Hermann
Göring informed Adolf
Hitler of the shady past of Werner
von Blomberg's new wife 25 January 1938, Adolf
Hitler dismissed Werner
von Blomberg immediately but told him that he would call on him again if the
country ever needed his service.
Adolf
Hitler abolishes the War Ministry and creates the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
(High Command of the Armed Forces) on 4 February 1938, giving him direct control
of the Wehrmacht. In addition, Adolf
Hitler sacks political and military leaders considered unsympathetic to his
philosophy or policies. General Werner
von Fritsch is forced to resign as Commander of Chief of the Wehrmacht following
accusations of homosexuality, and replaced by General Walther
von Brauchitsch. Foreign Minister Konstantin
von Neurath is sacked and replaced by Joachim
von Ribbentrop.
On 12 March 1938, Konstantin
von Neurath informant M. Mastny officially in the name of the Reich Chancellor,
that Germany had no hostile intentions towards Czechoslovakia. He alluded to the
interest taken by Germany in the Sudeten Germans, but at the same time, expressed
the hope that this domestic question of the Czechoslovakian state might be satisfactory
settled.
Thor
HSK 4 Auxiliary cruiser
Launched 16 March 1938
On 10 April 1938,
At the Reichstag elections were held in Germany including recently annexed Austria
on 10 April 1938. They were the final elections to the Reichstag during National
Socialists rule and took the form of a single-question referendum asking whether
voters approved of a single National Socialists Party list for the 813 member
Reichstag as well as the recent annexation of Austria the Anschluss. Turnout in
the election was officially 99.5% with 98.9% voting yes. In the case of Austria,
Adolf Hitler's
native soil, 99.71% of an electorate of 4,484,475 officially went to the ballots,
with a positive tally of 99.73%.
Erich
Frste
Takes command of the Battleship
Gneisenau on 21 May 1938 to
25
November 1939 On 20 May 1938, The Wehrmacht General Staff updated
the Case Green military scenario. Meanwhile, Czechoslovakian officials in Prague
sent Germany a telegram demanding explanation on the arrival of Wehrmacht troops
in Saxony near the border the information that the Czechoslovakians had regarding
the Wehrmacht troop movement was either inaccurate, or the Czechoslovakians had
intercepted German messages regarding Case Green and were testing the Germans
to confirm their suspicions.
Gneisenau
Battleship
Commissioned 21 May 1938
Ludwig
Beck sent a message to Wehrmacht Army chief Walther
von Brauchitsch on 3 June 1938, noting his concern that an invasion of Czechoslovakia
would trigger military reaction by the allies, which would spell doom for Germany.
On 24 July 1938, Start of the Battle of the Ebro. Republican forces attempt
to divert the Nationalists from attacking Valencia and to diminish the pressure
on Catalonia. At first, the Republican troops, commanded by General Modesto, achieve
considerable success, but were then limited by superior Nationalist air power.
Heavy combat continued into November.
On 18 August 1938, Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin
arrives in London looking for British support for an anti-Nazi putsch, using the
looming crisis over the Sudetenland as a pretext. His private mission is dismissed
by Neville Chamberlain as unimportant Chamberlain refers to Ludwig
von Kleist as a Jacobite, but he finds a sympathetic if powerless audience
in Winston Churchill.
Coronel
Auxiliary cruiser
later night fighter control ship Launched 13 August 1938
Prinz
Eugen Heavy cruiser
Launched 22 August 1938
On 27 September
1938, In the early afternoon, Adolf
Hitler moved several Wehrmacht divisions to the German-Czechoslovakian border.
In the late afternoon, Adolf
Hitler called for a military parade on the Unter den Linden boulevard in Berlin,
Germany to rouse a patriotic sentiment; Berlin citizens responded coolly, however.
In the United Kingdom, British military mobilised for war, school children were
evacuated from London, while trenches were dug in the city's parks. British Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain recommended Czechoslovakian President Edvard Beneš
to accept a partial military occupation of Sudetenland by the Germans. In the
United States, President Franklin Roosevelt called for an international conference
in an attempt to maintain peace. The King of Sweden also attempted to calm Adolf
Hitler down, sending him a message advising him that Wehrmacht current strength
was no match for the combined strength of the opposing allied powers. Even the
chief of the Kriegsmarine Erich
Raeder attempted to convince Adolf
Hitler to not provoke war. Late in the day, Czechoslovakia finally received
some foreign support when Yugoslavia and Romania declared that they would offer
military assistance should Hungary use force against Czechoslovakia.
Kormoran
HSK 8 Launched 15 September 1938
24 October 1938 At a friendly
luncheon in Berchtesgaden, German foreign minister Joachim
von Ribbentrop tells Józef Lipski, the Polish ambassador to Germany,
that the Free City of Danzig must return to Germany, that the Germans must be
given extraterritorial rights in the Polish Corridor, and that Poland must sign
the Anti-Comintern Pact.
Hans-Heinrich
Wurmbach
Takes command of the Pocket Battleship
Admiral
Scheer on 31 October 1938 to
31
October 1939 Hans
Langsdorff
Takes command of the Pocket Battleship
Admiral
Graf Spee on 1 November 1938 to
17
December 1939 On 9 November 1938, In Germany, the night of
Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) begins as National Socialists activists
and sympathisers loot and burn Jewish businesses the all night affair sees 7,500
Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed, and at least
25,000 Jewish men arrested.
Z23
Destroyer
Laid down 15 November 1938
Graf
Zeppelin Aircraft Carrier
Launched 8 December 1938
On 23 December
1938, The battle for Barcelona begins. A six pronged Nationalist attack is launched,
with separate columns from the Pyrenees to the Ebro. They take Borges Blanques,
surround Tarragona and reach the outskirts of Barcelona. The Republican government
retreats from Barcelona to Girona, although troops continue to maintain the defence
of the city.
For a complete list of
sources
