The situation simmered for two months more. The League of Nations offered its good services and mediators made the rounds, meeting with Hitler, then Blum, then Hitler again, but achieving nothing. The French would withdraw only after a solemn commitment by Hitler not to militarize the region, and Hitler would never undertake that.
The internal political scene in France was undergoing a subtle shift. The right, highly nationalistic and in the habit of considering Germany as the arch-enemy, was now exploiting the Rhineland situation to embarrass the government and some of its leaders saw they might have ideas in common with the Nazi philosophy. The left loathed the Nazis, but they had an internationalistic tradition and did not want to be seen as warmongers. The military's proposals for improving readiness seemed to revolve around the idea put forth by De Gaulle in the title itself of his booklet: a professional army, which was against the grain of the popular army of citizens-soldiers that the left very much preferred. So the proposals went on the back burner.
Meanwhile, the German and British negotiators in London were making progress as to their naval deal. The prevailing British view was that it was possible to have reasonable dealings with Germany, and that the French were pointlessly obdurate.
On June 23-25, the British Foreign Minister Eden met with Mussolini in Rome. The meeting had been planned to discuss about another flashpoint, the Italian-Ethiopian controversy which had come to a firefight at Wal-Wal. However, that seemed a secondary problem when compared to the possibility that any further accident in the Rheinland might bring about another European war. A small colonial venture was small fry in comparison. Eden and Mussolini worked out an agreement. Britain would turn a blind eye to Italy's African projects if Mussolini supported the British in mediating between the French and the Germans.
During July, the German Foreign Minister Von Neurath and Hitler's personal foreign-policy envoy Ribbentrop repeatedly traveled between London and Rome. By now, it seemed the diplomatic situation would come to a head in September, in the assembly of the League of Nations which would have to deal with both disputes: the Italian-Ethiopian and the French-German. This seemed to put a deadline to the negotiations.
On the ground, the plight of the German citizens in the occupied area was worsening. The Germans had cut the power lines and even the most basic supplies of foodstuffs; they blamed the French army for all shortages, and thus forced the French to take care of that. The French began supplying food and all basic services and utilities. In turn, this gave way to allegations by Goebbels that this was evidence that the French were out to annex German territory. A self-proclaimed "Saarbrücken Kommune" came forth, offering the French collaboration "in the spirit of international Communist brotherhood". The French said these were actually Nazi provocateurs, and wanted nothing to do with them, but the idea that there might be German Communists stepping into a sort of power void did strike a chord both in Germany and abroad.
- What happened next?