German problems arising from the 12 May 1943 landings in France are far worse than Allied problems. Whereas Allied problems were on the tactical level, German weaknesses were on the strategic level.
The first problem was Germany’s inability to reestablish any form of strategic reserve. Within a few days, the successful Normandy landings forced the Wehrmacht to withdraw troops from tertiary fronts to provide reinforcements for France. Two Mountain and one Infantry Corps engaged on the Murmansk front were ordered withdrawn via Norway and Finland, Sweden refusing transit rights. The 20th Wave Mobilization in July 1943 formed only seven new static divisions, the 242nd, 243rd, 244th, 245th, 264th, 265th and 265th; all posted to the Siegfied Line to begin reconstituting the barrier. The fact that the German Army could not provide a third regiment, more than one battalion of artillery (with one anti-tank battery), organic engineer, antiaircraft or transport of any kind shows the depth of German losses. Equipment went to higher priority units during this time frame.
The 21st Wave Mobilization in October-November 1943 had somewhat better results. The ten divisions formed (349th, 352nd, 353rd, 357th, 359th, 361st, 362nd, 363rd, 364th and 367th Infantry Divisions all had the normal complement of units with the exception of the reconnaissance battalion was replaced by a fusilier battalion; which had only one company equipped with bicycles for that role. The remainder of the battalion were straight-leg infantry. Each division had the normal outfit of horse transport. However, the 352nd Infantry Division was formed from the remnants of the disbanded 268th and 321st Infantry Divisions, and the 364th from the disbanded 355th Infantry Division; so in effect the increase was seven, not ten. The 349th, 357th, and 359th Infantry Divisions were sent to Russia; the 352nd and 353rd to the Western Front; 361st to Denmark; 362nd to the Italian border in Austria; 363rd remained in Poland; the 364th was absorbed by the 77th Infantry Division in January 1944; and the 367th Infantry Division was sent to Croatia.
The 22nd Wave Mobilization in December 1943 revealed the accelerating pattern. Only the 272nd, 276th, and 278th Infantry Divisions were new formations on the pattern of the 21st Wave Mobilization. The 271st Infantry Division was formed from the disbanded 137th Infantry Division, the 275th from the disbanded 223rd Infantry Division, and the 277th from the remnants of three disbanded units – the 38th, 39th and 125th Infantry Divisions. Thus on the order of battle, the number of divisions did not increase. (Note: These unit descriptions are taken from the OTL.) I doubt if any coordinated Wave mobilizations past the 22nd would take place, just as in the OTL none took place after October 1944. The Reich will be too close to collapse for central control of mobilization.
The first reaction to the Normandy landings is to realize the “man who never was” fired from a torpedo tube onto a Spanish beach carried deception plans for a supposed invasion of Greece. The 22nd Air Landing Division, a crack unit will be returned to the Russian Front; although its 47th Infantry Regiment had been sent to Tunisia, lost there, and not been replaced. Italy will also be stripped of troops. 1st Parachute Hermann Goering Panzer Division is transferred from Sicily to France. The reforming elements of 15th PanzerGrenadier Division are transferred to home Wehrkreiss XII station in Kaiserslautern, and 90th Panzergrenadier to Potsdam in Wehrkreiss III; where the 21st Panzer Division will also be rebuilt from scratch in Berlin. With cadre from 1st SS Panzer Grenadier “Leibstandarte” Division unavailable to cadre 12th SS Panzer “Hitler Jugend” Division, SS Sturmbrigade “Heinrich Himmler” is used instead of being sent to garrison Corsica. Luftwaffe units are also transferred to France.
The question arises, when does the German Army begin eating its seed corn? In the OTL, the 345th Reserve PanzerGrenadier and 386th Reserve PanzerGrenadier Divisions were ordered absorbed by the 29th and 3rd PanzerGrenadier Divisions prior to May 1943, eliminating their capacity to train additional troops. The 130th “Panzer Lehr” Division was formed in February 1944 – before Overlord, thus it is a near-certainty it will be created within weeks of Operation Round-up. The division will absorb the 10th Panzer Brigade in addition to the 130th Panzer Regiment with a now standard outfit of PzKw IV and StG III assault guns. The 901st and 902nd Panzer Grenadier Regiments each add an understrength battalion of mixed PzKw III and IV. All told, 379 tanks, forty assault guns and 612 half-tracks and other reconnaissance vehicles combined with extensive experience of its men render the 130th “Panzer Lehr” Division nearly invincible on paper. This formidable assembly comes at the cost of reducing Germany’s capacity to train panzer formations by 35%.
