Posted on 09/04/2009 5:14:01 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Good points. I don’t think that the Germans had a as superior air force as is often perceived though. This again was another case of better doctrine more so than numbers though I will concede that the Me-109 was a fantastic aircraft for the time.
There is some distortion in the strength of the German air force. Some of this comes from the allies them self. Commanding General of the French Air Force Joseph Vuillemin insisted that his air force had to face “an enemy five times superior in number”. This however if far from the truth.
There is some variance in numbers and I’m always cautious to use statistics since they are subject to the same sort of exaggeration as the good general above related but from what I have the total German air strength consisted of about 2,589 operational aircraft out of 3,578 in theater.
The French alone had 3,562 but to qualify that not all of them were at the front. In the end it would appear that the Allies had 1,453 operational aircraft at the front as of May 10th and if you add in the ones they had in theater but held in the rear (which I don’t know why they did) their number jumps to 4,469 total aircraft (assuming a 2/3 operational number like with the Germans that would be 2979 operational aircraft).
Again, I’m real cautious about statistics but just looking at it from a grand view I would say that in the worse case scenario the Germans outnumbered the allies at the front by less than 2 to 1 and realistically it was a wash (definitively not 5 to 1). But it did the allies no good since they, were still stuck in the mentality of the last war and like I said the 1500 some odd Me-109s did make it harder for the French in their older, less agile aircraft.
Like with the ground forces, it was superior tactics and doctrine that carried the day for the Luftwaffe. Can you imagine if the allies would have been more aggressive with their air assets and attacked that traffic jam in the Ardennes?
I have a picture of one the the partially burned documents from that incident that I’m saving for when it happens. When you really look at that incident it is almost comical but it did serve to get generals like Halder to sign onto the Sickle Cut Plan.
Which was precisely why many German generals were scared to death of pushing the bulk of their armor through there.
Oh absolutely. There is not doubt that it was a very risky plan. The armor divisions were only allotted 4 roads through there and had they lined up end to end in single file the line of tanks and vehicles would have reached East Prussia.
It was called at the time the largest traffic jam in history.
WINSTON IS BACK!
“And so he bloody well is!”
Polish pilots would get their licks in however during "The Battle of Britain".
Not to defend the French, but one of the main reasons for the Maginot Line [and of interest to today’s Europe] was demographics.
After WWI the French realized that war losses, etc. meant that their birthrate was not going to keep up with Germany’s, and that they would be unable to field the same number of troops in such future wars. The Maginot Line was an attempt to defend the common border of Germany with economy of ofrce, and free up more troops for service elsewhere.
What killed the French in the opening of the campaign in 1940 wasn’t the Maginot Line, but politics.
To show solidarity with the Dutch and Belgians, the French and British decided to move troops to cover portions of Belgium and Holland once the Germans attacked [the so-called Dyle Maneuver]. To do this they moved the 7th French Army from reserve to the Allied left flank. That Army had been located behind Corap’s Ninth. At Sedan.
Thanks. Very interesting. Something else I was unaware of.
That’s the doctrine part. That ties in with the anti-tank gun part. German infantry units didn’t always have to call on their armor for support against tanks because of their TO&E AT guns [in addition to the Stukas]. The French did.
Page 7 - The Herald story said the submarine fell in behind the liner and followed for four hours apparently communicating with her by radio. AND The Daily Express prints a report from the Panama Canal Zone that a Netherlands steamer has brought word there that four German submarines are refueling at Curacao
Looks like the fog of war sets in quickly. We are already chasing shadows in the press.
Page 7 - German bombers threw gas bombs on the unfortified village of Grudisk in the county of Ciechanow AND Page 10 The Polish Ambassador to London, Cound Edward Raczynski, tonight declared that new German air attacks in parts of Poland had disclosed that the civilian population is suffering with the Germans using gas in their raids
This is the second report of gas attack on Polish cities since the 1st. I wish I could remember where I read or heard this and maybe someone can help me out here, but I remember that some of the artillery at the beginning of action was older and tended to create a white cloud when hitting targets (which was really just unexploded ordinance which was pulverized). I wonder if that's where these reports are coming from because to my knowledge there were no gas attacks on Poland.
