Post by ∬: Erhard Strumfelder on Dec 17, 2008 16:45:43 GMT
Blitzkrieg!
WWII was fought in three major areas of the world: Europe, the Pacific and the Atlantic. The war in Europe lasted the longest, a staggering two thousand and seventy four days. The war in the Atlantic, also known as the Battle of the Atlantic, also lasted two thousand and seventy four days. The Pacific war actually began when Imperial Japanese forces invaded China in 1937, but the war between Japan and the USA lasted just one thousand and seventy two days.
The war in Europe however is what IO is currently based around, and it was also the breading ground for the entire world war. For the build up to WWII, please see the other thread detailing it.
Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Nazi Germany, launched an invasion of Poland on 1st September 1939. The Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, used a tactic known as Blitzkrieg (lightning war). The same tactic was employed in the 2004 invasion of Iraq. It makes use of armoured, and mechanized divisions, backed up by self propelled artillery and dive bombers. The idea was, that a small section of the front line would be weakened by a quick bombardment of heavy artillery, before a spearhead of tanks and mounted infantry burst through it. Their job was to push as deep as they could, effectively surging forward until they run out of fuel or ammunition. If they came across a fortified enemy position, which neither the artillery or tanks could bring down, dive bombers would be used for precise bombardments. If they still couldn’t destroy it, they would by-pass it and move on. A few days later, as the enemy was pulling troops back to stop the rapid attack, a huge infantry assault across the length of the front would begin. The ferocity of the attack would completely destroy any resistance, and the enemy forces wouldn’t have a clue which units were destroyed, which units had been captured, and which units could still fight. It was very clever indeed.
The United Kingdom and France had warned Germany that if they were to attack Poland, they would be crossing the point of no return. One September 3rd 1939, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced over the radio that war had broken out. Over the next few days, countries with links to Britain or France also declared war.
Back in Poland, the Polish army were being destroyed. They had almost no tanks, a poorly equipped air force, and there army was closer to a WWI standard. In fact, many pilots sent up to battle the German Luftwaffe chose to fly straight to France or Britain, rather than risk their lives against the best air force in Europe. The German armed forces on the other hand were the best trained and equipped in the world. Their weapons were modern and many were fanatical in their support for their fatherland. They also out numbered the Polish five to two.
Hitler had also signed a treaty with Soviet leader Josef Stalin, arguably the most evil man who has ever lived. Hitler was weary of a war with Russians, and wanted to focus on his conquest of Europe first. The treaty said that the German forces would stop half way through Poland, and the Soviets could invade from the east. Poland would be split in two. The two attacks were meant to take place on the 1st September, but Stalin was reluctant, and wanted to see the German army in action before he committed himself. He launched his invasion on the 17th September.
Polish resistance crumbled within a week, and only a small group of defenders held out, fighting in the streets of the Polish capital, Warsaw. By the 6th October, Poland had surrendered. The Germans had suffered few casualties during the conflict, losing less than two percent of their invasion force. The Polish lost over twenty one percent of their men, with over two thirds being captured.
For many years, Stalin had been concerned about Finland, and just how close its borders were to Leningrad, modern day Saint Petersburg. Leningrad was a large centre of industry, and Stalin was becoming more and more worried. A few years ago, he had been so paranoid that a coup d’eat (punch of the state) would be launched by the military. So he proceeded to purge the Red army, killing thirty thousand officers, and rendering the military near useless. However, this now made him very vulnerable to a Finish attack. He therefore opted to be the aggressor.
Throughout November 1939, he cut off diplomatic connections with the Finish government, before he launched a full scale invasion on November 30th. It started what was to be known as the Winter War.
The Soviet Union invaded across the length of its border with Finland, a some six hundred mile front. Over one thousand men attacked, and it was expected that Finland would crumble, as its army was only a quarter of that of the invader’s. It had just thirty tanks, and one hundred and thirty aircraft, to the Russian’s six and a half thousand tanks, and three thousand eight hundred planes. It should have been a walk over.
The Finns realised they couldn’t face the Soviets in open combat. The Russians overwhelming numbers would destroy them. So instead, they began a gorilla campaign. The average Finnish soldier was much better trained and equipped than a Soviet conscript, and the Finns were tactically more flexible for this fact. They used skis and camouflage, and out witted the Soviets hundreds of times. Once, they even attacked two Soviet camps, each on one side of the valley. Within minutes, the two Russian groups were firing at each other in the Finnish darkness, while the Finns disappeared.
The Soviets were battered by the conditions, and the effects of Stalin’s purges were beginning to show. With no officers to lead them, troops walked straight into mine fields and killing zones. Inexperienced tank crews drove headlong into ditches and traps. Vehicles began to size up in the old, and the ill prepared Russian forces developed hypothermia and frostbite. All the time, the Finns were launching hit and run attacks.
But in the end, the Finns were becoming exhausted, and foreign Finish supporters suggested peace talks should be opened. On the 13th March 1940, the Finish government allowed the Soviets to annex a small area of land, and peace was achieved. Of the two hundred and fifty thousand Finns who fought at the beginning of the war, sixty six thousand five hundred were killed, wounded or captured, a loss of twenty six percent. For the Soviets, they invaded with one million men. They lost four hundred thousand men; forty percent of their invasion force.
The next part of the war was known as the Phoney War, as very little seemed to take place. But in secret, Hitler was planning a bold move. He was planning his invasion of France.
France had been very weary of a German assault for years. So along the length of their border, excluding the Ardennes forest where tanks couldn’t enter, they built the Maginot line. This was a line of defensive bunkers, guns, minefields, barbed wire, tank traps and tunnels. It was deemed impregnable. However, it had one fatal weakness. It was too strong.
Hitler realised he could not attack it head on, so he planned to go around the back of it. There were two main gaps he could exploit. The wall did not enter the Ardennes, a very large forest covering France, Luxemburg and Belgium. It was believed that tanks could not enter it, and because tanks were the mainstay of the Wehrmacht, the Germans would not attack through it. This also saved construction costs and meant the French could better concentrate their men. But Hitler proved the French wrong, and on 10th May 1940, tanks and armoured vehicles poured through the Ardennes, and into Holland. Holland had originally wanted to remain neutral as it had during WWI, and so was completely unprepared for the German assault. After just four days, the Dutch surrendered. This part of the plan was known as Fall Gelb (case yellow).
The Germans also punched into Belgium, and pushed northwards, creating a bulge in the line. They were heading for Dunkirk, a small port on the North Sea coast. The British Expeditionary Force, or BEF, had been sent to France after the invasion of Poland, but was completely unprepared for the speed and surprise of the German assault. Realising the Low Countries were lost, the British fled to Dunkirk, every minute German tanks biting their heels.
On the very day of the first attack, a new Prime Minister had walked into Ten Downing Street. Sixty-five year old Winston Churchill.
But mid way through the attack, Hitler ordered the tanks to halt. However, several SS units ignored the order and continued on, hungry for blood. Why Hitler ordered the halt is a debatable subject, but it is widely believed he presumed he could negotiate with a new Prime Minister, and that a peace treaty could be drawn up. Destroying the British army would only worsen relations
As more and more men gathered on the beaches, it soon became apparent that the Royal Navy could not evacuate all of them. The Luftwaffe harassed the ships, and several were sunk. Churchill spoke to the British people over the radio, and urged anyone with sea worthy boats to cross the channel and help in the evacuation. It was codenamed Operation Dynamo. Thousands answered the call.
From the 26th May to the 4th June, three hundred and thirty eight thousand men were evacuated, from a possible four hundred thousand. The others were left, fighting the Germans, slowing them reaching the beaches. Eighty four percent of the men were evacuated back to Britain. Of the eight hundred thousand Germans, fifty two thousand were lost in the fighting. As people returned, Churchill had to give a broadcast reminding people that this had been an evacuation and not a victory; people were celebrating.
Thousands of pounds of weapons and machines were abandoned on the beaches, all of which fell into German hands. Now Britain had barely any large weapons, a battered army, and their strongest ally at the mercy of the Wehrmacht.
The second part of Hitler’s plan began on the 5th June 1940, codenamed Fall Rot (Case Red). This involved all his units in the north, turning south, a heading for Paris. On the 10th June, Fascist Italy also declared war, and invaded France in the south. Using Blitzkrieg tactics, the French were quickly beaten back. Also on the 10th, the French government declared Paris an Open City, and fled to Bordeaux in the south west. France was falling to the German forces by the hour.
On the 25th June, just under two months since the battle had begun, France surrendered. The Head of State, Charles de Gaulle, urged the French people to rise up against their occupiers, before he fled to Britain.
In the south, a new state was set up, known as Vichy France. A French Marshall who sympathised with the Germans became its leader, and the government was based in the spa town of Vichy.
By the end of the invasion, two and a quarter million Allied troops were in German or Italian hands, or had perished on the field of battle. For all their fighting, the Germans lost just one hundred and sixty one thousand men, twelve times less than the Allies. Nazi Germany was unstoppable.
