The Invasion of Poland
Two separate army groups led the German attack on Poland from the north and the south on September 1, 1939. In people’s mind, the campaign against Poland became the first example of Blitzkrieg or “lightning war.” This military strategy included use of massive number of tanks, supported by close air support and constant attempt to punch holes in enemy lines and then move quickly onto the next target, while the infantry took care of mopping up the remaining enemy forces. Elements of surprise and speed were the two crucial components of German offensive that helped them to inflict a crushing blow before the enemy could put up a strong defense.
Two separate army groups led the German attack on Poland from the north and the south on September 1, 1939. In people’s mind, the campaign against Poland became the first example of Blitzkrieg or “lightning war.” This military strategy included use of massive number of tanks, supported by close air support and constant attempt to punch holes in enemy lines and then move quickly onto the next target, while the infantry took care of mopping up the remaining enemy forces. Elements of surprise and speed were the two crucial components of German offensive that helped them to inflict a crushing blow before the enemy could put up a strong defense.
The Polish army was far inferior to the German military machine in terms of both quantity and quality of equipments at their disposal. Though the Poles had put up a fierce resistance, their forces were completely overwhelmed in the first few days of the invasion. To make matters worse, on September 17, Soviet military forces, in the excuse of protecting Russians living on eastern Poland, invaded the eastern part of the country, fulfilling the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The month of fighting had left 70,000 Poles dead in the military fighting, 30,000 wounded, and 700,000 prisoners. German losses, not surprisingly, were significantly lower. Germany suffered 11,000 killed, 30,000 wounded, and 3,400 missing in action.
More important during this period were the inroads being made by British intelligence, using the information supplied by Polish sources, to crack the German Enigma codes used for naval radio traffic.
By 1939, Polish intelligence had begun to crack German military codes, particularly codes created by the Enigma ciphering machine. This effort by the Polish, who shared their insights with the French and British, would become a vital element in helping the Allies to eventually defeat Nazi forces in Europe. This information would be indispensable in the Ultra program, the codename given to the process by which British intelligence was able to decode German radio traffic during the war. This intelligence would prove to be crucial in allowing the Allied forces to survive the threat of German submarines.
American Neutrality in 1939
During the 1920s a growing isolationist movement gained strength in the U.S., which argued that American interests would be best served by focusing the country’s attention only on the Western Hemisphere and leaving Europe to sort out its own problems. The origin of the movement can be traced back to the debate over the worth of American involvement in World War I. The isolationists emphasised on the failure of the First World War to make the world safe for democracy, as Woodrow Wilson had argued in 1917. The isolationists came very diverse background and their objections to U.S. participation in any future war ranged from a range of causes, including pacifism, opposition to corporate profiteering during wars, and distrust of European powers.
During the 1920s a growing isolationist movement gained strength in the U.S., which argued that American interests would be best served by focusing the country’s attention only on the Western Hemisphere and leaving Europe to sort out its own problems. The origin of the movement can be traced back to the debate over the worth of American involvement in World War I. The isolationists emphasised on the failure of the First World War to make the world safe for democracy, as Woodrow Wilson had argued in 1917. The isolationists came very diverse background and their objections to U.S. participation in any future war ranged from a range of causes, including pacifism, opposition to corporate profiteering during wars, and distrust of European powers.
During the 1930s a series of laws, known as Neutrality Acts, were passed to prevent America from getting involved in future wars. Among other things, the Neutrality Act of 1935 forbade the export of munitions to belligerent nations once the president declared a state of war existed; restricted the use of American ports by belligerent submarines; and allowed the president to declare that Americans traveling on ships of belligerent nations did so at their own risk. The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, however, forced an important change in American neutrality. The popular mood in the United States had moved away from total isolation to a place where many Americans favored supporting the Allied powers against Germany but stopped short of direct military involvement. The 1939 Neutrality Act, therefore, was clearly a victory for those in American government, like President Roosevelt, who increasingly believed that the United States would once again have to play a role in settling a war in Europe.
The Attack on France
The assault on France began on May 10, 1940, along with German forays against Belgium and the Netherlands in order to secure the flanks of the main German assault. Dutch resistance, which never had a chance of slowing the progress of the Germans, lasted only until May 13, when the Dutch government fled to Great Britain. Belgian forces suffered a similar fate. Both the French and the British military believed that the main German assault against France would come through Belgium, just as it had at the beginning of World War I.
The assault on France began on May 10, 1940, along with German forays against Belgium and the Netherlands in order to secure the flanks of the main German assault. Dutch resistance, which never had a chance of slowing the progress of the Germans, lasted only until May 13, when the Dutch government fled to Great Britain. Belgian forces suffered a similar fate. Both the French and the British military believed that the main German assault against France would come through Belgium, just as it had at the beginning of World War I.
German military leaders, however, decided that the attack on France would consist of a deceptive thrust into Belgium in order to lure the French and British forces further north while the main attack would come through the Ardennes Forest. The idea was to allow German armor units to move quickly behind the main bodies of the Allied forces and cut them off. By May 15, German forces under the command of Erwin Rommel—who would become one of the most feared and respected of the German commanders in World War II—had splintered the French defenses and began a rapid advance through the French countryside. The success of the Germans in the Ardennes caused the entire Allied defensive line to begin to falter, and German troops advancing through Belgium in the north began to make greater gains. Much of the success of the German advance owed more to panic among the French troops and their commanders than to any specific actions taken by the Germans.
The situation worsened when on June 10, 1940, Italy declared war on France and embarked on an offensive along its shared border in the south of France. As German forces advanced, the French government began to fall apart. On June 16, Henri Phillipe Petain, a hero of World War I, assumed power over the French government and six days later arranged an end to hostilities with Germany. The peace terms imposed by Hitler were harsh. Under the terms, Germany would occupy the northern part of France, including the whole of its Atlantic coastline as well as demand enormous reparations payments from the French. In return, the southern part of France would continue as a nominally independent country, and importantly the Germans made no demands about French overseas colonies or that the French Navy be turned over to them. Hitler understood that Germany could do little about seizing the French colonies, and he was worried that any demands on the French Navy would lead to their fleeing to Britain from where they could continue to work against German interests.
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The new French state, known as Vichy France after the new capital city, would become one of the most contested symbols of World War II. Many within the French military, most notably Charles de Gaulle, urged their leaders to continue fighting the war from France’s colonies in Africa. When the Vichy government chose to accept the German terms, de Gaulle and others claimed that they—not the Vichy government—represented the true government of Free France and would continue to fight the war.