Page 10 - General Maxime Weyhand was named Commander in Chief of the French forces in the Eastern Mediterranean today.. and Page 14 The King approved the appointment of Major Gen. Sir Edmund Ironside as Chief of the Imperial Defense Staff..
Introducing two players we will be discussing in more detail down the road here.
Page 15 - An Exchange Telegraph dispatch from Warsaw reported early today that Polish troops had crossed the German frontier nor of Breslau and were fighting on German soil. and Page 16 (Polish Telegraphic Agency in Warsaw) Polish aviators smashed two large detachments of German tanks near Czestochowa.
More fog of war. And some wishful thinking too. By this time Warsaw for pretty isolated as far as communications goes and any information coming in would be sketchy at best. These Warsaw telegraphs are a very good example of how bad the information in the city really was.
Page 25 - Reich 'Bltizkrieg' is Now Ruled Out
This article is incredible. Not only does it give another example on how 'blitzkrieg' was a fascination of the western media. In the article the way they define 'Blitzkrieg' is very similar to the way it was first mentioned in the military periodical "Deutsche Wehr" in 1935 when it states that countries with weak food industry and not a lot of raw materials should move "to finish a war quickly and suddenly by trying to force a decision right at the very beginning through the ruthless employment of their total fighting strength." It also shows a certain niavity by the allies since they believe that it cannot be done because the condition of surprise has been lost. It also touts the protection afforded the French by the Maginot Line as well as their "mobile" forces behind that line. It may be worthwhile to revisit this article after May 20th when things have unraveled.
Page 26 - General Pershing Silent as he Studies War News
That's too bad. I'd like to know his opinion on these events since many of his underlings will be picking up the ball on this one.
And by the Germans at that. They knew full well that it was a vulnerable spot.
Very true. On top of that which also influenced the move of the 7th Army was the decision to extend the Dyle line to include Breda. The Dyle-Breda line extended their defense all the way to the Moas(sp?) river in Holland. In their defense though, this was the perfect line to set up if the Germans had implemented a 1940 version of the Schlieffen Plan.
The way blitzkrieg is commonly understood today is as a tactic. The definition you cite comes more under the heading of strategy. Do I have that right?
From 20,000,000 to 40,000,000 men, from youth to middle-age, may eventually fight the battles of the second World War.
Two things. First, there is a reference to "Second World War." The first on these threads?
Second, the casual reader might have thought Baldwin was crazy throwing around numbers like that. By 1945 wasn't he fairly close to the mark? Maybe even on the low side.
Didn’t they have Chamberlain to thank for that? :)
Blitzkrieg is the doctrinal theory adopted by the German Army for what they called the operational level, i.e between strategy and tactics.
I just wonder if anyone could have foreseen the number of non-combatants that would ultimately perish in the war.
“Page 10 - General Maxime Weyhand was named Commander in Chief of the French forces in the Eastern Mediterranean today.. and Page 14 The King approved the appointment of Major Gen. Sir Edmund Ironside as Chief of the Imperial Defense Staff..”
We are also introduced to John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, sixth Viscount Gort in the Irish Peerage, who will lead the BEF in France. Gort won out the assignment over Alan Brooke, later head of the Imperial General Staff, and John Dill, who was British representative on the Combined Chiefs of Staff. Dill died in the United States during his assignment and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, possibly the only foreign officer buried there. (If there are others I’d like to know). More on Lord Gort later in May.
Up to this point here were the documented murders by the Nazis against the Polish population:
# Starogard 2 September 150 Poles and 40 Jews
# Swiekatowo 3 September 26 Poles
# Wieruszów 3 September 20 Jews
# Widawa 3 September A Rabbi was burned to death
# Czestochowa September 4 180 Jews murdered
# Imielin 4-5 September 28 Poles
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