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In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed from 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Phoney War, also called the Twilight War by Winston Churchill, der Sitzkrieg in German ("the sitting war" a The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and surround the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium. For the political subdivision of France see Ardennes (department. The Allies of World War II were the countries officially opposed to the Axis powers during the Second World War. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and many French soldiers were however evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo. The British Expeditionary Force ( BEF) was the British army sent to the Western Front in France and Belgium on the outbreak of The Battle of Dunkirk was the defense and evacuation of the British and Allied forces that had been separated from the main body of the French defenses by the German advance The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo by the British was the Evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk In the second operation, Fall Rot (Case Red), executed from 5 June, German forces outflanked the Maginot Line to attack the larger territory of France. During World War II, Fall Rot ( Case Red in German was the second phase of the conquest of France by the German Army begun on 5 June, 1940 Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem In Military tactics, a flanking maneuver, also called a flank attack, is an attack on the sides of an opposing force The Maginot Line (IPA, Ligne Maginot named after French Minister of Defense André Maginot, was a line of concrete Fortifications tank obstacles artillery Italy declared war on France on 10 June. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem The French government fled to Bordeaux, and Paris was occupied on 14 June. ( Gascon: Bordèu) is a port city in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the After the French Second Army Group surrendered on 22 June, France capitulated on 25 June. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Events 524 - Battle of Vézeronce, the Franks defeat the Burgundians For the Axis, the campaign was a spectacular victory. The Axis powers also known as the Axis alliance Axis nations Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those Countries [4]
France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north and west, a small Italian occupation zone in the southeast and a collaborationist rump state in the south, Vichy France. The German occupation of France in World War II occurred during the period between May 1940 to December 1944 Fascist Italy occupied a small section of south-east France during World War II, during the time of the Vichy Government under Collaborationism, can describe the Treason of cooperating with enemy Forces occupying one's Country. A rump state is the remnant of a once-larger Government, left with limited powers or authority after a Disaster, Invasion or Military occupation Vichy France, or the Vichy regime are the common terms used to describe the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944 Southern France was occupied on 10 November 1942 and France remained under German occupation until after the Allied landings in 1944; the Low Countries were liberated in 1944 and 1945. Events 1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
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Prelude
Following the Invasion of Poland of September 1939 that started the Second World War, a period of inaction called the Phoney War ("Sitzkrieg" or "Drôle de guerre") set in between the major powers. The Invasion of Poland (1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small German-allied Hitler had hoped that France and the United Kingdom would acquiesce in his conquest and quickly make peace. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This was essential to him because Germany's stock of raw materials — and of the foreign currencies to buy them — was critically low. He was now dependent on supplies from his new ally the Soviet Union, a situation he was uncomfortable with for ideological reasons. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 On 6 October he made a peace offer to both Western Powers. Events 105 BC - Battle of Arausio: The Cimbri inflict the heaviest defeat on the Roman army of Gnaeus Mallius Maximus Even before these had time to respond to it, he also however formulated on 9 October a new military policy in case their reply was negative: the Führer-Anweisung N°6, or "Führer-Directive Number 6". Events 768 - Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned Kings of The Franks.
German strategy
Hitler had always fostered dreams about major military campaigns to defeat the Western European nations as a preliminary step to the conquest of territory in the East, thus avoiding a two-front war. In Military terminology a two-front war is one in which fighting takes place on two geographically separate fronts However, these intentions were absent from the Führer-Directive N°6. This plan was firmly based on the seemingly more realistic assumption that Germany's military strength would still have to be built up for several more years and that for the moment only limited objectives could be envisaged, aimed at improving Germany's position to survive a long, protracted[5] war in the West. Hitler ordered a conquest of the Low Countries: the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, to be executed at the shortest possible notice. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by It should prevent France from occupying them first, which would threaten the vital German Ruhr Area; it should also provide a basis for a successful long-term air and sea campaign against England. The Ruhr Area, ( German Ruhrgebiet, colloquial Ruhrpott, Kohlenpott or Revier) is an Urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia There was no mention whatsoever of a possible immediately consecutive attack to conquer the whole of France, although as much as possible of the border areas in northern France should be occupied.
Whilst writing the directive, Hitler had assumed that such an attack could be initiated within a period of at most a few weeks, but the very day he issued it he was disabused of this illusion. It transpired that he had been misinformed about the true state of Germany's forces. The motorised units had to recover for an estimated three months, repairing the damage to their vehicles incurred in the Polish campaign; the ammunition stocks were largely depleted. [6]
Halder's plan
On 10 October 1939, the British refused Hitler's offer of peace; on 12 October the French did the same. Events 680 - Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is decapitated Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 539 BC - The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon. On 19 October Franz Halder, chief of staff of the OKH, the Army High Command, presented the first plan for Fall Gelb ("Case Yellow"), the pre-war codename of plans for campaigns in the Low Countries: the Aufmarschanweisung N°1, Fall Gelb, or "Instruction for the advance Number 1, Case Yellow". Events 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. Franz Ritter Halder ( June 30 1884 &ndash April 2 1972) was a German General and the head of the Army General The chief of staff is the chief aide to the Commander of larger military Formations and Units It is sometimes the case that the chief of staff is more directly The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH was Germany 's Army High Command from 1936 to 1945 Halder's plan has often been compared to the First World War Von Schlieffen Plan, executed in 1914. For the French counter-plan see Plan XVII The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff 's early 20th century overall strategic It was similar to it in that both plans entailed an advance through the middle of Belgium. But whereas the Von Schlieffen plan had had a surprising gigantic encirclement of the French army in mind, aimed at a decisive victory, Aufmarschanweisung N°1 was based on an unimaginative frontal attack, sacrificing a projected half a million German soldiers to attain the limited goal of throwing the Allies back to the River Somme. Germany's strength for 1940 would then be spent; only in 1942[7] could the main attack against France begin.
Hitler was very disappointed by Halder's plan. He had supposed the conquest of the Low Countries could be quick and cheap; but as it was presented, it would be long and difficult. It has even been suggested that Halder, who was at the time conspiring against Hitler and had begun carrying a revolver to shoot him in person if necessary, proposed the most pessimistic plan possible to discourage Hitler from the attack entirely. [8] Hitler reacted in two ways. He decided that the German army should attack early, ready or not, in the hope that Allied unpreparedness might bring about an easy victory after all. He set the date on 12 November 1939. Events 764 - Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This led to an endless series of postponements, as time and again commanders managed to convince Hitler that the attack should be further delayed for a few days or weeks to remedy some critical defect in the preparations, or to wait for better weather conditions. Secondly, because the plan as it was did not appeal to him, he tried to make it different, without clearly understanding in which way it could be improved. This mainly resulted in a dispersion of effort, since besides the main axis in central Belgium, secondary attacks were foreseen further south. On 29 October Halder let a second operational plan reflect these changes, Aufmarschanweisung N°2, Fall Gelb, which featured a secondary attack on the Liège-Namur axis. Events 437 - Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II Liège (ljɛːʒ Older English: Luick, Walloon: Lidje, German: Lüttich; Latin: Leodium, Dutch Namur ( Namen in Dutch, Nameur in Walloon, Namurcum in Latin) is a City and municipality in
Hitler was not alone in disliking Halder's plan. Gerd von Rundstedt, the commander of Army Group A, also disagreed with it. Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt ( December 12, 1875 - February 24, 1953) was a Generalfeldmarschall of the German Unlike Hitler however, Von Rundstedt, as a professional soldier, understood perfectly how it should be rectified. Its fundamental flaw was that it did not conform to the classic principles of the Bewegungskrieg, the "manoeuvre warfare", that had since the 19th century been the basis of German tactics. Maneuver warfare, also spelled manoeuvre warfare, is the term used by military theorists for a concept of Warfare that advocates attempting to A breakthrough would have to be accomplished that would result in the encirclement and destruction of the main body of Allied forces. The logical place to achieve this would be the Sedan axis, which lay in the sector of Von Rundstedt's Army Group A. Von Rundstedt on 21 October agreed with his chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Erich von Manstein, that an alternative operational plan had to be arranged that would reflect these basic ideas, making his Army Group A as strong as possible at the expense of Army Group B to the north. Events 1512 - Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg. Erich von Manstein ( November 24, 1887 &ndash June 9 1973) served the German military as a lifelong professional soldier
Manstein Plan
Whilst Von Manstein was formulating the new plans in Koblenz, it so happened that Lieutenant-General Heinz Guderian, commander of the XIXth Army Corps, Germany's elite armoured formation, was lodged in a nearby hotel. Koblenz (also Coblenz in pre-1926 German Spellings French Coblence) is a city situated on both banks of the Rhine Heinz Wilhelm Guderian ( 17 June, 1888 – 14 May, 1954) was a military theorist and innovative General of the German [9] Von Manstein now considered that, should he involve Guderian in his planning, the tank general may come up with some role for his Army Corps to play in it, and this might then be used as a decisive argument to relocate XIXth Army Corps from Army Group B to Army Group A, much to the delight of Von Rundstedt. At this moment Von Manstein's plan consisted in a move from Sedan to the north, right in the rear of the main Allied forces, to engage them directly from the south in full battle. The Manstein Plan was the primary War Plan of the German Army during the Battle of France in 1940. When Guderian was invited to contribute to the plan during informal discussions, he proposed a radical and novel idea: not only his army corps, but the entire Panzerwaffe should be concentrated at Sedan. And this concentration of armour should not move to the north but to the west, to execute a swift, deep, independent strategic penetration towards the English Channel without waiting for the main body of infantry divisions. This could lead to a strategic collapse of the enemy, avoiding the relatively high number of casualties normally caused by a classic Kesselschlacht or "annihilation battle". Vernichtungsgedanke, literally meaning "concept of annihilation" in German and generally taken to mean "the concept of fast annihilation of enemy forces" Such a risky independent strategic use of armour had been widely discussed in Germany before the war but had not at all been accepted as received doctrine; the large number of officers serving in the Infantry, which was the dominant Arm of Service, had successfully prevented this. Von Manstein had to admit that in this special case, however, it might be just the thing needed. His main objection was that it would create an open flank of over 300 kilometres, vulnerable to French counterattack. Guderian convinced him that this could be prevented by launching simultaneous spoiling attacks to the south by small armoured units. However, this would be a departure from the basic concept of the Führer-Directive N°6.
Von Manstein wrote his first memorandum outlining the alternative plan on 31 October. Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse In it he carefully avoided mentioning Guderian's name and downplayed the strategic part of the armoured units, in order not to generate unnecessary resistance. [10] On 6 November, 21 November, 30 November, 6 December, 18 December 1939 and 12 January 1940, a further six memoranda followed, slowly growing more radical in outline. Events 355 - Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with Events 164 BC - Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family restores the Temple in Jerusalem. Events 1700 - Battle of Narva — A Swedish army of 8500 men under Charles XII defeats Events 1060 - Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary 1240 - Mongol invasion of Rus: Kiev Events 218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal 's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 475 - Basiliscus becomes Byzantine Emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon palace in Constantinople Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. All were rejected by the OKH; nothing of their content reached Hitler.
Plan revisions
On 10 January 1940 a German Messerschmitt Bf 108 made a forced landing at Maasmechelen, north of Maastricht, in Belgium (the so-called "Mechelen Incident"). Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun was a German single-engined sports and touring aircraft developed by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (Bavarian Aircraft Works Maasmechelen is a municipality located on the Meuse river in the Belgian province of Limburg. Maastricht ( Dutch; Limburgish and city dialect Mestreech; French: Maestricht or Maëstricht; Spanish: The Mechelen Incident of 10 January, 1940 also known as the Mechelen affair, was an incident during the Phoney War. Among the occupants was a Luftwaffe Major, Hellmuth Reinberger, who was carrying a copy of the latest version of Aufmarschanweisung N°2. Although the aircraft landed safely, Reinberger was unable to destroy the documents, which quickly fell into the hands of the Belgian intelligence services. [11] It has often been suggested this incident was the cause of a drastic change in German plans, but this is incorrect; in fact a reformulation of them on 30 January, Aufmarschanweisung N°3, Fall Gelb, basically conformed to the earlier versions. Events 1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster is signed ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain [12] On 27 January, Von Manstein was appointed commander of an army corps in Prussia, to begin his command in Stettin on 9 February. Events 98 - Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva. Events 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. This move was instigated by Halder to remove Von Manstein from influence. Manstein's indignant staff then brought his case to the attention of Hitler, who was informed of it on 2 February. Events 962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor Von Manstein was invited to explain his proposal to the Führer personally in Berlin on 17 February; much impressed by it, Hitler the next day ordered the plans to be changed in accordance with Von Manstein's ideas. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Events 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt. 1600 - Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive at Campo de' Fiori They appealed to Hitler mainly because they at last offered some real hope of a cheap victory.
