Chapter 13 Chapter 12 The Rage of War in Western Europe

In terms of military academic thinking and guiding ideology for the next war, both France and Britain are far behind Germany. Almost all concepts in the field of strategy and tactics remain at the level of 1918.In terms of strategy, the French High Command firmly believed that defense was more important than offense, because many battles in the last war showed that the attacking side was not worth the loss and wasted its own strength in vain, while the defensive side always achieved its goal.Therefore, the French government accepted the military's suggestion and spent huge sums of money to build the famous Maginot Line of Defense on the French-German border.Tactical use of cutting-edge weapons, tanks and aircraft, did not adopt the method of centralized large corps, and still organized most of the tanks into tank battalions and assigned them to infantry units to serve as offensive auxiliary tools for infantry.It was not until the German mechanized armored corps showed great value in the Polish battle that France successively established three heavy armored divisions in early 1940, but their training aspects, such as ground-air coordination, tank coordination and logistical support, were quite lacking. It cannot be compared with the German army.In this context, the French High Command formulated a combat plan against Germany.

When the commander-in-chief of the French army, General Ganmerin, made a thoughtful judgment on the future direction of Germany's attack when formulating the plan.At first, he felt intuitively that the German army would cross the Ardennes, which is difficult to pass through, but he soon denied it. He believed that it was impossible for the German army to attack the Maginot Line from the front. action is particularly difficult.In the end, he judged that the German offensive plan could not exceed the scope of the "Schlieffen Plan".In other words, the Germans will follow the old path of World War I, focusing their offensive on the right flank, breaking into Belgium first, and invading France from the north of France.Gan Molin's judgment was originally good. The offensive plan formulated by the German Army Staff Headquarters was a plagiarism of the "Schlieffen Plan". It was only Hitler's "inspiration" and Manstein's "contribution" that made Gan Molin's judgment turned into an error.

On the Fadeland Plain in Belgium, there are three rivers available for fortification: 1. The line of the Alpe Canal-Moose River (Antwerp to Liege); 2. The line of the Dale River (Antwerp to Namur); 3. The line of the Schild (Antwerp to Torre).The Belgian government has decided to use the Alpey Canal-Mouse River line as its main fortification line, so the French army can only consider fortifications on the Dale River and the Hilde River, and call them "Plan D" and "Plan E" respectively. ".Britain and France originally considered following the "E plan" to deploy defenses on the Schild River, which could reinforce the Belgian army deployed along the Ghent River and advance to the line of the Alpe Canal at any time to strengthen the defense force of this line.However, the Belgian government believed too much in the guarantee of neutrality, and insisted that it would never destroy neutrality before the invasion of other countries became a fact. Preventing Britain and France from forcibly entering Belgium, so that when Germany invaded later, the British and French troops encountered a lot of trouble when they crossed the border.Due to Belgium's firm attitude, the French high command had to choose "Plan D". "Plan D" stipulates that when the German army enters Belgium, the Belgian army should delay the German army for a long time on the Albert Canal and the Meuse River. At the same time, the main force of the British and French coalition forces deployed on the French-Belgian border should use St. The heart rotated to the northeast, advanced to the line of the Dale River, and then engaged the main German army.

The Belgian defense was based on the fortified positions around Antwerp in the north and the so-called "National Fortress", which stretched from the Alper Canal to the vicinity of Maastricht and Liege.Maastricht's defense focused on the famous fortress of Eben-Emaar. From Liege, the line of defense extended southwest along the Moose River to the Namur River. The Dutch defense had its own separate plan.Its military strength is equipped in echelons, gradually increasing from east to west.Only a small number of troops were deployed on the first line of defense at Maasbucht; on the second line of defense "Pierre-Lamen", its main force was placed; the third line of defense was formed by the so-called "Dutch Fortress".The Netherlands intends to deal with the German army for a long time in the defensive position of the "Dutch Fortress", using the possible flooding in the south of the area to hinder the movement of the German army and wait for the arrival of the British and French allied forces.

On October 9, 1939, Hitler first ordered the German Army Headquarters to formulate an offensive plan for the western front. In the "Yellow Plan", the main direction of the German attack was the detour to Belgium that Gan Molin expected. After this initial "yellow plan" was issued, it aroused fierce debate in the headquarters of the three services and the headquarters of the various armies.The bone of contention was: was it appropriate to place all armored and motorized units in Army Group B on the right? On October 25, Hitler summoned Brauchitsch and Halder. When he was listening to the report, he suddenly had an "inspiration" and asked whether he could cross the Ardennes on the Nanmuth River and launch an unexpected attack?Obviously, Hitler was the first person who thought of finding another way from the Ardennes, but he immediately expressed doubts about his own ideas, because in addition to the inaccessibility of the area, there was another factor that was difficult to determine, that is, the main force of the British and French coalition forces had to leave. The Franco-Belgian border entered Belgium, so that the German troops coming out of the Ardennes could appear behind the British and French allied forces, otherwise, they would still have a frontal conflict with them.Therefore, Hitler's idea was opposed by the commander-in-chief of the army and the chief of staff. Jodl, the chief of operations of the Armed Forces Command, believed that the operation of crossing the Ardennes and entering Sedan was "a gamble that would surprise even the god of war."But Hitler never gave up the idea.