This also extends to infantry formations as a number of Reserve Divisions are converted to combat formations, leaving a training gap between the basic conscript training at replacement divisions and assignment to units in combat. The 158th Training Division at La Rochelle was sent to form a defensive line behind the Loir River and lost there. The 156th Reserve Infantry Division at Calais, 171st Training Division at Epinal, and the 191st Reserve Infantry Division at Boulogne were redesignated the 47th, 48th, and 49th Infantry Divisions respectively. The 462nd and 465th Replacement Divisions were disbanded, and their personnel distributed as casualty replacements. This problem cannot be mitigated.
Problem two is the Italian Armistice in September 1943. While Benito Mussolini may have breathed a sigh of relief that the Allies assaulted Normandy rather than Sicily, it was short-lived. Hitler’s withdrawal of German ground combat forces from Sicily and Italy to send to France is the combination of two simultaneous but contradictory emotions. The first is a hope that one fighting on home soil, the Italian soldiers would rise to the occasion and fight like Roman gladiators. The second schadenfreude emotion is if they do not, then the Italians deserve to be a conquered and enslaved people. These are not the only two options however.
The Allies (mostly British Commonwealth) still have over a quarter million troops in North Africa and the Middle East in May 1943. Only part of this force will transfer to France via invasion of its Mediterranean Coast. An initial move is Operation Corkscrew, the occupation of Pantelleria as OTL on 11 June 1943, and the subsequent surrender of Lampedusa, which indicated to the Italian High Command that Sicily would be next. With only the Italian Air Force to contend with, air supremacy is assured. As the next stepping stone, Operation Brimstone, the invasion of Sardinia, and Operation Vesuvius the invasion of Corsica under are authorized, and planning entrusted to GEN Montgomery of 15th Army Group. First British Army LTG Oliver Leese allocates V British Corps to Sardinia; 78 and West 46 (Midland Riding) Divisions, landing around Cagliari and Quartu on the southern tip of the island as the assault force; while 4 Parachute Bde (formed in Palestine in January 1943) jumped into the large airfields a few miles away from the beaches. 4 Mixed and 6 Armoured Divisions are follow-up forces for the 10 July 1943 landings.
The XIII Italian Corps’ 30th Saubauda Infantry Division promptly began to dissolve as did the 205th Coastal Division on the unprepared beaches. These troops were recruited from the local Cagliari region, and most shuffled the few miles to their homes in the face of the overwhelming air bombardment and naval shelling. The 47th Bari Infantry Division located in the center of the island attempted to take advantage of the rugged terrain to form a defensive line, but failed due to inadequate numbers of troops, artillery, and a total absence of tanks. In the North, XXX Italian Corps headquarters, which had scarcely recovered from near destruction in Tunisia, suffered a similar performance to XIII Italian Corps from the 204th Coastal Division, but the 31st Calabria Infantry Division resisted the British for three days before the campaign came to an end in a fortnight.
Once airfields in Southern Sardinia were secured, French XIX Corps began landings on Corsica on 20 July 1943. The Italians had decided to evacuate the island, and the process was well underway as the French arrived.
The successful invasion of Sardinia marked the end of Benito Mussolini’s tenure both as Premier and Il Duce. Mussolini convened a Fascist Grand Council session for the first time in four years on 24 July 1943, to discuss the German abandonment of defensive operations in Southern Italy. The discussion was interrupted when Count Dino Grandi launched a lengthy attack on Mussolini’s conduct of the war, and Marshall Pietro Badoglio and former Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano (Mussolini’s son-in-law) engineered a 19-7 vote to expel Mussolini from the Fascist Party. The next day, King Vittorio Emanuele III dismissed Mussolini as Premier, and appointed Badoglio in his place. Mussolini was promptly imprisoned.
Montgomery continued on with the execution of Operation Anvil on 15 August 1943. First British Army is spearheaded this time by XXX British Corps [7 Armoured Division, 50 (Northumberland) and 51 (Highland) Divisions.] with V British Corps as a second echelon around Toulon and La Seyne. Fifth U.S. Army under LTG Mark Clark (HQ formed in Algiers) will land around Marseilles with II U.S. Corps and XIX French Corps, now reinforced by 2e French Armoured Division. Once ashore, British First Army is poised to move down the coast towards Genoa, and Fifth U.S. Army to link up with Patton’s Seventh U.S. Army.
