Posted on 03/12/2008 5:50:45 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Following an ultimatum from Berlin, the Schuschnigg government in Austria retired yesterday evening and was succeeded by one headed by the Nazi leader, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, as Chancellor. He immediately asked Germany to send troops to help in preserving order. Some 50,000 highly armed and mechanized forces marched to the border. Both Munich and Vienna report some crossed into Austria. Berlin denies this. Nazi mobs took possession of Vienna and raided the Jewish quarter. The swastika was flown over public buildings, and Fatherland Front forces were disarmed. There were similar demonstrations in other cities.
Europe was aghast at the coup of Hitler. His action struck Italy with the force of an exploding bomb. The impression was that Italy would not retort with force, but it was believed the Rome-Berlin axis had been shaken and that Hitler’s visit to Rome might be canceled. No advance notice of Germany’s intention is believed to have been given to Mussolini.
Britain delivered a sharp protest to Berlin, saying Germany’s action was bound to produce “the gravest reactions, of which it is impossible to foretell the issue.” Other warnings were delivered earlier, but Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop retorted that Germany saw no reasons to confer with Britain until her purposes had been achieved elsewhere.
In Paris it was understood Italy had been asked if she would join in a united effort to save Austria, but had refused. France, however, took action similar to that of Britain in protesting the Reich’s action. The parties tried to get together to form a new Cabinet to deal with the situation, but they were still too deeply divided to make that accomplishment possible. It was believed Leon Blum would not be able to gain sufficient support to head a government.
Premier Negrin of Spain announced that Italy and Germany had made unofficial proposals for some agreement with the Loyalists, but they were determined not to enter on negotiations.
VIENNA, March 11. – Censorship has started
An order posted in the correspondents’ room in the Central Telegraph Office tonight said all telephone conversations from the room must be in German.
Correspondents for the International News Service, an American organization, were detained against their will, without charges, at the office.
VIENNA, Saturday, March 12. – Under threats of force from Berlin, Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg of Austria yielded last evening and resigned in dramatic circumstances. The Nazis, with Dr. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Interior Minister in the Schuschnigg Cabinet, as Chancellor, are in power.
To an unprepared public listening over the radio to a typical program of pleasant Viennese melodies the voice of the an who may have been the last Chancellor of an independent Austria announced at 7:45 P. M. that, in his own words, he had “yielded only to force” to avoid bloodshed and that under the threat of a German invasion that was to start at the very moment he spoke, he had resigned his office.
Apart from the statement in a broadcast at 6 o’clock that “the Chancellor and Fatherland Front Leader, in consultation with President Miklas, has decided to postpone the plebiscite,” there was no warning for the public when the program was interrupted for the announcer to say, “An important declaration is just coming.” Then, without even mention of Dr. Schuschnigg’s name his voice was heard at the microphone.
When Dr. Schuschnigg had finished, thousands of Nazis began swarming into Vienna’s streets to take over control unopposed. An hour afterward Dr. Seyss-Inquart also addressed the nation over the radio, calling on every one to maintain order and declaring that there was no question of resistance if the German Army should march in.
Dr. Seyss-Inquart’s first official act as Chancellor appears to have been a message to Chancellor Hitler requesting the speedy dispatch of German troops to his srpport. The message read:
“Following the retirement of the Schuschnigg government, the Provisional Government of Austria regards the restoration and maintenance of law and order in Austria as its first duty.
“To this end it urgently requests the German Government to support it in this undertaking and assist it in the prevention of bloodshed. I therefore appeal to the German Government for the earliest possible dispatch of troops.”
Up to noon Dr. Schuschnigg had remained firm in the face of all threats. Then came the first ultimatum from Germany, conveyed by Dr. Edmund Glaise-Horstenau, Minister Without Portfolio in the Schuschnigg Cabinet, on his return from Berlin. Austria was to postpone the plebiscite or she would be invaded.
At 4 P. M. an airplane landed in Vienna. It brought Dr. Schuschnigg a final and, this time, an official ultimatum. The man who delivered it was believed to have been Josef Buerckl, Nazi leader in the Saar.
At first it was rumored that Field Marshal Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess, deputy leader of the German Nazi party, had arrived with the ultimatum and were going to speak to the crowds in the Karlsplatz at 10 P. M., but this proved untrue. It was stated later, however, that Marshal Goering and Herr Hess would arrive today.
In any event, this ultimatum was quite different from that Dr. Glaise-Horstenau had delivered. It was an official statement from the German Government that unless Dr. Schuschnigg resigned by 7:30 P. M., 300,000 Germans would cross the frontier, headed by two motorized divisions.
