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Chapter I 7th Panzer Division The Ghost Division Like the 6th Panzer Division, 7th Panzer Division was formed in October 1939 by the conversion of one of the Wehrmachfs Leichte Divisions to full Panzer Division status. The 7th Panzer Division was a German elite armored formation which participated in the Battle of France. General Erwin Rommel commanded the division, which was nicknamed the "Ghost Division" because of its speed and independent movement, which even the German High Command had difficulty following. After service in France, the division served mainly on the Eastern Front, ending its days in the defense of Germany and surrendering to the British army northwest of Berlin in 1945. THE 2ND LEICHTE DIVISION WAS OFFICIALLY FORMED ON 10 NOVEMBER 1938 AT GERA, TO THE SOUTH OF LEIPZIG. DESPITE THE FACT THAT GERMANY HAD VERY LITTLE CAVALRY STRENGTH, THE CAVALRY ARM WAS THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS IN THE GERMAN ARMED FORCES, AND THE LIGHT DIVISIONS HAD BEEN FORMED PRIMARILY AS A SOP TO THE FEW BUT HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL CAVALRY OFFICERS WHO DOMINATED THE HIGH COMMAND. In 1939, the 2nd Leichte Division was under the command of General de Kavallerie Stumme. At full strength, the division comprised 457 officers and warrant officers leading 11,000 NCOs and men.

Panzer strength The Division was organized and equipped into a tank-light, infantry-heavy unit. The 6th and 7th Kavallerie Schiitzen Regiments each consisted of two battalions of motorized infantry. Other divisional units included a reconnaissance regiment, an artillery regiment, an antitank battalion, a pioneer or combat engineer battalion, a signals battalion and other service and support units. Divisional armoured strength was provided by a single Panzer unit, the 33rd Panzer Battalion. This included one motorized signals platoon, one staff platoon, three light panzer compa6/138

nies, one motorized reserve platoon, one motorized maintenance platoon, and one light supply column. At the outbreak of war, the Panzer Abteilung had 62 tanks available, mostly Pz.Kpfw Is and IIs, with a few Pz.Kpfw IIIs and IVs becoming operational. The support units included more supply, maintenance and fuel columns, a divisional administration unit, a field bakery, a butcher detachment, various medical and veterinary units, a military police troop and a field post office. After the successful completion of the invasion of Poland, Hitler allowed Erwin Rommel to choose whatever unit he would like to command. Although Rommel had no practical experience in tank warfare, he asked for a Panzer division and on 15 February 1940 he received command of the 7th Panzer Division. In preparation for the invasion of the low countries, the 7th Panzer Division became part of the 15th Panzer Corps under the command of General Hoth. "Ghost Division" / "Phantom Division" The 7th Panzer Division moved with great speed through France and covered vast distances. During the Battle of France, the 7th Panzer Division earned the name of the Ghost Division (German:"Gespensterdivision") because its rapid movements led to few knowing exactly where the Division was, including the German High Command. Rommel had a "lead from the front" attitude and often commanded from the turret of a tank, thus becoming a mere company commander, rather than a division commander issuing orders from his headquarters. He expected all his commanders to lead from the front as well. In addition, he would sometimes deliberately 'lose' communications with the High Command if he felt it necessary. His fearless command of the 7th Panzer Division showed his confidence and understanding of blitzkrieg concepts. The success they experienced and his favor with Hitler prevented any repercussions from the High Command, some of whom criticized Rommel for being difficult to contact and locate. Rommel described the French Campaign in his letters to his wife as "a lightning Tour de France". Order of Battle 7th Panzer Division The division was formed on 10/18/39 using the 2nd Light Division and the assignment of the 66th Panzer Battalion and the 25th Panzer Regiment. Starting in February 1940, the 25th Panzer Regiment began equipping its light panzer companies with 17 PzKpfw 38 (t) each. This conversion was not, however, completed by the time of the invasion of France. The 6th and 7th Kavallerieschutzen (Cavalry Rifle) Regiments became Schutzen Regiments on 20 March 1940. The 7th Reconnaissance Regiment was broken into the 7th Motorcycle Battalion and the 37th Reconnaissance Battalion on 1 November 1939. The 25th Panzer Regiment (only Staff and 1st Battalion) were joined by the I/ 23rd Panzer Regiment which became the 2/25th Panzer Regiment on 1 April 1940. Oddly, OKH records from this period show the 66th Panzer Battalion as if it were the 3/ 25th Panzer Regiment. The division was organized and equipped as follows: 7th Panzer Division Divisional Staff (2 HMGs) 58th Motorcycle Platoon 58th (mot) Mapping Detachment 1/,2/, 3/25th Panzer Regiment 1 Panzer Signals Platoon 1 Light Panzer Staff Platoon 1 Regimental Band 3 Battalions, each with 1 (mot) Staff Company 1 Panzer Signals Platoon 1 Light Tank Platoon 1 Motorcycle Messenger Platoon 1 Pioneer Platoon
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1 Machine Gun Platoon (8 HMGs) 2 Light Panzer Companies 1 Medium Panzer Company 1 (mot) Panzer Maintenance Platoon 1 (mot) Panzer Supply Column Total tanks: 17 PzBef, 44 PzMk, I, 96 PzMk II, 30 38(T) and 23 PzMk IV 7th Schtzen Brigade 1/, 2/6th Schtzen Regiment 1 (mot) Signals Platoon 2 Battalions, each with 1 (mot) Pioneer Platoon (3 LMGs) 3 (mot) Companies (3 50mm mortars, 4 HMGs and 18 LMGs ea) 1 (mot) Heavy Company 2 Infantry Gun Platoons (2 75mm leIG ea) 1 Mortar Platoon (6 80mm mortars) 1 Panzerabwehr Platoon (3 37mm PAK 36 and 1 LMG) 1 (mot) Light Infantry Supply Column 1/, 2/7th Schtzen Regiment same as 6th Schutzen Regiment 7th Motorcycle Battalion 2 Motorcycle Companies (3 50mm mortars, 4 HMGs and 8 LMGs) 1 (mot) Heavy Company 1 Mortar Platoon (6 80mm mortars) 1 Panzerabwehr Platoon (3 37mm PAK 36 and 1 LMG) 2 Infantry Gun Platoons (2 75mm leIG) 1 (mot) Light Infantry Supply Column 37th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion 1 (mot) Signals Platoon (2 LMGs) 2 Armored Car Companies (10 20mm and 25 LMGs) 1 Motorcycle Company (3 50mm mortars, 4 HMGs and 8 LMGs) 1 (mot) Heavy Company 1 Pioneer Platoon 1 Infantry Gun Platoon (2 75mm leIG) 1 (mot) Light Reconnaissance Supply Column (3 LMGs) 1/, 2/78th (mot) Artillery Regiment 1 (mot) Signals Platoon 1 (mot) Weather Detachment 1st and 2nd (mot) Battalions, each with: 1 (mot) Signals Platoon 1 (mot) Calibration Detachment 3 (mot) Batteries (4 105mm leFH and 2 LMGs ea) 42nd Panzerabwehr Battalion 1 (mot) Signals Platoon 2 (mot) Panzerabwehr Companies (12 37mm PAK 36 and 6 LMGs ea) 3rd Btry/59th Flak Battalion (12 20mm guns) 83rd (mot) Signals Battalion 1 (mot) Panzer Telephone Company (2 LMGs) 1 (mot) Panzer Radio Company (6 LMGs) 1 (mot) Panzer Light Signals Supply Column 58th (mot) Pioneer Battalion 1 (half-track) Pioneer Company 2 (mot) Pioneer Companies (9 LMGs ea) 1 (mot) Brko B 1 (mot) Light Pioneer Supply Column 85th Supply Troop
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1/,2/, 3/, 4/, 5/, 6/58th (mot) Light Supply Columns 7/, 8/, 9/, 10/5 8th (mot) Heavy Fuel Columns 1/,2/, 3/58th Maintenance Companies 1/, 2/(mot) Supply Platoons Administration 58th (mot) Bakery Company 58th (mot) Butcher Company 58th (mot) Administration Other 1/, 2/58th (mot) Medical Companies 1/,2/,3/58th Ambulances 58th (mot) Field Post Office 58th (mot) Military Police Troop Attached 86th Flak Battalion 3 Batteries (12 20mm ea) 1.(H)/11th Reconnaissance Staffel On 1 April 1940 the 3/28th and 4/12th Light Supply Columns became the 2/, 7/58th and the 7/58th Heavy Fuel Column was renumbered the 9/5 8th. In addition, the 21 405th and 2/12th Light Fuel Columns were merged to form the 10/58th Heavy Fuel Column. On 12 April 1940 the 25th Panzer Regiment had 24 PzMk I, 51 PzMK II, no PzMk III, 15 PzMk IV, and 48 38(t) tanks. At the same time the 66th Panzer Battalion had 13 PzMk I, 21 PzMk II, no PzMk III, 7 PzMk IV, and 24 38(t) tanks. On 10 May 1940, the eve of the invasion of France, the organization of the armored portion of the division and its panzer inventory were as follows: 1/, 2/25th Panzer Regiment 1 Regimental Staff Signals Platoon 1 Regimental Staff Light Panzer Platoon Each Battalion had 1 Panzer Staff Company 1 Medium Panzer Company 2 Light Panzer Companies 66th Panzer Battalion 1 Panzer Staff Company 1 Medium Panzer Company 2 Light Panzer Companies Total tanks available: 34 PzMk I , 68 PzMk II , 91 38 (t), 24 PzMk IV, 8 PzBefWg 38 (t). In 1940 the division was assigned to be part of the invasion forces scheduled for Operation "Sealion". On 9 August 1940 the division was organized and equipped as follows: (see over) 7th Panzer Division 58th Motorcycle Platoon 58th (mot) Mapping Detachment 25th Panzer Regiment 1/25th Panzer Regiment 1 Medium Panzer Company 2 Light Panzer Companies 1 (mot) Munitions Column 2/25th Panzer Regiment 1 Medium Panzer Company 2 Light Panzer Companies 1 (mot) Munitions Column 66th Panzer Battalion 1 Medium Panzer Company 2 Light Panzer Companies 1 (mot) Munitions Column .
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7th Schtzen Brigade 6th Schtzen Regiment 1 (mot) Signals Battalion 1st and 2nd Battalions, each with 1 (mot) Pioneer Platoon (3 LMGs) 3 (mot) Schtzen Companies (18 LMGs, 2 HMGs, 3 50mm mortars and 2 80mm mortars ea) 1 (mot) Heavy Company

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1 Machine Gun Platoon (6 HMGs) 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 37mm PAK 36 and 1 LMG) 2 (mot) Infantry Gun Sections (2 75mm leIG ea) 1 (mot) Light Supply Column 7th Schtzen Regiment 1 (mot) Signals Staff 1st and 2nd Battalions, each with 1 (mot) Pioneer Platoon (3 LMGs) 3 (mot) Schtzen Companies (18LMGs, 2 HMGs, 3 50mm mortars and 2 80mm mortars ea) 1 (mot) Heavy Company 1 Machine Gun Platoon (6 HMGs) 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 37mm PAK 36 and 1 LMG) 2 (mot) Infantry Gun Sections (2 75mm leIG ea) 1 (mot) Light Supply Column 1 (mot) Infantry Gun Company (5 150mm sIG) 37th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion 2 Armored Car Companies (10 HMGs and 25 LMGs ea) 1 Motorcycle Company (3 50mm mortars, 3 HMGs and 18 LMGs) 1 (mot) Heavy Company 1 Pioneer Platoon (3 LMGs) 1 Mortar Platoon (2 80mm mortars) 1 Infantry Gun Section (2 75mm leIG) 78th (mot) Artillery Regiment 1 (mot) Signals Platoon 1 (mot) Weather Detachment 1 Regimental Band 1st and 2nd Battalions 1 (mot) Signals Platoon 1 (mot) Calibration Detachment 3 (mot) Batteries (4 105mm leFH and 2 LMGs ea) 3rd Battalion 1 (mot) Signals Platoon 1 (mot) Calibration Detachment 3 (mot) Batteries (4 150mm sFH and 2 LMGs ea) 42nd Panzerjager Battalion 1 (mot) Signals Platoon 2 (mot) Companies (12 37mm PAK 36 and 6 LMGs ea) 58th (mot) Pioneer Battalion 2 (mot) Pioneer Companies (9 LMGs ea) 1 (mot) Bridging Company 2 Pioneer Platoons 3 Bridging Sections 1 Brko B Bridging Train 1 Brko K Bridging Train 1 (mot) Light Pioneer Supply Column 83rd (mot) Signals Battalion 1 (mot) Telephone Company (6 LMGs) 1 (mot) Radio Company (2 LMGs) 1 (mot) Light Supply Column 7th Motorcycle Battalion 2 Motorcycle Companies (2 80mm mortars, 3 50mm mortars, 2 HMGs and 18 LMGs ea) 1 (mot) Heavy Company 1 Pioneer Platoon (3 LMGs) 1 Machine Gun Platoon (4 HMGs)
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1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 37mm PAK 36 and 1 LMG) 2 Infantry Gun Sections (2 75mm leIG ea) 86th (mot) Flak Battalion 1 (mot) Signals Platoon 1 Battalion Band 3 (mot) Flak Companies (12 20mm ea) 1 (mot) Light Supply Column 58th Vehicle Battalion 8/,9/,10/58th (mot) Heavy Fuel Columns 1/,2/,3/58th Maintenance Companies 1/, 2/(mot) Supply Platoons 58th Munition Battalion 1/,2/,3/,4/,5/,6/,7/5 8th (mot) Light Supply Columns Other 1/, 2/5 8th (mot) Medical Companies 1, 21, 3/5 8th Ambulances 58th (mot) Field Post Office 58th (mot) Bakery Company 58th (mot) Butcher Company 1/, 2/58th (mot) Administration Platoons 58th (mot) Military Police Troop The 3/78th Artillery Regiment was formed from the 2/45th Artillery Regiment on 2 January 1941.The 66th Panzer Battalion became the 3/25th Panzer Regiment on 19 February 1941. On 22 June 1941, the day of the invasion of Russia, the organization of the armored portion of the division and its panzer inventory were as follows: 1/, 2, /, 3/25th Panzer Regiment 1 Regimental Staff Signals Platoon 1 Regimental Staff Light Panzer Platoon Each Battalion had 1 Panzer Staff Company 1 Medium Panzer Company 3 Light Panzer Companies Total tanks available: 53 PzMkII, 167 38 (t), 30 PzMk IV (kz), 7 38 (t), 8 PzBefWg. By 6 September 1941 the tank inventory had been reduced to: 9 PzMk I operational, 37 PzMk II , 62 PzMk III , 14 PzMk IV, 8 PzBefWg . On 15 March 1942 the 3/25th Panzer Regiment was disbanded, reducing the division to only 2 panzer battalions. The 37th Reconnaissance Battalion was merged with the 7th Motorcycle Battalion in 1943, to form the 7th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion. In January 1943 the organization of the armored portion of the division and its panzer inventory were as follows: 1/, 2/25th Panzer Regiment 1 Regimental Staff Signals Platoon 1 Regimental Staff Light Panzer Platoon Each Battalion had 1 Panzer Staff Company 1 Medium Panzer Company 3 Light Panzer Companies Total tanks available: 21 PzMk II , 91 PzMk III (50 lg), 14 PzMk III (75) , 2 PzMk IV (kz) , 18 PzMk IV (lg), 9 PzBefWg. The 296th Army Flak Battalion was assigned to the division in February 1943, as were the remains of the now destroyed 27th Panzer Division. In 1943 the division had: 1/, 2/6th Panzergrenadier Regiment 1/, 2/7th Panzergrenadier Regiment 7th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion 1/, 2/25th Panzer Regiment
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1/, 2/, 3/78th Panzer Artillery Regiment 296th Army Flak Battalion 42nd Panzerjager Battalion 83rd Panzer Signals Battalion 58th Panzer Pioneer Battalion 58th Divisional Support Units On 15 February 1943 the 127th Panzer Battalion, of the 27th Panzer Division, was disbanded and its remains were incorporated into the 25th Panzer Regiment. This probably occurred when the l/25th Panzer Division was sent to Germany to be re-equipped with Panther PzMkV tanks. This left the 2/25th Panzer Regiment, which began with three companies of Panzer PzMk III and one company of Panzer PzMk IV, but was slowly totally re-equipped with Panzer PzMk IV tanks. The 2/25th may have been renumbered as the l/25th Panzer Regiment. OKH records show that the division was organized and equipped as follows during 1943: Division Staff 1 Division Staff (2 LMGs) 58th (mot) Mapping Detachment 25th Panzer Regiment Regimental Staff 1 Signals Platoon 1 Regimental Band 1st Battalion 1 Regimental Staff and Staff Company (received 7 PzMk III flame panzers on 18 June 1943) 4 Panzer Companies (22 PzMk IV ea) 1 Panzer Maintenance Company 6th Panzergrenadier Regiment 1 Regimental Staff 1 Regimental Band 1 (mot) Regimental Staff Company 1 Signals Platoon 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 50mm PAK 38 and 3 LMGs) 1 Motorcycle Platoon (6 LMGs) 1st (mot) Battalion 3 (mot) Companies (4 HMGs, 18 LMGs, 2 80mm mortars and 3 PzBu39 ea) 1 (mot) Heavy Company 1 Pioneer Platoon (4 LMGs) 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 LMGs and 3 50mm PAK 38) 1 Infantry Gun Platoon (4 75mm leIG) 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 LMGs and 3 sPzBu 41) 2nd (half-track) Battalion 3 (half-track) Companies (4 HMGs, 34 LMGs, 2 80mm mortars and 3 75mm leIG ea) 1 (half-track) Heavy Company 1 Pioneer Platoon (4 LMGs) 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 50mm PAK 38 and 3 LMGs) 1 Infantry Gun Platoon (8 LMGs and 4 75mm leIG) 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 LMGs and 3 sPzBu 41) 1 Self-Propelled Infantry Gun Company (6 150mm sIG and 7 LMGs) 7th Panzergrenadier Regiment 1 Regimental Staff 1 Regimental Band 1 (mot) Regimental Staff Company 1 Signals Platoon 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 50mm PAK 38 and 3 LMGs) 1 Motorcycle Platoon (6 LMGs) 1st and 2nd (mot) Battalions
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same as 1/6th Panzergrenadier Regiment 1 Self-Propelled Infantry Gun Company (6 150mm sIG and 7 LMGs) 42nd Panzerjager Battalion 1 (motZ) Panzerjager Company (75mm PAK 40) 1 Self-Propelled Panzerjager Company (14 75mm PAK 40 and 14 LMGs ea) 7th Reconnaissance Battalion (early 1943 organization) 1 Armored Car Platoon (6 LMGs and 6 75mm guns) 1 Armored Car Company (24 LMGs and 18 20mm guns) 2 Motorcycle Companies (2 80mm mortars, 4 HMGs, 18 LMGs and 3 PzBu39 ea) 1 (half-track) Reconnaissance Company (2 80mm mortars, 4 HMGs, 56 LMGs and 3 75mm leIG) 1 (mot) Heavy Reconnaissance Company 1 Pioneer Platoon (4 LMGs) 1 Infantry Gun Section (4 75mm leIG) 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 LMGs and 3 75mm PAK 40) 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 LMGs and 3 sPzBu 41) 1 (mot) Light Reconnaissance Supply Column (3 LMGs) 7th Reconnaissance Battalion (as of 10 July 1943) 1 Armored Car Company (24 LMGs and 18 20mm guns) 1 Armored Car (half-track) Company (25 LMGs and 16 20mm guns) 1 Motorcycle Company (2 80mm mortars, 4 HMGs, 18 LMGs and 3 PzBu39) 1 (half-track) Heavy Reconnaissance Company 1 Staff (2 LMGs) 1 Infantry Platoon (9 LMGs) 1 Pioneer Platoon (1 37mm PAK 36, 6 flamethrowers and 13 LMGs) 1 Panzerjager Platoon (3 75mm PAK 40 and 4 LMGs) 1 Infantry Gun Section (2 75mm leIG) 1 Half-Track Gun Section (8 LMGs and 6 75mm guns) 1 (mot) Light Reconnaissance Supply Column (3 LMGs) 78th Panzer Artillery Regiment 1 Regimental Staff 1 Staff Battery (2 LMGs) 1st and 2nd Battalions, each with: 1 Battalion Staff 1 Battalion Staff Battery (6 LMGs) 3 (mot) Batteries (3 105mm leFH and 2 LMGs ea) 1st (self-propelled) Battalion (as of Aug. 1943) 1 Battalion Staff 1 Self-Propelled Battalion Staff Battery (2 LMGs) 2 Self-Propelled Batteries (6 105mm leFH SdKfz 124 Wespe and 4 LMGs ea) 1 Self-Propelled Battery (6 150mm sFH SdKfz 165 Hummel and 4 LMGs) 3rd (mot) Battalion 1 Battalion Staff 1 Battalion Staff Battery (6 LMGs) 2 (mot) Batteries (3 150mm sFH and 2 LMGs ea) 1 (mot) Battery (3 100mm K 18 guns and 2 LMGs) 78th (mot) Observation Battery (2 LMGs) 296th Army Flak Battalion 1 Staff and (mot) Staff Battery (1 LMG) lst-2nd (motZ) Heavy Flak Batteries (4 88mm, 3 20mm and 2 LMGs ea) 3rd (motZ) Light Flak Battery (12 20mm and 2 LMGs) 4th Self-Propelled Battery (8 20mm and 2 quad 20mm Flak guns and 4 LMGs) 1 (mot) Light (20 ton) Flak Supply Column 58th Panzer Pioneer Battalion
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1 Staff (2 LMGs) 2 (half-track) Pioneer Companies (25 LMGs, 2 80mm mortars and 3 PzBu39 ea) 1 (mot) Pioneer Company (18 LMGs, 3 PzBu39) and 2 80mm mortars ea) 1 Briiko K Bridging Column (3 LMGs) 1 (mot) Light Pioneer Supply Column (2 LMGs) 83rd Panzer Signals Battalion 1 Panzer Telephone Company (6 LMGs) 1 Panzer Radio Company (16 LMGs) 1 (mot) Light Signals Supply Column (1 LMG) 58th Feldersatz Battalion 4 Companies 58th Supply Troop l-6/58th (mot) (90 ton) Transportation Company (3 LMGs ea) 58th (mot) Heavy Fuel Column (2 LMGs) 58th (mot) Supply Company (6 LMGs) Truck Park 1-3/58th (mot) Maintenance Companies (4 LMGs ea) Other 58th (mot) Bakery Company 58th (mot) Butcher Company 58th (mot) Administration Platoon 1/, 2/58th (mot) Medical Companies (2 LMGs ea) 1/, 2/, 3/58th Ambulances 58th (mot) Military Police Troop (2 LMGs) 58th (mot) Field Post Office In July 1943 the organization of the armored portion of the division and its panzer inventory were as follows: 1/, 2/25th Panzer Regiment 1 Regimental Staff Signals Platoon 1 Regimental Staff Light Panzer Platoon Each Battalion had: 1 Panzer Staff Company 1 Medium Panzer Company 2 Light Panzer Companies Total tanks available: 12 PzMkII , 43 PzMk III (lg), 12 PzMkIII(75), 1 PzMk IV (kz), 37 PzMk IV (lg), 7 PzBefWg. On 5 May 1944 the 1/25th Panzer Regiment was equipped with Panther tanks. The 2/25th Panzer Regiment continued to be equipped with Panzer PzMk IV tanks. In a major battle on 23 January 1945 near Deutsch-Eylau the 25th Panzer Regiment engaged the Russians with 20 combat veicles against 200. It was obliterated, only to be quickly rebuilt. On 1 April 1945 the 4th Company/11th Panzer Regiment was equipped with infra-red equipment and attached to the rebuilt 25th Panzer Regiment. The division refitted on 19 April 1945 and absorbed the Panzer Auffrischungs Verband Krampnitz. Reduced to a kampfgruppe 1, it contained a single panzer battalion from the 25th Panzer Regiment with 10 PzMk V Panther and 13 PzMk IV tanks.The division was taken into British captivity on 3 May 1945. Commanding officers Generalmajor Georg Stumme (18 October 1939 5 February 1940) Generalmajor Erwin Rommel (5 February 1940 14 February 1941) Generalmajor Hans Freiherr von Funck (15 February 1941 17 August 1943) Oberst Wolfgang Glsemer (17 August 1943 20 August 1943) Generalmajor Hasso von Manteuffel (20 August 1943 1 January 1944) Generalmajor Adelbert Schulz (1 January 1944 28 January 1944) Oberst Wolfgang Glsemer (28 January 1944 30 January 1944) Generalmajor Dr. Karl Mauss (30 January 1944 2 May 1944)
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Generalmajor Gerhard Schmidhuber (2 May 1944 9 September 1944) Generalmajor Dr. Karl Mauss (9 September 1944 31 October 1944) Generalmajor Hellmuth Mder (31 October 1944 30 November 1944) Generalmajor Dr. Karl Mauss (30 November 1944 5 January 1945) Generalmajor Max Lemke (5 January 1945 23 January 1945) Generalmajor Dr. Karl Mauss (23 January 1945 25 March 1945) Oberst Hans Christern (26 March 1945 8 May 1945)

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Chapter II Fall Weiss: the invasion of Poland

1 September 1939

CHRONOLOGY 1938 29 September Britain and France agree to German demands that Czechoslovakia cede the Sudeteniand at the Munich conference, 1-7 October German troops occupy the Sudeteniand in Czechoslovakia 1939 15 March German army invades the remainder of Czechoslovakia, occupies Bohemia-Moravia and eventually allows Slovakia to form puppet state 22 March Germany seizes port of Memel from Lithuania 25 March Hitler orders start of preparations to invade Poland March Polish army begins partial mobilisation in response to German diplomatic pressure to cede Pomeranian corridor and allow return of Danzig to Germany 31 March British government announces its guarantee of Polish security, including maintaining the status quo of Danzig May Polish and French general staff hold meetings in France, during which France pledges major offensive against Germany two weeks after an invasion 23 August German foreign minister Ribbentrop and Soviet foreign minister Molotov announce German-Soviet non-aggression pact; which includes secret clauses agreeing to the dismemberment of Poland 24 August Britain gives written assurances to Poland in the event of war with Germany 26 August Hitler planned to start war today, but postpones the attack in wake of British security announcement 1 September War begins at 0400hrs with German battleship Schleswig-Holstein firing at Polish garrison on Westerplatte near Danzig 2 September German aqVances out of East Prussia force Army Modlin to withdraw to Vistula line 3 September France and Britain declare war on Germany 5 September Piotrkow falls, and the gateway to Warsaw is opened to German Panzers: in the evening, Armies Lodz, Krakow, Prusy and Poznan ordered to begin retreat behind the Vistula 7 September German tanks reach outskirts of Warsaw, but are thrown back in intense street fighting. Marshal Rydz-Smigly decides to shift headquarters from Warsaw to Brzesc-nad-Bugiem 9 September Army Poznan launches counter-attack along the Bzura River, catching the German 8th Army off guard 15 September Army Group North reaches northern outskirts of Warsaw, siege resumes 16 September Polish forces along the Bzura subjected to massive artillery and air attack; retreat to Warsaw ordered that evening 17 September Red Army begins to invade Poland from the east 19 September Army Krakow attempts to break out towards Romania through Tomaszow Lubelski 21 September Last units from Bzura counter-offensive finally surrender 22 September Encircled by German and Soviet troops, city of Lwow finally surrenders 25 September 'Black Monday', a massive Luftwaffe attack on Warsaw causes heavy civilian casualties 26 September Southern Warsaw forts captured 27 September Warsaw garrison surrenders 29 September Fortified Mocllin garrison surrenders 6 October Battlegroup under General Franciszek Kleeberg surrenders after a four-day battle around Kock; last major Polish unit in the field
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THE BEGINNING OF THE INVASION of Poland saw the 2nd Leichte Division launching its attack from the area around Horneck in Silesia. As part of the armoured spearhead of von Reichenau's 10th Army, its mission was to take part in the elimination of Polish forces around the key cities of Kielce and Radom. The Division advanced without much in the way of fighting, reaching Radom by 9 September. However, fighting was harder elsewhere, and the Division was one of several diverted to deal with a Polish counterattack at Bzura, to the west of Warsaw. After the battle, the Division advanced towards Modlin, continuing to encircle the south of the Polish capital. The Poles capitulated on 27 September 1939, and German units not needed for occupation duty were ordered home on 1 October. Arriving in Thuringia in mid-October, the 2nd Leichte prepared for radical change. As a result of combat experience in Poland, the Wehrmacht had learned some lessons about what kind of units were needed in large-scale combat. As a result, the four Leichte divisions were to be reorganized as fully-fledged Panzer divisions, to be numbered from 6 to 9. The 2nd Leichte Division was renamed the 7th Panzer Division on 18 October 1939. The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign (German: Polenfeldzug) or Fall Weiss (Case White) in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the beginning of World War II in Europe. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after the signing of the MolotovRibbentrop Pact, while the Soviet invasion commenced on 17 September 1939 following the Molotov-Tg agreement which terminated the Nomonhan incident on 16 September 1939. The campaign ended on 6 October 1939 with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland. The morning after the Gleiwitz incident, German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west. As the Germans advanced, Polish forces withdrew from their forward bases of operation close to the PolishGerman border to more established lines of defence to the east. After the mid-September Polish defeat in the Battle of the Bzura, the Germans gained an undisputed advantage. Polish forces then withdrew to the southeast where they prepared for a long defence of the Romanian Bridgehead and awaited expected support and relief from France and the United Kingdom. The two countries had pacts with Poland and had declared war on Germany on 3 September, though in the end their aid to Poland in the September campaign was very limited. The Soviet Red Army's invasion of Eastern Poland on 17 September, in accordance with a secret protocol of the MolotovRibbentrop Pact, rendered the Polish plan of defence obsolete. Facing a second front, the Polish government concluded the defence of the Romanian Bridgehead was no longer feasible and ordered an emergency evacuation of all troops to neutral Romania. On 6 October, following the Polish defeat at the Battle of Kock, German and Soviet forces gained full control over Poland. The success of the invasion marked the end of the Second Polish Republic, though Poland never formally surrendered. On 8 October, after an initial period of military administration, Germany directly annexed western Poland and the former Free City of Danzig and placed the remaining block of territory under the administration of the newly established General Government. The Soviet Union incorporated its newly acquired areas into its constituent Belarusian and Ukrainian republics, and immediately started a campaign of sovietization. In the aftermath of the invasion, a collective of underground resistance organizations formed the Polish Underground State within the territory of the former Polish state. Many of the military exiles that managed to escape Poland subsequently joined the Polish Armed Forces in the West, an armed force loyal to the Polish government in exile.

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Map 1 The map shows the beginning of World War II in September 1939 in a wider European context. Prelude to the campaign In 1933, the National-Socialist German Workers' Party, under its leader Adolf Hitler, came to power in Germany. Germany sought to gain back her lost territory in Europe, taken by the Treaty of Versailles and also to be eventually surrounded by a ring of allied states, satellite or puppet states. As part of this long term policy, Hitler at first pursued a policy of rapprochement with Poland, trying to improve GermanPolish relations, culminating in the German Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1934. Earlier, Hitler's foreign policy worked to weaken ties between Poland and France, and attempted to manoeuvre Poland into the Anti-Comintern Pact, forming a cooperative front against the Soviet Union. Poland would be granted territory of its own, to its northeast, but the concessions the Poles were expected to make meant that their homeland would become largely dependent on Germany, functioning as little more than a client state. The Poles feared that their independence would eventually be threatened altogether.

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Image: http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/2-51.jpg In addition to gaining Soviet territory, the National-Socialists were interested in establishing

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a new border with Poland because the German exclave of East Prussia was separated from the rest of the Reich by the "Polish Corridor". The Corridor constituted land long disputed by Poland and Germany, and inhabited by Polish majority. The Corridor became a part of Poland after the Treaty of Versailles. Many Germans also wanted the city of Danzig and its environs (together the Free City of Danzig) to be reincorporated into Germany. Danzig was a port city with German majority. It had been separated from Germany after Versailles and made into a nominally independent Free City of Danzig. Hitler sought to reverse these territorial losses, and on many occasions made an appeal to German nationalism, promising to "liberate" the German minority still in the Corridor, as well as Danzig. Poland participated in the partition of Czechoslovakia that followed the Munich Agreement, although they were not part of the agreement. It coerced Czechoslovakia to surrender the region of esk Tn by issuing an ultimatum to that effect on 30 September 1938, which was accepted by Czechoslovakia on 1 October. By 1937, Germany began to increase its demands for Danzig, while proposing that a roadway be built in order to connect East Prussia with Germany proper, running through the Polish Corridor. Poland rejected this proposal, fearing that after accepting these demands, it would become increasingly subject to the will of Germany and eventually lose its independence as the Czechs had. Polish leaders also distrusted Hitler. Furthermore, Germany's collaboration with anti-Polish Ukrainian nationalists from the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which was seen as an effort to isolate and weaken Poland, weakened Hitler's credibility from the Polish point of view. The British were also aware of the situation between Germany and Poland. On 31 March, Poland was backed by a guarantee from Britain and France which stated that Polish territorial integrity would be defended with their support. On the other hand, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, still hoped to strike a deal with Hitler regarding Danzig (and possibly the Polish Corridor), and Hitler hoped for the same. Chamberlain and his supporters believed war could be avoided and hoped Germany would agree to leave the rest of Poland alone. German hegemony over Central Europe was also at stake. With tensions mounting, Germany turned to aggressive diplomacy as well. On 28 April 1939, it unilaterally withdrew from both the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1934 and the London Naval Agreement of 1935. Talks over Danzig and the Corridor broke down and months passed without diplomatic interaction between Germany and Poland. During this interim, the Germans learned that France and Britain had failed to secure an alliance with the Soviet Union against Germany, and that the Soviet Union was interested in an alliance with Germany against Poland. Hitler had already issued orders to prepare for a possible "solution of the Polish problem by military means"a Case White scenario. However, with the surprise signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on 23 August, the denouement of secret Nazi-Soviet talks held in Moscow, Germany neutralized the possibility of Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and war became imminent. In fact, the Soviets agreed to aid Germany in the event of France or the UK going to war with Germany over Poland and, in a secret protocol of the pact, the Germans and the Soviets agreed to divide Eastern Europe, including Poland, into two spheres of influence; the western of the country was to go to Germany and the eastern 2/3 to the Soviet Union. The German assault was originally scheduled to begin at 04:00 on 26 August. However, on 25 August, the Polish-British Common Defense Pact was signed as an annex to the FrancoPolish Military Alliance. In this accord, Britain committed itself to the defence of Poland, guaranteeing to preserve Polish independence. At the same time, the British and the Poles were hinting to Berlin that they were willing to resume discussionsnot at all how Hitler hoped to frame the conflict. Thus, he wavered and postponed his attack until 1 September, managing to in effect halt the entire invasion "in mid-leap". However, there was one exception: in the night of 256 August, a German sabotage group which had not heard anything about a delay of the invasion made an attack on the Jablunkov Pass and Mosty railway station in Silesia. On the morning of 26 August, this group was repelled by Polish troops.
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Map 2 Planned and actual divisions of Poland, according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, with later adjustments The German side described all this as an incident "caused by an insane individual" On 26 August, Hitler tried to dissuade the British and the French from interfering in the upcoming conflict, even pledging that the Wehrmacht forces would be made available to Britain's empire in the future. The negotiations convinced Hitler that there was little chance the Western Allies would declare war on Germany, and even if they did, because of the lack of "territorial guarantees" to Poland, they would be willing to negotiate a compromise favourable to Germany after its conquest of Poland. Meanwhile, the increased number of overflights by high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and cross border troop movements signaled that war was imminent. On 29 August, prompted by the British, Germany issued one last diplomatic offer, with Fall Weiss "Case White" yet to be rescheduled. That evening, the German government responded in a communication that it aimed not only for the restoration of Danzig but also the Polish Corridor (which had not previously been part of Hitlers demands) in addition to the safeguarding of the German minority in Poland. It said that they were willing to commence negotiations, but indicated that a Polish representative with the power to sign an agreement had to arrive in Berlin the next day while in the meantime it would draw up a set of proposals. The British Cabinet was pleased that negotiations had been agreed to but, mindful of how Emil Hacha had been forced to sign his country away under similar circumstances just months earlier, regarded the requirement for an immediate arrival of a Polish representative with full signing powers as an unacceptable ultimatum. On the night of 30/31 August, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop read a 16-point German proposal to the British ambassador. When the ambassador requested a copy of the proposals for transmission to the Polish government Ribbentrop refused on the grounds that the requested Polish representative had failed to arrive by midnight. When Polish Ambassador Lipski went to see Rib23/138

bentrop later on 31 August to indicate that Poland was favorably disposed to negotiations, he announced that he did not have the full power to sign, and Ribbentrop dismissed him. It was then broadcast that Poland had rejected Germany's offer, and negotiations with Poland came to an end. Hitler issued orders for the invasion to commence soon afterwards. On 29 August, German saboteurs planted a bomb at the railway station in Tarnw and killed 21 passengers, leaving 35 wounded. On 30 August, the Polish Navy sent its destroyer flotilla to Britain, executing Operation Peking. On the same day, Marshal of Poland Edward Rydz-migy announced the mobilization of Polish troops. However, he was pressured into revoking the order by the French, who apparently still hoped for a diplomatic settlement, failing to realize that the Germans were fully mobilized and concentrated at the Polish border. During the night of 31 August, the Gleiwitz incident, a false flag attack on the radio station, was staged near the border city of Gleiwitz by German units posing as Polish troops, in Upper Silesia as part of the wider Operation Himmler. On 31 August 1939, Hitler ordered hostilities against Poland to start at 4:45 the next morning. Because of the prior stoppage, Poland managed to mobilize only 70% of its planned forces, and many units were still forming or moving to their designated frontline positions. Opposing forces Germany Germany had a substantial numeric advantage over Poland and had developed a significant military prior to the conflict. The Heer (army) had some 2.400 tanks organized into six panzer divisions, utilizing a new operational doctrine. It held that these divisions should act in coordination with other elements of the military, punching holes in the enemy line and isolating selected units, which would be encircled and destroyed. This would be followed up by less-mobile mechanized infantry and foot soldiers. The Luftwaffe (air force) provided both tactical and strategic air power, particularly dive bombers that disrupted lines of supply and communications. Together, the new methods were nicknamed "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). Historian Basil Liddell Hart claimed "Poland was a full demonstration of the Blitzkrieg theory." Some other historians, however, disagree. Aircraft played a major role in the campaign. Bombers also attacked cities, causing huge losses amongst the civilian population through terror bombing. The Luftwaffe forces consisted of 1.180 fighters, 290 Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers, 1,100 conventional bombers (mainly Heinkel He 111s and Dornier Do 17s), and an assortment of 550 transport and 350 reconnaissance aircraft. In total, Germany had close to 4,000 aircraft, most of them modern. A force of 2.315 aircraft was assigned to Weiss. Due to its prior participation in the Spanish Civil War, the Luftwaffe was probably the most experienced, best trained and best equipped air force in the world in 1939.

