Danger Spot

As Adolf Hitler last week showed more grimly than ever his determination to press his demands against Poland (see col. 3), the Free City of Danzig, the old Hanseatic town on the Baltic, became Europe's chief danger spot. Danzig is 95% German. It is ruled by Nazis. It is politically (if not economically) free from Polish rule. Students of the Treaty of Versailles have long criticized the detachment of Danzig from Germany at the World War's end and the placing of the city in the Polish customs union. If it is accepted that Austria, the Sudetenland and Memel belong to the Reich, then by all logic Danzig should again be in Germany. A German seizure of Danzig would, indeed, be a poor casus belli for the new British-French-Polish "Peace Front."

Britain and France, however, have specifically guaranteed to help Poland to defend herself against any action which Poland considers a threat to her independence. Last week the Polish Government, having learned much from the Czecho-Slovakian lesson, let it be known that it would consider a seizure of Danzig a threat to Polish independence, that the Third Reich could not have Danzig without fighting for it. While reports from London and Paris said that the British and French Governments would advise the Poles to "negotiate," the Poles were determined not to accept mediation on the Czech pattern.

The tough Poles appeared ready & willing to fight for Danzig or any part of Poland. Several Polish divisions lay outside Danzig ready to march in if the German Army made one false step in Danzig's direction. The Warsaw press urged the Government to copy Herr Hitler's tactics and assume a protectorate over Danzig. Since the Fuehrer saw fit to denounce the Polish-German Treaty in a public speech, the Polish Government decided to answer him in kind. This week Foreign Minister Josef Beck and Premier Felicjan Slawoj-Sklad-kowski are to go before the Polish Parliament and say their say about Herr Hitler. An unnamed spokesman for the British Cabinet declared: "If Poland fights, Britain and France will fight, too."

While Poland and Germany thus prepared for a showdown, journalistic prophets were busy. New York Times Correspondent G. E. R. Gedye journeyed from Europe to Manhattan to declare "war inevitable." Scripps-Howard Foreign Editor William Philip Simms was more explicit. He wrote from Washington he had "secret information" that Fuehrer Hitler was thinking over the possibility of sudden, simultaneous moves against Poland, Egypt, Suez and Gibraltar. Added" Editor Simms: "A sinister aspect of the report is that Marshal Hermann Goering, hitherto regarded as a moderate in opposition to Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop and [Police Chief] Heinrich Himmler, is now said to favor a lightning war." Meanwhile, scarcely less ominous were actual diplomatic and military maneuverings:

> Colonel-General Walther von Brauchitsch, Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, talked in Rome last week with high Italian staff officers, had a chat with King Vittorio Emmanuele III. Then he set out to inspect Italy's Libyan defenses as the guest of Air Marshal Italo Balbo, Libya's Governor. Rumor had it that the Colonel-General was negotiating for a harder-&-faster military alliance between Italy and Germany as the most effective reply to the "Peace Front."

> French, British and German warships played cat & mouse off Southern Spain. Typical incident: the German cruiser Leipzig dropped anchor in Tangier, international zone of Morocco; 30 minutes later four silent shadows, the British destroyer Graf ton and the French destroyers Volta, Mogador and Forbin glided nonchalantly into the harbor, anchored at a respectful distance.

>Mme Genevieve Tabouis, French political dopester, wrote in the Paris news-organ L'Oeuvre that as a result of a secret accord signed last week in Berlin by Hungary's Premier Count Paul Teleki, Hungary has become a protectorate of Germany. The Hungarian Army, said Mme Tabouis, will soon be reorganized by German officers for use against Rumania and Yugoslavia.

>Ivan Maisky, Soviet Ambassador to Great Britain, returned to London from Moscow. Said the Ambassador on a stopover at Copenhagen: "I return very content. Russia's position in a possible conflict is perfectly clear. We are going to assist Europe in case of aggression."

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