The man who had to carry out the change was again Franz Halder — Von Manstein was not further involved. Halder consented to shifting the main effort, the Schwerpunkt, to the south. Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial Von Manstein's plan had the virtue of being unlikely (from a defensive point of view) since the Ardennes were heavily wooded and because of their poor road network, they were implausible as a route for an invasion. For the political subdivision of France see Ardennes (department. An element of surprise would therefore be present. It would be essential that the Allies respond as envisaged in the original plans, namely that the main body of French and British elite troops be drawn north to defend Belgium. To help to ensure this condition, German Army Group B had to execute a holding attack in Belgium and the Netherlands, giving the impression of being the main German effort, in order to draw Allied forces eastward into the developing encirclement and hold them there. Army Group B was the name of three different German Army Groups that saw action during World War II. To accomplish this, three of the ten available armoured divisions were still allocated to Army Group B.
However, Halder had no intention of deviating from established doctrine by allowing an independent strategic penetration by the seven armoured divisions of Army Group A. [13] Much to the outrage of Guderian this element was at first completely removed from the new plan, Aufmarschanweisung N°4, Fall Gelb, issued on 24 February. Events 303 - Galerius, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the The crossings of the River Meuse at Sedan should be forced by infantry divisions on the eighth day of the invasion. Meuse (møːz is a department in northeast France, named after the Meuse River. Only after much debate was this changed in this respect that the motorised infantry regiments of the armoured divisions would establish bridgeheads on the fourth day, to gain four days. Even now the breakout and drive to the English Channel would start only on the ninth day, after a delay of five days during which a sufficient number of infantry divisions had to be built up in order to advance together with the armoured units in a coherent mass.
Even when adapted to more conventional methods, the new strategy provoked a storm of protest from the majority of German generals. They thought it utterly irresponsible to create a concentration of forces in a position where they could not possibly be sufficiently supplied, while such inadequate supply routes as there were, could easily be cut off by the French. If the Allies did not react as expected the German offensive could end in catastrophe. [14] Their objections were ignored however; Halder argued that, as Germany's strategic position seemed hopeless anyway, even the slightest chance of a decisive victory outweighed the certainty of ultimate defeat implied by inaction. [15] The adaptation also implied that it would be easier for the Allied forces to escape to the south. Halder pointed out that if so, Germany's victory would be even cheaper, while it would be an enormous blow to the reputation of the Entente — as the Anglo-French alliance was still commonly known in 1940 — to have abandoned the Low Countries. Moreover Germany's fighting power would then still be intact, so that it might be considered to immediately afterwards execute Fall Rot, the attack on France. However, a decision to this effect would have to be postponed until after a possible successful completion of Fall Gelb. Indeed German detailed operational planning only covered the first nine days; there was no fixed timetable established for the advance to the Channel. In accordance with the tradition of the Auftragstaktik, much would be left to the judgment and initiative of the field commanders. Mission-type tactics ( German: Auftragstaktik, from Auftrag and Taktik" also known as Mission Command in the US have (arguably been a central This indetermination would have an enormous effect on the actual course of events.
In April 1940, for strategic reasons, the Germans launched Operation Weserübung, an attack on the neutral countries of Denmark and Norway. Operation Weserübung was the codename for Nazi Germany 's assault on Denmark and Norway during World War II and the opening operation The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional The British, French, and Free Poles responded with an Allied campaign in Norway in support of the Norwegians. This article describes Allied operations in Norway during World War II
Allied strategy
In September 1939, Belgium and the Netherlands were still neutral. They tried to stay out of the war for as long as possible by adhering to a policy of strict neutrality. Though they made arrangements in secret with the Entente for future cooperation should the Germans invade their territory, they did not openly prepare for this. The Supreme Commander of the French Army, Maurice Gamelin, suggested during that month, that the Allies should take advantage of the fact that Germany was tied up in Poland by occupying the Low Countries before Germany could. Maurice Gustave Gamelin ( September 20, 1872 - April 18, 1958) was a French general This suggestion was not taken up by the French government however.
In September 1939, in the token Saar Offensive—only made to nominally fulfill the prewar guarantee to Poland to execute a relief attack from the West—French soldiers advanced 5 kilometres into the Saar before withdrawing in October. The Saar Offensive was a French operation into the Saarland on the German 1 Saarland (ˈzaːɐ̯lant in German; French: Sarre) is one of the 16 federal states (German Bundesländer) of Germany. At this time, France had deployed 98 divisions (all but 28 reserve or fortress divisions) and 2,500 tanks against German forces consisting of 43 divisions (32 of them reserve divisions) and no tanks. A division is a large Military unit or formation usually consisting of around ten to thirty thousand soldiers According to the judgment of Wilhelm Keitel, then Chief OKW, the French army would easily have been able to penetrate the mere screen of German forces present. Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (22 September 1882–16 October 1946 was a German Field marshal ( Generalfeldmarschall) [16]
After October, it was decided not to take the initiative in 1940, though important parts of the French army in the 1930s had been designed to wage offensive warfare. The Allies believed that even without an Eastern Front the German government might be destabilised by a blockade, as it had been in the First World War. The Eastern Front of World War II (die Ostfront 1941-1945, der Rußlandfeldzug 1941-1945 (Russian campaign or der Ostfeldzug 1941-1945 (Eastern Campaign A blockade is any effort to prevent supplies Troops information or aid from reaching an opposing force In the event the Nazi regime would not collapse, a possibility that seemed to grow ever more likely,[17] during 1940 a vast modernisation and enlargement programme for the Allied forces would be implemented, exploiting the existing advantages over Germany in war production to build up an overwhelming mechanised force, including about two dozen armoured divisions, to execute a decisive offensive in the summer of 1941. Should the Low Countries by that date still not have committed themselves to the Allied cause, the Entente firmly intended to violate their neutrality if necessary. [18]
Obviously the Germans might strike first, and a strategy would have to be prepared for this eventuality. Neither the French nor the British had anticipated such a rapid defeat in Poland, and the quick German victory was disturbing. Most French generals favoured a very cautious approach. They thought it wise not to presume that the German intentions could be correctly predicted. A large force should be held in reserve in a central position, north of Paris, to be prepared for any contingency. Should the Germans indeed take the obvious route of advance through Flanders, they should only be engaged in northern France, when their infantry would be exhausted and they had run out of supplies. If however they would try an attack on the centre of the Allied front, this Allied reserve would be ideally positioned to block it. If the Germans advanced through Switzerland, a large reserve would be the only means to deal with such a surprise. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation
Dyle Plan
Gamelin rejected this line of thought, for several reasons. The first was that it was politically unthinkable to abandon the Low Countries to their fate, however prudent it might be from an operational point of view. Certainly the British government insisted that the Flemish coast remain under Allied control. The second reason was that the 1941 offensive had no chance of being decisive if it had to be launched from the north of France against German forces entrenched in central Belgium. The German offensive had to be contained as far east as possible. The last and for him personally most cogent argument was that Gamelin did not consider the French army capable of winning a mobile battle with the German army. The French infantry divisions as yet were insufficiently motorised. The events in Poland helped confirm his opinion. Such a confrontation had to be avoided at all cost, and Gamelin intended to send the best units of the French army along with the British Expeditionary Force north to halt the Germans at the KW-line, a defensive line that followed the river Dyle, east of Brussels, in a coherent tightly packed continuous front uniting the British, Belgian, and French armies. The KW-line was the main Belgian line of defence against a possible German armoured invasion through the centre of Belgium, during the initial phase of the Second Dyle Poland Dyle ( French) or Dijle ( Dutch) is a River in central Belgium, left tributary of the Rupel. Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is This plan thus presumed that the Germans planned to concentrate their forces where they could be well supplied by the better road network of northern Belgium.
Gamelin however did not have the personal influence to simply impose his will. The first step he took was to propose the "Escaut" variant as an option for Plan D — the codename for an advance into the Low Countries. The Scheldt (Dutch Schelde, French Escaut, Latin Scaldis) is a 350 km[http //www It was named after the river in Flanders. Protecting the Flemish coast seemed the least one could do; on the other hand it created an enormous salient, showing that it made more sense to defend along the shorter Dyle line, which was precisely the content of Gamelin's next proposal in November, after he had become confident the Belgians would be able to delay the Germans sufficiently. Salient Salients can be formed in a number of ways An attacker can produce a salient in the defender's line by either intentionally making a Pincer movement around the This however was too transparent. His second "Dyle Plan" met with strong opposition, not growing any less when the 10 January 1940 crash confirmed that the German plans conformed to Gamelin's expectations. The Dyle Plan or D Plan was the primary War Plan of the French Army to stave off the expected German attack during Fall Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Also Lord Gort, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, was beginning to expect that whatever the Germans came up with instead would not be what he had initially predicted. Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker 6th Viscount Gort VC, GCB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, MVO, The main objection was that the manoeuvre was very risky. The Allied forces had to complete their advance and entrenchment before the Germans reached the line, for which there seemed to be barely enough time. When entrenched they would have trouble reacting to German strategic surprises, also because their fuel supplies would have to be replenished. The next problem was that this line was very vulnerable to the German main strength, their large tactical bomber force. Nothing seemed to prevent them from breaking the line by a massive bombardment, forcing the French Army to an encounter battle after all.
Gamelin successfully countered these arguments by adopting the seemingly reasonable assumption that the Germans would try to attempt a breakthrough by concentrating their mechanised forces. They could hardly hope to break the Maginot Line on his right flank or to overcome the Allied concentration of forces on the left flank. The Maginot Line (IPA, Ligne Maginot named after French Minister of Defense André Maginot, was a line of concrete Fortifications tank obstacles artillery That only left the centre. But most of the centre was covered by the river Meuse. The Meuse (in Dutch and in German: "Maas" in Latin: "Mosa" in Celtic:"Mus" (the rootword presumingly Tanks were useless in defeating fortified river positions. However, at Namur the river made a sharp turn to the east, creating a gap between itself and the river Dyle. Namur ( Namen in Dutch, Nameur in Walloon, Namurcum in Latin) is a City and municipality in This Gembloux Gap, ideal for mechanised warfare, was a very dangerous weak spot. Gamelin decided to concentrate half of his armoured reserves there. By thus assuming that the decisive moment in the campaign would take the form of a gigantic tank battle, he avoided the problem of the German tactical bomber force since air attacks were considered less effective against mobile armoured units, the tanks of which would be hard to hit. Of course the Germans might try to overcome the Meuse position by using infantry. The Infantry is the oldest and most numerous of the Combat Arms in the Armed forces, and consists But that could only be achieved by massive artillery support, the gradual build-up of which would give Gamelin ample warning to allow him to reinforce the Meuse line. Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine
During the first months of 1940 the size and readiness of the French army steadily grew, and Gamelin began to feel confident enough to propose a somewhat more ambitious strategy. He had no intention of frontally attacking the German fortification zone, the Westwall, in 1941, planning instead to outflank it from the north, just as four years later Bernard Montgomery intended in Operation Market Garden. The original Siegfried line ( Siegfriedstellung) was a line of defensive forts and tank defenses built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916-1917 Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, (məntˈgʌmərɪ əv ˈæləmeɪn Operation Market Garden ( September 17, 1944 – September 25, 1944) was an Allied military operation fought in the Netherlands To achieve this, it would be most convenient if he already had a foothold on the north bank of the Rhine, so he changed his plans to the effect that a French army should maintain a connection north of Antwerp with the Dutch National Redoubt, "Fortress Holland". ||-||-||-||} Antwerp ( Dutch:, French: Anvers) is a City and Municipality in Belgium and the capital of the A national redoubt is a general term for an area to which the (remnant forces of a nation can be withdrawn if the main battle has been lost—or even beforehand if defeat is considered He assigned his sole strategic reserve, the elite 7th Army, to this task. His only reserves now consisted of individual divisions. Again there was much opposition to this "Dyle-Breda-Plan" within the French army, but Gamelin was strongly supported by the British government, because Holland proper was an ideal base for a German air campaign against England. Breda ( is a Municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. Holland is a region in the western part of the Netherlands. A maritime and economic power in the 17th century Holland today consists of the Dutch provinces of
Forces and dispositions
- Further information: Order of Battle for the Battle of France
Germany
Germany deployed about three million men for the battle. Because between 1919 and 1935 no conscription had been allowed by the Treaty of Versailles, in May 1940 only 79 divisions out of a total of 157 raised had completed their training; another fourteen were nevertheless directly committed to battle, mainly in Army Group C and against the Netherlands. Conscription (also known as the draft, the call-up or national service) is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by some established authority The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. Beside this total of 93 front-line divisions (ten armoured, six motorised) there were also 39 OKH reserve divisions in the West, about a third of which would not be committed to battle. About a quarter of the combat troops consisted of veterans from the First World War, older than forty.
