For Hitler, the Polish campaign was a gamble, and in the end he won the gamble.
Most of the German troops were committed to the Polish operation. On the Western Front, facing the overwhelming advantage of the 70 divisions of the French Army and a small part of the British Expeditionary Force, only a small number of cover troops were deployed symbolically.
Despite the obvious danger, Hitler accurately predicted that if he invaded Poland, the Allies would take no action. Once Poland was captured in early October, Hitler would be free to turn his attention to the campaign on the Western Front.
However, the fighting in Eastern Europe was far from over. Although Germany was not directly involved, the Winter War of 1939-1940 was also a direct result of the successful German invasion of Poland.
At that time, there was a dangerous idea growing in Britain that the war might be resolved in a more peaceful way, avoiding unpleasant events such as actual exchanges of fire. Indeed, both sides suffered losses at sea. In September
, the British aircraft carrier "Courageous" was sunk by a German torpedo attack; in October, the battleship "Royal Oak" was attacked and sunk by a German submarine in Scapa Flow. However, the German Navy's pocket battleship "Graf Spee" was also attacked
The British ship attacked and was finally forced to sink itself, which to some extent evened the two sides. In the UK, more and more people have the impression that the "Athena" was destroyed in the few hours since the two sides declared war.
Since the passenger ship was sunk by a torpedo attack, the entire maritime conflict has been a sad misunderstanding.
Chamberlain believed that once the German people "realized that they could not win this war," they would naturally break away from their head of state. Perhaps by then, other German politicians, such as Marshal Goering, would come to Britain to sue for peace.
Chamberlain was therefore unwilling to accept any suggestion of action against Hitler.
At the same time, the United Kingdom printed 18 million leaflets and distributed them to Germany by the Royal Air Force to point out Hitler's criminal acts to the German people. When performing tasks, the British Air Force was strictly required to do so no matter what happened, even if they were attacked.
No damage was allowed to the private property of German citizens in any case of harassment. There is no doubt that the RAF often suffered losses in order to maintain this chivalrous self-control.
When winter came, the British Expeditionary Force, about 400,000 strong, crossed the English Channel and successfully entered positions near Arras and Lille on the French-Belgian border, where they built ammunition depots and dug trenches. In December,
When Major General Montgomery inspected his division, Chamberlain asked, "I don't think the Germans have any intention of attacking us, what do you think?" The general's answer was not recorded, but the British Prime Minister's thinking reflected the British public.
A common thought. This thought is also very popular in France, especially among French decision-makers.
In France, the generals were convinced that they were in a good position for war. After the end of World War I, France spent billions of francs to build a border defense line, the Maginot Line. The Maginot Line stretched from the Swiss border to Belgium
There are many well-constructed strong fortresses on the border and defense lines. According to the design, conventional attacks cannot break through the Maginot Line. The Maginot Line is guarded by more than 400,000 troops and can receive a large amount of manpower supplements from France. However,
Due to political reasons, the line did not extend to the Belgian border. Most of the forts on this line were disconnected, and many were built before World War I.
Britain and France still believed that a full-scale war with Hitler could be avoided. For this reason, when Poland was attacked by the German military, Britain and France did not take any measures to reduce the pressure on Poland. This surprised and comforted many senior German officers.
, after the war, they revealed that if Britain and France launched a forcible attack on the Saarland region in the first month of the war, they would hardly encounter any resistance, and it would most likely lead to an early rise of people against the Nazi Party and its leader Hitler.
However, nothing happened. After Poland was defeated, the German army, which had been tested on the battlefield and baptized by war, quickly moved from the east to the western defense line, that is, the Western Wall. The German army did not take action after being stationed on the western front. The opposing sides glared at each other every day and spoke through loudspeakers.
Insult each other.
But other than that, neither side has taken any substantive action. However, in Hitler's creed, defense has no place at all. Behind the defense line, the German army is increasing its troops on a large scale and actively preparing for the next more brutal battle.
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The Allies expected that Germany would invade France according to its standard plan. The so-called standard plan was the "Schlieffen Plan" first proposed by German General Count Alfred von Schlieffen in the early 20th century. Its idea was to attract the main force of the French field army to Albany.
During the battle of Sars, the main force of the German army quickly broke through from the Low Countries, attacking the flanks and rear of the French army, forcing it to retreat towards Paris!
In order to counter this plan, the Allies planned to advance their troops into Belgium and the Netherlands, establish the Dier Line of Defense, and use the numerous waterways in the area as natural obstacles to stop the German advance.
However, Belgium and the Netherlands insist on maintaining strict neutrality, which means that their military leaders do not dare to contact France and Britain on defense plan coordination.
