In March, Britain told Poland that if her independence was threatened, Britain would come to her aid. The promise was easy to make at the time, because it was conditional and concerned a crisis that had yet to happen.
PARIS France delivered its own note to the German government tonight, a few hours after Britain's. French officials say it is framed in similar terms.
LONDON The British Government's note to Berlin, delivered this evening through His Majesty's Ambassador, is published below in the form released by the Foreign Office.
HM Government (British Foreign Office)
Official text
Sir, In the communication made to you today, His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom informed the German Government that, unless the German Government were prepared to give satisfactory assurances that the German Government had suspended all aggressive action against Poland and were prepared promptly to withdraw their forces from Polish territory, His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom would, without hesitation, fulfil their obligations to Poland.
DANZIG German forces have attacked the Polish Post Office in Danzig, a defended Polish institution that has been one of several flashpoints in the city since fighting began this morning.
LONDON The blackout order takes effect tonight, and every window in the country must show no light at all.
LONDON The House of Commons turned this evening to emergency business covering public order, supplies and the steps needed to put the country on a full war footing.
LONDON Britain has sent Germany a formal warning over the invasion of Poland, the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, told the House of Commons this evening. The House was meeting in emergency session.
WASHINGTON President Roosevelt has appealed to the countries at war to refrain from bombing civilians.
PARIS, GARE DE L'EST The departures board at the Gare de l'Est still lists civilian trains, but the platforms have been taken over by the army.
PARIS France has ordered general mobilisation.
STOCKHOLM Italy will take no military initiative in the conflict that began in Poland at dawn, the Italian Council of Ministers announced this morning after meeting under Benito Mussolini.
LONDON Poland was attacked from three directions at once this morning.
STOCKHOLM Chancellor Hitler told the Reichstag in Berlin this morning that Germany is now "returning the fire" against Poland. The full text of the speech is available to foreign correspondents here.
BERLIN Hitler has named Field Marshal Hermann Göring as his successor should he be killed in the conflict, with Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess next in line. He made the announcement in an address to the Reichstag this morning.
DANZIG Gauleiter Albert Forster has signed a constitutional law incorporating the Free City of Danzig into the German Reich. He telegraphed the text to Hitler, who has ratified it. Poland and the League of Nations do not recognise the act. The four articles below are the law as Forster transmitted them, in the official English translation.
Free City of Danzig authority under Gauleiter Albert Forster
Official text
Proceeds outside any framework recognised by Poland or the League of Nations.
Article 1. The Constitution of the Free City of Danzig is cancelled with immediate effect.
LONDON Children from East End schools filed onto the platform in twos this morning, in long lines with a teacher at the front of each and another at the back, as the evacuation of Britain's cities began.
WARSAW President Ignacy Mościcki proclaimed a state of war in Poland this morning, following the German attacks that began at dawn. The proclamation is made under the Constitution of the Republic as a measure of national defence. United Press gives its closing line as follows.
Office of the President of the Republic of Poland
Official text
The entire Polish nation, blessed by God, will march to victory.
WARSAW German aircraft have bombed a number of Polish towns and cities since first light this morning, according to reports reaching London. Anti-aircraft guns have engaged German aircraft over Warsaw several times since dawn.
DANZIG The Free City of Danzig has been proclaimed part of the German Reich. Gauleiter Albert Forster announced the incorporation in the small hours of this morning, as Polish positions at the Westerplatte transit depot came under attack from German land and naval forces.
WARSAW German forces crossed the Polish frontier at several points at dawn this morning, attacking from East Prussia, from Pomerania and Silesia, and from the south, where Slovak units are reported to be taking part. Bombing has been reported over Warsaw and other Polish towns.
BERLIN Polish attackers seized the German radio transmitter at Gleiwitz, in Upper Silesia, on Thursday evening, according to the German state news agency DNB. The report is unconfirmed, and foreign correspondents have been kept away from the scene. The five-sentence item below, datelined Breslau and carried on the agency's wire late last night, is DNB's own account, reproduced as issued.
Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro (DNB)
Official text
German state-controlled source, not independently verified.
Breslau, 31. August. (DNB.) Etwa um 20 Uhr am Donnerstag wurde der Sender Gleiwitz durch einen polnischen Ueberfall besetzt. Die Polen drangen mit Gewalt in den Senderraum ein. Es gelang ihnen, einen polnischen Aufruf in polnischer und zum Teil in deutscher Sprache zu verlesen. Sie wurden aber schon nach wenigen Minuten von der Polizei überwältigt, die von Gleiwitzer Rundfunkhörern alarmiert worden war. Die Polizei mußte von der Waffe Gebrauch machen, wobei es auf Seiten der Eindringlinge Tote gegeben hat.
In March, Britain guaranteed to come to Poland's aid if her independence were threatened. That guarantee is now being tested.
Britain's promise to Poland is five months old. On 31 March the Prime Minister told the Commons that if anything happened which clearly threatened Polish independence, and the Polish government thought it vital to resist, His Majesty's Government would feel bound at once to lend the Polish government all support in their power.
The wording matters. The promise is not triggered by any attack, but by action that clearly threatens Poland's independence. And it is Warsaw, not London, that decides whether resistance is vital. Britain agreed in March to take the Polish government's word for that.
At first the promise ran one way only. Britain gave it, and Poland gave nothing in return. That changed in early April, when the Polish Foreign Minister came to London and both governments agreed to make it mutual and put it into a treaty. The talks took the summer. Germany and the Soviet Union signed their pact of non-aggression in Moscow on the Wednesday of last week. Two days later, a week ago today, Britain and Poland signed the Agreement of Mutual Assistance in London. Under it each country comes to the other's aid if either is drawn into fighting with a European power that has attacked it.