The Winds of War (The Henry Family, #1)

by Herman Wouk

That night Pug Henry wrote in his intelligence report: … Hitler looks very well. He obviously has first-rate powers of recuperation. Maybe licking Poland toned up his system a bit. Anyway, the haggardness is gone, his color is excellent, he isn’t stooping, his voice is clear, not harsh, and—at least in this speech—very pleasant, and his walk is springy and quick. It would be a grave mistake to hope for a physical breakdown in this man. The speech was a lot of the same old stuff, with some remarkable whoppers, even for the Führer, about who started the Polish war and about the sterling conduct of the Germans toward civilians. This tommy-rot was certainly for internal consumption. His German listeners appeared to be swallowing it, though it’s very hard to discern what Germans really think. The radio tonight is making a great to-do about the “outstretched hand” peace proposal. We’ll evidently be hearing “outstretched hand” from now on, possibly to the end of the war, even if it’s ten years hence. The offer may have been authentic. If the Allies accept, Germany gets her half of Poland for the price of a quick cheap campaign, and also her pre–World War colonies, no doubt as a reward for the faultless chivalry of her armed forces. Hitler has never been bashful about making the most outrageous proposals. They’ve been accepted, too. So why not try another one? At the very least, if he gets the truce and the conference he suggests, the British and French publics will undoubtedly re...