A Sickle Cut
With a large chunk of its forces stuck in Flanders, the Germans hastily redeployed its forces to the Rhineland in the event of a French thrust. Emergency plans were set up with the idea of fortifying the Rhine to make it impassable to the French onslaught. Although it looked like the French were heading that way, they had other plans in mind. Fearing a communist takeover than a German one, the Dutch allowed the German troops to transit through Holland.
For the Communists, this meant that Dutch neutrality was seen as worthless. Thus began Gamelin’s 2nd plan, which was to swing around the German defenses again by going through the Netherlands like swinging a sickle. On June 15, as the Germans crossed the border in a desperate bid to escape annihilation, the French chased them with light tanks as the spearhead.
Dutch troops in a trench, June 1940
Fighting raged across North Brabant and Limburg as the Dutch army was hastily mobilized like the Irish and also ineffective against the Guerre Eclaire tactics that the French had experimented back in Spain. Not to mention, Paratroopers were used in securing the vital bridges and crossings, making them advance all the easier. As more and more German troops moved into the Netherlands, the divisions stationed in Alsace Lorraine and the Rhineland were thinly stretched. To offset this, reinforcements from the east were deployed to prevent a possible breakthrough.
This became moot, as the French would build pontoon bridges along with the Dutch areas of the river. From there, the French army was advancing into Utrecht and Gelderland, thanks to the assistance of a few paratroop units. Another force attempted to bypass the Ruhr, heading for Bremen and Hamburg. This forced von Kluge to send his panzers into Hannover to stop them.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch government evacuated out of the country and set up its offices in Berlin. As the French advanced further across the flatlands and tulip fields of the country, the cities became targets of aerial bombing. One city that took the most devastation by accident was Rotterdam, where a bomber squadron flattened the city before they were notified that the defenders had surrendered.
Rotterdam after the bombings, June 1940
Joined with arriving British troops, the Communists advanced all the way until they reached the banks of the Rhine. In anticipation, the Germans blew up all the bridges across the river which stopped the French from advancing onto the German heartland. When the French tried to cross it several times, they were pushed back by the various bunkers and fortifications meant to stop such a thing. Although it was a terrible defeat for the Germans for losing the Rhineland and various other areas, they could console themselves that at least the Reds were stopped at the Rhine. Unsurprisingly, the song ‘Die Wacht am Rhein” exploded in popularity as both soldiers sang it on the western frontline.
***
The Next Moves
In Madrid, the Spanish government met with British and French envoys to discuss future military operations. In everyone’s mind, they knew where they should attack next if they were to cut off Germany’s access to the sea. The problem was the Spanish army was entirely infantry with very few tanks and armored vehicles. To prepare the Spaniards for war, several shipments of tanks were sent to them with officers acting as teachers in the creation of an armored corps.
During this same meeting, it was decided that an invasion would be made on Northern Morocco where Franco and his fascist rebels were stationed. To accompany this African landing, Mosley ordered setting up an expeditionary force consisting of seasoned troops and marines, along with an armored column filled with armored cars, jeeps, and tanks. The plan was to get in touch with Moroccan nationalists for a general uprising on the same day of the invasion. From there, the Comintern forces would advance all the way to Tunisia if the French Republic joined the war and even Libya if the Italians joined as well. Once the agreement was made, planning for the operation would begin in earnest. For Caballero & Negrin, they would soon have a chance of finishing off their civil war opponents.
***
Illusionary Humiliation
From the moment he opened his eyes, Mussolini saw that he was on the ground and an angry mob of people was shouting curses at him. He could not move his own body as if he was paralyzed below the neck. Virtually helpless, the Duce was left with nothing but taking whatever the crowd was throwing at him. First, it was tomatoes and saliva spits, then it evolved into piss and trash. Some of them even began throwing rocks and kicking at Mussolini’s paralyzed body.
A while later, a couple of armed men strung his body upside down high enough for the whole crowd to see him. Mussolini tried telling them to let him down but they wouldn’t listen. From the looks of their faces, he saw blind anger and hatred being thrown at him. To his surprise, Mussolini found that he wasn’t only the one hanging upside down. From their bruised and battered faces, the Duce recognized in horror at the lifeless bodies: His mistress Petacci, Pavolini, Starace, and some other man he couldn’t recognize.
From the very crowd that spouted vitriol at him, an old woman came forward with a pistol in her hands. As she got closer, Mussolini saw absolute rage on her face with eyes of anger. She then aims her gun at his head. The Duce kept pleading with her to not kill him, but she wouldn’t listen. Instead of listening to him, the old lady triumphantly shouted “For my five dead sons!”.
Just as a white muzzle flash lit up in front of his face, Mussolini instantly sprang up from his bed covered in sweat and his heart pounding like crazy. He looked around and cooled down at ease. He reflected on what he just saw and tried to calm his nerves by drinking some water. As he got back to bed, there was a fear nagging in his mind at the possibility of such a thing happening should he lose the war. Whatever it is, he tried reassuring himself that it wouldn’t happen.
“It was a bad dream. A really bad dream.”