While Badoglio assured German diplomats of his intention to remain loyal to his allies, he was convinced that disasters in Russia and the liberation of France meant such loyalty was futile. On the 28th of July, two captured British officers, LTG Richard O’Conner and MG Carleton de Wiart were briefed by Badoglio on Italy’s desire for an armistice, transported to the 4th Italian Army sector near Nice, and allowed to “escape” into a French Resistance controlled area. Following delivery to British Commandos they were quickly transported via Gibraltar to London, where one week after meeting Badoglio, the request of an armistice was fully disclosed to the Allied Governments.
The Italian proffer came just prior to the commencement of the First Quadrant Conference in Quebec Canada, therefore Roosevelt and Churchill gave it immediate attention. Through diplomats in Lisbon, Portugal, the U.S. and British Governments negotiated a very rough agreement – for secrecy the Russians and French were not consulted. The Italians insisted that unconditional surrender not be imposed, and this was a vulnerable point for both democratically elected leaders. Unnecessary casualties were not only anathema to voters, but every soldier lost against the Italians is one not available for use against Germany and later Japan. The term “unconditional surrender” remained as a fig leaf, but the Italians gained considerable concessions.
Italy will not be invaded by Allied troops, and will not be required to declare war on Germany. The Badoglio clique is well aware of Italian war weariness and unpreparedness for further combat. An armistice will go into effect on 3 September, and be announced publicly five days later. Repatriation of Allied POWs in Italian custody will commence immediately. Italian units in France will immediately withdraw to pre-June 1940 Italian borders, and likewise, those in the Balkans as soon as Allied troops arrive, or a competent leaders from the national government can assume power. Once these commitments are met the Western Allies will begin repatriating Italian POWs. The Italian Fleet is not surrendered; Italian warships and merchant vessels will be painted with neutrality markings and used to repatriate Italian troops as required. All other issues are postponed until a peace conference.
Both Hitler and Stalin are outraged. Hitler regrets any assistance he ever sent to North Africa, and for a moment contemplates war on his erstwhile ally. Stalin’s suspicious nature is aroused as he can clearly see through the veneer of this “unconditional surrender”. Stalin’s views are reflected throughout the political left in Western nations – the Allies, especially the Americans were more than willing to skinny-dip with Admiral Francois Darlan – a perceived Fascist during Operation Torch; now they are in bed with Mussolini’s long-time cohorts. And the USSR does have legitimate grievances with being locked out of the Armistice negotiations when the Italian Eighth Army fought deep inside of Russia. Stalin announces the USSR is not bound by the Armistice.
The agreement does offer an easier path for British Commonwealth troops to return to Greece from which they were ignobly ejected in the spring of 1941. The remaining forces were centralized under 18th Army Group commanded by GEN Claude Auchinleck. Eighth British Army, now under the command of LTG William “Strafer” Gott is comprised of three Corps. XIII British Corps contains 1 Armoured, 44 (Home Counties) and 10 Indian Divisions. II Polish Corps under LTG Wladyslaw Anders contains 3rd Carpathian Infantry and 5th Kresowa Infantry Divisions, and 2nd Polish Armoured Bde.
I Commonwealth Corps under LTG Bernard Freyberg is a new creation quite impossible without the tertiary effects of executing Roundup in 1943. Australian Prime Minister John Curtin had been at loggerheads with Churchill over strategy since assuming office, and after the loss of Singapore was open about Australia’s postwar security being linked to the United States. Unfortunately, the Germany First strategy left Australia holding the bag as an Economy of Force Theater. 9 Australian Division was left in the Middle East only because Roosevelt promised two American divisions (the 32nd and 41st Infantry) would be sent to Australia. Curtin still insisted 9 Australian Division return home once Egypt was secure, and it departed in late December 1942.
Curtin was confronted with the blunt fact that U.S. troops to fight the Japanese were contingent on the speed with which the Allies entered Berlin, and his generals unanimously pressured him to send 1 Australian Armoured Division to replace 9 Australian Division. Australian Army leadership was aware an armoured division would never see action in the Pacific and having painstakingly built three such formations by November 1942 were anxious that at least one see combat. Curtin was worn down by the arguments, and sent the unit under the condition it not serve under direct British command. This meant assignment to the New Zealand Corps forming in January 1943. 1 Australian Armoured Division trained with American supplied M3 Lee and M3 Stuart tanks in Australia, and 1 Australian Armoured Brigade received identical equipment on arrival in Egypt. 3 Australian Motor Brigade was outfitted with M3 and M5 half-tracks, and artillery units with M7 Priest 105mm SP howitzers.
