently. When they heard what Delmer said, Shirer recorded how their expressions drooped and that they could not believe their ears. One of the Germans shouted at Shirer in disbelief ‘To turn down peace now? They’re crazy.’
Delmer’s speech caused quite a stir in Britain too, especially among the pacifists. The Socialist MP for Ipswich, Richard Stokes, was outraged at Delmer’s broadcast, asking how an answer to Hitler could be made so
Quickly and without consultation with the Prime Minister. To Delmer’s rescue came the Minister of Information, Duff Cooper, who told Parliament that Delmer had the Cabinet’s full backing. If he did, it was only with hindsight, for as Churchill noted in his history of World War II, the rejection of Hitler’s offer was given by the BBC ‘without any prompting from His Majesty’s Government’.3
World History
