Australian Government - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Advancing the interests of Australia and Australians internationally

Australian Government - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Advancing the interests of Australia and Australians internationally

267 Mr S.M. Bruce, High Commissioner in London, to Mr R.G. Menzies, Prime Minister

Cablegram 529 LONDON, 6 October 1939, 7.30 p.m.

MOST IMMEDIATE FOR THE PRIME MINISTER MOST SECRET

Hitler's speech. [1] Too soon to obtain any reactions. No immediate reply is contemplated but an authoritative statement of an interim character will probably be issued tonight.

War Cabinet is considering the reply tomorrow morning, and I have been promised full indication of the form of the proposed reply after the meeting.

If you have any views as to the lines which the reply should follow or any points which you consider should be brought out in it, it is essential that you should send them immediately.

BRUCE

1 On 6 October 1939 Adolf Hitler, German Chancellor, told the Reichstag that the Poland of the Versailles Treaty would never rise again. He urged the United Kingdom and France, against whom he had no further territorial claims, to accept the new order in Central Europe and avoid further bloodshed. For a translation of the main part of the speech see Documents on German Foreign Policy, vol. VIII (Washington, 1954), PP. 227-30.

[AA: A981, GERMANY 83B, iii]

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