Blitzkrieg 1939-41 (Darby, Graham. Europe at War 1939-45)
I. The Invasion of Poland
1. The invasion of Poland by Germany was implemented on September 1 1939. France and Britain declared war on Germany on September 3.
a. Operation White, the codename for the invasion, was finalized as early as June 15 1939.
i. Hitler hesitated to invade because he was unsure if Britain and France would retaliate from the West.
b. There was a slight delay in the Allied response.
i. There was a lack of co-ordination between Britain and France
ii. Chamberlain was indecisive. He received considerable pressure from the House of Commons to declare war on Germany.
c. The two democracies went to war to prevent German domination in Europe.
d. At the stage the Allied aim the replacement of Hitler by another leader, followed by a European settlement that would restore Czechoslovakian territory and regulate the terms of Versailles.
2. The Allies went to war reluctantly in 1939.
a. The French promised the Poles that they would invade Germany within 15 days if war broke out. The French General Gamelin did not intend to honour this promise.
i. The Allied strategy was to wage a defensive war, build up strength and focus on rearmament in order to create large armies.
i. This thinking was a result of the experience of WWI, “where victory came by attrition and superior numbers”.
ii. British and French strength was increasing faster than that of the Germans.
ii. Mobilization was proceeding too slowly and the Allies were not ready.
iii. The Allies incorrectly depended on an economic blockade on Germany.
b. There was a shift in public opinion between the summers of 1938 and 1939; there was strong patriotic solidarity and animosity towards Hitler.
3. The Poles were significantly outmatched by the Germans.
a. The Germans had 2 million men and the Poles had 1 million.
i. The Poles did not fully implement mobilization on the advice of Britain and France so that Hitler would not be provoked.
b. The Germans had 2000 airplane and the Poles had less than 1000 obsolete airplanes.
c. The Poles used a strategy of forward defence. Its purpose was to prevent the loss of territory and therefore political, not military.
i. It was ineffective because the army was spread thinly along a long border rather than concentrated in one spot. The Germans easily took advantage of this.
d. The Germans used a Blitzkreig tactic. The Luftwaffe controlled the skies and the Wehrmacht advanced at great speeds. Tanks were followed my motorized infantry, which consolidated their pathway, and infantry occupied territory.
i. These fast moving attacks delivered by a small but effective tank force, supported by overwhelming air power, quickly overwhelmed the Poles.
e. Germans had 45 000 casualties while the Poles had 200 000.
4. The Soviets invaded Poland from the east on September 17, in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939.
a. Stalin gave Hitler a free hand in the west while he could dominate the Baltic States.
5. Warsaw surrendered unconditionally on September 27 and all resistance ceased by October 6. It was a comprehensive victory for Hitler.
II. War in the West
A. The Phoney War
1. Despite preparations to protect against massive aerial bombardment and heavy civilian casualties by Britain and France, nothing happened.
a. Coffins were made ready, children were evacuated, and the RAF dropped leaflets.
2. The Allies believed that the Maginot Line would not be passed by the Germans.
a. Therefore they correctly assumed that Hitler would attack through the Low Countries.
b. The Anglo-French strategy was to advance deep into Belgium once Germany attacked.
i. This plan lacked flexibility in case of anything unexpected.
ii. The Belgians refused to cooperate and the Dutch planned to retreat north, away from the Allied advance.
B. The Scandinavian Diversion
1. In March 1940, Hitler decided to launch a Scandinavian invasion in early April.
a. German Grand Admiral, Erich Raeder, urged Hitler to do so throughout the autumn and winter of 1939. An invasion of Norway would secure naval bases and transport of Germany’s iron ore supply from Sweden, which came through Norwegian waters.
b. Hitler decided to invade after being irritated by the Royal Navy’s capture of prisoners from a German ship, Altmark, from Norwegian waters.
c. Denmark capitulated on April 10 without resisting. Norway was invaded April 9 and she fought back with British and French reinforcements. Norway capitulated on June 10.
i. Due to air superiority, effective use of air transport, good inter-service cooperation, better metrological information and Allied incompetence, the Germans won.
ii. The Allied lost due to lack of air cover, and an insufficiently supplied and poor led expeditionary force.
iii. The failure of the expedition led to the fall of Chamberlain’s government.
C. The Fall of France
1. By May 1940 the forces deployed by each side during Germany’s attack on the west was 138 divisions under the Allies and 136 divisions under the Germans.
