Hitler's War Read Free

of flimsy yellow paper from his left breast pocket. “Here is a telegram we have just received. You will know
Herr
Henlein has had to take refuge in the
Reich
because of Czech outrages.…”
    “Of course, of course,” the
Führer
said impatiently. “I was just now talking about his plight, as a matter of fact. What’s going on with him?”
    Colonel Hossbach licked his lips. “Sir, he has been shot. Shot dead, Ishould say. The murderer is in custody. He is a certain Jaroslav Stribny: a Czech, sir. His passport shows a Prague address.”
    Hitler stared at him in astonishment, disbelief, and then sudden crazy joy.
“Ich bin vom Himmel gefallen!”
he blurted.
I’ve fallen from heaven!
was what the words meant literally, but what they really conveyed was his utter amazement.
    “What shall we do,
mein Führer
?” Hossbach asked nervously.
    A moment later, it was his turn to be amazed, because Hitler bussed him on both cheeks like a Frenchman. “Leave that to me, my dear Hossbach,” he answered. “Oh, yes. Leave that to me!”
    He was almost chortling as he turned back to the statesmen and officials and interpreters inside his office. He’d thought about getting rid of Henlein to give himself a
casus belli
against Czechoslovakia. He’d thought about it, yes, and put it aside. It would have been too raw, too unlikely, for anyone to swallow.
    But
Herr
Jaroslav Stribny had just handed him that
casus belli
in a fancy package with a ribbon around it. The
Reich
would have to execute Stribny as a murderer. Hitler understood the need, and he’d never been shy about disposing of anyone who needed disposing of. All the same, what he wanted to do was pin a medal on Stribny’s chest. Talk about advancing Germany’s cause…!
    “What is it,
Führer
?” Mussolini asked. “By the look in your eye, it is truly important, whatever it is.”
    “Ja,”
Hitler said, and the pause that followed gave him the chance to pull his thoughts together and figure out how best to use the extraordinary opportunity that had fallen into his lap. “Truly important, indeed. Colonel Hossbach brings me word that Konrad Henlein, whom I mentioned only a few minutes ago, has been viciously and brutally assassinated. Assassinated by one Jaroslav Stribny, of Prague. Not content with forcing him out of the Sudetenland, the Czechs followed him into Germany and finished him off here.”
    “Dio mio!”
Mussolini exclaimed, eyes bulging in astonishment.
    Dr. Schmidt translated for Chamberlain. Daladier had his own interpreter. The leaders of the two democracies gaped at the
Führer
. Chamberlain murmured something. Hitler looked sharply at Schmidt. “He says he can hardly believe it,
mein Führer,”
the translator said.
    “Well, I can hardly believe it, either,” Hitler said. “I can hardly believe the perfidy of the Czech government, the perfidy of the whole Czech race, that has brought things to such a pass. You can surely see that we in the
Reich
did everything we could to be reasonable, to be generous, toward Czechoslovakia. But what thanks do we get? Murder! And I am afraid, gentlemen, that I see no choice but to avenge the insult with blood.”
    Edouard Daladier frowned. Hitler almost told him how ridiculous he looked, with a few long, pathetic strands of hair combed over a vast bald pate. “This seems too convenient for words,” Daladier said. “Too convenient for you, too convenient for your aggression.”
    Hitler almost told him he hadn’t rubbed out Henlein for just that reason. But, while he might have been so frank with Mussolini, whom he esteemed, he felt only contempt for the miserable little Frenchman. “Before God and before the spirit of history, I had nothing to do with it,” he declared.
    “Monsieur
Daladier is right,” Chamberlain said. “The advantage you gain from this almost surpasses belief.”
    “Believe whatever you please.” No, Hitler hadn’t arranged for Henlein’s elimination. But he intended to use it. Oh,