Poland
Between 1936 and 1939, Poland invested heavily in the Central Industrial Region. Preparations for a defensive war with Germany were ongoing for many years, but most plans assumed fighting would not begin before 1942. To raise funds for industrial development, Poland sold much of the modern equipment it produced. In 1936, a National Defence Fund was set up to collect funds necessary for strengthening the Polish Armed forces. The Polish Army had approximately a million soldiers, but less than half were mobilized by 1 September. Latecomers sustained significant casualties when public transport became targets of the Luftwaffe. The Polish military had fewer armored forces than the Germans, and these units, dispersed within the infantry, were unable to effectively engage the enemy. Experiences in the Polish-Soviet War shaped Polish Army organizational and operational doctrine. Unlike the trench warfare of World War I, the Polish-Soviet War was a conflict in which the cavalry's mobility played a decisive role.

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Map 3 Operations in Poland Image http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/3-2.jpg

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Poland acknowledged the benefits of mobility but was unable to invest heavily in many of the expensive, unproven inventions since then. In spite of this, Polish cavalry brigades were used as a mobile mounted infantry and had some successes against both German infantry and cavalry. The Polish Air Force (Lotnictwo Wojskowe) was at a severe disadvantage against the German Luftwaffe, although it was not destroyed on the ground early on, as is commonly believed. The Polish Air Force lacked modern fighters, but its pilots were among the world's best trained, as proven a year later in the Battle of Britain, in which the Poles played a major part. Overall, the Germans enjoyed numerical and qualitative aircraft superiority. Poland had only about 600 aircraft, of which only 37 P-37 o bombers were modern and comparable to its German counterparts. The Polish Air Force had roughly 185 PZL P.11 and some 95 PZL P.7 fighters, 175 PZL.23 Kara Bs, 35 Kara As, and by September, over 100 PZL.37s were produced. However, for the September Campaign, only some 70% of those aircraft were mobilized. Only 36 PZL.37s were deployed. All those aircraft were of indigenous Polish design, with the bombers being more modern than fighters, according to the Ludomi Rayski air force expansion plan, which relied on a strong bomber force. The Polish fighters were a generation older than their German counterparts; the PZL P.11 fighterproduced in the early 1930shad a top speed of only 365 km/h (227 mph), far less than German bombers. To compensate, the pilots relied on its maneuverability and high diving speed. The tank force consisted of two armored brigades, four independent tank battalions and some 30 companies of TKS tankettes attached to infantry divisions and cavalry brigades. A standard tank of the Polish Army during the invasion of 1939 was the 7TP light tank. It was the first tank in the world to be equipped with a diesel engine and 360 Gundlach periscope. The 7TP was significantly better armed than its most common opponents, the German Panzer I and II, but only 140 tanks were produced between 1935 and the outbreak of the war. Poland had also a few relatively modern imported designs, such as 50 Renault R35 tanks and 38 Vickers E tanks. The Polish Navy was a small fleet of destroyers, submarins ad smaller support vessels. Most Polish surface units followed Operation Peking, leaving Polish ports on 20 August and escaping by way of the North Sea to join with the British Royal Navy. Submarine forces participated in Operation Worek, with the goal of engaging and damaging German shipping in the Baltic Sea, but they had much less success. In addition, many merchant marine ships joined the British merchant fleet and took part in wartime convoys. Details of the campaign German plan The September Campaign was devised by General Franz Halder, chief of the general staff, and directed by General Walther von Brauchitsch, the commander in chief of the upcoming campaign. It called for the start of hostilities before a declaration of war, and pursued a doctrine of mass encirclement and destruction of enemy forces. The infantryfar from completely mechanized but fitted with fast moving artillery and logistic supportwas to be supported by Panzers and small numbers of truck-mounted infantry (the Schtzen regiments, forerunners of the panzergrenadiers) to assist the rapid movement of troops and concentrate on localized parts of the enemy front, eventually isolating segments of the enemy, surrounding, and destroying them. The pre-war "armored idea" (which an American journalist in 1939 dubbed Blitzkrieg)which was advocated by some generals, including Heinz Guderian would have had the armor punching holes in the enemy's front and ranging deep into rear areas; in actuality, the campaign in Poland would be fought along more traditional lines. This stemmed from conservatism on the part of the German high command, who mainly restricted the role of armor and mechanized forces to supporting the conventional infantry divisions. Poland's terrain was well suited for mobile operations when the weather cooperated; the country had flat plains with long frontiers totalling almost 5,600 km (3,500 mi), Poland's
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long border with Germany on the west and northfacing East Prussiaextended 2,000 km (1,200 mi).

Illustration 1: German Panzer units in Poland were equiped mainly with light tanks like the PzKpfw II, seen here armed with a 20mm cannon. Those had been lengthened by another 300 km (190 mi) on the southern side in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement of 1938. The German incorporation of Bohemia and Moravia and creation of the German puppet state of Slovakia meant that Poland's southern flank was exposed. German planners intended to fully exploit their long border with the great enveloping manoeuver of Fall Weiss. German units were to invade Poland from three directions: A main attack over the western Polish border. This was to be carried out by Army Group South commanded by General Gerd von Rundstedt, attacking from German Silesia and from the Moravian and Slovak border: General Johannes Blaskowitz's 8th Army was to drive eastward against d; General Wilhelm List's 14th Army was to push on toward Krakw and to turn the Poles' Carpathian flank; and General Walter von Reichenau's 10th Army, in the centre with Army Group South's armor, was to deliver the decisive blow with a northeastward thrust into the heart of Poland. A second route of attack from northern Prussia. General Fedor von Bock commanded Army Group North, comprising General Georg von Kchler's 3rd Army, which was to strike southward from East Prussia, and General Gnther von Kluge's 4th Army, which was to attack eastward across the base of the Polish Corridor. A tertiary attack by part of Army Group South's allied Slovak units from Slovakia. From within Poland, the German minority would assist by engaging in diversion and sabotage operations through Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz units prepared before the war. All three assaults were to converge on Warsaw, while the main Polish army was to be encircled and destroyed west of the Vistula. Fall Weiss was initiated on 1 September 1939, and was the first operation of World War II in Europe. Polish defence plan. The Polish political determination to deploy forces directly at the German-Polish border, based on the Polish-British Common Defense Pact, shaped the country's defence plan, "Plan West". Poland's most valuable natural resources, industry and population were located along the western border in Eastern Upper Silesia. Polish policy centred on their protection espe27/138

cially since many politicians feared that if Poland were to retreat from the regions disputed by Germany, Britain and France would sign a separate peace treaty with Germany similar to the Munich Agreement of 1938. The fact that none of Poland's allies had specifically guaranteed Polish borders or territorial integrity certainly did not help in easing Polish concerns. For these reasons, Poland disregarded French advice to deploy the bulk of their forces behind the natural barriers such as the Vistula and San rivers, even though some Polish generals supported it as a better strategy. The West Plan did permit the Polish armies to retreat inside the country, but it was supposed to be a slow retreat behind prepared positions and was intended to give the armed forces time to complete its mobilization and execute a general counteroffensive with the support of the Western Allies. The Polish General Staff had not begun elaborating the "West" defence plan until 4 March 1939. It was assumed that the Polish Army, fighting in the initial phase of the war alone, would be compelled to defend the western regions of the country. The plan of operations took into account, first of all, the numerical and material superiority of the enemy and, consequently, assumed the defensive character of Polish operations. The Polish intentions were: the defence of the western regions judged as indispensable for waging the war, the taking advantage of the propitious conditions for counterblows by reserve units, the avoidance of being smashed before the beginning of Allied operations in the West and the making of decisions depending of the existing situation. The operational plan had not been elaborated in detail and concerned only the first stage of operations. The British and French estimated that Poland should be able to defend itself for two to three months, while Poland estimated it could do so for at least six months. Poland drafted its estimates based upon the expectation that the Western Allies honor their treaty obligations and quickly start an offensive of their own. In addition, the French and British expected the war to develop into trench warfare much like World War I. The Polish government was not notified of this strategy and based all of its defence plans on promises of quick relief by their Western allies. Polish forces were stretched thinly along the Polish-German border and lacked compact defence lines and good defence positions along disadvantageous terrain. This strategy also left supply lines poorly protected. One-third of Poland's forces were massed in or near the Polish Corridor, making them vulnerable to a double envelopment from East Prussia and the west. Another third were concentrated in the north-central part of the country, between the major cities of d and Warsaw. The forward positioning of Polish forces vastly increased the difficulty of carrying out strategic maneuvers, compounded by inadequate mobility, as Polish units often lacked the ability to retreat from their defensive positions as they were being overrun by more mobile German mechanized formations. As the prospect of conflict increased, the British government pressed Marshal Edward Rydzmigy to evacuate the most modern elements of the Polish Navy from the Baltic Sea. In the event of war the Polish military leaders realized that the ships which remained in the Baltic were likely to be quickly sunk by the Germans. Furthermore, the Danish straits were well within operating range of the German Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe, so there was little chance of an evacuation plan succeeding if implemented after hostilities began. Four days after the signing of the Polish-British Common Defense Pact, three destroyers of the Polish Navy executed the Peking Plan and consequently evacuated to Great Britain. Although the Polish military had prepared for conflict, the civilian population remained largely unprepared. Polish pre-war propaganda emphasized that any German invasion would be easily repelled. Consequently, Polish defeats during the German invasion came as a shock to the civilian population. Lacking training for such a disaster, the civilian population panicked and retreated east, spreading chaos, lowering troop morale and making road transportation for Polish troops very difficult. Phase 1: German invasion Following several German-staged incidents (like the Gleiwitz incident, a part of Operation Himmler), which German propaganda used as an excuse to claim that German forces were
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acting in self-defence, the first regular act of war took place on 1 September 1939, at 04:40, when the Luftwaffe attacked the Polish town of Wielu, destroying 75% of the city and killing close to 1.200 people, most of them civilians. This invasion subsequently began World War II. Five minutes later, the old German pre-dreadnought battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish military transit depot at Westerplatte in the Free City of Danzig on the Baltic Sea. At 08:00, German troopsstill without a formal declaration of war issuedattacked near the Polish town of Mokra. The Battle of the Border had begun. Later that day, the Germans attacked on Poland's western, southern and northern borders, while German aircraft began raids on Polish cities. The main axis of attack led eastwards from Germany proper through the western Polish border. Supporting attacks came from East Prussia in the north, and a co-operative German-Slovak tertiary attack by units (Field Army "Bernolk") from German-allied Slovakia in the south. All three assaults converged on the Polish capital of Warsaw. The Allied governments declared war on Germany on 3 September; however, they failed to provide any meaningful support. The German-French border saw only a few minor skirmishes, although the majority of German forces, including 85% of their armoured forces, were engaged in Poland. Despite some Polish successes in minor border battles, German technical, operational and numerical superiority forced the Polish armies to retreat from the borders towards Warsaw and Lww. The Luftwaffe gained air superiority early in the campaign. By destroying communications, the Luftwaffe increased the pace of the advance which overran Polish airstrips and early warning sites, causing logistical problems for the Poles. Many Polish Air Force units ran low on supplies, 98 of their number withdrew into then-neutral Romania. The Polish initial strength of 400 was reduced to just 54 by 14 September and air opposition virtually ceased. By 3 September, when Gnther von Kluge in the north had reached the Vistula river (some 10 km (6.2 mi) from the German border at that time) and Georg von Kchler was approaching the Narew River, Walther von Reichenau's armor was already beyond the Warta river; two days later, his left wing was well to the rear of d and his right wing at the town of Kielce. By 8 September, one of his armored corpshaving advanced 225 km (140 mi) in the first week of the campaignreached the outskirts of Warsaw. Light divisions on Reichenau's right were on the Vistula between Warsaw and the town of Sandomierz by 9 September while Listin the southwas on the San River above and below the town of Przemyl. At the same time, Guderian led his 3rd Army tanks across the Narew, attacking the line of the Bug River, already encircling Warsaw. All the German armies made progress in fulfilling their parts of the Fall Weiss plan. The Polish armies were splitting up into uncoordinated fragments, some of which were retreating while others were launching disjointed attacks on the nearest German columns.. Polish forces abandoned the regions of Pomerelia (the Polish Corridor), Greater Poland and Polish Upper Silesia in the first week. The Polish plan for border defence was proven a dismal failure. The German advance as a whole was not slowed. On 10 September, the Polish commander-in-chiefMarshal Edward Rydz-migyordered a general retreat to the southeast, towards the so-called Romanian Bridgehead. Meanwhile, the Germans were tightening their encirclement of the Polish forces west of the Vistula (in the d area and, still farther west, around Pozna) and also penetrating deeply into eastern Poland. Warsawunder heavy aerial bombardment since the first hours of the warwas attacked on 9 September and was put under siege on 13 September. Around that time, advanced German forces also reached the city of Lww, a major metropolis in eastern Poland. 1,150 German aircraft bombed Warsaw on 24 September. The Polish defensive plan called for a strategy of encirclement: they were to allow the Germans to advance in between two Polish Army groups in the line between Berlin and WarsawLodz, at which point Armia Prusy would move in and repulse the German spearhead, trapping them. In order for this to happen, Armia Prusy needed to be fully mobilized by 3 September.

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Map 4: Campaign in Poland 1939 http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map3.jpg However, Polish military planners failed to foresee the speed of the German advance and predicted that Armia Prusy would need to be fully mobilized by 16 September, by which time it was too late. The largest battle during this campaignthe Battle of Bzuratook place near the Bzura river west of Warsaw and lasted 919 September. Polish armies Pozna and Pomorze, retreating from the border area of the Polish Corridor, attacked the flank of the advancing German 8th Army, but the counterattack failed after initial success. After the defeat, Poland lost its ability to take the initiative and counterattack on a large scale. German air power was instrumental during the battle. The Luftwaffe's offensive broke what remained of Polish resistance in an "awesome demonstration of air power". The Luftwaffe quickly destroyed the bridges across the Bzura River. Afterward, the Polish forces were trapped out in the open, and were attacked by wave after wave of Stukas, dropping 50 kg (110 lb) "light bombs" which caused huge numbers of casualties. The Polish anti-aircraft batteries ran out of ammunition and retreated to the forests, but were then "smoked out" by the Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17s dropping 100 kg (220 lb) incendiaries. The Luftwaffe left the army with the task of mopping up survivors. The Stukageschwaders alone dropped 388 t (428 short tons) of bombs during this battle. The Polish government (of President Ignacy Mocicki) and the high command (of Marshal Edward Rydz-migy) left Warsaw in the first days of the campaign and headed southeast, reaching Lublin on 6 September. From there, it moved on 9 September to Kremenez, and on 13 September to Zaleshiki on the Romanian border. Rydz-migy ordered the Polish forces to retreat in the same direction, behind the Vistula and San rivers, beginning the preparations
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for the long defense of the Romanian Bridgehead area. Phase 2: after Soviet Union invaded from the east From the beginning, the German government repeatedly asked Vyacheslav Molotov whether the Soviet Union would keep to its side of the partition bargain. The Soviet forces were holding fast along their designated invasion points pending finalization of the five-month-long undeclared war with Japan in the far east. On 15 September 1939 the Ambassadors Molotov and Shigenori Tg completed their agreement ending the conflict, and the Nomonhan cease-fire went into effect on 16 September 1939. Now cleared of any "second front" threat from the Japanese, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin ordered his forces into Poland on 17 September. It was agreed that the USSR would relinquish its interest in the territories between the new border and Warsaw in exchange for inclusion of Lithuania in the Soviet "zone of interest". By 17 September, the Polish defence was already broken and the only hope was to retreat and reorganize along the Romanian Bridgehead. However, these plans were rendered obsolete nearly overnight, when the over 800.000 strong Soviet Red Army entered and created the Belarussian and Ukrainian fronts after invading the eastern regions of Poland in violation of the Riga Peace Treaty, the Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact, and other international treaties, both bilateral and multilateral. Soviet diplomacy claimed that they were "protecting the Ukrainian and Belarusian minorities of eastern Poland since the Polish government had abandoned the country and the Polish state ceased to exist". Polish border defence forces in the eastknown as the Korpus Ochrony Pograniczaconsisted of about 25 battalions. Edward Rydz-migy ordered them to fall back and not engage the Soviets. This, however, did not prevent some clashes and small battles, such as the Battle of Grodno, as soldiers and local population attempted to defend the city. The Soviets murdered numerous Polish officers, including prisoners of war like General Jzef Olszyna-Wilczyski. The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists rose against the Poles, and communist partisans organized local revolts, robbing and murdering Poles. Those movements were quickly disciplined by the NKVD. The Soviet invasion was one of the decisive factors that convinced the Polish government that the war in Poland was lost. Prior to the Soviet attack from the east, the Polish military's fall-back plan had called for long-term defence against Germany in the south-eastern part of Poland, while awaiting relief from a Western Allies attack on Germany's western border. However, the Polish government refused to surrender or negotiate a peace with Germany. Instead, it ordered all units to evacuate Poland and reorganize in France. Meanwhile, Polish forces tried to move towards the Romanian Bridgehead area, still actively resisting the German invasion. From 1720 September, Polish armies Krakw and Lublin were crippled at the Battle of Tomaszw Lubelski, the second largest battle of the campaign. The city of Lww capitulated on 22 September because of Soviet intervention; the city had been attacked by the Germans over a week earlier, and in the middle of the siege, the German troops handed operations over to their Soviet allies. Despite a series of intensifying German attacks, Warsawdefended by quickly reorganized retreating units, civilian volunteers and militiaheld out until 28 September. The Modlin Fortress north of Warsaw capitulated on 29 September after an intense 16-day battle. Some isolated Polish garrisons managed to hold their positions long after being surrounded by German forces. Westerplatte enclave's tiny garrison capitulated on 7 September and the Oksywie garrison held until 19 September; Hel Fortified Area was defended until 2 October. In the last week of September, Hitler made a speech in the city of Danzig in which he said: Poland never will rise again in the form of the Versailles treaty. That is guaranteed not only by Germany, but also Russia. Despite a Polish victory at the Battle of Szack, after which the Soviets executed all the officers and NCOs they had captured, the Red Army reached the line of rivers Narew, Bug River, Vistula and San by 28 September, in many cases meeting German units advancing from the other direction. Polish defenders on the Hel peninsula on the shore of the Baltic Sea held out until 2 October.

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The last operational unit of the Polish Army, General Franciszek Kleeberg's Samodzielna Grupa Operacyjna "Polesie", surrendered after the four-day Battle of Kock near Lublin on 6 October marking the end of the September Campaign.

Civilian losses The Polish September Campaign was an instance of total war. Consequently, civilian casualties were high during and after combat. From the start, the Luftwaffe attacked civilian targets
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and columns of refugees along the roads to wreak havoc, disrupt communications, and target Polish morale. Apart from the victims of battles, the German forces (both SS and the regular Wehrmacht) murdered several thousand Polish civilians.

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Map 5 The race for Warsaw, 7 September 1939 http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map4.jpg During Operation Tannenberg, nearly 20,000 Poles were shot at 760 mass execution sites by the Einsatzgruppen. The Polish Campaign was the first action by Adolf Hitler in his attempt to create Lebensraum, or living space, for the ethnic German people. The German retaliation against the opposing Polish civilians quickly turned into an atrocity. The German retaliation quickly turned into irregular warfare against innocent Polish men, women, and children. The brutality that the German army carried out on the civilians was justifiable in their eyes. Many historians have studied the reasoning behind this brutality and have found that Nazi propaganda could be one of the factors. Nazi propaganda worked to manipulate the German people into believing that the Jewish and other ethnic people were the enemy Altogether, the civilian losses of Polish population amounted to about 150.000200.000 while German civilian losses amounted to roughly 3.250 (including 2.000 who died fighting Polish troops as members of a fifth column). Aftermath Poland was divided among Germany, the Soviet Union, and Slovakia. Lithuania received the city of Wilno and its environs on 28 October 1939 from the Soviet Union. On 8 and 13 September 1939, the German military districts of "Posen" (Poznan)commanded by General Alfred von Vollard-Bockelbergand "Westpreuen" (West Prussia)commanded by General Walter Heitzwere established in conquered Greater Poland and Pomerelia, respectively. Based on laws of 21 May 1935 and 1 June 1938, the German Wehrmacht shared its administrative powers with civilian "chief civil administrators" (Chefs der Zivilverwaltung, CdZ). German dictator Adolf Hitler appointed Arthur Greiser to become the CdZ of the Posen military district, and Danzig's Gauleiter Albert Forster to become the CdZ of the West Prussian military district. On 3 October, the military districts "Lodz" and "Krakau" (Cracow) were set up under command of Generalobersten (Colonel-Generals)) Gerd von Rundstedt and Wilhelm List, and Hitler appointed Hans Frank and Arthur Seyss-Inquart as civil heads, respectively. At the same time, Frank was appointed "supreme chief administrator" for all occupied territories. On 28 September, another secret German-Soviet protocol modified the arrangements of August: all of Lithuania was shifted to the Soviet sphere of influence; in exchange, the dividing line in Poland was moved in Germany's favour, eastwards towards the Bug River. On 8 October, Germany formally annexed the western parts of Poland with Greiser and Forster as Reichsstatthalter, while the south-central parts were administered as the General Government led by Frank. Even though water barriers separated most of the spheres of interest, the Soviet and German troops met on numerous occasions. The most remarkable event of this kind occurred at Brest-Litovsk on 22 September. The German 19th Panzer Corpscommanded by General Heinz Guderianhad occupied the city, which lay within the Soviet sphere of interest. When the Soviet 29th Tank Brigadecommander by S. M. Krivosheinapproached, the commanders negotiated that the German troops would withdraw and the Soviet troops would enter the city saluting each other. At Brest-Litovsk, Soviet and German commanders held a joint victory parade before German forces withdrew westward behind a new demarcation line. Just three days earlier, however, the parties had a more hostile encounter near Lwow (Lviv, Lemberg), when the German 137th Gebirgsjgerregimenter (mountain infantry regiment) attacked a reconnaissance detachment of the Soviet 24th Tank Brigade; after a few casualties on both sides, the parties turned to negotiations. The German troops left the area, and the Red Army troops entered Lvov on 22 September. The MolotovRibbentrop pact and the invasion of Poland marked the beginning of a period during which the government of the Soviet Union increasingly tried to convince itself that the actions of Germany were reasonable, and were not developments to be worried about, despite evidence to the contrary. On 7 September 1939, just a few days after France and Britain joi-

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ned the war against Germany, Stalin explained to a colleague that the war was to the advantage of the Soviet Union, as follows: A war is on between two groups of capitalist countries... for the redivision of the world, for the domination of the world! We see nothing wrong in their having a good hard fight and weakening each other... Hitler, without understanding it or desiring it, is shaking and undermining the capitalist system... We can manoeuvre, pit one side against the other to set them fighting with each other as fiercely as possible... The annihilation of Poland would mean one fewer bourgeois fascist state to contend with! What would be the harm if as a result of the rout of Poland we were to extend the socialist system onto new territories and populations? About 65.000 Polish troops were killed in the fighting, with 420.000 others being captured by the Germans and 240.000 more by the Soviets (for a total of 660.000 prisoners). Up to 120.000 Polish troops escaped to neutral Romania (through the Romanian Bridgehead and Hungary), and another 20.000 to Latvia and Lithuania, with the majority eventually making their way to France or Britain. Most of the Polish Navy succeeded in evacuating to Britain as well. German personnel losses were less than their enemies (~16.000 KIA). None of the parties to the conflictGermany, the Western Allies or the Soviet Unionexpected that the German invasion of Poland would lead to a war that would surpass World War I in its scale and cost. It would be months before Hitler would see the futility of his peace negotiation attempts with the United Kingdom and France, but the culmination of combined European and Pacific conflicts would result in what was truly a "world war". Thus, what was not seen by most politicians and generals in 1939 is clear from the historical perspective: The Polish September Campaign marked the beginning of the Second World War in Europe, which combined with the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the Pacific War in 1941, formed the cataclysm known as World War II. The invasion of Poland led Britain and France to declare war on Germany on 3 September. However, they did little to affect the outcome of the September Campaign. No declaration of war was issued by Britain and France against the Soviet Union. This lack of direct help led many Poles to believe that they had been betrayed by their Western allies. On 23 May 1939, Hitler explained to his officers that the object of the aggression was not Danzig, but the need to obtain German Lebensraum and details of this concept would be later formulated in the infamous Generalplan Ost. The invasion decimated urban residential areas, civilians soon became indistinguishable from combatants, and the forthcoming German occupation (both on the annexed territories and in the General Government) was one of the most brutal episodes of World War II, resulting in between 5.47 million and 5.67 million Polish deaths (about 20% of the country's "total" population, and over 90% of its Jewish minority)including the mass murder of 3 million Polish citizens (mainly Jews as part of the final solution) in extermination camps like Auschwitz, in concentration camps, and in numerous ad hoc massacres, where civilians were rounded up, taken to a nearby forest, machinegunned, and then buried, whether they were dead or not. According to the Polish Institute of National Remembrance, Soviet occupation between 1939 and 1941 resulted in the death of 150,000 and deportation of 320,000 of Polish citizens, when all who were deemed dangerous to the Soviet regime were subject to sovietization, forced resettlement, imprisonment in labor camps (the Gulags) or murdered, like the Polish officers in the Katyn massacre. Misconceptions There are several common misconceptions regarding the Polish September Campaign. The Polish Army fought German tanks with horse-mounted cavalry wielding lances and swords. In 1939, only 10% of the Polish army was made up of cavalry units. Polish cavalry never charged German tanks or entrenched infantry or artillery, but usually acted as mobile infantry (like dragoons) and reconnaissance units and executed cavalry charges only in rare situations against foot soldiers. Other armies (including German and Soviet) also fielded and extensi35/138

vely used elite horse cavalry units at that time. Polish cavalry consisted of eleven brigades, as emphasized by its military doctrine, equipped with anti tank rifles "UR" and light artillery such as the highly effective Bofors 37 mm anti-tank gun. The myth originated from war correspondents reports of the Battle of Krojanty, where a Polish cavalry brigade was fired upon in ambush by hidden armored vehicles, after it had mounted a sabre-charge against German infantry. The Polish Air Force was destroyed on the ground in the first days of the war. The Polish Air Force, though numerically inferior, had been moved from air bases to small camouflaged airfields shortly before the war. Only some trainers and auxiliary aircraft were destroyed on the ground. The Polish Air Force, significantly outnumbered and with its fighters outmatched by more advanced German fighters, remained active up to the second week of the campaign, inflicting significant damage on the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe lost, to all operational causes, 285 aircraft, with 279 more damaged beyond repair, while the Poles lost 333 aircraft. Poland offered little resistance and surrendered quickly. In the first few days, Germany sustained very heavy losses: Poland cost the Germans an entire armored division, thousands of soldiers, and 25% of its air strength. As for duration, the September Campaign lasted only about one week less than the Battle of France in 1940, even though the Anglo-French forces were much closer to parity with the Germans in numerical strength and equipment. Furthermore, the Polish Army was preparing the Romanian Bridgehead, which would have prolonged Polish defence, but this plan was cancelled due to the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939. Poland also never officially surrendered to the Germans. Under German occupation, the Polish army continued to fight underground, as Armia Krajowa and forest partisansLeni. The Polish resistance movement in World War II in German-occupied Poland was one of the largest resistance movements in all of occupied Europe. Blitzkrieg was first used in Poland. It is often assumed that blitzkrieg is the strategy that Germany first used in Poland. Many early post-war histories, such as Barrie Pitt's in The Second World War (BPC Publishing 1966), attribute German victory to "enormous development in military technique which occurred between 1918 and 1940", citing that "Germany, who translated (British inter-war) theories into action called the result Blitzkrieg." This idea has been repudiated by some authors. Matthew Cooper writes: "Throughout the Polish Campaign, the employment of the mechanized units revealed the idea that they were intended solely to ease the advance and to support the activities of the infantry. Thus, any strategic exploitation of the armoured idea was stillborn. The paralysis of command and the breakdown of morale were not made the ultimate aim of the German ground and air forces, and were only incidental by-products of the traditional manoeuvers of rapid encirclement and of the supporting activities of the flying artillery of the Luftwaffe, both of which had as their purpose the physical destruction of the enemy troops. Such was the Vernichtungsgedanke of the Polish campaign." Vernichtungsgedanke was a strategy dating back to Frederick the Great, and was applied in the Polish Campaign little changed from the French campaigns in 1870 or 1914. The use of tanks "left much to be desired...Fear of enemy action against the flanks of the advance, fear which was to prove so disastrous to German prospects in the west in 1940 and in the Soviet Union in 1941, was present from the beginning of the war." John Ellis, writing in Brute Force asserted that "there is considerable justice in Matthew Cooper's assertion that the panzer divisions were not given the kind of strategic (emphasis in original) mission that was to characterize authentic armoured blitzkrieg, and were almost always closely subordinated to the various mass infantry armies." Zaloga and Madej, in The Polish Campaign 1939, also address the subject of mythical interpretations of Blitzkrieg and the importance of other arms in the campaign. "Whilst Western accounts of the September campaign have stressed the shock value of the panzers and Stuka attacks, they have tended to underestimate the punishing effect of German artillery (emphasis added) on Polish units. Mobile and available in significant quantity, artillery shattered as many units as any other branch of the Wehrmacht."
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Chapter III Battle of France

CHRONOLOGY 1935 Hitler announces creation of Luftwaffe, which already has 1,000 front-line aircraft. 1936 Hitler speeds up manufacture of light and medium bombers. 1937 Germany has 39 divisions in her army. March 1938 Anschluss: annexation of Austria. . October Repossession of Sudetenland. January 1939 German Army strength now 51 divisions. March Invasion of Czechoslovakia. May Germany signs Pact of Steel with Italy. August Germany signs Non-Aggression Pact with Russia. 1 September Invasion of Poland. 3 September Britain and France declare war on Germany; on mobilization Germany fields more than 100 divisions. 10 September British Expeditionary Force established in Northern France. 10 January German courier carrying plans for invasion of Holland and Belgium arrested on Belgian territory. February German Plan 'Sichehchnitf eventually emerges, giving main attack to von Rundstedt (45 divisions including 7 panzer divisions) through Ardennes on front Dinant to Sedan; von Bock in the north (with 29 divisions including 3 panzer divisions) to draw and hold the Allies; von Leeb (19 divisions) in the south opposite the Maginot Line to prevent French reinforcements moving up. March Gamelin adopts Dyle-Breda Plan to strengthen the Allied left flank. 9 April Germany invades Norway. 9 May Chamberlain resigns British premiership. German 'tourists' cross frontiers ready to seize road junctions. Hitler orders assault on France to open overnight. 10 May Specially trained troops in gliders land on Belgian forts at Eben Emael. German advance starts before dawn, with paratroops attacking bridge across Maas estuary. Luftwaffe opens offensive deep into France. British Expeditionary Force and French cavalry move to Dyle Line. French Cavalry in centre advance. Allied air effort frustrated by orders 'to avoid built-up areas'. Churchill takes up British premiership. 11 May In the centre, Guderian reaches River Semois and crosses during the night. In the north, Prioux with French cavalry has difficulty in reaching new positions. Georges makes plans to move reinforcements behind Sedan, but it is already too late. Meanwhile the Dutch air force is virtually impotent. 12 May In the north the Germans reach Zuider Zee, and the French are forced to withdraw to cover Antwerp. Belgians pull back. In the centre, Rommel reaches Houx before night and crosses the Meuse. D'Astier draws attention to the German advance between Dinant and Bouillon. Guderian reaches east bank of Meuse at Sedan. 13 May Rommel increases pressure at Houx and crosses at Dinant. Boucher orders French counterattacks, which fail. Stuka support around Sedan terrifies French. The Grossdeutschland Regiment crosses near Gaulier and reaches la Marfee heights. 10 Panzer division's assault engineers eventually cross near Wadelincourt. Panic and false reports spread among, French troops and refugees pour southwards. 14 May Colonel Balck reaches Chehery with 1 Rifle Regiment. Reinhardt's corps, held for two days, finally forces a partial crossing at Montherme. In the Netherlands, Prioux's cavalry stand ground against the panzers but withdraw at night after heavy losses. Georges at last accepts the fact of German success at Sedan. Rommel reaches Onhaye. German infantry divisions cross at Nouzonville at the third attempt. French attacks with tanks near Bulson fail. Guderian wheels westward, leaving 10 Panzer Division and the Grossdeutschland regiment to hold the flank. French 3 Armoured Division attack is cancelled. Huntziger and Corap make wrong appreciation and open the way for German advance. Fierce air battle over Sedan with very heavy RAF losses. Rotterdam bombed by Germans during cease-fire ne-