The German forces in the West would in May and June deploy some 2,700 tanks and self-propelled guns, including matériel reserves committed; about 7,500 artillery pieces were available with an ammunition stock for six weeks of fighting. A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical A self-propelled gun (SPG is a gun whether it be an Artillery piece anti-tank gun or anti-aircraft gun mounted on a motorized wheeled or The Luftwaffe divided its forces into two groups. 1,815 combat, 487 Transport and 50 Glider aircraft were deployed to support Army Group B, while a further 3,286 combat aircraft were deployed to support Army Group A and C. [19]
The German Army was divided into three army groups:
- Army Group A commanded by Gerd von Rundstedt, composed of 45½ divisions including seven armoured, was to execute the decisive movement, cutting a "Sichelschnitt" — not the official name of the operation but the translation in German of a phrase after the events coined by Winston Churchill[20] as "Sickle Cut" (and even earlier "armoured scythe stroke"[21]) — through the Allied defenses in the Ardennes. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 For the political subdivision of France see Ardennes (department. It consisted of three armies: the Fourth, Twelfth and Sixteenth. It had three Panzer corps; one, XV Army Corps, had been allocated to the Fourth Army, but the other two — XXXXI Army Corps including the 2nd Motorised Infantry Division and XIX Army Corps — were united, together with XIV Army Corps of two motorised infantry divisions, on a special independent operational level in Panzergruppe Kleist. A panzer, pronunced, is a German Tank, especially in the context of World War II. This was done to better coordinate the approach march to the Meuse river; once bridgeheads had been established they had again to be divided among Twelfth and Sixteenth Army and Panzergruppe Kleist abolished.
- Army Group B under Fedor von Bock, composed of 29½ divisions including three armoured, was tasked with advancing through the Low Countries and luring the northern units of the Allied armies into a pocket. Fedor von Bock ( December 3, 1880 &ndash May 4, 1945) was an officer in the German Military from 1898 to It consisted of the Eighteenth and Sixth Army.
- Army Group C, composed of 18 divisions under Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, was charged with preventing a flanking movement from the east, and with launching small holding attacks against the Maginot Line and the upper Rhine. Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb ( September 5, 1876 - April 29, 1956) was a German Field Marshal during World War II The Maginot Line (IPA, Ligne Maginot named after French Minister of Defense André Maginot, was a line of concrete Fortifications tank obstacles artillery The Rhine (Rhein Rijn Rhin Reno Rain Rhenus is one of the longest and most important Rivers in Europe at 1320 kilometres (820 mi with an average discharge It consisted of the First and Seventh Army.
Allies
Because of a low birthrate that had even further declined during the First World War, France had a severe manpower shortage relative to the total population — which furthermore was only half of that of Germany. Crude birth rate is the natality or Childbirths per 1000 people per year To compensate France had mobilised about a third of the male population between the ages of 20 and 45, bringing the strength of its armed forces to over six million men, more than the entire German Wehrmacht of 5. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 4 million. Only 2. 2 million of these served in army units in the north though, but the total was brought to over 3. 3 million by the British, Belgian and Dutch forces in that area. On 10 May there were 93 French, 22 Belgian, 10 British and 9 Dutch divisions in the North, for a total of 134. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. Six of these were armoured divisions, 24 motorised divisions. Twenty-two more were being trained or assembled on an emergency basis during the campaign (not counting the reconstituted units), among which two Polish (see Polish Army in France (1940)) and one Czech division. The Polish Army in France formed in France under the command of General Władysław Sikorski (and hence sometimes known as Sikorski's Army) in late 1939 Beside full divisions the Allies had many independent smaller infantry units: the Dutch had the equivalent of about eight divisions in independent brigades and battalions; the French had 29 independent Fortress Infantry Regiments. Of the French divisions eighteen were manned by colonial volunteer troops; nineteen consisted of "B-divisions", once fully trained units that however had a large number of men over thirty and needed retraining after mobilisation. The best trained Allied forces were the British divisions, fully motorised and having a large percentage of professional soldiers; the worst the very poorly equipped Dutch troops.
The Allied forces deployed an organic strength of about 3,100 modern tanks and self-propelled guns on 10 May; another 1,200 were committed to battle in new units or from the matériel reserves; also 1,500 obsolete FT-17 tanks were sent to the front for a total of about 5,800. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. The Renault FT 17 or Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917 was a French light Tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential They had about 14,000 pieces of artillery. Enjoying thus a clear numerical superiority on the ground,[22] the Allies suffered from an inferiority in the air: the French Armee de l'Air had 1,562 aircraft, and RAF Fighter Command committed 680 machines, while Bomber Command could contribute some 392 aircraft to operations. The French Air Force ( French: Armée de l'Air (ALA literally Air Army) is the Air force of the French Armed Forces. Fighter Command was one of three functional commands that dominated the public perception of the Royal Air Force for much of the mid-20th century Bomber Command is an organizational Military unit generally subordinate to the Air force of a Country. [23] Most of the Allied aircraft were of an obsolete type, among the fighter force only the British Hawker Hurricane and the French Dewoitine D.520 could contend with the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 on something approaching equal terms. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout [24] At the beginning of Fall Rot, French aviation industry had reached a considerable output, and estimated the matériel reserve at nearly 2,000. However, a chronic lack of spare parts crippled this stocked fleet. Only 29% (599) of the aircraft were serviceable, of which 170 were bombers. [25]
The French forces in the north had three Army Groups: the Second and the Third defended the Maginot Line in the east; the First Army Group under Gaston-Henri Billotte was situated in the west and had to execute a swing movement into the Low Countries. At the coast was the 7th Army, reinforced by a Cavalry armoured division, that had to move to the Netherlands via Antwerp; then came nine divisions of the BEF, which had to position itself to the right of the Belgian army in the Dyle Line; next was the First Army that had to hold the Gembloux Gap, reinforced by two Cavalry armoured divisions and having an Infantry armoured division in reserve. The most southern to move was the Ninth Army, which had to cover the entire Meuse sector, between Namur and Sedan. At Sedan, the Second Army would form the "hinge" and remain entrenched.
The First Army Group had 35 French divisions; the total of 40 divisions of the other Allies in its sector brought their forces equal in number to the combined German forces of Army Group A and B. However, the former only had to confront the 18 divisions of the Ninth and Second Armies, and thus would have a large local superiority. To reinforce a threatened sector Gamelin had sixteen strategic reserve divisions available on General Headquarters level, two of them armoured. These were "reserve" divisions in the operational sense only, in fact consisting of high quality troops — most of them had been active divisions in peace time — and thus not comparable to the German reserve divisions that were half-trained. Confusingly, all mobilised French divisions were officially classified as A or B "reserve divisions", although most of them served directly in the front armies.
May: Fall Gelb, Low Countries and northern France
The North
Germany initiated Fall Gelb on the evening prior to and the night of 10 May. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. During the late evening of 9 May, German forces occupied Luxembourg. Events 1457 BC - Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC between Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition under the King of Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by [26] In the night Army Group B launched its feint offensive into the Netherlands and Belgium. Army Group B was the name of three different German Army Groups that saw action during World War II. Feint is a French term that entered English from the discipline of Fencing. Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) from the 7th Flieger and 22. Luftlande Infanterie-Division under Kurt Student executed that morning surprise landings at The Hague, on the road to Rotterdam and against the Belgian Fort Eben-Emael in order to facilitate Army Group B's advance. The German 1st Parachute Division was a German military parachute-landing Division that fought during World War II. The 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division was a German infantry division in World War II. Kurt Student ( May 12, 1890 &ndash July 1, 1978) was a German Luftwaffe General who fought as Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of Eben-Emael was a Belgian fortress between Liège and Maastricht, near the Albert Canal, defending the Belgian-German border
The French command reacted immediately, sending 1st Army Group north in accordance with Plan D. This move committed their best forces, diminished their fighting power through loss of readiness and their mobility through loss of fuel. That evening 7th Army crossed the Dutch border, finding the Dutch already in full retreat. The French and British air command was less effective than their generals had anticipated, and the Luftwaffe quickly obtained air superiority, depriving the Allies of key reconnaissance abilities and disrupting Allied communication and coordination. ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. Air superiority is the dominance in the Air power of one side's air forces over the other side's during a Military campaign.
Netherlands
The Luftwaffe was guaranteed air superiority over the Netherlands. The Battle of the Netherlands (Slag om Nederland was part of Case Yellow (Fall Gelb the German invasion of the Low Countries ( Belgium The Dutch Air Force, the Militaire Luchtvaartafdeling (ML), had a strength of 144 combat aircraft, half of which were destroyed within the first day of operations. [27] The remainder was dispersed and accounted for only a handful of Luftwaffe aircraft shot down. In total the ML flew a mere 332 sorties losing 110 of its aircraft. [28]
The German 18th Army secured all the strategically vital bridges in and toward Rotterdam, which penetrated Fortress Holland and bypassed the New Water Line from the south. Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of History The Dutch Water Line was a series of water based defences conceived by Maurice of Nassau and realised by his half brother Frederick Henry. However, an operation organised separately by the Luftwaffe to seize the Dutch seat of government, known as the Battle for The Hague, ended in complete failure. The capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam, even though the States-General and the government have been both situated in The Hague since 1588 The Battle for the Hague was a battle that took place on May 10, 1940 as part of the Battle of the Netherlands between the Royal Netherlands Army The airfields surrounding the city (Ypenburg, Ockenburg, and Valkenburg) were taken with heavy casualties and transport aircraft losses, only to be lost that same day to counterattacks by the two Dutch reserve infantry divisions. During May 10 to May 15 1940, Ockenburg, a small Dutch emergency Airfield near The Hague, was the scene of bitter The Dutch captured or killed 1,745 Fallschirmjäger, shipping 1,200 prisoners to England. The Luftwaffe's Transportgruppen also suffered heavily. Transporting the German paratroops had cost it 125 Ju 52 destroyed and 47 damaged, representing 50 percent of the fleet's strength[29] Most of these transports were destroyed on the ground, and some whilst trying to land under fire, as German forces had not properly secured the airfields and landing zones.
The French 7th Army failed to block German armoured reinforcements of the 9th Panzer Division; they reached Rotterdam on 13 May. The German 9th Panzer Division ( Neunte Panzerdivision) came into existence after 4th Light Division was reorganized in January 1940. Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. That same day in the east the Dutch retreated from the Grebbe Line to the New Water Line, when a counter-offensive to contain a German breach had failed.
