Posted on 05/24/2010 4:54:46 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
* The little glitch at the bottom of both columns is an example of what happens when Homer resumes scrolling before the printing has completed.
before I get to the rest, I can’t imagine anyone describing war as “violent”.
lol.
Interesting reports about “spies” from Atlanta and Texas.
Bertrand Russell was a pacifist and a socialist so no wonder he was a defeatist; although to his credit he had some revaluation of his beliefs later. Funny the Soviet propoganda accusing the US of being war profiteers when Stalin sucked all the gold out of Spain during the Civil War there.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/may40/f24may40.htm
Hitler orders panzers to halt
Friday, May 24, 1940 www.onwar.com
On the Western Front... The German attacks on Boulogne continue. Farther along the coast they are also attacking Calais. The Royal Navy is active in support of the British forces in both towns. During the day and later in the night destroyers are used to evacuate 5000 men from Boulogne and over the next three days two light cruisers and seven destroyers are in support near Calais. There are also German attacks on the line of the Lys and around Tournai. The plans for the Allied counteroffensive depend on the Belgians being able to take over a longer section of the front but with this pressure they will not be able to do so. Meanwhile, the partial halt of the main German armored forces already made by Rundstedt is confirmed by Hitler. They have reached the line Gravelines - Omer - Bethune. Although the ground north of here is not well suited to armed action the Allied defenses are weak. The pause, which lasts until the morning of May 27th, gives the French and British time to strengthen this position and is generally seen as being the move which makes the evacuation of the BEF possible.
In Paris... The Supreme War Council decides to end its involvement in Norway. They agree to capture Narvik and destroy the port facilities before they will evacuate. Ironically the airfield at Bardufoss has only just received its first complement of British aircraft and already the campaign is seeming less one-sided, showing what might be done. The Norwegians are not yet told of the decision to leave.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/24.htm
May 24th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - road/rail communications at Avesnes, La Capelle, Mons, Binche and the Ruhr. 10 Sqn. 12 aircraft. 11 bombed, one damaged by Flak and returned with hung-up bomb. 51 Sqn. 11 aircraft. Two aborted, eight bombed. 58 Sqn. Seven aircraft. All bombed, one damaged by Flak.
AA cruiser HMS Bonaventure commissioned.
Corvette HMS Gardenia commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
WESTERN FRONT: RN: During operations to support the BEF and French falling back on Dunkirk, French destroyers L’Adroit, Orage, Jaguar and Chacal are lost off the channel ports. W class destroyer HMS Wessex is bombed repeatedly and sunk off Calais at 51 00N, 16 37E, as she supports the defenders. (Alex Gordon)(108)
The Royal Navy begins small evacuations today and will continue for two more days from Boulogne, France. This evacuation will lift 5,000 men to Britain.
FRANCE: Arras: Lt. the Honourable Christopher Furness (b.1912), Welsh Guards, died when, against hopeless odds, he led a successful delaying attack on the advancing Germans.
This morning 1 Panzer Div., establishes four bridgeheads on the east bank of Aa canal, at Holque, Saint-Pierre-Brouck, Saint-Nicolas, and Bourbourgville, south of Gravelines, which it could not capture. It is in a position to thrust towards Dunkirk, supported on the right by SS Regiment ‘Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’, which Guderian had placed at Watten on the Aa, “to lend weight to the 1 Panzer attack on Dunkirk.” For the same reason he orders 2 Panzer to send to Watten, all the units which can be spared from the investment of Boulogne.
GERMANY: Hitler issues his war directive number 13, ordering the annihilation of the Allies in Artois and Flanders and an aerial attack on Britain.
The OKW issues Führer Directive #13.
(i) The next object of our operations is to annihilate enemy forces in Artois and Flanders by concentric attack and the rapid seizure of the Channel coast. The task of the Luftwaffe is to break resistance of surrounded forces, to prevent the escape of English forces across the Channel, and to protect the southern flank of Army Group A. The enemy air forces will be engaged at every opportunity.
(ii) The remaining enemy forces in France will then be destroyed in the shortest possible time. Phase I will entail a thrust between the sea and the Oise towards the lower Seine. Phase II will be the main attack including strong armoured forces directed south-eastwards either side of Rheims, with the intention of defeating the main body of the French Army and bringing about the collapse of the Maginot Line. Phase III includes subsidiary attacks on the Maginot Line with the aim of breaking through the most vulnerable points.
(iii) The Luftwaffe is now authorized to attack the English homeland. When sufficient forces are available the attack will open with an annihilating reprisal for the English attacks on the Ruhr. Air operations will continue in support of our forces in France, with the added aims of breaking up enemy reinforcements and hampering the re-grouping of enemy forces. Consideration should be given to strengthening air defenses in those areas where the enemy is concentrating his attacks.
(iv) All restrictions on naval operations in French and English waters are now lifted. Kriegsmarine plans for the siege of England should be submitted to OKW. The Führer reserves the decision of announcing the form of the blockade. (Marc Roberts)
11.30 am - Hitler arrives at Rundstedt’s CP. According to the army group’s war diary: “he had the situation explained to him, and fully approved of the idea of keeping the Panzers on the line of the canals, in order to block the enemy and beat him once he has been defeated on the east by Group B. He insisted on the absolute necessity of saving the Panzers for ensuing operations, and of not pressing too hard on the surrounded Allies, which would have the undesirable effect of restricting the Luftwaffe’s field of action.” Hence Hitler stops the Panzers at the gates of Dunkirk.
