Political ''bully tactics were used boldly and in rapid succession against Germanys neighboring countries. Hitler would offer peace terms to the targeted country, then launch a lighting attack. This formula would give Germany victory in Austria, Czechloslovakia and Poland. The Warsaw pact, which was essentially a non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, was essential to Germanys quick defeat of the Poles. The Allies failure to react to Hitler''s "Anchuless" movements would play a major role in Germanys unopposed conquests.
If the allies had mobilized their forces earlier Hitler''s victories may have not been so swift. Even when the major fighting had begun, it was quite clear that the llies were soon to feel the full effect of the new Blitzkreig or lighting war. This new type of warfare was essentially the creation of mechanized units and panzer units (tank units), that could cover long distances and stay on the offensive longer than ever thought previously possible. "... A campaign that revealed the potential of Joint operations, and thus represented a paradigm shift in warmaking.
German skills interacted with Allied deficiencies in a manner that provided opportunities for bold command decisions: the Germans both took these and could give successful effect to them. "l Deutschuland Erwache! (Germany Awake)! By the time Hitler eventually assumed power of Germany the state of the German people was already doomed. 1930''s Germany was defined by a sense of hope amongst the people. That sense of hope came in the form of socialism, which was the Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler. Hitler used his charisma and propaganda machines of symbolism and slogans to sell the people on his ideals.
Creations of the SA, SS and the Hitler Youth were all built on military ideology. These ideals would soon become the ideals shared by all the people of Germany. "Hitler had managed to link the eroic appeal of self-sacrifice for the community with a system of elitism and privilege"2 Blitzkreig It is important to realize that the strength for most of the men who fought for the Third Reich were fanatical in their Nazi beleifs. This gave them a clear advantage in the first two years as they were a highly motivated force.
Hitler''s great seizure of power was so great he managed to captivate all of Germany and brought them out to vote in droves, he brought 95. 7% of eligible voters to the polls, but got 89. 3 % yesses. 3 Germany was finally united under one common goal, to return it back to being a great power on the world stage. Having united Germnay under the Nazi umbrella he used this propaganda engine to break the Treaty of Versailles and begin to create a highly motivated fghting force. Hitler began to build from 1935 to 1945.
It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navvy) the Luftwaffe (air-force) and the Schutzstaffel(protection squadron). The successful build- up of these forces enabled the early victories of the war to be accomplished. He began to increase the strength of the once dismal German army force which only totalled 100,000 men in 1934. In 1935 Hitler ordered conscription. This enabled the German Army to train 300,000 conscripts a year. By 1938 it had 36 infantry divisions of 600,000 men (3) Stephen Roberts, The House that Hitler Built (1938) The inter-war build up of the Navvy was not as productive. The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 18 June 1935 allowed Germany to build a naw equivalent to 35% of the British surface ship tonnage and 45% of British submarine tonnage; battleships were to be limited to no more than 35,000 tons. That same year the Reichsmarine was renamed as the Kriegsmarine. " Pipes, Jason (1996-2006). "Organization of the Kriegsmarine". Feldgrau. com. Retrieved 2007-08-31. It was not until the scraping of Plan Z 1939 and he realization that all resources should be put into the construction of U-boats, di the Navvy start grow in strength.
The air forces groth during the 1030''s is particularly interesting for two reasons: the first was the large number of planes produced. In 1933 The German aircraft in Herman Goreings possession totalled 290 planes (technically they still didn''t have an airforce). By 1939 he had 4,500 untramodern planes at his disposal. The second interesting side to this is the fact that this massive military production was aloud to happen under the noses of the Allies. Through shrewd foreign policy and initial secrecy this was achieved.
In particular, Herman Goering was initially given the title "Reich Commissar of Air Traffic, allegedly to supervise commercial aviation. " This was Just another example of the Nazi''s ability to account for their militaristic intentions that were so poorly interpreted by its foes. The same was done with Hitler''s Schutzstaffel or S. S. For years Hitler passed off the SS as being nothing but a peaceful organization and symbol of whole-hearted Nazism. In a meeting with Sir Eric Phipps (ambassador to Germany), Hitler even went as far as saying the "S. A. and S.
