The German Peace Read online

  The idea was ridiculed by the French. Marshall Philippe Petain believed the war was already lost and commented that a union with Britain would be akin to “marriage with a corpse.” The commander of the French forces, General Weygand, pronounced his belief that, “following the fall of France, Britain will soon have its neck wrung like a chicken by the Germans.”

  The comments of these two ‘leaders’ was indicative, with some few exceptions, of what was happening among the French leadership. Organised French resistance and spirit had collapsed.

  On 14 June German army commanders met with French officials to present the terms of an armistice that Germany was prepared to offer France.

  Yet another newly formed French government, this one under the elderly Marshall Petain, had no real options left to them. With a bitter taste in their mouths, they accepted the offered proposals. The armistice was scheduled to be signed on 16 June.

  The battle for France was over.

  A FEW DAYS EARLIER

  Prime Minister Churchill had received word on 11 June, that Paris had fallen. He was in a black mood. He knew that the French Government, wherever it was, would sue for peace. In his mind the battle for France was over. He must now start thinking of a future Battle for Britain. A battle his armies were ill prepared for, since losing the bulk of their troops and equipment at Dunkirk.

  To make matters worse, there was more bad news. He had also just been informed of Italy’s declaration of war on Britain and France. An action he considered cowardly in the extreme.

  Neither of these two events had been unexpected, and he was preparing a speech that he would deliver to the House of Commons that evening. He wasn’t looking forward to it, even though he thought the speech one of the best he had ever written. It was meant to be a morale booster. It would include such quotes as, ‘We will fight them on the beaches, we will fight them in the hills, we will fight them on the landing grounds’ …. It would end with, ‘We shall never surrender.’

  In his own office, Lord Halifax, the British Foreign Secretary, was deep in thought. So much had happened this very day that he was somewhat bemused.

  Halifax was fifty nine years old. A member of the British aristocracy whose family traced their roots back nearly nine hundred years.

  Prior to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia he had been one of the architects of the policy of appeasement, anxious to avoid war at any cost. Now, in view of German aggression over the past two years, he had been forced to moderate his previous, somewhat pacifist, views. He had been Foreign Secretary since early 1938.

  In earlier years he had clashed with Churchill on various issues at different times. He was frequently exasperated by Churchill’s style of doing business. In recent days these two had again become embroiled in many heated discussions as France teetered towards defeat.

  Halifax had been pushing the idea of trying to make an honourable peace with Germany by approaching Italy and using the Italian’s close relationship with Germany to see if any acceptable terms could be negotiated. Churchill overruled him after several stormy meetings of the war cabinet. Both of them had fought to bring the war cabinet to their own particular point of view. Fortunately for Britain, Churchill prevailed and it was he who had held a wavering cabinet together. He was implacably opposed to negotiating with Herr Hitler.

  Halifax acquiesced. He would live to fight another day!

  Now, Halifax, with a hint of a smile on his face, said to himself “Things have changed somewhat.”

  He had received the news of the fall of France with resignation. It had been expected, even if it was unsettling. Italy’s declaration of war had angered him. Like everybody else, he considered it a cowardly act committed only when Mussolini was certain France was already beaten, and after Britain had suffered a major defeat. America’s President Roosevelt said of it, “The hand that held the dagger has struck it into the back of his neighbour.”

  After receiving this news, Halifax was bracing himself for yet another fight with Churchill over the need to find a way to peace.

  Then out of the blue something totally unexpected had happened!

  Almost simultaneously, ‘It must have been pre-arranged,’ he acknowledged to himself, three diplomatic notes were delivered to him. One each from the United States, the Swiss, and the Portuguese Ambassadors.

  They each said much the same thing. The new German Foreign Minister - Baron Werner von Altendorf - on behalf of his country, urgently requested a meeting with the British Foreign Secretary to discuss a resolution of the current situation between their two countries. Included with the notes was an interesting document. Halifax read it with astonishment.

  Nobody was aware that there was a new German Foreign minister. ‘What the hell happened to the old foreign minister, von Ribbentrop,’ he asked himself. He knew Baron von Altendorf slightly from some years ago, and as far as he could recall he was a gentleman of the old school and not particularly pro-Nazi.

  “Curious,” he said out loud. “Never did like von Ribbentrop anyway. Bloody jumped up champagne salesman.” He was referring to the German’s involvement in the wine trade in earlier years.

  Each of the neutral ambassadors had also added ‘their strongest recommendation’ that Britain agrees to the German request. Provisional arrangements had already been made in secret by the Portuguese Government for a venue. Portugal was neutral in the conflict that had engulfed most of Western Europe.