New Zealanders were also dissatisfied with British tank support, and after Second El Alamein converted 4 New Zealand Infantry Brigade to armour. 6 South African Armoured Division arrived in Egypt in February 1943, and it was a natural for assignment to New Zealand Corps for training alongside the Australians and New Zealanders, and just as natural for the renaming of higher HQ as I Commonwealth Corps. South African commanders were also upset during 1940-42 at the British practice of farming out individual brigades to support British units.
Three armoured divisions were rather unbalanced, and Prime Minister Jan Smuts was persuaded to return 1 South African Division (which rarrived home in January 1943). To provide enough troops, 12 South African Motorized Brigade was transferred from 6 South African Armoured Division, volunteers from 1, 2, 3 and 5 South African Brigades were cobbled to restore 2 South African Brigade to full strength; and 6 South African Brigade was reformed from the 6,000 South African prisoners liberated at Benghazi and Tobruk (see post #94.) Most South African prisoners taken at Tobruk in June 1942 felt that MG Hendrik Klopper had thrown in the towel too soon. The sense of unfinished business with the Germans was strong among them.
Ninth British Army under LTG William Holmes contains two corps. III British Corps under LTG Ronald Scobie contains 8 Armoured, 56 (London) and 4 Indian Divisions. Also attached are the 1st and 2nd Greek Infantry Brigades – the former having fought at Second El Alamein. X British Corps under LTG Herbert Lumsden is assigned 10 and 31 Indian Armoured and 8 Indian Divisions. Amphibious shipping was allocated to the Mediterranean once no longer required for over-the- beach resupply at Normandy – this was a natural calling in of his chits by Churchill for acquiescing to the Americans. With the loan of American shipping came a small USN squadron to protect it. Adoption of Mediterranean strategy however, was to be worked out at the First Quadrant Conference, and the Italian Armistice threw this planning into a succession of ad-hoc opportunities.
A first test of Italian sincerity was therefore made in Crete. After probes by British Commandos of 1 SAS Regiment found the 51st Italian Sienna Division withdrawing to bivouac areas to the southeast of Heraklion; and received intelligence that an emissary from Badoglio arrived with Armistice instructions, the Italians not trusting any other means of communication. 5 New Zealand and 3 Australian Motor Brigades began administrative landings, followed by the remainder of 1 Australian Armoured Division. The ANZACs were a deliberate sentimental choice generated by the loss of the island 28 months earlier. Fortress Brigade Crete, the German garrison on the island was located around Maleme Airfield and Suda Bay. Other than mobile coastal artillery and anti-aircraft units, it contained the 733rd Infantry Regiment transferred from the 713th Occupation Division a few months earlier. The Landesschutzen personnel of the brigade put up a spirited defense for two days before these World War I veterans passed a verdict on the overwhelming odds: Wir hab’n unseren Pflicht vollbracht – we’ve done our duty – and surrendered.
Behind the barrier of Crete there wasn’t much. The Germans had used Greece as they had France, as a secure location to rebuild divisions shattered in Russia. Intelligence provided by Badoglio’s emissaries to the Allies indicated the Germans were badly overstretched in Greece by diversion of replacements to France after Operation Overlord. Most significantly, some 360 Luftwaffe aircraft were transferred to France, leaving only a couple of transport squadrons behind to ferry troops to various islands.
The remainder of the 713th Occupation Division was clustered around Sparta, with the 59th Italian Cagliari and 29th Italian Piemonte (minus 4th Italian Regiment on nearby Aegean islands) Divisions nearby. The 41st Fortress Division, with two regiments guarded the vital Corinth Peninsula and Canal on which communications were dependent. The 7,500-man 440th Sturmdivision (Assault Division) Rhodes shared the island with the Italian garrison of indifferent quality; and the much better, and heavily reinforced 50th Italian Regina Division; less its 10th Italian Regiment deployed on Kos and Leros Islands. 6th Italian Cuneo Division was spread over several other Aegean islands.
