Posted on 09/25/2009 5:23:31 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
if every Pole and Frenchman would have had a gun...
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/sep39/f25sep39.htm
Monday, September 25, 1939
Luftwaffe bombing Warsaw
In Poland... The Germans issue a second ultimatum to the Polish Warsaw garrison. Meanwhile, German forces step up their bombardment of Warsaw and add heavy air attacks to it. Some 400 Luftwaffe bombers and Stuka dive bombers make repeated sorties, starting significant fires. Hitler wishes to complete the conquest as soon as possible and since the garrison is fairly strong, it is necessary to force them to submit by terrorizing the civilian population. The bombing continues until the surrender.
In Germany... Bread and flour rationing is introduced. The distribution of food ration cards is completed.
In Berlin... Hitler issues his fourth war directive, ordering increased attacks on Allied shipping a swift conclusion to the war in Poland.
In the North Atlantic... After a near miss in an air attack, German propaganda claims that the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal has been sunk. This is the first of several such false claims during the coming months. The attack also marks the debut of the German Ju88 bomber.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601390925,00.html
General von Brauchitsch
TIME Magazine - Sep. 25, 1939
Ju88: One of the most underappreciated aircraft of WWII. A German workhorse: Dive bomber, bomber, torpedo bomber, recon aircraft, night fighter.
Brauchitsch decided to divorce his wife, so he could marry another woman. But he couldn't afford the divorce and settlement. Enter Adolf. And since the soon to be second Mrs. Brauchitsch was a die hard Nazi, Hitler got a twofer.
That, plus the fact Brauchitisch had no ‘nads when it came to standing up to Hitler, would subsequently prove disastrous to the German Army.
By the end of the wat an air raid killing 1,000 would become “quaint” and probably not even worth a mention.
The 1,000 number is just for 24 hours. The cumulative total is not so quaint. According to the timeline on worldwar-2.net the number killed in Warsaw since the invasion is 40,000.
Wow. Poor Warsaw. Bound to be slaves and prisoners in their own country for another 50 years or so.
Very few German generals had the ‘nads to stand up to Hitler. Those that did before July 1944 got sacked, like von Manstein. After July 1944 opposition to Hitler was suicide (although Guderian did challenge Hitler from time to time).
The time article offered little depth or perspective on Brauchitsch. I thought his direction of operations in Poland and France was outstanding. He did less well in Russia, but no one could have accomplished what Hitler demanded because it was physically impossible to conquer the USSR in one campaign season.
The article does point out “The German Way of War” accurately. Germany goes to war staking everything on the one knock-out punch in round 1. She does less well in a long war, mostly due to an inferior resource position vis a vis her opponents. And that was exactly the type of war she had to fight to defeat the USSR. If the Germans had planned a two year campaign, they might have pulled it off. Trying too much in one year left them a burned-out army that never really recovered.
“After a near miss in an air attack, German propaganda claims that the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal has been sunk. This is the first of several such false claims during the coming months.”
And one true one in November 1941. For two years Ark Royal was the workhorse of the RN, participating in most major operations.
Rommel stood up to Hitler. So did Model. So did Raeder. Hausser got away with disobeying a Fuehrerbefehl. Steiner’s disobedience in ‘45 convinced Hitler that the war was lost. It could be done.
I’ve often wondered if Bruchitsch’s lack of spine might have had something to do with the lack of a unified front between Brauchitisch, and Halder and OKH.
By 1943, the British had lost four fleet carriers to the Germans: COURAGEOUS [1939], GLORIOUS [1940], ARK ROYAL [1941], ILLUSTRIOUS(?)[1941 or 1942].
Rommel says he stood up to Hitler but really didn’t. He did “circumvent” some of Hitler’s orders. Model was trusted; his defense of tough positions in the East (particularly the Rzhev salient) convinced Hitler that if Model said it was time to retreat, it must be so. Raeder didn’t really have anything to stand up about, and got sacked anyway.
Hitler never liked bad news; more often than not the bearer got a tirade of economic statistics, or was just sacked.
Sounds like it beat the heck of doing the same thing to Stalin though.
Raeder refused to cashier serving officers of Jewish descent from the Kriegsmarine, and protected them. He sent BISMARCK on the Rhine Exercise and deliberately withheld the information of her sailing to prevent Hitler's interference. He refused to scrap his capital ships [leading to his dismissal].
Forgot a couple more of Rommel’s. He ripped up the “Commando Order”, and refused to implement it. He treated memebrs oof the Jewish Brigade, and Austrian and German members of the French Foreign Legion captured at Bir Hacheim as British prisoners of war [when they didn’t ‘wander off’], despite orders from Hitler to the contrary.
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