The Dutch Army, still largely intact, surrendered in the evening of 14 May after the Bombing of Rotterdam by Heinkel He 111s of Kampfgeschwader 54. Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the The Rotterdam Blitz refers to the aerial bombardment of Rotterdam by the German Airforce on 14 May 1940, during the German invasion WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout It considered its strategic situation to have become hopeless and feared a further destruction of the major Dutch cities. The capitulation document was signed on 15 May. Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the However, the Dutch troops in Zealand and the colonies continued the fight while Queen Wilhelmina established a government-in-exile in Britain. Zeeland ( also called Zealand in English and Zeelandic, is a province of the Netherlands. The Dutch Empire was the territories controlled by The Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century Wilhelmina (Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Marie 31 August 1880 &ndash 28 November 1962) was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a country's legitimate government but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power and instead resides in a foreign
Central Belgium
The Germans were to establish air superiority in Belgium with ease. Having completed thorough photographic reconnaissance missions it destroyed 83 of the 179 aircraft of the Aeronautique Militaire within the first 24 hours. The Belgians would fly on 77 operational missions but would contribute little to the air campaign. The Luftwaffe was assured air superiority over the Low Countries. [30]
Because Army Group B had been so weakened compared to the earlier plans, the German feint offensive by 6th Army was in danger of stalling immediately, since the Belgian defences on the Albert Canal position were very strong. The Albert Canal (Albertkanaal Canal Albert is a Canal located in northeastern Belgium, named after King Albert I of Belgium. The main approach route was blocked by Fort Eben-Emael, a large fortress then generally considered the most modern in the world, controlling the junction of the Meuse and the Albert Canal. Eben-Emael was a Belgian fortress between Liège and Maastricht, near the Albert Canal, defending the Belgian-German border Any delay might endanger the outcome of the entire campaign, because it was essential that the main body of Allied troops was engaged before Army Group A would establish bridgeheads.
To overcome this difficulty, the Germans resorted to unconventional means. In the early hours of 10 May gliders landed on the roof of Fort Eben-Emael unloading assault teams that disabled the main gun cupolas with hollow charges. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout A shaped charge is an Explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosive's energy The bridges over the canal were seized by German paratroopers. Shocked by a breach in its defences just where they had seemed the strongest, the Belgian Supreme Command withdrew its divisions to the KW-line five days earlier than planned. The KW-line was the main Belgian line of defence against a possible German armoured invasion through the centre of Belgium, during the initial phase of the Second At that moment however the BEF and the French 1st Army were not yet entrenched. When Erich Hoepner's XVI Panzer Corps, consisting of 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions was over the bridges launched in the direction of the Gembloux Gap, this seemed to confirm the expectations of the French Supreme Command that here would be the German Schwerpunkt. Erich Hoepner ( September 14, 1886 &ndash August 8, 1944) was a German General in World War II. The German 3rd Panzer Division ( 3 Panzer-Division) was established in 1935. The German 4th Panzer Division ( 4 Panzer-Division) was established in 1938 A panzer division is an Armored division in the German Army (Panzerdivision The two French Cavalry armoured divisions, the 2nd DLM and 3rd DLMs (Division Légère Mécanique, "Mechanised Light Division") were ordered forward to meet the German armour and cover the entrenchment of 1st Army. The resulting Battle of Hannut on 12 May-13 May was, with about 1,500 AFVs participating, the largest tank battle until that date. The Battle of Hannut was a World War Two battle fought during the French Campaign and took place on 12 May 1940 &ndash 14 May Events 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. The French claim about 160 disabled German tanks[31] for 91 French Hotchkiss H35 and 30 Somua S35 tanks destroyed or captured. The Hotchkiss H35 or Char léger modèle 1935 H was a French light Tank developed prior to World War II. The SOMUA S35 was a French cavalry Tank of the Second World War. [32] However, as the Germans controlled the battlefield area afterwards, they recovered and eventually repaired or rebuilt many of the Panzer:[33] German irreparable losses amounted to 49 tanks (20 3PD and 29 4PD). [34] The German armour sustained substantial breakdown rates making it impossible to ascertain the exact number of tanks disabled by French action. On the second day the Germans managed to breach the screen of French tanks, which on 14 May were successfully withdrawn after having gained enough time for the 1st Army to dig in. Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the Hoepner against orders tried on 15 May to break the French line, the only time in the campaign when German armour frontally attacked a strongly held fortified position; the attempt was repelled by the 1st Moroccan Infantry Division, costing 4PD another 42 tanks (26 irreparable)[35][36]. Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the This defensive success for the French was however already made irrelevant by the events further south.
The Centre
In the centre, the progress of German Army Group A was to be delayed by Belgian motorised infantry and French Light Divisions of the Cavalry (Divisions Légères de Cavalerie) advancing into the Ardennes. Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. These forces however had an insufficient anti-tank capacity to block the surprisingly large number of German tanks they encountered and quickly gave way, withdrawing behind the Meuse. The German advance was however greatly hampered by the sheer number of troops trying to force their way through the poor road network. The time-tables proved to have been wildly optimistic and soon a traffic congestion formed, in the beginning to the east reaching well over the Rhine, that would last for almost two weeks. This made Army Group A very vulnerable to French air attacks, but these didn't materialise. Although Gamelin was well aware of the situation, the French tactical bomber force was far too weak to challenge German air superiority so close to the German border. However, on the 11th Gamelin ordered many reserve divisions to begin reinforcing the Meuse sector. Because of the danger the Luftwaffe posed, movement over the rail network was limited to the night, slowing the reinforcement, but the French felt no sense of urgency as the build-up of German divisions would be accordingly slow.
The German advance forces reached the Meuse line late in the afternoon of 12 May. Events 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. To allow each of the three armies of Army Group A to cross, three major bridgeheads were to be established: at Sedan in the south, at Monthermé twenty kilometres to the northwest and at Dinant, another fifty kilometres to the north. Monthermé is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. ||-||-||} Dinant is a Walloon City and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur The first units to arrive had hardly even a local numerical superiority; their already insufficient artillery support was further limited by an average supply of just twelve rounds apiece. [37]
Sedan
At Sedan the Meuse Line consisted of a strong defensive belt, constructed six kilometres deep according to the modern principles of zone defence on slopes overlooking the Meuse valley and strengthened by 103 pillboxes, manned by 147th Fortress Infantry Regiment. The deeper positions were held by the 55th Infantry Division (55e DI). In military terms 55th Division or 55th Infantry Division may refer to; Infantry divisions: 55th Infantry Division (France This was only a grade “B” reserve division, but already reinforcements were arriving; in the morning of 13 May, 71st DI was inserted to the east of Sedan, allowing 55th DI to narrow its front by a third and deepen its position to over ten kilometres. Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. The 71st Infantry Division (71e Division d'Infanterie 71e DI was a French Army formation during both World War I and World War II. Furthermore it had a superiority in artillery to the German units present on 13 May. Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. [38] The French command fully expected that the Germans would only attack such formidable defences when a large infantry and artillery force had been built up, a concentration that apparently could not be completed before 20 May, given the traffic congestion — a date very similar to Halder's original projection. Events 325 - The First Council of Nicaea &ndash the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held It thus came as a complete surprise when crossing attempts were made as early as the fourth day of the invasion.
On 13 May, the German XIX Army Corps forced three crossings near Sedan, executed by the motorised infantry regiments of 1st, 2nd and 10th Panzerdivision, reinforced by the elite Großdeutschland infantry regiment. Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. Wachregiment Berlin Kommando der Wachtruppe Wachtruppe Berlin Wach-Regiment Berlin Infanterie Regiment Großdeutschland Instead of slowly massing artillery as the French expected, the Germans concentrated most of their tactical bomber force to punch a hole in a narrow sector of the French lines by carpet bombing (punctuated by dive bombing). Carpet bombing refers to the tactical bombing of a strategic area usually by the use of large numbers of unguided Gravity bombs often with a high proportion of incendiary A dive bomber is a Bomber aircraft that Dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy and limit the exposure to and effectiveness of Hermann Göring had promised Guderian that there would be an extraordinary heavy air support of a continual eight hour air attack, from 8am until dusk. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Dusk refers to the period of time following Sunset. Although commonly confused with twilight dusk is the time frame that occurs either before or after a twilight - when the [39] Luftflotte 3, supported by Luftflotte 2, executed the heaviest air bombardment the world had yet witnessed and the most intense by the Luftwaffe during the war. A list of Luftwaffe "Luftflotten" (Air Fleets and their locations between 1939 and 1945 Luftflotte 2 (Air Fleet 2 was one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II. . [40] The Luftwaffe committed two Stukageschwader to the assault flying 300 sorties against French positions, with Stukageschwader 77 alone flying 201 individual missions. [41] By the nine Kampfgeschwader (medium bomber units - See Luftwaffe Organization) committed, a total of 3,940 sorties were flown, often in Gruppe strength. [42]
The forward platoons and pillboxes of the 147 RIF were little affected by the bombardment and held their positions throughout most of the day, initially repulsing the crossing attempts of 2nd and 10th Panzerdivision on their left and right; however in the centre of the river bend there was a gap in the line of bunkers. A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or Squads and containing about 30 to 50 soldiers In the late afternoon Großdeutschland penetrated this position, trying to quickly exploit this opportunity. The deep French zone defence had been devised to defeat just this kind of infiltration tactics; it now transpired however that the morale of the deeper company positions of the 55th DI had been broken by the impact of the German air attacks: they had been routed or were too dazed to any longer offer effective resistance. In Warfare infiltration tactics involve small lightly-equipped Infantry forces attacking enemy rear areas while bypassing enemy front-line strongpoints and isolating The French supporting artillery batteries had fled, and this created an impression among the remaining main defence line troops of the 55e DI that they were isolated and abandoned. They too went into rout by the late evening. At a cost of a few hundred casualties[43] the German infantry had penetrated up to eight kilometres into the French defence zone by midnight; even then most of the infantry had not crossed yet, much of the success being from the actions of just six platoons, mainly assault engineers. [44]
The disorder that had begun at Sedan was spread down the French lines by groups of haggard and retreating soldiers. During the night, the 295th, regiment of 55th DI, holding the last prepared defence line at the Bulson ridge, 10 kilometres from the Meuse, was panicked by the false rumour that German tanks were already behind its positions. Bulson is a commune in the Ardennes département in northern France. It fled, creating a gap in the French defences, before even a single German tank had crossed the river. This "Panic of Bulson" involved the divisional artillery, so that the crossing sites were no longer in reach of the French batteries.
In the morning of 14 May, two French FCM 36 tank battalions (4 and 7 BCC) and the reserve regiment of 55th DI, 213rd RI, executed a counterattack on the German bridgehead. Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the The FCM 36 or Char léger Modèle 1936 FCM, was a light infantry tank that was designed for the French Army prior to World War II. It was repulsed at Bulson by the first German armour and anti-tank units which had been rushed across the river from 07:20 on the first pontoon bridge.
