It was Hitler's intention to carry out this ambitious programme at once, before the winter set in. Captured Notes for the War Diary record under the heading ‘end of September’ that he decided ‘to attack in the West and this as soon as possible’. On 7 October, two days before the directive was issued, von Brauchitsch ordered Army Group B to make ‘all preparations … for immediate invasion of Dutch and Belgian territory if the political situation so demands’. Hitler, in the memorandum of 9 October, announced that ‘the attack is to take place in all circumstances (if at all possible) this autumn’. The Notes for the War Diary record that the attack was at one time scheduled to ‘begin at the earliest about 10 November’, that Hitler ‘is determined, however, to attack in November only if the weather will permit operations by the mass of the Air Force’, and that the weather at the beginning of November prevented the execution of the plan. A further directive on the subject, issued as late as 20 November, insisted that ‘the state of alert must be maintained for the time being. Only this will make it possible to exploit favourable conditions immediately.’

These repeated delays were distasteful to Hitler. His difficulties were further increased by the knowledge that there was widespread opposition to his plans. Notes for the War Diary stated in October that ‘the opinion is frequently expressed—by no means shared by the Fiihrer—that an attack in the West is unnecessary; the war could, perhaps, be won satisfactorily if we were to wait a little’. And the opposition was given point by the fact that an attempt was made on his life at this time, though it is uncertain whether there was any direct connection between this particular opposition and that attempt. But the enforced delay served only to increase his determination to carry out his plans; the unpopularity of his plans only strengthened his conviction that they were right.