At this time, Manstein, chief of staff of Army Group A, was very dissatisfied with the copying of the "Slieffen Plan", thinking that the "Slieffen Plan" had a surprise effect at the beginning, but now this effect no longer exists.He put forward his own ideas to the General Staff in the form of a report: the focus of the attack on France should be on the Army Group A in the middle, and through the unexpected actions through the Ardennes, the British and French troops that entered Belgium were roundabout and surrounded and wiped out. For this reason, Army Group A should increase from the original 2 armies to 3 armies.This is the famous "Manstein plan".But this plan was not accepted by his superiors at first, and he himself was banned and demoted to a second-rate infantry army as a commander.

On January 10, 1940, a Luftwaffe plane was forced to land because it got lost and flew into Belgian airspace. The officer carrying a "yellow plan" only had time to burn part of it, and he was captured with the documents. A considerable part of the documents fell into the air. into Allied hands.This forced the Germans to reconsider their offensive plan. On February 17, Hitler hosted five new army commanders. Manstein took the opportunity to present his plan to Hitler. Before that, Manstein had asked Guderian whether the mechanized armored troops could pass through the Ardennes Made an inquiry, the latter gave a positive answer to this, and Manstein was relieved.Manstein's ideas naturally coincided with Hitler's, and the original plan had been leaked, so under Hitler's intervention, Brauchitsch and Halder also began to agree to focus on the offensive plan in the direction of Ardennes.In order to ensure the success of the breakthrough, the German General Staff Headquarters halved the strength of the right-wing "Army Group B" and doubled the strength of the "Army Group A" in the middle. A total of 4 army groups and 45 divisions were mobilized. and most armored and motorized units.This upcoming program is code-named "Project Sickle".Not to mention other things, just judging from the combat plans of the two sides, the French seem to be already in the calculations of the Germans.

In April and May of 1940, the two sides dispatched troops and sent generals to fight hard.On the Western Front, the total strength of the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Britain is: 8 Dutch infantry divisions; 18 Belgian infantry divisions; 10 British Expeditionary Force infantry divisions, 1 heavy armored brigade, 5 mechanized cavalry regiments; French infantry There are 90 divisions, 3 heavy armored divisions, 3 light armored divisions, 5 light mechanized divisions, and 27 independent tank battalions.The French army has a total of 2,460 tanks (plus 600 old tanks), and the British army has a total of 229 tanks (171 old tanks). The armor and artillery of the French tanks are superior to those of the German tanks.The French army has a total of 3,289 aircraft, including 2,122 fighters, 401 bombers, and more than 600 reconnaissance and observation aircraft.

Germany assembled troops on the Western Front: 134 infantry divisions, 10 armored divisions, and 4 motorized divisions.The German army had a total of 2,439 tanks and 3,700 aircraft, including 1,000 fighter jets, 1,100 bombers, and about 500 military aircraft of various types.In comparison, the armor and artillery of the French tanks are superior to the German tanks; the German bombers have the advantage, and the French fighters have the advantage. The deployment of the French army is: 5 armies of the French 1st Army Group commanded by General Billot, including a British Expeditionary Corps, deployed on the French-Belgian border, extending from the coast to the northern end of the Maginot Line.They are, in order, the 7th Army, the 5th Army of the British Expeditionary Force, the 1st Army, the 9th Army, and the 2nd Army.The task it received was: once the German army entered the Netherlands and Belgium, the front of the army group would use St. Mengis near the top of the Maginot Line as the axis, rotate to the northeast, and face the German army coming from this direction with a wide front. , and blocked the German army on the Dale River.In this direction, Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands assembled a total of 81 divisions, while Germany's "Army Group B" had an offensive force of only 29 divisions.In addition, the 2nd Army Group of the French Army under the command of General Pretra was deployed on the Maginot Line, which consisted of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Army Groups. The German attack on the ground.The French High Command allocated 36 divisions, one-third of the total force, here, while the German "Army Group C" facing it had only 19 mid-level divisions.

