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Edited on Sat May-17-08 02:51 AM by The Magistrate
Chamberlain's real aim in the period was to turn Nazi Germany to war with the Soviet Union, and he was prepared to ally England with Hitler should that occur. The idea the Nazis stood as a shield against Bolshevism, and could be turned to a sword against it as well, was common in rightist circles of that day, and Hitler played on this with great skill. Chamberlain, and rightist leaders in France, made concessions to Hitler in order to preserve this possibility, and were playing for it right up to the signing of the Hitler-Stalin Pact. Even in the early days of World War Two, during the 'Phony War' period, England and France considered the Soviet Union the leading foe, and their staffs spent much time drawing up schemes to bomb the Baku oil fields, and to intervene on behalf of Finland during the 'Winter War' late in 1939.
The balance of military power at the time of the Munich Pact is poorly understood, and the popular view down to this day incorporates a good deal of Nazi propaganda that has made its way into accepted myth. The Reich at that time had neither an advantage in tanks or aircraft. Czechoslovakia had more tanks equipped with cannon than Germany did; French armor dwarfed German in numbers, and was better armed and armored, though there were signifigant flaws in their designs, and their tactical doctrine was poor. Though the best German aircraft of late 1938 were nominally the same types employed in WWII, they were not really the same, being early models with much less powerful motors and lower performance. The best Soviet aircraft were superior, and this was being demonstrated clearly in the skies over Spain. While the R.A.F. did still employ many obsolete and obsolescent biplanes, and the French many obsolescent braced wing monoplanes, the Germans, too, still equipped a large portion of the Luftwaffe with bi-planes no better than the English designs. The strides in equipment the English and French made between Munich and the invasion of Poland were more than matched by the improvements made in the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. Taking Czechoslovakia was essential to the improvement of the former arm, for this put that country's armor, and the Skoda works, at Hitler's disposal. When Hitler struck into France, half the German tanks armed with cannon were of Czech design and manufacture, and these were still a signifigant portion of German armor strength as late as the invasion of the Soviet Union.
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