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gotiations. Netherlands capitulates. 15 May Rommel continues advance towards Philippeville. 6 Panzer Division at Montherme manages to cross in strength. At Stonne fierce fighting eventually leaves German Grossdeutschland in command. 1 and 2 Panzer Divisions finally break through Touchon's force. Corap is removed and replaced by Giraud. 16 May Guderian's panzers advance 40 miles in the day. French 2 Armoured Division still scattered. Rommel breaks through remnants of XI Corps and makes for Le Cateau. 17 May Guderian's advance is halted by the High Command but finally allowed a 'reconnaissance in force'. De Gaulle attacks with 4 Armoured Division, reaching Montcornet, but turns back at nightfall. 18 May Panzers ordered to continue advance. Rommel takes Cambrai with scratch force. Refugees hamper all movement on roads. 19 May De Gaulle makes abortive attack with tanks and infantry towards Crecy. D'Astier fails to hold off Stukas. Weygand replaces Gamelin. Panzers in line for final advance about 50 miles from the sea. 20 May Royal Sussex Regiment fight to the end at Amiens, and Panzers wipe out two British Territorial Army divisions. Part of 2 Panzer Division reaches the sea near Noyelles. Ironside persuades French to take part in joint attack with BEF towards Amiens on 21 May. 21 May French fail to produce troops or air support for joint attack. Two British columns of tanks and infantry fight a fierce action south of Arras but are eventually forced to retire. 22 May Panzers drive for the Channel ports. French (Altmayer) attack makes initial success but is eventually halted. Gort still without orders. 23 May Decision by Gort to save BEF. 24 May Reynaud complains to Churchill over British withdrawal. Hitler orders panzers to halt at Aa Canal, giving BEF vital time. 26 May German tanks again advance on Dunkirk. 27 May Evacuation of BEF starts. 28 May Belgium surrenders. 29 May French join in evacuation. 4 June BEF and French evacuation ends. 5-22 June Between the sea and the Meuse, Germany launches a fresh attack with 104 fully manned divisions against the French, who now have only 60 divisions and very weak air cover. Although the French fight with great courage, the Germans take Paris on 14 June and have reached a line from Bordeaux to the Swiss frontier by the time the armistice is signed on 22 June. Battle In the Second World War, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the successful German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, defeating primarily French forces. 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. When British and adjacent French forces were pushed back to the sea by the highly mobile and well organised German operation, the British government decided to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) as well as several French divisions at Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo. With France left to fend for itself after the British evacuation, Germany launched a second operation, Fall Rot (Case Red), which was commenced on 5 June. Initially the depleted French forces put up stiff resistance, but German air superiority gradually overwhelmed French artillery positions. German forces outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deeper into France as French forces began to collapse. German forces arrived in an undefended Paris on 14 June and their commanders met with French officials who were ready to stop the fights. Chief among these was Marshal Philippe Ptain who, contrary to the wishes of many Frenchmen, announced he would seek an armistice.
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Map 5 Evolution of the Manstein Plan http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map5.jpg On 22 June, 2an armistice was signed between France and Germany, which resulted in a division of France whereby Germany would occupy the north and west (and also keep nearly two millions French soldiers as prisoners in Germany), Italy would control a small Italian occupation zone in the southeast, and an unoccupied zone, the zone libre, would be governed by the newly formed Vichy government led by Marshal Ptain. France remained under Axis occupation until the liberation of the country after the Allied landings in 1944. Following the invasion of Poland in September 1939 (which started the Second World War in Europe), a period of inaction called the Phony War ("Sitzkrieg" or "Drle de guerre") set in between the major powers. Adolf Hitler had hoped that France and Britain would acquiesce in his conquest and quickly make peace. On 6 October, he may have made some type of peace offer to both Western Powers. Even before they had time to respond, on 9 October, he also formulated a new military policy in case their reply was negative: Fhrer-Anweisung N6, or "Fhrer-Directive Number 6". 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 Eastern Europe, thus avoiding a two-front war. However, these intentions were absent from Fhrer-Directive N6. 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. They were aimed at improving Germany's ability to survive a long, protracted war in the West. Hitler ordered a conquest of the Low Countries to be executed at the shortest possible notice. This would stop France from occupying them first,
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and prevent Allied air power from threatening the vital German Ruhr Area. It would also provide the basis for a long-term air and sea campaign against Britain. There was no mention in the Fhrer-Directive of any immediate consecutive attack to conquer the whole of France, although as much as possible of the border areas in northern France should be occupied. While writing the directive, Hitler had also 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, repairing the damage to their vehicles incurred in the Polish campaign, and ammunition stocks were largely depleted. German armed forces structure The overall command for all the German armed forces was the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (usually contracted to OKW). This was sometimes used by Hitler as an alternative army planning staff, but the direction of the offensive on the western front was the responsibility of the Oberkommando des Heeres or OKH, the Army supreme command. The commander in chief of the Army was General Walther von Brauchitsch, but the main responsibility for planning belonged to the Chief of Staff, Franz Halder. Under OKW, the other service commands were the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe or OKL, led by Hitler's close political colleague Hermann Gring, and the Oberkommando der Marine or OKM, led by Admiral Erich Raeder. Similarity to Schlieffen Plan On 10 October 1939, the British refused Hitler's offer of peace; on 12 October, the French did the same. Franz Halder, the chief of staff of the Army (Generalstabschef des Heeres), presented the first plan for Fall Gelb ("Case Yellow") on 19 October. This was the pre-war codename of plans for a campaign in the Low Countries: the Aufmarschanweisung N1, Fall Gelb ("Deployment Instruction No. 1, Case Yellow"). Halder's plan has often been compared to the Schlieffen Plan, which the Germans attempted to execute in 1914 in the opening phase of the First World War. It was similar in that both plans entailed an advance through the middle of Belgium, but while the intention of the Schlieffen Plan was to gain a decisive victory by executing a rapid encirclement of the French Army, Aufmarschanweisung N1 envisioned a frontal attack, sacrificing a projected half 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 could the main attack against France begin. Hitler was disappointed with Halder's plan and initially reacted by deciding that the German army should attack early, ready or not, in the hope that Allied unpreparedness might bring about an easy victory. This led to a series of postponements, as commanders repeatedly persuaded Hitler to delay the attack for a few days or weeks to remedy some critical defect in the preparations, or to wait for better weather. Hitler also tried to alter the plan which he found unsatisfactory, without clearly understanding how it could be improved. This mainly resulted in a dispersion of effort; although the main axis would remain in central Belgium, secondary attacks would be undertaken on the flanks. Hitler made such a suggestion on 11 November. On 29 October, Halder let a second operational plan, Aufmarschanweisung N2, Fall Gelb, reflect these changes by featuring a secondary attack on the Netherlands. Hitler was not alone in disliking Halder's plan. General Gerd von Rundstedt, the commander of Army Group A, also disagreed with it. Von Rundstedt recognised that it did not adhere to the classic principles of the Bewegungskrieg ("manoeuvre warfare") which had guided German strategy since the 19th century. A breakthrough would have to be accomplished that would result in the encirclement and destruction of the main body of Allied forces. The most practical place to achieve this would be in the region of Sedan, which lay in the sector of von Rundstedt's Army Group. On 21 October, von Rundstedt agreed with his chief of staff, Generalleutnant Erich von Manstein, that an alternative operational plan had to be arranged that would reflect these basic ideas, making Army Group A as strong as possible at the expense of Army Group B to the north.
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Map 6 : Campaign in France http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map6.jpg Manstein Plan Overview of the Plan Developed by German Generalleutnant Erich von Manstein, the plan greatly modified the original 1939 versions by Franz Halder of the invasion plan known as Fall Gelb. One way to look at the Manstein Plan was that it was the German Army's answer to the French Army's Dyle Plan. Originally, in Aufmarschanweisung N1, Fall Gelb, the German Army planned to push the Allied forces back through central Belgium to the Somme river, in northern France, not unlike the first phase of the famous Schlieffen Plan of the First World War. However, on 10
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January 1940, the Mechelen Incident took place: a German aircraft carrying documents containing parts of the operational plans of Fall Gelb crashed in Belgium, thus prompting another review of the invasion plan. While Fall Gelb was revised by Halder, not fundamentally changing it in Aufmarschanweisung N3, Fall Gelb, Von Manstein was able to convince Hitler in a personal meeting on 17 February that the Wehrmacht should attack through the Ardennes forest, followed by a strategic drive to the coast. Details of the Plan Von Manstein, chief of staff of Army Group A, had originally formulated his plan in October 1939 in Koblenz on instigation of his superior General Gerd von Rundstedt, who rejected Halder's plan, both because of professional jealousy and because it wouldn't lead to a decisive victory over France. Von Manstein's first thoughts were rather traditional, envisaging a swing from Sedan to the north to obliterate the Allied armies in a classical Kesselschlacht or annihilation battle. When discussing his intentions with Lieutenant-General Heinz Guderian, commander of Germany's elite armoured corps, the latter proposed to turn it into a more "Fullerite" strategy by avoiding the main body of the Allied armies and swiftly advancing with the armoured divisions to The Channel instead, to cause a collapse of the enemy by catching him off guard and cutting off his supply lines. It was thus Guderian who introduced the true "Blitzkrieg" elements to the plan, while Von Manstein had at first many objections against this aspect, especially fearing the long open flank created by such an advance. Guderian managed to convince him that the danger of a French counterattack from the south could be averted by a simultaneous secondary spoiling offensive to the south, in the direction of Reims. Guderian before the war had generated much interest for the theories of John Fuller, though never fully endorsing them. When Von Manstein first presented his ideas to the OKH, he didn't mention Guderian's name and made his classical swing to the north the main effort, while a limited number of armoured divisions protected the left flank of this movement, acting in a classical cavalry strategic reconnaissance rle. These changes didn't reflect a change of mind on his part, but were thought necessary by him because the original conception was too radical to be acceptable and many conservative generals considered Guderian himself as too radical also. His views were flatly rejected by Halder and Walther von Brauchitsch however. Reformulating them in a more radical sense didn't help and late January Halder managed to remove Von Manstein to the east by having him promoted commander of XXXVIII Army Corps. Von Manstein and Halder were old rivals: in 1938 Von Manstein had been the successor of chief of staff Ludwig Beck but had been removed from this position when the latter fell into disgrace with Hitler because of the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair. On 1 September 1938, Halder, not Von Manstein, had replaced Beck. However two officers of Von Manstein's staff, Lieutenant-Colonel Gnther Blumentritt and Major Henning von Tresckow, were outraged by Halder's behavior. Late January they contacted Hitler's personal Army attach, Lieutenant Colonel Rudolf Schmundt (an old acquaintance of von Tresckow) when he was visiting Koblenz, who informed Hitler of the affair on 2 February. Hitler, having found Halder's plans unsatisfactory from the very beginning, ordered on 13 February a change of strategy in accordance with Von Manstein's ideas, even after having only heard a rough outline of them. The general was invited to the Reichskanzlei in Berlin to explain his plans in person to Hitler on 17 February, during a working lunch in the presence of Alfred Jodl and Erwin Rommel. Though Hitler felt an immediate antipathy against Von Manstein, for being too arrogant and aloof, he speechlessly listened to his argumentation, becoming very impressed by Von Manstein's logic. "Certainly an exceptionally clever fellow, with great operational gifts, but I don't trust him", Hitler remarked after Von Manstein had left. Halder now had to make a fourth main version of the attack plan, Aufmarschanweisung N4, Fall Gelb. Von Manstein would not be further involved in the planning process, returning to his command of the Army Corps.

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This new plan conformed to Von Manstein's proposal in this respect that Army Group A would provide the central thrust of the invasion through the Ardennes in southern Belgium. After crossing the Meuse River between Namur and Sedan, Army Group A would then swing northwest towards Amiens, while Army Group B executed a feint attack in the north to lure the Allied armies into the trap. However in many ways the plan was fundamentally changed by Halder. It no longer envisaged a simultaneous secondary attack to the south. Also, the "Blitzkrieg" elements were largely removed. The river crossings were to be forced by infantry and there would be a long consolidation phase during which a large number of infantry divisions would be built-up in the bridgeheads. The armoured divisions should then advance in a coherent mass together with the infantry divisions. There would thus not be an independent deep strategic penetration by the German armor.

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Executing the Plan In reality however, Guderian and the other panzer generals, Rommel among them, would simply disobey orders and advance to The Channel and further to the coastal French towns of Calais and Dunkirk as fast as they could without waiting for the infantry, only temporarily halted by Hitler's orders on 17, 22 and 24 May. The effects of the Manstein Plan were devastating for the Allied armies, as they were effectively encircled by Army Groups A and B, thus sparking a desperate evacuation from Dunkirk. The losses in the north and resulting lack of mobile reserves led to the defeat of the remaining French forces and Germany's complete victory over France. This resounding success came as a complete surprise even to the Germans, who hardly had dared to hope for such an outcome. Most generals had vehemently opposed the plan as being much too risky; even those supporting it had mainly done so out of desperation, because Germany's geostrategic position seemed so hopeless. Count Ciano later in the war observed that "victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan", and Fall Gelb would have no lack of sires. The two most prominent among them would be Hitler himself and Halder. Because Hitler hadn't liked Halder's original plans, he had suggested many alternatives, some of them bearing some resemblance to the Manstein Plan, the closest a proposal made by him on 25 October 1939. Soon Nazi propaganda began to claim that the victory was a result of Hitler's military genius; Hitler praised Von Manstein with the words "Of all the generals, with whom I spoke about the new attack plan in the West, Manstein was the only one who understood me!". Halder after the war claimed he was the main inventor, supporting this with the fact that he had begun considering to change the main axis to Sedan even before 13 February indeed as early as September 1939 and that Von Manstein's original proposal was too traditional. The Manstein Plan is often seen as either the result of, or the cause of a mid-twentieth century Revolution in military affairs. In the former hypothesis, expounded by Fuller and Basil Liddell Hart immediately after the events, the Manstein Plan is presented as a natural outcome of deliberate changes in the German military doctrine during the twenties and thirties by men as Guderian or Hans von Seeckt implementing Fuller's or Liddell Hart's ideas. Thus an explicit "Blitzkrieg-doctrine" would have been fully established by 1939 of which the Manstein Plan was but the most spectacular implementation and the Invasion of Poland an earlier application. The doctrine would have been reflected in the organisation and equipment of the German Army and Airforce and would have been radically different from the obsolete doctrines of France, Britain and the Soviet-Union except for the contributions of some farsighted individuals in these countries such as Mikhail Tukhachevsky and Charles de Gaulle and of course Fuller and Liddell Hart themselves. That the earliest plans by Halder or Von Manstein and the final plan by Halder did not conform to this doctrine is then seen as an anomaly, to be explained by special circumstances. In the latter hypothesis, promoted by Robert Allan Doughty and Karl-Heinz Frieser, the Manstein Plan is instead a return to the classic principles of the 19th century Bewegungskrieg but now radically adapted to the full potential of modern technology by a sudden and unexpected departure from established German doctrine through the Blitzkrieg-elements provided and executed by Guderian. It claims that the influence of Fuller and Liddell Hart in Germany was limited and much exaggerated by the two writers and that no explicit true Blitzkrieg-doctrine can be found anywhere in the official pre-war German army documentation. It finds further support in the fact that German tank production had no priority and that the plans of the German war economy were at first based on the premise of a long protracted war, not on the expectation of swift victories. The hypothesis allows for a gradual implementation during the thirties of technological advances in a shared moderated Bewegungskrieg doctrine used in all major powers prior to 1940, with more subtle differences between the nations. The Invasion of Poland would then not yet be a true Blitzkrieg campaign, but a classic annihilation battle instead. The lack of Blitzkrieg elements in the official German plans for Fall Gelb is seen as the normal and expected outcome of this situation. Only after the sudden success of the radical execution of the Manstein Plan by Guderian would Blitzkrieg have been
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adopted as an explicit doctrine, in this view making Operation Barbarossa the first deliberate Blitzkrieg campaign. Guderian himself, who in both hypotheses plays a key rle, presented the situation in his postwar book Erinnerungen eines Soldaten (literally "Memories of a Soldier" but translated under the title Panzer Leader) as basically conforming to the second hypothesis, with him being a lone voice struggling against the resistance by a reactionary majority of the German officer corps. Summarizing the Plan It is not uncommon in the literature to call the Manstein Plan Operation Sichelschnitt and this had led to the misunderstanding that this was the official name of the entire plan or at least of the attack by Army Group A. The official name however was Aufmarschanweisung N4, Fall Gelb as issued on 24 February 1940 and the suboperation through the Ardennes had no special designation. Sichelschnitt is nothing but a literal German translation of "Sickle Cut", a catchy expression used after the events by Winston Churchill. After the war it would be adopted in the writings of the German generals. Mechelen Incident On 10 January, a German Messerschmitt Bf 108 made a forced landing at Maasmechelen, north of Maastricht, in Belgium (the so-called "Mechelen Incident"). Among the occupants of the aircraft was Luftwaffe Major Hellmuth Reinberger, who was carrying a copy of the latest version of Aufmarschanweisung N2. Reinberger was unable to destroy the documents, which quickly fell into the hands of the Belgian intelligence services. It has often been suggested that 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 N3, Fall Gelb, conformed to the earlier versions. Adoption of Manstein Plan On 27 January, von Manstein was relieved of his appointment as Chief of Staff of Army Group A and appointed commander of an army corps in Prussia, to begin his command in Stettin on 9 February, a move instigated by Halder to reduce von Manstein's influence. Von Manstein's indignant staff brought his case to Hitler's attention. Hitler had, without any knowledge of von Manstein's plan, suggested an attack focused at Sedan but had been persuaded to forget the idea as it was too risky. On 2 February, von Manstein's plan was brought to his attention. On 17 February, Hitler summoned von Manstein, Generals Rudolf Schmundt (the German Army's Chief of Personnel) and Alfred Jodl, the Chief of Operations at the OKW (the German armed forces' supreme command), to attend a conference. Hitler sat and listened, abandoning his habits of interrupting and launching into monologues. In the end, he agreed to all of von Manstein's suggestions. The next day, he ordered the plans to be changed in accordance with von Manstein's ideas. They appealed to Hitler mainly because they offered some real hope of victory. Hitler recognised the breakthrough at Sedan only in tactical terms, whereas von Manstein saw it as a means to an end. He envisaged an operation to the English Channel and the encirclement of the Allied armies in Belgium, which, if carried out correctly, could have a favourable strategic outcome. Halder had no intention of deviating from established doctrine by allowing an independent strategic penetration by the seven armoured divisions of Army Group A. Much to the outrage of Guderian, this element was at first completely removed from the new plan, Aufmarschanweisung N4, Fall Gelb, issued on 24 February. However, Halder went through an "astonishing change of opinion". Halder was criticised in the same way he had attacked von Manstein when he first suggested it. The bulk of the German officer corps was appalled by the plan, and they called him the "gravedigger of the Panzer force".

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Image: http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/3-6.jpg Even when adapted to more conventional methods, the new plan 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. Their objections were ignored. 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. Blitzkrieg The strategy, operational methods and tactics of the German Army and Luftwaffe has often been labelled "Blitzkrieg" (Lightning War). The concept is deeply controversial and is connected to the problem of the precise nature and origin of "Blitzkrieg" operations, of which the 1940 campaign is often described as a classic example. An essential element of "Blitzkrieg" was considered to be a strategic, or series of operational developments, executed by mechanised forces which led to the total collapse of the defenders' armed forces. "Blitzkrieg" has also been looked on as a revolutionary form of warfare. In recent years, its novelty and even its very existence have been disputed. Rapid and decisive victories had been pursued by armies well before the Second World War. In the German wars of unification and First World War campaigns, the German General Staff had attempted Bewegungskrieg (Movement War), similar to the modern perception of "Blitzkrieg", with varying degrees of success. During the First World War, these methods often succeeded in achieving tactical breakthroughs, but the operational exploitation took time as armies lacked motorisation, could not move quickly, and sometimes failed to achieve a decisive victory altogether. The development of tanks, aircraft, and more importantly, motorised infantry and artillery, enabled the Germans to implement these old methods again with new technology in 1940. The combustion engine solved the problem of operational level exploitation. When dealing with "Blitzkrieg" as a concept, things become complicated. It is seen as an anomaly and there is no explicit reference to such strategy, operations or tactics in the Ger47/138

man battle plans. There is no evidence in German military art, strategy or industrial preparation that points to the existence of a thought out "Blitzkrieg" tendency. Evidence suggests that the German Reich was preparing for a long sustained war of attrition, not a quick war of manoeuvre. Hitler's miscalculations in 1939 forced him into war before he was ready, and under these circumstances the German General Staff reverted to attempting to win a quick war, before the economic and material superiority of the Allies could make a difference, although this was not their original intention. It was only after the defeat of France in 1940, that the German military pursued a "Blitzkrieg"-kind of warfare to achieve its ambitions in Europe. German historian Karl-Heinz Frieser explained: "The campaign in the west was not a planned campaign of conquest. Instead, it was an operational act of despair to get out of a desperate strategic situation. What is called "Blitzkrieg thinking" did not develop until after [author's emphasis] the campaign in the west. It was not the cause but rather the consequence of victory. Something that in May 1940, had come off successfully to everyone's surprise, was now to serve the implementation of Hitler's visions of conquest in the form of the secret success. Allied strategy Early actions In September 1939, Belgium and the Netherlands were still neutral. They had made arrangements in secret with the Entente (as the Allies were still widely called) for future cooperation should the Germans invade their territory. The Supreme Commander of the French Army Maurice Gamelinsuggested during that month that the Allies should take advantage of the fact that Germany was tied up in Poland by using the Low Countries as a spring board to attack Germany. This suggestion was not taken up by the French government. Just after the 1 September 1939 invasion of Poland, French soldiers advanced along the Maginot Line 5 km (3.1 mi) into the Saar which was called the Saar Offensive. France had employed 98 divisions (all but 28 of them reserve or fortress formations) and 2,500 tanks against German forces consisting of 43 divisions (32 of them reserves) and no tanks. They advanced until they met the then thin and undermanned Siegfried Line. The French army would easily have been able to penetrate the mere screen of German forces present had they continued with the offensive, but they preferred to force the Germans into the offensive role and withdrew to their own lines in October. Dyle Plan Strategic reasons dictated the Allied decision to advance and fight on Belgian territory when the German attack came in the west. The British government insisted that the Flemish coast remain under Allied control so as not to threaten British naval supremacy. The French determined that the German offensive had to be contained as far east as possible, to keep the battles off French territory. Finally, and for him personally, the most cogent argument for advancing and fighting on Belgian territory was that Gamelin did not consider the French army capable of winning a mobile battle against the German army in the wide operational theatre France would present. Belgium presented a far narrower front to contain German formations. He also argued that an advance to the Dyle river and preparing an entrenched front there saved most of Belgium's industrial regions from falling into German hands. Gamelin did not have the personality to simply impose his will. The first step he took was to propose the "Escaut" variant as an option for Plan D, the code for the "Dyle plan". This would include an advance by the French onto Dutch territory. The powerful French 1st and 9th Armies would hold the line in Belgium, from Wavre to Givet. The French 7th Army would hold the line on the Scheldt and link up with Dutch forces. The Belgian Army would hold the Ghent-Antwerp line. They would be reinforced by the British Army, which would hold the section of the line east of Brussels, from Wavre to Louvain.

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SdKfz 231 6-wheeled armoured car, Utrecht., Holland, May 1940 Gamelin made the 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. That only left the centre, but most of the centre was covered by the river Meuse. Tanks were limited 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. This 'Gembloux Gap', ideal for mechanised warfare, was a very dangerous weak spot. Gamelin decided to concentrate half of his armoured reserves there, sure the main German thrust would be on the Belgian-Dutch
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plain. Gamelin reasoned that the Germans might try to overcome the Meuse position by using infantry, but he was confident in the Belgians' ability to hold the line and believed that while it was possible for the Germans to cross the Meuse, it would take a long time to achieve. Gamelin made no study in the event of a German breakthrough in the south, and as a consequence, did not make preparations to extricate Allied forces from Belgium. Gamelin continued with his plans despite repeated criticism from his subordinates. Gaston Billotte (the commander-in-chief of the First Army Group) and Alphonse Joseph Georges (commander-in-chief of the North-Eastern front which included the First and Second Army Groups) were particularly critical. Georges pointed out the decisive problem. He suggested that Gamelin was too sure the German plan involved the battles, or main effort, being fought in the Netherlands and Belgium. He argued that it seemed as if Gamelin was allowing himself to be drawn into the Low Countries. He even suggested that an attack in Belgium might be a diversion. In this case, if the main forces were sent into Belgium and "the main enemy attack came in our centre, on our front between the Meuse and the Moselle, we could be deprived of the necessary means to repel it". The development of Allied strategy was exclusively in the hands of the French. The British, recognising they were the smaller partner in the alliance, agreed to French proposals. Allied intelligence In the winter of 19391940, the Belgian consul-general in Cologne had anticipated the angle of advance that Von Manstein was planning. Through intelligence reports, they deduced that German forces were concentrating along the Belgian and Luxembourg frontiers. The Belgians were convinced that the Germans would thrust through the Ardennes and to the English Channel with the aim of cutting off the Allied field armies in Belgium and north-eastern France. They also anticipated that the Germans would try to land airborne and glider forces behind the Allied lines to break open Belgian fortifications. Such warnings were not heeded by the French or British. In March 1940, Swiss intelligence detected six or seven Panzer Divisions on the German-Luxembourg-Belgian border. More motorised divisions had also been detected in the area. French intelligence were informed that the Germans were constructing pontoon bridges partiallyabout halfwayover the Our River on the Luxembourg-German border through aerial reconnaissance. The French military attach in the Swiss capitalBernwarned that the centre of the German assault would come on the Meuse at Sedan, sometime between 8 and 10 May. The report was dated 30 April. These reports had little effect on Gamelin. German forces and dispositions Strength Germany had mobilised 4,200,000 men of the Heer, 1,000,000 of the Luftwaffe, 180,000 of the Kriegsmarine, and 100,000 of the Waffen-SS. When consideration is made for those in Poland, Denmark and Norway, the Army had 3,000,000 men available for the offensive on 10 May 1940. These manpower reserves were formed into 157 divisions. Of these, 135 were earmarked for the offensive, including 42 reserve divisions. The German forces in the West in May and June deployed some 2,439 tanks and 7,378 artillery guns, including matriel reserves committed. In 193940, 45% of the army was at least 40 years old, and 50% of all the soldiers had just a few weeks training. Contrary to what the blitzkrieg legend suggests, the German Army was not fully motorised. Just 10% of the Army was motorised in 1940 and could muster only 120,000 vehicles, compared to the 300,000 of the French Army. The British also had an "enviable" contingent of motorised forces. Most of the German logistical tail consisted of horse-drawn vehicles. Only 50% of the German divisions available in 1940 were combat ready, often being more poorly equipped than their equivalents in the British and French Armies, or even as well as the German Army of 1914. In the spring of 1940, the German army was semi-modern. A small

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number of the best-equipped and "elite divisions were offset by many second and third rate divisions". Army operational deployment The German Army was divided into three army groups. Army Group A commanded by Gerd von Rundstedt, composed of 45 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 as "Sickle Cut" (and even earlier "armoured scythe stroke")through the Allied defences in the Ardennes. It consisted of three armies: the 4th, 12th and 16th. It had three Panzer corps; one, the XV, had been allocated to the 4th Army, but the other two, the XXXXI (Reinhardt) and the XIX (Guderian) were united with the XIV Army Corps of two motorised infantry divisions, on a special independent operational level in Panzergruppe Kleist (officially known as XXII Corps). Army Group B under Fedor von Bock, composed of 29 divisions including three armoured, was tasked with advancing through the Low Countries and luring the northern units of the Allied armies into a pocket. It consisted of the 6th and 18th Armies. 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. It consisted of the 1st and 7th Armies. Communications The real trump card for the Germans was the radio. The Panzers all had radios that allowed voice communication with other units. This enabled German armour to respond rapidly to a constantly changing battlefield situation. It allowed for last minute changes in tactics and improvisations to be formed far more quickly than the enemy. Some commanders regarded the ability to communicate the primary method of combat. Radio drills were even considered more important than firing accurately. Communication allowed German armour to coordinate their formations, bringing them together for a mass firepower effect in the attack or defence. This offset the French advantage in numbers and equipment, which was deployed in "pennypackets". The French also lacked radios and orders were passed from mouth to mouth. The opposing systems would give the Germans a decisive edge in battle. The radio network went beyond tank to tank commands. The system also permitted a degree of communication between air and ground forces. Attached to Panzer Division was the Fliegerleittruppen (tactical air control troops) which were given wheeled vehicles. There were too few Sd.Kfz. 251 command vehicles to make this a uniform facility throughout the army, but the theory allowed the army in some circumstances to call upon the Luftwaffe units, while either on the ground or airborne, to support an attack that army artillery could not deal with. It is said that Guderian's Corps' dash to the channel never had to wait more than 1520 minutes after making such a call, for the Luftwaffe to appear over the target. A specific Junkers Ju 87 group (VIII. Fliegerkorps), which was to support the dash to the channel should Army Group A break through in the Ardennes, kept one Ju 87 and one fighter group ready for immediate take-off. On average, they could arrive to support armoured units within 4575 minutes of orders being issued. Army tactics The main tool of the German land forces was combined arms combat. In contrast to the Allies, they relied on highly mobile offensive units, with balanced numbers of well trained artillery, infantry, engineer and tank formations, all integrated into Panzer divisions. They relied on excellent communication systems which enabled them to break into a position and exploit it before the enemy could react. Panzer divisions could carry out reconnaissance missions, advance to contact, defend and attack vital positions or weak spots. This ground would then be held by infantry and artillery as pivot points for further attacks.

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Map 7 Operations in Dinant http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map7.jpg Although their tanks were not designed for tank-versus-tank combat, they could take ground and draw the enemy armour on to the division's anti-tank lines. This conserved the tanks to achieve the next stage of the offensive. The units' logistics were self-contained, allowing for three or four days of combat. The Panzer divisions would be supported by motorised and infantry divisions. The German Army lacked a formidable heavy combat tank such as the French possessed. In armament and armour, French tanks were the stronger designs and more numerous (although the German vehicles were faster and more mechanically reliable). But while the German Army was outnumbered in artillery and tanks, it possessed some critical advantages over its opponents. The newer German Panzers had a crew of five men; a Commander, gunner-aimer, loader, driver and mechanic. Having a trained individual for each task allowed each man to dedicate himself to his own mission and it made for a highly efficient combat team. The French had fewer members, with the commander double-tasked with loading the main gun, distracting him from his main duties in observation and tactical deployment. It made for a far less efficient system. Even within infantry formations, the Germans enjoyed an advantage through the doctrine of Auftragstaktik (Mission command tactics), by which officers were expected to use their initiative to achieve their commanders' intentions, and were given control of the necessary supporting arms. Luftwaffe One of the German strengths was the Luftwaffe. It divided its forces into two groups. In total, 1,815 combat, 487 transport and 50 glider aircraft were deployed to support Army Group B,
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while a further 3,286 combat aircraft were deployed to support Army Groups A and C. The task of German aviation was to provide close air support in the form of the dive-bomber and medium bomber. In 1940, the Luftwaffe was a broadly based force with no constricting central doctrine, other than its resources should be used generally to support national strategy. It was flexible and it was able to carry out both operational, tactical and strategic bombing effectively. Flexibility was the Luftwaffe's strength in 1940. While Allied air forces, in 1940, were tied to the support of the army, the Luftwaffe deployed its resources in a more general, operational way. It switched from air superiority missions, to medium-range interdiction, to strategic strikes, to close support duties depending on the need of the ground forces. In fact, far from it being a dedicated Panzer spearhead arm, less than 15% of the Luftwaffe was designed for close support of the army in 1939, as this aspect was not its primary mission. Anti-aircraft defences It is generally supposed that the Germans also had a major advantage in anti-aircraft guns, or Flak. In reality, the generally cited figure of 2,600 88 mm (3.46 in) heavy Flak guns and 6,700 37 mm (1.46 in) and 20 mm (0.79 in) light Flak seems to refer to the German armed forces total inventory, including the anti-aircraft defences of Germany's cities and ports and the equipment of training units. (A 9,300-gun Flak component with the field army would have involved more troops than the entire British Expeditionary Force) The actual provision of Flak for the invading forces was 85 heavy and 18 light batteries belonging to the Luftwaffe, 48 'companies' of light Flak integral to divisions of the army, and 20 'companies' of light Flak allocated as army troops that is, as a disposable reserve in the hands of HQs above corps level: altogether about 700 88 mm (3.46 in) and 180 37 mm (1.46 in) guns manned by Luftwaffe ground units and 816 20 mm (0.79 in) guns manned by the army. Allied forces and dispositions Strength France had spent a higher percentage of its GNP from 1918 to 1935 on its military than other great powers, and the government had begun a large rearmament effort in 1936. Due to a low birthrate, however, which had declined during the First World War and the Great Depression, and was exacerbated by the numbers of men who had been killed in the war, France had a severe manpower shortage relative to its total population, which was barely half that of Germany. To compensate, France had mobilised about one-third of the male population between the ages of 20 and 45, bringing the strength of its armed forces to 5.000.000. Only 2.240.000 of these served in army units in the north. The British contributed a total strength of 897.000 men in 1939, rising to 1.650.000 by June 1940. In May, it numbered only 500.000 men, including reserves. Dutch and Belgian manpower reserves amounted to 400.000 and 650.000 respectively. Armies There were 117 French divisions in total, of which 104 divisions (including 11 in reserve) were for the defence of the north. The British Army contributed only 13 divisions, three of which had not been organised when the campaign began. Some 22 Belgian, 10 Dutch and two Polish divisions were also a part of the Allied order of battle. British artillery strength amounted to 1,280 guns. Belgium fielded 1,338 and the Dutch, 656. France had 10,700 pieces. This made a total of around 14,000 artillery pieces. 45% more than the Germans. The French army was also more motorised than its opponent, which still relied heavily on horses. Although the Belgians, British and Dutch had barely any armour, the French had a powerful force of 3,254 tanks. The force was both larger and of higher quality than Germany's, as shown by its victory in Hannut, the largest tank battle of the campaign. The French Army was of mixed quality. It had in its order of battle some formidable units,
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particularly the light and heavy armoured divisions (DCR and DLM), and several professional infantry divisions. However, many divisions were composed of reserve soldiers, above 30 years old, and were ill-equipped. A serious qualitative deficiency was a lack of anti-air artillery, mobile anti-tank artillery and radio communication systems, despite the efforts of Gamelin to produce mobile artillery units. He used telephones and couriers to communicate with the field during the Battle of France; only 0.15% of military spending between 1923 and 1939 had been on radios and other communications equipment. French tactical deployment and the use of mobile units operationally was also inferior to that of the Germans. Tactically, armour was spread thinly along the French line; French infantry divisions were supported by tank battalions of about 100 tanks, which prevented them from being a strong, independent operational force. Making matters worse, only a handful of French tanks in each unit had radios installed, and the radios themselves were often unreliable, thus hampering communication. French tanks were also very slow in speed in comparison to the Panzers (except for the Somua S-35), as they were designed as infantry support, enabling German tanks to offset their disadvantages by outmanoeuvring the French on the battlefield. In 1940, French military theoreticians still considered tanks as infantry support. As a consequence, at various points in the campaign, the French were not able to react as quickly as German armour. In operational terms, the French did not seem to give much thought to armoured units as offensive weapons. Although some people such as Colonel de Gaulle tried during the 1930s to convince French High Command of the necessity to form armoured divisions supported by aviation and infantry, military conservatism prevented these "new ideas" from emerging. The French High Command was still obsessed with holding the front as it had in 19141918. The state of training was also unbalanced, with the majority of personnel trained only to man static fortifications. Minimal training for mobile actions was carried out between September 1939 and May 1940. Deployment The French forces in the north had three Army Groups. The 2nd and 3rd Army Groups defended the Maginot Line to the east; the 1st Army Group under Gaston-Henri Billotte was situated in the west and would execute the movement forward into the Low Countries. Initially positioned on the left flank near the coast, the French 7th Army, reinforced by a light mechanised (armoured) division (Division Lgre Mcanise, or DLM), was intended to move to the Netherlands via Antwerp. Next to the south were the divisions of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), which would advance to the Dyle Line and position itself to the right of the Belgian army, from Louvain to Wavre. The French 1st Army, reinforced by two light mechanised divisions and with a "reserve armoured division" (DCR) in reserve, would defend the Gembloux Gap between Wavre and Namur. The southernmost army involved in the move forward into Belgium was the French 9th Army, which had to cover the entire Meuse sector between Namur and Sedan. The French 2nd Army would form the "hinge" of the movement and remain entrenched. It was to face the concentration of the elite German armoured divisions attack at Sedan. It was given low priority in manpower, anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons and air support, and consisted of just five divisions. Two of these were over-age reservist units, or "Serie B" divisions, and one was a West African unit from Senegal. They had to cover a considerably larger front than they should have, considering their training and equipment, and thus formed the weak point of the French defence system. This stemmed from the French High Command's belief that the Ardennes forest was impassable to tanks, even though intelligence from the Belgian army and from their own intelligence services warned them of long armour and transport columns crossing the Ardennes and being stuck in a huge traffic-jam for some time. The French High Command simply refused to believe this was of any importance, as it did not suit their convictions on the matter.

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Air forces In the air, the Allies were numerically inferior: the French Arme de l'Air had 1,562 aircraft, and RAF Fighter Command committed 680 machines, while RAF Bomber Command could contribute some 392 aircraft to operations. Most of the Allied aircraft were obsolete types, such as the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406. In the fighter force, only the British Hawker Hurricane and the French Dewoitine D.520 could contend with the German Messerschmitt Bf 109, the D.520 having better manoeuvrability although being slightly slower. On 10 May 1940, though, only 36 D.520 fighters had been dispatched, all to one squadron. In fighter aircraft, the Allies had the numerical advantage; 836 German Bf 109s against 81 Belgian, 261 British and 764 French fighters of various types. The French and British also had larger aircraft reserves. In early June 1940, the French aviation industry had reached a considerable output, with an estimated matriel reserve of nearly 2,000 aircraft. However, a chronic lack of spare parts crippled this fleet. Only 29% (599) of the aircraft were serviceable, of which 170 were bombers. Low serviceability meant the Germans had a clear numerical superiority in medium bomber aircraft, with six times as many as the French. Despite its disadvantages the Armee de l'Air performed far better than expected, destroying 916 enemy aircraft in air to air combat during the Battle of France, for a kill ratio of 2.35:1; with almost a third of those kills accomplished by French pilots flying the US built Hawk 75 which accounted for 12.6% of the French single-seat fighter force. Anti-aircraft defences In addition to 580 13 mm (0.5 in) machine guns assigned to civilian defence, the French Army had 1,152 25 mm (0.98 in) anti-aircraft guns, with 200 20 mm (0.79 in) autocannons in the process of delivery, and 688 75 mm (2.95 in) guns and 24 90 mm (3.54 in) guns, the latter having problems with barrel wear. There were also 40 First World War-vintage 105 mm (4.1 in) anti-aircraft guns available. The BEF had 10 regiments of 3.7 in (94 mm) guns, then the most advanced heavy anti-aircraft weapon in the world, and seven and a half regiments of 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors: with either three or four batteries per regiment, this represented roughly 300 heavy and 350 light AA guns. The Belgians had two heavy anti-aircraft regiments and were in the process of introducing 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors guns as equipment for divisional anti-aircraft troops. The Dutch had 84 75 mm (2.95 in), 39 elderly 60 mm (2.36 in), seven 100 mm (3.9 in), and 232 20 mm (0.79 in) and 40 mm (1.57 in) anti-aircraft guns, and several hundred First World War-vintage Spandau M.25 machine guns on anti-aircraft mountings. Fall Gelb Northern front Germany initiated Fall Gelb on the evening prior to and the night of 10 May. During the late evening of 9 May, German forces occupied Luxembourg. Army Group B launched its feint offensive during the night into the Netherlands and Belgium. During the morning of 10 May, Fallschirmjger (paratroopers) from the 7th Flieger and 22. Luftlande Infanteriedivision under Kurt Student executed surprise landings at The Hague, on the road to Rotterdam and against the Belgian fort at Eben-Emael in order to facilitate Army Group B's advance. The French command reacted immediately, sending its 1st Army Group north in accordance with Plan D. This move committed their best forces, diminishing their fighting power by the partial disorganisation it caused and their mobility by depleting their fuel stocks. By the time the French 7th Army crossed the Dutch border, they found the Dutch already in full retreat, and withdrew into Belgium to protect Brussels. The Netherlands The Luftwaffe was guaranteed air superiority over the Netherlands by sheer numerical superiority. They allocated 247 medium bombers, 147 fighter aircraft, 424 Junkers Ju 52 trans55/138

ports, and 12 Heinkel He 59 seaplanes to operations over the Netherlands. 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. 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. The German 18. Armee secured all the strategically vital bridges in and toward Rotterdam, which penetrated Fortress Holland and bypassed the New Water Line from the south. 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 airfields surrounding the city (Ypenburg, Ockenburg, and Valkenburg) were taken with heavy casualties and transport aircraft losses. Some 96 aircraft in all were lost to Dutch shell fire. The Luftwaffe''s Transportgruppen operations had cost it 125 Ju 52s destroyed and 47 damaged, representing 50% of the fleet's strength. Moreover, the airborne operation had cost the German paratroopers 4,000 men, of whom 1,200 were prisoners of war, out of 8,000. The Dutch evacuated them back to Britain. The total percentage cost of the defeat was 20% of NCOs and men and 42% of German officers were lost. The French 7th Army failed to block the German armoured reinforcements from the 9. Panzerdivision, which reached Rotterdam on 13 May. That same day in the east, following the Battle of the Grebbeberg in which a Dutch counter-offensive to contain a German breach had failed, the Dutch retreated from the Grebbe line to the New Water Line. The Dutch Army, still largely intact, surrendered in the evening of 14 May after the Bombing of Rotterdam by the Luftwaffe. Heinkel He 111 medium bombers of Kampfgeschwader 54 (Bomber Wing 54) destroyed the centre of the city, an act which has remained controversial. The Dutch Army considered its strategic situation to have become hopeless and feared further destruction of the major Dutch cities. The capitulation document was signed on 15 May. However, Dutch forces continued fighting in Zeeland and the colonies while Queen Wilhelmina established a government in exile in Britain. Dutch casualties amounted to 2,157 army, 75 air force, and 125 Navy personnel. 2,559 civilians were also killed. Invasion of Belgium The Germans were able to establish air superiority in Belgium. Having completed thorough photographic reconnaissance missions, they destroyed 83 of the 179 aircraft of the Aeronautique Militaire within the first 24 hours. The Belgians would fly 77 operational missions but would contribute little to the air campaign. The Luftwaffe was assured air superiority over the Low Countries. Because Army Group B had been so weakened compared to the earlier plans, the feint offensive by the German 6. Armee was in danger of stalling immediately, since the Belgian defences on the Albert Canal position were very strong. The main approach route was blocked by Fort Eben-Emael, a large fortress then generally considered the most modern in Europe, which controlled the junction of the Meuse and the Albert Canal. 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 established bridgeheads. To overcome this difficulty, the Germans resorted to unconventional means in the assault on the fort. In the early hours of 10 May, DFS 230 gliders landed near the fort and unloaded assault teams that disabled the main gun cupolas with hollow charges. The bridges over the canal were seized by German paratroopers. The Belgians launched considerable counterattacks which were broken up by the Luftwaffe. 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. Similar operations against the bridges in the Netherlands, at Maastricht, failed. All were blown up by the Dutch and only one railway bridge was taken. This stalled the German armour on Dutch territory for a time. The BEF and the French First Army were not yet entrenched, and the news of the defeat on the Belgian border was unwelcome. The Allies had been convinced Belgian resistance would have given them several weeks to prepare a defensive line at the Gembloux Gap. When Gene56/138

ral Erich Hoepner's XVI Panzerkorps, consisting of 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions, was launched over the newly captured bridges in the direction of the Gembloux Gap, this seemed to confirm the expectations of the French Supreme Command that the German Schwerpunkt would be at that point. Gembloux was located between Wavre and Namur, on flat, ideal tank terrain. It was also an unfortified part of the Allied line. In order to gain time to dig in there, Ren Prioux, commanding the Cavalry Corps of the French 1st Army, sent two French Light Mechanised divisions, the 2nd DLM and 3rd DLM, forward to meet the German armour at Hannut, east of Gembloux. They would provide an advanced guarding screen which would stall the Germans and allow sufficient time for the French 1st Army to dig into formidable positions. Battle of Hannut and Gembloux The resulting Battle of Hannut, which took place on 1213 May, was the largest tank battle until that date, with about 1,500 armoured fighting vehicles participating The French disabled about 160 German tanks for the loss of 91 Hotchkiss H35 and 30 Somua S35 tanks destroyed or captured. The Germans controlled the battlefield after a voluntary French withdrawal. They recovered and eventually repaired or rebuilt many of their knocked-out tanks German irreparable losses amounted to just 49 tanks (20, 3rd Panzer and 29, 4th Panzer). Prioux had achieved his mission in stalling the Panzers and allowing the French 1st Army to settle, so it was a strategic victory for the French. By contrast, although Hoepner had succeeded in diverting the French First Army from Sedan, which was his most important mission, he failed to destroy or forestall it. The French would escape the encirclement and still render invaluable support to the British Army in Dunkirk just two weeks later. On 14 May, having been stalled at Hannut, Hoepner tried to break the French line again, against orders, leading to The Battle of the Gembloux Gap. This was 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 4. Panzerdivision another 42 tanks, 26 of which were irreparable. This French defensive success was made irrelevant by events further south. Following the battle with the French 1st Army on 15 May, the war diary of the 4. Panzerdivision noted irreparable losses that day of nine Panzer Is, nine Panzer IIs, six Panzer IIIs, eight Panzer IVs, and two command tanks; of an original total of 314. 137 machines, of which 20 were mk IIIs and four were mk IVs, remained combat-ready. Central front Belgian and French Ardennes In the centre, the progress of German Army Group A was to be delayed by Belgian motorised infantry and French mechanised cavalry divisions (Divisions Lgres de Cavalerie) advancing into the Ardennes. The main resistance came from the Belgian 1st Chasseurs Ardennais along with the 5th French Light Cavalry Division (DLC). These forces had insufficient antitank capacity to block the surprisingly large number of German tanks they encountered and quickly gave way, withdrawing behind the Meuse. The German advance was greatly hampered by the sheer number of troops trying to force their way along the poor road network. Kleist's Panzergruppe had more than 41,000 vehicles. This huge armada had been allocated only four march routes through the Ardennes. The time-tables proved to be wildly optimistic and there was soon heavy congestion, beginning well over the Rhine to the east, which would last for almost two weeks. This made Army Group A very vulnerable to French air attacks, but these did not materialise. Although Gamelin was well aware of the situation, the French bomber force was far too weak to challenge German air superiority so close to the German border. The French had tried in vain to stem the flow of the German armour during the Battle of Maastricht and had failed with heavy losses. In two days, the bomber force had been reduced from 135 to 72. On 11 May, Gamelin had ordered reserve divisions to begin reinforcing the Meuse sector. Be-

