Sieg im Westen, 1939-1940; part 3 of 12-Year Reich

The 12-Year Reich Session 3 Hitler Victorious; Sieg im Westen, 1939-40

Maginot Line

The glory years the myth of Nazi invincibility Blitzkrieg--ironically, not a German term!

Vindication! 21.vi.1940 the WW I corporal dictates armistice terms in the very railroad carriage where 11.xi.1918 was signed

still, by 1940 cracks were beginning to appear the Battle of Britain “Operation Sealion” postponed indeﬁnitely Hendaye, Franco says--Maybe later...

Hawker Hurricane still ﬂying in 2007

a French cartoon ridiculing the postponed cross channel invasion

“ungrateful coward!” Ribbentrop’s frustrated response to Franco’s high price for joining the ﬁght

Überfall auf Polen (Fall Weiß) Assault on Poland (Case White) 1 September 1939

Kesselschlacht bei Radom, Cauldron battle for Radom, 8-12 September Polish POWs

belated Soviet entry, 17.ix in accord with the secret protocol 23.vii

Lviv (Russian) Lvov (Polish) Lemberg (German) 1939 saw not quite the last use of cavalry in twentieth century warfare

Soviet propaganda photo “Long live the great theories of Marx, Engels, Lenin--Stalin (happy proles in Polish Belarus)

“We stretched our hand to our brothers so that they could straighten their backs and throw off the good, big, red, despised rule of the whips strong that lasted for centuries.” protector The person thrown off the peasants’ backs, shown wearing a Polish military uniform and holding the whip, could be interpreted as a caricature of Piłsudski. oppressed, angry evil, cruel, fat racial impotent, his comrades sword ready to broken fight back

\"Electors of the working people! Vote for the joining of Western Ukraine with Soviet Ukraine, for a united, free and thriving Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Lets forever eliminate the border between Western and Soviet Ukraine. Long Live the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic!\"

Polish “enemies of the people” policemen, teachers, priests, kulaks, and other ‘oppressors’ are rounded up and marched to a grim fate

Katyn forest Soviets failed to honor terms of surrender. They ceased to recognize the Polish state at the start of the invasion. Therefore Polish military prisoners were not POWs but rebels against the new governments of Western Ukraine and Byelorussia. They killed tens of thousands of Polish POWs, some during the campaign itself. On 24 September they killed 42 staff and patients at a military hospital in Grabowiec. The document (right) is a memo from Lavrenti Berea to the Politburo CPSU recommending the murder of over 20,000 Poles at Katyn-- marked “approved.”

Attack on Warsaw 25-27 September civilians seeking shelter hospital casualties

25.ix.39 Hitler reviews the victory parade

Albert Forster Reichsgau Danzig- Westpreußen Hans Frank General- Gouvernement Arthur Greiser Reichsgau Wartheland

LICENSING BARBARISM 7.x-- secret order making Himmler Reichskommissar für die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums (...for strengthening German ethnicity)--RKFdV this made him de facto czar of Eastern settlement “(an appointment of vital importance…)”--Kershaw his charge was liquidating the Polish leadership: political, academic (down to school teachers!), church, and business the RSHA (the Reich Security Main Department) was also told to begin “transportation” of German Jews to Poland

Der ewige Jude The eternal Jew Goebbels was finishing this infamous film as the Polish campaign unfolded he showed Hitler scenes which reinforced his revulsion towards the Ostjuden as Hitler followed the army advance, he was repelled by the filth and misery of the conquered Polish shtetls

rural shtetl Warsaw ghetto

Einsatzgruppen (special or task forces) ﬁrst formed by Heydrich during the Anschluß to seize key facilities ﬁve (later six) were formed became notorious during the Polish occupation claimed 60,000 victims led to numerous clashes with the Wehrmacht

For a regime dependent on constant mobilization, the Jew served as the constant mobilizing myth. Saul Friedländer, The Years of Extermination, p. xix

Euthanasia another evil fruit of the war 60000 REICHS MARKS in October, 1939 Hitler issued a decree authorizing medical euthanasia Vernichtung lebensunverten Lebens (the destruction of life not worth living) had long been discussed in Germany during Weimar, doctors had overwhelmingly rejected it under Hitler the unthinkable became acceptable although the churches still opposed it public opinion was less so Race comrade that is also your money

Finally, but not least, the point at which, coinciding with the outbreak of war, a secret programme of mass murder could be implemented would have been unimaginable without the progressive erosion of legality and disintegration of formal structures of government that had taken place since 1933. Kershaw, vol ii, p.255

crossing the Rubicon As Hitler opined to Goebbels, during the winter of the “Phoney War,” after the Polish attrocities, losing the war was unthinkable.