Even so, up to the last moment Dr. Schuschnigg held out, pondering whether he should not at least offer formal resistance. The hesitation in Dr. Schuschnigg’s farewell speech when he said first that the Austrian troops had been ordered to offer “no serious resistance” and then changed it to “no resistance” indicates pretty clearly that up to the last he had intended that some formal resistance should be offered in order to bring home to Germany her full guilt.
But the Austrian Chancellor was unable to obtain assurances of support from any of the countries that have always professed sympathy for “gallant little Austria.” No one seemingly was prepared to back up fine words with brave deeds.
Immediately after Dr. Seyss-Inquart’s speech it became known that one of the second ultimatum’s conditions had informed Dr. Schuschnigg that whether he resigned or not the Austrian Legion would march in from Germany and assume part of the police duties.
At 1 o’clock this morning, while the Nazi celebration was still going full force, a Nazi speaker appeared on the great balcony of the historic Chancellery Building and announced to the 10,000 gathered below with their flags and torches that President Miklas had appointed a new Cabinet, as follows:
Dr. Arthur Seyss-Inquart – Chancellor and National Defense.
Dr. Edmund Glaise-Horstenau – Vice Chancellor.
Dr. Wilhelm Wolf – Foreign.
Franz Hueber – Justice.
Professor Oswald Menchin, former dean of Vienna University – Education.
Dr. Hugo Jury – Social Welfare.
Rudolf Neumayer – Finance.
Anton Reinthaler – Agriculture.
Dr. Hans Fischboeck – Commerce.
Michael Skubl, president of the Vienna police, remains Secretary of State for Security. Two Nazis are appointed Under Secretaries of State – Ernst Kaltenbrunner for Security, and Major Clausner, present leader of the Austrian Nazis, for Propaganda.
The Cabinet consists mostly of former Pan-Germans and pronounced Nationalists – who certainly may be called Nazis now – together with some Nazis of the new generation. It is regarded merely as a transition Cabinet. Its program was to have been given by Dr. Seyss-Inquart in a broadcast last night, but there have been no signs of it.
Mayor Richard Schmitz of Vienna, a strong Catholic, has been replaced by Vice Mayor Fritz Lahr, a former Heimwehr man. It is rumored, but not yet confirmed , that Herr Schmitz has bee arrested by the Nazis because he allegedly furnished arms to labor unions.
Several leading politicians, such as Guido Zernatto, secretary general of the Fatherland Front, and former Minister of Commerce Fritz Stockinger, are reported to have fled to Czechoslovakia.
The prelude to the last act of the Austrian tragedy was full of tense moments. At 10 o’clock yesterday morning for the first time and thereafter at half-hour intervals throughout the morning, it was broadcast that the unmarried men of the 1915 class of recruits, who had already served ten months, were to report immediately for duty.
The fact that this mobilization of reservists was declared to be intended to maintain order for Sunday’s plebiscite concealed form nobody that little Austria was making her last preparation to face a Nazi Putsch or a German invasion - or both.
All the gates of the Hofburg were closed and strongly guarded. Truckloads of troops with rifles and steel helmets crossed Vienna in all directions. The militia was called out and was soon seen filling sleeping bags with straw in the courtyard of the City Hall.
In motor trucks steel-helmeted troops with rifles and machine guns were rushed to the various Ministries.
Alarming reports came in from the provinces. In Innsbruck at noon Nazis in full Storm Troop uniforms, accompanied by thousands of supporters, broke through the police cordon, but were held up outside the City Hall by barbed-wire entanglements and machine guns. Steel-helmeted police with fixed bayonets drove the Nazis into the side streets.
In Graz troops put up barbed wire and brought out machine guns. They cornered a violent Nazi demonstration in one of the principal squares and covered the demonstrators with rifles. The demonstrators refused to disperse, however, before the Graz Nazi leader, Professor Armin Dardieu, had spoken to them, admonishing them to go quietly.
There were reports, impossible to confirm, that Nazi Storm Troopers had occupied the hills close to Graz, armed with machine guns.
In Salzburg Thursday night Nazis attacked non-Nazi crowds cheering for Dr. Schuschnigg. Many persons were injured and taken to hospitals, but there were no dead.
On the news that Germany had moved two motorized divisions to the frontier, the Austrians closed it Thursday night. An invasion was already expected, but at 7 o’clock yesterday morning the frontier was reopened. Then, however, came the news that the Germans had closed their side of the frontier, which made matters look extremely serious.