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: The Allies decide to pull out of Norway, but not before the port installations of Narvik have been destroyed.
The Norwegians are not informed.
The newly completed HMS Illustrious, escorted by destroyers HMS Escort, HMS Vanoc, and HMS Witherington departs the Clyde at 0300 for acceptance trials. She returns that afternoon. HMS Ark Royal is off Scapa, but fog delays her entry into harbour until 1940.
Meanwhile, at 1315 HMS Glorious departs Scapa escorted by destroyers HMS Wren, HMS Arrow, and HMS Highlander. Her mission is to finally get the Hurricanes of 46 Squadron to Norway. On this trip. she has embarked only six Sea Gladiators of 802 squadron for aerial defence and six Swordfish of 823 Squadron for A/S duty. (Mark Horan)
CANADA: Destroyers HMCS Restigouche and St Laurent departed Halifax for Devonport. (Dave Shirlaw)
MEXICO: Mexico City: The exiled former Russian leader Leon Trotsky is injured when gunmen attack his home.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Kyma sunk by U-37 at 48.30N, 09.30W. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 267 May 24, 1940
10th Panzer Division attacks Calais but British and French defenders hold them off.
Further North, 1st Panzer reaches the Aa Canal 10 miles from Dunkirk, threatening encirclement of French and British armies in Belgium. Only 1 BEF battalion defends Dunkirk. However, Hitler halts the Panzers, not risking his precious armour against Allied armies in the coastal wetlands of Belgium. He is assured by Göring that the Luftwaffe can prevent any evacuation. Generals Brauchitsch and Halder rail against the order but are told it comes from the very top. Even Guderian, who has bent and ignored orders to get to the coast, had no choice but to comply.
With BEF trapped in Belgium and British Isles potentially under threat of invasion, British War Cabinet decides to bring home their remaining troops in Norway. They inform French General Béthouart, in command of the attack, who decides to continue with the capture of Narvik anyway before evacuation. Revenge anyone?
At 2.48 AM, 200 miles West of Brest, France, U-37 sinks Greek SS Kyma carrying 6000 tons of maize and 90 tons of trucks from Argentina to England (7 lives lost). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/323.html
Dietrich disobeyed the order and attacked across the canal, since the Allies had higher ground and were looking down on his positions.
Interesting move on “fifth column” elements in Ireland. As of right now, the Abwehr is not in contact with the IRA though they want to be. The radio they had provided them last year was confinscated since the IRA was using it for general commands and the Irish Police were able to home in on it. After one failed attempt of getting them a replacement another was made when on May 5th Dr. Hermann Görtz jumped from a He-111 nearl Ballivor, County Meath.
Along with him, a radio was dropped as well on a seperate parachute. A chute that Görtz was never able to find. So once again, a radio (also Görtz’s food and a shovel to bury his chutes) was lost and contact still was not established between the Abwehr and the IRA.
A couple of strange things about Görtz. First he dropped wearing a Luftwaffe dress uniform complete with WWI decorations. Second, he carried with him a Luftwaffe paybook with the false name Heinz Kruze which he had signed Hermann Kruze.
Görtz found his way to an IRA safehouse in Dublin, which was raided shortly after his arrival (perhaps as part of or causing the reaction we see in this news article). In the raid the police found twenty thousand dollars in cash, Görtz’s Luftwaffe hat and medals, and details of a projected invasion of Northern Ireland by Germany. This of course alerted the Irish authorities of the presence of a German agent in the country.
Görtz for now has escaped and is being pursued by Irish police.
If you want to read more of this account as well as others in Ireland I recommend reading “The Irish Interlude: German Intelligence in Ireland, 1939-1943” by Mark M. Hull, in The Journal of Military History; July 2002.
From Karl-Heinz Frieser, The Blitzkrieg Legend
A bad order disobeyed by a commander in the field. Happening this early in the campaign, not a good sign for future operations.
If a situation is one of victory but the sovereign has issued orders not to engage, the general may decide to fight. If the situation is such that he cannot win, but the sovereign has issued orders to engage, he need not do so.And therefore the general who in advancing does not seek personal fame, and in withdrawing is not concerned with avoiding punishment, but whose only purpose is to protect the people and promote the best interests of his sovereign, is the precious jewel of the state - Sun Tzu.
Looks like the ancients are on Dietrich's side.
What makes it interesting to me are two things: Dietrich was routinely condescended to by many of the professionals in their post-war memoirs, yet he made the right call here. And he was the only German officer I can think of who actually served with German armor in WW I.
Second, this was a Hitler order being disobeyed BY AN SS GENERAL, for the good of his troops, while the Army fell in line. Dietrich would do this again on July 17th, 1944, when he told Rommel that if Rommel ordered him one way [to surrender to the Allies and open the Western Front], and Hitler another [fight on to the death, etc.], he [Ditrich], and all his subordinate commanders [Bittrich, Monhke, Meyer,etc], would obey Rommel.
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