You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

Hello, this is Matt from the Explorers podcast.

I want to invite you to join me on the voyages and journeys of the most famous explorers in the history of the world.

These are the thrilling and captivating stories of Vigllan, Shackleton, Lewis, and Clark,

and so many other famous, and not so famous, adventures from throughout history.

Go to Explorerspodcast.com or just look us up on your podcast app.

That's the Explorers Podcast.

Music Hello everyone and welcome to History of the Second World War, episode 75, The Munich Agreement

Part 7, to the brink.

During the last week of September 1938, Europe seemed to be incredibly close to descending into war.

On the morning of September 26th, the details of the Goddessburg memorandum would be printed in

the Times of London, with rumors that their information was sourced directly from Prague.

It was also public knowledge all over Europe that governments were preparing

for a conflict. Just the day before, gas masks had begun to be distributed around Britain

from the air raid precaution stations out of fear that the first moves in any conflict would be

German air raids. On the continent, the Czechoslovakian army had been mobilized, including 500 aircraft,

and in France, 23 divisions had been placed in readiness on the German border for defensive purposes.

With the additional hope that their mere presence would also deter German aggression,

war appeared to be imminent, and there also appeared to be no way to avert it.

The French and British governments were still in close communication, and after their meetings

on the evenings of September 25th, General Gamlin, the French chief of staff, would also

be brought to London to participate in future discussions.

...