Dr. Schuschnigg still remained firm after the first ultimatum from Germany at noon and discussed calling out all the reserves to meet what he was convinced was a German bluff to prevent him from holding the Plebiscite, which was expected to expose the Nazis’ real numerical weakness.
Then came satisfactory news from the workers. The mobilization order had caused every one to realize the danger. Dropping their quarrel about trade union posts, the workers met in the factories at the lunch hour and decided to support Dr. Schuschnigg without reserve.
Patriotic resolutions poured in from every quarter – Catholics, monarchists, Socialists and even Communists declared their determination to stand for Austria’s independence at the plebiscite.
At midday a deputation of Socialist trade union leaders appeared before Hofrat Weiser, head of the anti-Red secret police, who had examined many of them in the past as prisoners. They told him that, in the face of the Nazi peril and the apparent impossibility of the police’s getting Dr. Seyss-Inquart’s permission to keep order in Vienna, the workers were prepared themselves to go out last night and clear the Nazi demonstrators from the streets.
The police official thanked them, but of course refused. But he promised them that from 9 P. M. he would guarantee that there would be no Nazi demonstrations in Vienna’s streets. In point of fact, at 9 P. M. there were no police on the streets, only Nazi demonstrators and Storm Troops.
At 4 P. M. came the second German ultimatum and Dr. Schuschnigg’s hesitation, until he was unable to obtain the support of other powers.
At midday the wrier had ascertained that the Czechoslovak view was that everything depended on Italy. Czechoslovakia could not come to the rescue of Austria single-handed. In France there was no government and in London no support.
If Italy had moved and the Austrians had put up a show of resistance Czechoslovakia herself would have marched, but the hours slipped by toward the expiration of the ultimatum and Dr. Schuschnigg was left alone to decide the terrible question whether the threat was a German bluff and defend his country’s independence or take it seriously and resign in order to avoid bloodshed. He chose the second alternative.
Immediately after he had broadcast, President Miklas summoned a Council of State. As far as can be ascertained Dr. Miklas insisted that Dr. Schuschnigg withdraw his resignation in view of the news that had come of the joint demarche in Berlin by Great Britain, France and Italy.
Up to 11:30 P. M. Dr. Schuschnigg was apparently still nominally Chancellor. Then came another sudden change and it was announced over the radio that “Federal Chancellor Seyss-Inquart will shortly broadcast a statement.”
There was yet a half hour’s delay. Then, instead of Dr. Seyss-Inquart, his deputy in the Fatherland Front, Dr. Hugo Jury, came to the microphone.
It was immediately apparent that Dr. Seyss-Inquart after all was not yet Chancellor, for Dr. Jury said:
“The Federal Minister entrusted with the business of the Federal Chancellery, Dr. Seyss-Inquart, is with the Federal President discussing with him details of the department. After the end of the conversation the Federal Minister” – Dr. Jury carefully avoided the designation of Chancellor – “will broadcast statements as to the results of the conference.
“The whole population is obeying the demand to maintain public order in all circumstances. National Socialists, continue to maintain your exemplary discipline in this historic hour.”
Then, for the first time, the Austrian radio broadcast Germany’s second national anthem, the Horst Wessel song.
MUNICH, Germany, Saturday, March 12. – With a dramatic suddenness that stunned the world the German Army embarked yesterday on its first campaign beyond the Reich’s borders and without firing a shot achieved a victory that laid Austria prostrate at its feet, transformed the European equilibrium and set the borders fixed by the peace treaties into motion for a readjustment, of which the end is not yet in sight.
All day yesterday German forces, some 50,000 strong, made up of infantry, cavalry, artillery, motorized divisions, air force units and engineers with bridge building materials were moving to the Austrian frontier. Their mission was to avenge what is termed in Germany “the betrayal of Berchtesgaden” – Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg’s recent proclamation of a plebiscite on Austrian independence.
Last night, following Dr. Schuschnigg’s overthrow and a telegram from the new Chancellor, Dr. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, to Chancellor Hitler requesting German military aid in preventing bloodshed, German troops were reported to have marched into Austria in close formation at three points – Salzburg, Kufstein and Mittenwalde.
[According to an Associated Press dispatch from Vienna, German troops crossed also at Passau, on the way to Linz, Austria, and a contingent of Reich troops, numbering about 1,000 men in trucks, was expected to reach Vienna at 6 A. M., New York time.]
