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Invasion of France and the Low Countries

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseFrance, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg were invaded on same day by the following forces:

German Army Group A, with 38 infantry and 7 armored divisions, was the main column under the command of Gerd von Rundstedt. This group was to march through the Ardennes.

German Army Group B, with 26 infantry and 3 armored divisions, was to invade the Low Countries under the command of Fedor von Bock. Though strong, this force was considered diversionary.

German Army Group C, with 19 infantry divisions, attacked the Maginot Line under the direction of Wilhelm von Leeb to pin down the French forces there.

Italian Army Group West, with 32 infantry divisions, attacked southern France under the command of Umberto di Savoia.

ww2dbaseThe Low Countries

ww2dbaseOn 3 May, Abwehr Colonel Hans Oster, an ardent anti-Nazi, sent a word of warning to the Dutch government through Colonel G. J. Sas of the Dutch embassy. The message, with the exact date for the invasion, was sent to the Hague via a courier on the next day. The warning was received and shared with Belgium, but none of the two countries decided to share the intelligence with Britain and France. On 9 May, Oster once again met with Sas and confirmed that the invasion was to take place the following morning, and another message was sent to the Hague. For whatever reason, the Dutch and Belgian governments again failed to share the news with Britain and France. In the morning of 10 May, as Oster warned, the German Army Group B marched into the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and conquered all three nations quickly.

ww2dbaseThe Dutch, who should had been better prepared, nevertheless faced a surprise assault by paratroopers of the 7th and 22nd Airborne Divisions under the command of Kurt Student; the Netherlands fell after a Luftwaffe bombing of Rotterdam on 14 May with thousands of 2,200-pound delay-action bombs, killing 980 people, destroying over 20,000 buildings, and left 78,000 people homeless. The surrender was offered by the Dutch commander-in-chief; Queen Wilhelmina and the government fled to London.

ww2dbaseLuxembourg, with an army consisted of merely 400 infantrymen and twelve cavalrymen, was the least armed of the Low Countries. The government of Luxembourg withdrew quickly to London, though before it left a rough plan for a passive resistance campaign was set in motion.

ww2dbaseBelgium's defense centered around the mighty fortress of Eben Emael, manned by 1,200 men. However valiant, they were no match for the German invaders, and the fortress fell on 11 May, the second day of the offensive. The creative use of German airborne troops, delivered by parachutes and gliders, contributed both the fall of the fortress as well as other victories all around the country. The Belgian King Leopold III stayed in his country after surrendering to the Germans; although he refused to carry out German policy in Belgium, his decision created controversies which led to Britain's refusal to recognize his government and ultimately led to King Leopold III's abdication in 1951.

ww2dbaseThe fall of the Low Countries, particularly Belgium, provided the German army a northern entry into France, which the Allies had expected as a repeat of WW1 strategy. However, while the capture of the Low Countries were strategic in nature, the real intension of Army Group B was to pin the best of the French troops, along with the British Expeditionary Force, in and near Belgium while the main offensive made their thrust through the Ardennes into the heart of France. The role of Army Group B, once the Low Countries were conquered, became nothing but a diversion.

ww2dbaseThe Battle of France

ww2dbaseArmy Group A's tanks traveled in a long and vulnerable formation through the narrow roads of the Ardennes, protected from above by the Luftwaffe. The largely diversionary attack on the Low Countries drew the Allies' best troops, and thus what Philippe Pétain called "impenetrable" only a handful of years ago was penetrated by the German army with relative ease after wiping aside the weakly-numbered Belgian and French defenders. Elaborately rehearsed and trained in the Black Forest, the seven German armor divisions were at the River Meuse near Sedan by the evening of 12 May. The French rushed heavy artillery to the region and fired several rounds at the German invaders, but they were overwhelmed when Rundstedt called for air support in the form of Stuka dive bombers and low-level bombers to clear the French lines. By 1600 on 13 May, every piece of French artillery had been destroyed, and the German forces crossed the Meuse unmolested. The entire defense of the Meuse went according to the direction provided by commander of the French Army Maurice Gamelin, who expected the German forces to dig in on the east bank of the river and wait for their own artillery pieces to arrive before attempting to cross; the French infantry master of WW1 was completely unprepared for modern combat that involved aircraft and armor. German troops crossed the river at Dinant over a weir left intact by the retreating French, then took the city of Sedan from the French 55th Infantry Division. By this time, the German Luftwaffe had already achieved complete air superiority, and air raids on French columns, troop concentrations, and railroads as far as 50 miles behind the front were conducted. According to reports sent to the Intelligence Division of the Luftwaffe General Staff on 15 and 16 Mar, continuous attacks by day and harassing attacks at night by German aircraft sealed the battle areas and rendered French unable to deliver adequate quantities of men and supplies to the front lines.