The above-mentioned plan of Gan Malin was doubted by his generals. The commander of the 7th Army, Girod, expressed his objection to the fact that the main force of the French army marched into Breda from the very beginning. Placed in the middle south of Namur, the French army will face a crisis. He, Bijou, and Girod requested that the 7th Army be used as a strategic reserve and placed in a position where reinforcements can be sent to the northern and eastern fronts at any time.Gan Malin was stubborn, and on April 15, 1940, he issued the final order for the 7th Army to go north.What is even more puzzling is that Kamaling did not leave any strategic reserves except for a few scattered divisions.

The deployment of German forces is as follows: the "Army Group B" commanded by Polk on the right wing, which governs the 18th and 6th Armies, as well as the 39th Armored Army of Schmidt and the 16th Armored Army of Hupner.The task of the group army group is to quickly break into the Netherlands and northern Belgium, giving the opponent the illusion that the focus of the attack is on the right wing, attracting the British and French allied forces to enter Belgium, and falling into the trap of the "Sickle Plan".In the future, after the outflanking of the "Army Group A" on the middle road is in place, the front and rear flanking attacks will be carried out to encircle and wipe out the main forces of Britain and France. The "Army Group A" on the middle road was commanded by Lundster, and had jurisdiction over the 4th, 12th, and 16th Army Groups, and a 2nd Army Group was also deployed as a reserve force on the second line behind it.The armored corps commanded by Kleist is placed at the front and takes the lead. This corps is the essence of the German armored forces. The 3 armored corps lined up from north to south are the 15th Army of Hoth (with 2 armored divisions), the Rhine Hart's 41st Armored Army (with 2 armored divisions), Guderian's 19th Armored Army (with 1st, 2nd, and 10th armored divisions). The task of "Army Group A" is: when the main forces of Britain and France completely entered Belgium and collided head-on with "Army Group B", quickly pass through the Ardennes, break through the defense line of the Moose River between Namur and Sedan, and go all the way to On the coast, cut off the retreat route of the main British and French forces that had entered Belgium, and together with the "Army Group B" coming from the northeast, encircled and wiped out the main force of the British and French coalition forces that had fallen into the net. The left-wing "Army Group C" was commanded by Li Bu, and it governed the 8th and 7th armies. While sticking to the Siegfried Line of Defense (corresponding to the Maginot Line), it launched a feint attack on the Maginot Line to contain it. To prevent the defenders from sending reinforcements elsewhere, after the two armies A and B succeed, in the second phase of the battle, attack the Maginot defenders back and forth. On the morning of May 10, 1940, Hitler's offensive on the western front, which had been postponed since last year, finally started. The five first-line German armies launched an offensive simultaneously from the North Sea in the north to the Mosel River in the south.The German Air Force launched violent attacks on front and rear military targets such as airports, transportation hubs, military installations, and communication command centers in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.The progress of the German Polk "Army Group B" in the direction of the feint attack is particularly eye-catching.According to Hitler's suggestion, the German airborne troops landed in Rotterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, and occupied the airport and ground bridges, ensuring the smooth march of the armored forces and occupying the Dutch capital in one fell swoop. On the morning of May 15, the Dutch government announced its surrender. The progress of Polk's "Army Group B" in Belgium is also surprising.The Belgian defense of the Alpe Canal focused on the fortress of Eben-Emaar, the gateway to the central Belgian plain.In order to capture it, the German army had been training with this fortress model in Hildesheim for a whole winter. At dawn on May 10, 80 German paragliders (some say 78) led by a sergeant landed on the top of the fortress. They threw special "hollow explosives" into the turret and air holes, making The basement was filled with flames and smoke, and the unbearable 1,200 Belgian defenders were forced to surrender.The so-called strongest fortress in Europe fell in less than 30 hours.While attacking the Eben Emaar fortress, another German airborne force also quickly captured two intact bridges on the Alpen Canal north of the fortress, ensuring that the Hopner 16th, which was rushing from the border, could The