Information given out at the Munich army headquarters said the troops had begun to cross the border shortly after 10 o’clock, although their coming had been heralded by Dr. Seyss-Inquart in semi-hourly broadcasts beginning soon after 7 o’clock. The broadcasts included instructions to the Austrian military and civil authorities and the population not to resist the troops.
Whether the statements of the Munich army headquarters are correct or whether insistent denials in Berlin of a German march into Austria are the real truth does not much matter, for, even if the troops did halt at the border without crossing it, theirs is still the victory. It was their march that turned the tide in Austria and, after a bloodless Sadowa, enabled the Austrian.
[The story here moves from page 1 to page 3. I seem to have missed the next section because there is an apparent disconnect here. Or perhaps the Times made a mistake. They threw these stories together pretty fast to get same-day reporting and some parts don’t make much sense. I am surprised by the number of regular typos I have corrected over the last few weeks. I pick back up in mid-sentence on pg.3. - Homer]
Mittenwalde in particular is the starting point toward Scharnitz and the Fern-Alpine passes leading to Innsbruck and beyond that city to the Brenner Pass, where, in 1934, Premier Mussolini lined up his Nazis to proclaim a pan-German Reich.
All the points where the troops were said to have crossed are on the southern border of Bavaria; troops to prevent the entry of German forces into Austria. [Huh? – Homer]
The troops involved are in the main the Seventh Army Corps stationed at Munich under the command of General Ritter von Schobert. But it also was noted that General Walter von Reichenau, known as the army’s most National Socialist general, who had been Munich commander until the Feb. 4 shift, broke off his trip to the meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Cairo, Egypt, and stopped at Munich.
Mobilization of the Seventh Army Corps apparently took place during Thursday night together with mobilization of Elite Guard divisions, Storm Troops and the National Socialist Motor Corps. When Munich awoke in the morning it saw troops and Nazi auxiliary formations on the march. And soon all the new motor roads leading to the Austrian frontier were blocked with the units, while the roar of planes overhead became incessant.
To move the troops swiftly most public and private conveyances in Munich were commandeered – automobiles and trucks of members of the National Socialist Motor Corps, municipal buses, brewery trucks and the special auto-train “Deutschland,” comprising a fleet of hundreds of trucks and including wireless, canteen and hospital trucks. Even taxicabs apparently were pressed into service, for only a a few of them remain in the streets.
This correspondent motored all day along border highways amid many difficulties and frequent submissions to questioning and search. On the road to Salzburg he overtook within one hour no fewer than 230 military conveyances. The road on which usually only one or two cars are visible at a time was one long trail of armored cars, motorized artillery, supply wagons, canteens and trucks full of infantry, together with steel-helmeted soldiers riding motorcycles with rifles slung across their shoulders.
Approximately 130 trucks and armored cars and more than 100 motorcycles took an hour to pass.
Some trucks, including those commandeered from Munich breweries, were loaded with bridge-building materials, pontoons and motor boats, indicating they were moving toward the Inn and Salzach Rivers, over which leads the path to Upper Austria and, of course, Vienna.
Both lanes of the double-track Reich motor road were often completely blocked by moving troops. And this column was merely a fraction of the host that had been traveling this road since before dawn.
One column turned off at the Reich motor road exit leading to Rosenheim and there took a country road to Kiefersfelden, right on the Austrian border one and one-half miles from Kufstein. A large number of other columns before and after continued along the motor road through to the border near Salzburg.
As one proceeded along this picturesque countryside between tall, snow-capped mountains flanking the River Inn near the border, signs of excitement, spreading like wildfire over the whole district, became evident. Chattering groups of villagers stood before inns watching the long trail of armored cars and men moving past.
Kiefersfelden is a small village from which only a few minutes’ walk brings a traveler into Austrian territory either by the broad white high road or by ferry over the Inn or again by a little longer woodland trail leading up a steep hill, the summit of which separates the two States.
The oldest Kiefersfelden inhabitant had never seen this village look anything like it did yesterday. Troops moved in by road from early morning. Shortly after noon a freight train steamed into the Kiefersfelden station containing some 2,000 infantrymen and cavalrymen. Toward sunset 2,000 or 3,000 more men with armored cars and artillery arrived there by road - some from Munich, some from Rosenheim, which must have brought the total number of troops in Kiefersfelden to some 6,000 or 7,000.
Soldiers were everywhere. Here a group of cavalry stood holding horses, armed sentries were posted at farmhouse gates. Machine guns and anti-tank guns stood on the high road. Officers dashed to and fro in automobiles and dispatch riders tore along the road. Kiefersfelden looked like a village occupied by a hostile army.