ww2dbaseThe French Army at the time of invasion was not exactly in its top shape. During a pre-invasion visit by American Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles, French officers went out of their way to complain to Welles, a foreign diplomat outside of the French chain-of-command, that the French Army was undisciplined. Additionally, Gamelin failed to call for practices at the divisional level, meaning that French commanders were not as well-versed with maneuvering large armies as they should be. Worst of all, Gamelin's obsolete belief in the value of infantry led to his decision to sell off many artillery pieces and anti-tank guns that became desperately needed during the invasion. These weaknesses were completely revealed as the German invasion continued.

ww2dbaseOn 14 May, two French tank battalions and supporting infantry from the 71st North African Infantry Division counterattacked, initially slowing the German advance, but overall to little effect. With the counterattack beaten, German troops built bridges (that the French and British air forces failed to destroy) and brought their tanks to the west bank of the Meuse; by 16 May, 2,000 German tanks crossed and advanced so rapidly into French territory that momentarily they lost contact with their headquarters because they had gone beyond field radio range. The rapid advance, however, placed the German forces in a grave risk. Hans Guderian and Erwin Rommel, who led these spearheads, were so far in advance that their tanks were slowly running out of ammunition and fuel. Being so far ahead of the infantry also meant they had no infantry support. A well-timed French counterattack by tanks at this time could have wiped out German tanks completely (which was the reason why Guderian and Rommel almost had gotten themselves into trouble for advancing so rapidly against plans), but the French were so deeply immersed by defeatism and shock that they did nothing. On 15 May, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud telephoned British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and said "[w]e have been defeated. We are beaten. We have lost the battle." This telephone call exemplified the French defeatism at that time. On 16 May, Churchill visited Paris in attempt to rally morale, but he failed.

ww2dbaseWith nearly no reserves left, and the best troops already committed to fighting the diversion at Belgium, then topping it all off with French troops pinned at the Maginot Line, France could do little to stop the German Army Group A from moving into the open central plains. The Germans quickly crossed the plains in a northwesterly maneuver that trapped the Allied troops in and near the Low Countries. France was now essentially open for the taking. The French tried to muster together new units, including the 4th Armored Division under Colonel Charles de Gaulle that attempted to counterattack on 17 May, but none significantly posed any kind of threat to the German invasion plan.

ww2dbaseIn the south, Italian troops tested French defenders in the Alpine Mountains. While this was supposed to divide French Army's attention from the main German thrust, the actual effect impeded the German offensive. Because of the Italians' weak air force, the German Luftwaffe had to divide its strength to support the Italian troops. "Italy's entry into war was more of a burden to us in the OKW than a relief", wrote Wilhelm Keitel in his memoirs. The Alpine front of the campaign very quickly grounded to a halt, and the situation did not change much throughout the entire French campaign.

ww2dbaseOn 17 May, Rommel and Guderian held back most of their tanks for repairs and refueling. Although most of the armor were in an idle state, the French troops were so in fear of them that the troops at Cambrai simply surrendered on 18 May at the thought of having to face the tanks.

ww2dbaseThe Allied forces, contrary to popular belief, enjoyed a numerical advantage, and their equipment was not inferior to that of Germans'. Taking armor for instance, the French and the British had 3,383 tanks, while Germany's invasion force only had 2,445. The Allied tanks were not inferior, either; the French Char B1 tank was mobile and packed ample firepower, but inept tactics deployed them ineffectively, and fritted them away. Two major distinct advantages the Germans had were radio and field commanders' freedom to make decisions. All German tanks were equipped with radio to allow coordinated action on the battlefield, while only 20% of Allied tanks had them. Günther von Kluge, commander of the German 4th Army, commented on the freedom of the German field commanders:

"The most important facet of German tactics remained the mission directive, allowing subordinates the maximum freedom to accomplish their assigned task. That freedom of action provided tactical superiority over the more schematic and textbook approach employed by the French and English."

ww2dbaseOn 20 May, Gamelin was removed for his failure to stop the Germans, and Maxime Weygand replaced him. Weygand attempted to rally the combined forces of French, Belgian, and British troops for a concentrated counterattack that in theory could drive back the German invasion, but in reality he would have too little time to organize such a counter offensive, and the men had already lost heart. On 21 May, however, a small scale counterattack by 58 British tanks did take place, and actually overran two of Rommel's regiments at the Battle of Arras, but German reinforcements quickly pushed the British back. A few attacks in smaller scales in the next few days were mounted, but they were mostly uncoordinated and all failed to achieve significant results. Nevertheless, what these counterattacks did for the Allies was to buy time. In Berlin, Adolf Hitler feared that these counterattacks, though uncoordinated, could amount to a serious threat if planned better, therefore the German forces must take a brief pause to regroup and plan how to deal with this potential threat. On the front lines, the German field commanders were encountered with flood plains unsuitable for vehicles, therefore they welcomed the order to slow the advance from Berlin. As a result, the Allies were given an opportunity to organize for a retreat to Dunkirk, where they made a miraculous evacuation.

