At 5:40AM, 9/1/39, Hitler announced his invasion of Poland. During the next 72 hours, while French & British civilian & military leaders (Poland's sworn allies) equivocated & while the USA maintained neutrality, armored columns & the Luftwaffe gained the momentum which enabled them to conclusively roll over the antiquated Polish cavalry & infantry while driving its planes from the sky. By 9/28 Poland was theirs—abetted by Russian invasion on 9/17. This was the phony war, when no bombs were dropped on German soil (private property, a British Secretary of State for Air protested), when French troops took only defensive positions on the Maginot Line, when Mussolini & the Swedish businessman Birger Dahlerus moved between Berlin & the Allies as self-appointed saviors. Bethell's account of those weeks follows the opening of the British State Papers for the period & shows from inside how the political decisions were made, how opportunities were lost & allegiances broken, & how the necessity of war with Hitler gradually became reality. It describes behind-the-scenes maneuvers in Moscow & Berlin of Hitler, Ribbentrop, Stalin & Molotov; Roosevelt's attempt to awaken Americans to the danger; the distrustful bargaining between Paris & London; the vacillation of Daladier, Bonnet & Chamberlain; the bitter conflict, between the French & British politicians who favored peace at any price & those who realized the Nazi threat; & the heroic, terrible story of the Poles themselves, outflanked & outmachined in a new type of warfare. The War Hitler Won presents a fascinating picture of the crucial political & military events of WWII's opening days. Preface The First Day An Uneasy Lull A Tentative Beginning The Fall of Poland Exchanges of Harsh Words The Empire in Peril Neutral—but on Whose Side? Russia the Great Enigma The Peace Offensive Chronological List of Major Events Notes Source Materials Select Bibliography Index Maps