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cause of the danger the Luftwaffe posed, movement over the rail network was limited to night-time, slowing the reinforcement, but the French felt no sense of urgency as they believed the build-up of German divisions would be correspondingly slow. The French Army did not conduct river crossings unless assured of heavy artillery support. While they were aware that the German tank and infantry formations were strong, they were confident in their strong fortifications and artillery superiority. However, the quality of the fighting men was dubious. The German advance forces reached the Meuse line late in the afternoon of 12 May. 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, Montherm to the northwest and Dinant further to the north. The first German units to arrive hardly had local numerical superiority; their already insufficient artillery support was further limited by an average supply of just 12 rounds per gun. Fortunately for the German divisions, the French artillery was also limited to a daily combat supply rate of 30 rounds per "tube" (gun). Battle of Sedan At Sedan, the Meuse Line consisted of a strong defensive belt 6 km (3.7 mi) deep, laid out according to the modern principles of zone defence on slopes overlooking the Meuse valley and strengthened by 103 pillboxes, manned by the 147th Fortress Infantry Regiment. The deeper positions were held by the 55th Infantry Division. This was only a grade "B" reserve division. On the morning of 13 May, the 71st Infantry Division was inserted to the east of Sedan, allowing 55th Infantry to narrow its front by one-third and deepen its position to over 10 km (6.2 mi). Furthermore, it had a superiority in artillery to the German units present. On 13 May, the German XIX Korps forced three crossings near Sedan, executed by the 1., 2. and 10. Panzerdivisions, reinforced by the elite Grodeutschland infantry regiment. Instead of slowly massing artillery as the French expected, the Germans concentrated most of their air power (as they lacked strong artillery forces) to smash a hole in a narrow sector of the French lines by carpet bombing and by dive bombing. Hermann Gring had promised Guderian that there would be extraordinarily heavy air support during a continual eight-hour air attack, from 08:00 am until dusk. The Luftwaffe executed the heaviest air bombardment the world had yet witnessed and the most intense by the Germans during the war. The Luftwaffe committed two Sturzkampfgeschwader (Dive Bomber Wings) to the assault, flying 300 sorties against French positions. A total of 3,940 sorties were flown by nine Kampfgeschwader (Bomber Wings). Some of the forward pillboxes were unaffected and repulsed the crossing attempts of the 2. and 10. Panzerdivisions. The morale of the deeper units of the 55th Infantry, however, had been broken by the affect of the air attacks. The French supporting artillery batteries had fled. The German infantry, at a cost of a few hundred casualties, had penetrated up to 8 km (5.0 mi) into the French defensive zone by midnight. Even by then most of the infantry had not crossed, much of the success being due to the actions of just six platoons, mainly assault engineers. The disorder that had begun at Sedan spread down the French lines. At 19:00 on 13 May, the 295th regiment of 55th Infantry Division, holding the last prepared defensive line at the Bulson ridge 10 km (6.2 mi) behind the river, was panicked by the false rumour that German tanks were already behind its positions. It fled, creating a gap in the French defences, before even a single German tank had crossed the river. This "Panic of Bulson" also involved the divisional artillery. The Germans had not attacked their position, and would not do so until 12 hours later, at 07:20 on 14 May. Still, the French had several hours to launch a counter offensive before the Germans consolidated the bridgeheads, but failed to attack soon enough. Recognising the gravity of the defeat at Sedan, General Gaston-Henri Billotte, commander of the 1st Army Group, whose right flank pivoted on Sedan, urged that the bridges across the Meuse be destroyed by air attack, convinced that "over them will pass either victory or defeat!". That day, every available Allied light bomber was employed in an attempt to destroy the three bridges, but failed to hit them while suffering heavy losses. Some 44% of the Allies' bomber strength was destroyed.
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Collapse of the Meuse front Heinz Guderian, the commander of the German XIX. Armeekorps, had indicated on 12 May that he wanted to enlarge the bridgehead to at least 20 km (12 mi). His superior, Ewald von Kleist, ordered him on behalf of Hitler to limit his moves to a maximum of 8 km (5.0 mi) before consolidation. At 11:45 on 14 May, von Rundstedt confirmed this order, which implied that the tanks should now start to dig in. Guderian was able to get to Ewald von Kleist to agree to "reconnaissance in force", by threatening to resign and behind the scenes interventions. This vague terminology allowed Guderian to move forward, effectively ignoring Ewald von Kleist's order to halt. In the original von Manstein Plan as Guderian had suggested, 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 but Guderian now sent the 10th Panzerdivision and Grodeutschland infantry regiment south to execute precisely such a feint attack, using the only available route south over the Stonne plateau. The commander of the French 2nd Army, General Charles Huntziger, intended to carry out a counterattack at the same spot by the armoured 3e Division Cuirasse de Rserve (DCR) to eliminate the bridgehead. This resulted in an armoured collision, both parties trying in vain to gain ground in furious attacks from 1517 May, the village of Stonne changing hands many times. Huntzinger considered this at least a defensive success and limited his efforts to protecting his flank. Holding Stonne and taking Bulson would have enabled the French to hold onto the high ground overlooking Sedan. They could disrupt the Sedan bridgehead, even if they could not take it. Heavy battles took place and Stonne changed hands 17 times. It fell to the Germans for the last time on the evening of 17 May. Guderian, meanwhile, had turned his other two armoured divisions, the 1. and 2. Panzerdivisions, sharply to the west on 14 May. They began to advance at speed to the English Channel. 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 9th Army. The 9th Army collapsed and surrendered en masse. The 102nd Fortress Division, its flanks unsupported, was surrounded and destroyed on 15 May at the Montherm bridgehead by the 6. and 8. Panzerdivisions acting without air support. The French 2nd Army had also been seriously mauled and had rendered itself impotent. The 9th Army was giving way because they also did not have time to fortify their lines. Erwin Rommel had breached its defences within 24 hours of its conception. This allowed Rommel to break free with his 7th Panzer Division, refusing to allow his division rest and advancing both by day and night. The Ghost division advanced 30 mi (48 km) in just 24 hours. Rommel's lines of communication with his superior, General Hermann Hoth, and his headquarters were cut. Disobeying orders and not waiting for the French to establish a new line of defence, he continued to advance north-west to Avesnes-sur-Helpe, just ahead of the 1. and 2. Panzerdivisions. Rommel was lucky, because the French 5th Motorised Infantry Division had set up its overnight bivouac in his path, leaving its vehicles neatly lined up along the roadsides. Rommel's tanks dashed right through them. The slow speed, overloaded crews and lack of any means of communication in battle undid the French. The 5th Panzer Division joined in the fight. The French did inflict significant losses on the division but they could not cope with the speed of the German mobile units, which closed fast and destroyed the French armour at close range. During this battle, the remaining elements of the 1st DCR, resting after losing all but 16 of its tanks in Belgium, were also engaged and defeated. The French unit retreated, with just three remaining tanks. The 1st DCR was effectively destroyed on 17 May. The Germans lost 50 out of 500 tanks in the battle. By 17 May, Rommel claimed to have taken 10,000 prisoners and suffered only 36 losses. Guderian was delighted with the fast advance, and encouraged his XIX Korps, consisting of the 1., 2. and 10. Panzerdivisions to head for the channel, continuing until fuel was exhausted. However, the success of his commanders on the ground began to have effects on Hitler who worried that the German advance was moving too fast. Halder recorded in his diary on

[149]

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17 May that "Fuhrer is terribly nervous. Frightened by his own success, he is afraid to take any chance and so would pull the reins on us ... [he] keeps worrying about the south flank. He rages and screams that we are on the way to ruin the whole campaign." Through deception and different interpretations of orders to stop from Hitler and von Kleist, the commanders on the ground were able to ignore Hitler's attempts to stop the northern advance to the sea. Low French morale The Panzerkorps now slowed their advance considerably and put themselves in a very vulnerable position. They were stretched out, exhausted, low on fuel, and many tanks had broken down. There was now a dangerous gap between them and the infantry. A determined attack by a fresh and large enough mechanised force might have cut the Panzers off and wiped them out. The French High Command, already contemplatively ponderous and sluggish via its firm espousing of the broad strategy of "methodological warfare", however, was reeling from the shock of the sudden offensive and was now 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. We are beaten; we have lost the battle." Churchill, attempting to offer some comfort to Reynaud, reminded the Prime Minister of all the times the Germans had broken through the Allied lines in World War I only to be stopped. Reynaud was, however, inconsolable. Churchill flew to Paris on 16 May. He immediately recognised the gravity of the situation when he observed that the French government was already burning its archives and was preparing for an evacuation of the capital. In a sombre meeting with the French commanders, Churchill asked General Gamelin, "O est la masse de manoeuvre?" ["Where is the strategic reserve?"] that had saved Paris in the First World War. "Aucune" ["There is none"] Gamelin replied. After the war, Gamelin claimed his response was "There is no longer any." Churchill described hearing this later as the single most shocking moment in his life. Churchill asked Gamelin where and when 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". Failed Allied counter-attacks Some of the best Allied units in the north had seen little fighting. Had they been kept in reserve they might have been used in a decisive counter-strike. In a twist of irony, pre-war General Staff Studies had asserted the main reserves were to be kept on French soil, to resist an invasion of the Low Countries, deliver a counterattack or "re-establish the integrity of the original front". Despite having a numerically superior armoured force, the French failed to use it properly, or to deliver an attack on the vulnerable German bulge. The Germans combined their fighting vehicles in major, operational formations and used them at the point of main effort. The bulk of French armour was scattered along the front in tiny formations. Most of the French reserve divisions had by now been committed. The 1st DCR had been wiped out when it had run out of fuel and the 3rd DCR had failed to take its opportunity to destroy the German bridgeheads at Sedan. The only armoured division still in reserve, 2nd DCR, was to attack on 16 May west of Saint-Quentin, Aisne. The division's commander could locate only seven of its 12 companies, which were scattered along a 49 mi 37 mi (79 km 60 km) front. The formation was overrun by the 8. Panzerdivision while still forming up and was effectively destroyed as a fighting unit. Colonel Charles de Gaulle, in command of France's hastily formed 4th DCR, attempted to launch an attack from the south at Montcornet where Guderian had his Korps headquarters and the 1. Panzerdivision had its rear service areas. During the Battle of Montcornet Germans hastily improvised a defence while Guderian rushed up the 10. Panzerdivision to threaten De Gaulle's flank. This flank pressure and attacks by the Luftwaffe's VIII Fliegerkorps broke up the attack. French losses on 17 May were 32 tanks and armoured vehicles, but had
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"inflicted loss on the Germans". On 19 May, after receiving reinforcements, De Gaulle made another effort, and was repulsed with the loss of 80 of 155 vehicles. Von Richthofen's Fliegerkorps VIII had done most of the work, by targeting French units moving into position to attack the vulnerable German flanks it was able to stop most counterattacks from starting. The defeat of de Gaulle's unit and the disintegration of the French 9th Army was caused mainly by Richthofen's air units. Although De Gaulle had achieved a measure of success, his attacks on 17 and 19 May did not significantly alter the overall situation. It was the only French counter-attack on the German forces advancing to the channel. German spearheads reach the Channel The Allies did little to either threaten the Panzerkorps or to escape from the danger that they posed. The Panzer troops used 1718 May to refuel, eat, sleep and return more tanks to working order. On 18 May, Rommel caused the French to give up Cambrai by merely feinting an armoured attack toward the city. On 19 May, General Edmund Ironside, the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff, conferred with General Lord Gort, commander of the BEF, at his headquarters near Lens. He urged Gort to save the BEF by attacking south-west toward Amiens. Gort replied that seven of his nine divisions were already engaged on the Scheldt River, and he had only two divisions left with which he would be able to mount such an attack. Ironside then asked Gort under whose command he was acting. Gort replied that this was General Billotte, the commander of the French 1st Army Group, but that Billotte had issued no orders for eight days. Ironside confronted Billotte, whose own headquarters was nearby, and found him apparently incapable of taking decisive action. He returned to Britain concerned that the BEF was already doomed, and ordered urgent anti-invasion measures. The German land forces could not remain inactive any longer since it would allow the Allies to reorganise their defence or escape. On 19 May, Guderian was permitted to start moving again and smashed through the weak British 18th and 23rd Territorial Divisions located on the Somme river. The German units occupied Amiens and secured the westernmost bridge over the river at Abbeville. This move isolated the British, French, Dutch, and Belgian forces in the north. On 20 May, a reconnaissance unit from Rudolf Veiel's 2. Panzerdivision reached Noyelles-sur-Mer, 100 kilometres (62 mi) to the west of their positions on the 17th. From there, they were able to see the Somme estuary and the English Channel. A huge pocket, containing the Allied 1st Army Group (the Belgian, British, and French 1st, 7th and 9th Armies), was created. VIII. Fliegerkorps, under the command of Wolfram von Richthofen, covered the dash to the channel coast. Heralded as the Ju 87s' (Stuka) "finest hour", these units responded via an extremely efficient communications system to the Panzer Divisions' every request for support, which effectively blasted 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. 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 Luftwaffe responded to requests in 1020 minutes. Oberstleutnant Hans Seidemann (Richthofen's Chief of Staff) said that "never again was such a smoothly functioning system for discussing and planning joint operations achieved". Closer examination reveals the army had to wait 4575 minutes for Ju 87 units, and just 10 minutes for the Henschel Hs 123 units. Weygand Plan On the morning of 20 May, Maurice Gamelin ordered the armies trapped in Belgium and northern France to fight their way south and link up with French forces that would be pushing northward from the Somme river. However on the evening of 19 May, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud had dismissed Gamelin for his failure to contain the German offensive,
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and replaced him with Maxime Weygand. Weygand had little sense of urgency. He claimed his first mission as Commander-in-Chief would be to get a good night's sleep. Weygand was guilty of wasting valuable time, time which was needed to form a quick and powerful counterattack. He cancelled Gamelin's planned offensive, then wasted several days making courtesy visits to dignitaries in Paris. He then ordered a similar plan to Gamelin's, proposing a counter-offensive from the north and south against the German "corridor", which entailed a combined thrust by the encircled armies in the pocket and French forces on the Somme front (the newly created French 3rd Army Group, under the command of General Antoine-Marie-Benot Besson). The situation demanded an all-out offensive on the corridor. On 22 May, Weygand ordered his forces to pinch off the German armoured spearhead by combining attacks from the north and the south. On the map, this seemed like a feasible mission, as the corridor through which von Kleist's two Panzer Corps had moved to the coast was narrow. On paper, Weygand had sufficient forces to execute it: to the north were the three DLM and the BEF; to the south, was de Gaulle's 4th DCR. However, while the German position was far from safe, the opportunity had been lost. The delays had allowed the Germans to push more infantry divisions into the corridor and they had pushed further along the channel coast. Weygand flew into the pocket on 21 May and met General Billotte, commander of the First Army Group, and King Leopold III of Belgium. The Belgian position on any offensive move was made clear by Leopold. As far as he was concerned, the Belgian Army could not conduct offensive operations as it lacked tanks and aircraft; it existed solely for defence. The King also made clear that in the rapidly shrinking area of Belgium still free, there was only enough food for two weeks. Leopold did not expect the BEF to jeopardise its own position in order to keep contact with the Belgian Army, but he warned the British that if it persisted with the southern offensive the Belgians would be overstretched and their army would collapse. King Leopold suggested the best recourse was to establish a beach-head covering Dunkirk and the Belgian channel ports. Gort doubted the French Army's ability to prevail in the offensive. On 23 May, making matters worse, Billotte was killed in a road traffic accident, leaving the Allied First Army Group in the pocket leaderless for three days. Billotte was the only member of the Allied armies thoroughly informed on the Weygand plan's details. The same day, the British decided to evacuate from the Channel ports. In the event, communications broke down and only two minor offensives, by the British and French at Arras on 21 May and by the French at Cambrai on 22 May, would be acted upon. Major-General Harold Franklyn, commanding two tank battalions, had moved into the Arras area. Franklyn was not aware of a French push north toward Cambrai, and the French were unaware of a British attack heading south, out of the pocket, toward Arras. Ignorant as to the importance of the operation, Franklyn assumed he was to relieve the Allied garrison at Arras and to sever German communications in the immediate area. He did not therefore want to risk throwing his main units, the 5th and 50th Infantry Divisions into the fight, especially if the objectives were limited. He also had the French 3rd DLM available, from the French 1st Army. It had caused the German armour severe trouble at the Battle of Hannut with its SOMUA S35 heavy tanks. They were given no more than a flank protection role. Only two infantry battalions and two tank battalions were made available for the attack. British armour numbers had dwindled owing to mechanical failures. However they still fielded 74 Matilda tanks and 14 light tanks. The resulting Battle of Arras achieved surprise and initial success against German forces which were stretched, but it still failed. Radio communication between tanks and infantry was poor and there was little combined arms coordination as practiced by the Germans. In the end, hastily set up German defences (including [[8.8 cm FlaK 18/36/37/41|88 mm (3.46 in) FlaK gun]]s and [[10.5 cm leFH 18|105 mm (4.1 in) field gun]]s) stopped the attack. The French inflicted heavy losses on German armour as they retreated, but the Luftwaffe broke up the counter-attacks. Just 28 of the 88 British tanks survived. The French V Corps' attack at Cambrai also failed. V Corps had been too disorganised after previous fighting in Belgium to launch a serious effort.
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Although this attack was not part of any coordinated attempt to destroy the Panzerkorps, the German High Command panicked even more than Rommel. They thought that hundreds of Allied tanks were about to smash into their elite forces. It was unjustified panic. The operational and strategic effects of the British attack was out of proportion to its tactical achievements. On the morning of the 22 May, the German High Command had regained confidence and ordered Guderian's XIX Panzerkorps to press north and push on to the Channel ports: the 1. Panzerdivision to Calais, the 2. Panzerdivision to Boulogne and the 10. Panzerdivision to Dunkirk. Later, the missions of the 1st and 10. Panzerdivisions were reversed. The 1. Panzer was ordered to Dunkirk while the 10. Panzer was to take Calais. Although De Gaulle launched some ineffectual counterattacks around Peronne on 19 May, the attack from the south was launched only on 23 May, when 7th DIC, supported by a handful of tanks, failed to retake Amiens. On 27 May, the British 1st Armoured Division, hastily brought over from England, attacked Abbeville in force but was beaten back with crippling losses. The next day de Gaulle tried again with the same result. But, by now, even complete success very well might not have saved the Allied forces in the north. BEF and the Channel ports In the early hours of 23 May, Gort ordered a retreat from Arras. By now, he had no faith in the Weygand plan, nor in Weygand's proposal to at least try to hold a pocket on the Flemish coast, a so-called Rduit de Flandres. Gort knew that the ports needed to supply such a foothold were already being threatened. That same day, the 2. Panzer Division had assaulted Boulogne. The British garrison there surrendered on 25 May, although 4,286 men were evacuated by Royal Navy ships. The RAF also provided air superiority over the port, denying the Luftwaffe an opportunity to attack the shipping. The 10. Panzerdivision, commanded by Ferdinand Schaal, attacked Calais on 24 May. British reinforcements (the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, equipped with cruiser tanks, and the 30th Motor Brigade) had been hastily landed 24 hours before the Germans attacked. The defenders held on to the port as long as possible, aware that an early capitulation would free up German forces to advance on Dunkirk. The British and French held the town despite the best efforts of Schaal's division to break through. Frustrated, Guderian ordered that if Calais had not fallen by 14:00 on 26 May, he would withdraw the 10. Panzer division and ask the Luftwaffe to destroy the town. Eventually, the French and British ran out of ammunition and the Germans were able to break into the fortified city at around 13:30 on 26 May 30 minutes before Schaal's deadline was up. Despite the French surrender of the main fortifications, the British held the docks until the morning of 27 May. Around 440 men were evacuated. The Siege of Calais lasted for four crucial days. However, the delaying action came at a price. Some 60% of Allied personnel were killed or wounded. Halt order On 23 May, Gnther von Kluge proposed that the German 4. Armee, which was poised to continue the attack against the Allied forces at Dunkirk, should "halt and close up". Seeing the Allies were trapped in the city, Gerd von Rundstedt agreed with von Kluge. In the 4. Armee diary, it is recorded on 23 May "will, in the main, halt tomorrow [May 24] in accordance with Colonel-General von Rundstedt's order." General Walther von Brauchitsch, commander in chief of the German Army, disagreed with his colleagues and wanted to continue the attack against Dunkirk by putting the 4. Armee under Bock. Bock was busy and Halder agreed with Von Rundstedt and with von Kluge to stop action against Dunkirk. The disagreement went to Hitler, who overruled Brauchitsch and agreed with stopping action against Dunkirk. Hitler's error wasn't in making the command to halt the German army but in allowing the orders already drawn up by the German generals to stand. It appears that Kleist also agreed with the halt order, which Hitler "rubber-stamped". The halt order remains extremely controversial. At the same time, Army Group B under Bock was stripped of most of its divisions, including its reserves and air support. Its complement shrank to just 21 divisions, while Army Group A swelled to 70 divisions, including all ten Panzer Divisions. Army Group B was to be used as a
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"hammer" against Army Group A's "anvil". Halder later claimed Hitler's motivation for the transfer was his wish that the decisive battle be fought on French, not Flemish soil. Hermann Gring convinced Hitler that the Luftwaffe could prevent any evacuation and von Rundstedt warned him that any further effort by the armoured divisions would lead to a much longer refitting period. The delay and failure of the Luftwaffe to stop the evacuation wasted some three days (2427 May) and allowed the Allies to build a defence to the approaches of Dunkirk, the main evacuation port. It would seem that Hitler, Gring and Rundstedt shared responsibility for the mistake. Operation Dynamo The Allies launched Operation Dynamo which evacuated the encircled British, French and Belgian troops from the northern pocket in Belgium and Pas-de-Calais, beginning on 26 May. About 28,000 men were evacuated on the first day. The French 1st Armythe bulk of which remained in Lilleowing to Weygand's failure to pull it back along with other French forces to the coast, mounted a long defence of the city, the 50,000 men finally capitulating on 31 May. While the 1st Army was mounting its sacrificial defence at Lille, it drew German forces away from Dunkirk, allowing 70,000 Allied soldiers to escape. Total Allied evacuation rates stood at 165,000 on 31 May. The Allied position was complicated by Belgian King Lopold III's surrender the following day, which was postponed until 28 May. The gap left by the Belgian Army stretched from Ypres to Dixmude. Nevertheless, a collapse was prevented and 139,732 British and 139,097 French soldiers were evacuated. Between 31 May and 4 June, some 20,000 British and 98,000 French had been saved. Still, some 3040,000 French soldiers of the rearguard remained to be captured. The overall total evacuated was 338,226. During the Dunkirk battle, the Luftwaffe did its best to prevent the evacuation. It flew 1,882 bombing and 1,997 fighter sorties. British losses totalled 6% of their total losses during the French campaign, including 60 precious fighter pilots. The Luftwaffe failed in its task of preventing 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 Germans lost around 100 aircraft confirmed destroyed, and the RAF 106 fighters. Other sources put Luftwaffe losses in the Dunkirk area at 240. Confusion still reigned. After the evacuation at Dunkirk and while Paris was enduring a short-lived siege, part of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division was sent to Brittany but was withdrawn after the French capitulation. The British 1st Armoured Division under General Evans, without its infantry which had earlier been diverted to the defence of Calais, had arrived in France in June 1940. It was joined by the former labour battalion of the 51st (Highland) Division and was forced to fight a rearguard action. At the end of the campaign, Erwin Rommel praised the staunch resistance of British forces, despite being under-equipped and without ammunition for much of the fighting. On 26 February 1945, Hitler claimed he had let the BEF escape as a "sporting" gesture, in the hope Churchill would come to terms. Few historians accept Hitler's word in light of Directive No. 13, which called for "the annihilation of French, British and Belgian forces in the Dunkirk pocket". Fall Rot French problems The best and most modern French armies had been sent north and lost in the resulting encirclement; the French had also lost much of their heavy weaponry and their best armoured formations. Overall, the Allies had lost 61 divisions in Fall Gelb. 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. Weygand had only 64 French and one remaining British division (the 51st Highland) available. Weygand lacked the reserves to counter a breakthrough or to replace frontline troops, should they become exhausted from a

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prolonged battle on a front of 965 kilometres. The Germans had 142 divisions to use. Adding to this grave situation, on 10 June, Italy declared war on France and Britain. Italy was not prepared for war and made little impact during the last twelve days of fighting. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was aware of this and sought to profit from German successes. Mussolini felt the conflict would soon end. As he said to the Army's Chief-of-Staff, Marshal Badoglio, "I only need a few thousand dead so that I can sit at the peace conference as a man who has fought." However, French General Ren Olry commanding the Army of the Alps resisted all Italian attacks, and then repulsed German attacks from the Rhone valley. Collapse of the Weygand line The Germans renewed their offensive on 5 June on the Somme. During the next three weeks, far from the easy advance the Wehrmacht expected, they encountered strong resistance from a rejuvenated French Army. It had fallen back on its communications, and had closer access to repair shops, supply dumps and stores. Moreover, 112,000 evacuated French soldiers were repatriated via the Normandy and Brittany ports. It was some substitute for the lost divisions in Flanders. The French were also able to make good a significant amount of its armoured losses and raised the 1st and 2nd DCR (heavy armoured divisions). De Gaulle's divisionthe 4th DCRalso had its losses replaced. Morale rose and was very high by the end of May 1940. A central explanation for the high morale was threefold; most French soldiers that knew about the defeats, and were now joining the line, only knew of German success by hearsay; surviving French officers had increased tactical experience against German mobile units; increased confidence in their weapons after seeing their artillery, which the Wehrmacht postbattle analysis recognised as technically very good, and their tanks perform better in combat than the German armour. The French tanks were now known to have heavier armour and armament. Between 23 and 28 May, they reconstituted the French 7th and 10th Armies. Weygand decided on hedgehog tactics, which were to implement defence in depth operations, and perform delaying strategies designed to inflict maximum attrition on enemy units. He employed units in towns and small villages, as well as major towns and cities, and fortified them 360 along their perimeter. Behind this, the new infantry, armoured, and half-mechanised divisions formed up, ready to counterattack and relieve the surrounded units, which were ordered to hold out at all costs. Army Group B attacked either side of Paris. Of its 47 divisions it had the majority of the mobile units. In fact, only 48 hours into the offensive, the Germans had not made any major breakthroughs. The Germans had been "stopped in their tracks". On the Aisne, Erich Hoepner's XVI Panzerkorps employed over 1,000 AFVs, two Panzer Divisions and a motorised division against the French. The assault was crude, and Hoepner soon lost 80 out of 500 AFVs in the first attack. The German 4. Armee succeeded in capturing bridgeheads over the Somme river, but the Germans struggled to get over the Aisne. Weygand had organised a defence in depth and frustrated the crossing. In a series of examples at Amiens, the Germans were repeatedly driven back by powerful French artillery concentrations, and came to recognise improved French tactics. Once again, the German Army relied on the Luftwaffe to help decisively, by silencing French guns and enabling the German infantry to inch forward. German progress was made only late on the third day of operations, finally forcing crossings. The French Air Force attempted to bomb them but failed. German sources acknowledged the battle was, "hard and costly in lives, the enemy putting up severe resistance, particularly in the woods and tree lines continuing the fight when our troops had pushed passed the point of resistance". However, south of Abbeville, the French 10th Army under General Robert Altmayer had its front broken and it was forced to retreat to Rouen and south along the Seine river. The rapid German advances were the sign of a weakening enemy. Rommel and his 7. Panzerdivision headed west over the Seine river through Normandy and captured the port of Cherbourg on 18 June. On the way to Cherbourg, Rommel forced the surrender of the British 51st (Highland) Division on 12 June. In close-quarter combat, the Luftwaffe was struggling to have an impact. However, in an operational sense, they helped disperse French armour. The German
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spearheads were overextended and vulnerable to counter strokes, but the concentration of the Luftwaffe denied the French the ability to concentrate, and the fear of air attack negated their mass and mobile use by Weygand. On 10 June, the French government declared Paris an open city. The German 18. Armee now deployed against Paris. The French resisted the approaches to the capital strongly, but the line was broken in several places. Weygand now asserted it would not take long for the French Army to disintegrate. On 13 June, Churchill attended an Allied Supreme War Council Meeting at Tours. He suggested a union between the two countries. It was rejected. On 14 June, Paris fell. Those Parisians who stayed in the city found that in most cases the Germans were extremely well mannered. On top of this added danger, the situation in the air had also grown critical. The Luftwaffe established air supremacy (as opposed to air superiority) as the French air arm was on the verge of collapse. The French Air Force (Arme de l'Air) had only just begun to make the majority of bomber sorties; between 5 and 9 June (during Operation Paula), over 1,815 missions, of which 518 were by bombers, were flown. The number of sorties flown declined as losses were now becoming impossible to replace. The RAF attempted to divert the attention of the Luftwaffe with 660 sorties flown against targets over the Dunkirk area but losses were heavy; on 21 June alone, 37 Bristol Blenheims were destroyed. After 9 June, French aerial resistance virtually ceased, some surviving aircraft withdrew to French North Africa. The Luftwaffe now "ran riot". Its attacks were focused on the direct and indirect support of the German Army. The Luftwaffe subjected lines of resistance to ferocious assault, which then quickly collapsed under armoured attack. Collapse of the Maginot line Meanwhile, to the east, Army Group C was to help Army Group A encircle and capture the French forces on the Maginot line. The goal of the operation was to envelop the Metz region, with its fortifications, in order to prevent a French counter offensive from the Alsace region against the German line on the Somme. Guderian's XIX Korps was to advance to the French border with Switzerland and trap the French forces in the Vosges Mountains while the XVI Korps attacked the Maginot Line from the west, into its vulnerable rear to take the cities of Verdun, Toul and Metz. The French, meanwhile, had moved the French 2nd Army Group from the Alsace and Lorraine to the 'Weygand line' on the Somme, leaving only small forces guarding the Maginot line. After Army Group B had begun its offensive against Paris and into Normandy, Army Groups A began its advance into the rear of the Maginot line. On 15 June, Army Group C launched Operation Tiger, a frontal assault across the Rhine river and into France. German attempts to break open or into the Maginot line prior to Tiger had failed. One assault lasted for eight hours on the extreme north of the line, costing the Germans 46 dead and 251 wounded, while just two French were killed (one at Ferme-Chappy and one at Fermont fortress). On 15 June, the last well-equipped French forces, including the French 4th Army were preparing to leave as the Germans struck. The French now holding the line were skeletal. The Germans greatly outnumbered the French. They could call upon the I Armeekorps of seven divisions and 1,000 artillery pieces, although most were First World War vintage, and could not penetrate the thick armour of the fortresses. Only 88 mm guns could do the job, and 16 were allocated to the operation. To bolster this, 150 mm and eight railway batteries were also employed. The Luftwaffe deployed the V Fliegerkorps to give air support. The battle was difficult and slow progress was made against strong French resistance. However, each fortress was overcome one by one. One fortress (Schoenenbourg) fired 15,802 75 mm rounds at attacking German infantry. It was the most heavily shelled of all the French positions. Nevertheless, its armour protected it from fatal damage. The same day Tiger was launched, Operation Kleiner Br began. Five assault divisions of the VII Armeekorps crossed the Rhine into the Colmar area with a view to advancing to the Vosges Mountains. It had 400 artillery pieces bolstered by heavy artillery and mortars. They drove the French 104th and 105th Divisions back into the Vosges Mountains on 17 June. However, on the same day Gude66/138

rian's XIX Korps reached the Swiss border and the Maginot defences were cut off from the rest of France. Most units surrendered on 25 June, and the Germans claimed to have taken 500,000 prisoners. Some main fortresses continued the fight, despite appeals for surrender. The last only capitulated on 10 July, after a request from General Alphonse Joseph Georges, and only then under protest. Of the 58 major fortifications on the Maginot Line, just 10 were captured by the Wehrmacht in battle. The second BEF evacuation The evacuation of the second BEF took place during Operation Ariel between 15 and 25 June. The Luftwaffe, with complete domination of the French skies, was determined to prevent more Allied evacuations after the Dunkirk debacle. I. Fliegerkorps was assigned to the Normandy and Brittany sectors. On 9 and 10 June, the port of Cherbourg was subject to 15 tonnes of German bombs, whilst Le Havre received 10 bombing attacks which sank 2949 GRT of escaping Allied shipping. On 17 June, Junkers Ju 88smainly from Kampfgeschwader 30 sank a "10,000 tonne ship" which was the 16243 GRT liner RMS Lancastria off St Nazaire, killing some 4,000 Allied personnel (nearly doubling the British killed in the battle of France). Nevertheless, the Luftwaffe failed to prevent the mass evacuation of some 190,000 200,000 Allied personnel. Surrender and armistice Discouraged by his cabinet's hostile reaction to a British proposal to unite France and Britain to avoid surrender, and believing that his ministers no longer supported him, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned on 16 June. He was succeeded by Marshal Philippe Ptain, who delivered a radio address to the French people announcing his intention to ask for an armistice with Germany. When Hitler received word from the French government that they wished to negotiate an armistice, he selected the Compigne Forest as the site for the negotiations. Compigne had been the site of the 1918 Armistice, which had ended the First World War with a humiliating defeat for Germany; Hitler viewed the choice of location as a supreme moment of revenge for Germany over France. The armistice was signed on 22 June 1940 in the very same railway carriage in which the 1918 Armistice was signed (it was removed from a museum building and placed on the precise spot where it was located in 1918), Hitler sat in the same chair in which Marshal Ferdinand Foch had sat when he faced the defeated German representatives. 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 the Chief of Staff of the OKW, Wilhelm Keitel. The armistice and the cease-fire went into effect at 01:35 on 25 June. Aftermath France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north and west and a nominally independent state in the south. The new French state known as Vichy France, was headed by Ptain. Charles de Gaulle, who had been made an Undersecretary of National Defence by Reynaud in London at the time of the surrender, made his Appeal of 18 June in which he refused to recognise Ptain's Vichy government as legitimate and began the task of organising the Free French Forces. The British doubted Admiral Franois Darlan's promise not to allow the French fleet at Toulon to fall into German hands by the wording of the armistice conditions. They feared the Germans would seize the French Navy's fleet, docked at ports in Vichy France and North Africa and use them in an invasion of Britain (Operation Sea Lion). Within a month, the Royal Navy would attack the French naval forces which were stationed in North Africa. The British Chiefs of Staff Committee had concluded in May 1940 that if France collapsed, "we do not think we could continue the war with any chance of success" without "full economic and financial support" from the United States. Churchill's desire for American aid led in September to the Destroyers for Bases agreement that began the wartime Anglo-American partnership.
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[241]

The occupation of the various zones continued until November 1942, when the Allies launched Operation Torch, the invasion of Western North Africa. To safeguard southern France, the Germans enacted Operation Anton, and occupied Vichy France. In June 1944, the Western Allies launched Operation Overlord. Followed by the smaller but easier Operation AnvilDragon on the French Mediterranean coast on 15 August. German troops in western and central France now run the risk of becoming cut off, and began to retire towards Germany, with the exceptions of the extremly fortified submarine bases at the French Atlantic coast, which remained in German hands until the German capitulation. On 24 August 1944 Paris was liberated, and by September most of the country was in Allied hands. By the time of the liberation, some 580,000 French had been killed (Of these 40.000 were killed by the western Allied, during the bombardments of the first 48 hours of Operation Overlord). Military deaths were 92,000 in 19391940. Some 58,000 died from 1940 to 1945 fighting in the Free French forces. In Alsace-Lorraine some province citizens joined the German Army (most of them were forced to). Some 40,000 became casualties. Civilian casualties amounted to around 150,000 (60,000 by aerial bombing, 60,000 in the resistance, and 30,000 murdered by German occupation forces). Prisoners of war and deportee totals were around 1,900,000. Of this, around 240,000 died in captivity. An estimated 40,000 were prisoners of war, 100,000 racial deportees, 60,000 political prisoners and 40,000 died as slave labourers. Hitler Appoints Twelve Field Marshals On 19 July, at a ceremony at the Kroll Opera House, Hitler promoted nine generals from the Army and three from the Luftwaffe to the rank of Field Marshal: Walther von Brauchitsch, Commander in chief of the Army Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of Staff of the OKW Gerd von Rundstedt, Commander in chief of Army Group A Fedor von Bock, Commander in chief of Army Group B Wilhelm von Leeb, Commander in chief of Army Group C Gnther von Kluge, Commander of the Fourth Army Wilhelm List, Commander of the Twelfth Army Erwin von Witzleben, Commander of the First Army Walter von Reichenau, Commander of the Sixth Army Albert Kesselring, Commander of the Second Air Fleet Erhard Milch, Inspector General of the Luftwaffe Hugo Sperrle, Commander of the Third Air Fleet This number of promotions to what had previously been the highest rank in the Wehrmacht (Hermann Gring, Commander in chief of the Luftwaffe and already a Field Marshal, was elevated to the new rank of Reichsmarschall) was unprecedented. Throughout the whole of the First World War, Kaiser Wilhelm II had promoted only five generals to Field Marshal. Casualties Axis German overall casualties are hard to determine. A common estimate is about 27,074 killed, 111,034 wounded and 18,384 missing. Nevertheless, Germans killed may have been as high as 49,000 men, due to additional non-combat causes, wounded who died and missing who were confirmed dead. The battle for France had cost the Luftwaffe 28% of its front line strength, some 1,236 to 1,428 aircraft destroyed (1,129 to enemy action, 299 in accidents). A further 323488 were damaged (225 to enemy action, 263 in accidents), making a total of 36% of the Luftwaffe strength negatively affected. Luftwaffe casualties amounted to 6,653, including 4,417 aircrew; of these 1,129 were killed and 1,930 missing and captured. A great number were liberated from French prison camps upon the French capitulation.