seeds of resistance

seeds of resistance Adm Wilhelm Canaris Col Hans Oster Abwehr Abwehr Ludwig Beck former Army Chief of Staff Lt Col Helmut Groscurth Rittmeister Hasso von Etzdorf Ernst Freiherr von Weizsäcker Foreign Ofﬁce

“the lone bomber” Georg Elser, 1903-1945

the attempt-- 9 November 1939

Sitzkrieg (sitting war) Often called the Phoney War in the west

the Maginot Line and the opposing West Wall

Westwall the British often called it the Siegfried Line after the WW I defensive position

Dragons teeth anti-tank devices

German propaganda during the “Sitzkrieg” “Where is Tommy?” the French poilu is off at the front is his British ally back “behind the lines” “womanizing”?

this one aimed at the British soldier a dubious attempt to discredit British leadership and their motivation for the war

SEA WAR-- commerce raiding both surface and U- boat forces target Our Gains British commerce lanes and the Truth about our Losses the Graf Spee sunk 9 ships before the RN ended her career, Dec 1939 The Trip to England- A Trip to Death

Besetzung von Dänemark und Norwegen Invasion of Denmark and Norway (Weser Exercise) the night of 8/9 April 1940

The Gallivare pit mines (1) by rail Swedish iron to Narvik mines Ore ship 60% of route Germany’s (2) by ship iron ore to comes from Germany Sweden

Einmarsch in Dänemark Bergen, Norway

Gen Eduard Dietl Alpine Troops England’s Flight from Narvik End of the Norwegian Resistance/Complete Victory

occupation begins

British propaganda tries to put a good face on defeat in the style of a black bordered military obituary: You’re going against England… GERMAN LOSSES IN THE FIRST WEEK OF THE NORWEGIAN ADVENTURE 1 battlecruiser torpedoed, 1 pocket battleship severely damaged, 2 cruisers sunk, 8 destroyers sunk, 1 U-boat sunk (by mine), 19 troop transport ships sunk, 4 troop transport ships torpedoed, 1 cargo ship in the Great Belt bombed and blown sky high, 1 tanker scuttled, 1 cargo ship scuttled, 1 cargo ship capsized, 3 patrol craft capsized And how many will be coming back?

Fall Gelb, 10.v.40 Case Yellow, 10 May 1940 attack in the west

evolution of the battle plan October 1939-January 1940 von Brauchitsch Army Commander Halder Chief of Operations von Rundstedt Cdr Army Group A von Manstein Chief of Staff Army Group A commander xxxviii Army Corps

too conventional--Hitler OKH = Oberkommando des Heeres (Army High Command) “Now, in the preparation of the western offensive, he intervened directly for the ﬁrst time. It set the pattern for the future” Kershaw, ii, p. 290

“Even after modiﬁcations they remained less than satisfactory. They envisaged the decisive thrust coming from the north, either side of Liege. Hitler wanted something more daring something which would retain the crucial element of surprise.” Ibid.

Angriffsplan Sichelschnitt Attack Plan “Sickle Cut” Army Group A (center) “cuts” while B (north) and C (south) essentially ﬁx/hold

back to the more traditional plan Gedanken eines Kriegsschülers - Hitler (ideas of a military cadet)

Fortress Eben-Emael, Belgium the “strongest fortress in Europe” captured in 30 minutes on Day 1

airborne glider attack created a mystique for vertical envelopment which later losses never dispel

main entrance cgi & photograph Fallschirmjäger Major Koch Sturm Abteilung Koch

Hitler decorates the victors choosing this signature victory of the new blitzschnell way of war as a propaganda ‘photo

Der 10. Mai.1940 propaganda postcard printed by Heinrich Hoffman, Munich, 1942

Pioneer clears a mineﬁeld Ostend on the North Sea in Brussels, besieged by coast is taken 18 May, as was Antwerp Belgian tank destroyed in the Ardennes

Casualties German Approximately 27,074 Germans were killed and 111,034 were wounded, with a further 18,384 missing for total German casualties of 156,000 men. Allied In exchange, they had destroyed the French, Belgian, Dutch, Polish and British armies. Total Allied losses including the capture of the French army amounted to 2,292,000. Casualties, killed or wounded, were as follows: ▪ France - 90,000 killed, 200,000 wounded and approximately 1,800,000 imprisoned. In August, 1940 1,575,000 prisoners were taken into Germany where roughly 940,000 remained until 1945 when they were liberated by advancing Allied forces. 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, and several hundred thousand were paroled because of disability and/or sickness.Most prisoners spent their time in captivity as slave labourers. ▪ Britain - 68,111 killed, wounded or captured ▪ Belgium - 23,350 killed, wounded or captured ▪ The Netherlands - 9,779 killed, wounded or captured ▪ Poland - 6,092 killed, wounded or captured ▪ Czechoslovakia - 1,615 losses, including 400 killed.

