THE OCCUPATION OE CZECHO-SLOVAKIA
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
SIR,—While it is probably true, as the writer of " A Specta- tor's Notebook" says, that Field-Marshal Goering did not know in advance of the planned occupation of Czecho- Slovakia, my own experiences in Prague convinced me that the British Government was informed a good deal more than twenty-four hours ahead.
First of all, may I mention that I sent to the Daily Herald, at about 2 a.m. on Monday, March 13th, a message, which appeared in the last edition, stating that official quarters in Prague believed that at the very least German troops were preparing to March through Brno, and thus cut off Bohemia and Moravia from Slovakia. The source from which I obtained this information suggested that even more drastic
action was impending. But rather than run the risk of spreading a scare-story which might have turned out to be untrue, I sent a cautiously worded message. This was two days before the occupation.
I subsequently discovered that official quarters in Prague —in particular the always excellently informed Czech General Staff—knew of the impending occupation about a week before it' happened. There is no reason to suppose that sources of information accessible to a newspaper correspon- dent were not also available to the British Government. In fact, I have every reason to believe that the Foreign Office knew also about a week beforehand of the German plans. It is possible that the information then received was dis- regarded. It is arguable, too, that in any case nothing could have been done to stop the Germans, but ignorance cannot be pleaded as an excuse.—I am, yours faithfully,
ALEXANDER HENDERSON,
lately Daily Herald Correspondent in Prague.
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