In 1940, Neville Chamberlain departed South Africa on a transatlantic flight to Canada for medical attention. The former British Prime Minister was dying of cancer and General Smuts wasted no time in dispatching Chamberlain upon receipt of the Fuerher's second telegram. Neither of them are aware of the first telegram, sent to Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. That communique stated that Chamberlains' entry into Canada would be considered an act of war by Nazi Germany and would invite immediate action from the Kriegsmarine currently moored off the east coast.