Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death

filled with joy at this happy turn of events [recorded Goebbels]… Herightly points out that he always expected this. That’s true. … He always expressedthe view that when the hour struck the appeasers in Tokyo would havenothing left to say… There are certain situations in the life of a great power whenit has to take up arms if is not just to abdicate.680 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHHitler had known nothing beforehand about the outbreak of war, he told Goebbels.‘He was taken completely by surprise and, like myself, at first didn’t want to believeit.’ In his estimate the Japanese now controlled the Pacific Ocean. ‘The Japaneseadopted precisely the right tactics by attacking right away and not getting drawn intolengthy preliminaries.’ ‘A boxer’ dictated Goebbels, ‘who saves his best punches forthe fifth or six round is likely to go the same way as [Max] Schmeling in his last boutwith Joe Louis, namely getting himself floored in the first.’ ‘The Führer,’ he continued,‘is rightly of the opinion that in modern warfare it is wholly out of date, evenmediæval, to issue an ultimatum. Once you make up your mind to defeat an enemyyou should wade right in and not hang around until he’s braced himself to take yourblows.’Hitler confirmed to Goebbels that he wng troops, and the army reinforcementsarriving still wearing their thin Afrika Korps uniforms. Returning by train on December16 to the Wolf’s Lair, he dictated a famous Order of the Day, forbidding hissoldiers to yield even one inch of the eastern front. His generals seemed paralysed bytheir own plight.On the same day, the sixteenth, Hitler sent for Goebbels; he confided to him thenext day at his HQ that he had decided to replace all three army group commandersas well—they all had ‘stomach problems,’Goebbels.In Japan, Goebbels summarized the next day in his diary, Germany had at lastfound a worthy ally although they could not well harp on that without hurting Italy’sfeelings.66 In the Indian Ocean Japanese aircraft trapped and sank two of Britain’sproudest warships, Prince of Wales and Repulse. At lunchtime Goebbels found Hitlerfilled with unstinted Schadenfreude.67They were now fighting a global war. The implications were immediately thrustupon Goebbels: Tokyo, eight time-zones ahead of Berlin, pleaded for the historicReichstag session to be held early so that Japanese listeners could heard Hitler livedeclaring war on America; but if he spoke too early, most American listeners wouldbe denied that pleasure.68 Thus the deputies were convened at three P.M. on the eleventh.Everybody new what was in the air, but Hitler teased them for a while. HeGOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 681revealed that Germany’s losses so far in Barbarossa were around 160,000 dead, afigure which provoked a perceptible murmur. In a mocking tone he then laid into the‘warmongers’ President Roosevelt with a biting irony that had the Kroll opera houserocking with unkind laughter.69At his ministerial conference the next morning Goebbels again warned againstencouraging excessive optimism.70 Over lunch Hitler however expressed confidencethat Japan would soon take the Philippines, Hongkong, and Singapore.71 With lessthan utter candour Hitler described their soldiers’ plight on the eastern front as lessfraught than might at first seem. There were pain and suffering, he agreed, but hehoped to reach the prescribed defensive lines without serious losses. Not for the lasttime the unpublished diaries show Hitler and Goebbels infusing each other withfresh courage in the face of a generally darkening situation with, this time, Japan astheir rising sun. Goebbels drew upon the history of the party, conjuring up heroicanalogies from the early ’30s about how they had snatched victory from those hoursof defeatist darkness before the dawn.72Addressing the gauleiters while still in Berlin Hitler opted for greater candour. Heconfessed that he had spent sleepless nights worrying whether he was doing the rightthing in declaring war on Roosevelt. ‘The Führer,’ Goebbels reported to his diary, ‘isconvinced that he would have had to declare war on the Americans sooner or later…Now the conflict in the Far East drops into our laps as an added bonus.’ He viewedthe Battle of the Atlantic with greater confidence. Whoever won there would win thewar. Hitler was sure that the western ‘plutocracies’ would not abandon their Far Eastpossessions, but would fritter away their forces around the world. The present impasseon the Moscow front was, he said, no more than ‘an unavoidable glitch.’73Far from Berlin, Hitler’s soldiers were dying agonizing deaths in the icy blizzards.The injured froze to death if they were not dragged under cover within minutes.From one of his staff Goebbels received a horrifying letter describing the uselesstanks, the munitions, guns, and planes being blown up by retreating troops, and thearmy reinforcements arriving still wearing their thin Afrika Korps uniforms.74 Returningby train on December 16 to the Wolf’s Lair, he dictated a famous Order of682 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHthe Day, forbidding his soldiers to yield even one inch of the eastern front. His generalsseemed paralysed by their own plight.On the same day, the sixteenth, Hitler sent for Goebbels; he confided to him thenext day at his HQ that he had decided to replace all three army group commandersas well—they all had ‘stomach problems,’ he said: magenkrank. It is not plain if he wasbeing sarcastic. He revealed that he was going to take over command from their‘church-going’ C.-in-C., field Marshal von Brauchitsch. ‘The more pious the general,’agreed Goebbels, whose loathing of the general staff matched Hitler’s, ‘themore useless he is.’ Again he sought to encourage Hitler by reminding him of howpetty in retrospect all the party’s momentous set-backs in history now seemed. Alreadythe British were reeling under Japan’s victories. ‘They’re fighting for theirempire’s very survival,’ he said.75There is no doubt that in the failure of these army generals Goebbels saw his chanceof establishing himself higher in Hitler’s esteem. Before returning to Berlin he setout his own plan to rescue the eastern armies from freezing to death. He wouldlaunch a public appeal for woollen clothing. At first it seemed so unpretentious as tobe almost ludicrous. But he calculated that this Aktion would help to take the country’smind off its