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Italian casualties were 1,247 killed or missing and 2,361 wounded. Additionally, there were more than 2,000 cases of frostbite from combat in the subzero temperatures of the French Alps. Allied Casualties were as follows: France: According to the Defence Historical Service, 85,310 killed (including 5,400 Maghrebis), 12,000 missing, 120,000 wounded and 1,540,000 captured (including 67,400 Maghrebis). Some recent French research indicates that the number of killed had been between 55,000 and 85,000. In August 1940, 1,540,000 prisoners were taken into Germany where roughly 940,000 remained until 1945 when they were liberated by advancing Allied forces. At least 3,000 Senegalese Tirailleurs were murdered after being taken prisoner. 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; several hundred thousand were paroled because of disability and/or sickness. Aerial losses are estimated at 1,274 aircraft destroyed during the campaign. Britain: 68,111 killed in action, wounded or captured (among them fewer than 10,000 killed, including the Lancastria disaster). Some 64,000 vehicles destroyed or abandoned and 2,472 guns destroyed or abandoned. RAF losses throughout the entire campaign (10 May 22 June) amounted to 931 aircraft and 1,526 casualties. Belgium: Losses in manpower were 6,093 killed and wounded. Some 2,000 prisoners of war died in captivity and more than 500 were missing. Those captured amounted to 200,000. Belgian wounded amounted to 15,850. They lost 112 aircraft destroyed. Poland: Losses in manpower were around 6,000 killed and wounded. Nearly 12,000 troops (2nd Infantry Division) were interned in Switzerland for the duration of the war.

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Chapter IV Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa (German: Unternehmen Barbarossa), was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Beginning on 22 June 1941, over 4 million soldiers of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km (1,800 mi) front, the largest invasion in the history of warfare. In addition to troops, Barbarossa used 600,000 motor vehicles and 750,000 horses. The ambitious operation was driven by Adolf Hitler's persistent desire to conquer the Soviet territories (as embodied in Generalplan Ost). It marked the beginning of the pivotal phase in deciding the victors of the war. The German invasion of the Soviet Union suffered and caused a high rate of fatalities: 95% of all German Army casualties that occurred from 1941 to 1944, and 65% of all Allied military casualties from the entire war. Operation Barbarossa was named after Frederick Barbarossa, the medieval Holy Roman Emperor. Planning started on 18 December 1940; the secret preparations and the military operation itself lasted from June to December 1941. The Red Army repelled the Wehrmacht's strongest blow, and Adolf Hitler did not achieve the expected victory, but the Soviet Union's situation remained dire. Tactically, the Germans won resounding victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the Soviet Union, mainly in Ukraine. Despite these successes, the Germans were pushed back from Moscow and could never again mount a simultaneous offensive along the entire strategic SovietGerman front. Operation Barbarossa's failure led to Hitler's demands for further operations inside the USSR, all of which eventually failed, such as continuing the Siege of Leningrad, Operation Nordlicht, and the Battle of Stalingrad, among other battles on occupied Soviet territory. Operation Barbarossa was the largest military operation in human history in both manpower and casualties. Its failure was a turning point in the Third Reich's fortunes. Most importantly, Operation Barbarossa opened up the Eastern Front, to which more forces were committed than in any other theater of war in world history. Regions covered by the operation became the site of some of the largest battles, deadliest atrocities, highest casualties, and most horrific conditions for Soviets and Germans alikeall of which influenced the course of both World War II and 20th century history. The German forces captured over 3 million Soviet POWs in 1941, who did not enjoy the protection stipulated in the Geneva Conventions. Most of them never returned alive. Germany deliberately starved the prisoners to death as part of its Hunger Plan, i.e., the program to reduce the Eastern European population German theory regarding the Soviet Union As early as 1925, Hitler suggested in Mein Kampf that he would invade the Soviet Union, asserting that the German people needed Lebensraum ("living space", i.e. land and raw materials) and that these should be sought in the East. National-socialist racial ideology cast the Soviet Union as populated by "Untermenschen," ethnic Slavs ruled by their "Jewish Bolshevik" masters. Mein Kampf said Germany's destiny was to turn "to the East" as it did "six hundred years ago" and "the end of the Jewish domination in Russia will also be the end of Russia as a State." Thereafter, Hitler spoke of an inescapable battle against "pan-Slav ideals", in which victory would lead to "permanent mastery of the world", though he said they would "walk part of the road with the Russians, if that will help us." Accordingly, it was Nazi stated policy to kill, deport, or enslave the Russian and other Slavic populations and repopulate the land with Germanic peoples (see Generalplan Ost). Before World War II, observers believed that in a war with the Soviet Union, Germany would attack through the Baltic states while the Kriegsmarine would seize Leningrad by sea. They assumed that possessing the entire Baltic basin would satisfy Hitler, who would not repeat Napoleon's mistake of attacking Moscow.

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Map 8 Operation Barbarossa 19391940 German-Soviet relationship The Soviet Union and Germany signed a non-aggression pact, the MolotovRibbentrop Pact, shortly before the German invasion of Poland that triggered the Second World War in 1939, and which was followed by the Soviet invasion of Poland. A secret protocol to the pact outli-

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ned an agreement between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union on the division of the border states between their respective "spheres of influence". The Soviet Union and Germany would split Poland if an invasion were to occur, and Latvia, Estonia and Finland were defined as falling within the Soviet sphere of influence. The pact surprised the world because of the parties' mutual hostility and their conflicting ideologies. As a result of the pact, Germany and the Soviet Union had reasonably strong diplomatic relations and an important economic relationship. The countries entered a trade pact in 1940, in which the Soviets received German military and industrial equipment in exchange for raw materials, such as oil or wheat, to help Germany circumvent a British blockade. Despite the parties' ongoing relations, each side was strongly suspicious of the other's intentions. After Germany entered the Axis Pact with Japan and Italy, it began negotiations about a potential Soviet entry into the pact. After two days of negotiations in Berlin from 1214 November, Germany presented a proposed written agreement for Soviet entry into the Axis. The Soviet Union offered a written counterproposal agreement on 25 November 1940, to which Germany did not respond. As both sides began colliding with each other in Eastern Europe, conflict appeared more likely, though they signed a border and commercial agreement addressing several open issues in January 1941. Germany broke the pact by starting Operation Barbarossa: arguably this decision led to Germany's losing the war. Germany plans the invasion Joseph Stalin's reputation contributed both to the Nazis' justification of their assault and their faith in success. In the late 1930s, many competent and experienced military officers were killed in the Great Purge, leaving the Red Army weakened and leaderless. The Nazis often emphasized the Soviet regime's brutality when targeting the Slavs with propaganda. German propaganda claimed the Red Army was preparing to attack them, and their own invasion was thus presented as pre-emptive. In the summer of 1940, when German raw materials crises and a potential collision with the Soviet Union over territory in the Balkans arose, an eventual invasion of the Soviet Union increasingly looked like Hitler's only solution. While no concrete plans were made yet, Hitler told one of his generals in June that the victories in western Europe "finally freed his hands for his important real task: the showdown with Bolshevism", though German generals told Hitler that occupying Western Russia would create "more of a drain than a relief for Germany's economic situation." The Fhrer anticipated additional benefits: When the Soviet Union was defeated, the labor shortage in German industry could be relieved by demobilization of many soldiers. Ukraine would be a reliable source of agricultural products. Having the Soviet Union as a source of forced labor under German rule would vastly improve Germany's geostrategic position. Defeat of the Soviet Union would further isolate the Allies, especially the United Kingdom. The German economy needed more oil and controlling the Baku Oilfields would achieve this; as Albert Speer, the German Minister for Armaments and War Production, later said in his interrogation, "the need for oil certainly was a prime motive" in the decision to invade. On 5 December 1940, Hitler received military plans for the invasion, and approved them all, with the start scheduled for May 1941. On 18 December, Hitler signed War Directive No. 21 to the German High Command for an operation now codenamed "Operation Barbarossa" stating: "The German Wehrmacht must be prepared to crush Soviet Russia in a quick campaign." The operation was named after Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire, a leader of the Third Crusade in the 12th century. The invasion was set for 15 May 1941. The plan for Barbarossa assumed that the Wehrmacht would emerge victorious if it could destroy the bulk of the Red Army west of the Western Dvina and Dnieper Rivers. This assumption will be proven fatally wrong less than a month into the invasion.
[citation needed]

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Map 9 Situation in Europe by May/June 1941, at the end of the Balkans Campaign and immediately before Operation Barbarossa In a 1978 essay "Das Russlandbild der fhrenden deutschen Militrs" ("The Picture of Russia held by the Leadership of the German Military"), the German historian Andreas Hillgruber examined the views about the Soviet Union held by the German military elite in the period June 1940 to June 1941. According to Hillgruber, the following were the case: The Wehrmacht was ill-informed about the Soviet Union, especially the military and the economy. Because of the paucity of information, Wehrmacht thinking about the Soviet Union were based upon traditional German stereotypes of Russia as a primitive, backward "Asiatic" country, a "colossus with feet of clay" that lacked the strength to stand up to a superior opponent. The leadership of the Wehrmacht viewed war with the Soviet Union from an extremely narrow military viewpoint with little consideration given to politics, the economy or culture. The industrial capacity of the Soviet Union was not considered at all as a factor that might influence the outcome of a German-Soviet war.
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The average soldier of the Red Army was considered brave and tough, but the Red Army officer corps were held in contempt. The Wehrmacht leadership after the victory over France was in a state of hubris with the Wehrmacht being seen as more or less invincible. As such, it was assumed that the Soviet Union was destined to be defeated, and that it would take Germany between six to eight weeks to destroy the Soviet Union. Hillgruber argued that these assumptions about the Soviet Union shared by the entire military elite allowed Hitler to push through a "war of annihilation" against the Soviet Union with the assistance of "several military leaders", even though it was quite clear to the military that such a war would violate all standards of civilized warfare and would be waged in the most inhumane fashion possible. In the Soviet Union, speaking to his generals in December, Stalin mentioned Hitler's references to an attack on the Soviet Union in Mein Kampf, and said they must always be ready to repulse a German attack, and that Hitler thought the Red Army would need four years to ready itself. Hence, "we must be ready much earlier" and "we will try to delay the war for another two years." In autumn 1940, high-ranking German officials drafted a memorandum on the dangers of an invasion of the Soviet Union. They said Ukraine, Belorussia and the Baltic States would end up as only a further economic burden for Germany. Another German official argued that the Soviets in their current bureaucratic form were harmless, the occupation would not produce a gain for Germany and "why should it not stew next to us in its damp Bolshevism?" Hitler ignored German economic naysayers, and told Hermann Gring that everyone on all sides was always raising economic misgivings against a threatening war with Russia. From now onward he wasn't going to listen to any more of that kind of talk and from now on he was going to stop up his ears in order to get his peace of mind. This was passed on to General Georg Thomas, who had been preparing reports on the negative economic consequences of an invasion of the Soviet Unionthat it would be a net economic drain unless it was captured intact. Beginning in March 1941, Gring's Green Folder laid out details of the Soviet Union's proposed economic disposal after the invasion. The entire urban population of the invaded land was to be starved to death, thus creating an agricultural surplus to feed Germany and allowing the urban population's replacement by a German upper class. In the summer of 1941, German Nazi-ideologist Alfred Rosenberg suggested that conquered Soviet territory should be administered in the following Reichskommissariates: Ostland (The Baltic countries and Belarus, extended eastward by about 500 km) Ukraine (Ukraine, enlarged eastwards to the Volga) Kaukasus (Southern Russia and the Caucasus region) Moskowien (Moscow metropolitan area and the rest of European Russia) Turkestan (Central Asian republics and territories) Nazi policy aimed to destroy the Soviet Union as a political entity in accordance with the geopolitical Lebensraum idea ("Drang nach Osten") for the benefit of future generations of the "Nordic Aryan master race" . We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down. Adolf Hitler Operation Barbarossa was to combine a northern assault towards Leningrad, a symbolic capturing of Moscow, and an economic strategy of seizing oil fields in the south beyond Ukraine. Hitler and his generals disagreed on which of these aspects should take priority and where Germany should focus its energies; deciding on priorities required a compromise. While planning Barbarossa in 19401941, in many discussions with his generals, Hitler repeated his order: "Leningrad first, the Donetsk Basin second, Moscow third." Hitler believed Moscow was of "no great importance" in the defeat of the Soviet Union, and instead believed victory will come with the destruction of the Red Army west of the capital. This will later lead to conflict between Hitler and several German senior officers including

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Guderian, Engel, Bock and Halder, who believed the decisive victory could only be delivered at Moscow. Hitler was impatient to get on with his long-desired invasion of the east. He was convinced Britain would sue for peace, once the Germans triumphed in the Soviet Union, the real area of Germany's interests. General Franz Halder noted in his diaries that, by destroying the Soviet Union, Germany would destroy Britain's hope of victory. Hitler had grown overconfident from his rapid success in Western Europe and the Red Army's ineptitude in the Winter War against Finland in 19391940. He expected victory within a few months and therefore did not prepare for a war lasting into the winter. This meant his troops lacked adequate warm clothing and preparations for a longer campaign when they began their attack. The assumption that the Soviet Union would quickly capitulate would prove to be his undoing. German preparations When Barbarossa commences, the world will hold its breath and make no comment. Adolf Hitler The Germans had begun massing troops near the Soviet border even before the campaign in the Balkans had finished. By the third week in February 1941, 680,000 German troops were stationed on the Romanian-Soviet border. In preparation for the attack, Hitler moved 3.2 million German and about 500,000 Axis soldiers to the Soviet border, launched many aerial surveillance missions over Soviet territory, and stockpiled materiel in the East. The Soviets were still taken by surprise, mostly due to Stalin's belief that the Third Reich was unlikely to attack only two years after signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Soviet leader also believed the Nazis would be likely to finish their war with Britain before opening a new front. He refused to believe repeated warnings from his intelligence services on the Nazi buildup, fearing the reports to be British misinformation designed to spark a war between Germany and the USSR. Spy Dr. Richard Sorge gave Stalin the exact German launch date; Swedish cryptanalysts led by Arne Beurling also knew the date beforehand, but Sorge and other informers (e.g. from Berlin Police dept.) had previously given different invasion dates which passed peacefully before the actual invasion. In addition, British intelligence gathering information through Ultra warned the Soviet Union of impending invasion several months prior to 22 June 1941. The Germans set up deception operations, from April 1941, to add substance to their claims that Britain was the real target: Operations Haifisch and Harpune. These simulated preparations in Norway, the Channel coast and Britain. There were supporting activities such as ship concentrations, reconnaissance flights and training exercises. Some details of these bogus invasion plans were deliberately leaked. German military planners also researched Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia. In their calculations they concluded that there was little danger of a large-scale retreat of the Soviet army into the Russian interior, as it could not afford to give up the Baltic states, Ukraine, or the Moscow and Leningrad regions, all of which were vital to the Red Army for supply reasons and would thus have to be defended. The strategy Hitler and his generals agreed on involved three separate army groups assigned to capture specific regions and cities of the Soviet Union. The main German thrusts were conducted along historical invasion routes. Army Group North was to march through the Baltics into northern Russia, and either take or destroy the city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). Army Group Center would advance to Smolensk and then Moscow, marching through what is now Belarus and the west-central regions of Russia proper. Army Group South was to strike the heavily populated and agricultural heartland of Ukraine, taking Kiev before continuing eastward over the steppes of the southern USSR to the Volga with the aim of controlling the oil-rich Caucasus. Hitler, the OKW and the various high commands disagreed about what the main objectives should be. In preparing for Barbarossa, most of the OKW argued for a straight thrust to Moscow, but Hitler kept asserting his intention to seize the resource-rich Ukraine and Baltics be76/138

fore concentrating on the Soviet capital. An initial delay, which postponed the start of Barbarossa from mid-May to the end of June 1941, may have been insignificant, especially since the Russian muddy season came late that year. However, more time was lost at various critical moments as Hitler and the OKW suspended operations in order to argue about strategic objectives. The Germans also decided to bring rear forces (mostly Waffen-SS units and Einsatzgruppen) into the conquered territories to counter any partisan activity in areas they controlled. Soviet preparations Despite the estimations held by Hitler and others in the German high command, the Soviet Union was by no means weak. Rapid industrialization in the 1930s had led to industrial output second only to that of the United States, and equal to Germany. Production of military equipment grew steadily, and in the pre-war years the economy became progressively more oriented toward military production. Tukhachevsky, one of the prominent military theorist in tank warfare in the interwar period, lobbied the Kremlin for colossal investment in the resources that were required for production of weapons in mass quantities, and in 1930 he forwarded a memo to Kremlin, pressing the case for "40,000 aircrafts and 50,000 tanks." In the early 1930s, a very modern operational doctrine for the Red Army was developed and promulgated in the 1936 field regulations. The defence expenditures also grew rapidly. By 1933 the defence expenditure had reached 12% of the gross national product, from 5.2% in 1913, and by 1940 it was at 18%. On 5 May 1941, Stalin gave a speech to graduates of military academies in Moscow declaring: "War with Germany is inevitable. If comrade Molotov can manage to postpone the war for two or three months that will be our good fortune, but you yourselves must go off and take measures to raise the combat readiness of our forces". Development of the 1 January 1939 22 June 1941 % increase armed forces of the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1941 Divisions calculated Personnel Guns and mortars Tanks 131.5 2,485,000 55,800 21,100 316.5 5,774,000 117,600 25,700 140.7 132.4 110.7 21.8

Aircraft 7,700 18,700 142.8 According to Taylor and Proektor (1974), the Soviet armed forces in the western districts were outnumbered, with 2.6 million Soviet soldiers versus 3.9 million for the Axis. However, Glantz reports about 3.8 million as the total force of the Axis in June 1941, of which 900,000 were deployed in the West. The overall size of the Soviet armed forces in early July 1941, amounted to a little more than 5 million men, 2.6 million in the west, 1.8 million in the far east, with the rest being deployed or training elsewhere. These figures, however, can be misleading. The figure for Soviet strength in the western districts of the Soviet Union counts only the First Strategic Echelon, which was stationed on and behind the Soviet western frontier to a depth of 400 kilometers; it also underestimates the size of the First Strategic Echelon, which was actually 2.9 million strong. The figure does not include the smaller Second Strategic Echelon, which as of 22 June 1941 was in process of moving toward the frontier; according to the Soviet strategic plan, it was scheduled to be in position reinforcing the First Strategic Echelon by early July. The total Axis strength is also exaggerated; 3.3 million German troops were earmarked for participation in Barbarossa, but that figure includes reserves which did not take part in the initial assault. A further 600,000 troops provided by Germany's allies also participated, but mostly after the initial assault. On 22 June, the German Wehrmacht achieved a local superiority in its initial assault (98 Ger77/138

man divisions), including 29 armoured and motorized divisions, some 90% of its mobile forces, attacking on a front of 1,200 km (750 mi) between the Baltic Sea and the Carpathian Mountains, against NKVD border troops and the divisions of the Soviet First Operational Echelon (the part of the First Strategic Echelon stationed immediately behind the frontier in the three western Special Military Districts) because it had completed its deployment and was ready to attack about two weeks before the Red Army was scheduled to have finished its own deployment with the Second Strategic Echelon in place. At the time, 41% of stationary Soviet bases were located in the near-boundary districts, many of them in the 200 km (120 mi) strip around the border; according to Red Army directive, fuel, equipment, railroad cars, etc. were similarly concentrated there. Moreover, on mobilization, as the war went on, the Red Army gained steadily in strength. While the strength of both sides varied, in general the 1941 campaign was fought with a slight Axis numerical superiority in manpower at the front. According to Mikhail Meltyukhov (2000:477), by the start of war, the Red Army numbered altogether 5,774,211 troops: 4,605,321 in ground forces, 475,656 in air forces, 353,752 in the navy, 167,582 as border guards and 171,900 in internal troops of the NKVD. In some key weapons systems, however, the Soviet numerical advantage was considerable. In tanks, for example, the Red Army had a large quantitative superiority. It possessed 23,106 tanks, of which about 12,782 were in the five Western Military Districts (three of which directly faced the German invasion front). However, maintenance and readiness standards were very poor; ammunition and radios were in short supply, and many units lacked the trucks needed to carry supplies. Also, from 1938, the Soviets had partly dispersed their tanks to infantry divisions for infantry support, but after their experiences in the Winter War and their observation of the German campaign against France, had begun to emulate the Germans and organize most of their armored assets into large armour divisions and corps. This reorganization was only partially implemented at the dawn of Barbarossa, as not enough tanks were available to bring the mechanized corps up to organic strength. The German Wehrmacht had about 5,200 tanks overall, of which 3,350 were committed to the invasion. This yields a balance of immediately available tanks of about 4:1 in the Red Army's favor. The most advanced Soviet tank models, however, the T-34 and KV-1, were not available in large numbers early in the war, and only accounted for 7.2% of the total Soviet tank force. The Soviet numerical advantage in heavy equipment was also more than offset by the greatly superior training and readiness of German forces. The Soviet officer corps and high command had been massacred in Stalin's Great Purge (19361938). Of 90 generals arrested, only six survived the purges, as did only 36 of 180 divisional commanders, and just seven out of 57 army corps commanders. In total, some 30,000 Red Army personnel were executed, while more were deported to Siberia and replaced with officers deemed more "politically reliable." Three of the five pre-war marshals and about two thirds of the corps and division commanders were shot. This often left younger, less experienced officers in their places; for example, in 1941, 75% of Red Army officers had held their posts for less than one year. The average Soviet corps commander was 12 years younger than the average German division commander. These officers tended to be very reluctant to take the initiative and often lacked the training necessary for their jobs. The number of aircraft was also heavily in the Soviets' favor. However, Soviet aircraft were largely obsolete, and Soviet artillery lacked modern fire control techniques. Most Soviet units were on a peacetime footing, explaining why aviation units had their aircraft parked in closely bunched neat rows, rather than dispersed, making easy targets for the Luftwaffe in the first days of the conflict. Prior to the invasion the VVS (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily, Soviet Air Force) was forbidden to shoot down Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft, despite hundreds of prewar incursions into Soviet airspace. The Soviet war effort in the first phase of the Eastern front war was severely hampered by a shortage of modern aircraft. The Soviet fighter force was equipped with large numbers of ob78/138

solete aircraft, such as the I-15 biplane and the I-16. In 1941, the MiG-3, LaGG-3 and Yak-1 were just starting to roll off the production lines, but were far inferior in all-round performance to the Messerschmitt Bf 109 or later, the Fw 190, when it entered operations in September 1941. Few aircraft had radios and those that were available were unencrypted and did not work reliably. The poor performance of the VVS during the Winter War with Finland had increased the Luftwaffe's confidence that the Soviets could be mastered. The standard of flight training had been accelerated in preparation for a German attack that was expected to come in 1942 or later. But Soviet pilot training was extremely poor. Order No 0362 of the People's Commissar of Defense, dated 22 December 1940, ordered flight training to be accelerated and shortened. Incredibly, while the Soviets had 201 MiG-3s and 37 MiG-1s combat ready on 22 June 1941, only four pilots had been trained to handle these machines. The Red Army was dispersed and unprepared, and units were often separated and without transportation to concentrate prior to combat. Although the Red Army had numerous, welldesigned artillery pieces, some of the guns had no ammunition. Artillery units often lacked transportation to move their guns. Tank units were rarely well-equipped, and also lacked training and logistical support. Maintenance standards were very poor. Units were sent into combat with no arrangements for refueling, ammunition resupply, or personnel replacement. Often, after a single engagement, units were destroyed or rendered ineffective. The army was in the midst of reorganizing the armor units into large tank corps, adding to the disorganization. As a result, although on paper the Red Army in 1941 seemed at least the equal of the German army, the reality in the field was far different; incompetent officers, as well as partial lack of equipment, insufficient motorized logistical support, and poor training placed the Red Army at a severe disadvantage. In August 1940 British intelligence had received hints of German plans to attack the Soviets only a week after Hitler informally approved the plans for Barbarossa. Stalin's distrust of the British led to his ignoring the warnings, believing it to be a trick designed to bring the Soviet Union into the war. In the spring of 1941, Stalin's own intelligence services and American intelligence made regular and repeated warnings of an impending German attack. However, Stalin chose to ignore these warnings. Although acknowledging the possibility of an attack in general and making significant preparations, he decided not to run the risk of provoking Hitler. He also had an ill-founded confidence in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which had been signed just two years before. Last, he also suspected the British of trying to spread false rumours in order to trigger a war between Germany and the USSR. Consequently, the Soviet border troops were not put on full alert and were sometimes even forbidden to fire back without permission when attackedthough a partial alert was implemented on 10 Aprilthey were simply not ready when the German attack came. Enormous Soviet forces were massed behind the western border in case the Germans did attack. However, these forces were very vulnerable due to changes in the tactical doctrine of the Red Army. In 1938, it had adopted, on the instigation of General Pavlov, a standard linear defence tactic on a line with other nations. Infantry divisions, reinforced by an organic tank component, would be dug in to form heavily fortified zones. Then came the shock of the Fall of France. The French Army, considered the strongest in the world, was defeated in a mere six weeks. Soviet analysis of events, based on incomplete information, concluded that the collapse of the French was caused by a reliance on linear defence and a lack of armored reserves. The Soviets decided not to repeat these mistakes. Instead of digging in for linear defence, the infantry divisions would henceforth be concentrated in large formations. Most tanks would also be concentrated into 29 mechanized corps, each with over 1031 tanks. Should the Germans attack, their armoured spearheads would be cut off and wiped out by the mechanized corps. These would then cooperate with the infantry armies to drive back the German infantry, vulnerable in its approach march. The Soviet left wing, in Ukraine, was to be enormously reinforced to be able to execute a strategic envelopment: after destroying German Army Group South, it would swing north through Poland in the back of Army Groups Centre and North. With the complete annihilation of the encircled German Army thus made inevi79/138

table, a Red Army offensive into the rest of Europe would follow. The Soviet offensive plans theory Immediately after the German invasion of the USSR, Adolf Hitler put forward a thesis that the Red Army made extensive preparations for an offensive war in Europe, thus justifying the German invasion as a pre-emptive strike. After the war this view was brought forward by some Wehrmacht leaders, like Wilhelm Keitel. This thesis was reiterated in the 1980s based on the analysis of circumstantial evidence. Thus, it has been found that a proposal was drawn up by Zhukov and signed by Vasilevsky and Vatutin suggesting secret mobilization and deploying Red Army troops on the Western border, under the cover of training. The proposed operation's objective was to cut Germany off from its allies, and especially Romania with its oilfields that Germany needed to conduct the war. According to Viktor Suvorov, Stalin planned to use Germany as a proxy (the "Icebreaker") against the West. Stalin's idea was to fuel Hitler's aggressive plans against Europe, and only after the countries had fought each otherand exhausted themselves to some extentwould the USSR make their strike. For this reason Stalin provided significant material and political support to Adolf Hitler, while at the same time preparing the Red Army to "liberate" the whole of Europe from Nazi occupation. Suvorov argued that German Barbarossa actually was a pre-emptive strike that capitalized on the Soviet troop concentrations immediately on the 1941 borders. Some others who support the idea that Stalin prepared to attack, like Mikhail Meltyukhov, reject this part of Suvorov's theory, arguing that both sides prepared for attack on their own, not in response to the other side's preparations. Although this thesis has drawn the attention of the general public in some countries, and has been supported by some historians (examples include Vladimir Nevezhin, Boris Sokolov, Valeri Danilov, Joachim Hoffmann and Mark Solonin), it has not been accepted by many western historians The invasion The Frontier Battles (22 June 1941 3 July 1941) At 03:15 on Sunday, 22 June 1941, the Axis bombed major cities in Soviet-occupied Poland. It is hard to pinpoint the opposing sides' strength in this initial phase, as most German figures include reserves allocated to the East but not yet committed, as well as several other comparability issues between the German and USSR's figures. Roughly three million Wehrmacht troops went into action on 22 June, and they faced slightly fewer Soviet troops in the border Military Districts. The contribution of the German allies would generally not make itself felt until later. The surprise was complete: though the Stavka, alarmed by reports that Wehrmacht units were approaching the border, had at 00:30 ordered that the border troops be warned that war was imminent, only a small number of units were alerted in time. At around noon June 22 1941 the news of the invasion was broadcast to the population by Molotov, as follows: Citizens and Citizenesses of the Soviet Union! Today, at four o'clock in the morning, without addressing any grievances to the Soviet Union, without declaration of war, German forces fell on our country, attacked our frontiers in many places and bombed out cities... an act of treachery unprecedented in the history of civilized nations... The Red Army and the whole nation will wage a victorious Patriotic War for our beloved country, for honour, for liberty.. Our cause is just. The enemy will be beaten. Victory will be ours. By calling upon the population's devotion to their nation rather than the Party, Molotov struck a patriotic chord while allowing a stunned people to absorb the shattering news. The invasion did not come as a surprise to Stalin but he was completely astounded.

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Map 10 Frontier Battles Army Group North http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map10.jpg It was not until 3 July before Stalin addressed the nation for the first time since the start of the German invasion, and just like Molotov's announcement of the war on 22 June, he called for a "patriotic war... of the entire Soviet people". In Germany, on the morning of 22 June, Goebbels announced the invasion to the waking nation in a radio broadcast: At this moment a march is taking place that, for its extent, compares with the greatest the world has ever seen. I have decided today to place the fate and future of the Reich and our people in the hands of our soldiers. May God aid us, especially in this fight. Later the same morning, Hitler proclaimed to colleagues, "before three months have passed, we shall witness a collapse of Russia, the like of which has never been seen in history." Aside from the roughly 3.2 million German ground troops engaged in, or earmarked for the Eastern Campaign, about 500.000 Romanian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Croatian, and Italian troops accompanied the German forces, while the Army of Finland made a major contribution in the north. The 250th Spanish "Blue" Infantry Division was a formation of volunteered Spanish Falangists and Nazi sympathisers. Luftwaffe reconnaissance units worked frantically to plot troop concentration, supply dumps, and airfields, and mark them for destruction. The Luftwaffe's task was to neutralize the Soviet Air Force. This was not achieved in the first days of operations, despite the Soviets having concentrated aircraft in huge groups on the permanent airfields rather than dispersing them on field landing strips, making them ideal targets. The Luftwaffe claimed to have destroyed 1,489 aircraft on the first day of operations. Hermann GringChief of the Luftwaffedistrusted the reports and ordered the figure checked. Picking through the wreckages of Soviet
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airfields, the Luftwaffe's figures proved conservative, as over 2.000 destroyed Soviet aircraft were found. The Luftwaffe lost 35 aircraft on the first day of combat. The Germans claimed to have destroyed only 3.100 Soviet aircraft in the first three days. In fact Soviet losses were far higher; according to Russian historian Viktor Kulikov, some 3.922 Soviet aircraft had been lost. The Luftwaffe had achieved air superiority over all three sectors of the front, and would maintain it until the close of the year. The Luftwaffe could now devote large numbers of its Geschwader (also see Luftwaffe Organization) to support the ground forces. Invasion musical theme Each German invasion of a foreign country had an official musical theme that was frequently played for the purposes of Nazi propaganda over the totally government controlled radio stations after the invasion was officially announced to whip up enthusiasm for the military operation among the German population. The theme song for Operation Barbarossa was Les preludes by Franz Liszt. Army Group North CHRONOLOGY November 1939-March 1940 Russo-Finnish Winter War 1940 5 August General Marcks completes his Operationsentwurf Ost. 7 August OKW completes Aufbau Ost. 12-13 November Molotov visits Berlin. 18 November Soviets learn German invasion includes attack on Leningrad. 28 November-3 December Paulus hosts Barbarossa wargames. 5 December Hitler approves basic plan. 17-20 December Barbarossa logistical wargames. 18 December Fuhrer Directive 21 issued. 23 December-13 January, 1941 Kremlin command conferences and wargames; another shake-up within Soviet high command. 1941 31 January Aufmarschanweisung Ost published. 25-27 May Finnish Chief of Staff visits OKW. 12 June Kriegsmarine begins mining Baltic. 22 June Barbarossatag. German invasion begins. Soviet Military Districts become fronts. 24-29 June Battle of Raseiniai, XLI Panzer Corps against 12th Mechanized Corps. 26 June LVI Panzer Corps captures Dunaburg bridgehead. 29 June-6 July Mountain Corps Norway's first attack across Litsa River. 30 June Sobennikov replaces Kuznetsov as commander of the Northwest Front. 1 July XXXVI Corps and Finns attack at Salla. 9 July Piadyshev takes command of LOG. 10 July Voroshilov arrives at Northwest Direction; Finns attack in Karelia north of Lake Ladoga. 13-17 July Mountain Corps Norway's second attack across Litsa River. 14 July 6th Panzer Division achieves bridgehead over the River Narva. 14-18 July 11th Army counterattack against LVI Panzer Corps at Soltsy. 19 July Fuhrer Directive 33 issued. 21 July Hitler visits Army Group North headquarters. 23 July Supplement to Fuhrer Directive issued. 30 July Fuhrer Directive 34 published. 31 July Finns attack in Karelia south of Lake Ladoga. 8-10 August German general offensive on Luga River begins.
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12 August Supplement to Fuhrer Directive 34 issued; 11th, 27th, 34th, 48th Armies attack Sixteenth Army at Staraya Russa. 19 August LVI Panzer Corps counterattacks to Staraya Russa. 22 August Hitler issues Denkschrift ending high command debate. 26 August LVII Panzer from Army Group Center captures Velikie Luki. 28 August Tallinn falls to XLI I Corps. 29 August Vyborg taken by Finnish IV Corps. 1 September XXXVI Corps and Finns unite at Allakurtti, 2 September Von Brauchitsch and Haider visit Army Group North headquarters. 8 September Finns reach Svir River; XXXIX Panzer Corps captures Shlisselburg encircling Leningrad. 8-20 September Mountain Corps Norway's third attack across Litsa River. 9 September Zhukov arrives in Leningrad; XLI Panzer Corps renews assault toward Krasnogvardeysk. 14 September Amphibious assault on Muhu Island. 15 September Germans assault Saaremaa Island. 16 September XLI Panzer Corps occupies Strelnya, 8th Army cut off from Leningrad. 22 September Germans issue directive on starvation of Leningrad. 25 September Frontlines around Leningrad essentially solidify for duration of siege. 1 October Finnish VII Corps takes Petrozavodsk. 12 October Attack of Hiiumaa Island. 16 October XXXIX Panzer Corps begins attack toward Tikhvin. 26 October Von Leeb visits the Fuhrer's Headquarters. 8 November Tikhvin falls. 12 November 52nd Army counterattack at Volkhov. 15 November Finnish Group "F" links up on Kandalaksha axis. 19 November 4th Army launches attack to recapture Tikhvin. 6 December Finnish II Corps and Group "O" take Medvezh'yegorsk. 7 December Germans evacuate Tikhvin. Mid-December Frontlines stabilize on Volkhov River. 1942 16 January Hitler relieves von Leeb as Army Group North Commander. Opposite Army Group North were two Soviet armies. The Wehrmacht OKH thrust the 4th Panzer Group, with a strength of 600 tanks, at the junction of the two Soviet armies in that sector. The 4th Panzer Group's objective was to cross the Neman and Daugava Rivers which were the two largest obstacles in the advance to Leningrad. On the first day, the tanks crossed the River Neman and penetrated 50 mi (80 km). Near Raseiniai, the armoured units were counterattacked by 300 tanks of the 3rd and 12th Soviet Mechanized Corps. It took four days for the Germans to encircle and destroy the Soviet armour who lacked fuel, ammunition and coordination. By the end of the first week the Soviet Mechanized Corps had lost 90% of its strength. The Panzer Groups then crossed the Daugava near Daugavpils. The Germans were now within striking distance of Leningrad. However, due to their deteriorated supply situation, Hitler ordered the Panzer Groups to hold their position while the infantry formations caught up. The orders to hold would last over a week, giving time for the Soviets to build up a defence around Leningrad and along the bank of the Luga River. Further complicating the Soviet position, on 22 June the anti-Soviet June Uprising in Lithuania began, and on the next day an independent Lithuania was proclaimed. An estimated 30,000 Lithuanian rebels engaged Soviet forces, joined by ethnic Lithuanians from the Red Army. As the Germans reached further north, armed resistance against the Soviets broke out in Estonia as well. The "Battle of Estonia" ended on 7 August, when the 18th Army reached the Gulf of Finland coast.

