ABSTRACT
On the night of September 1, 1939, when the war had actually begun, the author accidentally heard on a shortwave radio a speech by Hitler, declaring war on Poland and ordering his troops to march. The official Soviet version is that the pact was necessary to keep the Nazis from attacking the Soviet Union. The talks between Hitler and Molotov began on that date in the presence of von Ribbentrop and Dekanozov. The next day Hitler again received Molotov and stressed "an agreement on the division of the British Empire". The division of Poland proceeded according to plan and was completed in September, 1939. On November twenty-sixth, however, Molotov put forward additional demands, requesting the withdrawal of German forces from Finland, a mutual assistance pact with Bulgaria, and the renunciation by Japan of her oil and coal concessions in Northern Sakhalin. These demands were accepted and the draft was amended.
