Black Sunday

Peace for Great Britain ended at 11 a. m. Sunday, Sept. 3, for France six hours later.

Strict censorship masked the question of who fired the first shot on the Western Front. The Germans had sworn it would not be they. Their basic strategy was to hold their West Wall (Siegfried or Limes Line) from the Ruhr to the Alps. Allied strategy was to bring such pressure as would sap strength from the German drive into Poland. General understanding was that the French would conduct all operations by land, with the infantry reinforced at first only by a few mechanized British divisions. The British would take the lead at sea and in the air.

By Sea. First news was that the British Royal Navy, already at battle stations, controlled the Mediterranean at both ends and had blockaded Germany completely from the North Sea to the Skagerrak. This action, now that Germany had access to Russia's food and raw materials, meant less than it did in World War I unless the British were prepared for the desperate adventure of forcing and commanding the Baltic.

For such a try, Britain's new Admiral of the Fleet is a daring, dynamic commander. Tall, hawk-browed Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound, 62, commanded the Colossus at Jutland. Six years ago, calling (like Winston Churchill) for Britain to rebuild her fleet, he predicted just what he had on his hands last week: "a hell of a fight."

By Air. No gun was heard in Western Europe on Black Sunday, but soon after midnight, The Netherlands listened to wave after wave of thrumming, high-flying airplanes speeding southeast-by-east along the coast. (The neutral Netherlands next day duly "protested.") Monday brought word that some of these planes had "bombarded" Germany with 6,000,000 leaflets in German, telling A. Hitler's people:

"Never before has any Government thrown a population to death for less sincere excuses.

"This war is unnecessary.

"The German Reich is not threatened from any side. . . .

"President Roosevelt promised you peace with honor as well as future material welfare. Instead, your Government convicted you to mass murder, because of the scarcity of food, in a war in which you can never be victorious. Not we, but they, have cheated you. . . .

"You are on the edge of bankruptcy. We have unlimited reserves of men and provisions. You German people have the right to live in peace now and forever. We also desire peace and are willing to conclude it with any trustworthy, peace-loving German Government."

From Britain's air bases in the Midlands to Germany's naval bases at Cuxhaven, Wilhelmshaven and Brunsb?is some 500 miles. Both sides presently acknowledged that British bombers had gone to work on Germany's fleet at these ports, Britain claiming damaging hits on at least two battleships, Germany claiming to have shot down five out of twelve bombers. Soon to be settled, apparently, was the question of supremacy between airplanes and battleships. The answer has vital bearing on the Mediterranean question mark (see p. 22).

By Land. All down the 250-mile Maginot Line, heavy guns started talking at dawn Monday. By nightfall of the first day the French were believed to have launched two high-powered flanking attacks, one at the "Burgundy Gate" or "Belfort Gap" just above the Swiss border, another into the Moselle valley just below Luxembourg. Masses of mobile troops were ready for infiltration maneuvers, to penetrate between gaps in the West Wall which, unlike the Maginot Line, is rather a series of sunken forts with tank traps and interlocking underground tunnels, than a continuous defense bastion. First "contact" (man to man) fighting was known to be on German soil, in the hell-raked strip between the two Lines. For an invasion of Germany, France is far better off now than in 1914 for she holds Alsace-Lorraine with its high escarpments jutting east toward Germany above Strasbourg.

By Ether. Besides bombing Berlin with pamphlets, Britain's broadcasting stations bombarded Germany with phonograph transcriptions of Prime Minister Chamberlain's voice. Excerpts:

"He [Hitler] gave his word that he would respect the Locarno Treaty; he broke it.

"He gave his word that he neither wished nor intended to annex Austria; he broke it.

"He declared he would not incorporate the Czechs in the Reich; he did so.

"He gave his word after Munich that he had no further territorial demands in Europe; he broke it.

"He gave his word he wanted no Polish provinces; he broke it.

"He has sworn to you for years he was the mortal enemy of Bolshevism; he is now its ally.

"Can you wonder that for us his word is not worth the paper it is written on?"

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