Clear against the blue sky old Kufstein castle stood out on the hill about which the Austrian frontier of Kufstein clusters. The quaint medieval fortress that once defied attack by armed forces was today a pathetic reminder of the progress of modern warfare.
Kufstein villagers had no doubt of what this mighty demonstration of forces at Austria’s very gateway signified.
“Austria is finished,” was commonly heard.
It was said the troops would remain there until Monday in the expectation that before then the Austrian plebiscite would be called off. They did not have to wait that long.
At Freilassing opposite Salzburg, at Mittenwalde and at Fuessen similar or greater forces were concentrated and by sunset the whole Salzkammergut and Tyrol frontier was ranged by an estimated 50,000 trained soldiers with all equipment.
Despite the fact that everybody near the border was aware of what was afoot, officials all day made every effort to conceal the real situation. It was described by one of them as large-scale manoeuvres. Travelers were held up and searchingly questioned by the police and frontier officials and sometimes temporarily detained. Bodies of newly called up recruits from neighboring villages marched along the highroads last evening toward the border.
As a result of these developments Munich was in an uproar all day. Although the press kept completely silent on all Austrian developments, especially on the mobilization, the news spread quickly and people gathered in the streets to discuss the situation. Women anxiously compared notes, attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of their men folk called suddenly for field duty. Rumors flew thick and fast. Later in the day all newspapers suspended publication because of the general economic paralysis caused by the shortage of men.
At midday children both in Munich and in the countryside were told that schools would be closed until further notice because they had been requisitioned for reservists. Some reservists had orders to report Saturday or Sunday.
A pathetic attempt at Austrian resistance became known here during the day. At Scharnitz Pass, where an electric railway crosses the frontier, Austrians affixed a wire to the overhead power conductor, then spanned it across the road on which it could be dropped by the turn of a lever, barring the road with a current of 2,000 volts. But it did not save Austria.
[France also protested to Germany along the same lines as the British rebuke, it was reported in Paris.]
The strength of the protest showed how strongly the British Government felt over the day’s events and particularly over the methods by which Germany had finally attained her ends in Austria.
Referring especially to the second German ultimatum that had preceded the actual invasion, the British described it as the “coercion, backed by force, of an independent State in order to create a situation incompatible with its national independence.”
Such action, it was pointed out, was bound to produce the “gravest reactions of which it is impossible to foretell the issue.”
The protest was delivered at the Wilhelmstrasse by Sir Nevile Henderson, the British Ambassador.
In invading Austria tonight Germany flatly disregarded the warnings of the British Government earlier in the day that threat or use of force would damage the prospects of the Anglo-German talks and threaten future chances for reconciliation in Europe.
The warning was delivered personally to Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Foreign Minister, by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Foreign Minister Viscount Halifax after luncheon at 10 Downing Street.
But the British Minister’s words produced no effect upon Herr von Ribbentrop or upon his master in Berlin. Herr von Ribbentrop is said to have told Mr. Chamberlain, indeed, that the Fuehrer saw no reason for starting negotiations for reconciliation with Britain until German purposes “elsewhere” had been achieved.
While these words were being spoken the German Army was rolling along the express highways leading to the Austrian border and Berlin was preparing the ultimatums that forced the Austrian Government from power.
Britain will, of course, do nothing in the way of intervention. At this late stage in the absorption of Austria there is little left for Britain to do except to protest. Yet today’s shattering events in Vienna have already had repercussions that may affect British policy profoundly.
Tonight the government is appalled – there is no other word to describe it – at the recklessness of Germany’s action. The proposed Anglo-German negotiations have been postpones indefinitely if not ruled out altogether. The eagerness to reach an understanding with Nazi Germany has evaporated all of a sudden, but there is renewed eagerness, on the other hand, to complete negotiations with Italy and to speed up rearmament still further.
“Those noises you could hear tonight were sounds of blinkers falling from the British Ministers’ eyes,” said one wise observer. This was particularly true of Lord Halifax himself, who had some of his generous illusions dispelled at the time of his visit to Germany in November, but apparently he lost the last of them today.
In the few hours since the movement of German troops across the frontier opinion among friends of Germany here has swung more sharply than at any time since the blood purge of 1934. Newspapers of all shades of opinion are unanimous in looking upon the end of Austria as a warning to Britain and to all Europe.
The British Government has been nervous ever since Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg announced his plebiscite. It expected trouble from Nazi extremists in Vienna and also feared the resignation or assassination of Dr. Schuschnigg. But until yesterday the British never feared Germany would repeat the shock tactics of the Berchtesgaden ultimatum on a ten times greater scale.