leading tank column of the Panzer Army rushed to the Eben Emaar Fortress and swept away all resistance in the plain area. The Belgian defenders were forced to retreat from the entire line of the Alpe Canal. At 5:30 a.m. on May 10, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army Ganmerin received a call for help from the Belgians and immediately ordered General Georges, Commander-in-Chief of the Northeast Front, to implement "Plan D".George ordered the 5 armies under the command of General Bijou of the 1st Army Group to dispatch to Belgium; the 7th Army of Girod went straight to Breda in the Netherlands along the coast; The French 1st Army moved to the line of the Dale River in Louvain and Namur; General Colap's 9th Army moved northwest to Sedan and deployed on the west bank of the Moose River to the line of Namur; General Henzig The 2nd Army has occupied Sedan to the northern end of the Maginot Line.In this way, the Anglo-French coalition forces on the French-Belgian border consisted of about 45 divisions, including the most elite French field corps, completely in accordance with the previous regulations, with St. Mengis as the axis, and the entire left wing rotated to the northeast. What Hitler and his high command hoped, because this is a prerequisite for the success of the German "Sickle Plan".In the eyes of Hitler and his generals, the movement of the Anglo-French coalition forces into Belgium seemed to be scrambling to jump into a "trap". Because Polk's "Army Group B" did a fake show in the Netherlands and Belgium, it did so earth-shatteringly that the opponent's attention was completely drawn to the northeast, especially the fall of Rotterdam and the rapid victory of the Eben Emaar fortress. Gan Molin had no doubt that the focus of the German offensive was on the right wing. He couldn't help but feel a little "predictably" proud, and even more convinced that the Germans were repeating the old trick of the "Schlieffen Plan". Just as the sights of the French High Command were all drawn to Polk's "Army Group B" in the north, the real attack from the German army from the direction of Ardennes began. Because of Gan Malin's self-confidence, he deployed a large number of troops on this defensive line. General Colap's Ninth Army, composed mostly of reservists, was the weakest force in the French army, but it guarded a 75-mile-wide line of defense that would later withstand the German army's most elite mechanized armored corps, all of Germany The attack of 7 of the 10 tank divisions.On the right flank of the 9th Army, General Henzig's 2nd Army held Chedang to the northern end of the Maginot Line. On May 10, the forward troops of the "Army Group A" commanded by Rundst--the 15th Armored Army of Kleist Armored Corps, the 41st Armored Army of Reinhardt, and the 19th Armored Army of Guderian Stretching out from north to south, the move began across the 75-mile deep Ardennes.The French 9th Army and 4 cavalry divisions of the 2nd Army also crossed the Meuse River east, entered the preset position in the Ardennes Mountains and released the security forces. On May 11th and 12th, Colap's 2nd and 5th Cavalry Divisions and Henzig's 1st and 4th Cavalry Divisions successively encountered Guderian's and Hoth's tank units in the forest area. After a head-on blow, they immediately retreated and were driven back to the west bank of the Moose River. On the afternoon of May 12, the Kleist Armored Corps had drilled out of the Ardennes Forest and reached the east bank of the Moose River on the line from Dijan to Sedan.Rommel's 7th Armored Division, which belongs to the Hoth Armored Army, was the first to cross the Meuse River in Dinant on the morning of May 13 on the second day. Rommel came to the front line in person and cleared the firepower of the French army with tank artillery , Commanded the infantry to cross the river to seize a landing field, and then the engineers set up a pontoon bridge on the river, and the 15 tanks of the leading tank column reached the opposite bank at night. On May 14, all the 7th Armored Division of the German Army reached the West Bank and began to mop up the 11th Army of General Martin of the French Army. The 5th Motorized Division and the 18th Infantry Division of the French Army were defeated. On May 15, Rommel's 7th Armored Division and Valsborn's 5th Armored Division launched an attack on the hastily arrived French 1st Armored Division. , Fighting until dark, was completely defeated by the Germans, the next day, when the French 1st Armored Division retreated to the French border, only 12 of the original 175 tanks remained.When Hoth's armored corps broke through in Dinant, Reinhardt and Guderian's armored corps also broke through the Moose River defense line at Montermi and Sedan in about the same time. The real disaster in France began at Sedan.This