Posted on 09/04/2008 5:47:56 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
From the Sunday magizine, "News of the Week in Review"
Hitler Fails to Crack Morale of Opponents
'Crust' of Gunpowder Guards France
Mussolini Uneasy over Czech Crisis
World Watches Nazis' Rally
Japanese Drive Bogs Down in China
From page 15 of the front section
More Immigration is Zionist Demand
4 short articles and a chart
Finally, cute puppies!
The Eighth Route Army was controlled by the Communist Party of China, headed by Mao Tse-tung.
How hideously ironic.... The triumph of wishes over reality. Mr. Obama should take note.
Good catch. That is interesting info of which I was not aware.
Little did anyone reading these articles realize but Hitler had already set October 1 as the deadline for the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and he was not going to change it. He was a dictator whose iron will, once bent on this particular course, could not be swayed by any change of circumstances.
At the same time, it was all a colossal military bluff. His army was not ready to fight. The Czechs were actually superior in some aspects, although they were numerically inferior. It’s worth noting that after the fall of Czechoslovakia, Hitler was able to outfit several panzer divisions with Czech T-38 tanks. Those tanks saw action all the way to Stalingrad (although by that time they were obsolete, and had been pawned off to the Romanian armored division, where they went to their “death ride” in Operation Uranus).
Contrast Hitler’s iron will with the vacillation of the western powers. “Peace missions” from the British abound. French troops watch movies in their air conditioned concrete wall wide open at one one end. Cartoons featuring dead ghosts of all parties from World War I. Nope, no conflict up there in heaven! How foolish; they assumed Hitler wanted peace too. To quote Sir John Fisher, all nations want peace. They merely want a peace that suits them.
Nothing changes with mankind. Today, we have Achmedinijad’s iron will to develop nuclear weapons. We have Vladimir Putin’s iron will to reforge the Russian Empire and dominate western Europe through control of their energy resources. We have a weak and vacillating Barack Obama all set to appease them at every turn.
The result of this brew in 1938 was the costliest and most destructive war in the history of mankind. It began with cavalry charges and ended with the use of atom bombs. What fate awaits us at the beginning of the new century?
The result of this brew in 1938 was the costliest and most destructive war in the history of mankind. It began with cavalry charges and ended with the use of atom bombs. What fate awaits us at the beginning of the new century?
Well said. I am more optimistic now than I have been since Fred Thompson faded during the primaries. I believe John McCain understand the down side to kissing your enemy's posterior instead of kicking it.
And congratulations to meandog, member since 9/4/98. Ten years of standing up for America on-line.
First, excellent post, well said.
Now, on your point above, I tried to suggest the same thing in a previous post, because I'm sure I've read it somewhere, some-when, can't find it now...
But I was disputed, and didn't have facts to support my suggestion. If you know where that claim comes from, I'd be interested.
The reason is, it suggests that Chamberlain's grovelling at Munich in 1938 may not have been strictly militarily necessary.
I’d have to do some research for a complete answer. My main sources are William Shirer, “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” and “Collapse of the Third Republic” and Ernest May “Strange Victory.”
Just off the top of my head:
1. The Czechs had built their mini-Maginot line in the mountains around Bohemia (the same areas the Germans were trying to take from them). The fortifications were considered formidable. When toured by German generals after the occupation, the Generals all breathed a sigh of relief they didn’t have to try to take them.
2. The Czech army was numerically inferior at only 40 divisions. However, they were well equipped and the Czechs had maintained a stable 40 division force (when mobilized) for several years. It was a well-trained cohesive army.
3. As stated before, the Czechs possessed first-rate armored fighting vehicles, equal in number and superior in quality to what the Germans had at the time.
4. The German Army was not that far removed from the 100,000 man limit of the treaty of Versailles. Although the army had expanded to about 120 divisions by late 1938, only about 40 divisions (same as the Czechs) were considered to be completely manned, equipped, trained and combat-ready. Most of the rest of the divisions were just “shells,” still receiving men, officers, and equipment. They were not trained for combat.
