The Battle of the West
German Operations Yellow and Red
Dates: April 9-June 13, 1940
The German
General Staff (OKH)
vs. Hitler
Following the German victory in Poland, Hitler
issued peace terms to both France and Britain. They
were rejected in one day, October 12 and 13, 1939.
Fuhrer Directive #6 ordered a Western Offensive on
October 9th. This offensive would include German
invasions of neutral Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg,
and finally France itself. (Op Yellow)
Jan. 1940 the plans for Yellow fall into Belgian hands
and need to be redrawn. Hitler is distracted by a
nervous OKH into Op Weser to seize Denmark and
Norway as bases for submarine attacks against the
Royal Navy.
The OKH v. Hitler round 2
Hermann Goering: If we lose this war, then Heaven have mercy on us.
Many of Hitlers top generals were uneasy about an invasion of France. One
the homefront no parades, no rallies, no exuberant patriotism. An evil sense
of foreboding swept across Germany when Britain and France declared war.
Fuhrer directive #6 was issued in October of 1939, but the invasion of France
only commenced on May 10, 1940.
World War I v. World War II: OKH and the Political leadership and the
Schlieffen Plandifferences.
Operation Yellow
May 10, 1940 the German blitzkrieg crashed through
the Dutch/ French/ Belgian frontier.
NUMBERS: Germany=135 conventional divisions, ten
armored Panzer divisions, four motorized divisions,
and two air fleets of 1500 fighter planes and 3500
bombers.
Allies=(Belgian, French, and British) 95 French
divisions, 10 British divisions, only 4 motorized
divisions, tanks dispersed across infantry units. 1700
total planes, and 2450 tanks on both sides but Allied
design vastly inferior.
Fortress Holland fails, and the country is occupied in
five days.
Schlieffen Plan 2.0?
Maginot Line: Problem? Not so much. Germany
divides into three army groups(N) AG B invades
Holland, (M) AG A crashes through the Ardennes just
north of the Maginot line, but south of the 1914
invasion route, (S) AG C brushes past the end of the
Maginot Line.
The Goal? To divide the Allied forces along the line of
the SommeBelgians and BEF from the French all the
way to the Channel coast at Abbeville. The French
were unprepared for the Ardennes offensive (1870 not
1914). Sedan falls in a day.
The Meuse was the only real obstacle for land forces,
but the Luftwaffe, vastly superior to the allies,
supported the German Wehrmacht perfectly. WHY?
Whos Who for the Allies?
Commander of the BEF: General Lord Gort
Commander-in-chief French Army: General Gamelin
Commander French Land forces: General Doumenc
Commander French NE: General Georges
Weaknesses? Age, fighting the last war, poor coordination
The road to
Dunkirk/ Dunkerque
May 20th-Germans reach the coast at
Abbeville isolating the Allied armies in
France from the Allied armies in Belgium.
Panic time
General Gamelin is fired by PM Reynaud
and Generals Petain and Weygand are pulled
out of Madrid and Syria to serve in France.
Hitlers generals are in their own panic
motorized units have left infantry far behind.
Fuhrer Directive #8: A two-day halt in the
advance.
