Word: lowe
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Next day the conferees were at it again early. The mystery and the tension grew. Rumors flew that German troops were about to strike through The Netherlands, that a Nazi ultimatum had been delivered to the Low Countries. Not until nightfall, after Leopold had returned to his own capital, was released the text of an appeal for peace signed by the two sovereigns and sent to George VI of Britain, President Lebrun of France, and Führer Hitler of Germany...
Meanwhile, Armistice Day, the date widely feared as the time for a big German push, came and went. Belgian and Dutch nerves were calmed a trifle. It seemed certain that Germany had delivered no ultimatum to the Low Countries. Then what had the Nazis done or said to spread fear? The Cabinets of the two nations kept their own counsel, and, for once, even "well-informed circles" were singularly uninformed. Best and most tenable guess was made by a New York Times correspondent at Amsterdam...
...more likely story was that the two sovereigns wanted to let Adolf Hitler know that they would defend their neutrality, and their frontiers, together. The concentration of Nazi troops on the Belgian and The Netherlands border and the recent tone of the German press and Foreign Office toward the Low Countries made Belgians and Netherlanders fear that both might well need defending...
Under the impact of Nazi press agitation and their own large-scale defense preparations, the peoples of the Low Countries began to experience a real war of nerves, complete with mobilizations, floodings, frontier incidents (see p. 19). The two Governments, with their Cabinets meeting almost continually, got out assuring and reassuring statements, persuaded the Dutch and Belgian press to keep cool heads. But all Belgians and Dutchmen had to do to learn the newest sensation of the moment was to turn on British and French radios. In the U. S. eight-column streamers shouted "GUNS ROAR ON DUTCH-NAZI BORDER...
...Germans, having informed The Netherlands and Belgium that an attack of extreme violence was scheduled to start before November 15, asked what would be the attitude of the Low Countries in case of mass flights over their territory with the possibility of more or less forced landings and more or less forced shelterings of submarines in their territorial waters. The reply obviously was, 'absolute neutrality will be maintained by all means.' . . . Berlin thereupon did not announce whether there was a consideration of any change of plan or not. Complete uncertainty is the result...