Therefore, the British and French armies were unable to build fortresses in their expected combat positions. While the Allies were conservatively building defensive positions, Germany was massing aggressive troops behind the "Siegfeld Line". The long border from the northern Netherlands to Switzerland
On the line, the German army assembled more than 2 million men, including 104 infantry divisions, 9 motorized divisions and 10 armored divisions.
The last time the German army invaded France on a large scale was in 1914. At that time, the German army attacked the city of Paris in one go, but was eventually repelled and was forced to engage in bloody trench warfare with France for four years. This time, the Blitzkrieg will ensure a difference.
ending.
This time, the German army will break through the main enemy lines within a week. After two weeks, the British will withdraw their troops, and France will be at the mercy of Hitler. The humiliation suffered by Germany in 1918 will be avenged - a response to the First World War
Retaliation was the main strategic goal established by Hitler, not the German General Staff. However, before Hitler's Wehrmacht could defeat Germany's World War I enemies, the German army must first ensure the security of its flanks and control them.
Scandinavia and the Low Countries.
In September 1939, when Hitler sent troops to invade Poland, the German army left only a small number of covering troops on the western front to deal with the French army's 70 divisions supported by 3,000 tanks. In addition, the French army also had absolute air superiority. As long as
The French Air Force was ordered to join the war. Hitler had a feeling that France would not take action, and his intuition paid off. While a small British expeditionary force crossed the sea and arrived in northern France, the huge French Air Force had been sitting and watching.
This "false war" lasted from the winter of 1939 to the spring of the following year, until the German army invaded Denmark and Norway before the Allied landing operations in Northern Europe were carried out. On May 10, eight months after the outbreak of the war, Hitler began to
Troops on the Western Front.
Although Germany had begun formulating a plan to invade Scandinavia since the beginning of 1940, Hitler had always regarded the plan as a necessary preparation method to prevent emergencies and had no intention of putting it into practice. In April 1940,
The need to implement this plan is highlighted.
On April 8, British Admiralty Minister Winston Churchill announced that the British Royal Navy would mine mines in Norwegian waters. The purpose was obvious, which was to cut off the iron ore transportation line from Narvik, a port city in northern Norway, to Germany. This
This blatant violation of Norway's neutral status is based on the strange reason that Germany may take more egregious actions to undermine Norway's neutrality. Since Norway has always maintained an obvious friendly neutrality, this move gave
Many British people were left with a strange impression. However, even stranger was the morning news the next day.
Hitler first paid attention to Norway during the Soviet-Finnish Winter War. At that time, British and French reinforcements and relief supplies might pass through Narvik to the port city of Luleå in northeastern Sweden, which would interrupt Germany's iron ore supply.
Supplies. Until then, Hitler's attention on the Western Front had been focused on the Low Countries, but he saw the danger that the Allies might use Norway to control Germany, and the dangers that seizing Norwegian ports and controlling the Norwegian coast would bring to the German navy.
After reaping the benefits, he ordered the formulation of a plan to invade Northern Europe code-named "Weser River Exercise".
After the "Altmark" incident on February 16, Hitler ordered to speed up the formulation and revision of the "Weser River Exercise" plan. Two days later, Hitler authorized General von Falkenhorst and his staff to command the exercise.
Action. Perhaps a trick of fate, Hitler decided at the end of March that the time to launch the attack, that is, at dawn on April 9, happened to be the day after Churchill announced the Breeding Order.
As a result, in the eyes of the outside world, Germany's response to the British Royal Navy's mining of Norwegian waters, regardless of whether it blatantly violated Norway's neutrality, was incredibly swift. As the invasion of Denmark and Norway began, the German High Command told the press
A message was released: "In order to defeat British attempts to undermine the neutrality of Denmark and Norway, the German Wehrmacht is taking over the military defense of both countries."
The first step in the German invasion was to occupy Denmark and use it as a springboard to advance into Norway. When the war began in April 1940, the Danish army had only more than 14,000 people, of which 8,000 were temporarily recruited in February and March.
Enlisted in the army!
Danish soldiers are poorly trained and have little or no armor.
At 5 o'clock in the morning on April 9, German paratroopers successfully airborne at the unmanned Madeniso Fortress and Allerborg Airport.
At 6 o'clock, a German infantry battalion hidden in a merchant ship in Copenhagen port rushed out of the darkness and attempted to capture the Danish king and members of his government.
Two divisions of the German 21st Infantry Army also crossed the border into Jutland.
Due to the disparity in strength, the Danish army hardly put up any resistance except for a brief exchange of fire with the Germans in the North Schleswig area to protect the Copenhagen Palace!