Post by Werner von Maybach on Mar 10, 2009 6:16:33 GMT
The Invasion of France and the Lowlands 1940
German Panzer I and Panzer II in May 1940
After the German attack on Poland 1939, France and Great Britain declared war on the German Reich on the 3rd September 1939. Few days after the declaration of war, the BEF (British expeditionary forces) began to send troops to France.
In the early phase of the war in the West, there were only small skirmishes in the border area. Both sides kept waiting and were content with just watching the enemy. No major operations or attacks were launched. The French even called this period of the war the “Drôle de guerre”, the Phoney War.
In the German high- command, several plans for an attack on France were prepared. One of them was produced by the famous German General von Manstein. He planned the German main attack through the Ardennes, a heavily afforested highland which is difficult to cross with tanks or armoured vehicles. He believed that the Allies would never suspect a German attack in this area. The biggest part of the French army and the BEF was situated in the “Maginot line”, a massive and well prepared defensive line along the border. After some heavy discussions, this plan got finally chosen by Hitler. But the first objective of the Germans was the complete occupation of the Lowlands (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands), because Hitler feared an Allied counterattack through these regions.
The Maginot line
In the morning hours of the 10th May 1940 the German attack began. Paratroopers launched an assault against various bridges and airports in the Netherlands and in northern Belgium. Most of these objectives were captured successfully, but the Germans had to suffer heavy losses. The famous Belgian fortress “Eben- Emael”, one of the most expensive forts in history, was occupied by only 56 German paratroopers. The Germans advanced in their Blitzkrieg tradition. Four days later, on the 14th May, the Netherlands completely surrendered to the Germans, after a bombardment of Rotterdam by the German Luftwaffe. The Belgian army continued the fight until the 28th May.
The German advance through the Ardennes was even faster. The Allied forces were absolutely surprised and the German spearheads reached the river Maas at Sedan in the evening of the 12th May. The Axis soldiers made a forced crossing of the river and managed to build a pontoon bridge. On the 14th May, 60 000 soldiers and 22 000 vehicles crossed the Maas. Several small counter attacks against the German bridgehead were repelled. The French front was broken.
The German attack against the Lowlands
Now the Germans continued to move forward as fast as before. On the 19th May, the first German spearheads arrived at the English Channel. The mass of the French army and the BEF was now trapped between the channel and the German forces. But instead of assaulting the rest of the Allied forces in the pocket, Hitler ordered his troops to stop on the 24th May, 15 km away from the important harbour of Dunkirk. He was assured that the Luftwaffe alone was enough to finish off the enemy. Because of the German halt, the Allies were able to carry out Operation Dynamo, the complete evacuation of the BEF and the rest of the French forces. From the 28th May till the 4th June 1940, circa 370 000 soldiers could get shipped back to Great Britain.
The pocket of Dunkirk
At the beginning of June ’40, the Axis forces continued their attack in the south and west of France. The French resistance quickly became weaker and the Germans captured Paris on the 14th June without fighting, while the first German spearheads reached the Swiss border by the 17th. The part of the French Army, that was still defending the Maginot line (over 500 000 soldiers), now was enclosed. One day later, the new French government under Marshall Petain completely surrendered to the German forces.
49 000 German, 11 000 British and 90 000 French soldiers lost their lives in the fighting. 1,6 million French soldiers became German POW’s. France became occupied by the German troops for almost 4 years.