the Ardennes offensive 10-13 May

forests and narrow roads create transportation nightmares

Panzerwagen (armored the baggy black hats of the early war years soon give way to helmets

the Netherlands offensive 10-14 May

Rotterdam city center after terror bombing Airborne drop 10 May

burning oil tanks in Amsterdam captured Dutch coastal artillery

Dunkirk 28 May-4/5 June

British retreat in Flanders

Dunkirk

British ﬁsherman helps Tommy aboard

Victory from the jaws of defeat in 9 days 338,226 men were evacuated including 120,000 French and Belgian troops 30,000 British died (KIA) 10,252 Germans KIA 1,212,000 POWs; Dutch, Belgian, French and British

Tommy POWs

Fall Rot 5.vi.-22.vi.40 Case Red 5-22 June

Paris has Fallen! Le Harve has been taken/the Saar front assault continues/Full breakthrough on

Stuka over Sedan the Luftwaffe gained air superiority early on and used it to drive the French retreat

the heavy lifting over, Italy joins the ﬁght here in a meeting with Hitler to celebrate Italian entry into the war

Compiegne- 22.vi.40 Waffenstillstand (armistice)

Hitler and his ofﬁcers stare at the statue of Foch on their way to the railway carriage the historic park at Compiegne where the armistice was signed ending World War I

reversal of fortune, 1940 vs 1918 just as France chose the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles to humiliate Germany in 1919, where they had been humiliated in 1871

Inside the historic railway carriage, where once sat Erzberger, chief of the “November criminals” of the WW I Armistice Journalists outside the museum at the park at Compiegne

Hitler views Napoleon’s tomb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enrh023ftfU

triumph for Germany a frame from the victory ﬁlm, Sieg im Westen

Operation Sealion

Hitler orders a plan, July Admiral Raeder emphasizes air superiority as a sine qua non

We sail against England popular song, slogan, even children’s board game

Coupon VALID FOR a one way Trip to England NOW Departing! No Return Trip! Good for next summer!

Battle of Britain July-September, 1940

Coventry Cathedral 15 November 1940

phases of the air war 10 July-11 August: Kanalkampf (the Channel battles) 12 August-23 August: Adlerangriff (Eagle Attack), the early assault against the coastal airﬁelds. 24 August-6 September: the Luftwaffe targets the airﬁelds. The critical phase of the battle. 7 September onwards: the day attacks switch to British towns and cities.

Junkers Ju 87 Stukas carried the initial load during the Channel Battle. Both sides tested their ﬁghters and pilots.

Göring giving a speech to his pilots near Calais explaining the decision to switch from RAF bases to the cities

What next?

Japanese expansion Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945 Japan and China had fought intermittently ever since Japan established the Manchurian puppet state in 1931 Japan was also at odds with the USSR over border disputes that led to military exchanges in 1938-39 Hitler’s Sieg in Westen arroused Japan’s appetite for the Dutch East Indies, French Indo-China, and British Singapore, Borneo, Burma, even India (the future Greater South Asia Co-prosperity Sphere) although the German-Soviet Non- aggression Pact had cooled Japanese- German relations, Japan began to reach out again in the summer of 1940

Tripartite Pact, 27 Sept 1940 a portent of things to come--Germany, Italy, and Japan

23 October 1940 at Hendaye on the border of France and Spain Mit diesem Kerle ist nichts zu machen

putting a good face on it each tries to use the other Franco’s wish list includes French North African colonies,military materiel, and foodstuffs Hitler offers Gibraltar Franco angers Hitler by doubting his assurances that Britain is close to defeat only an “empty agreement” results

g le tr ug S for the German Living space A Geopolitical Atlas with Explanations a fateful decision to turn east returning to his original “playbook” Hitler explores a strike against Judenbolschewismus

“A fatal alliance” warns this Soviet poster November, 1940 Romania joins the Tripartite Pact the Soviets had forced them to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina earlier that summer Hitler was especially eager to gain control of the Ploesti oilﬁelds, to keep them from Soviet hands his alarm grew as Stalin grabbed the Baltic states and defeated the Finns with difﬁculty in the Winter War this all fed his belief that Russia must be dealt with in the spring of 1941 fascist dictators Horthy of Hungary and Antonescu of Romania are depicted here as in his fatal grasp

Sieg im Westen, 1939-1940; part 3 of 12-Year Reich

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