  Halifax had barely finished reading the notes and the enclosed document when his telephone rang. His personal secretary said the United States Ambassador was on the line.

  “Highly unusual,” muttered Halifax, as he accepted the call.

  The US Ambassador since 1937 was Joseph Kennedy. An arrogant man with whom many sections of the British Establishment did not have good relations. It was believed he was not particularly pro-British and he had argued against the United States giving military and economic aid to Britain. Secretly he would not have been unhappy to see Britain humbled Germany.

  Yet the same man greatly enjoyed, as Ambassador, his lofty position in London high society, which was in stark contrast to his relatively ‘outsider’ position in his home town of Boston in the USA.

  Before the war this same man had constantly rejected the warnings of Winston Churchill, that any compromise with Nazi Germany was impossible. Kennedy had been a firm supporter of the policy of appeasement.

  Halifax had no great liking for this high ranking diplomat. Nevertheless he greeted him with a show of warmth. “Good afternoon, Mr Ambassador, this is an unexpected pleasure.”

  After the usual courtesies and platitudes, Kennedy got down to business. It was a simple message he conveyed. His instructions came from the top, the President of the United States.

  Mr Roosevelt wished to urge upon the British Government that they treat the German peace feelers with all seriousness. The position of the American Government was that the Germans were sincere, they would not try to impose any outrageous conditions, and it would be unutterably foolish for the British not to pursue this. Halifax detected a hint that future American aid to Britain could be conditional on Britain at least being prepared to negotiate.

  He agreed that he would indeed present this interesting development to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet immediately. After all, it suited his own philosophy perfectly.

  They ended their conversation.

  Now Halifax was planning his strategy. This would shake Winston! A meeting of the war cabinet was scheduled to be held in one hour. Halifax started to scribble furiously. He had barely started writing when his phone rang again. Irritated, he picked it up to tell his assistant he wanted no interruptions but immediately changed his mind when told is was the Head of MI6, Britain’s military intelligence unit, which was accountable to the Foreign secretary.

  He put the phone down five minutes later. Another revelation! What a day this had been.

  He carried on working.

  The meeting of the War Cabinet s
tarted fifteen minutes late.

  Churchill opened as usual with “Right, Gentlemen.” Before he could say another word, Halifax, ignoring the usual conventions, made a statement.

  “Prime Minister, I beg your indulgence. An extremely important and urgent matter was brought before me only an hour or two ago. It is my opinion that it is of such vital importance that it should take precedence over all other matters.”

  Churchill looked at him, somewhat taken aback, but reluctantly thought he had better let him have his way. “Go ahead Lord Halifax,” he said, ponderously.

  Halifax had everybody’s attention.

  “Less than two hours ago I received three diplomatic notes. One each from the United States, Swiss and Portuguese Ambassadors.” Now he had their interest!

  “The notes all relay a request from the new German Foreign Affairs Minister, Baron von Altendorf, for an urgent meeting to resolve our current difficulties. In other words - peace talks.”

  Even Churchill seemed at a loss for words.

  Halifax carried on. “The meeting is requested for three days from now. The Portuguese Government has arranged a secret venue near Lisbon and guarantees the safety of all attendees.

  As a sign of good faith, if we signal our agreement to attend such a meeting, the German Navy will immediately suspend all offensive submarine operations, and the Luftwaffe will halt all air activity over Britain, for the period before the talks, and for an indefinite period after conclusion of the talks, if, in the opinion of the German Foreign Minister, serious progress has been made towards a successful conclusion.

  The ambassdors in each case also added their own strongest recommendation that we treat this matter seriously.”

  Churchill opened his mouth to say something but Halifax forestalled him.

  “There’s more.”

  The Prime Minister closed his mouth.

  “Ten minutes after reading these notes I had a telephone call from Ambassador Kennedy. He intimated his instructions came directly from the President. Basically he said that the United States believes the German peace offer is a genuine one, and that it would be in our best interests to respond positively and at least assess what is on offer. I also detected a hint that if we don’t do this, the United States would have a rethink on the matter of aid to Britain. In other words they are pushing us to talk with the Germans.”

  He continued. “Included with the ambassador’s diplomatic notes was a draft copy of the Armistice agreement that is to be presented to France by Germany in the next day or so. We can come back to that in a few minutes, but it looks to me like the Germans could impose much harsher terms than those they are actually proposing.

  Finally, to cap these extraordinary developments, I had a call from the Chief of MI6 an hour ago. It has in the past been a subject of discussion here, around this table, that the Chief of the Abwehr, German Military Intelligence, Admiral Canaris, is considered to be secretly anti-Nazi. Somehow Canaris, through his agents, and God knows who else, has managed to pass a message to MI6, saying this peace offer is genuine.”

