On 3 March 1938, Sir Nevile Henderson, British Ambassador to Germany, presents
a proposal to Adolf
Hitler for an international consortium to rule much of Africa in which Germany
would be assigned a leading role in exchange for a German promise never to resort
to war to change her frontiers, Adolf
Hitler rejects the British offer.
On 6 March 1938, The naval Battle
of Cape Palos (the Nationalist heavy cruiser Baleares is sunk by Republican destroyers).
Adolf
Hitler on 10 March 1938, ordered the Wehrmacht General Staff to review Case
Otto for the invasion against Austria.
Adolf
Hitler on 11 March 1938, formally issued a directive for the invasion of Austria,
to be taken place on the following day.
The disparity between the declarations
of
21 May 1935, and the events
of 11 March 1938, prompted M. Mastny, the Czechoslovakian minister in Berlin,
to convey to Field Marshal Hermann
Göring on the same evening the apprehensions of the Czechoslovakian government.
Field Marshall, Hermann
Göring, immediately assured him that Germany had no hostile intentions
against Czechoslovakia. I gave you my word of honour, he said, and I can add that
we wish only for better relations.
On 11 and March 1938, Anschluss: German
troops occupy Austria; annexation is declared the following day.
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.
On 13 March 1938, M. Mastny received a fifth assurance from
Field Marshal Hermann
Göring, that Germany had no hostile intentions against Czechoslovakia.
With the consent of the German government. These assurances were communicated
by Mr Chamberlain to the House of Commons on 14 March 1938.
On 13 March
1938, France reopens its borders for the transit of arms to the Republican zone.
On 14 March 1938, French Premier Léon Blum reassures the Czechoslovak
government that France will honour its treaty obligations to aid Czechoslovakia
in event of German invasion.
Adolf
Hitler arrived in Vienna on 14 March 1938, in the recently annexed Austria
region of Germany. The visit to Vienna, the Austrian capital, was intended to
be for the first day of the occupation, but it was delayed until this date because
Heinrich
Himmler's Waffen SS could not complete the rounding up of all suspected elements
in the city. In Britain, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain noted that little
could have been done in the previous few days to alter Adolf
Hitler's intended course of action regarding Austria.
Wilhelm
Gustloff Hospital ship
Commissioned 15 March 1938
Thor
HSK 4 Auxiliary cruiser
Launched 16 March 1938
On 18 March 1938,
General Werner
von Fritsch is acquitted of charges of homosexuality at his court-martial.
On 18 March 1938, Meeting between Adolf
Hitler and Benito Mussolini in the Brenner Pass, Benito Mussolini agreed to
enter a war on the side of Germany at an opportune moment.
Adolf
Hitler gave a speech at Königsberg on 25 March 1938, Germany; the approval
of the annexation of Austria was his main concern.
The
Dornier
Do 18W flying boat established a seaplane record flying non-stop in a straight
distance of 8,391 kilometres from Start Point, Devon, England, United Kingdom
to Caravelas, Brazil on 27 March 1938.
Adolf
Hitler and Konrad Henlein meet in Berlin on 28 March 1938. Konrad Henlein
is ordered to think of a demand which the Czechoslovakian government could not
possibly agree to, and to make that the main demand of the Sudetenland National
Socialist Party.
Robert
Ley B Hospital ship
Launched 29 March 1938
Go To: April
Articles:
The Second
Great War.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
The War Illustrated.
Edited
by Sir John Hamilton
2194 Days Of War.
ISBN-10: 086136614X
For a complete list of
sources