is the junction of Colap's 9th Army and Henzig's 2nd Army. On the afternoon of May 12, Guderian's 19th Armored Army arrived on the banks of the Moos River and captured the historic city of Sedan.On the opposite bank is the position of the 55th Division of the 10th Army under the command of General Grandsard, a member of the French 2nd Army. It is possible to carry out crossing operations, because according to past experience, crossing the river requires the cover of heavy artillery units, and the German army needs at least 5 to 6 days to assemble enough heavy artillery units.But Guderian and tactical air commander Rozier agreed to replace traditional artillery attacks with violent and sustained air strikes to open the French defense line. At 11 a.m. on May 13, the German Stuka bombers bombed the position of the 55th Division of the French Army for five hours. By 4 p.m., when the air strike ended, the spirits of the French officers and soldiers had completely collapsed and they abandoned their positions one after another. , and ran away in a panic.The infantry of the 19th Armored Army easily crossed the river and seized the landing site. The engineers erected a pontoon bridge that night. On May 14, the 1st, 2nd, and 10th Tank Divisions of the 19th Armored Army swarmed across the pontoon bridge and headed south. Expansion results. At 3 pm on May 14th, it was a critical moment for both parties. After Guderian made the judgment that the French army would not launch a large-scale counterattack, he ordered the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions at great risk. U-turn to the west.The 3rd Armored Division and the 3rd Motorized Division of the French Army are near the armored 19th Army that has exposed its unprotected flanks. If the French army completely puts the armored forces into attack at this moment, it seems likely to lead to a situation similar to that in World War I. The "Miracle of the Marne", also lack of fuel, equipment, training, and outdated deployment of infantry, made the counterattack of the French tank units delayed again and again, and finally there was no counterattack at all.And this precious fighter is fleeting in a few hours, or even an hour. On May 15, Guderian's 19th Armored Army moved westward to Redale and Montcalne, cutting off the connection between the French 9th Army and the 2nd Army. Colap's 9th Army completely disintegrated in the afternoon , the roads to Paris and the coast are clear.But Hitler was made nervous by his victory. He didn't know that the French army had no strategic reserve, and he was deeply disturbed by the French army's powerful counterattack against the German tank column that had not yet been exposed to the flank. Halder objected, ordering Kleist's Panzer Corps to stop advancing. On the night of May 15th, Guderian suddenly received an order from Kleist to stop advancing. He immediately realized that this would lead to wasted efforts. You can still move forward within 24 hours.Guderian, his subordinates and Kempf, the commander of the 6th Armored Division of the 41st Armored Army, agreed to just advance westward until the last drop of gasoline was exhausted. On May 16, the seven armored divisions of Kleist's Corps began a race westward.In the early morning of the next day, when Guderian was waiting for Kleist at the front-line airport, he was reprimanded loudly by the latter for violating the order to stop the advance. He immediately asked to resign as commander of the army.Kleist didn't keep him either, but Lundster quickly sent Liszt, the commander of the 12th Army, to keep him. He asked Guderian to obey the order of the Supreme Command and at the same time allowed him to conduct a "power search".Under the guise of "Power Search", Guderian waved his three armored divisions to push forward desperately. He has fooled all the princes of the Supreme Command including Hitler.In the next three days, the 19th Armored Army swept across northern France with a sweeping force. At 7 o'clock in the evening on May 20, the 2nd Armored Division captured the coastal city of Abbeville.So far, all the retreat routes of the British, French and Belgian troops in Belgium have been cut off.Liddell Hart believed after the war: In the Battle of France, Guderian's armored army dragged the entire German army to win the battle. The news of the collapse of the Ninth Army of the French Army reached Paris, and the French government suddenly fell into a panic. Prime Minister Renault grabbed the phone and called British Prime Minister Churchill, exclaiming: "We have been defeated, we have lost this war." Commander-in-Chief Ganmaling told the Defense Ministry Daladier that he did not have any reserves and was unable to stop the advance of the German tank columns.General de Gaulle's counterattack with the weak and hastily assembled 4th Armored