[Homer_J_Simpson]

While the Americans, Brits and French were debating the merits of appeasement, the Germans were planning on a more practical level.

On October 21, 1938, as we have seen, Hitler had directed the Wehrmacht to be ready to carry out that liquidation [of what remained of the Czechoslovak state]. On December 17, General Keitel issued what he called a “supplement to Directive of October 21”:

TOP SECRET

With reference to the “liquidation of the Rump Czech State,” the Fuehrer has given the following orders:
The operation is to be prepared on the assumption that no resistance worth mentioning is to be expected.
To the outside world it must clearly appear that it is merely a peaceful action and not a warlike undertaking.
The action must therefore be carried out by the peacetime armed forces only, without reinforcement by mobilization . . .

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 438

[CougarGA7]

Something I forgot to post yesterday. On December 16th 1938 the Commissioning of the HMS Ark Royal took place. The carrier would later play a roll in hunting and sinking the German Battleship Bismark.

HMS Ark Royal
Country United Kingdom
Ship Class Ark Royal-class Aircraft Carrier
Builder Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd., Birkenhead, England, Britain
Laid Down 16 September 1935
Launched 13 April 1937
Commissioned 16 December 1938
Sunk 14 November 1941
Displacement 22352 tons standard; 28143 tons full
Length 800 feet
Beam 95 feet
Draft 28 feet
Machinery 6 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 3 Parsons geared turbines
Speed 31 knots
Range 7,600nm at 20 knots
Crew 1600
Armament 8x2.4.5in AA, 48x2-pdr 'pom-pom' AA, 8x4x12.7mm/0.50cal machine guns
Armor 4.5in belt, 3.5in deck over boiler rooms and magazines
Aircraft 60 to 72

Ark Royal was the first purpose-built fleet carrier built by the British. She was capable of carrying 60 to 72 aircraft, while still meeting the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty. Her distinctive feature of having side plating running up to the flight deck would become the symbol of future British carriers.

More here