On the mainland the 11th Infantry Division was badly mauled and had just arrived in Athens from Russia. It replaced 11th Luftwaffe Division, transferred to Army Group E mobile reserve without any transport other than rail. Near Athens were the 36th Italian Forli Mountain and 37th Modena Infantry Divisions. The 24th Italian Pinerola Infantry Division was near Thebes, while in Northwestern Greece 33rd Italian Acqui and 56th Casala Infantry Divisions were assisting 1stMountain Division in anti-partisan sweeps through the mountains. 4th SS PanzerGrenadier Division “Polizei” also arrived for rebuilding in mid-August; split between Katerini and Lerisa, respectively 35 and 75 miles to the southwest of Salonika.
The Initial German response began on 6 September, as the absence of any Italian resistance was conformed, and inquiries to die-hard Fascist generals gave clear indications that defection by their ally was likely. The Luftwaffe could not return to the Balkans in force after losses in France, but Kampfgeschwader 100 was sent to Bulgarian airfields. The Germans had developed a radio-guided bomb with a 320 kg warhead designated FX1400 or “Fritz X”; carried by Dornier Do 217K-2 aircraft. The first attempt was made against shipping off Cherbourg in July 1943, but no hits were scored. A second attempt with Henschel HS 293 glide bombs on 27 August successfully sank the sloop HMS Egret and severely damaged destroyer HMCS Athabaskan. Crowded Allied shipping off the limited Greek ports presented an irresistibly better opportunity.
On the day of the landings, the elderly battleship USS New York was hit while covering landings near Athens, and violently exploded taking 1227 crew with her. Three days later, the USS Savannah was hit on “C” turret, and barely survived the magazine explosion. On 13 September, HMS Uganda was blown open to her keel plates, but like USS Savannah was towed to the safety of Suda Bay. Finally, on 16 September, battleship HMS Warspite, the venerable veteran of Jutland was struck in the boiler room and lost three of her shafts due to warping from the blast. Fighter cover from escort carriers was increased and losses in Kampfgeschwader 100 became prohibitive until the Germans developed stealth tactics instead of swarms of aircraft.
Ground troops were slower to follow. The first corps withdrawn from Finland, XIX Mountain Corps spent two months recuperating in Germany before being sent to the Balkan Front. It contained the 163rd Infantry Division, which the British knew from their failed campaign in Norway, and a second unit later identified as 6th Mountain Division. Both divisions were tasked with attempting to re-establish a front line in southern Yugoslavia. XVIII Mountain Corps spread its 169th Infantry and 8th Mountain Divisions in defensive positions across the rail and Danube barge routes for oil shipments from Romania after rehabilitation following transfer from Finland. While the former was a good outfit, the latter was one of the more undistinguished German units. XXXVI Korps and 2nd Mountain Division from Finland were moved into the Ploesti oil field sector in late September, and 7th Mountain Division a month later. Notably missing were units whose transfer to Greece was cancelled – 1st Panzer, 60th PanzerGrenadier and 1st Parachute Divisions, in particular.
The Italians interpreted the Armistice clause requiring turnover of positions to competent leaders from the national governments somewhat loosely. In Italy proper, on 8 September, German personnel (mostly logistical, Luftwaffe anti-aircraft and Kriegsmarine personnel) were quickly disarmed and transported by rail to the Austrian border and allowed to walk across. The commander of the 440th Sturmdivision Rhodes was allowed to communicate with Army Group E HQ, and evacuation by air and coastal vessels was arranged. Throughout Yugoslavia and Greece, the Italians turned their positions over to the first armed group to approach them; regardless of whether they were Germans or British, Communist or Monarchist Greeks, Ustasa, Chetniks or Titoists. The Italians returned home by the most expeditious manner possible.
In addition to the forces in Crete, Eighth British Army sent XIII British Corps to Salonika, occupied only by security troops and detachments of 4th SS PanzerGrenadier Division “Polizei” off-loading rail cars of replacement vehicles. Quickly improvising, the SS conceded the port, but moved their trains outside the city while concentrating the rest of the division at that location. In doing so, a blocking position was established while XIII British Corps was still off-loading from ships and organizing, the SS were joined by 1stMountain Division which abandoned anti-partisan actions to explande the right flank.