It was Herr von Ribbentrop himself who first let the cat out of the bag in his talk with Lord Halifax yesterday. Lord Halifax had pleaded that Germany should take no precipitate action and apply no forcible pressure upon the Austrian plebiscite. Herr von Ribbentrop replied he could give no such guarantee since he could not foretell what might happen to German lives or property in Austria during the polling days.
This morning the first reports trickled through from Munich of troop movements toward the Austrian frontier. Yet by a coincidence probably unparalleled in diplomatic history the German Foreign Secretary was in London being wined and dined at the moment when the German movement was planning an invasion that might change the map of Europe.
In the morning Herr von Ribbentrop went to Buckingham Palace to take leave of the King as Ambassador to the Court of St. James, while Frau von Ribbentrop had a farewell audience with the Queen. From the palace they went to 10 Downing Street, where Mr. Chamberlain had invited a strange assortment of statesmen and their wives to meet them.
The Marquess of Londonderry and his wife were there as Herr von Ribbentrop’s most influential pro-German friends in London and Mr. and Mrs. Winston Churchill were there presumably as his most determined opponents. Other guests with their wives were Lord Halifax, Sir Samuel Hoare, Home Secretary; Sir John Simon, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Sir Thomas Inskip, Co-ordinator of Defense, and Sir Alexander Cadogan, new permanent head of the Foreign Office.
What was said around the luncheon table probably had little bearing on politics, for British politicians dislike talking about matters of state when their wives are present. But one wonders what thoughts went through the minds of Mr. Chamberlain and his guests or how they made conversation. While luncheon was being served, reports kept flowing into the Foreign Office from Germany and Austria of a situation that grew steadily more critical course by course.
Afterward Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Halifax had a private talk with Herr von Ribbentrop at which they delivered their sharp, but ineffectual, warning. It was late afternoon before Herr von Ribbentrop finished his conversations at Downing Street and the Foreign Office.
Early this evening it was reported that Herr von Ribbentrop had left by plane in accordance with his decision yesterday to cut short his London visit, but later it was reported he was spending the night in London. The German Embassy, when asked whether he was here or in Berlin, said noncommittally, “We don’t know.”
In the afternoon, when Chancellor Schuschnigg was presented with a German ultimatum to postpone the independence plebiscite Sunday that he had announced Wednesday, German troops already had been mobilized on the frontier. Dr. Schuschnigg agreed to the postponement on condition that the Nazis should in the future restrain from disturbing order in Austria.
Chancellor Hitler’s reply to this was that Dr. Schuschnigg must resign the Chancellorship in favor of Dr. Seyss-Inquart, who had been appointed Interior Minister at the Fuehrer’s behest after the Berchtesgaden agreement.
Other conditions made by Hitler were that two-thirds of the seats in the Cabinet should be handed over to the Nazis, that the National Socialist party in Austria must receive full and unrestricted liberty and that the Austrian Legionnaires – the force of some 30,000 Nazis who fled from this country at the time of the unsuccessful Nazi rising in July, 1934, and afterward were drilled and regimented in Germany – should return and keep order in Vienna.
Dr. Schuschnigg’s capitulation followed, and by 10 P. M. the Austrian Government had entirely ceased to function. The Nazi flag was flying over the historic Chancellery on the Ballhausplatz, where Metternich spun his tangles webs and where the Congress of Vienna met. The Government press department, bereft of all officials, had been occupied by police wearing swastika armbands. All the police, who three hours before had still been obeying the orders of the last government, were now wearing swastika armbands or giving the Hitler salute.
In the afternoon machine guns had been trained on the bridges and approaches to the city, but at the news of Dr. Schuschnigg’s resignation the soldiers and police were withdrawn. The Swastika flag is flying from all public buildings.
Nobody even knows for certain whether the Germans are now moving along the great asphalt motor road from the frontier through Salzburg, the festival city, to Linz and Vienna, or whether the villagers on the way are turning out to watch them.
Dr. Seyss-Inquart left a small doubt about it. The words he used in his broadcast might have meant, “No resistance must be offered to the German Army now approaching,” or “No resistance must be offered to the German Army if if approaches.”
Authoritative information was received in Washington that Chancellor Adolf Hitler had served an ultimatum on Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg giving him until 5:30 o’clock this afternoon to resign.
The question now appeared here to be what would develop as Nazis proceeded to take over the situation and subdue any resistance on the part of Austrians.