S are combarable to the Salvation Army. " This was in fact not the case at all. The true purpose of the S. S. read something more like this "Creating elite police and military units such as the Waffen-SS, Adolf Hitler used the SS to form an order of men claimed to be superior in racial purity and ability to other Germans and national groups, a model for the Nazi vision of a master race. " These Waffen SS units would show fierce loyality to Hitler throughout the first two years of the war and prove invaluable in each campaign. Cook, Stan & Bender, Roger James.
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler: Uniforms, Organization, & History, San Jose, CA: R. James Bender Publishing (1994) oldmagazinearticles. om/1930s_growth_of_the_Nazi-German_Air-Force_Luftwaffe_pdf The Foreign policy of the Nazi regigeme in the 1930''s would be critical to their military success when they began their quest to take over Europe. Anchuliss There is great debate on the exact meaning of Anchules. In German it translates to union or connection. Anschluss is described as an "annexation" in the Encyclopædia Britannica. "Anschluss". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
Hitler''s true intentions as Fuhrer of Germany would come to bear the definition of annexation of War and commander-in-chief of all Germanys armed forces; General Werner von Fritsch, Chief Admiral Erich Raeder and General Herman Goring, respectively commanders-in-chief of the army, naw and air force; Baron Konstantin von Neurath, the Foreign Minister; and Colonel Friedrich Hossbaugh, Hitler''s military adJucant. ''Lebensraum'' (living space), was the main topic of discussion. In this four hour meeting he would first disclose that he would invade Austria and Czechloslovakia.
He did not hold back much, even alluding to these countries being "launching pads" for Germanys future conquests. His quests into these countries would become of great military importence during the Polish campaign. He also stressed the important of supplies and food that these countries would provide the Fatherland once racially inferior were cast out. His generals were stunned with Hitler''s proclamations. As any military planner would be, he was in effect prepared to wage war simultaneously on two fronts. His ability to eventually convince his Generals that victory could be achieved was a big reason they were militarily successful.
ALL form p. 48 Time Life Austria was annexed into the German Third Reich on 12 March 1938. This required only a show of force by the Wermcht. The annexation was accomplished mostly through political maneuvering. With a Austrian-Nazi party infiltrating the government and staging a successful coupd''etat. Austria''s Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg signed over Austria to Germany with minimal actual violence, only the threat of it. Austria was no still no match for the then, still growing German army. Hitler''s next objective in his quest for Anshules. Demands by Germany were too steep to ever be accepted.
Some of these demands were eventually accepted but Hitler had already decided the fate of Czechloslovakia and commenced. Hitler had made it seem like he was liberating the oppressed Germans living in the Sudentland. The failure of Allies to intervene at this point would prove to be the most vital mistake of all in the early war yearsln September of 1938 the Czechs would be swept aside by the Allies open for German invasion. "Hitler''s belligerence and bluff that gave Germany a bloodless victory'' p. 77 Blitzkreig. Hitler left his flank to France wide open during his campaign into Czechloslovakia.
It was again political posturing that kept the French and British from attacking. Germany effectily achieved political and military victories in Austria and Czechloslovakia through isolating the countries and using a show of force and political tampering. Blitzkreig-poland The next step in the Hitler''s quest for Lebensraum was the invasion of Poland. Ititaiall Hitler. Intial tension between Poland and Germany lied in the "free city of Danzig. Hitler wanted it to come under Nazi power mostly for its accessabilty to the Baltic sea. In 1937 "Nazification of Danzig proceeded relentlessly"[62].
Hitler invaded Poland on Spetember 1, 1939. Germanys first military success was the Welle Plan (wave system), which enabled the army to mobilize in secrecy. If the Polish or even French were aware of the activation of reserve units they would hav had more time to prepare better defense plans. There were several key components that allowed to Hitler achieving a swift victory in Poland. Firstly, Germanys army had advantages in every every military sense. They were better prepared, trained, equipped and stretched out Poland''s defences and forcing them to fght on multiple fronts.
