The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [181]
Hitler possessed largely mechanized armies and modern air forces, and Poland did not. In the first hours of combat the Polish air force succumbed to heavy damage, and its poorly placed troops quickly found themselves surrounded and crushed by armored double envelopments. The remaining Polish troops fell back toward their capital of Warsaw, all the while radioing France and England to help. The Allies could do little to assist the Poles. One possible move involved launching a significant offensive in the west, forcing the Germans to pull troops away from Poland to protect their western frontier. The French and English failed to launch any major offensives in the West. According to Winston Churchill in his book The Gathering Storm, France lacked the ability to launch an offensive so soon after the war began. This lack of boldness doomed Poland, but the Poles bravely fought on. Then an unexpected blow fell from the East. The USSR had made a secret deal with Hitler to split Poland, and after the German attack was underway the USSR invaded, overwhelming the scant Polish resistance. England and France did nothing. (No declaration of war against the Soviets.) Stalin engaged in the same actions as Hitler, but England and France feared expanding the war, and as a result Stalin got away with assassinating Poland. After Poland fell the Russians and Germans exterminated millions of Poles, subjecting them to shocking atrocities that were discovered long after WWII.[219]
After Poland fell a period of non-action ensued (the “phony war.”) During this time the Germans adjusted their Blitzkrieg tactics by adopting the lessons learned in Poland. During the lull, the German general staff approached Hitler with a bold plan to capture Norway. In April 1940 Hitler launched the plan, and using a combined naval and air assault overran the nation. Hitler approved the plan because he needed the raw materials Norway could supply, and it would protect his vital steel ore supply from Sweden. The invasion’s success thwarted an English plan to violate Norway’s neutrality by mining their coastal waters[220] to stop the flow of raw materials to Germany. The German U-boats discovered, to their dismay, that their torpedoes were defective. Germany returned to WWI torpedoes, but at least they discovered the problem. Norway remained in Nazi hands for the remainder of the war.
The Battle of France
May and June 1940
France and England now stood against Germany in the West. The capture of Norway, the quick defeat of Poland and the assistance of the USSR in its slaughter, traumatized the Allies. The Germans had unleashed a new kind of warfare. Their mechanized units sped across Poland disrupting the Poles’ attempts to form defensive lines. Their use of aircraft to bomb ahead of advancing German tanks disheartened the Polish troops at the key points of attack, and allowed German breakouts when and where desired. The French and English realized this, but they neglected altering anything at this stage because extensive retraining and reorganization of their armies was required, and they thought they knew where the Germans would strike; thus, negating the German mobility advantage. While it is not wise for comprehensively trained modern armies to improvise on the eve of battle, one must adjust to circumstances. Surely some essential changes could be made while keeping