ww2dbaseEvacuation of Dunkirk

ww2dbaseWith the German forces moving northwesterly to the coast, British, French, and Belgian forces in the north were trapped near Calais and were badly in need to be evacuated from the region before facing total annihilation. On 22 May 1940 preparations for the evacuation began, and the mission was codenamed Operation Dynamo. Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay called for every ship he could get his hands on, including civilian vessels as shallow as 30 feet of draft. On 27 May, the first attempt only evacuated 8000 soldiers due to heavy German fire. On 28 May another attempt took place, but the ships were recalled after only evacuating several thousand men. Also on 28 May, the Germans resumed their offensive, but combined French and British forces held on to the perimeters of their mere 30 square kilometers of territory. On 29 May, another attempt evacuated 16,000 men before German air operations badly damaged Allied ships there, including nine destroyers. On 29 May, German tanks halted their advance once again, this time on the order of Rundstedt, who felt his infantry must catch up to the tanks. The window of opportunity allowed the Allies to evacuate 14,000 men that day. The next night, on 30 May, 30,000 men were evacuated by a vast fleet of small vessels. By 31 May the Allied forces were only able to hold an area 5 kilometers deep from the beaches near De Panne, through Bray-Dunes to Dunkirk. Through the German advances that day, 78,000 soldiers were evacuated throughout the day. On 1 June, another 65,000 were evacuated. The operation continued until 4 June, evacuating a total of 366,162 men (53,000 were French) using over 700 different vessels. The Royal Air Force lost 177 aircraft during the operation, and the Royal Navy lost 10 warships.

ww2dbaseWinston Churchill later described the successful evacuation of so many British and other Allied troops a "miracle", and described the determination as the "Dunkirk spirit".

ww2dbaseAfter this operation, Allied personnel still trapped in France slowly continued escape the continent to England, including by means of the Mediterranean coast. 191,870 were successfully retrieved between the end of Dunkirk operation and Aug 1940 when formal efforts to rescue personnel ceased.

ww2dbaseHad the German officers lost respect for the French military prowess by this point, many of them sure felt the French had earned it back through their fierce defense of the peninsula. In his memoirs, Keitel noted that it was the "gallant stand made by the French" that allowed the evacuation to become a success.

ww2dbaseThe Conclusion of the Campaign

ww2dbaseOn 5 Jun, after the Dunkirk actions, the German forces renewed their attacks. On 5 Jun a panzer attack on the Somme put them closer to Paris. On 10 Jun, the French government fled Paris for Bordeaux, declaring Paris an open city. Churchill visited France again the next day, attempting to rally morale but offering little material support. France was now lost; it would only be the matter of time when Germany would declare victory. On 14 Jun, German forces marched into Paris, dealing a critical blow to whatever French morale that remained.

ww2dbaseOn 22 Jun 1940, General Pretelat surrendered the French Second Army Group, marking the end of the battle. The government of France formally surrendered three days later in the same railroad car at Compiègne that Germany had surrendered in at the conclusion of WW1 in 1918. The French attempted to drag out the surrender negotiations by trying for more favorable terms, and they tried the patience of German leaders. Finally, at 1700 that day, Keitel communicated an ultimatum that the French must surrender by 1800, otherwise he would give the order to continue the attack on the rest of France. The French surrendered a few minutes after 1800. To many German military leaders, the victory spelled a satisfying revenge for the defeat in WW1 and the shame that resulted from the post-WW1 sanctions. "I had a feeling that this was our hour of revenge for Versailles, and I was conscious of my pride in the conclusion of a unique and victorious campaign, and of a resolve to respect the feelings of those who had been honorably vanquished in battle", said Keitel. "That day was the climax of my career as a soldier." French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, who refused to surrender, resigned and was replaced by collaborationist Philippe Pétain. France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north and the German-sponsored Vichy government in the south. In London, de Gaulle announced his refusal to recognize the Vichy government, and instead established a new French government dubbed the Free French in London. At the end of the campaign, the Germans suffered 156,000 casualties (27,074 killed) while the Allies lost 2,292,000 casualties or capture. The breakdowns were as follows:

France: 90,000 killed, 200,000 wounded, and 1,800,000 captured.

Britain: 68,111 casualties

Belgium: 23,350 casualties

The Netherlands: 9,779 casualties

Poland: 6,092 casualties

ww2dbaseThe campaign showed the world that warfare was no longer limited to fortresses and trenches. French troops stood guarding the Maginot Line achieved little while German troops bypassed them with speed. At the time of the surrender, some Maginot Line elements were still at decent strength, but surrendered all the same. In little over a month, the German troops had achieved what Germany could not in four years in WW1. Stunningly, while Germany lost 2 million men while unsuccessfully trying to take France in the previous war, this modern German army achieved it with a fraction of the lives lost.

ww2dbaseSources: the Fall of Berlin, In the Service of the Reich, the Last Lion, the Second World War, Spearhead for Blitzkrieg, Wikipedia.

Last Major Update: Mar 2007

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