5. No construction on the “West Wall” had yet taken place; the Rhineland had only been re-militarized two years earlier, and there was nothing there to keep the French from walking into the Ruhr, Germany’s industrial heart.
So that’s pretty much it. Czechoslovakia alone could not have endured a protracted war with Germany, but they were certainly capable of holding off the Germans for several months, particularly through October. Once winter weather set in in November, campaigning would cease. However, the Germans would have had to concentrate their entire combat-ready army to attack the Czechs. It would have left them defenseless against the French. That assumes, however, that the French would not just sit in their air-conditioned forts and do nothing, which is what happened exactly one year later when Poland fell.
The results, however, have been quite contrary to any such expectations. Britain, instead of showing a spirit of avoidance, has shown firmness. She has not yet said she would fight for Czechoslovakia but her actions in the last week have carried very definite implications.
Every indicator is showing that the Germans are on the offensive and on a war footing but Britian's "firmness" only involves talks "without bluster or threats". Goering and Hitler knew full well that Chamberlain would fold and take no action. At the same time they stood by and watch Hitler fortify the Western fronteir. It's almost comical how the likes of Chamberlain and his ilk joyfully kept their head in the sand.
Somewhere in my basement I have copies of both Strategy and Tactics magazine and Command magazine with wargames that cover Case Green, the war plan for Czechoslovakia. With the 70th anniversary approaching, I’m going to have to dig those out.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/images/game/6049
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/11482
You have some old SPI games and Strategy & Tactics Mags? Mine are in a box up in the attic. I have a complete set of Eastern Front board games; Battle for Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk & Destruction of Army Group Center. Along with others.
Most of my S&T’s and Command magazines are from the 90’s. The only old SPI game I have is “The Next War” (WWIII in Germany). After the Berlin Wall fell I was scrounging up every Cold War game I could get my hands on.
I do have a lot of old Avalon Hill Games and some Victory Games games, plus a few GDW games.
I bought a lot of board wargames in the 90’s but most of the playing I did was historical miniatures (Napoleon’s Battles, Konig Kreig, Command Decision, Fire & Fury, & General Quarters). After my first son was born in 2001, my game playing has dropped dramatically.
The Maginot Line was actually a very well built defensive line.
It had two flaws.
1. The line ended at the border with Belgium which invited the Germans to go into Belgium.
2. The French, despite having a very good tank in the Char B, lacked the mobile doctrine to use them effectively.
The Germans on the other hand had mostly inferior tanks, but knew how to use them.
I have a cousin who had most of the Avalon Hill games. Being a short-atttention-span high schooler I never really got the concept of those games. He regularly trounced me at Midway, Guadalcanal and probably a couple others.
When I went to college in the 1970’s, my game playing dropped off. With the advent of personal computers, my game playing resumed. I really liked Panzer General II and now enjoy the Blitzkrieg series. I don’t like first person shooter games, I prefer the strategy games. Much more opportunity for destruction on a far greater scale.
On September 5, President Benes, realizing that a decisive step on his part was necessary to save the peace, convoked the Sudeten leaders Kundt and Sebekovsky to Hradschin Palace and told them to write out their full demands. Whatever they were he would accept them. "My God," exclaimed the deputy Sudeten leader, Karl Hermann Frank, the next day, "they have given us everything." But that was the last thing the Sudeten politicians and their bosses in Berlin wanted. On September 7 Henlein, on instructions from Germany, broke off all negotiations with the Czech government. A shabby excuse about alleged Czech police excesses at Moravska-Ostrava was given.
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Pg. 383
The “police excesses at Moravska-Ostrava” (alt spelling Maehrisch-Ostrau) are extensively covered in tomorrow’s post.
It had two flaws.
1. The line ended at the border with Belgium which invited the Germans to go into Belgium.
2. The French, despite having a very good tank in the Char B, lacked the mobile doctrine to use them effectively."
Imho, a very important point.
The problem was not so much the Maginot Line itself, as it was the "Maginot Mindset" of "let's just sit here behind our fortifications and wait for the enemy to figure out a way to defeat us."
Thank you for pinging me.
Excellent thread.
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