Division could not turn the tide.The Arras counterattack of the British army temporarily frustrated Rommel, but was eventually repelled. On May 18, Renault reorganized the government and recalled the famous generals Petain and Weygand of the last war from Spain and Syria.Weigand took over the post of Commander-in-Chief of the French Army on May 19, but spent a whole day on the next day paying courtesy visits to government officials. On May 21, the first order issued by Weigand was completely lost. Without a sense of reality, his plan for a north-south attack could not be realized at all. After the German Kleist Armored Corps and the follow-up motorized infantry corps cut off the retreat of the British and French troops, they turned northward and, together with the "Army Group B" in the northeast, compressed the remaining coalition forces in the port of Dunkirk.The British, who are good at making small calculations, started the operation to withdraw troops from the sea on May 26, code-named "Project Dynamo".The United Kingdom mobilized all means of water transportation including private yachts from the mainland. By June 4, when the last batch of troops withdrew, a total of 338,000 people were withdrawn, including 211,000 British troops and 123,000 French troops.When the German army captured Dunkirk, the 40,000 remaining French troops who acted as a stop surrendered to the German army. There were subjective and objective reasons for the failure of the German army to achieve the final encirclement and annihilation.The German High Command estimated that there were about 100,000 Allied troops in the Dunkirk encirclement, and it was not known until the final stage that there were 400,000 troops.Therefore, the German High Command believes that the task of fighting the French army in the second stage is still very arduous, and the armored forces must be used sparingly in order to fight the French strategic reserve in the next stage.On the other hand, 20 miles south of Dunkirk is a swamp of water networks. Guderian and other front-line armored commanders reported to Kleist and the "Army Group" headquarters that due to continuous operations, Already half the tanks were out of combat and it was considered more reasonable to use infantry than tanks in swampy areas.So on May 23, the German tanks stopped advancing.Despite the strenuous objections of Brauchitsch and Halder, Hitler issued a formal order to stop the advance after a conference with Rundstedt.At the same time, Goering also assured Hitler that the air force could destroy the Allied forces in the encirclement alone, but the subsequent rainy weather greatly restricted the air force.The combination of these factors, on the one hand, fulfilled the "Dunkirk miracle" of the British, and on the other hand, led to the most serious mistake of the Germans in this battle. In the first phase of operations, from the Sedan breakthrough to the retreat at Dunkirk, the Confederates lost 61 divisions, nearly half their strength three weeks earlier.The northern front of the French army had been wiped out, including the best and most mechanized units.Although more than 90% of France's land is still in its own hands, the French commander-in-chief, General Weigand, has only 60 weak divisions, and barely established a "Weigand Line of Defense" between the coast of the Somme Estuary and the Maginot Line. .It goes without saying that in the upcoming battle with the reorganized German army of 150 elite divisions, there is clearly no hope. On June 5, Polk's "Army Group B" first launched the second phase of operations in the coastal area. On June 7, Rommel's 7th Armored Division broke through the French defenses between Abbeville and Amiens, and then cooperated with the 5th Armored Division to push a large number of British and French troops to the coast.A few days later, the besieged troops surrendered to the Germans in the small fishing port of Saint-Valéry-en-Coe. From June 16th to 19th, Rommel's 7th Armored Division ran 220 miles, setting a record for the highest march in the history of warfare at that time, and his armored division also won the title of "Devil's Division".The French defenses on the Somme collapsed. On the fifth day of Polk's offensive, on June 9, Lundster's "Army Group A" launched an offensive on the Aisne River at the eastern end. Four armored divisions were transferred from the Somme River to the Aisne River, and after the eight German armored divisions achieved a breakthrough, they poured into the hinterland of France like mountains and seas.The newly formed Gudry Armored Corps tore apart the French positions near Chateau-Pols and launched a large-scale roundabout attack behind the Maginot Line. On the morning of June 17, Guderian's tank column had arrived at the city of Pantali on the Swiss border, completely sealing off the rear