V A C A T I O N
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Sunday, July 21, 2024
Saturday, July 20, 2024
Dunkirk
The miracle of Dunkirk was that Hitler passed
on the opportunity to destroy the British army.
He wanted Britain off the continent but he didn't
need Yankee imperialists and Japanese warlords
inheriting for free the sprawling British Empire.
The dagger at Britain's throat.
After the humiliating drubbing Nazi forces delivered
to the Brits, Hitler believed London would quickly
agree to his offer for peace demands.
First, he'd take control of the western Mediterranean
with England giving him Gibraltar. A present of
British oilfields in Iran and Iraq would give Germany
much needed energy independence.
This, too, would be part of any deal guaranteeing
Britain's safety.
Churchill calls Hitler's bluff.
With his troops from Dunkirk home safely
Churchill drew his line in the sand:
There will be no negotiations with Hitler.
If he wants anything from us he's going
to have to come and get it himself.
The Few.
An invasion of Britain requires the German
Luftwaffe to have control of the air.
Transporting ten German divisions across
the channel to England's shores requires
an air force that can hold off the mighty
Royal Navy. The Royal Air Force, though,
must first be destroyed.
Air Minister Dowding
Churchill wants more fighters sent to France.
Dowding say, No. It's a losing cause.
The Royal Navy wants the RAF to defend
shipping in the English Channel.
Once again, Dowding says no.
Take the train.
Luftwaffe bombers headed for England.
England's survival depends upon fighters fending off
an overwhelming number of Nazi warplanes
with precious few pilots of their own.
This is the challenge that takes up all of
Air Minister Hugh Dowding's time.
And he thinks he has it figured out.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Checkmate
Maurice Gamelin was in a rare good mood,
having fought off another attempt to have him
fired as Supreme Allied Commander for being
out of touch - complacent in his view of the
looming threat posed by Hitler.
Now Gamelin could be heard softly humming a tune
as he moved about his HQ. Reports from the front
appeared to confirm his view of Germany's intent.
The troops were ready. His staff was upbeat.
Everyone's optimistic.
A trap is sprung.
French and British troops dashed north, up
Belgium roads towards prepared defenses along
the River Dyle. The Allies were putting everything
they could muster into this left punch.
Funny thing, though. The Luftwaffe is the most
powerful air force on the planet. But where are they?
You'd expect constant bomber and Stuka attacks
to disrupt and slow down the Allied surge forth.
Nothing. What gives? Officers talked of this
among themselves. It's like the Germans
actually want us to get away from France
as fast as possible.
Surprise.
The Luftwaffe was providing an umbrella of air
protection for an army of tanks nudging down
forest roads. Then, from out of the forest
and onto the quaint village streets of Sedan
rushed Guderian's armor.
Gamelin is confused by these reports but he
persists in believing the German attack is coming
from his front and not his now exposed flank.
Concentrated firepower acts like the blade of a knife.
French doctrine disbursed tanks among the infantry
because their perspective was primarily defensive.
The burden of success lay with the offense.
It was for the Germans to devise a tactic that wasn't
suicidal in the face of machine guns and anti-tank
cannon fire. World War I had proved to generals that
defense dominated the battlefield and rushed forward
assault was obsolete.
Guderian's mobile command.
The order of the day was to look neither left nor right
but to plunge straight ahead, peddle to the metal,
all the way to the English Channel. Your enemy's
confusion was your best defense against any
counterattack.
Race to the Channel.
The Allied forces were fighting a war familiar
to Civil War generals of the horse and buggy era.
You endured a series of battles that hopefully
led you to the steps of your opponent's capital.
Blitzkrieg doctrine was to make it all very quick.
Go for the jugular.
Get me checkmate in five moves.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Sunday, July 7, 2024
Saturday, July 6, 2024
Sedan
Objective: Cross Meuse River
There will be no blitzkrieg, no World War 2
if the French hold the Germans at Sedan.
Maybe. A hundred miles of armored breakthrough
depends first on men under fire in rubber dinghies.
P a n z e r I I
Without bridges water barriers make for
stop and go blitzkrieg. Defensive works
on the far bank need to be cleared of
resistance. The rapid firing cannon of this
panzer saturates the target with 20mm rounds,
Establish bridgehead.