Lastly, the overwhelming success of the Blitz would above everything else be attributed to the speed and mobility of the German Army. When comparing the German and Polish Army in September 1939 the Germans had a clear advantage. The Germans'' had 60 divisons and 2,750 tanks; to the Poles'' 39 and 880, respectively . BAUER It is important to remember that a lot of these Polish divisons were never fully mobilized. Also, the Poles were completely unprepared for the use of the Panzer divisons as concentrated groups of tanks smashed through there infantry.
Tanks were distributed as piece mail amongst Polish units and were easily handled. The Luftwaffe was probably most essential to quick defeat of Poland. "Everyuhere the Luftwaffe subjected the Poles to machine gun fire and bombs. Every account of the Polish fghting has to be read bearing in mind this German command of the air. "Blitzkreig p. 90 Herman Gorings'' air force was able to destroy a lot of Polish ircraft while it was still on the ground. The Luftwafe was also much more superior in numbers and more technologically advanced than their Polish enemies''. On the first day of war, its order of battle totalled some 4,700 aircraft including 1,180 fighters, 290 Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers, 1,100 conventional bombers (mainly Heinkel He 1 1 Is and Dornier Do 1 7s), and an assortment of 550 transport and 350 reconnaissance aircraft" Bauer WWII The creation of multiple fronts would spell disaster for the Polish defence plans. They could not concentrate their already immobile forces in one area. The first front would be launched from the south and would consist of General Gerd von Rundstedt, attacking from German Silesia and from the Moravian and Slovak border; cite Blitzkreig p. 2-95. The second front would be launched from the north and would be launched by General Fedor von Bock from Prussia. The third front would front would be launched on September 17, 1939 by Russia. "The Soviet invasion removed strategic depth from the Polish defence and, in particular, the opportunity of weakening German pressure by dispersing their troops. " FALI poland The prior annexation of the Czech Republic and insertion into the Danzig/Prussia rea; allowed Hitler to launch this multi-front attack.
Germanys attack would require a constant steady stream of transportation of troops and supplies. Therefore Germany would have to overrun Polish railheads in the first few days to open this chain up. This was completed and supplies and troops were always readily available as Germany advanced further into Poland. "No front formed for more than a few hours. " Blitzkrieg The constant spears of blitzing German units did not allow Poland to muster any effective counter attacks. So needless to say, speed was of the utmost importance to the eventual defeat of Poland.
Their inability to disiphere where the next major attack would be launched (almost from all sides after Russias'' invansion), would render there somewhat large milarty useless in some cases. "The last Polish troops stopped fghting on 6 October. In their campaign, the Germans killed 70,000 Polish troops and took 694,000 prisoners. Another 100,000 escaped into Romania. " 6 F. N. Bethell, The War That Hitler Won: The Fall of Poland, September 1939 (New York, 1972); S. J. Zaloga and V. Made], The Polish Campaign, 1939 (New York, 1985). Loew, Peter Oliver (2011-02). Danzig - Biographie einer Stadt (in German). C. H.
Beck. p. 206. ISBN 978-3-406-60587-1. Bombers of the Luftwaffe, Joachim Dressel and Manfred Hitler Turns West On May 10, 1940 Hitler invaded the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium. Thus forcing the hand of the British and French to engage the Germans for the first time in the war. German keys to victory in the West were again the utilization of superior military strength and tactics. Speed was also an essential role in thrusting deep into Belgium and limiting the time that France and Britain had to come to the aid of their Belgan allies. The success of Generalleautnant Erich von Mansteins'' plan to slice into
France through the Ardennes forest, thus avoiding the ''indestructable'' Magiot Line was extremely successful. The Allies in the west were to be plagued with a similar dilemma that they faced to in the Frist World War. They would have to co-operate militarily with one another. The Germans again utilized there speed and now tried and tested Panzer manuovers to basically run over any defences mounted in the first 18 days of there western push. On May 28th the Belgans CONCLUSION QUOTEThe most popular ruler ruler Germany had ever known- * According to the historian A. J. P. Taylor, writing in the observer newspaper in October 1978.
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