of the Maginot Line. On June 14, the 1st Witzleben Army and the 7th Dormann Army, which belonged to the "C Group Army Group" of the German army, also launched a frontal attack on the Maginot Line of Defense, together with the Guderi Armored Corps, which entered the rear of the defense line Together they encircled and annihilated the French defenders and captured 700,000 people.The world-famous Maginot Line finally proved to be a useless decoration. With the severe deterioration of the military situation, France's political and diplomatic situation has also fluctuated sharply. On June 10, the capital Paris was abandoned, and millions of refugees flooded southward like a torrent of embankments. Italy took advantage of the fire to loot and declared war on France on this day. On June 14, German troops entered Paris. On the afternoon of June 16, Renault announced his resignation, and French President Le Brun authorized Marshal Petain to form a new government.The next day, Petain, through the Spanish government, requested a truce from Germany.Fate made the "savior of France" in World War I play the role of "French gravedigger" in World War II. On June 22, representatives of Germany and France signed the armistice agreement at the place where the armistice agreement was signed in the last war-in a train carriage in the Cambian Forest.However, this time the positions of the winner and loser were swapped.Two days later, on the afternoon of June 24, the "French-Italian Armistice Agreement" was signed in Rome. Since the 32 Italian divisions could not make the 6 French divisions take a step back during a week of fighting, they only occupied a few hundred yards. French territory.For the first time, the country that stabs the back of its neighbor in crisis has exposed its military incompetence to the world. The armistice agreement is relatively lenient for a country that has been completely defeated, but it is very humiliating for a country that was once powerful, independent and territorially complete.The armistice agreement stipulates that the French constitution will not change at all; the German army occupies the north of France, and the south and southeast are still managed by the French government itself; The fleet must be demobilized and disarmed, and the ships must be moored in their own harbors and abandoned. Germany promises not to use the French fleet to fight for itself.Later, Hitler broke almost all of his promises, and the defeated France actually became a vassal of Germany. If the Polish army is a hybrid of backward weaponry and ancient medieval cavalry concepts, then the French army is a combination of the most advanced weaponry and 20 years behind in military theory.The latter is more unfortunate than the former.Just one step behind in concepts led to a series of strategic and tactical mistakes by the French army.In terms of strategy, adhere to the national defense strategy with defense as the core, "establish a continuous frontal line of defense" to deal with the German attack, and imagine the war style as the model of the First World War.In terms of tactics, they still hold the concept of Napoleon's era when artillery dominated the battlefield, and have insufficient understanding of the role of the tactical air force.The use of aircraft and tanks is based on the principle of decentralization, rather than the principle of centralized use like the Germans. On the eve of the Second World War, the trend of air supremacy determining the outcome of the battlefield has been recognized by the military authorities of many countries.Compared with the German Air Force, the French Air Force still has an advantage in terms of numbers. Due to the long-term serious drawbacks of the military logistics management system, the commander-in-chief of the French Army, General Gamalin, did not know how many planes his Air Force had. How many aircraft are available for combat is a blur.There were only 746 aircraft covering the five armies of the French 1st Army Group, and they were assigned to various army units for use, and did not form an independent aviation regiment.Over the same combat area, the German army invested nearly 3,000 aircraft in two aviation regiments. At the moment of life and death, about 2,000 French aircraft were lying in the warehouse. The reason behind this has not been fully understood until today.During the battle, some army commanders also often declined the proposal of the Air Force's active support. In terms of the command system, out of selfish motives, General Ganmaling divided the functions of the Supreme Command into two parts. He was responsible for formulating plans and issuing orders for the implementation of the plans. command.This kind of command system is rare in history. In most countries, the Supreme Command combines the functions of the two.Gan Molin’s