General Gaston-Henri Billotte, commander of the 1er Groupe des Armées whose right flank pivoted on Sedan, urged the bridges across the Meuse River to be destroyed by air attack, convinced that "over them will pass either victory or defeat!". The Meuse (in Dutch and in German: "Maas" in Latin: "Mosa" in Celtic:"Mus" (the rootword presumingly [45] That day every available Allied light bomber was employed in an attempt to destroy the three bridges; but, despite heavy losses for the RAF, they failed to hit them. The RAF Advanced Air Striking Force under the command of Air Vice-Marshal P H L Playfair, bore the brunt of the attacks. The RAF Advanced Air Striking Force ( AASF) was formed on 24 August 1939 from No Air Marshal Sir Patrick Henry Lyon Playfair KBE CB CVO MC RAF ( 22 November 1889 &ndash The plan called for the RAF to committ its bomber for the attack while they would receive protection from the French fighter groups. The British bombers received insufficient air cover and as a result some 21 French fighters and 48 British bombers, 44 percent of the A. A. S. F's strength was destroyed by Oberst Gerd Von Massow's Jagdfliegerführer 3 Jagdgruppen. Jagdfliegerführer 3 (Jafü 3 was formed December 21, 1939 in Wiesbaden. [46] The French Armée de l'Air also tried in vain to halt the German armoured columns, but the small French bomber force had been so badly mauled the previous days that only a couple dozen aircraft could be committed over that vital target. The French Air Force ( French: Armée de l'Air (ALA literally Air Army) is the Air force of the French Armed Forces. Two French bombers were shot down. [47] The German anti-aircraft defences, consisting of 198 88 mm, 54 3. The 88 mm gun ( eighty-eight) is a German anti-aircraft and anti-tank Artillery gun from World War II. 7 cm and 81 20 mm cannon accounted for half of the Allied bombers destroyed. [48] In just one day the Allies lost ninety bombers, in the Luftwaffe it became known as the "Day of the Fighters". [49]
The commander of XIX Army Corps, Heinz Guderian, on 12 May had indicated that he wanted to enlarge the bridgehead to at least twenty kilometres. Heinz Wilhelm Guderian ( 17 June, 1888 – 14 May, 1954) was a military theorist and innovative General of the German Events 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. His superior Ewald von Kleist however ordered him to limit it to a maximum of eight kilometres before consolidation. Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist ( August 8 1881 &ndash c November 13 1954) was a leading German Field marshal during On 14 May at 11:45, Von Rundstedt confirmed this order,[50] which basically implied that the tanks should now start to dig in. Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the Nevertheless Guderian immediately disobeyed, expanding the perimeter to the west and to the south.
In the original Von Manstein Plan as Guderian had suggested it, secondary attacks would be carried out to the southeast, in the rear of the Maginot Line, to confuse the French command. This element had been removed by Halder. Guderian now sent 10th Panzer Division and Großdeutschland south to execute precisely such a feint attack,[51] using the only available route south over the Stonne plateau. Stonne is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. However, the commander of the French Second Army, General Charles Huntzinger, intended to carry out at the same spot a counterattack by the armoured 3e Division Cuirassée de Réserve to eliminate the bridgehead. This resulted in an armoured collision, both parties in vain trying to gain ground in furious attacks from 15 May to 18 May, the village of Stonne changing hands many times. Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the Events 1152 - Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Huntzinger considered this at least a defensive success and limited his efforts to protecting his flank. However, in the evening of 16 May, Guderian removed 10 PD from the effort, having found a better destination for this division. Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
Guderian had turned his other two armoured divisions,1st and 2nd Panzerdivision sharply to the west on 14 May. The German 1st Panzer Division ( 1 Panzer-Division) was an armored division in the German Army during World War II. The 2nd Panzer Division ( 2 Panzer-Division) was created in 1935 and stationed in Austria after the Anschluss. Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the In the afternoon of the 14 May there was still a chance for the French to attack the thus exposed southern flank of 1 PD, before 10 PD had entered the bridgehead, but it was thrown away when a planned attack by 3 DCR was delayed because it was not ready in time. Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the [52] On 15 May, in heavy fighting, Guderian's motorised infantry dispersed the reinforcements of the newly formed French 6th Army in their assembly area west of Sedan, undercutting the southern flank of the French Ninth Army by 40 kilometres (25 mi) and forcing the 102nd Fortress Division to leave its positions that had blocked the tanks of XVI Army Corps at Monthermé. Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the While the French Second Army had been seriously mauled and had rendered itself impotent, the Ninth Army began to disintegrate completely, for in Belgium also its divisions, not having had the time to fortify, had been pushed back from the river by the unrelenting pressure of German infantry, allowing the impetuous Erwin Rommel to break free with his 7th Panzer Division. Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ( 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) (also known as the " Desert Fox " Wüstenfuchs The 7th Panzer Division was a German armored formation which participated in the Battle of France. A French armoured division (1st DCR) was sent to block him but, advancing unexpectedly fast, he surprised it while it was refueling on 15 May and dispersed it, despite some losses caused by the heavy French tanks. Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the
Blitzkrieg
The Battle of France is often hailed as the first historical instance of the Blitzkrieg tactic. Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial Blitzkrieg can be defined as defeating the enemy by means of a strategic envelopment executed by mechanized forces, with overwhelming air-support, leading to operational collapse. Von Manstein certainly envisioned a strategic envelopment; however the three dozen infantry divisions that followed the Panzer Corps were not there merely to consolidate their gains. It was to be the other way around. In the eyes of the German High Command the Panzer Corps now had fulfilled a precisely circumscribed task. Their motorized infantry component had secured the river crossings, their tank regiments had conquered a dominant position. Now they had to consolidate, allowing the infantry divisions to position themselves for the real battle: perhaps a classic Kesselschlacht if the enemy should stay in the north, perhaps an encounter fight if he should try to escape to the south. In both cases an enormous mass of German divisions, both armoured and infantry, would cooperate to annihilate the enemy, in accordance with established doctrine. The Panzer Corps were not to bring about the collapse of the enemy by themselves alone.
On 16 May, however, both Guderian and Rommel disobeyed their explicit direct orders in an act of open insubordination against their superiors and moved their divisions many kilometers to the west, as fast as they could push them. Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. Guderian reached Marle, 80 kilometers (50 mi) from Sedan; Rommel crossed the river Sambre at Le Cateau, 100 kilometers (60 mi) from his bridgehead, Dinant. Marle is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France. The Sambre is a River in northern France and southern Belgium, left tributary of the Meuse River. ||-||-||} Dinant is a Walloon City and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur While nobody knew the whereabouts of Rommel (he had advanced so quickly that he was out of range for radio contact, earning his 7th Panzer Division the nickname Gespenster-Division, "Ghost Division"), an enraged von Kleist flew to Guderian on the morning of 17 May and after a heated argument relieved him of all duties. The 7th Panzer Division was a German armored formation which participated in the Battle of France. Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist ( August 8 1881 &ndash c November 13 1954) was a leading German Field marshal during Events 1521 - Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for Treason. However, von Rundstedt refused to confirm the order. Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt ( December 12, 1875 - February 24, 1953) was a Generalfeldmarschall of the German
It has proved difficult to explain the actions of both generals. Rommel was forced to commit suicide by Hitler before the end of the war and thus never could clarify his behavior in full freedom. After the war, Guderian claimed to have acted on his own initiative, essentially inventing Blitzkrieg on the spot. Some historians have since considered this an empty boast, denying any fundamental divide within contemporaneous German operational doctrine, downplaying the conflict as a mere difference of opinion about timing and pointing out that Guderian's claim is inconsistent with his professed role as the prophet of Blitzkrieg even before the war. However, his prewar writings in fact explicitly reject strategic envelopment by mechanized forces alone as a generally sufficient means to cause operational collapse. Also, there is no explicit reference to such tactics in the German battle plans.
Allied reaction
The Panzer Corps now slowed their advance considerably but had put themselves in a very vulnerable position. Events 878 - Syracuse Italy is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. They were stretched out, exhausted and low on fuel; many tanks had broken down. There was a dangerous gap between them and the infantry. A determined attack by a fresh large mechanized force could have cut them off and wiped them out.
The French High Command, however, was reeling from the shock of the sudden offensive and was stung by a sense of defeatism. On the morning of 15 May French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud telephoned the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and said "We have been defeated. Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the The Prime Minister of France ( Premier ministre français) in Fifth Republic is the functional Head of the government and Council of Ministers Paul Reynaud (15 October 1878 - 21 September 1966 was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period noted for his stances on economic liberalism and The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 We are beaten; we have lost the battle. " Churchill, attempting to console Reynaud, reminded the Prime Minister of the times the Germans had broken through Allied lines in World War I only to be stopped. However, Reynaud was inconsolable.
Churchill flew to Paris on 16 May. Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. He immediately recognized the gravity of the situation when he observed that the French government was already burning its archives and preparing for an evacuation of the capital. In a sombre meeting with the French commanders, Churchill asked General Gamelin, "Ou est la masse de manoeuvre?" ["Where is the strategic reserve?"] which had saved Paris in the First World War. "Aucune" ["There is none,"] Gamelin replied. Later, Churchill described hearing this as the single most shocking moment in his life. Churchill asked Gamelin when and where the general proposed to launch a counterattack against the flanks of the German bulge. Gamelin simply replied "inferiority of numbers, inferiority of equipment, inferiority of methods". [53]
Gamelin was right; most reserve divisions had by now been committed. The only armoured division still in reserve, 2nd DCR, attacked on 16 May. Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. However the French armoured divisions of the Infantry, the Divisions Cuirassées de Réserve, were – despite their name – very specialized breakthrough units, optimized for attacking fortified positions. They could be quite useful for defense, if dug in, but had very limited utility for an encounter fight: they could not execute combined infantry–tank tactics because they simply had no important motorized infantry component; they had poor tactical mobility because the heavy Char B1 bis, their main tank in which half of the French tank budget had been invested, had to refuel twice a day. The Char B1 was a French heavy tank manufactured before the Second World War. So 2nd DCR divided itself in a covering screen, the small subunits of which fought bravely – but without having any strategic effect.
Some of the best units in the north had yet seen little fighting. Had they been kept in reserve they could have been used for a decisive counter strike. But now they had lost much fighting power simply by moving to the north; hurrying south again would cost them even more. The most powerful Allied division, the 1st DLM (Division Légère Mécanique, "light" in this case meaning "mobile"), deployed near Dunkirk on 10 May, had moved its forward units 220 kilometers (140 mi) to the northeast, beyond the Dutch city of 's-Hertogenbosch, in 32 hours. Dunkirk ( French: Dunkerque, dœ̃kɛʀk or; Dutch:; is a harbour city and a commune in the northernmost part of France, in the Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. ' s-Hertogenbosch ( (literally "The Duke's Forest" colloquially known as Den Bosch ( — translated in French as Bois-le-Duc, in German Finding that the Dutch had already retreated to the north, it had withdrawn and was moving to the south. When it reached the Germans again, of its original 80 SOMUA S 35 tanks only three were operational, mostly as a result of breakdown. The SOMUA S35 was a French cavalry Tank of the Second World War.
Nevertheless, a radical decision to retreat to the south, avoiding contact, could probably have saved most of the mechanized and motorized divisions, including the BEF. However, that would have meant leaving about thirty infantry divisions to their fate. The loss of Belgium alone would be an enormous political blow. Besides, the Allies were uncertain about German intentions. They threatened in four directions: to the north, to attack the Allied main force directly; to the west, to cut it off; to the south, to occupy Paris and even to the east, to move behind the Maginot Line. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city The French decided to create a new reserve, among which was a reconstituted 7th Army, under General Touchon, using every unit they could safely pull out of the Maginot Line to block the way to Paris.
Colonel Charles de Gaulle, in command of France's hastily formed 4th DCR, attempted to launch an attack from the south and achieved a measure of success that would later accord him considerable fame and a promotion to Brigadier General. Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( ( 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French General and statesman who led the Free French However, de Gaulle's attacks on 17 May and 19 May did not significantly alter the overall situation. Events 1521 - Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for Treason. Events 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships 110 men and
To the Channel
While the Allies did little either to threaten them or escape from the danger they posed, the Panzer Corps used 17-18 May to refuel, eat, sleep, and get some more tanks in working order. On 18 May Rommel made the French give up Cambrai by merely feinting an armoured attack. Events 1152 - Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Cambrai (Dutch Kamerijk; old spelling Cambray) is a French town and commune, in the Nord département,
The Allies seemed incapable of coping with events. On 19 May, General Ironside, the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff, conferred with Gort, commander of the British Expeditionary Force at his headquarters near Lens. Events 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships 110 men and Field Marshal William Edmund Ironside 1st Baron Ironside GCB, CMG, CBE, DSO ( 6 May 1880 - 22 September Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS was the title of the professional commander of the British Army from 1908 until 1964 Lens is a commune in northern France, in the Pas-de-Calais département. Gort reported that the Commander of the French Northern Army Group, General Billotte, had given him no orders for eight days. Ironside confronted Billotte, whose own headquarters was nearby, and found him apparently incapable of taking decisive action.
