22 MARCH 1940, Page 21

DID HITLER EXPECT WAR ?

Sta,—The letter of Mr. N. G. S. Corbett taking exception to a statement in the previous issue of The Spectator to the effect that Herr Hitler neither expected nor desired war with France and Britain, seems to me unconvincing. The passages he quotes from the French Yellow Book show that the British and French Ambassadors repeatedly warned the Fiihrer that an attack on Poland would mean war with the Western democracies, and that on one occasion Sir Nevile Henderson thought he had made Herr Hitler believe that. This is not very decisive.—I am, Sir, yours, &c.,

PORTON BROADHOLT.