[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Admiral Raeder came through with naval plans for Case White in a top-secret directive signed May 16. Since Poland had only a few miles of coast on the Baltic west of Danzig and possessed only a small navy, no difficulties were expected. France and Britain were the Admiral’s chief concern. The entrance to the Baltic was to be protected by submarines, and the two pocket battleships and the two battleships, with the “remaining” submarines, were to prepare for “war in the Atlantic.” According to the instructions of the Fuehrer, the Navy had to be prepared to carry out its part of “White” by September 1 but Raeder urges his commanders to hasten plans because “due to the latest political developments” action might come sooner.

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

[neb52]

The interesting thing about the West Wall, was it was started in the late 20s on preexisting WWI fortifications in direct reaction to the Maginot Line being built. Pre-WWII, frontier fortification building was a sign of pending invasion of those building the forts. The Germans were afraid that the French were planning on invading Germany. So the Germans built a mirror image of the Maginot Line. The French had also instructed the Belgians to build fortifications with the Dutch/German border, but by the 30s the French didn’t trust the Belgians to last long in a fight. So the French extended the Maginot Line along the Belgium border towards the coast line. That caused the German generals to request from Hitler to extend the West Wall along the Dutch and Belgium border.