Ironside had originally urged Gort to save the BEF by attacking south-west towards Amiens. Gort replied that seven of his nine divisions were already engaged on the Scheldt River, and he had only two with which to mount such an attack. The Scheldt (Dutch Schelde, French Escaut, Latin Scaldis) is a 350 km[http //www Ironside returned to Britain concerned that the BEF was already doomed, and ordered urgent anti-invasion measures. British anti-invasion preparations of World War II entailed a large-scale division of military and civilian mobilization in response to the threat of invasion
On the same day, the German High Command grew very confident. They determined that there appeared to be no serious threat to them from the south – indeed General Franz Halder toyed with the idea of attacking Paris immediately to knock France out of the war in one blow. The Allied troops in the north were retreating to the river Escaut, their right flank giving way to the 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions. The Scheldt (Dutch Schelde, French Escaut, Latin Scaldis) is a 350 km[http //www It would be foolish to remain inactive any longer, allowing them to reorganize their defense or escape. Now it was time to bring them into even more serious trouble by cutting them off. The next day the Panzer Corps started moving again, smashed through the weak British 18th and 23rd Territorial Divisions, occupied Amiens and secured the westernmost bridge over the river Somme at Abbeville, isolating the British, French, Dutch, and Belgian forces in the north. Amiens (amjɛ̃ is a city and commune in northern France, 120 km north of Paris. The Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. Abbeville ( Abbegem in Flemish is a city in Picardie in northern France. In the evening, a reconnaissance unit from 2nd Panzer Division reached Noyelles-sur-Mer, 100 kilometers (60 mi) to the west. Noyelles-sur-Mer is a commune in the Somme département in the Picardie region of France. There they could see the estuary of the Somme flowing into the English Channel.
Fliegerkorps VIII under the command of Wolfram von Richthofen committed its StG 77 and StG 2 to covering the "dash to the channel coast". Heralded as the Stukas "finest hour" these units responded via an extremely efficient communications system to the Panzer Divisions every request for support, effectively blasting a path for the Army. The Ju 87s were particularly effective at breaking up attacks along the flanks of the German forces, breaking fortified positions and disrupting rear-area supply chains. [54] The Luftwaffe also benefitted from excellent ground-to-air communications throughout the campaign. Radio equipped forward liaison officers could call upon the Stukas and direct them to attack enemy positions along the Axis of advance. In some cases the Stukas responded to requests in 10-20 minutes. Oberstleutnant Hans Seidmann (Richthofen's Chief of Staff) said that "never again was such a smoothly functioning system for discussing and planning joint operations achieved". [55]
Weygand Plan
On 20 May also, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud dismissed Maurice Gamelin for his failure to contain the German offensive, and replaced him with Maxime Weygand, who immediately attempted to devise new tactics to contain the Germans. Events 325 - The First Council of Nicaea &ndash the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held Maxime Weygand ( 21 January 1867 - 28 January 1965) (vɛgɑ̃ was a French military commander in World War I and World More pressing however was his strategic task: he formed the Weygand Plan, ordering to pinch off the German armoured spearhead by combined attacks from the north and the south. On the map this seemed a feasible mission: the corridor through which von Kleist's two Panzer Corps had moved to the coast was a mere 40 kilometers (25 mi) wide. Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist ( August 8 1881 &ndash c November 13 1954) was a leading German Field marshal during On paper Weygand had sufficient forces to execute it: in the north the three DLM and the BEF, in the south de Gaulle's 4th DCR. These units had an organic strength of about 1,200 tanks, and the Panzer divisions were very vulnerable again, the mechanical condition of their tanks rapidly deteriorating. But the condition of the Allied divisions was far worse. Both in the south and the north they could in reality muster but a handful of tanks. Nevertheless Weygand flew to Ypres on 21 May trying to convince the Belgians and the BEF of the soundness of his plan. Ypres ( French, generally used in English French ipʁ English ˈiːprə Ieper (official name in Dutch, pronounced /ˈiːpər/ or Ypern Events 878 - Syracuse Italy is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily.
That same day, a detachment of the British Expeditionary Force under Major-General Harold Edward Franklyn had already attempted to at least delay the German offensive and, perhaps, to cut the leading edge of the German army off. The resulting Battle of Arras demonstrated the ability of the heavily armoured British Matilda tanks (the German 37 mm anti-tank guns proved ineffective against them) and the limited raid overran two German regiments. The Battle of Arras (1940 took place during the Battle of France, in the early stages of World War II. The Tank Infantry Mk II Matilda II (A12 (sometimes referred to as Senior Matilda was a British Tank of World War II. Anti-tank refers to any method of combating military Armored fighting vehicles notably Tanks The most common anti-tank systems The panic that resulted (the German commander at Arras, Erwin Rommel, reported being attacked by 'hundreds' of tanks, though there were only 74 (+60 French) at the battle) temporarily delayed the German offensive. Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ( 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) (also known as the " Desert Fox " Wüstenfuchs Rommel had to rely on 88 mm anti-aircraft and 105 mm field guns firing over open sights to halt these attacks. German reinforcements pressed the British back to Vimy Ridge the following day. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military offensive by the Canadian Corps against elements of the German Sixth Army in World War I.
Although this attack was not part of any coordinated attempt to destroy the Panzer Corps, the German High Command panicked a lot more than Rommel. For a moment they feared to have been ambushed, that hundreds of Allied tanks were about to smash their elite forces. [56] But the next day they had regained confidence and ordered Guderian's XIX Panzer Corps to press north and push on to the Channel ports of Boulogne and Calais, in the back of the British and Allied forces to the north. Boulogne-sur-Mer ( Bonen in Dutch is a City in Northern France. Calais (kaˈlɛ in English often kæˈleɪ traditional English pronunciation /ˈkælɨs/ Kales is a town in northern France.
Also on 22 May, the French tried to attack south to the east of Arras, with some infantry and tanks, but by now the German infantry had begun to catch up, and the attack was, with some difficulty, stopped by the 32nd Infantry Division. Events 334 BC - The Greek army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus. The 32nd Infantry Division of the German Army was mobilized on August 1, 1939 for the upcoming invasion of Poland.
The first attack from the south could only be launched on 24 May when 7th DIC, supported by a handful of tanks, failed to retake Amiens. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned This was a rather weak effort; however on 27 May the British 1st Armoured Division, which had been hastily brought forward from Evrecy in Normandy where it was forming, attacked Abbeville in force but was beaten back with crippling losses. Events 927 - Simeon the Great, Tsar of Bulgaria, dies 1120 - Richard III of Capua is anointed Évrecy is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northern France. Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. The next day de Gaulle tried again with the same result. But by now even complete success couldn't have saved the forces in the north.
BEF at Dunkirk
- Further information: Dunkirk evacuation and Battle of Dunkirk
In the early hours of 23 May, Gort ordered a retreat from Arras. Events 1430 - Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne He had no faith in the Weygand plan nor in the proposal of the latter to at least try to hold a pocket on the Flemish coast, a Réduit de Flandres. The ports needed to supply such a foothold were already threatened. That day the 2nd Panzer Division assaulted Boulogne. Boulogne-sur-Mer ( Bonen in Dutch is a City in Northern France. The British garrison in Boulogne surrendered on 25 May, although 4,368 troops were evacuated. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. The British decision to withdraw was much criticised in later French publications.
The 10th Panzer Division attacked Calais, beginning on 24 May. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned British reinforcements (3rd Royal Tank Regiment, equipped with cruiser tanks, and the 30th Motor Brigade) had been hastily landed 24 hours before the Germans attacked. The 3rd Royal Tank Regiment ( 3 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army until 1992 The cruiser tank (also called cavalry tank or fast tank) was a British Tank concept of the Inter-war period. The British 30th Infantry Brigade is a brigade of the British Army in the First and Second World Wars The Siege of Calais lasted four days. The Siege of Calais (1940 was a battle for the port and town of Calais during the German Blitzkrieg which overran northern France in 1940 The British defenders were overwhelmed and surrendered around 16:00 on 27 May while the last French troops were evacuated in the early hours of 28 May. Events 927 - Simeon the Great, Tsar of Bulgaria, dies 1120 - Richard III of Capua is anointed Events 585 BC - A Solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling
The 1st Panzer Division was ready to attack Dunkirk on 25 May, but Hitler ordered it to halt the day before. Dunkirk ( French: Dunkerque, dœ̃kɛʀk or; Dutch:; is a harbour city and a commune in the northernmost part of France, in the Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. This remains one of the most controversial decisions of the entire war. Hermann Göring had convinced Hitler the Luftwaffe could prevent an evacuation; von Rundstedt had warned him that any further effort by the armoured divisions would lead to a much prolonged refitting period. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Attacking cities was not part of the normal task for armoured units under any operational doctrine.
Encircled, the British, Belgian and French launched Operation Dynamo, evacuating Allied forces from the northern pocket in Belgium and Pas-de-Calais, beginning on 26 May. The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo by the British was the Evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk Pas-de-Calais is a department in northern France. Its name is the French language equivalent of the Strait of Dover, which it borders Events 451 - The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place About 218,226 British troops were evacuated in Dynamo, along with 120,000 French; almost all of the latter returned to France. The Allied position was complicated by King Léopold III of Belgium's surrender the following day, which was postponed until 28 May. Leopold III (born as Léopold Philippe Charles Albert Meinrad Hubertus Marie Miguel (French or Leopold Filips Karel Albert Meinrad Hubertus Maria Miguel Events 585 BC - A Solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling
During the Dunkirk battle the Luftwaffe flew 1,882 bombing and 1,997 fighter sweeps. British losses totalled 6% of their total losses during the French campaign, including 60 precious fighter pilots. The Luftwaffe failed in its task to prevent the evacuation, but had inflicted serious losses on the Allied forces. A total of 89 merchantmen (of 126,518 grt) were lost; the Royal Navy lost 29 of its 40 destroyers sunk or seriously damaged. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) [58]
As early on as the 16 May, the French position on the ground and in the air was becoming desperate. They pressed the British to commit more of the RAF fighter groups to the battle. Hugh Dowding, C-in-C of RAF Fighter Command refused, arguing that if France collapsed, the British fighter force would be severely weakened. Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswell Tremenheere Dowding 1st Baron Dowding GCB, GCVO, CMG ( 24 April 1882 &ndash 15 February Fighter Command was one of three functional commands that dominated the public perception of the Royal Air Force for much of the mid-20th century The RAF force of 1,078 had been reduced to just 475 aircraft. RAF records show just 179 Hawker Hurricanes and 205 Supermarine Spitfires were serviceable on 5 June 1940. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. [59]
Confusion still reigned however; after the evacuation at Dunkirk and while Paris was enduring its short-lived siege, part of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division was sent to Brittany (Brest) and moved 320 kilometres (200 mi) inland toward Paris before they heard that Paris had fallen and France had capitulated. The 1st Canadian Infantry Division was a formation mobilized on 1 September, 1939 for service in the Second World War. They retreated and re-embarked for England. The British 1st Armoured Division under General Evans (without its infantry, which had been re-assigned to keep the pressure off the BEF at Dunkirk) had arrived in France in June 1940 and was joined by the former labour battalion of the 51st (Highland) Division in a rearguard action. The 1st Armoured Division is an armoured division of the British Army. Labour battalions have been a form of Alternative service or Unfree labor in various countries in lieu of or resembling regular Military service. Other British battalions landed at Cherbourg were also still waiting, to form a second BEF.