To the south, III British Corps disembarked 1st Greek Brigade at Piraeus where 37th Modena Infantry Division stepped aside. The Greeks proceeded to occupy government buildings and key points within the capital city. 56 (London) Division followed in second echelon, and its lead 167 (1 London) Brigade soon found itself in brutal combat with two battle groups – the full strength the weakened 11th Infantry Division could muster. The next day, joined by 169 (3 London) Brigade the division began house-by-house clearing of the Germans, as the remainder of the division disembarked. After destroying the German forces, 56 (London) Division began advancing into central Greece, followed by 2nd Greek Brigade to re-establish government authority. 4 Indian and 8 Armoured Divisions moved south to clear 41st Fortress Division and the Peloponnesus. 234 (Malta) Brigade was transferred from the island garrison to supervise Italian troop withdrawals from Aegean islands and was attached to Ninth British Army.
The American contribution at sea has already been noted. Although no ground combat troops were committed to the Balkans, US general service and airfield construction regiments in the Middle East were used to expand port and airfield capacity and road networks in Greece. Without this logistical help, the British could never have generated momentum to advance northward. The US Ninth Air Force, stationed in Egypt and Libya since 1942, but never built up to its OTL strength due to the priority of Roundup for reinforcements, still performed yeoman’s work in support of the Commonwealth efforts.
In a little over a fortnight, the Italian Armistice provided the Allies with three major strategic advantages. First, the sea lanes through the Mediterranean were completely reopened, saving time and fuel from the Cape route. Secondly, the Allies were able to concentrate their efforts in France solely on the advance into Germany. Thirdly, the Romanian oilfields were directly threatened by the opening of the Balkan Front. In the last few months of the war, Italy does declare war on Germany (primarily to fulfil Johnson’s First Rule of War – always pick the winning side), but its contribution to final victory is negligible. There is nothing Germany can do to mitigate the effects of the Italian defection.
The third major problem faced by Germany is the Reconstitution of French Army, and the gradual return of France to full participation in the war. Ironically, all planning for Roundup was completed without much French participation, and none of that on a witting basis. This partly stemmed from deliberate desire on the part of GEN Marshall, who in the First World War encountered uncompromising attitudes among French officers while serving on GEN John J Pershing’s staff. Marshall was content to direct the establishment in France of an Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories, a legal concept drawn largely from U.S. diplomatic recognition of the Vichy Government in 1940.
A far greater factor than Marshall was infighting among the French themselves. GEN Charles De Gaulle was personally despised by Churchill, but the British Government nevertheless worked with the Free French and granted diplomatic recognition. The Americans would not, and promoted instead GEN Henri Giraud as an alternative to De Gaulle’s leadership. But Giraud exhibited the political astuteness of a bowling ball, quickly losing the loyalty of former Vichy garrisons in North Africa that passed to him after the assassination of Admiral Darlan. Throughout the spring of 1943, De Gaulle successfully outmaneuvered Giraud politically, and in the first week of May moved his government-in-exile from London to Algiers, considered a part of Metropolitan France.
The mixture of strict secrecy concerning Roundup, the absence of any French troops participating outside of 10th Commando combined with De Gaulle’s obsession with reasserting French independence acted to leave this staunchest of French patriots blind to dramatic change in his country’s fate. De Gaulle found out about the landings in Normandy over the BBC. It was a humiliation that permanently scarred post-World War II French political life and foreign policy. De Gaulle did react very astutely to this personal setback. Recognizing Marshall held all the high cards, De Gaulle quickly made a broadcast pledging full cooperation with the Allies and calling on Frenchmen to aid the invasion in all respects. In a matter of weeks, France was removed from the Allied Military Governments for Occupied Territories, a recognition of De Gaulle as a full ally. De Gaulle believed that for the stain of Vichy to be washed away and to obtain an equal seat at any peace treaty; France needed at least two full field armies under French command fighting inside Germany at the time of her capitulation.
In early 1942, US Ambassador to Vichy, William Leahy asked then French Premier Francois Darlan what it would take for Vichy France to rejoin the war against Germany. Darlan responded, “When you Americans arrive with 500,000 men, 3,000 tanks and 5,000 airplanes.” Although Roundup did not meet those numbers, the Allies had arrived. Other than current Premier Pierre Laval and his closest supporters, Vichy French officials responded instantaneously to the shifts in the wind. One of the first actions was the release of GEN Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, imprisoned for having resisted by force the German invasion of Unoccupied France in November 1942.