  Halifax leaned back in his chair and surveyed the consternation around him with great satisfaction, although he maintained a neutral look on his face. This was one of those special moments he would never forget for the rest of his life.

  His colleagues looked at each other for a few moments, absorbing what they had just heard. The first question came. “What are the salient details of the French armistice agreement?”

  Halifax consulted his notes. “In a nutshell, Germany will occupy the northern half of France. The new French government - apparently led by Marshall Petain - will be based in a town called Vichy in southern France, and will rule the southern half of the country as an independent but neutral state. They keep their colonial empire.

  France must pay for the German occupation costs of Northern France, but the Germans undertake to reduce their forces to a maximum of a quarter of a million men within six months, with the aim of further reductions as and when appropriate.

  Nominal French armed forces will be permitted in the South. The French navy must be disarmed but does not need to be surrendered. The air force is to be reduced to fifteen percent of the size it was on 1 May this year.

  All current French prisoners of war will remain as such until cessation of hostilities with Britain. French soldiers currently still on active duty in France shall be demobilised immediately, except those to be retained in the new, reduced, armed forces.

  The Maginot Line of defensive works along the Franco German border is to be demolished under German supervision.

  This Armistice treaty will last until a final peace treaty can be negotiated at the earliest opportunity.

  Halifax paused for a moment, then finished. “As I previously mentioned, the terms imposed on an utterly defeated nation could have been much, much worse.”

  Everybody seemed to be in deep thought. Halifax was sure that his news was being carefully evaluated by all around the table.

  Churchill now spoke for the first time. “Hmmm, interesting”. A slight pause, then “What is this about a new German Foreign Minister? Do we know anything about him? And what the hell has happened to that rogue von Ribbentrop?”

  “We picked up a broadcast on German Radio about an hour ago that the former Minister for Foreign Affairs has resigned from office. No reasons were given.

  The new Minister, Baron von Altendorf, is from a distinguished German family. He was in the Imperial Navy in the First World War and fought at Jutland. Since then his career has been in the German civil service, more particularly their foreign affairs department for 10 years before retiring last year. He is believed to be anti-Nazi. Now it seems like he has been brought out of retirement.” Halifax realised a lot depended on Churchill being prepared to trust the man.

  The Prime Minister was slouched in his chair, deep in thought.

  After a minute or two of deafening silence, Churchill spoke again. “This is indeed an unexpected development. On the surface it would appear to be a God sent opportunity to negotiate an end to the current unpleasantness we are experiencing.”

  Inwardly Halifax congratulated him on his use of typical British understatement to describe the catastrophic outcome of the war so far. He thought he detected a slightly more buoyant Churchill.

  “However,” Churchill continued, “you all know my sincere and absolute distrust of Herr Hitler. The man is pure evil, and his word means nothing. That alone tells me to treat this matter with extreme caution.”

  Halifax immediately interpreted this to mean that Churchill once again was going to veto any peace talks. He was about to interrupt when Churchill continued.

  “Nevertheless, the manner in which this matter has been put to us, perhaps gives some cause for cautious optimism.”

  He continued, “Firstly, the initiative has come from the German side, not ourselves. Could this mean they are as exhausted as we are? It is possible, and we should not discount this, even though I personally have my doubts it is the case.

  Secondly, the interventions of the Portuguese, Swiss and American ambassadors are unusual. We must not treat them in a cavalier fashion and ignore their endorsements.

  Finally, if Lord Halifax is correct in his assessment that the American President is insisting on our country at least being prepared to negotiate, we cannot be seen to dismiss the idea.

  I understand the urgency of the situation and that an answer is required. There is much to think about. I suggest we suspend this meeting for one hour to give each of us time to review what we have learnt here, and consider all our options.”

  All agreed. It was a momentous decision they were facing, it really required days or weeks of analysis, discussions, questions and answers.

  Instead they had one hour!

  Back in his office Halifax replayed the meeting in his mind. He was sure everything had gone well. Better than he had expected. He thought that even the old war horse Churchill, could not oppose this particular pe
ace initiative. If he did, he would almost certainly lose the support of the War Cabinet.

  Halifax had already resolved that if Churchill did not agree with the proposal, and coerced the war Cabinet to follow his lead, he would take the matter further. He had no doubt that the rest of the British Government would like peace.

  One hour later, back in the War Rooms, there seemed to a touch of excitement in the atmosphere. The Prime Minister asked for questions and comment. There were many, and these were dealt with as quickly as possible.