June: Fall Rot, France
French problems
The best and most modern French armies had been sent north and lost in the resulting encirclement; the French had lost much of their heavy weaponry and their best armored formations. Weygand was faced with the prospect of defending a long front (stretching from Sedan to the Channel), with a greatly depleted French Army now lacking significant Allied support. Sixty divisions were required to man the 600 kilometre (400 mi) long frontline, Weygand had only 64 French and one remaining British division (the 51st Highland Division) available. Therefore, unlike the Germans, he had no significant reserves to counter a breakthrough or to replace frontline troops, should they become exhausted from a prolonged battle. Should the frontline be pushed further south, it would inevitably get too long for the French to man it. Some elements of the French leadership had openly lost heart, particularly as the British were evacuating. The Dunkirk evacuation was a blow to French morale because it was seen as an act of abandonment.
Adding to this grave situation, Italy declared war on France and Britain on 10 June, however Italy was not prepared for war and made little impact during the last twelve days of fighting. Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem Italian invasion of France in June 1940 was a small scale invasion that started near the end of the Battle of France. Mussolini was aware of this and sought to profit from the Germans successes. [60]
New German offensive and the fall of Paris
The Germans renewed their offensive on 5 June on the Somme. Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem An attack broke the scarce reserves that Weygand had put between the Germans and the capital, and on 10 June the French government fled to Bordeaux, declaring Paris an open city. Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem ( Gascon: Bordèu) is a port city in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate Churchill returned to France on 11 June and met the French War Council in Briare. Events 1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned according to the calculations of Eratosthenes. Briare is a commune of the Loiret département, in France, on the right bank of the Loire The French requested that Churchill supply all available fighter squadrons to aid in the battle. With only 25 squadrons remaining Churchill refused, believing at this point that the decisive battle would be fought over Britain. The Battle of Britain (German ''Luftschlacht um England'' is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the German Luftwaffe during the summer and Churchill, at the meeting, obtained assurances from French admiral François Darlan that the fleet would not fall into German hands. François Darlan (7 August 1881 &ndash 24 December 1942 was a French Naval officer. On 14 June Paris, the capture of which had so eluded the German Army in the First World War, after having been declared an open city, fell to the Wehrmacht, marking the second time in less than 100 years that Paris had been captured by German forces (the former occurring during the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War). Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the The First Battle of the Marne (also known as the Miracle of the Marne) was a World War I battle fought from 5 September to 12 September 1914 World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870 &ndash January 28, 1871, brought about French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War ( 19 July, 1870 — 10 May, 1871
German air supremacy
By this date the situation in the air had now grown critical. The Luftwaffe had established air supremacy (as opposed to air superiority). Air supremacy is the most favorable state of control of the air Air superiority is the dominance in the Air power of one side's air forces over the other side's during a Military campaign. The Armee de l'Air had only just begun to make the lion's share of bomber sorties. The French Air Force ( French: Armée de l'Air (ALA literally Air Army) is the Air force of the French Armed Forces. Between 5-9 June over 1,815 missions, of which 518 were bomber sorties, were flown. However, the number of sorties flown declined as losses were now becoming impossible to replace. The RAF attempted to divert the Luftwaffe's attention with 660 sorties flown against targets over the Dunkirk area but losses were heavy, on 21 June alone 37 Bristol Blenheims were lost. Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout [61] After the 9 June French aerial resistance virtually ceased, and some surviving aircraft withdrew to French North Africa. Events 53 - Roman Emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia 62 - Claudia Octavia commits North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan The Luftwaffe now "ran riot". Its attacks were focused on direct and indirect support of the Army. The Luftwaffe subjected lines of resistance to ferocious assault, which then quickly collapsed under armoured attack.
The Luftwaffe virtually destroyed the Armée de l'Air during the campaign and inflicted heavy losses to the RAF contingent that was deployed. It is estimated the French lost 1,274 aircraft destroyed during the campaign, the British suffered losses of 959 (477 fighters). [62] The battle for France had cost the Luftwaffe 28% of its front line strength, some 1,428 aircraft destroyed. A further 488 were damaged, making a total of 36% of the Luftwaffe strength negatively affected. [63] The campaign had been a spectacular success for the German air-arm. The Luftwaffe had effectively destroyed three Allied air forces and inflicted heavy losses to a fourth.
Second BEF evacuation
Most of the remaining British troops in the field had arrived at St Valery for evacuation, but the Germans took the heights around the harbour making this impossible and on June 12 General Fortune and the remaining British forces surrendered to Rommel. The evacuation of the second BEF took place during Operation Ariel between 15 June and 25 June. Operation Ariel was the name given to the World War II evacuation of Allied forces from western France following the collapse of the country by the invasion Events 763 BC - Assyrians record a Solar eclipse that will be used to fix the Chronology of Mesopotamian history Events 524 - Battle of Vézeronce, the Franks defeat the Burgundians The Luftwaffe, with complete mastery of the French skies, was determined to prevent more Allied evacuations after the Dunkirk debacle. Fliegerkorps I was assigned to the Basse-Normandie and Brittany peninsula. Basse-Normandie ('Lower Normandy' is an administrative region of France. Brittany (Breizh bʁejs Bretagne; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a former independent Celtic kingdom and Duchy, now incorporated into On 9/10 June the port of Cherbourg was subject to 15 tonnes of German bombs, whilst Le Havre received 10 bombing attacks which sank 2,949 grt of escaping Allied shipping. Le Havre is a city in the northwest region of France situated on the right bank of the mouth of the Seine River as it outlets into the Bay of the Seine On 17 June 1940 Junkers Ju 88s (mainly from Kampfgeschwader 30) destroyed a "10,000 tonne ship" which was the 16,243 grt Lancastria off St Nazaire killing some 5,800 Allied personnel[64]. Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout History Launched on the Clyde Scotland in 1920 as the Tyrrhenia for the Anchor Line a subsidiary of Cunard, the 16243 ton, 578 Nevertheless, the Luftwaffe failed to prevent the mass evacuation of some 190 - 200,000 Allied personnel.
Surrender and Armistice
Prime Minister Paul Reynaud was forced to resign because he refused to agree to end the war. The Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed at 1850 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, in the department of Oise, between Nazi Germany Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He was succeeded by Maréchal Philippe Pétain, who announced to the French people via radio his intention to ask for an Armistice with Germany. Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951 generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain ( Maréchal Pétain) An armistice is a situation where the warring parties agree to stop fighting When Adolf Hitler received word from the French Government that they wished to negotiate an armistice, Hitler selected Compiègne Forest near Compiègne as the site for the negotiations. As Compiègne was the site of the 1918 Armistice ending the First World War with a humiliating defeat for Germany, Hitler saw using this location as a supreme moment of revenge for Germany over France. The armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on November 11, 1918 The armistice was signed on 22 June in the very same railway carriage in which the 1918 Armistice was signed (removed from a museum building and placed on the precise spot where it was located in 1918), Hitler sat in the same chair that Marshal Ferdinand Foch had sat in when he faced the defeated German representatives. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Ferdinand Foch OM GCB (2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929 was a French soldier military theorist and writer credited with possessing "the most original After listening to the reading of the preamble, Hitler, in a calculated gesture of disdain to the French delegates, left the carriage, leaving the negotiations to his OKW Chief, General Wilhelm Keitel. For other uses of OKW see OKW (disambiguation. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW) ( English: "High Command Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (22 September 1882–16 October 1946 was a German Field marshal ( Generalfeldmarschall) The French Second Army Group, under the command of General Pretelat, surrendered the same day as the armistice and the cease-fire went into effect on 25 June 1940. André-Gaston Prételat ( 14 November 1874 Wassy Champagne France – 6 December 1969 Paris France) was a general in the French Army.
Aftermath
France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north and west and a nominally independent state in the south, to be based in the spa town of Vichy, dubbed Vichy France. Vichy ( Occitan: Vichèi) is a commune in the department of Allier in Auvergne in central France. Vichy France, or the Vichy regime are the common terms used to describe the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944 The new French state, headed by Pétain, accepted its status as a defeated nation and attempted to buy favor with the Germans through accommodation and passivity. Charles de Gaulle, who had been made an Undersecretary of National Defense by Reynaud, in London at the time of the surrender, made his Appeal of 18 June. The Appeal of 18th June was a famous speech by Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French Forces, in 1940 In this broadcast he refused to recognize the Vichy government as legitimate and began the task of organizing the Free French forces. The Free French Forces (Forces Françaises Libres FFL) were French fighters in World War II who decided to continue fighting against Axis forces Numerous French colonies abroad (French Guiana, French Equatorial Africa) joined de Gaulle rather than the Vichy government. French Guiana (Guyane française officially fr ''Guyane'' is an Overseas department (French département d'outre-mer, or DOM) of France French Equatorial Africa ( Afrique équatoriale française, AEF) was the federation of French colonial possessions in Middle Africa, extending
The British began to doubt Admiral Darlan's promise to Churchill not to allow the French fleet at Toulon to fall into German hands by the wording of the armistice conditions; they therefore attacked French naval forces in Africa and Europe, which led to feelings of animosity and mistrust between the former French and British allies. The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, also known as Operation Catapult, was a hostile engagement off the coast of French Algeria where a British Royal Navy
Casualties
German
Approximately 27,074 Germans were killed and 111,034 were wounded, with a further 18,384 missing for total German casualties of 156,000 men.
Allied
In exchange, they had destroyed the French, Belgian, Dutch, Polish and British armies. Total Allied losses including the capture of the French army amounted to 2,292,000. Casualties, killed or wounded, were as follows:
- France - 90,000 killed, 200,000 wounded and approximately 1,800,000 captured. In August, 1940 1,575,000 prisoners were taken into Germany where roughly 940,000 remained until 1945 when they were liberated by advancing Allied forces. While in German captivity 24,600 French prisoners died, 71,000 escaped, 220,000 were released by various agreements between the Vichy government and Germany, and several hundred thousand were paroled because of disability and/or sickness. [65] Most prisoners spent their time in captivity as slave labourers.
- Britain - 68,111 killed, wounded or captured
- Belgium - 23,350 killed or wounded
- The Netherlands - 9,779 killed or wounded
- Poland - 6,092 killed, wounded or captured
- Czechoslovakia - 1,615 losses, including 400 killed.
Historiography
After the war the French Parliament instituted a Committee to investigate the causes of the defeat; its work unfinished, it was disbanded in 1951. [66] French interest in the events was afterwards rather limited with few major histories appearing. [67] This left the field to British and American writers. Three important works appeared in the sixties: Guy Chapman's Why France Collapsed (1968); Alistair Horne's To Lose a Battle: France 1940 (1969) and William Shirer's The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940 (1969). Guy Patterson Chapman (September 1889-June 1972 was an Historian and British Author. Sir Alistair Allan Horne (born November 9, 1925) is a British Historian of modern France. William Lawrence Shirer ( February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and historian [68] The last two works, also translated into French, had a major influence on the public perception of the campaign. [69] They conformed to some earlier French works, as Marc Bloch's Étrange Défaite ("Strange Defeat", posthumously appearing in 1946) and Jacques Benoist-Méchin's Soixante jours qui ébranlèrent l'occident ("Sixty Days that shook the West", 1956) in describing France as a nation in moral crisis with a weak leadership and the people torn apart by political divisions. Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch ( July 6, 1886 – June 16, 1944) was a French Historian of medieval France in the Strikes and budgetary limitations would have prevented an adequate preparation for war. France, terminally in decline, would have been defeatist and defensive and this would have been reflected in the attitude of a "sclerotic" High Command, unable to adapt itself to modern tactics. This situation is then contrasted to that in Germany, where the assumed acceptance of Blitzkrieg tactics would have made a German victory almost inevitable. A more modern writer using this conceptual framework is Eugen Weber in his The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s (1994). Eugen Joseph Weber ( April 24, 1925, Bucharest - May 17, 2007, Brentwood Los Angeles California) was a prominent
In France this approach to the subject has always remained popular as shown by later works as Jean Baptiste Duroselle's La Décadence (1979). Especially outside this country[70] in reaction to these traditional "decadentist" works a more revisionist school has developed. [71] The revisionist historians emphasize on the one hand the very deep structural demographic and economic disadvantages for France, that would have made it difficult to attain parity with Germany anyway, whatever the state of the people, leadership or command; and on the other hand the fundamental contingency of history, indicating the actual choice for a strategy as the main cause of defeat. When the structural approach is dominant it often results in depicting the French defeat as predetermined by the circumstances, whereas the more "contingent" view tends to consider a French defensive success as quite possible.
