rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich-william-shirer-pdf

700 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICHAnd Hitler proceeded to make his audience, which consisted mostly of womennurses and social workers, laugh – and then applaud hysterically. He was facedwith the problem of answering two questions uppermost in the minds of theGerman people: When would Britain be invaded, and what would be doneabout the night bombings of Berlin and other German cities? As to the first:In England they’re filled with curiosity and keep asking, ”Whydoesn’t he come?” Becalm. Becalm. He’s coming! He’s coming!His listeners found that crack very funny, but they also believed that it wasan unequivocal pledge. As to the bombings, he began by a typical falsificationand ended with a dire threat:Just now . . . Mr. Churchill is demonstrating his new brain child, thenight air raid. Mr. Churchill is carrying out these raids not becausethey promise to be highly effective, but because his Air Force cannotfly over Germany in daylight . . . whereas German planes are overEnglish soil every day . . . Whenever the Englishman sees a light, hedrops a bomb . . . on residential districts, farms and villages.And then came the threat.For three months I did not answer because I believed that suchmadness would be stopped. Mr. Churchill took this for a sign ofweakness. We are now answering night for night.When the British Air Force drops two or three or four thousandkilograms of bombs, then we will in one night drop 150-, 230-, 300-or 400,000 kilograms.At this point, according to my diary, Hitler had to pause because of thehysterical applause of the German women listeners.”When they declare,” Hitler continued, ”that they will increase their attackson our cities, then we will raze their cities to the ground.” At this, I noted, theyoung ladies were quite beside themselves and applauded phrenetically. Whenthey had recovered, he added, ”We will stop the handiwork of these night airpirates, so help us God!”On hearing this, I also noted, ”the young German women hopped to theirfeet and, their breasts heaving, screamed their approval!””The hour will come,” Hitler concluded, ”when one of us will break, and itwill not be National Socialist Germany!” At this, I finally noted, ”the ravingmaidens kept their heads sufficiently to break their wild shouts of joy with achorus of ’Never! Never!”Ciano in Rome, listening to the broadcast, which was made from recordssome hours later, confessed to being perplexed. ”Hitler must be nervous,” heconcluded. 926His nerves were a factor in the fatal decision to switch the Luftwaffe’s winningdaylight attacks on the R.A.F. to massive night bombings of London. This wasa political as well as a military decision, made in part to revenge the bombingsof Berlin and other German cities (which were but pinpricks compared to whatthe Luftwaffe was doing to Britain’s cities) and to destroy the will of the British