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Army Group Centre CHRONOLOGY 1941 February 20 Goring creates Luftwaffe planning staff for Barbarossa. June 22-30 Battle for Fortress Brest. June 23-25 Boldin's counterattack at Grodno. June 24 LVII Panzer Corps captures Vilnius. June 28-29 20th & 18th Panzer Divisions close Minsk Kessel. June 30 Hoth and Guderian confer. OKH directs Von Bock to advance on Smolensk. July 3-27 Von Kluge commands Fourth Panzer Army. July 4 3rd Panzer Division captures Dnepr bridge at Rogatchev. July 8 20th Panzer Division captures Dvina bridge at Ulla. July 12 Stavka orders Timoshenko to organize counterattacks toward Bobruisk and prepare defense of Mogilev. July 15 7th Panzer Division captures Yartsevo, isolating Smolensk. July 16 29th Motorized Division enters Smolensk, completing "loose" encirclement. July 17-27 Battle for Mogilev after Soviets frustrate initial German attempts to lever River Dnepr. July 20 10th Panzer Division occupies Yelnia. July 21-July 22 Luftwaffe initiates bombing of Moscow. July 23-August 7 Timoshenko counteroffensive - Group Kachalov July 24-27 Timoshenko counteroffensive - Groups Kalinin & Khomenko, plus Gorodovikov's cavalry raid. July 29-31 Timoshenko counteroffensive - Group Maslinnikov. August 3 IX Army & XXIV Panzer Corps encircle Roslavl. August 5 Germans consider battle for Smolensk to be over. August 11 Soviets begin general offensive around Yelnia. August 19 XXIV Panzer Corps plus VII & XIII Army Corps capture Gomel. September 6 Soviets re-occupy Yelnia. Hitler issues his Directive 35. September 7 XIII, XLIII & XXXV Army Corps capture Chernigov. September 10 Stavka instructs forces before Moscow to transition to defense. September 30 & October 2 Army Group Center begins Operation Typhoon. October 7 7th & 10th Panzer Divisions close Viazma Kessel. Beginning of rasputitsa, and first snowfalls. October 8 XLVII Panzer Corps & LI 11 Army Corps close Bryansk Kessel. October 8, 9 & 19 Soviets issue various directives on defense of Moscow. October 11-16 First battle of Mozhaisk line ends in stalemate. Town of Mozhaisk falls on 19th. October 13 Kaluga falls. October 14 1st Panzer Division enters Kalinin. November 13 Haider hosts conference of Ostheer chiefs of staff at Orsha. November 14 & 16 November Zhukov launches pre-emptive attacks against Army Group Center. November 15 Von Bock's left wing begins Operation Volga Reservoir.' November 18 Guderian launches final assault south of Moscow. November 22 Klin falls. November 25 17th Panzer Division reaches Kashira - Guderian's farthest advance. Army Group Centre was composed of 9th Army, 2nd Army, 2nd Panzer Group, 3rd Panzer Group; and other rear, reserve, and headquarter armies. Opposite Army Group Centre were four Soviet armies: the 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th Armies.

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Map 11 Frontier Battles Army Group Center http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map11.jpg The Soviet Armies occupied a salient that jutted into German occupied Polish territory with the Soviet salient's center at Biaystok. Beyond Biaystok was Minsk, the capital of Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and a key railway junction. Army Group Centre's two Panzer Groups' goal was to meet at Minsk, denying the Red Army an escape route from the salient. The 3rd Panzer Group broke through the junction of two Soviet Fronts in the north of the salient, and crossed the River Neman while the 2nd Panzer Group crossed the Bug River river in the South. As the Panzer Groups attacked, the 9th and 2nd of Armies of Army Group Centre struck at the salient, eventually encircling Soviet troops at Biaystok. Stavka at first failed to grasp the dimensions of the catastrophe that had befallen the Soviet Union. Marshall Timoshenko ordered all Soviet forces to launch a general counter-offensive, but with supply and ammunition dumps destroyed, and complete collapse of communication, the uncoordinated attacks failed. Zhukov signed the infamous Directive of People's Commissariat of Defence No. 3, under pressure from Stalin as he later claimed, which ordered the Red Army to start an offensive. He commanded the troops "to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping near Suwaki and to seize the Suwaki region by the evening of 26 June" and "to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping invading Vladimir-Volynia and Brody direction" and even "to seize the Lublin region by the evening of 24 June" This maneuver failed, and disorganized Red Army units were soon destroyed by the Wehrmacht. On 27 June, 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups met up at Minsk, advancing 200 mi (320 km) into Soviet territory and a third of the way to Moscow. In the vast pocket between Minsk and the Polish border, the remnants of thirty-two Soviet Rifle divisions, eight Tank, Motorized, Cavalry and Artillery divisions were encircled. By 3 July, three encircled Soviet Armies (3rd, 4th
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and 10th) were destroyed in the vicinity of Minsk. Hitler had believed that the Red Army would collapse if the Wehrmacht could destroy the bulk of the their forces west of the Western Dvina and Dnieper Rivers. However after the victory at Minsk, as Army Group Center reached Western Dvina and Dnieper Rivers, they encountered another 5 Soviet Armies (16th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd). Three of these Soviet Armies (16th, 19th, and 20th) were quickly encircled and eventually decimated in the vicinity of Smolensk, while the other two were severely weakened. However, these successes came at very steep cost for the Wehrmacht. According to Halder the chief of the OKH General Staff, by 2 August Army Group Centre had lost 74,500 men and received only 23,000 as replacement since the start of the campaign. Later still, by 28 August Halder recorded that the Panzer divisions of the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups were operating with an average tank strength of 45%, with the 7th Panzer Division the lowest at only strength of 24%. Army Group South CHRONOLOGY 1940 2 June Hitler tells von Rundstedt about eastern campaign. 18 June Haider sets up Eastern Front Study Group. 31 July Hitler briefs generals on his intent to invade USSR. 5 August Marcks completes his plan. 7 August OKW completes "Aufbau Ost." October-May 1941 Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance over the USSR. Mid-October Stalin redirects Soviet main effort from Moscow to the Ukraine. 12-13 November Molotov visits Berlin. 28 November-3 December Paulus hosts Barbarossa wargames. 5 December Hitler approves basic plan. 18 December Fuhrer Directive 21 issued, 23 December-13 January 1941 Kremlin command conferences and wargames; another shake-up within Soviet high command. 1941 31 January "Aufmarschweisung" adds Rumania to Barbarossa planning. 30 March Hitler describes Barbarossa to 250 generals as a "struggle of two world views." 6 April Germans begin Balkans campaign. 23 May Soviets call up 1905-1918 reservists, establish martial law. 30 May Mussolini establishes a corps for action in the USSR although Germans have not officially told Italy about Barbarossa. 6 June "Commissar Order" issued. 14 June Hitler clarifies Barbarossa objectives to Wehrmacht leaders: Leningrad, the Ukraine, Donbas and Caucasus. Moscow is not included. 20 June Rumanians first officially briefed on Barbarossa. 22 June Barbarossatag; Soviet Military Districts become Fronts. 23 June Stavka created. 24 June First Panzer Group passes through Sixth Army; Kiponos' counterattacks begin. 27 June Unattributed bombing brings Hungary into war. 29 June 1 st Mountain Division enters L'vov. 2 July Operation Munich crosses Rumanian border. 7 July 13th Panzer Division reaches Berdichev. 9 July 14th Panzer Division takes Zithomir. 10 July 13th Panzer Division reaches Irpen River, ten miles from Kiev, rest of III Panzer Corps close behind; Stavka creates Strategic Direction. 13 July Kirponos begins counterattacks against "Zithomir Corridor." 15 July 26th Army counterattacks at Kanev into First Panzer Group's rear. 17 July XI Corps crosses Dnestr River.
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21 July Rumanians cross Dnestr; XLVIII Panzer Corps reaches Monastyrishche near Uman. 23 July Soviet counterattack at Monastyrishche. 27 July Seventeenth Army breaks free of Stalin Line, heads for junction with First Panzer Group. 30 July Sixth Army's first direct assault on Kiev. 3 August 16th Panzer and 1 st Mountain Divisions link up at Pervomaysk, closing Uman pocket. 5 August Stalin fires Zhukov as Chief of Staff. 7 August 26th Army renews attacks at Kanev. 8 August Uman fighting over; Rumanians close on Odessa; Sixth Army's second attack on Kiev. 10 August Stavka gives up Dnepr River line. 16 August First Rumanian assault on Odessa. 19 August "LSSAH" takes Kherson; 9th Panzer Division gains bridgehead at Zaporozhe. 20 August Seventeenth Army wins Dnepr bridgehead at Kremenchug. 23 August 5th Army retreats behind Dnepr. 24 August Sixth Army reaches Desna. 25 August Soviets cut off Sixth Army (until 2 September); 13th Panzer Division takes bridgehead at Dnepropetrovsk. 26 August XVII Corps takes Chernobyl; Tyulenev replaced. 30 August OKH issues order for Kiev Kessel. 31 August Red Army abandons right bank of Dnepr. 7 September Sensing impending doom at Kiev, Kirponos requests permission to give up Desna line. 9 September Stalin approves Desna move; von Rundstedt orders Eleventh Army to attack Crimea. 10 September Sixth and Second Armies (Army Group Center) link up; 3rd Panzer Division reaches Romny; XLVIII Panzer Corps shifted to Kremenchug. 11 September Stalin fires Budenny, Timoshenko becomes commander of Southwest Direction. 12 September Von Schobert killed at Berisiav. 13 September XXIV Panzer Corps takes Lokhvitsa; XLVIII Panzer Corps fighting for Lubny. 14 September 3rd and 16th Panzer Divisions (ink up at Lokhvitsa, completing Kiev encirclement. 16 September XXIX Corps' final assault on Kiev begins. 17 September Stalin permits evacuation of Kiev; von Manstein takes over Eleventh Army. 20 September Kirponos killed escaping Kiev. 23 September Soviet 9th and 18th Armies begin Sea of Azov battle. 24 September Kiev fighting dies down; LIV Corps begins first assault at Perekop (until 28th). 25 September Von Rundstedt orders First Panzer Group to counterattack behind Soviets at Melitopol. 29 September Oktyarbrsky suggests to Stalin that Odessa be abandoned. 1 October First Panzer Group attacks toward Melitopol. 2 October Rumanians renew assault on Odessa. 5 October Panzer Groups become Panzer Armies. 7 October XIV Panzer Corps and "LSSAH" meet at Berdyansk and close Melitopol pocket. 10 October Hoth replaces ailing von Stulpnagel. 15 October Soviets abandon Odessa at night. 18 October LIV Corps launches second attack at Perekop (through 26th). 21 October OKH orders Army Group South to Stalingrad and Maikop! 24 October Sixth Army takes Kharkov. 9 November Timoshenko briefs Stalin on Rostov attack plan. 16 November Eleventh Army reaches Kerch. 20 November III Panzer Corps reaches Rostov.
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25 November 56th Army launches counterattack at Rostov. 27 November Timoshenko counteroffensive opens along entire First Panzer Army salient. 28 November Von Kleist orders III Panzer Corps out of Rostov. 30 November Von Rundstedt approves retreat to Mius River. 1 December Von Rundstedt resigns; von Reichenau named replacement. 2 December Hitler visits Army Group and Panzer Army headquarters. Opposite Army Group South were three Soviet armies, the 5th, 6th and 26th. Soviet commanders reacted quicker and the Germans faced determined resistance from the start. The German infantry armies struck at the junctions of these armies while the 1st Panzer Group drove its armored spearhead of 600 tanks right through the Soviet 6th Army, aiming to take Brody. On 26 June, five Soviet mechanized corps with over 1,000 tanks mounted a massive counterattack on the 1st Panzer Group. The battle was among the fiercest of the 1941 campaign, lasting over four days. In the end the Germans prevailed, though the Soviets inflicted heavy losses on the 1st Panzer Group. With the Soviet counter-offensives' failure, the last substantial Soviet tank forces in Western Ukraine had been decimated, and the Red Army assumed a defensive posture, focusing on strategic withdrawal under severe pressure. The Soviet air arm, the VVS, lost 1,561 aircraft over Kiev. The battle was a huge tactical victory, but Hitler considered it a strategic one. Nonetheless, it had drawn the German forces away from an early offensive against Moscow, and had delayed further German progress by 11 weeks. General Kurt von Tippelskirch later noted, "The Russians had indeed lost a battle, but they won the campaign". Summary of the first phase By the end of the first week, all three German Army Groups had achieved major campaign objectives. However, in the vast pocket around Minsk and Biaystok, the Soviets were still fighting; reducing the pocket was causing high German casualties and many Red Army troops were escaping. The estimated casualties of the Red Army amount to 600,000 killed, missing, captured or wounded. Franz Halder, chief of the OKH General Staff, summarized the achievements made in the opening phase of the operation in his diary as follow: "The objective to shatter the bulk of the Russian Army this [western] side of the Dvina and Dnieper has been accomplished... It is thus probably no overstatement to say that the Russian Campaign has been won in the space of two weeks." Battle for Smolensk (3 July 1941 5 August 1941) On 3 July, Hitler finally gave the go-ahead for the Panzers to resume their drive east after the infantry divisions had caught up. However, a rainstorm typical of Russian summers slowed their progress and Russian defenses stiffened. The delays gave the Soviets time to organize a massive counterattack against Army Group Center. Army Group Center's ultimate objective was Smolensk, which commanded the road to Moscow. Facing the Germans was an old Soviet defensive line held by six armies. On 6 July, the Soviets attacked the 3rd Panzer Army with 700 tanks. The Germans defeated this counterattack with overwhelming air superiority. The 2nd Panzer Army crossed the River Dnieper and closed on Smolensk from the south while the 3rd Panzer Army, after defeating the Soviet counterattack, closed on Smolensk from the north. Trapped between their pincers were three Soviet armies. On 18 July, the Panzer Groups came to within 10 miles of closing the gap but the trap would not snap shut until 26 July. When the Panzer Groups finally closed the gap, 300,000 Red Army soldiers were captured but liquidating the pocket took another 10 days in which time 100,000 Red Army soldiers escaped to stand between the Germans and Moscow. Four weeks into the campaign, the Germans realized they had grossly underestimated Soviet strength. The German troops had used their initial supplies without attaining the expected strategic freedom of movement. Operations were now slowed down to allow for resupply; the delay was to be used to adapt strategy to the new situation.
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Map 12 Army Group South http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map12.jpg

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Hitler had lost faith in encirclement as large numbers of Soviet soldiers had escaped the pincers. Hitler now believed he could defeat the Soviets by economic damage, depriving them of the industrial capacity to continue the war. That meant seizing the industrial center of Kharkov, the Donets Basin and the oil fields of the Caucasus in the south and a speedy capture of Leningrad, a major center of military production, in the north. He also wanted to link up with the Finns to the north. Fedor von Bock and almost all the German generals involved in Operation Barbarossa, vehemently argued in favor of continuing the all-out drive toward Moscow. Besides the psychological importance of capturing the enemy's capital, the generals pointed out that Moscow was a major center of arms production and the center of the Soviet communications and transportation system. More importantly, intelligence reports indicated that the bulk of the Red Army was deployed near Moscow under Semyon Timoshenko for an all-out defense of the capital. But Hitler was adamant, and issued a direct order to Guderian, bypassing his commanding officer von Bock, to send Army Group Centre's tanks to the north and south, temporarily halting the drive to Moscow. Kiev and Leningrad (5 August 1941 2 October 1941) By mid-July below the Pinsk Marshes, the Germans had come within a few kilometers of Kiev. The 1st Panzer Army then went south while the German 17th Army struck east and in between the Germans trapped three Soviet armies near Uman. As the Germans eliminated the pocket, the tanks turned north and crossed the Dnieper. Meanwhile, the 2nd Panzer Army, diverted from Army Group Centre, had crossed the River Desna with 2nd Army on its right flank. The two Panzer armies now trapped four Soviet armies and parts of two others. For its final attack on Leningrad, the 4th Panzer Army was reinforced by tanks from Army Group Centre. On 8 August, the Panzers broke through the Soviet defenses; the German 16th Army attacked to the northeast, the 18th Army and the Estonian guerilla Forest Brothers cleared the country and advanced to Lake Peipus. By the end of August, 4th Panzer Army had penetrated to within 30 mi (48 km) of Leningrad. The Finns had pushed southeast on both sides of Lake Ladoga, reaching the old Finnish-Soviet frontier. At this stage, Hitler ordered the final destruction of Leningrad with no prisoners taken, and on 9 September, Army Group North began the final push which within ten days brought it within 7 mi (11 km) of the city. However, the advance over the last 10 km (6.2 mi) proved very slow and casualties mounted. At this stage, Hitler lost patience and ordered that Leningrad should not be stormed but starved into submission. Deprived of its Panzer forces, Army Group Center had remained static and was subjected to numerous Soviet counter-attacks in particular the Yelnya Offensive in which the Germans suffered their first major tactical defeat since their invasion began. These attacks drew Hitler's attention back to Army Group Center and its drive on Moscow. The Germans ordered the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies to break off their siege of Leningrad and support Army Group Center on its attack on Moscow. Before the attack on Moscow could begin, operations in Kiev needed to be finished. Half of Army Group Centre had swung to the south in the back of the Kiev position, while Army Group South moved to the north from its Dniepr bridgehead. The encirclement of Soviet Forces in Kiev was achieved on 16 September. A savage battle ensued in which the Soviets were hammered with tanks, artillery, and aerial bombardment. In the end, after ten days of vicious fighting, the Germans claimed over 600,000 Soviet soldiers captured. Actual losses were 452,720 men, 3,867 artillery guns and mortars from 43 Divisions of the 5th, 37th, 26th and 21st Soviet Armies. Operation Typhoon (2 October 1941 5 December 1941) After Kiev, the Red Army no longer outnumbered the Germans and there were no more directly available trained reserves. To defend Moscow, Stalin could field 800.000 men in 83 divisions, but no more than 25 divisions were fully effective. Operation Typhoon, the drive to Moscow, began on 2 October. In front of Army Group Centre was a series of elaborate defen90/138

se lines, the first centered on Vyazma and the second on Mozhaysk. The first blow took the Soviets completely by surprise as 2nd Panzer Army returning from the south took Oryol which was 75 mi (121 km) south of the Soviet first main defense line. Three days later the Panzers pushed on Bryansk while 2nd Army attacked from the west. The Soviet 3rd and 13th Armies were now encircled. To the north, the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies attacked Vyazma, trapping the 19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd Armies. Moscow's first line of defence had been shattered. The pocket eventually yielded 673,000 Soviet prisoners, bringing the tally since the start of the invasion to three million Soviet soldiers captured. The Soviets had only 90,000 men and 150 tanks left for the defense of Moscow. The German government publicly predicted the imminent capture of Moscow, convincing foreign correspondents of pending Soviet collapse. On 13 October, 3rd Panzer Army penetrated to within 90 mi (140 km) of the capital. Martial law was declared in Moscow. Almost from the beginning of Operation Typhoon the weather had deteriorated. Temperatures fell while there was a continued rainfall, turning the unpaved road network into mud and steadily slowing the German advance on Moscow to as little as 2 mi (3.2 km) a day. The supply situation rapidly deteriorated. On 31 October, the German Army High Command ordered a halt to Operation Typhoon while the armies were re-organized. The pause gave the Soviets, who were in a far better supply situation, time to consolidate their positions and organize formations of newly activated reservists. In little over a month the Soviets organized eleven new armies which included 30 divisions of Siberian troops. These had been freed from the Soviet far east as Soviet intelligence had assured Stalin there was no longer a threat from the Japanese. With the Siberian forces came over 1,000 tanks and 1,000 aircraft. The Germans were nearing exhaustion, while they also began to recall Napoleon's invasion of Russia. General Gnther Blumentritt noted in his diary: They remembered what happened to Napoleon's Army. Most of them began to re-read Caulaincourt's grim account of 1812. That had a weighty influence at this critical time in 1941. I can still see Von Kluge trudging through the mud from his sleeping quarters to his office and standing before the map with Caulaincourt's book in his hand. On 15 November, with the ground hardening due to the cold weather, the Germans once again began the attack on Moscow. Although the troops themselves were now able to advance again, there had been no delay allowed to improve the supply situation. Facing the Germans were the 5th, 16th, 30th, 43rd, 49th, and 50th Soviet armies. The Germans intended to let 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies cross the Moscow Canal and envelop Moscow from the northeast. 2nd Panzer Army would attack Tula and then close in on Moscow from the south. As the Soviets reacted to the flanks, 4th Army would attack the center. In two weeks of desperate fighting, lacking sufficient fuel and ammunition, the Germans slowly crept towards Moscow. However, in the south, 2nd Panzer Army was being blocked. On 22 November, Soviet Siberian units augmented with the 49th and 50th Soviet Armies attacked the 2nd Panzer Army and inflicted a shocking defeat on the Germans. However, 4th Panzer Army pushed the Soviet 16th Army back and succeeded in crossing the Moscow canal and began the encirclement. On 2 December, part of the 258th Infantry Division advanced to within 15 mi (24 km) of Moscow, and could see the spires of the Kremlin, but by then the first blizzards of the winter began. A Reconnaissance-Battalion also managed to reach the town of Khimkisome 8 km (5.0 mi) away from Moscowand captured its bridge over the Moscow-Volga Canal as well as its railway station, which marked the farthest advance of German forces on Moscow. The Wehrmacht was not equipped for winter warfare. Frostbite and disease caused more casualties than combat, and dead and wounded had already reached 155,000 in three weeks. Some divisions were now at 50% strength. The bitter cold also caused severe problems for their guns and equipment, and weather conditions grounded the Luftwaffe. Newly built-up Soviet units near Moscow now numbered over 500,000 men, and on 5 December, they launched a massive counterattack which pushed the Germans back over 200 mi (320 km). The invasion of the USSR eventually cost the German Army over 210,000 killed and missing and 620,000 wounded in 1941, a third of whom became casualties after 1 October and an unknown number of Axis casualties such as Hungarians, Romanians and Waffen SS troops as well as co-be91/138

lligerent Finns. This phase of the operation was cut short because of the Russian winter and resulted in the heaviest loses of the war on the German side. This failure resulted in the end of the Third German Reich. Events Shirer argues that the fatal decision of the operation was the postponement from the original date of 15 May because Hitler wanted to intervene against an anti-German coup in Yugoslavia and Greek advances against Italy's occupation of Albania. However, this was just one of the reasons for the postponementthe other was the late spring of 1941 in Russia, compounded by particularly rainy weather in June 1941 that made a number of roads in western parts of the Soviet Union impassable to heavy vehicles. During the campaign, Hitler ordered the main thrust toward Moscow to be diverted southward to help the southern army group capture Ukraine. This move delayed the assault on the Soviet capital, though it also helped secure Army Group Center's southern flank. By the time they turned to Moscow, the Red Army's fierce resistance, the mud following the autumn rains and, eventually, snow, brought their advance to a halt. In addition, resistance by the Soviets, who proclaimed a Great Patriotic War in defence of the motherland, was much fiercer than the German command had expected. The border fortress of Brest, Belarus illustrates that tenacity: attacked on the very first day of the German invasion, the fortress was expected to fall within hours, but held out over a week. (Soviet propaganda later asserted it held out for six weeks). German logistics also became a major problem, as supply lines grew very long and vulnerable to Soviet partisan attacks in the rear. The Soviets carried out a scorched earth policy on some of the land they were forced to abandon in order to deny the Germans food, fuel, and buildings. Despite the setbacks, the German advance continued, often destroying or surrounding whole armies of Soviet troops and forcing them to surrender. The battle for Kiev was especially brutal. On 19 September, Army Group South seized control of Kiev, and took 665,000 Soviets prisoner. Kiev was later awarded the title Hero City for its heroic defence. Army Group North, which was to conquer the Baltic countries and eventually Leningrad, reached the southern outskirts of Leningrad by August 1941. There, fierce Soviet resistance stopped it. Since capturing the city seemed too costly, German command decided to starve the city to death by blockade, starting the Siege of Leningrad. The city held out, despite several attempts by the Germans to break through its defenses, unrelenting air and artillery attacks, and severe shortages of food and fuel, until the Germans were driven back again from the city's approaches in early 1944. The siege resulted in the deaths of some one million of the city's inhabitants. Leningrad was the first Soviet city to receive the title of 'Hero City'. In addition to the main attacks of Barbarossa, German forces occupied the Finnish district of Petsamo in order to secure its important nickel mines. They also launched a series of attacks against Murmansk beginning on 28 June 1941, known as Operation Silberfuchs. Reasons for initial Soviet defeats "Lenin left us a great estate and we made shit out of it", was how Stalin crisply summarised the first weeks of the war to his lieutenants. The Red Army and air force were so badly defeated in 1941 chiefly because they were ill-prepared for the Axis surprise attack. By 1941 the Germans were the most experienced and best-trained troops in the world for the rapid, blitzkrieg-style warfare that encompassed the Eastern Front during the second half of 1941. The Axis had a doctrine of mobility and annihilation, excellent communications, and the confidence of repeated low-cost victories. The Soviet armed forces, by contrast, lacked leadership, training, and readiness. The officer corps of the Red Army had been decimated by Stalin's Great Purge of 19361938, and their replacements, appointed by Stalin for political reasons, often lacked military competence, which was shown by the difficulty that the Soviet Union had in defeating Finland in the Russo-Finnish War of 19391940.

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Map 13 German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map13.PNG Of the five marshals created in 1935, only two emerged from the Stalin's purge with their lives; 50 out of the 57 corps commanders were killed, 154 out of the 186 divisional commander and 401 out of 456 colonels; many other officers were dismissed. Stalin further underscored his control by reasserting the role of political commissars at the divisional level and below to oversee and ensure the political correctness and loyalty of the army to the regime. The commissars held a position equal to that of the commander but with the authority to countermand his orders. Nonetheless, the impact of the purges must be seen in context of the military strength of the armed forces in 1937, which was far from actualizing the goals set by the military reforms that began in the early 1930s. By 1941 about 80% of the officers dismissed during the purge had been reinstated. Also, between January 1939 and May 1941, 161 new divisions were activated. Therefore, although about 75% of all the officers had been in the position for less than one year by 1941, that was because of the rapid increase in creation of military units, not because of the purge. Hence it is the combined effect of the purge and the rapid expansion of the army that led to its dilution. Much of Soviet planning assumed that in case of a German invasion the main forces of each side would need up to two weeks to meet each other and Stalin forbade any ideas of a campaign deep inside the Soviet territory. Thus the Axis attack came when new organizations and promising, but untested, weapons were just beginning to trickle into operational units. Much of the Soviet Army in Europe was concentrated along the new western border of the Soviet Union, in former Polish territory that lacked significant defenses, allowing many Soviet mili93/138

tary units to be overrun and destroyed in the first weeks of war. Initially, many Soviet units were also hampered by Semyon Timoshenko's and Georgy Zhukov's prewar orders (demanded by Joseph Stalin) not to engage or to respond to provocations (followed by a similarly damaging first reaction from Moscow, an order to stand and fight, then counterattack; this left those units vulnerable to encirclement), by a lack of experienced officers, and by bureaucratic inertia. Soviet tactical errors in the first few weeks of the offensive proved catastrophic. Initially, the Red Army was fooled by overestimation of its own capabilities. Instead of intercepting German armour, Soviet mechanised corps were ambushed and destroyed after Luftwaffe dive bombers inflicted heavy losses. Soviet tanks, poorly maintained and manned by inexperienced crews, suffered an appalling rate of breakdowns. Lack of spare parts and trucks ensured a logistical collapse. The decision not to dig in the infantry divisions proved disastrous. Without tanks or sufficient motorization, Soviet troops could not wage mobile warfare against the Axis. Stalin's orders not to retreat or surrender led to static linear positions that German tanks easily breached, again quickly cutting supply lines and surrounding whole Soviet armies. Only later did Stalin allow his troops to retreat wherever possible and regroup, to mount a defense in depth, or to counterattack. More than 2.4 million Soviet troops had been captured by December 1941, by which time German and Soviet forces were fighting almost in the suburbs of Moscow. Until the end of the war, about three million Soviet prisoners were to die from exposure, starvation, disease, or willful mistreatment by the German regime. In his memoirs, Zhukov summarized the predicament as follows: two or three years would have given the Soviet people a brilliant army, perhaps the best in the world [but] history allotted us too small a period of peace to get everything organized as it should have been. We began many things correctly and there were many things we had no time to finish. Our miscalculation regarding the possible time of the fascist Germany's attack told greatly. Outcome The climax of Operation Barbarossa came when Army Group Center, already short on supplies because of the October mud, was ordered to advance on Moscow; forward units of the 2nd Panzer Division's 38th Panzer Pioneer Battalion (38PzPi.Abtl.) (armored engineers) came within sight of the spires of the Kremlin when they reached the rail line just south of the town of Lobnya, 16 km (9.9 mi) from Moscow, on 1 December 1941. Soviet troops, well supplied and reinforced by fresh divisions from Siberia, defended Moscow in the Battle of Moscow, and drove the Germans back as the winter advanced. The bulk of the counter-offensive was directed at Army Group Center, which was closest to Moscow. With no shelter, few supplies, inadequate winter clothing, and chronic food shortages, German troops had no choice but to wait out the winter in the frozen wasteland. The Germans avoided being routed by Soviet counterattacks but suffered heavy casualties from battle and exposure. At the time, the seizure of Moscow was considered the key to victory for Germany. Nowadays, historians debate whether the loss of the Soviet capital would have caused the collapse of the USSR; but Operation Barbarossa failed to achieve that goal. In December 1941, Germany joined Japan in declaring war against the United States. The outcome of Operation Barbarossa was a disaster for the Germans, and the Soviets were badly damaged. Although the Germans had failed to take Moscow outright, they held huge areas of the western Soviet Union, including the entire regions of what are now Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states, plus parts of Russia proper west of Moscow. German forces had advanced 1.050 mi (1,.90 km), and maintained a linearly measured front of 1,900 mi (3.100 km). The Germans held up to 500,000 sq mi (1.300.000 km2) of territory with over 75 million people at the end of 1941, and went on to seize another 250,000 sq mi (650.000 km2) before being forced to retreat after defeats at Stalingrad and Kursk. However, the occupied areas were not always properly controlled by the Germans and underground ac94/138

tivity rapidly escalated. Wehrmacht occupation was brutal from the start, due to directives issued by Hitler himself at the operation's start, according to which Slavic peoples were considered a race of sub-human people. This attitude alienated the population, while in some areas (such as Ukraine) it seems that some local people had been ready to consider the Germans as liberators helping to rid them of Stalin. Anti-German partisan operations intensified when Red Army units that had dissolved into the country's large uninhabited areas re-emerged as underground forces, and under the German repressive policies. The Germans held on stubbornly in the face of Soviet counterattacks, resulting in huge casualties on both sides in many battles. The war on the Eastern Front went on for four years. The death toll may never be established with any degree of certainty. A recent estimate of Soviet military deaths is 8.7 million that lost their lives either in combat or in Axis captivity. Soviet civilian deaths remain under contention, though roughly 20 million is a frequently cited figure. German military deaths are also to a large extent unclear. The most recent German estimate (Rdiger Overmans) concluded that about 4.3 million Germans and a further 900,000 Axis forces lost their lives either in combat or in Soviet captivity. Operation Barbarossa is listed as the single most lethal military operation in world history. The Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention (1929). However, a month after the German invasion in 1941, an offer was made for a reciprocal adherence to the Hague convention. This 'note' was left unanswered by Third Reich officials. Causes of the failure of Operation Barbarossa The gravity of the beleaguered German army's situation towards the end of 1941 was due to the Red Army's increasing strength and factors that in the short run severely restricted the German forces' effectiveness. Chief among these were their overstretched deployment, a serious transport crisis and the eroded strength of most divisions. The infantry deficit that appeared by 1 September 1941 was never made good. For the rest of the war in the Soviet Union, the Wehrmacht would be short of infantry and support services. Parallels have been drawn with Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Underestimation of the Capacity of Soviet Mobilization The German High Command grossly underestimated the mobilization potential of the Red Army. From the onset of the campaign till the end of 1941, the Soviet Union raised 825 division-equivalents, tapping into its mobilization pool of over 10 million men . Between the onset of the war and the end of June alone, 800,000 men were mobilized; and another 600,000 in July. The plan for Barbarossa assumed that the Wehrmacht would emerge victorious if it could destroy the bulk of the Red Army west of the Western Dvina and Dnieper Rivers. By 3 July, Army Group Centre had destroyed three encircled Soviet Armies (3rd, 4th and 10th) in the vicinity of Minsk. And as Army Group Centre arrived on the banks of the Western Dvina and Dnieper Rivers on 7 July, they discovered another 5 Soviet Armies (16th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd). By 10 July, it became clear that the assumptions regarding the result of destroying the Red Army forces west of the two rivers proved patently incorrect. Nonetheless, three of these Soviet Armies (16th, 19th, and 20th) were quickly encircled and eventually decimated in the vicinity of Smolensk, while the other two were severely weakened. In just the first six weeks of the invasion, which is between late June and early August, the Red Army had lost as many as 1.5 million troops (killed, wounded or capture). But notwithstanding, by 6 August another row of five Soviet Armies (24th, 28th, 29th, 30th, and Group Iartsevo) were facing Army Group Centre. Furthermore, unknown to German intelligence, still another row of Soviet Armies were forming to the rear (31st, 33rd, and 43rd). In comparison, according to Halder the chief of the OKH General Staff, by 2 August Army Group Centre had lost 74,500 men (killed, wounded, or missing) and had only managed to receive 23,000 replacements. By the end of August the Red Army losses rose to nearly 3 million (killed, wounded or capture), but that didn't hinder it from raising more men for the defence of Moscow. By September it became clear that the mobilization capacity of the Red Army had been severely underestimated.
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Map 14 Eastern Front 1941-06 to 1941-12 http://www.panzertruppen.org/amazon/books/ww2/map14.png Franz Halder chief of OKH Gerenal Staff wrote in his diary in 1941: The whole situation makes it increasingly plain that we have underestimated the Russian colossus... [Soviet] divisions are not armed and equipped according to our standards, and their tactical leadership is often poor. But there they are, and as we smash a dozen of them the Russians simply put up another dozen. The time factor favours them, as they are near their own resources, while we are moving farther and farther away from ours. And so our troops, sprawled over the immense front line, without depth, are subject to the incessant attacks of the enemy. The Red Army proved it could replace huge losses quickly, and was not destroyed as a coherent force. When divisions of conscripts trained before the war were destroyed, new conscripts replaced them. On average, about half a million men were drafted each month for the duration of the war. The Soviets also proved very skilled in raising and training many new armies from the different ethnic populations of the far flung republics. The ability to mobilize vast (if often poorly trained and equipped) forces rapidly and continually allowed the Soviet Union to survive the critical first six months of the war. Faults of logistical planning At the start of the war in the dry summer, the Germans took the Soviets by surprise and destroyed a large part of the Soviet Red Army in the first weeks. When good weather gave way to the harsh autumn and winter and the Red Army recovered, the German offensive began to falter. The German army could not be supplied sufficiently for prolonged combat; indeed,
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there was not enough fuel for the whole army to reach its objectives. This was well understood by the German supply units even before the operation, but their warnings were disregarded. The entire German plan assumed that within six to eight weeks they would have attained full strategic freedom due to a complete collapse of the Red Army. Only then could they have diverted necessary logistic support to fuelling the few mobile units needed to occupy the defeated state. German infantry and tanks stormed 300 mi (480 km) ahead in the first week, but their supply lines struggled to keep up. Soviet railroads could at first not be fully used due to a difference in railway gauges, and dismantled railroad facilities in border areas. In addition, road systems that looked impressive on the map, were in reality under-developed. Lack of supplies significantly slowed down the blitzkrieg. The German logistical planning also seriously overestimated the condition of the Soviet transportation network. The road and railway network of former Eastern Poland was well known, but beyond that information was limited. Roads that looked impressive on maps turned out to be just mere dust roads or were only in the planning stages. Weather A paper published by the U.S. Army's Combat Studies Institute in 1981 concluded that Hitler's plans miscarried before the onset of severe winter weather. He was confident in a quick victory, so he did not prepare properly for a winter warfare in the Soviet Union. Moreover, his eastern army suffered more than 734,000 casualties (about 23% of its average strength of 3,200,000 troops) in the first five months of the invasion, and on 27 November 1941, General Eduard Wagner, Quartermaster General of the German Army, reported "We are at the end of our resources in both personnel and material. We are about to be confronted with the dangers of deep winter." The German forces were unready to deal with harsh weather and the poor road network of the USSR. In September, terrain slowed the Wehrmacht's progress. Few roads were paved. The ground in the USSR was very loose sand in summer, sticky muck in autumn, and heavy snow in winter. German tanks had narrow treads with little traction and poor flotation in mud. In contrast, the new generation of Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV had wider tracks and were far more mobile in these conditions. The 600,000 large western European horses the Germans used for supply and artillery movement did not cope well with this weather. The smaller horses the Red Army used were much better adapted to the climate and could even scrape the icy ground with their hooves to dig up the weeds beneath. German troops were mostly unprepared for the harsh weather changes in the rainy autumn and early winter of 1941. Equipment had been prepared for such winter conditions, but the severely overstrained transport network could not move it to the front. Consequently, the troops lacked adequate cold-weather gear, and some soldiers had to pack newspapers into their jackets to stay warm while temperatures dropped to below 40 C (40 F). While at least some cold weather uniforms were available, they rarely reached the Eastern Front because Hitler ordered that supply lines give more priority to shipments of ammunition and fuel. To operate furnaces and heaters, the Germans also burned precious fuel that was in short supply. Soviet soldiers, in contrast, often had warm, quilted uniforms, felt-lined boots, and fur hats. German weapons malfunctioned in the cold. Lubricating oils were unsuitable for these temperatures, leading to engine malfunction and misfiring weapons. To load shells into a tanks main gun, frozen grease had to be chipped off with a knife. Soviet units faced less severe problems due to their experience with cold weather. Aircraft had insulating blankets to keep their engines warm while parked. Lighter-weight oil was used. German tanks and armored vehicles could not move due to a lack of antifreeze, causing fuel to solidify. The cold was so intense that vehicles needed fires to be lit under the engines before they could be started. Because few Russian roads were paved, when the rains and snow came in late October and early November, most of the main roads turned to mud and with a combination of longer supply lines, the German advance stalled within sight of the spires of Moscow. The Soviet De97/138

cember 1941 counteroffensive led primarily by Siberian troops trained for harsh winter combat recently arriving from the east along with the numerous T-34 tanks held in reserve advanced up to 100 mi (160 km) in some sectors, showed that mobile warfare was still possible in the Russian winter. When the severe winter began, Hitler feared a repetition of Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow. He ordered the German forces to hold their ground defiantly in the face of Soviet counterattacks. This became known as the "stand or die" order. Some advised historians have argued that this order prevented the Germans from being routed, others contend that this order restricted Germany's ability to conduct mobile defensive warfare and led to heavy casualties from battle and cold. Aftermath With the failure in the Battle of Moscow, all German plans of a quick defeat of the Soviet Union had to be revised. The Soviet counter offensives in the Winter of 1941 caused heavy casualties on both sides, but ultimately lifted the German threat to Moscow. Nevertheless despite this setback, the Soviet Union suffered heavily from the loss of large parts of its army, allowing the Germans to mount another large-scale offensive in the summer of 1942, called Case Blue, now directed towards the oil fields of Baku. This offensive again failed in the same way as Barbarossa, the Germans conquering vast amounts of no-mans-land, but ultimately failing to achieve their final goals with the defeat at Stalingrad. With the now fully operational Soviet war economy, the Soviet Union was able to simply outproduce the Germans, who were not prepared for a long war of attrition. This way, the last German all-out offensive in 1943 at the Battle of Kursk failed. After three years of constant warfare the Germans were exhausted and so the Soviets were finally able to defeat the Germans decisively in Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944. This led to a chain of fast Soviet victories which pushed the Germans back to Berlin in just one year, leading to the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945.