intention in choosing this strange command style is: if he wins, he can credit the credit to himself, because the battle was fought according to his own plan; He directed it.In fact, this is a system that can pass the buck to each other.During the entire combat process, George knew that the plan was wrong, and he still commanded according to the wrong plan, and did not dare to modify it. He thought that even if he was defeated, he would not be responsible; Gamelin also saw that George's command was wrong, but he did not dare to change it. He is willing to interfere, and he is even more unwilling to immediately take over the command right to personally command, because in case of defeat, the responsibility is not with him but with George.This absurd command system derived from the selfishness of senior generals destroyed the at least the function of the Supreme Command—the function of revising plans and implementing command according to changes in battlefield conditions.This situation made William Shirer feel deeply in "The Collapse of the Third Republic", "This is not a problem with one or two leaders, but a problem with the entire nation." Hitler's war with Britain and France was not aimed at conquering these two countries, but because they prevented Germany from expanding towards its true goal, which was eastward expansion.After the victory in the Battle of France, he believed that continuing to fight for the conquest of Britain was to make Germany bleed for countries such as Japan and the United States that wanted to replace Britain's maritime power.Hitler thought that the British, who had always been shrewd and more realistic, would recognize the status quo of the European continent and Germany as the hegemon in Europe, and would soon accept the peace treaty proposed by Germany.Unexpectedly, the new British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his cabinet were extremely tough, showing to the world their determination to continue the war.Seeing that Britain was not prepared to compromise, Hitler officially issued Operation Order No. 16 on July 16, deciding to cross the sea and attack the British mainland. The code name for this offensive operation was called "Sea Lion Project". In order to carry out landing operations on the British mainland, you must first defeat the British Air Force and gain air supremacy.由于德国海军舰队的水面实力远不如英国，所以在夺取制空权之后，应进一步以空中打击遏制英国海军对运输登陆部队的德国舰只的攻击，保持海峡领域的制海权。同时，还应夺取登陆区域上空的制空权。德国最高统帅部的步骤是：让戈林的空军打头阵，在尽快的时间里夺取英吉利海峡、多佛尔海峡的制空权和制海权；由雷德尔的海军负责运输德军登陆部队；伦德斯特的“A集团军群”负责主要登陆作战，计划在几天内总共有41个师在英国本土登陆，其中包括6个装甲师、3个摩托化师和2个空降师；波克的“B集团军群”有3个师也在作战序列中。陆军总司令勃劳希契十分有把握地认为，占领英国的战役将在一个月内轻松地结束。 “海狮计划”的关键是空中决战，德国空军的任务是：1.攻击英国南部的空军基地；2.掩护出发港口的装载工作；3.掩护海上运输；4.支援第一波陆军登陆作战；5.同海军和海岸炮兵合作以阻止英国海军干扰。不列颠空战从1940年8月13日开始，直到1941年5月中旬结束，前后共9个月，经历了争夺制空权和摧毁英国工业经济潜力两个阶段。戈林投入了3支强大的航空队——凯塞林第2航空队、斯比埃尔第3航空队、施登夫将军第5航空队。这3支航空队共有轰炸机、战斗机2277架，而英国此时保卫本土的战斗机仅为704架。 8月13日，在不太理想的天气下，德空军出动485架轰炸机、1000架战斗机，与英国空军展开争夺制空权的第一阶段战斗。德空军攻击了英国东南沿海的9个机场和其中的5个雷达站，但战果欠佳，损失飞机是英国的1倍多。8月24日起，争夺制空权的战斗进入第二阶段，德国扩大了空中打击范围，轰炸包括伦敦地区的空军设施和飞机制造厂，仍然没能消灭英国空军。制空权的象征是自己的轰炸机能随心所欲地打击对方任何地面目标，所以关键在于消灭对方的战斗机，但英国战斗机一直避免同德国战斗机交战，专打德国的轰炸机，在8月15日的大空战中，英国的“飓风式”和“喷火式”战斗机使德军第5航空队遭到毁灭性打击，从此退出了不列颠空战。不过在8月23日至9月6日的两周里，英国空军被摧毁和受重伤的飞机已达446架，损失全部驾驶员的四分之一，5个前进机场遭到巨大破坏，7个扇形指挥中心站有6个遭到猛烈轰炸，空军整个作战通讯系统快要瘫痪。英国空军已接近崩溃的边缘，德国空军的数量优势开始发挥效力。 就在这紧要关头，德国空军突然改变了打击方向，把目标转到了伦敦地区的战略轰炸，从而让焦头烂额的英国空军喘过气来。德国空军改变轰炸目标的部分原因是在8月23日晚上，12架德国轰炸机奉命去轰炸伦敦郊外的飞机工厂和油库，但却把炸弹扔在了伦敦市中心，为了报复，8月25日开始，英国空军对柏林进行了几次夜袭，造成德国人被打死在德国首都的尴尬情形，希特勒恼羞成怒，决定实施大规模报复。另一个原因是想通过轰炸英国的心脏地区，迫使英国战斗机接受空中决战，并予以歼灭。 从9月7日开始，不列颠空战进入摧毁英国工业经济潜力阶段，也分三个小阶段。在9月7日至9月19日，德国空军对伦敦城和伦敦地区的目标进行狂轰滥炸，使这个世界著名城市遭到极大破坏。9月15日，空战达到决定性高潮，德军统帅部决定在白天进行轰炸。德国200多架轰炸机在3倍数量的战斗机掩护下，向伦敦飞来。由于英国空军得到一个星期的恢复，将上千架德军飞机打得落花流水，德国轰炸机的损失直线上升。英国空军趁势轰炸法国沿岸的一些港口，使集结在那里准备渡海作战的德军部队和船只遭受极大损失，迫使德军停止继续在港内集结渡海部队和器材。戈林被迫改变战术，规定白天不再进行轰炸，轰炸机在白天只作勾引英国战斗机的诱饵。这次空中决战表明，英国空军仍是一支强大的力量，远没有被削弱到德军实施登陆所需要的程度。两天后，即9月17日，由于登陆部队的集结点遭到破坏，以及争夺海峡上空的制空权受挫，希特勒下令无限期推迟“海狮计划”。 从9月20日到11月13日，德军在白天用少量战斗轰炸机引诱英国战斗机出动，夜晚用轰炸机袭击伦敦，但仍没有获得理想的效果。从1940年11月14日到1941年5月22日，德国空军对其他英国主要城市也实施猛烈空袭，这种轰炸的目的已完全与“海狮计划”脱钩，并非夺取制空权，为登陆创造先决条件，而是在实践杜黑的战略轰炸理论，企图迫使英国屈服。在最后阶段，德军以对考文垂的夜间大轰炸为起点，几乎能随心所欲攻击任何一个城市。在5月15日夜间，伦敦大空袭又一次达到高潮，英国被炸得百孔千疮，但仍不屈服，而希特勒对苏联的进攻已迫在眉睫，空军主力已开始东调。到5月22日，西线只留下少数兵力，不列颠空战遂不了了之，“海狮计划”则彻底破产。 不列颠空战的经验和教训：这次空战廓清了战前空军理论的许多问题，夺取制空权就是胜利、“制空权决定一切”至少在这次空战中得到了证实。它实际上已间接暗示了海权对制空权的依赖。英国人和德国人都十分重视空军的建设，但各有侧重，英国以保卫本土为宗旨，所以重视战斗机种的发展。在法兰西会战中，英国在陆军惨败的情况下，没有把保卫本土的25个战斗机中队孤注一掷投入法国战场，为日后在空战中翻本，留下本钱。德国是大陆国家，深受陆军传统影响，所以空军的建设侧重对地面装甲部队的支援，着力发展轰炸机。在不列颠空战中，英国人的战斗机优势充分体现了出来，而德国“斯图卡式”轰炸机尽管支援地面作战时效果极佳，但根本不适合用来作战略轰炸，特别在遭到英国皇家空军“飓风式”和“喷火式”战斗机攻击时，更是毫无招架之功。 英国空军的胜利，还应归功于使用了先进的雷达监控指挥技术。德国飞机从西欧的一些基地刚起飞，它们的影子就在雷达的荧光屏上显示出来了，它们的航程被精确地标出来后，又通过地面“扇形站”，指挥战斗机在最有利的时间和地点迎战德国空军。德国人不久就认识到这些地面雷达站和“扇形站”的重要性，曾全力进行攻击，并使之受到严重破坏，但后来打击目标转向了伦敦，没有把这一攻击继续下去。戈林改变攻击目标的命令和让装甲部队停在敦刻尔克外围的命令，其性质是差不多的，都属指导战争时的重大失误。这些雷达站和“扇形站”在不列颠空战中的价值是难以估量的。