On 1 September, when his armies were already crossing the Polish frontier, Hitler issued this proclamation to his Armed Forces:
“The Polish Government, unwilling to establish good neighborly relations as aimed at by me, wants to force the issue by way of arms.
“The Germans in Poland are being persecuted with bloody terror and driven from their homes. Several acts of frontier violation which cannot be tolerated by a great power show that Poland is no longer prepared to respect the Reich’s frontiers. To put an end to these mad acts I can see no other way but from now onwards to meet force with force.
“The German Armed Forces will with firm determination take up the struggle for the honor and the vital rights of the German people.
“I expect every soldier to be conscious of the high tradition of the eternal German soldierly qualities and to do his duty to the last.
“Remember always and in any circumstances that you are the representatives of National Socialist Greater Germany.
“Long live our people and the Reich.” (TC-54)
So that at last Hitler had kept his word to his generals. He had afforded them their propagandistic justification, and at that time, anyway, it did not matter what people said about it afterwards.
“The view shall not appear, asked later on, whether we told the truth or not. Might is what counts—or victory is what counts and not right.” (1014-PS)
On that day, 1 September, when news came of this invasion of Polish ground, the British Government, in accordance with their treaty obligations, sent an ultimatum to the German Government, in which it stated: