Virtue Magazine

Contrary to popular belief, Hitler did not intend on instigating world war. He had hopes Britain and France would not fight for Poland. Once the Poles were defeated, he asked Britain and France to make peace. The Allies, although they were in absolutely no position to help the defeated Poland, refused. And so, plans had to be made for a continuation of the war.

Hitler wanted to attack the Anglo-French armies as soon as his forces had redeployed to the west, but his generals convinced him to postpone the attack over and over, knowing their forces were not in readiness. Finally, winter set in, bringing stalemate along the Siegfried Line. The inactivity was called Sitzkrieg. Meanwhile, another war was being waged in Finland. Stalin had attacked that young country in an attempt to seize certain vital strategic points. The unprovoked assault angered both Germans and Allies, and there was much admiration all around for the stout defense of the courageous Finns, who inflicted severe casualties on the invading Red Army. Both Hitler and Churchill considered sending support to the Finns, and Churchill laid out plans to occupy Norway and Finland, which would not only allow them to aid the Finns, but also cut off Swedish iron ore supply to Germany.

Instead of full-scale invasion, the British determined to mine the waters off of Narvik, Norway, perhaps in anticipation of a future invasion. But Hitler beat them to the punch, launching an amphibious assault on the Norwegian coast, to keep the vital ports there out of enemy hands, and to provide Luftwaffe and naval bases for prosecution of the war against England. On April 8, the Germans, stealthily moved by their navy, landed in Norway, where they were stiffly opposed. Several vessels were lost to the Royal Navy, but the Luftwaffe seized control of the skies, and with inside help from Vidkun Quisling, eventually won out, pushing the resisting Norwegians and their British allies out of the fjords. The Norwegian government fled to London, and Hitler had sealed off the Baltic, and secured an unrestricted flow of Swedish iron ore, vital to the German war effort. Denmark was simultaneously seized in a lightning campaign, which was ineffectively resisted by the helpless Danes.

On May 10th, 1940, the same day that Winston Churchill was made prime minister, the Sitzkrieg, “phony war,” came to an end, as the Germans launched “Operation Sickle-cut,” which would be one of the most brilliant campaigns in the history of warfare. Originally, Hitler had planned a repeat of the 1914 Schlieffen Plan, which he believed would allow him to occupy the Belgian ports, from which he could prosecute naval and air war against British supply lanes. There was no thought of winning a total victory, until plans for the offensive fell into enemy hands, and the brilliant general Erich von Manstein, considered by many to be the best strategist of the Second World War, devised a plan which would use seven of the Wehrmacht’s ten panzer divisions in an attack through the Ardennes Forest, which the French believed to be impassable for tanks. By this method, they would bypass the formidable French defensive position, the Maginot Line, and strike into the vulnerable rear areas of the French army. It was a gamble, dependent upon their ability to penetrate the first French defensive line, and cross the river Meuse. Ironically, von Manstein would command an infantry corps in this campaign, though he was one of the most brilliant tank men in the Wehrmacht.

The plan worked better than anyone, especially Hitler, ever dreamed. Spearheaded by the units of brilliant tank officers Heinz Guderian and Erwin Rommel, the German panzer divisions sliced through the French defenses, crossed the Meuse, and penetrated the rear areas of the enemy army, disrupting their communications, and spreading panic that particularly affected the French officer corps. Before long they broke into the open country of central France, and raced for the coast. The attack on Belgium and the Netherlands to the north had occupied the attention of the British Expeditionary Force, and the bulk of the French armies, and it was not till they were nearly cut off that they realized their danger. By then, it was too late. Sensational successes by German paratroopers in Belgium, such as the capture of the powerful Fort Eban Emael by eight men, were overshadowed by the arrival of the panzer divisions on the coast, cutting off hundreds of thousands of French and British troops. All this had been accomplished thanks to superior planning and coordination, and the umbrella provided by the Luftwaffe, which swept the skies clear of enemy aircraft, and lent excellent air-ground support to the advancing German divisions.

The British and French were sent reeling towards Dunkirk, pursued hotly by the advancing panzers, which had suffered heavy casualties, and were constantly hampered by nervous commanders, including Hitler, who believed they were advancing too far, too fast. Soon, though, they had the enemy penned in the last port from which they could hope to evacuate, Dunkirk. There, Hitler ordered them to stop, and sent the Luftwaffe in to destroy the evacuating forces. Some German commanders would later say Hitler intentionally allowed the English forces to escape, believing that would make them more ready to accept a compromise peace once the campaign was concluded. At any rate, it was an egregious error, as some 335,000 British and French soldiers were evacuated to fight another day.

But the overall campaign was all but won. The Germans quickly reformed their forces, and punched home a relentless attack against the frail defensive line the French had erected. Even the Maginot Line was broken through in places, and the German forces streamed towards the Seine. Though enemy aircraft and tanks were equal, and sometimes superior in caliber, superior handling allowed the Germans to dominate the battlefield, and they captured Paris on June 14th. Belgium had surrendered more than two weeks earlier, realizing the hopelessness of further resistance. The rest of the French forces quickly dissolved, except those who opposed Mussolini’s attacking Italian armies. Mussolini had entered the war as an opportunist, not wanting Germany to have the sole voice in the division of Europe. American president Franklin Roosevelt was enraged at the move, saying, “The hand that held the dagger has struck it into the back of its neighbor.” But the Italians achieved only minimal success, and Hitler granted them only a tiny portion of the territory they craved.

France was soon brought to its knees, despite some hard-liners, encouraged by Churchill and Charles de Gaulle, who wanted them to continue a hopeless fight. Churchill even went to the preposterous length of proposing a union of England and France which would have effectively made the two nations one. The French government wisely declined this sentimental offer of good will. Continued resistance, they recognized, would only result in further bloodshed, and suffering for their people. President Reynaud and his government fled, and handed over the reins to Marshal Philippe Petain, a hero of the First World War. He asked for an armistice, which was duly granted and signed on June 22, in the same railway car that Ferdinand Foch had dictated terms to the defeated Germans in 1918. The war in France was over, Germany completely victorious. Kaiser Wilhelm II, exiled in the Netherlands since 1918, wired Hitler, congratulating him on “the mighty victory granted by God.”

Britain was not defeated, though. Hitler made another offer of peace on the status quo, which Churchill rejected. He still believed he could win, though he was fully aware he could not achieve victory without ultimately enlisting the aid of either the Soviet Union or the United States, preferably both. In the meantime, England would have to hold out on their own. Churchill used his influence at this time to encourage resistance movements in the occupied countries. Resistance groups were largely terrorist organizations who provoked savage reprisals that otherwise may not have happened, and were largely run by Communists, but they did succeed in tying down a number of German divisions that could have been used at the front.

But Britain’s immediate survival was not guaranteed. Hitler drew up plans for “Operation Sea Lion,” a proposed amphibious invasion of the British isles. First, though, the Royal Air Force had to be driven from the skies, so that the Luftwaffe could concentrate on protecting their invasion fleet from the superior Royal Navy. Though some have argued Hitler never seriously considered invading England, the Battle of Britain in the skies was real. Two great air forces clashed in the skies over Britain, as the Luftwaffe attacked enemy airfields and military installations. Casualties were high on both sides, and English civilians suffered heavily during “the blitz.” But the Royal Air Force was not destroyed, and by September 17th, Hitler indefinitely postponed “Sea Lion,” as he began to turn his attention towards Russia.

The most savage part of the air war over England occurred after German pilots mistakenly jettisoned their bombs on a residential area in London. In retaliation, the British launched a terror bombing raid against Berlin. Infuriated, Hitler vowed to burn out the British cities, and several raids were made against London, Coventry, and other British cities. The bombing would go on well into 1941, taking over 30,000 English lives, but the home islands were free from threat of invasion. The British could turn their attention to fighting Mussolini in Africa, or supporting their allies in the Balkans. Hitler, meanwhile, would turn against his nominal ally Stalin, whose defeat, he believed, would finally force Churchill to recognize the hopelessness of prolonging the war.