These fast rowing teams are sitting ducks if their
covering fire is not effective. A couple of platoons
with a foothold on the far side enables combat
engineers to begin building a bridge.
Stuka
These dive bombers replace the cumbersome artillery
that normally accompanies an army into battle.
The Stuka's bombload is light but its aim is precise.
A fortified bunker does not withstand its attack.
Pontoon Bridge
A road for tanks came together in a matter of hours.
The large armored force of Guderian was free to
run rapid across the tank friendly terrain of France.
Breakout
French troops have been routed and German armor
now controls both sides of the Meuse around Sedan.
A number of HQ generals want time to bring up the
infantry and consolidate their forces. Nonsense.
Delay gives the French time to regroup. The road to
the English Channel is wide open, undefended.
Guderian forges on, unrelenting. Flank support
mostly nonexistent. It's a big risk.
Hitler is unnerved.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Thursday, July 4, 2024
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Saturday, June 29, 2024
War Lord
N A T I O N A L S U R V I V A L
Blitzkrieg has vulnerable flanks.
It's a long neck. Cut off the head.
Very quickly your tank attack runs out of gas
and ammo. Without supply your armored punch
becomes state of the art junk. Useless.
British and French forces had the chance
for such a successful counterattack but their
lack of organization squandered the opportunity.
Germans are believers in big surprises.
They head fake the Royal Navy outside Norway
and now French forces feel like they are shooting
at targets in a fun house mirror. The threat
in front of you has suddenly become the threat
to your rear. The result is catastrophic.
Party over.
Arsenal of Democracy
How does Britain defeat Hitler?
"I shall drag the United States in" says Churchill.
The US Army is minuscule in size but Uncle Sam
is truly the industrial giant Daddy Warbucks.
Already across the Atlantic shipyards are awakening
and factories expanding. Soon the workers used
to assembling Chevys will instead build tanks,
planes, trucks and other implements of war.
Marx provides Stalin his strategy.
"A war is on between two groups of capitalist countries.
Hitler, without understanding it or desiring it, is shaking
and undermining the capitalist system. We can
maneuver, pit one side against the other to set them
fighting with each other as fiercely as possible."
Stalin to his aids prior to Poland.
FDR runs for third term.
Roosevelt knows war will one day come to America.
The voters want nothing to do with the war in Europe.
The war to end all wars ended just twenty year ago
and now... here we are again. Foolishness.
I can't get ahead of the voters, Franklin says.
You'll just have to wait, Winston.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, June 23, 2024
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Industry
Economics provide the foundation for a modern military.
Stalin saw industrialization, mass production, as
the decisive factor to winning the war with Germany.
A successful war economy made huge numbers of
battlefield necessities because combat wear and
tear quickly used up all the trucks, tanks, planes,
and ammo on hand.
Germany had few strategic resources of its own.
A six month supply of critical materials such as
steel and oil was all that Hitler could count on to
win the war. Everything Germany needed to be
strong militarily was imported, scarce and often
not reliably available.
The strategy for war had to take this into account.
Success over your enemy had to be quick, decisive.
The Allies base their strategy on defense.
The strategy of Britain and France was to play defense.
Prolonging the war worked to their favor because of
Germany's material disadvantage. The German
military could be crippled by denying this elite force
it's 20th century underpinnings.
Germany bets on an armored punch with speed.
Blitzkrieg was the tactic German strategists wanted
because it offered the potential for quick victory.
This meant a very selective, pinpoint offense of
armor, artillery and air support. Concentrated firepower
would overwhelm your opponent's defense, creating
a breach that would enable tanks to speed behind
enemy lines - disrupting supplies, capturing
command centers and causing confusion.
Surprise is an essential component of victory.
Your enemy's most vulnerable point is where your
main attack is least expected.
France believed the Ardennes region along its
northern border was too mountainous to
support an advancing panzer force.
French defense along the Meuse River was
infantry, mostly older reservists lightly armed.
They hadn't trained for confronting an army
of tanks.
The Luftwaffe controlled the skies over Ardennes.
The German force headed for the Meuse
was backed up over a hundred miles of
narrow, winding mountain roads.
The French were right. This was not tank country.
Meanwhile, the Allies thought they were fighting
the main German attack in Belgium. Everything
was going as planned. Britain and France rushed
their troops forward into battle. They had matters
well in hand. So they thought.
Turns out they were just chasing the bait.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
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