The situation has been canvassed in recent conversations by President Roosevelt with Secretary Hull in the course of a general survey of world conditions. Mr. Hull said today, however, that these conversations had been merely for the purpose of taking note of what was occurring in various danger spots, not being limited to any one country, and that they did not involve a consideration of policy.
Nothing has happened, Secretary Hull added, that would involve the United States, and this government has not urged a course of moderation on the German Government through Hugh R. Wilson, the United States Ambassador in Berlin.
It has been evident here for some time that Chancellor Schuschnigg intended to stand by his guns, make a stiff fight, and resign only if her realized that the fight was definitely lost. His resignation was interpreted as meaning that Germany had won and that the next question to be answered by events was what method would Hitler pursue in consolidating his position.
It is believed here that a majority of Austrians have been opposed to the German program and that this might have been shown had the plebiscite been held but that now a majority may be reconciled to the situation.
This meant that France was ready to go to any length to save Austria, provided Britain would move along parallel lines. But Mr. Chamberlain came to the conclusion that Mr. Eden had gone too far in his adhesion to French policy, and , finally, the French proposal was summarily rejected in London.
This afternoon Charles Corbin, French Ambassador to London, was instructed to make a new attempt to raise Chamberlain and the new British Foreign Secretary, Viscount Halifax, from their apathy. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary suddenly realized the ominous consequences that would result from the happenings in Vienna and suddenly reversed their position, doing the last minute of the eleventh hour what Mr. Eden would have done much earlier.
The energetic Franco-British step taken toward Berlin tonight comes too late to check German aggression against Austria, but in official circles here is interpreted to imply that Great Britain henceforth will stand by France so far as defense of Czechoslovakia is concerned.
VIENNA, Saturday, March 12 (AP). – The populace was asked to display the Nazi swastika flags country-wide today, and the schools were ordered closed.
A radio announcement said that Dr. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the new Chancellor, had sent a message calling on Nazis to “preserve the excellent discipline that has been a fine example to the world in this historic hour.”
The Vienna police chief disclosed that German secret police agents had taken control of telephone exchanges, equipped to listen to conversations.
For three hours during last night’s conferences at the Chancellery no one left or entered it. Shortly after 10 P. M.., Nazi Storm Troop formations replaced city police guarding the building. Among the Nazi guards were many who served prison terms for participating in the Nazi putsch that resulted in the assassination of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in 1934.
A source close to Dr. Seyss-Inquart said that Dr. Kurt Schuschnigg, who resigned as Chancellor was “being promised protection and we suppose he’ll stay in Austria.” Nazis said they would demand that Dr. Schuschnigg promise he would never participate again in politics.
The head of the Austrian official news agency resigned. He will be replaced by a representative of the official German news agency.
A run was started on Vienna savings banks before they closed yesterday. Depositors demanded any part of their accounts they could obtain.
“The next great war in Europe will start on the second Saturday in March, 1938,” he said. “I pick that day for two reasons. First, I think Hitler’s armament program will be complete then and second, he always seems to make his decisions on Saturdays.”
Friends of the professor, who is now teaching at Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., are wondering whether events today will make his semi-serious predictions come true.
The Prince, who organized his army to fight Nazis and Socialist in Austria, married last December the Viennese actress Nora Gregor. Some political observers predicted he was out of politics for good.
About 10,000 unemployed laborers were being outfitted last night with Heimwehr uniforms and weapons.
Official quarters definitely contradicted recurring reports from points along the Austrian border that German units had crossed from Freilassing, Mittenwalde and Passau, and reports from Munich that troops had entered Innsbruck to the populace’s jubilant acclaim.
VATICAN CITY, March 11 (AP). – The Society of Jesus, the Catholic Church’s famed, far-flung missionary organization, today opened its first general convocation in fifteen years.
The 171 Jesuit leaders gathered here will devote special attention to reverses suffered by the faith in Germany and in Spain, Jesuit spokesmen said.
The heads of the society usually meet only on the death of the Superior General to elect his successor. There was no indication, however, that the present Superior General, 71-year-old Father Vladimir Ledochowski, intended to resign.
VIENNA, Saturday, March 12 (AP). – German troops moved toward Vienna in the early morning hours today to back up Nazification of the Austrian State. The troops, numbering about 1,000 men in trucks, expected to reach the capital at noon [6 A. M. in New York]. They carried several pieces of light artillery, the gendarmerie commandant at Schoerding on the Bavarian border told The Associated Press by telephone.
They met no resistance and were heading first for Linz, where Nazis prepared an enthusiastic welcome. From there they were to proceed quickly to Vienna.
Quick, somebody warn Anne Frank!