2. The Germans launched the campaign on May 10.
a. Army Group B attacked in the north, which acted as a diversion to draw the Allies away from France. French General Gamelin moved the British Expeditionary Force and the French 1st and 7th armies, representing a third of his forces, north.
3. On May 12 the Panzers of Army Group A successfully emerged from the Ardennes forest and achieved immediate breakthrough.
a. The Ardennes forest was unprotected by the Maginot Line.
b. Allied attacks towards German flanks were ordered but never occurred. This revealed the weakness of the Allied air force and the slowness of Allied command and control structure.
4. By May 15 Churchill noted that French government officials were burning documents. This was a definite sign of impending evacuation.
5. By May 20 the Panzers reached the sea.
a. This resulted from German dominance in the sky and a crisis of confidence in the French High Command.
i. Gamelin left two-fifths of the army unoccupied at the Maginot Line.
6. By the last week of May, the BEF and French 1st Army were trapped at Dunkirk.
a. Between May 27 and June 4, 338 000 British and French soldiers were rescued by an array of British vessels off of the coast of Dunkirk. This is known as the “miracle of Dunkirk”.
b. The German attack was so successful because it caught the Allies by complete surprise. The French were not expecting an invasion until 1941.
7. French General Weygand attempted to defend the line between the Somme to the Aisne. The battled lasted five days from June 5-10.
a. He was outnumbered one to two.
8. Paris fell on June 14 and an armistice was signed between Marshal Petain, the head of the French government, on June 21.
a. Hitler occupied all of northern France and the Atlantic coast.
b. Unoccupied zones, the French Empire and the French Navy were ruled by Petain from the Vichy government.
c. The German invasion of France was “a plan well executed and incompetently opposed.”
9. On June 18 Churchill stated “the battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin.”
D. The Battle of Britain
1. Hitler initially wanted a peace settlement with Britain, which he offered on June 2 and July 19, but were rejected both times by Churchill.
2. Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain, was a last resort.
a. After the losses during the Norwegian campaign, the German Navy was in no position to protect an invasion force.
b. Hitler wanted to break the morale of Britain so that he could be free to invade the USSR.
3. The Luftwaffe had 2500 planes and the RAF had 1000.
a. Whether or not an invasion would occur depended on if the Luftwaffe could exhaust the RAF to the point that it could not protect Britain from German vessels crossing the channel.
4. Half the German planes were vulnerable bombers with limited range and limited bomb load.
5. The Messerschmidt Bf-109 and the Luftwaffe were excellent fighters; however they had limited range—only about 30 minutes over England.
a. It was unsuitable for escort work.
6. The Luftwaffe had to move to new airfields in France and Belgium.
a. They did not possess the maintenance infrastructure to keep the planes airworthy.
b. If German pilots bailed, they became prisoners.
7. The RAF had the airfields of Britain and did posses sufficient maintenance structure.
a. Its pilots could spend much longer in the air.
b. If British pilots bailed, they could fly again.
8. The Hurricane and Spitfire were excellent British fighters.
a. They were used to oppose the German Bf-109.
9. Britain was producing over 400 planes per month, exceeding production in Germany.
a. Pilots could not be trained as quickly however.
10. RADAR was a British invention that could pick up on enemy aircraft within a 75 mile radius.
a. It gave readings of the numbers and altitude so that sufficient fighters could be prepared for defence.
11. There were over 50 strategically placed RADAR stations around the island.
a. This enabled the RAF to concentrate its forces on the enemy rather than wasting time patrolling.
12. The German ‘Chanel Battle’ between July and early August say attacks towards shipping in the channels and ports. This was not very effective and saw the withdrawal of the slow JU 87 Stuka.
13. Operation Eagle was more effective because of the policy of attacking air bases.
a. By the end of August the RAF was losing more planes than it could replace.
b. Twice as many pilots were coming out of training.
c. Six of the seven air fields in the south-east were out of action.
14. On September 7 Goering ordered the bombing of London rather than the airfields.
a. The Germans wanted to break British morale and force the government to peace.
b. It was a major tactical error and allowed the RAF to recover.
c. Since peace did not occur, Hitler postponed the invasion from September 11 to October until he postponed it indefinitely.
i. This was Hitler’s first setback.
15. The RAF lost just fewer than 800 planes while the Luftwaffe lost over of 1300.
a. Enemy losses boosted British morale.
16. The Battle of Britain was won by 2945 RAF pilots. 507 were killed and 500 were wounded.
a. Churchill said “never in the field of human conflict has so much been owned by so many to so few”.
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