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Chapter V Rommel and the German 7th Panzer division in France 1940 The Initial Days of the Campaign The purpose of this paper is to give a detailed account of the first days of the German 7th Panzer Divisions actions during the Campaign in France 1940. The purpose is also to analyse the impact the division commander, General Erwin Rommel, and his leadership, had on the divisions actions. Background With this brief message 3 Erwin Rommel took command of the 7th Panzer Division on February 10, 1940. Until this moment Rommels career was nothing much to boast about. As one of many veterans and heroes from the First World War, Rommel in the interwar period had a hard time making a mark for himself. 4 His extraordinary accomplishments as an infantry leader during World War One left few marks among the German military society until Rommels book Infantry Attacks was released in 1937. Hitler himself read Infantry Attacks and made Rommel the leader of his own lifeguard during the campaign In Poland. After the campaign in Poland Rommel was asked of his further wishes and gave the answer that he wanted to command a Panzer Division. Rommel was given the command in the place of the both older and more experienced commanders.

Inevitably, any account of the German 7th Panzer Divisions actions in France, 1940, to a large extent involves Erwin Rommel. Nevertheless, Rommel often showed audacity and never hesitated to take command of a situation no matter how big or small. He was a man of action, and it seems that he often reacted in a spontaneous and somewhat impulsive manner. 5 His style of command and personality characterized much of the actions of the division.

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The opposing forces At the time of the campaign in France, Germany did not possess an overwhelming military strength. The Germans had 135 divisions compared to 151 for the allied side. Germany had some 2500 tanks while the allies had more than 4000. The German tanks were not technically superior to those of the allies. Only in the air did the Germans have superiority both in numbers of aircraft and in their technical performance. The German superiority, instead, lay in their tactics with narrow and deep penetrations. The Germans only had 10 Panzer Divisions, 6 but they were used with a devastating effect when they were concentrated on a narrow front. Moreover, the German Army was of superior quality. Intense training and development in the interwar period and the recent experiences from the campaign in Poland had turned the German Army into a magnificent war-machine. Germany was prepared for a short decisive war and had for years directed her industrial and military resources to prepare for this. The French Army of 1940 relied heavily on the experiences from World War One.

The French 7 side concluded that the defence would 8 save them from another attack by the Germans, and the Maginot Line was constructed. France had prepared for a careful, initially defensive war that would allow her to coax military contributions from former allies, particularly Britain. 9 The morale in the French Army had never quite rehabilitated itself after the First World War. The enormous losses in manpower and the terrible experiences of the large annihilation battles had left the French soldiers with a Constant vision of death that penetrated him (the French soldier) with a resignation which bordered on fatalism 10 The soldiers of the First World War should have been an important part of the backbone of the French Army of 1940, but infected by the horrors of Verdun, they were morally bled white. 11 The German Army never suffered quite so much from the horrors of Verdun. This can be due to the fewer Germans that participated in relation to the number of combatants. Germany also drew totally different conclusions from Verdun than the French did. The Germans concluded that the stalemate of the First Word War could be solved with the panzer columns, while

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the French constructed large fortifications, such as the Maginot Line. The plans The plans on the strategic level and their history are well known. 12 The basic idea with the move through the Ardennes was to surprise the French and gain a quick victory. The French considered the Ardennes impregnable. Marshal Ptain in March 1934 stated that the Ardennes were impregnable, provided that the French made some special dispositions. This was not a unique view of Ptain; it was the general view of the whole French Army. 13 The French plan for the Ardennes involved two of their weakest armies, the 9th in the area of Dinant and the 2nd in the area of Sedan. In addition the Belgians had a division of Chasseurs Ardennais 14 that were supposed to delay the Germans in the Ardennes and then withdraw to the area of the upper Meuse and Namur and constitute a part of the main Belgian defence lines. 15 Organization The 7th Panzer Division was at the beginning of 1940 a comparatively new unit. The division was created out of the former 2nd Light Division that was converted to a Panzer Division in the winter of 1939 - 1940. The 7th Panzer Division was initially a part of the 2nd Army Corps, but was on May 10 at 1600 hours 16, attached to the 15th Panzer Corps which was commanded by General Hoth. Besides the 7th, the corps also consisted of the 5th Panzer Division. 17 Compared to the older types of German Panzer Divisions, the converted divisions had fewer tanks and only one panzer regiment instead of two. The only panzer regiment, however, had more tanks than a regiment in the older divisions.

The staff of a German Panzer Division was small and the operations staff was particularly small. 18 The division had no assistant division commander and no executive officer in any component element. There was no chief of staff, but a 1st general staff officer who ran the internal affairs of the division and coordinated the parts. 19 He also maintained contact with neighboring units. With a small operations staff, the division commander had a more direct relationship with his subordinates. This meant that the division commander had a greater opportunity to lead from the front of the division.
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Preparations When the news came about the new divisional commander, Hans von Luck 20 describes how there were some initial doubts among the officers about Rommels ability as a tank commander: Much as we admired this man we wondered if an infantryman could be a commander of tanks 21 They soon found out. Rommel had made himself thoroughly familiar with the tactics 22 of tank warfare. After Rommel took command of the division a period of hard intense training began. The division was moved to the little village of Heimersheim on the northern fringe of the Rhoen Mountains. The training was made even more difficult by the severe winter weather. Field exercises were organized in all weathers, and also by night. Rommel made the same units always work together. In this way the tank people, artillerymen and infantrymen came to know each other and became coordinated. The staff of the 2nd Corps provided the intelligence available to the 7th Panzer Division. 23 The information provided outlined a number of enemy units inside the Ardennes. These units, according to the intelligence, were deployed in two main lines. The line closest to the German border was manned by the 1st Division of the Chasseurs Ardennais and stretched from Malmedy to Arlon. 24 The intelligence also provided some details on the Belgian dispositions. The regiments of the 1st Division, according to the German intelligence were deployed: With the 1st Regiment in the line Bastogne Arlon 25 With the 2nd Regiment in the line Lamerscher Bastogne With the 3rd Regiment in the line Salm Trois Ponts Bowies Geilig Lamerscher

The second line, according to the Germans, stretched along the river Ourthe from south of Durbuy to south of Libramont and was manned by parts of the 1st Belgian Cavalry Division. The possibilities of a strong delaying action by the Belgians, with support of the rich possibilities for demolitions, were also mentioned in the intelligence. 26 The orders for the attack are dated February 27, 1940. The first part of the corps order deals with the start of the attack. After the codeword Danzig was given, the 7th Panzer Division could start the attack over the border into Belgium. The next section of the order deals with the operational secrecy. It is a good example of the importance the Germans put on measures
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to prevent the attack from being discovered by the French in advance. The order stressed that sound from engines; light sources and anything that could arouse any suspicion by the Belgians should be avoided. Then the order outlined the marching routes to the Belgian border and the task for the division. The task for the first day of the attack was to break through the Belgian defence lines and advance to the heights near Samre and also make a crossing over the Ourthe at La Roche. In the last hours before the start of the attack Rommel wrote a brief letter to his wife: 9 May 1940 Dearest Lu, Were packing up at last. Lets hope not in vain. Youll get all of the news for the next days from the papers. Dont worry yourself. Everything will go all right. 27 May 10 On May 10 the border into Belgium was crossed at Hemmeres. In the sector of the 7th Panzer Divisions planned attack, the opponents in the months before the outbreak of the war had placed obstacles of all kinds and destroyed some of the roads. 28 Many of the demolitions were undefended and therefore Rommels unit was only delayed in a few places. Many of the demolitions could be bypassed by taking another road or by a short move in the terrain beside the obstacle.

The air support had a major impact. 29 Two Fliegerkorps with some 1500 aircraft, had the task of preventing any disturbance of the panzer units on their way towards the Meuse. The achievements of the airmen meant that no serious disturbance from the air against the German ground forces was made. 30 The short activity report of the 7th Panzer Division for May 10 only tells of one engagement, but the complete story of the engagement shows what could have been accomplished from the Belgian side if the ideas that were shown in the example had been completed. The combat mentioned in the war archives took place at Chabrehez. The brief writing hides the intensity
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of the combat that delayed the Germans for more than 4 hours. Here two platoons from the Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais had taken advantage of the terrain and prepared defensive positions with tank obstacles. The intention was to delay 31 the Germans for as long as possible. At 1800 hours the leading elements of Rommels division reached the valley east of Chabrehez. 32

At the bottom of the valley the Germans from the 7th Motorcycle Battalion found an antitank ditch, and Belgian soldiers were spotted in the village of Chabrehez. The Belgian soldiers discovered a tank and at first thought it was a Belgian light tank, but they soon discovered that the tank was German. More tanks appeared and one of them advanced into the valley to the barricaded bridge over the stream. A German soldier climbed out of the tank and examined the obstacle. Then the tank turned around and moved towards Les Tailles. Subsequently, the leading company of the 7th Motorcycle Battalion appeared over the crest and the Belgians opened fire with handguns and a machine-gun section. The German company deployed and responded. Under the German fire, one of the Belgian platoons was struck with panic and fled. Their platoon commander had to stop them with a revolver and got them back into their positions. The initial fighting now broke out in a short and intense action. Under the Belgian fire the German company deployed and tried to take the valley. An effort to turn the southern flank was checked by one of the Belgian platoons. The Belgian defence proved too strong and the commander of the 7th Motorcycle Battalion, Major Steinkeller, decided to await the arrival of reinforcements. Then the attack could be renewed at dawn on May 11. When Rommel arrived at Steinkellers command post installed in Les Tailles, he immediately expressed that the Belgian resistance was to be broken as soon as possible and the advance towards the Ourthe resumed. Rommel ordered additional units to be sent forward and a short conference between Rommel, Steinkeller and Colonel Frst, the commander of the 7th Rifle Brigade took place. Hauptmann Heilbron and Lieutenant Kleinschmidt, commander of the 1st and 2nd companies of the Motorcycle Battalion also took part. Rommels plan was to take Chabrehez by a large flanking movement 33. First the enemy was to be fixed frontally and distracted from the movement. Then Kleinschmidts company was to make the flanking movement to the north of Chabrehez and attack the enemy from the rear. After the conference, the heavy weapons company of the Motorcycle Battalion arrived, deployed and opened fire on the Belgians. Four light German tanks started to advance against the Belgian positions. The tanks had problems with the swampy fields at the bottom of the valley and two of the tanks were immobilized on the fields and one was blocked from further advance by some trees. 34

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More German reinforcements arrived and the situation for the Belgians started to grow worse. During this fighting, Kleinschmidts company arrived at the edge of the woods at the height of the village of Chabrehez. The movement was totally unseen by the Belgians and two of the platoons were ordered to continue the advance to penetrate the village from the west. The remaining platoon was given the mission to attack the Belgian line in the flank and rear. The attack could be carried out as intended and in the face of German superiority the Belgians had to give up, although some of them succeeded in withdrawing. It was 2100 hours when Major Steinkeller reported the capture of Chabrehez and 50 Belgian prisoners to the division. In Chabrehez the situation was still confused with the Germans firing at each other, and Major Steinkeller decided to withdraw his troops to Les Tailles. At 2200 hours Rommel left the battle and headed back in his column. The swampy roads together with lack of initiative had caused the rear units of the division to virtually come to a

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halt at a great depth from Chabrehez to the German frontier. As a result of the fighting at Chabrehez and the traffic problems, the 7th Panzer Division was unable to solve its task for the day. The division lost a number of hours and was behind its timetable. During the days ahead, the division had to make up for the initial delays. 35

May 11 After the fighting at Chabrehez, the advance of the 7th Panzer Division continued on May 11. That day was a better one for the division. 36The initial advance from Chabrehez to the north of La Roche went without much contact with the enemy. At this time the Belgian units had been ordered to withdraw to the north. 37 The division advanced on three different roads and crossed the Ourthe in three places. In the south the 7th Rifle Regiment passed the Ourthe at La Roche. In the centre the engineers built a bridge at Marcourt that was used by the 6th Rifle Regiment, and in the north, at Beffe, the 25th Panzer Regiment forded the river. West of Waha the lead elements of the division for the first time had contact with French mechanized units from the 1st French Cavalry Division. This first encounter with the French units was brief and when Rommels units plastered the opponent with fire, it led to a hasty retreat. On May 11 Rommel wrote his wife again. 38 May 11 1940 Dearest Lu, Ive come up for breath for the first time today and have a moment to write. Everything wonderful so far. I am way ahead of my neighbors. Im completely hoarse from orders and shouting. Had a bare three hours sleep and an occasional meal. Otherwise Im absolutely fine. Make do with this, please. Im too tired for more In the evening the division was deployed with the forward units at the area of Marcheen-Famenne and the remaining parts in the terrain between Marche-en-Famenne and La Roche. May 12 The advance continued on May 12 at 0700 hours from the line Marche-en-Famenne Harsin. At 0900 hours the northern part of Rommels units, the 25th Panzer Regiment, collided with French units in the line Haversin Forse. A battle broke out and at 1025 hours the Panzer Regiment broke through the French lines and reached the heights northwest of Leignon at 1230 hours 39.

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Further to the south the 7th Rifle Regiment broke through the enemy lines in the area of Ychippe Nortwest of Chevetogne at 1230. The last part of the advance to the Meuse was covered by the 7th Motorcycle Battalion in the north and parts of the 7th Rifle Regiment and parts of the 25th Panzer Regiment in the south.

At 2200 hours the 7th Motorcycle Battalion had reached the Meuse in the terrain south of Houx. 40 Further to the south the 1st battalion of the 7th Rifle Regiment together with one Panzer Company reached the Meuse in the area of Dinant at 1615 hours. 41 The commander of the 15th Corps, General Hoth, realized that he in Rommel had an opportunity for greater success and he therefore gave Rommel command of one of the panzer regiments of the 5th Panzer Division. The 31st Panzer Regiment was at the head of the 5th Panzer Division, north of Rommels units. With this additional regiment, two Panzer Regiments spearheaded Rommels advance. 42

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At nightfall on 43 May 12, Rommels motorized Rifle Brigade had reached the Meuse and the 7th Panzer Division had a firm grip over the eastern side of the Meuse. With a fast move Rommel had hoped to take the bridges over the Meuse before they were blown up, but this did not succeed. The 7th Panzer Division now stood before its hardest task so far crossing the Meuse. North of the units belonging to the 7th Panzer Division, the spearhead of the 5th Panzer Division reached the Meuse in the area of Yvoir Houx at 1725 hours. 44 These units were under Rommels command at the time. Between 2200 and 2300 hours a motorcycle company from the 5th Panzer Division discovered an old weir and a lock that connected an island to both sides of the river by the village of Houx. 45 The men from the motorcycle company used the weir and lock and crossed the river. The enemy discovered what was happening and the Germans soon took heavy casualties.

When 46 Rommel estimated the situation in the evening, he realized that the situation was worse than expected. No real foothold on the western side of the river had been taken and the enemy was firing at everything that moved on the eastern side. 47

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May 13 Rommel gave the order for the Meuse crossing on the evening May 12. It was, in typical German style, very brief, only some two typed pages. 48 His intentions were to cross the river in two places: The 6th Rifle Regiment and the 7th Motorcycle Battalion were supposed to cross the river at the terrain south of the weir at Houx. The 7th Rifle Regiment and the Panzer Regiment were supposed to cross the river at the northern parts of Dinant west of Leffe. First, the riflemen were supposed to cross the river in rubber boats in several places and seize a bridgehead on the west side of the river. Then the engineers would build bridges and ferries to get the panzers over to the western side. On the western side of the river, French units had prepared their defence. The rapid advance of the Germans had not given the French the time needed to reach the positions at the Meuse. The defence line was therefore thin. In the north, the 5th Motorized Division had reached its positions, but its neighbour in the south, the 18th Infantry Division, had only managed to get six of its battalions into position. The French defence line was thin, and in the Houx area it got thinner after one of the battalions of the 5th Motorized was moved to the south to strengthen the line of the 18th Division. 49 On May 13, Rommel was on his feet early. At 0300 hours he was at Houx north of Dinant, where he left his armoured car and headed for the river. Down by the river the 6th Rifle Regiment tried to cross in rubber boats, but they were held back by intense fire from the other side. At this point Rommel got the idea to set some buildings on fire. He calculated that the smoke would then give the German infantrymen badly needed cover to make the crossing. 50 Meanwhile, the 7th Motorcycle Battalion had succeeded in taking the village of Grange (west of Houx). But the riverbank had not been cleared the way Rommel had intended. He therefore gave the order to clear the rocks on the west bank. Rommel then drove to Dinant. Arriving there, he found that the 7th Rifle Regiment had succeeded in getting one rifle company across the river, but under the intense enemy fire the crossing equipment had been shot to pieces and the crossing had to be halted. Rommel realized that he could not get any more men over at this time. He intended to arrange tank and artillery support and drove off to the division headquarters. After making the necessary arrangements he drove off to Leffe, just north of Dinant. Here the crossing had been stopped, but the tanks and field howitzers Rommel had ordered forward soon arrived and with the covering fire, the crossing got going again. 51 Rommel took command of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Rifle Regiment and personally directed the operations for some time and also crossed the river in one of the first boats. On the western side of the river Rommel defended himself against a French counterattack together with one of the rifle companies before he returned to the eastern side of the river. 52 Rommel then drove to the northern crossing point. On the western side of the river, Rommel could see some additional success by the 6th Infantry Regiment. In the afternoon things were looking better for the 7th Panzer Division. In the north the crossing was in full motion and some 20 badly needed anti-tank guns had crossed the river. A company of engineers had also started the construction of an 8-ton bridge. Rommel stopped the construction and instead ordered the construction of a 16-ton bridge. Rommels aim was to get parts of the Panzer regiment across as soon as possible. During the construction of the bridge the pontoons were hit a number of times by enemy fire and at least one of the pontoons sank together with a tank. The construction was delayed and at nightfall the first tanks crossed the river. By the next morning only 15 tanks had crossed. 53 The corps commander, General Hoth, in the evening gave the order that the two bridgeheads were to be connected the next day, and, through this, the French artillery would be prevented from affecting the crossingpoints on the river. Rommel did not wait until the next day. He ordered the 7th Infantry Regiment to attack during the night.

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May 14 During the night 54, Colonel Bismarck with the 7th Rifle Regiment had taken the terrain on the outskirts of the village of Onhaye, west of Dinant. The regiment had wrapped up some enemy positions in the area surrounding Onhaye. Down by the river, Rommel worked to get his forces across the river when suddenly, at 0745 hours, he got a message from Bismarck saying that the enemy had surrounded him. At the same time, radio communications broke down. Rommel immediately decided to relieve Bismarck with every available tank. At 0800 hours, the 25th Panzer Regiment, commanded by Colonel Rothenburg had gathered some 25 tanks on the western side of the river. The tank-force quickly moved up behind Bismarck. With five tanks as support, Rothenburg made an enveloping movement to attack Onhaye from the rear. After some confusion, and with radio communications working again, it showed that there had been a misunderstanding.

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Probably eingetroffen had 55 been understood as eingeschlossen. During the rest of the day, intense fighting took place in Onhaye and finally Rommel had to call in close air support by Stukas to get rid of the stubbornly fighting enemy. On the evening of May 14, Onhaye was cleared of the enemy and a breakthrough in the enemy lines was made. The morale of the enemy gave way, and Rommel could continue his attack. In the evening, the area of Anthe was reached and the enemy had retired to a line running through Florennes.

May 15 Rommels order for 56 May 15 was to advance in one single long step to Cerfontaine. Rommel himself rode in one of the leading tanks. As flank protection in the north Rommel had ordered the 31st Panzer Regiment from the 5th Panzer

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Division. 57

At 0800 hours Rommel got a message saying that he would have Stukas for close air support
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during the day. 58 Rommel ordered the Stukas into action immediately, just ahead of his tanks.54When the leading elements of the division reached the village of Flavion, enemy tanks were spotted in the terrain north of the road. 59The enemy unit was the French 1st Armoured Division. This division had been advancing from the area of Charleroi since 1600 hours on May 14 for a counterattack. At 2100 hours the French 1st had made a halt in the terrain to wait for the refuelling vehicles that had been delayed due to a mistake by the division commander. 60

He had ordered the refuelling vehicles to advance in the rear of the divisions column. Stukas attacked some of them on their way to refuel the French tanks, and a few of them arrived at Flavion at about 0900 hours the next day, May 15. The tanks in the French units could have been formidable opponents. The heaviest one, the Char B1, was very hard to penetrate with the German tank guns. This time though, many of the French tanks were immobilized from lack of fuel. Another setback of the French tanks was the lack of radio communications. While the Germans had radios in every tank, only a few French ones were equipped with sets. Moreover, the French tank crews were not as thoroughly trained as the German ones. 61 In the terrain north of Flavion a tank battle broke out at about 1000 hours. The Germans quickly deployed against the French tanks and fierce fighting broke out. Rommels armour did great damage to the French division and when the leading tanks of the 31st Panzer Regiment from the 5th Panzer Division emerged, Rommel broke off and left the remaining French tanks to the newly arrived regiment. 62 Finally, the French division commander, General Bruneau, gave the order to retreat. Of his original 170 tanks, 36 headed for the French border. The next morning the number was reduced even further to 16. 63 The 7th Panzer Division continued its advance and in the evening reached Cerfontaine. During the day Rommels units had destroyed or captured seventy-five tanks, taken 450 prisoners and advanced seventeen miles. It was a decisive blow against the French forces. 64 May 16 The 7th Panzer Divisions mission for the day was to break through the extended Maginot Line. 65 The actual Maginot Line ended at Longwy and the extension was no way near the real thing. It consisted of minor fortifications and anti-tank ditches that had been built during the past winter. The sector where the 7th Panzer Division was supposed to attack through the line was one of the weakest. The French had plans for bigger and stronger fortifications, but these plans had never been carried out, and in the way of the 7th Panzer Division there were only a few minor obstacles. When Rommel was giving his orders for the coming actions, the army commander von Kluge arrived. He was pleased with what he heard, and soon approved of the plans.
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Rommels intentions 66 were to cross the French border at Sivry. The reconnaissance battalion would advance in a broad formation and the artillery would follow to Sivry. The panzer regiment would then advance to terrain from where it could cover the fortified line with fire. Finally, the infantry brigade would take the fortified line and remove obstacles, after which the panzer regiment would continue its advance. 67

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When the attack started Rommel was in the same tank as the commander of the forward battalion. 68 They passed Sivry and advanced slowly against Clairfayts, which was avoided as the road was mined. Suddenly a French pillbox was spotted 50 100 m ahead. Beside the pillbox a number of French soldiers were standing and when the Germans started firing at them they ran into the pillbox. 69 At the same time, the anti-tank ditch was spotted and it was also discovered that prefabricated steel obstacles blocked the road from Clairfayts. 70 As darkness started to fall, Rommel ordered the advance through the line with the intention of reaching Avesnes. At the front, the tanks fired on the terrain ahead and the divisional artillery fired at roads and villages further ahead. Rommels intention with this was to prevent the French from laying mines and placing obstacles on the roads. In the sharp moonlight Rommel ordered the advance of the tanks and the French were taken by surprise by the ease with which Rommel was able to break through the fortified line. They were also surprised by the fact that Rommel, contrary to all rules, launched an attack in the dark. 71 When the 7th Panzer Division got close to Avesnes the advance was slowed as Rommel suspected that strong French units could defend the city. Finally, he again ordered the advance to continue at the highest speed. In Avesnes some remaining parts of the French 1st Division were caught by surprise and fighting broke out. The French succeeded in breaking into the German columns and several German tanks were destroyed. Finally, a German Mark IV tank arrived and destroyed the remaining French tanks. 72 After Avesnes was cleared of the enemy Rommel tried to contact the corps staff for further orders, but got no answer. He then decided to continue his advance with the objective of reaching the bridge over the Sambre in Landrecies. The 7th Panzer Division started to run short of ammunition and the advance continued with silenced guns. When Landrecies was reached the bridge was taken intact. 73 Epilogue The 7th Panzer Division continued its successful participation in the campaign. Some hard fighting remained, but the worst part of the war in France was concluded. The campaign ended on June 22 74 after just six weeks of war. The German Panzer units had played a decisive role in defeating France. After the campaign in France the 7th Panzer Division saw action on the Eastern front. Rommel was replaced as division commander, and the division fought all the way to the end of the war in 1945.
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Figure 22: The advance of the 7th Panzer Division through the extended Maginot Line on May 16. Rommels further career continued with the command of the Afrika Korps in Libya where, after he had taken Tobruk, he was promoted to Field Marshal. The war in Africa also made Rommel one of the most famous German commanders of all times. Rommels command of the German forces in Africa ended when he got sick and had to leave to recover. His next command was to deal with the Italian situation in 1943. Rommels last command was over Army Group B in France with the task of preventing an expected allied invasion in Normandy. Before the allied invasion Rommel was wounded and became hospitalized when aircraft attacked the car he was travelling in. Rommels life ended on October 14, 1944. He was accused of being a part of the conspiracy against Hitler, and was forced to commit suicide by swallowing a poison capsule. Rommel as a commander Rommel was a particularly aggressive commander and led many of the actions of the division from the front. His experiences from World War One had taught Rommel that the best way to avoid the chaos of combat was to stay in the place of the main effort and keep the initiative. Thereby, the uncertainty of war could be reduced. Even when studying Rommel there is often the impression that many of his decisions were instinctive and impulsive, Rommel was able to carefully plan his actions if he had the time. He also thought of his decisions on the battlefield. There are many examples of this in Infantry Attacks. One of many examples can be found on page 9 where Rommel carefully considered his decision: Should I wait until other forces came up or storm the entrance of Bleid with my platoon? The latter course of action seemed proper. The strongest enemy force was in the building on the far side of the road. Therefore we had to take this building first. My attack plan was to open fire on the enemy on the ground floor and garret of the building with the 2nd section and go around the building to the right with the first section and take it by assault. 75
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The quotation shows that Rommel in fact considered his decisions on the battlefield. Later information on Rommels planning and decision-making can be found in numerous places in The Rommel Papers. 76 In fact, large parts of the book cover Rommels thinking about operational and tactical issues. In addition, some of Rommels own sketches are included. 77 The maps are good examples of Rommels way of planning before a battle. In the first days of the campaign in France, Rommel on a number of occasions intervened successfully in the actions of the division. The first occasion was the fighting at Chabrehez where Rommel made good use of his expertise in infantry warfare. The division had come to a halt, hesitating on how to deal with the Belgian defenders, when Rommel arrived and gave orders for how the attack should be carried out. Rommels intervention probably saved a number of hours for the division. The delay would have been longer without the swift and decisive attack by the 7th Motorcycle Battalion ordered by Rommel. Rommels anger over the disorder in the division column at the time of the fighting at Chabrehez 78 also meant that the officers of the division became aware of the demands of Rommels leadership. After this initial setback, less hesitation and more aggressiveness was shown from the division. The next occasion where Rommel intervened directly in the actions of the division was on May 13 when the division was about to cross the Meuse. Rommel intervened in several places. The first one was when the 6th Rifle Regiment was held back by enemy fire. Rommel showed his tactical brilliance and set some houses on fire to create a smoke screen. The next occasion was when the 7th Rifle Regiment was stopped trying to cross the Meuse. Rommel personally intervened by arranging fire support and taking command of the 2nd Battalion and the crossing was resumed. Next, Rommel got the crossing north of Dinant going again and he personally crossed the river and took part in defending against a French counterattack on the western side of the Meuse. After this, Rommel intervened in the construction of the bridge north of Dinant. As a result, the division could get across some badly needed tanks during the coming night. After the crossing Rommel again showed his aggressiveness when he got the message that Colonel Bismarck was surrounded. The message was wrong, but Rommel again showed his drive when he immediately gathered all available tanks and advanced to rescue Bismarck. Considering all the occasions of the first days of the campaign when Rommel intervened in the actions of the division, it feels safe to conclude that he was a decisive factor in the success of the division. In all the mentioned examples the situation was bad or had come to a standstill, when Rommel got things moving again. With a less aggressive division commander the 7th Panzer Division could have lost 12 hours more at Chabrehez. At the Meuse, the division could have been stopped for a long period without the decisive intervention from Rommel. At Flavion Rommel showed the ability to think in an operational dimension when he left the battle and continued his advance and thereby cut off the French support lines and created havoc in the rear French units. To achieve what Rommel did without any former experience of armoured units was an extraordinary accomplishment and showed his military genius. Rommels extraordinary ability to respond to the tide of battle events and his rapid and assured actions unveiled a master of manoeuvre that is unmatched even today. Robert N. Wiegert The author is a Lieutenant Colonel and is serving r the Swedish National Defence College. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE Newport, R.I.

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Chapter VI AN ANALYSIS OF THE OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF FIELD MARSHAL ERWIN ROMMEL IN THE AFRIKA KORPS
INTRODUCTION There is no doubt that Field Marshal Rommel was an exceptional leader. He possessed, and exhibited many qualities required to be an outstanding operational leader. Why was he then such a seemingly poor one at times? "Operational leadership" is a term that applies to commanders and their staffs who are concerned with the practical application of operational art. Operational art is "concerned with both theory and practice of planning, preparing, conducting, and sustaining major operations and campaigns aimed to accomplish operational or strategic objectives in a theater." This paper will evaluate Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's operational leadership during his first year of command of the Afrika Korps and offer reasons why he failed as a successful operational leader even though he possessed many of the qualities required to be an exceptional one. Throughout my research it became very evident that Rommel failed to do two things: he was not concerned with the operational logistical support for his forces and he failed to understand the primacy of policy and strategy. He failed to transition his superior's strategic objectives into theater operational objectives. Instead, he developed and tried to implement his own operational objectives thereby trying to force Germany's leadership to accept new strategic objectives. He tried to attain these operational objectives through tactical means by totally by-passing the operational art required to accomplish these objectives. These two failures caused the eventual loss of North Africa and assisted in Germany's overall loss. Additional faults that Rommel possessed was that he did not effectively coordinate or foster unity of effort with his Italian allies; and that he personally took command of tactical operations on numerous occasions, causing confusion and uncertainty among his forces. The reason Rommel viewed as a great leader is because of his accomplishments as a tactical leader; however had he been a better operational leader the war in African could well have turned out very differently than it did. BACKGROUND The war in North Africa was going poorly for the Italians. Hitler feared that if the Italians lost Libya that this would severely affect the Axis alliance, additionally it would free up British forces in Egypt to fight elsewhere, and it would give the British additional airfields in North Africa that could cause severe damage to German interests. Hitler had no intentions of making North Africa into another major front especially since his strategic objective was Russia. What he wanted was to assist the Italians in defending Libya so as to keep them as an ally and to keep them in the war, and to keep the British troops away from his southern flanks. What Hitler did not want or need was another strategic objective to further decrease his dwindling forces. Since Libya was over 1300 miles from Berlin, Hitler needed a commander who could act semi-independently, who possessed exceptional initiative, stamina, originality and boldness to assist a morally and physically weak ally. Hitler chose Rommel because he had these qualities. Unfortunately, these same qualities would eventually make him a liability to Hitler's strategic objective. Rommel arrived in Tripoli in February, 1941; he immediately began plans for attacking and driving the British out of Libya. In March, he started his offensive, which lasted until May. He drove the British toward Egypt, but was held at Tobruk, where the British were well dug in and fortified. The numerous assaults on Tobruk resulted in great losses for Rommel. Rommel then withdrew and strengthened his defenses around Tobruk. The British counter attack from Tobruk was very costly to the British, due to Rommel's intelligence, ingenious use of artillery, and dug in defenses. The Allied Crusader offensive in November, 1941 caught Rommel by surprise, and would eventually push Rommel to retreat towards Tripoli. In so many ways Rommel displayed the qualities of an exceptional operational leader.
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He developed in the Afrika Korps a strong sense of identity, and a feeling of unity. So much so, that this self confidence became a strong force multiplier, because they knew that under Rommel they could accomplish anything. To them, Rommel was God. How could they not idolize Rommel? He was the ideal soldier, fearless, resourceful, tireless, competent. His unrelenting energy allowed him to be everywhere and do everything. He was a soldier's general, fighting along side with them at the front instead of the rear. He had the same effect on his enemies, who credited him with having supernatural powers. This prompted the British Commander in Chief (Middle East Force) to order his commanders, for psychological reasons, to stop referring to Rommel as if he was a "superman". CHARACTER TRAITS Character is perhaps the most important factor of a successful operational leader. The personality traits that Rommel possessed were those needed by an operational leader. The ones that stand out the most were his moral courage, boldness, professional knowledge, initiative, decisiveness, toughness, ability to motivate, ability to think big, and his leadership by personal example. His moral courage was unparalleled. Rommel and his Afrika Korps were credited for fighting by the rules and for being gentlemen. Rommel refused to obey an order by Hitler to "slaughter" all enemy troops who were discovered to be on commando missions, even if those troops were surrendering. Rommel treated all prisoners of war fairly and humanely. There is no doubt Rommel possessed incredible boldness. This boldness was displayed in the combat maneuvering and in the personal risks that he exposed himself to daily. An example of his boldness was the launching of a successful counter offensive in March 1941 against recent British gains at Cyrenaica. He sensed that the British were exhausted and in the process of reorganizing after their prolonged offensive drive through Cyrenaica. He therefore launched a counter offensive after being in country for only 6 weeks and with less than half of his expected forces. Rommel's boldness allowed him to exploit every offensive opportunity that presented itself to him. Another example of his boldness was his attack on Mersa Brega. His superiors had ordered Rommel not to attack Mersa Brega until his second Panzer Division arrived in May 1941. Rommel however attacked, and conquered it in March 1941 because he reasoned that by May the enemy's defenses might be impregnable. Rommel's ingenuity and professional knowledge of his forces was unequaled. Rommel used an old weapon in a new way by using his 88 mm AA guns with their barrels horizontal in a anti-tank role. This technique proved disastrous for the British. Additionally, Rommel developed new battle techniques by using anti-tank guns in the front line with the tanks, and by using an anti-tank gun line as a defensive surprise. These new techniques also proved disastrous for the British. Rommel also displayed great initiative and creativity. When Rommel's panzer division arrived at night from Germany, he immediately ordered the unloading of all tanks and equipment, even though this would risk an air attack since the unloading would require the use of flood lights. This was done so that his division would be ready to deploy early the next morning. Rommel was very aware that he was weaker than the British forces, however he wanted to keep the British guessing as to his over all strength. Therefore, when Rommel paraded his forces, after disembarking in Tripoli, he had his tanks drive several times around the block before rolling off to the east, so as to make it look like he had an endless amount of tanks. In another deception, Rommel ordered the construction of a large number of dummy tanks, which were made of wood and mounted on Volkswagen automobiles. Again this was done so as to make Rommel appear as strong as possible and thereby induce caution on the British, to prevent an attack until Rommel was fully ready. OPERATIONAL TASKS There are certain operational tasks that an operational leader must successfully accomplish to be considered successful.19 Rommel's operational planning, operational training, and em121/138