An early revisionist work was Adolphe Goutard's La Guerre des occasions perdues ("The War of the lost opportunities", 1956), claiming that the war could have been won with a correct strategy. In the sixties the "international history" school around Pierre Renouvin saw the low birth rate, the manpower losses in the previous war and a slow industrial innovation cycle as the main factors. At the same time Canadian historian John Cairns in a number of articles warned against the tendency to read the defeat into all previous events. John Cairns is the name of several notable people John Cairns (biochemist (born 1922 biochemist who first demonstrated the structure and replication of the In the seventies Robert J. Young argued in his In Command of France: French Foreign Policy and Military Planning, 1933-1940 (1978) that the French leadership in its military planning rationally adapted to the conditions present in preparing for a long war of attrition against Germany. Robert J Young (born 1942 has been a professor of History at the University of Winnipeg since 1967 The Israeli-American historian Jeffrey Gunsburg in his Divided and Conquered: The French High Command and the Defeat of the West, 1940 (1979) saw the failure of France's allies to match the French war effort in proportion to their population as the main allied weakness. French historian Robert Frankenstein in his Le prix du réarmement français, 1935–1939 (1982) showed that France made an enormous rearmament effort, in the end surpassing German production in both tanks and aircraft. In 1985 Robert Doughty in his The Seeds of Disaster: The Development of French Army Doctrine, 1919–1939 tried to replace the image of a merely stagnant French military doctrine with that of an as such understandable adaptation to manpower shortages in form of very methodical tactics, as opposed to the flexible German Auftragstaktik. Mission-type tactics ( German: Auftragstaktik, from Auftrag and Taktik" also known as Mission Command in the US have (arguably been a central The traditional presumed antithesis with German Blitzkrieg tactics was made even more problematic by Karl-Heinz Frieser's Blitzkrieg-Legende (1995), which claimed that Blitzkrieg was neither the basis of German long term geostrategy nor the tactical basis of the official German attack plan of May 1940. Pointing out that in strategic battlefield simulations of the campaign it is hard to make the Allied side lose, American historian Ernest May in his Strange Victory: Hitler’s Conquest of France (2000) emphasizes the failure of Allied intelligence to predict the German strategy.
See also
- British Expeditionary Force order of battle (1940)
- Blitzkrieg
- Military history of France during World War II
- Battle of the Netherlands
- Vichy France
- Western Front
Notes
- ^ E. This is the British Expeditionary Force Order of battle on 9 May 1940 the day before the German forces initiated the Battle of France G Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial The military history of France during World War II covers the period from 1939 until 1940 which witnessed French military participation under the Third Republic, and the period The Battle of the Netherlands (Slag om Nederland was part of Case Yellow (Fall Gelb the German invasion of the Low Countries ( Belgium Vichy France, or the Vichy regime are the common terms used to describe the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944 See Western Front (disambiguation for other meanings Western Front was a term used during the First and Second World R Hooton 2007, p. 47-48: Hooton uses the National Archives in London for RAF records. Including "Air 24/679 Operational Record Book: The RAF in France 1939-1940", "Air 22/32 Air Ministry Daily Strength Returns", "Air 24/21 Advanced Air Striking Force Operations Record" and "Air 24/507 Fighter Command Operations Record". For the Armee de l'Air Hooton uses "Service Historique de Armee de l'Air (SHAA), Vincennes".
- ^ E. R Hooton 2007, p. 47-48: Hooton uses the Bundesarchiv, Militärarchiv in Freiburg.
- ^ Luftwaffe strength includeds gliders and transports used in the assaults on The Netherlands and Belgium
- ^ Keegan, John (1989), The Second World War, Glenfield, Auckland 10, New Zealand: Hutchinson.
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 32
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 25
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 67
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 75
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 79
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 87
- ^ Evans, Martin Marix, The Fall of France: Act with Daring, p. 10. Osprey Publishing, 2000
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 76
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 88
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 113
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 116
- ^ Nuremberg Process, Vol. 10, p. 583
- ^ Talbot Charles Imlay, "A reassessment of Anglo-French strategy during the Phony War, 1939-1940", The English Historical Review 2004 119(481):333-372
- ^ Die Geheimakten des französischen Generalstabes
- ^ E. R Hooton, p47
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 71
- ^ W. Churchill, His Complete Speeches, vol 6, p. 6226
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 41
- ^ E. R Hooton, p47
- ^ A. J. P Taylor and Air Marshal Robert Saundby, p72
- ^ E. R Hooton
- ^ Weinberg, A World at Arms p. 122
- ^ Hooton, p52
- ^ E. R Hooton, p49
- ^ E. R Hooton 2007, p. 50.
- ^ E. R Hooton, p48
- ^ Major-General Pierre Genotte, Le 2e Régiment de Dragons, p. 56-57.
- ^ Gunsburg 1992, p. 236.
- ^ Gunsburg 1992, p. 237.
- ^ Gunsburg 1992, p. 241.
- ^ Gunsburg 1992, p. 242.
- ^ Following the battle with the French First Army on 15 May, the war diary of the 4th Panzer Division noted irreparable losses that day of 9 PzKpfw I, 9 PzKpfw II, 6 PzKPfw III, 8 PzKpfw IV, and two command tanks; of an original of 314 tanks 137 machines, of which 20 PzKpfW IIIs and 4 PzKpfW IVs, remained combat-ready: Gunsberg p. 242.
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser, Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 192
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser, Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 192
- ^ E. R Hooton2007, p. 64.
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser, Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 193
- ^ Weal, p46
- ^ E. R Hooton, p65
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser, Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 244
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser, Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 216
- ^ E. R Hooton, p65
- ^ E. R Hooton, p65
- ^ Martin & Martin, Ils étaient là
- ^ E. R Hooton, p65
- ^ Jagdgeschwader 27 Afrika; John A. Weal; p22
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser, Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 258
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser, Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 259
- ^ A. J. P Taylor and Alistair Horne , p55
- ^ Churchill,Their Finest Hour pp. Sir Alistair Allan Horne (born November 9, 1925) is a British Historian of modern France. 42-49
- ^ Weal, p47
- ^ E. R Hooton, p67
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser Blitzkrieg-Legende p. 360
- ^ Taylor, A. J. P. and Mayer, S. L, p59.
- ^ E. R Hooton, p74
- ^ E. R Hooton, p74
- ^ A. J. P Taylor & G. Warner, p63
- ^ E. R Hooton, p84-85
- ^ E. R Hooton, p90
- ^ E. R Hooton, p90
- ^ E. R Hooton 2007, p. 88.
- ^ Durand, La Captivité, p. 21
- ^ Jackson, p. 189
- ^ Jackson, p. 190
- ^ Jackson, p. 192
- ^ Jackson, p. 193
- ^ Jackson, p. 196
- ^ Peter Jackson, "Post-War Politics and the Historiography of French Strategy and Diplomacy Before the Second World War", History Compass 4 (5), 870–905
References
- Churchill, Winston S. The Second World War: Their Finest Hour (Volume 2). Houghton Mifflin Company, Cambridge, 1949
- Durand, Yves. La Captivite, Histoire des prisonniers de guerre francais 1939 - 1945, Paris, 1981. Best available study of the French prisoners of war in German captivity.
- Frieser, Karl-Heinz Blitzkrieg-Legende—Der Westfeldzug 1940. Oldenbourg, 2005.
- Gunsburg, Jeffrey A. , 'The Battle of the Belgian Plain, 12-14 May 1940: The First Great Tank Battle', The Journal of Military History, Vol. 56, No. 2. (Apr. , 1992), pp. 207-244.
- Hooton, E. R. (2007). Luftwaffe at War; Blitzkrieg in the West. London: Chervron/Ian Allen. ISBN 978-1-85780-272-6.
- Jackson, Julian T.. Julian T Jackson (born 1954 is a prominent British Historian. The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940. Oxford UP, 2003.
- Taylor, A. J. P. and Mayer, S. L. , eds. A History Of World War Two. London: Octopus Books, 1974. ISBN 0-70640-399-1.
- Weal, John (1997). Junkers Ju 87 Stukageschwader 1937-41. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-85532-636-1
- Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge UP, 1995.
- Martin, J. and Martin, P. Ils étaient là: l’armée de l’Air septembre 39 - juin 40. Aero-Editions, 2001. ISBN 2-9514567-2-7
Further reading
- Alexander, Martin. Republic in Danger, General Maurice Gamelin and the Politics of French Defence, 1933-1940, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. An examination of Gamelin’s career and French military preparations during the 1930’s. Highly complimentary work stressing French rational preparations for the war.
- Blaxland, Gregory (1973). Destination Dunkirk. Military Book Society, 436pp. . This was the first detailed account of the B. E. F. in France. The fight for survival finished with the return from France in the little ships
- Bloch, Marc. Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch ( July 6, 1886 – June 16, 1944) was a French Historian of medieval France in the Strange Defeat, A Statement of Evidence Written in 1940, Hopkins, New York: W. W. Norton & Co. , 1968. Written in 1940 by a veteran of the campaign. Considered one of the early key works on understanding how the French saw this defeat. Author killed in 1943 by Gestapo due to resistance work.
- Cornwell, Peter D. (2008). The Battle Of France Then And Now. Battle of Britain International Ltd. . Six nations locked in aerial combat - September 1939 to June 1940.
- Doughty, Robert Allan. The Seeds of Disaster: The Development of French Army Doctrine, 1919-1939, Archon, 1986. Examination of errors the French made in military doctrine during the inter-war years and how this, not defeatism or lack of quality equipment, led to the defeat of 1940.
- Doughty, Robert Allan. The Breaking Point: Sedan and the Fall of France, 1940. Archon, 1990. Classic study on the events of 13 and 14 May. Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the
- Gerard, Lt. Robert M. Tank-Fighter Team, 1943
- Horne, Alistair. Sir Alistair Allan Horne (born November 9, 1925) is a British Historian of modern France. To Lose a Battle, 1940, Boston: Little Brown and Co. , 1969. Narrative account of the Fall of France in 1940. Very readable but also dated in terms of its non-critical acceptance of the defeatism argument.
- Keisling, Eugenia C. Arming Against Hitler: France and the Limits of Military Planning. UP of Kansas, 1996. Study stressing the weaknesses of the French reserve, mobilization and training system. Rejects the defeatism interpretation.
- Maier, Klaus A. Germany and the Second World War: Germany's Initial Conquests in Europe. Oxford UP, 1991. English translation of a thorough collective German academic study, giving a detailed account of all events.
- May, Ernest R. Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France. Hill & Wang, 2001. A modern account for the general public focusing on politics, strategy and intelligence.
- Mosier, John. John Mosier is an American academic known for his work in English, Film, and History. The Blitzkrieg Myth: How Hitler and the Allies Misread the Strategic Realities of World War II. HarperCollins, 2003. Strongly revisionist interpretation, denying that the concept of Blitzkrieg can even be applied to this campaign.
- Shepperd, Alan. France 1940, Blitzkrieg in the West; Osprey Campaign Series #3, Osprey Publishing, 1990.
- Shirer, William L.. William Lawrence Shirer ( February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and historian Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934-1941. Johns Hopkins UP, 2002. In the period just before the surrender, Shirer worked for CBS News under Edward R Murrow, moving around Europe as events dictated. Edward R Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25 1908 &ndash April 27 1965) was an American journalist This is his written account of the period.
- Young, Robert J. In Command of France: French Foreign Policy and Military Planning, 1933-1940, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978. Robert J Young (born 1942 has been a professor of History at the University of Winnipeg since 1967
External links
- BBC - History - WW2: Fall of France Campaign (Flash animation of the campaign)
- Official German account of the Battle of France (as published in 1940)
- Battle of France (Serbian)
- Armistice Agreement Between Germany and France, 22 June 1940
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