German force has struck again, and this time its accomplishment is the conquest of Austria in every sense except that of outright annexation The Schuschnigg Cabinet has been forced to resign at the point of an ultimatum from Berlin. Its surrender marks the defeat of a last desperate effort to save Austria from absorption by Nazi Germany. The crossing of the Austrian frontier by German troops is the seal of the triumph of force over a people too weak and too divided to resist.
Three circumstances in three European capitals have timed the delivery of this German blow. In Vienna plans were afoot for a national plebiscite on the question of union with Germany – a plebiscite which Hitler was plainly determined to prevent at all costs, since its certain result would have been to advertise to the whole world Austria’s unwillingness to be absorbed by the kind of Germany that exists today. In Paris the French Government was in the throes of another political and economic crisis with great uncertainty in the air. And in Rome the British and Italian Governments were making unmistakable progress toward a rapprochement which, in the last analysis, could only be achieved at the expense of Hitler’s ties with Mussolini. It was Hitler’s cue to act before Austria voted, before France resolved her domestic crisis and before negotiations between Britain and Italy had proceeded too far. An ultimatum to Vienna was the answer. Austria, long denied an opportunity to throw in her lot with Germany when both these nations were democratic states, now falls victim to a Germany in which democracy is dead and tyranny is master.
To talk of war in Europe, as the direct and inevitable consequence of this brutal act of German aggression, is no doubt to exaggerate the immediate dangers of the present situation. It is not certain how rapidly Germany will move to complete the annexation which is so unmistakably its goal, or what obstacles it may yet encounter. But what is clear beyond all doubt is that momentous events are in the making. No one can say how far the shadow of these events may fall.
There is a lot of information posted today, but I think if you eventually read through it all you will get a pretty good idea of what reaction was like around the world to Hitler's move into Austria. Here is a sort of table of contents to what all is posted after the lead summary article:
Reply #2-Schschnigg Goes-Details of the political situation
Reply #3-Reich Army Moves-A reporter drives around on the border trying to figure out what is goin on
Reply #4-British Appalled-Really old boy, is this quite sporting?
Reply #5-A collection of short articles from the back pages.
Reply #6-Hitler strikes again-The times editorial opinion on the situation.
“Oh how clumsy of me. I meant to accuse you.” - Capt. von Trapp
I must say I've never read or heard that expression before.
Watch out, Czechoslovakia, you’re next!
Not to worry. The British and French will have their backs. :)
Or more to the point; we have too many Liberals in power in our Country, who devote their lives to ignoring history or recasting it, so as to serve their agenda.
Political Correctness makes their 'serving' palatable; it is the Left's golden chicken - and egg. It makes every noxious Liberal idea, tastes like chicken.
Note the US response:
“Nothing has happened, Secretary Hull added, that would involve the United States, and this government has not urged a course of moderation on the German Government through Hugh R. Wilson, the United States Ambassador in Berlin.”
So clearly, any criticism of the Brits & French for spinelessness would apply double to the US!
And BY THE WAY, isn’t this precisely what our “loyal Republican” candidate Ron Paul is saying we should go back to?
Isn’t this his idea of Robert Taft style “true conservatism”?
This demonstrates where the ineffectual policies of current western leaders may well lead us, and soon!
To think back then, more Brits considered Churchill to be nuttier than Hitler.
Yes, and in light of that, this quote is rather extraordinarily ironic:
“Those noises you could hear tonight were sounds of blinkers falling from the British Ministers’ eyes,” said one wise observer. This was particularly true of Lord Halifax himself, who had some of his generous illusions dispelled at the time of his visit to Germany in November, but apparently he lost the last of them today.
It's always difficult for fundamentally decent folks to understand and react to evil....
But the Brits and French at least had military assets they could use against Hitler. A build-up of U.S. armed forces didn't really get started until after 12/7/41. So on 3/12/38 we couldn't have done anything meaningful whoever was in the White House.
Don’t worry, Herr Zeller assures us the music festival will go on as scheduled — but just don’t sing “Edelweiss.” We don’t want to stir up any unfortunate Austrian nationalism, now do we ? ;-)
To move the troops swiftly most public and private conveyances in Munich were commandeered – automobiles and trucks of members of the National Socialist Motor Corps, municipal buses, brewery trucks and the special auto-train “Deutschland,” comprising a fleet of hundreds of trucks and including wireless, canteen and hospital trucks. Even taxicabs apparently were pressed into service, for only a a few of them remain in the streets.
The Germans weren't as powerful as the propaganda would lead them to believe.
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