ployment and sustainment of combat forces will be evaluated to determine how successful he was as an operational leader. Although there are more tasks then listed, only the above will be evaluated since those task are considered the reasons why Rommel succeeded or failed in battle. OPERATIONAL PLANNING The attack on Tobruk in April 1941 was ill conceived and planned by Rommel. The attack was forced upon his commanders with very little intelligence and conducted with little support. Rommel forced the attack because he falsely believed that the British were evacuating, and he wanted to inflict as much damage to the retreating forces as possible. He acted as a tactical leader instead of an operational leader. He eagerly believed every radio and photo intelligence that indicated that the British were pulling out of Tobruk, and he equally dismissed all intelligence that showed otherwise. The attack was so ill planned that the Panzer Division Commander under Rommel who had already lost 120 out of 161 tanks in the assault refused Rommel's order to assault Tobruk again until proper air photo, dive bomber attacks, air cover, and spotter planes were made available. Rommel failed to take Tobruk, and the resulting causalities required the Afrika Korps to take a defensive position. Another attack that was ill planned was Rommel's "dash to the wire" during the British Crusader offensive in November 1941.22 The "wire" was the boundary between British Egypt and Italian Libya. When Rommel's "dash" started he had almost won the Crusader battle; however by the time the "dash" ended the scales had tilted against him. He failed because of his impatience, lack of planning, and lack of logistics. Rommel forced the attack because of his wish to annihilate the retreating enemy. Unfortunately, he didn't consider the logistical support required, or the fact that his men were exhausted or that his tanks needed repairs. Although his divisional commanders and staff recommended against attacking, Rommel was adamant and took personnel charge of the attack. Because of his impatience Rommel failed to realize the enemy's positions and was unable to communicate with his headquarters and with his divisional commanders at times. Due to Rommel's poor planning the British were able to force Rommel into his first retreat back to Tripoli. Rommel's problem was that he viewed the North African campaign as a large battle. He thought more on terms of tactical than he did on operational. Put aside the fact that Rommel should not have been fighting such an offensive war as he was, since it was against the strategic objective of Germany; if, however, the operational objective was to take the Suez Canal, Rommel was fighting it all wrong. He was acting as a tactical commander. He was going from battle to battle instead of stepping back and taking a look at the big picture. If he would have done this, it would have been evident to him that he would need more supplies and resources, and therefore he would need air superiority and control of the seas in order to obtain his objective. Rommel failed to ask and answer the four fundamental questions: "What operational level goals or conditions must be achieved in order to meet the nation's strategic objectives? What sequence of actions must be planned and executed to reach those operational goals? How should the joint force's assets be applied to accomplish that sequence? What are the likely derivative costs and risks?" OPERATIONAL TRAINING Very little operational training was available to Rommel due to the almost immediate actions and constant advances that Rommel took against the British upon arriving in North Africa. However, when time was available, Rommel effectively used it to conduct corps wide training. While the British forces were being contained in Tobruk, Rommel deployed Axis forces so that a flexible response could be made to stop any British attack on his flanks; additionally the Afrika Korps were put through rigorous training for an assault against Tobruk using tank and anti-tank guns together. Because of this constant training, Rommel's men were able to coordinate their attacks even when the situation changed. This allowed Rommel to have "a concentrated stroke at speed. "
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EMPLOYMENT AND SUSTAINMENT OF COMBAT FORCES If Rommel had the additional resources and logistical support necessary, his employment offerees for the majority of his first year would have been correct. The fact that he was able to win battles without the additional logistical support is a tribute to his tactical proficiency, boldness, and initiative. Unfortunately, it was at the unnecessary expense of his forces and resources. In a majority of his battles, Rommel was over extended. He relied on captured enemy equipment and supplies to continue his advances and to resupply his forces. It seemed that Rommel took care of logistical emergencies as they occurred instead of adequately planning and preparing prior to engaging in battle so as to prevent the emergencies. Operational logistics was one of the main reasons Rommel failed as an Operational Leader. He did not place enough emphasis and priority on logistics. While he was in Africa, Rommel twice advanced 1500 miles from Tripoli to Egypt, and would twice flee from Egypt to Tripoli all because of logistical support and lack of it. Tripoli was Rommel's main supply base. The further he got from his main base, the more difficult it was establishing advance supply stations. Rommel states that the reason for giving up pursuit of the enemy is almost always due to the difficulty of the quartermaster from being able to span the lengthened supply routes, and the quartermaster's not using his' initiative and improvisation to increase the supply routes. Here he places the blame on the quartermaster for not providing the required supplies to accomplish the objectives. It is however, the responsibility of the operational commander to ensure the supplies are available. His lack of concern for logistics was appalling. When questioned by his superior how he would supply and feed the additional panzer corps that he had requested, Rommel answered: "That's quite immaterial to me. That's your pigeon." Rommel's abortive attack on Tobruk in May 1941 and his defeat at the "wire" were due to his weak logistical support, in addition to his poor planning.30 Rommel should have been more aware of his logistical situation and less concerned with the tactical situation. PRIMACY OF POLICY AND STRATEGY Policy determines military strategy.31 Military strategy in turns determines strategic and operational objectives. Rommel's objective, as directed by the German High Command, was to assist the Italians and to ensure that they did not retreat to Tripoli without a fight. Fortunately for the Allies, Rommel decided that he would change his mission, and perhaps create a new range of possibilities for German strategy. In a clear violation of his orders, Rommel told his staff that his objective was the Suez Canal. He did not realize that even if he was able to reach the Canal he would not have been able to hold it. More than likely, he would have needed three things to realize his objective. Malta needed to be in Axis control, he would need air superiority, and he would need secure sea lanes in order to get protection, supplies and resources. He could not get any of these, since they were out of his control. No matter how victorious he was in North Africa, he required the assistance of his superiors to reach his own objective. Since his objective was not the objective of his superiors it would seem evident that he would not receive the assistance he needed to continue on. He hoped that once he got to the Suez Canal his superiors would either be forced to give him more support or they would see that his objective was better than their limited North African objective and thereby change or increase their strategic objective. Rommel wanted the German strategy to include the conquest of the Middle East. He believed that if he could go past the Suez Canal, along with success in Russia, Turkey might be persuaded to join the Axis' powers, thereby giving Germany access and possible control of Middle East oil. While reporting to Hitler's headquarters on his progress in March 1941, Rommel was told by the Commander and Chief of the Army, "that there was no intention of striking a decisive blow in Africa in the near future". Rommel then proceeded to instantly and methodically disregard those clear and cautious orders upon his return to Africa. Rommel was unable to see that his role in Germany's grand strategy was to be a minor role. It is the task of the operational leadership to point out to the political leadership that certain

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military aims cannot be accomplished, or provide alternatives to those military aims if another military aim can be accomplished more efficiently. However, an operational commander can not conduct operations that will adversely affect the national strategy or intended strategic objective. The commander must accept the objective and accomplish it. Rommel never accepted the fact that the North African Campaign would only be a minor operational objective and not the objective that would bring victory for Germany. Since he did not accept his superiors' strategic objective he desperately tried to influence their decision by winning battles, and requesting additional material and forces to continue his personal operational objective. This of course would take away vital resources from the real strategic objective of Russia. Rommel could not see this and therefore seriously damaged Germany's chances to accomplish its strategic objective. By overstepping his orders Rommel brought about a situation for which his decisions had adverse strategic implications, and for which he did not have adequate supplies to accomplish. OTHER FACTORS Rommel failed to inform and coordinate his planned operations on numerous occasions with his Italian superiors and allies. He basically wanted as little to do with the Italians as possible. Through his lack of coordination, Rommel failed to effectively use unity of effort, which would have greatly increased his effectiveness and capabilities. An excellent example of his lack of unity of effort was on the attack on Tobruk in April 1941, in which he failed to inform the Italians that he intended to attack Tobruk. Had Rommel informed the Italians he could have received valuable detailed plans for the fort at Tobruk since the Italians had built the fort. As it was, Rommel didn't receive the plans until after the battle. On several occasions Rommel personally led the attack against the enemy. This caused severe difficulties and confusion among his staff, divisional commanders, and forces. Clearly, Rommel could have best served the Afrika Korps by providing leadership and coordination from the rear instead of being concerned with tactical vice operational matters. COUNTER ARGUMENTS Rommel was never told that Russia was to be invaded. Therefore, he was not aware of the strategic objective until after Germany attacked Russia. Therefore, Rommel's advances towards Egypt may have been done so as to give the German High Command a strategic objective. Perhaps the reason that Rommel so often led from the front was that he had too little opportunity of exercising his corps as a formation with all its weapons, and perhaps because he did not have the time to assess his commanders and to ensure they could accomplish exactly what he wanted them to do. Therefore, especially in the beginning there may have been an increased need to lead from the front in order to make changes quickly to more effectively use his divisions. Since he did lead from the front, Rommel was able to outclass his enemies in rapidity of decision and movement because he personally took command of his armor. CONCLUSION Within Rommel's first year in North Africa, the Afrika Korps had some terrific successes pushing the Allied forces back. These successes were in large part due to Rommel's tactical leadership at the unnecessary expense of forces and equipment. Although Rommel possessed and displayed extraordinary operational leadership qualities, he failed as an operational leader because he did not grasp the importance of operational logistics and because he failed to understand the primacy of policy and strategy. Rommel possessed the needed character traits to be a great operational leader; however, he continuously thought like a tactical leader. His lack of unity of effort with his Italian allies and his desire to lead from the front seriously effected his ability to coordinate and direct all his forces more efficiently. Since he acted more like a tactical leader than an operational leader he was unable to grasp the big picture. Had he been a better operational leader, his suc-

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cesses would not have been so costly in lives and resources, and it could possibly have saved Germany from losing North Africa, and would have assisted Germany in attaining her strategic objective in Russia.

APPENDIX

Map 15 Panzer action in Poland, 1939 In Operation 'White', Hitler commits the German Army and Luftwaffe to the invasion of Poland. When two Army Groups, North and South, strike concentrically at a weak opponent mostly infantry divisions deployed within fifty miles of the frontier, Polish forces are encircled and within seventeen days the campaign is virtually at an end. Warsaw, unsuited to armoured attack, continues to resist until 27 September. German double encirclement strategy and previous experience gained from Condor Legion operations in Spain prove decisive. Hoth and Hoepner (Third and Fourth Panzer Armies) 1 September 1939. The main weight of Panzer assault lies with the three motorized corps, XIV, XV and XVI, spearheading German Tenth Army (von Reichenau).
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Von Kleist and Guderian (First and Second Panzer Armies) 1 September 1939, also deployed in conjunction with infantry armies, operate on the wings of the offensive. Operations are led by six panzer divisions, including a 'mixed' division (Kempf), four light divisions, and four motorized divisions. Included in the invasion force are SS Regiments: Adolf Hitler (SSLAH), Deutschland and Ger-mania. Guderian (1) XIX MotK: 2nd, 20th MotDivs; 3rd PzDiv Kempf (2) PzDiv Kempf: 7th PzRegt, SS Regt Deutschland, etc. Guderian (3) Redeployed XIX MotK: After 7 September includes 10th PzDiv Von Wietersheim (4) XIV MotK: 1st LtDiv, 13th, 29th MotDivs; and later 5th Pz Div Hoepner (5) XVI MotK: 1st, 4th PzDivs; two InfDivs Hoth (6) XV MotK: 2nd, 3rd LtDivs; 25th PzRegt Von Kleist (7) XXII MotK: 2nd PzDiv; 4th LtDiv (8) (Eighth Army) XIII AK includes SS Regt Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler before transfer to Tenth Army (9) (Fourteenth Army) VIII AK includes SS Regt Germania A Gr North/South von Bock/von Runstedt; 37 infantry, three mountain, fifteen mobile divs, 3,195 tanks Polish Army 38 infantry divisions, eleven cavalry, two motorized brigades, 600-700 light tanks (500 battle-fit) Luftwaffe Kesselring 1st Air Fleet-A Gr North; Lohr 4th Air Fleet-A Gr South, 1,550 aircraft Polish Air Force 750 aircraft (500 battle-fit)

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Map 16 Victory in the West, 1940 In Operation 'Yellow', Army Groups 'A' and 'B' with Luftwaffe support, smash across the Meuse and in ten days outmanoeuvre the Western Allies whose armies, including a British Expeditionary Force of nine divisions, serve a French commander-in-chief - General Gamelin, replaced 19 May 1940 by General Weygand. Schmidt and Hoepner (Fourth Panzer Army) 10 May with two panzer corps (1) and (2) allotted to Army Group 'B', lead a decoy offensive into Holland and Belgium where airborne operations under General Kurt Student aim to reduce key defences astride the Army Group axis of advance. Von Kleist and subordinate Guderian (First and Second Panzer Armies) 13 May attack west across the Meuse at Sedan-Montherme (4), (5), (6) initiating the main armoured movement of Operation 'Yellow' - a westward thrust by two panzer and one motorized infantry corps under Panzer Croup von Kleist (K) - the vanguard of Army Croup 'A'. See also Panzer breakthrough, France. Von Kleist leads German Twelfth Army (List), but under pressure from superior headquarters, limits subordinates to a narrow range of action. Despite this, the panzer group pushes ahead until Hitler's nervousness at the danger to the resulting panzer 'corridor' and technical considerations finally halts the armour. Hoth (Third Panzer Army) 13 May starting from a Meuse crossing at Dinant - (3) - also strikes west, reinforcing von Kleist. A total of ten panzer divisions, six and two-thirds motorized infantry divisions support Army Groups 'A' and 'B'. The panzer force is swiftly regrouped for phase two of the battle - Operation 'Red'* commencing 5 June 1940. Schmidt (1) XXXIX PzK: 9th PzDiv; SS Verfugungs Div; After 13 May LSSAH Hoepner(2) XVI PzK: 3rd, 4th PzDivs; 20th InfDivMot; SS Totenkopf Hoth (3) XV PzK: 5th PzDiv; 7th PzDiv (K) Reinhardt (4) XXXXI PzK: 6th PzDiv; 8th PzDiv (K) Guderian (5) XIX PzK: 1st PzDiv; 2nd PzDiv; 10th PzDiv; Inf Regt Mot-Gross Deutschland (K) Von Wietersheim (6) XIV MotK: 2nd, 13th, 29th InfDivs Mot *Hoth (7) XV PzK: 5th, 7th PzDivs; 2nd InfDiv Mot "Von Kleist Gr (8) XIV PzK von Wietersheim: 9th, 10th PzDivs; 13th Inf Div Mot, SS Verfugungs Div, InfReg Mot-Gross Deutschland. After 12 June SS Totenkopf Div XVI PzK Hoepner: 3rd, 4th PzDivs; Reserve LSSAH *Guderian Gr (9) XXXIX PzK Schmidt: 1st, 2nd PzDivs; 29th InfDiv Mot XXXXI PzK Reinhardt: 6th, 8th PzDivs; 20th InfDiv Mot German Army Von Brauchitsch: 120 infantry divs, 16% mobile divs, 2,574 tanks A Grs 'A', 'B' Von Runstedt 45 1/3 divisions; von Bock 29Vi divisions Luftwaffe Kesselring 2nd Air Fleet-A Gr 'B'; Sperrle 3rd Air Fleet-A Gr 'A': 2,750 aircraft Western Allies Gamelin; 10 Dutch, 22 Belgian, 9 British (plus 1 Inf Tank Bde), 77 French infantry divs, 6 (Fr) mobile divs, 3,600 tanks Allied Air Forces 2,372 aircraft ind 1,151 fighters.

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Map 17 Operation Barbarossa June 1941 In Operation 'Barbarossa', Army Groups North, Centre and South with powerful Luftwaffe support strike in three directions: Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev-Rostov. Encirclements of the Red Army are a triumphant feature of the early days, but military opera128/138

tions fanning out over a vast and often trackless interior are soon brought to a standstill. Halted by difficult terrain, bad weather, inadequate supplies and exhausted by an unyielding defence, the panzer divisions after capturing Kiev are driven to unrewarding battles for Leningrad and Moscow. Hoepner (Fourth Pz-Army) 22 June leads Army Group North (von Leeb) to Leningrad. Guderian and Hoth (Second and Third Pz-Armies) 22 June responsible for the main German effort, lead Army Group Centre (von Bock) in the Moscow direction. Von Kleist (First Pz Army) 22 June leads Army Group South (von Runstedt) to Kiev and Rostov. The outstanding panzer success of the early weeks is an envelopment of five Russian armies east of Kiev resulting in 600,000 prisoners for which von Kleist and Guderian are responsible. In the course of a subsequent operation, 'Typhoon' 2 October 1941, convergent action by Guderian, Reinhardt and Hoepner encircling Bryansk and Vyasma proves equally rewarding. Seventeen panzer divisions, thirteen and a half motorized divisions lead 'Barbarossa' - but despite optimistic predictions of a three-week campaign, operations are destined to last four years. Expanded and re-equipped, in later campaigns the panzer force will nevertheless fail to match Russian numbers or strategy. Divisions are switched between theatres, fronts, and controlling corps. Four years later on the Central Front in January 1945, when the Red Army pushes across the Vistula, only four panzer divisions supporting indifferently equipped infantry divisions face 163 Russian divisions. At the conclusion of hostilities the panzer force is totally burned out and only weak battle groups remain at the Army's disposal. Hoepner (4) PzGr 4: XXXXI PzK Reinhardt, LVI von Manstein: three PzDivs 1st, 6th, 8th: three MotDivs 3rd, 36th and SS Totenkopf (later trapped with SS 'Polizei', 'Danemark' and others at Demjansk). Hoth (3) PzGrS: XXXIX PzK Schmidt, LVII PzK Kuntzen: four PzDivs 7th, 12th, 19th, 20th: three MotDivs 14th, 18th, 20th: No SS formations Guderian (2) PzGr 2: XXIV PzK Geyr, XXXXVI PzK Vietinghoff XXXXVII PzK Lemelsen, five PzDivs 3rd, 4th, 10th, 17th, 18th: 3 1/2 Mot Divs 10th, 29th, SS Das Reich (later switched to Hoepner for attack on Moscow) and Regiment 'Gross Deutschland' Von Kleist (1) PzGr 1: III PzK von Mackensen; XIV PzK von Wietersheim; XXXXVIII PzK Kempf; five PzDivs 9th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th; four MotDivs 16th, 25th, SS 'Wiking', SS (Brigade) 'Leibstandarte' AH, Regt Gen Goering. OKH Reserve 2nd, 5th PzDivs: 60th MotDiv German Army von Brauchitsch 153 divisions (seventeen Pz, + two reserve, 134 mot divs) 3,417 tanks Luftwaffe Keller, 1st Air Fleet; I Air Corps/A Gr North; Kesselring 2 Air Fleet, II, VIII Air Corps/A Gr Centre; Lohr 4th Air Fleet, IV, V Air Corps/A Gr South; - 3.800 aircraft Red Army/Air Force 150-180 divs, 20,000 tanks, but only 1000 T34s and 500 KVs, 10.000 aircraft (2.750 modem types).

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de La Gorce, Paul-Marie. L'aventure coloniale de la France L'Empire cartel, 19361946, Denol. 1988. ISBN 978-2-207-23520-1 Longden, Sean. Dunkirk: The Men They Left Behind. Constable Puplishing. 2008. ISBN 9781-84529-520-2 Maier, Klaus and Falla,P.S. Germany and the Second World War: Volume 2: Germany's Initial Conquests in Europe. Oxford University Press. 1991. ISBN 0-19-822885-6 Mansoor, Peter R. 'The Second Battle of Sedan, May 1940', in the Military Review. Number 68 (June 1988), pp. 6475 Melvin, Mungo. Manstein: Hitler's Most Controversial General W&N Publishing. 2010. ISBN 978-0-297-84561-4 Murray, Williamson. Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 19331945. United States Government Printing. ISBN 978-1-4294-9235-5 Neave, Airey. The Flames of Calais: A Soldiers Battle 1940. Pen & Sword, 2003. ISBN 978-085052-997-5 Romanych, M. and Rupp, M. Maginot Line 1940: Battles on the French Frontier. Osprey, Oxford. 2010. ISBN 978-1-84603-499-2 Sheppard, Alan. France, 1940: Blitzkrieg in the West. Osprey, Oxford. 1990. ISBN 978-085045-958-6 Shirer, William L.. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. Simon and Schuster. 1990. ISBN 0-671-72868-7 Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh. Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man. New York: Viking. 2006. ISBN 978-0-670-91082-3 Strawson, John. Hitler as Military Commander. Pen & Sword Military Classics.2003 ISBN 978-0-85052-956-2 Taylor, A.J.P. and Mayer, S.L., eds. A History Of World War Two. London: Octopus Books, 1974. ISBN 0-7064-0399-1. Weal, John. Junkers Ju 87 Stukageschwader 193741. Oxford: Osprey. 1997. ISBN 1-85532636-1. Weinberg, Gerhard. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-44317-3 Martin, J. and Martin, P. Ils taient l: l'arme de l'Air septembre 39 juin 40. Aero-Editions, 2001. ISBN 2-9514567-2-7. Winchester, Charles. Ostfront : Hitler's war on Russia 194145. Osprey Publishing. 1998. ISBN 978-1-84176-066-7 Tooze, Adam. The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy. Allen Lane, 2006. ISBN 0-7139-9566-1.

INDEX
Chapter I 7th Panzer Division The Ghost Division ................................................................. 6 Panzer strength........................................................................................................................ 6 "Ghost Division" / "Phantom Division" .................................................................................. 7 Order of Battle ......................................................................................................................... 7 Commanding officers .............................................................................................................15 Chapter II Fall Weiss: the invasion of Poland ..................................................................... 18 Map 1 The map shows the beginning of World War II in September 1939 in a wider European context. .................................................................................................................20 Prelude to the campaign ...................................................................................................20 Map 2 Planned and actual divisions of Poland, according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, with later adjustments ............................................................................................. 23 Opposing forces ..................................................................................................................... 24 Germany............................................................................................................................ 24 Poland................................................................................................................................ 24
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Map 3 Operations in Poland............................................................................................. 25 Details of the campaign ......................................................................................................... 26 German plan ..................................................................................................................... 26 Illustration 1: German Panzer units in Poland were equiped mainly with light tanks like the PzKpfw II, seen here armed with a 20mm cannon.................................................... 27 Polish defence plan. .......................................................................................................... 27 Phase 1: German invasion .....................................................................................................28 Map 4: Campaign in Poland 1939 ....................................................................................30 Phase 2: after Soviet Union invaded from the east............................................................... 31 Civilian losses......................................................................................................................... 32 Map 5 The race for Warsaw, 7 September 1939............................................................... 34 Aftermath ............................................................................................................................... 34 Misconceptions ...................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter III Battle of France .......................................................................................................38 CHRONOLOGY .....................................................................................................................38 Battle ...................................................................................................................................... 39 Map 5 Evolution of the Manstein Plan ............................................................................40 German strategy ....................................................................................................................40 German armed forces structure ............................................................................................ 41 Similarity to Schlieffen Plan .................................................................................................. 41 Map 6 : Campaign in France ............................................................................................ 42 Manstein Plan ........................................................................................................................ 42 Overview of the Plan ......................................................................................................... 42 Details of the Plan ............................................................................................................. 43 Executing the Plan ............................................................................................................ 45 Summarizing the Plan ......................................................................................................46 Mechelen Incident .................................................................................................................46 Adoption of Manstein Plan....................................................................................................46 Blitzkrieg ................................................................................................................................ 47 Allied strategy ........................................................................................................................48 Early actions......................................................................................................................48 Dyle Plan ...........................................................................................................................48 Allied intelligence..............................................................................................................50 German forces and dispositions............................................................................................50 Strength.............................................................................................................................50 Army operational deployment...........................................................................................51 Communications ................................................................................................................51 Army tactics .......................................................................................................................51 Map 7 Operations in Dinant ............................................................................................. 52 Luftwaffe ........................................................................................................................... 52 Anti-aircraft defences ....................................................................................................... 53 Allied forces and dispositions................................................................................................ 53 Strength............................................................................................................................. 53 Armies ............................................................................................................................... 53 Deployment....................................................................................................................... 54 Air forces ........................................................................................................................... 55 Anti-aircraft defences ....................................................................................................... 55 Fall Gelb ................................................................................................................................. 55 Northern front................................................................................................................... 55 The Netherlands................................................................................................................ 55 Invasion of Belgium .......................................................................................................... 56 Battle of Hannut and Gembloux....................................................................................... 57 Central front........................................................................................................................... 57 Belgian and French Ardennes .......................................................................................... 57
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Battle of Sedan .................................................................................................................. 58 Collapse of the Meuse front .............................................................................................. 59 Low French morale ...........................................................................................................60 Failed Allied counter-attacks............................................................................................60 German spearheads reach the Channel............................................................................ 61 Weygand Plan ................................................................................................................... 61 BEF and the Channel ports............................................................................................... 63 Halt order .......................................................................................................................... 63 Operation Dynamo ...........................................................................................................64 Fall Rot...................................................................................................................................64 French problems ...............................................................................................................64 Collapse of the Weygand line ........................................................................................... 65 Collapse of the Maginot line .............................................................................................66 The second BEF evacuation.............................................................................................. 67 Surrender and armistice ................................................................................................... 67 Aftermath ............................................................................................................................... 67 Hitler Appoints Twelve Field Marshals ................................................................................68 Casualties ...............................................................................................................................68 Axis ....................................................................................................................................68 Allied .................................................................................................................................69 Chapter III Operation Barbarossa ..............................................................................................71 German theory regarding the Soviet Union...........................................................................71 Map 8 Operation Barbarossa............................................................................................ 72 19391940 German-Soviet relationship ............................................................................... 72 Germany plans the invasion.................................................................................................. 73 Map 9 Situation in Europe by May/June 1941, at the end of the Balkans Campaign and immediately before Operation Barbarossa ...................................................................... 74 German preparations ............................................................................................................ 76 Soviet preparations................................................................................................................ 77 The Soviet offensive plans theory..........................................................................................80 The invasion...........................................................................................................................80 The Frontier Battles (22 June 1941 3 July 1941) ..........................................................80 Map 10 Frontier Battles Army Group North ................................................................... 81 Army Group North............................................................................................................82 CHRONOLOGY.................................................................................................................82 Army Group Centre...........................................................................................................84 CHRONOLOGY.................................................................................................................84 Map 11 Frontier Battles Army Group Center ................................................................... 85 Army Group South ............................................................................................................86 CHRONOLOGY.................................................................................................................86 Summary of the first phase...............................................................................................88 Battle for Smolensk (3 July 1941 5 August 1941)..........................................................88 Map 12 Army Group South ...............................................................................................89 Kiev and Leningrad (5 August 1941 2 October 1941)....................................................90 Operation Typhoon (2 October 1941 5 December 1941) ..............................................90 Events..................................................................................................................................... 92 Reasons for initial Soviet defeats .......................................................................................... 92 Map 13 German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa ........... 93 Outcome.................................................................................................................................94 Causes of the failure of Operation Barbarossa ..................................................................... 95 Underestimation of the Capacity of Soviet Mobilization................................................. 95 Map 14 Eastern Front 1941-06 to 1941-12 .......................................................................96 Faults of logistical planning ..................................................................................................96 Weather ............................................................................................................................. 97
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Aftermath ...............................................................................................................................98 Chapter IV Rommel and the German 7th Panzer division in France 1940 ............................ 100 The Initial Days of the Campaign........................................................................................ 100 Background ..................................................................................................................... 100 The opposing forces..............................................................................................................101 The plans.............................................................................................................................. 102 Organization ........................................................................................................................ 102 Preparations......................................................................................................................... 103 May 10 .................................................................................................................................. 104 May 11................................................................................................................................... 107 May 12 .................................................................................................................................. 107 May 13 ...................................................................................................................................110 May 15 ...................................................................................................................................112 May 16 ...................................................................................................................................114 Epilogue ................................................................................................................................116 Rommel as a commander ..................................................................................................... 117 Chapter V AN ANALYSIS OF THE OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF FIELD MARSHAL ERWIN ROMMEL IN THE AFRIKA KORPS............................................................................... 120 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 120 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................... 120 CHARACTER TRAITS ..........................................................................................................121 OPERATIONAL TASKS........................................................................................................121 OPERATIONAL PLANNING .............................................................................................. 122 OPERATIONAL TRAINING ............................................................................................... 122 EMPLOYMENT AND SUSTAINMENT OF COMBAT FORCES ........................................ 123 PRIMACY OF POLICY AND STRATEGY ........................................................................... 123 OTHER FACTORS ............................................................................................................... 124 COUNTER ARGUMENTS ................................................................................................... 124 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 124 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................... 125 Map 15 Panzer action in Poland, 1939 ........................................................................... 125 Map 16 Victory in the West, 1940...................................................................................127 Map 17 Operation Barbarossa June 1941 ....................................................................... 128 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 129 INDEX ...................................................................................................................................... 132 Notes ......................................................................................................................................... 135

Notes
In military history and military slang, the German term Kampfgruppe (pl. Kampfgruppen; abbrev. KG, or KGr in Luftwaffe usage during World War II) can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the German Wehrmacht and its allies during World War II and, to a lesser extent, in World War I. It also referred to bomber groups in Luftwaffe usage, which themselves consisted of three or four Staffeln (squadrons), and existed within Kampfgeschwader bomber wings of three or four Kampfgruppen per wing. The Kampfgruppe was an ad-hoc combined arms formation, usually employing combination of tanks, infantry, and artillery (including anti-tank) elements, generally organised for a particular task or operation. A Kampfgruppe could range in size from a corps to a company, but the most common was an Abteilung (battalion)-sized formation. Kampfgruppen were generally referred to by either their commanding officer's name or the parent division.
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Early plans for Fall Gelb; below left the original Manstein Plan in the form as it was first presented to the OKH. Note that the small attacks to the south were to be carried out simultaneously to the main effort, not as a second phase operation and that only a limited number of armoured divisions takes part in the drive to The Channel 3 The man who lies low and awaits developments usually comes off second best E Rommel1 4 Hart Liddell, Basil: The Rommel Papers, Da Capo Press Inc, New York 1953, p 7. 5 The Germans concentrated their build-up of the air force on a few types of aircraft. The primary task was to fly in support of the army in the field. The build-up of the air force also meant that the German panzer forces were provided with long-range artillery, the Stukas. See: Horne, Alistair. To Loose a Battle. Macmillan Publishers Limited, London 1990, p 119 124. 6 For an account of the development of the German armoured force, see. Guderian, Heinz: Panzer Leader. , Da Capo Press Inc, New York 1996, s 1846. For an account of the development of the German Army in the interwar period see. Corum, James S: The Roots of Blitzkrieg, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 1992. 7 Frieser, Karl-Heinz: Blitzkrieg Legende, R.Oldenburg Verlag, Mnchen 1995, s 65. 8 Comparative strength May 10, 1940 Germany The Allies Divisions Artillery Tanks Bomb and Bomb and interceptor interceptor on stand-by at the 2-2009 9 Posen, Barry R: The sources of military doctrine, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1984, s 8182. 10 Marshal Ptain at the inauguration of the Ossuaire at Verdun in 1927. See: Horne, Alistair: The Price of Glory. Penguin Books, London 1993, s 341. 11 Ibid. 12 There are numerous books that describe the plans and all the thoughts behind the plans. Se for example: Op cit footnote 5 or Op. cit footnote 3. 13 HOp. cit footnote 3, p 114. 14 The Chasseurs Ardennais units mainly consisted of light troops, but had some heavier weapons such as anti-tank guns and even some light tanks. The troops were a mixture of militiamen and volunteers. See Hautecler,Georges. Rommel and Guderian against the Chasseurs Ardennais. The Nafziger Collection Inc, West Chester, 2003, s 14. 15 Ibid, p 7. 16 U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 314 550, frame 6. 17 Op. cit footnote 5, p 279. 18 Op. cit footnote 5, p 118. 19 Stolfi, Russel H.S: A Bias for Action: The German 7th Panzer Division in France and Russia 1940 1941. Marine Corps University 1991, s 1415. The leadership conducted at the front of the division was typical of Rommel. Although Rommel did not have a real possibility to bring some of the older and more experienced officers with him on the battlefield, it is obvious that he liked to have an adviser and discussion partner with him on the battlefield. This is shown clearly in the parts of The Rommel Papers covering the campaign in Africa, were Rommel often had his chief of staff with him on the battlefield. 20 Hans von Luck was initially a company commander in the reconnaissance battalion. When the battalion commander was killed, Rommel ordered von Luck to take command of the whole battalion. See: von Luck, Hans: Panzer Commander, Dell Publishing, New York, 1989, p 42. 21 Ibid, p. 35. 22 Rommel was obviously interested in tactics. He worked as a teacher at the Military Academy in Potsdam. He also wrote two books on tactics. The most known is Infantry Attacks, but he also wrote an exercise book for small units: Problems for Platoon and Company, published in 1935. 23 U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 399, frame 22. 24 Ibid. According to Hautecler the intelligence in this case was correct. See Hautecler, p. 9. 25 Ibid 26 Ibid
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This was a habit of Rommel. He tried to write to his wife every day during all of his campaigns. Some of the letters can be found in The Rommel Papers. Liddell-Hart, p 6. 28 The demolition plan of the Chasseurs Ardennais can be found in: Hautecler, p 69-70. 29 Figure 5: The order with the task of the 7th Panzer Division on May 10.25 30 Sheppard, Alan: France 1940 Blitzkrieg in the West. Oxford, Osprey 1990, p 39. 31 Figure 6: The short account in the war archives of the 7th Panzer Divisions actions on May 10.28 32 Op cit footnote 11, p. 40. 33 Figur 7: Map over the fighting at Chabrehez The map is drawn by the author on the basis of the map in: Hautecler, op. cit. footnote 11,p. 76. The height information has been simplified to enhance the visibility of the Belgian dispositions and the German movements. 34 Op cit footnote 11, p 44-45. 35 U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 400, frame 157. 36 Figure 8: The short account in the war archives of the 7th Panzer Divisions actions on May 11.32 37 The order was given at 0650 hours on May 11, see: OP cit footnote 11, p. 54. U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 401, frame 1223. 38 Ibid. U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 400, frame 157. 39 Figure 9: The situation of the 7th Panzer Division on the evening of May 11.35 40 Figure 10: The short account in the war archives of the 7th Panzer Divisions actions on May 12.36 41 U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 401, frame 757-762. 42 The exact time when the 31st Panzer Regiment was placed under Rommel is not mentioned in the war archives. According to the archives this took place at noon. See: U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 401, frame 757. 43 Figure 11: The area where the 7th Panzer Division advanced on May 12. 44 Op cit footnote 5, p. 281. 45 This seems to be the basis for a common misunderstanding on the events of the Meuse crossing in the area of Dinant. The first unit of the 15th Panzer Corps to cross the Meuse was the 3rd Motorcycle Company of the Panzer Aufklrungsabteilung from the 5th Panzer Division. See: Op cit footnote 5, p. 281. In many accounts the 7th Motorcycle Battalion of the 7th Panzer Division is mentioned as the first unit of the 15th Corps to cross the Meuse in the area of Dinant. See for example: Sheppard, 43. Even Alistair Horne seems to have gotten this wrong. He doesnt mention that the first units that crossed the Meuse belonged to the 5th Panzer Division. See Horne, To Lose a Battle, 308 310. The German war archives do not mention any part of the 7th Motorcycle Battalion having crossed the Meuse on the evening of May 12. Instead, according to the archives, the 7th Motorcycle Battalion, reinforced with the 1st Pioneer Company, attacked across the river in the terrain 800 meters south of Houx at 0430 hours on May 13. See: U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 401, frame 763. 46 Figure 12: The short account in the war archives of the 7th Panzer Divisions actions on May 13.42 U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 400, frame 157 47 Op cit footnote 3, p. 308. 48 Frieser, Karl Heinz: Dinant Avesnes Arras. Der Angriff der 7.Panzerdivision unter Rommel in Westfeltzug dargestellt an drei Beispielen, s 43-44. 49 Op cit footnote 3, p. 310 312. 50 Op cit footnote 1, p. 8. 51 Ibid. p. 910. 52 Ibid, p 10. 53 Ibid, p 11. 54 Figure 13: The places were the 7th Panzer Division crossed the river. 49 Op cit footnote 5, p 283. 55 Figure 14: The short account in the war archives of the 7th Panzer Divisions actions on May 14.50 U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 400, frame 158. 56 Figure 15: Map showing the area of Dinant and Onhaye.
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Figure 16: The message from Colonel Bismarck to Rommel. U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 402 frame 227. 58 Figur 17: Map showing the area of anthe and Onhaye and the area where the 7th Panzer Division was deployed on the evening of May 14.52 U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 401, frame 769. 59 Figure 18: The short account in the war archives of the 7th Panzer Divisions actions on May 15.53 U.S. Archives, German Records, roll T 315 400, frame 158. 60 Figure 19: map showing the area of the 7th Panzer Divisions intentions for the advance on May 15. Op cit footnote 3, p. 407408. 61 For a discussion on the French thinking on tanks and doctrine, see: Horne, To Loose a Battle, s 7880. 62 Op. cit footnote 5, p. 295. 63 Op cit footnote 3, p. 410. 64 Ibid, p 412. 65 Op cit footnote 1, p 17. 66 Figure 20: The armoured battle at Flavion May 15, 1940. Map drawn by the author on the basis of the information in: Frieser, Karl-Heinz. Blitzkrieg Legende, s 67 Op cit footnote 1, p 17. 68 Figure 21: The short account in the war archives of the 7th Panzer Divisions actions on May 16. U.S. Archives, German Records, Divisions, roll T 315 400, frame 158. 69 Jean Hannecart, who runs a small museum covering the events at Clairfayts, has confirmed these initial events to the author. The museum is situated in the road crossing some 100 meters from the pillbox-line. Hannecart was present as a young boy when the events took place. 70 Op cit footnote 1, p 18. 71 The final attack through the line started at 2300 hours. See: U.S. Archives, German Records, Divisions, roll T 315 401, frame 775. 72 Op cit footnote 1, p. 20 21. 73 Ibid, p. 22. 74 The armistice was signed 2150 hours on June 22. The shooting would officially end at 35 minutes past midnight on June 25. See: Op cit footnote 3, p. 665. 75 Rommel, Erwin: Infantry Attacks. Greenhill books, London, 1995, p 9. 76 See, for example, Rommels writing on the plan for the battle of Tobruk starting on page 225 in The Rommel papers. 77 See for example, the sketch of Rommels intentions if he were to break through at Alamein on page 259 in the Rommel papers. 78 Rommel scolded some of the officers and his orders at Chabrehez were in direct opposition to the initial orders by the commander of the 7th Motorcycle Battalion. See: Hautecler, s 44.
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