Blitzkreigs and the Battle of Britain
On the first of September, 1939, World War II began when Hitler invaded Poland. The Polish Army was by no means weak; with 475 tanks and one million men; supported by 445 aircrafe and 2800 artillery pieces. But much of its equipment was outdated, and its forces largely lacked mobility. In contrast, the Polish Army had set against them 1.5 million men, 2511 tanks, 1,393 combat aircraft, and, to top it all, 10,000 artillery pieces. Two seperate army groups would invade. Army Group North, would attack from northeastern Germany and East Prussia, which would seize the Polish Corridor and move on Warsaw from the north, under General Fedor von Bock. General Gerd von Rundstedt's Army Group South would destroy Polish forces guarding the border, and eventually advance on Warsaw. The Germans hoped to encircle a great deal of Polish forces, du to their obvious lack of mobility. Despite air attacks on Polish airfields before the campaign, the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) would suffer heavy losses in the campaign, but their sacrifices kept the ground troops free from enemy air attack.
By September 5, the entire Polish Corridor separating East Prussia from Germany had been captured, making Germany whole. Eastward, Roznan was taken. Army Group South also made many breakthrougs, capturing such cities as Krakow. Forward elements of the German Tenth Army were 40 miles from Warsaw on September 7. Whenever the Polish tried to regroup, the Germans Overwhelmed them, despite a brave counterattack by the Polish Poznan Army on September 9. The Germans exploited the situation, and enccircled the Polish Poznan Army near Bzura. Two days later, the army collapsed. At that point, as if theings weren't bad enough for the Poles, two Soviet army groups came from the East. After a devastating bombing campaign, on September 27, Warsaw surrendered. But on 3 September, Britain and France declared war. But, this didn't help the armed forces, which at the end of the month were gone. 100,000 escaped, 700,000 captured, and 200,000 killed or wounded. German casualties were 15,000 killed and twice as many wounded. Soviet casualties were the lightest at 2600. The Soviets occupied Poland east of the River Bug, the Germans west of that. The Polish Corridor was absorbed into Germany, and Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia had to succumb to the Soviet Union. Poland was no longer a country.
Once Hitler had finished with Poland, he had to face the Western armies in France. The German attack began on May10 after air attacks on French airfields, which guaranteed the Germans air surpreriority. Army Group B, under Bock, advanced into Luxembourg and Belgium, just what the Allies had expected, and they moved the majority of their mobile forces there, including the British Expeditionary Force. Unfortunately, the advance was a feint. The other peice of this elaborate plan was Army Group A, under General Rundstedt. This-including seven panzer (tank) divisions-advanced through the supposedly impassable Ardennes Forest. Fortunately for the Germans, Army Group A had vital time as Allied attention remained in the north. By May 13, the 7th Panzer Division was accross, threatening the rear of secondary French forces (the 7th Panzer Division was in fact commanded by General Erwin Rommel, who would later play an important part in the war). Two days later, the Germans had broken through all French defenses and were making their way to the coast. The Allies tried to regroup, but they were tied up by constant attacks by Army Group B. The Allies were completely encircled by May 21. By then, pllans were already eing made for an evacuation at Dunkirk. At that point, the Netherlands and Luxembourg surrendered. Belgium surrendered an May 28. By June 4, 338,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated. They went straight to Britain-there was no chance of landing elswhere since they had abandoned their heavy equipment. On 14 June, Paris fell. 8 days later, the French sought an armistice. Despite heavy casualties of 137,000, the Germans had won a spectacular victory.
Now Hitler's only task in the West was to invade Britain. He first wanted air supreriority, so Reichsmarchall Hermann Goering was assigned to the task. But the attacks were delayed somewhat, and besides, the British were recovering from their losses in France. The British actually held the advantage; they had radar, and their planes were operating over friendly land. Goering's first attacks were mainly directed toward British seaports, ut there was little effect; and besides, 297 German planes were lost of a cost of 175 British. Following that, Goering's attacks shifted to RAF airfields. He nearly succeded, as the RAF grew short of good pilots. But then, Goering shifted objectives again, this time against London. But the RAF was able to concentrate itself there and inflict heavy losses against the Luftwaffe. on September 16, Operation Sealion, the invasion of Britain, was postponed indefinitely.
But the Luftwaffe was not finished in Britain; it then began a series of raids of British cities. By October 6953 civilians were casualties. British defenses were a dismal faliure, and on the night on November 14-15, 568 civilians were kiled on a raid on Coventry. The Germans kept up the pressure, but it seemed to have no effect on the stubborn British. By May 1941, Hitler turned his attention to Russia. Britain had survived.
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