De Tassigny returns to his former command in Toulouse where one of the five German divisions in Southern France, the 148th Training Division expanded its training of French volunteers, mostly Vichyists from the disbanded Division Militaires who held Fascist beliefs and were susceptible to German propaganda. De Tassigny began reorganizing the remaining former members of his command in anticipation of liberation, and Toulouse was soon wracked by a mini-civil war. The 159th Reserve Infantry Division, used for training since November 1939 and located near Vichy was ordered to retain its personnel under training and was upgraded to a combat formation. The 305th Infantry Division, scheduled for reforming in mid-May and 334th Infantry Division, scheduled for reforming in July and August was still-borne, and its personnel diverted to existing units.
The Nineteenth German Army headquarters was well aware of the value of the port of Marseilles. The 338th Infantry Division, on occupation duty in France since January 1943, completed extensive training and received orders for Russia on 8 May 1943, but these orders were cancelled after the Normandy landings, and the unit moved to Marseilles. It soon found itself in street combat with reforming French Army personnel. Reformed around the 271st Feldherrnhalle Fusilier Regiment after destruction in Russia only two months previously, the 60th Panzer Grenadier Division, (at full strength in personnel and equipment but sorely lacking in training) was ordered from Lyon to the coast to take up anti-invasion duties.
This left a huge gap in the interior of Southern France. 10th SS Panzer Grenadier “Karl Der Grosse” Division was just reaching full strength in personnel, but was withdrawn within a week of the invasion of Normandy to join 9th SS Panzer “Hohentaufen” Division, at St Dizier. Together these units would form II SS Panzer Korps. It was replaced by the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division which did its best to screen from Bordeaux through Limoges to Bourges – well over 200 miles while simultaneously training for combat from June through late July before retreating eastward.
Consequently, Nineteenth German Army was in no condition to stop the landings by 15th Army Group in August 1943. Montgomery’s troops methodically pushed 60th Panzer Grenadier and 338th Infantry Divisions up the Rhone River Valley. De Gaulle arrived with the French XIX Corps, and found his political opposition among Vichy officials melting. US Lend-Lease equipment began to pour in, and de Gaulle’s wish for a seat at the peace conference table was well on its way to fruition. The Germans cannot mitigate or prevent the resurrection of this Allied nation.
The fourth problem is the Finnish request for an Armistice. Although Great Britain declared war on Finland on 6 December 1941, the United States did not. As early as 20 March 1943, Secretary of State Hull attempted to secure a separate peace for Finland, but Soviet demands were too severe and were rejected by the Finns in early May 1943. Only a week later, the Finns were having second thoughts. With the German abandonment of the Murmansk Front, the only German troops in the country were on the Karelian Peninsula facing Leningrad.
The Finns saw the writing on the wall, and reopened secret negotiations with the Americans, guaranteeing that Finnish troops would not replace Germans outside of pre-1939 Finnish territory. In early June, the Finns proposed the Germans turn over the Northern Leningrad Front to Finnish command, and shift German troops to elsewhere on the Russian front. As the situation in France continued to deteriorate and German intelligence had detected the impending Soviet post-Kursk counteroffensive, the Germans agreed on 2 July. The last German troops left Finnish soil on 9 August 1943.
As they left, Finnish troops never moved forward to replace them, and made contact with Russian troops only as they reached pre-war Finnish territory. The siege of Leningrad was unilaterally lifted on 29 July, and on 5 August 1943; the United States resumed diplomatic relations. The Soviets had little incentive to open large-scale movements against the Finns. It would greatly damage Soviet-American relations at a time when Moscow’s termination of diplomatic relations with the Polish Exile Government in London had relations with Churchill at low-ebb. Soviet troops were required to re-conquer the vast sections of Belorussia and Ukraine still in German control. With Allied successes in liberating France the Soviet priority was on the race to Berlin.
Consequently, from late August 1943, a de facto cease-fire emerged on the Finnish front. After negotiating through American intermediaries, Great Britain signed an armistice with Finland on 4 September, and Churchill declared that Soviet-Finnish differences should not be discussed until post-war peace conferences convened. The Soviets refused to accept this British condition, but the Finns recognized their weak negotiating position and offered to evacuate Karelia to a line only six miles from the city of Viipuri; well out of artillery range of Leningrad. This concession was enough to convince the Soviets to agree to an armistice on 19 September 1943. Finland declared war on Germany on 1 October 1943. The Germans could offer no incentives for the Finns not to defect.
The fifth problem is the loss of Romania. Three days after Italy’s publication of armistice terms, King Michael led a coup that overthrew the Fascist Iron Guard Government of Ion Antonescu. Romanian dissatisfaction with German use of the 3rd and 4th Romanian Armies on the Eastern Front after the commencement of Soviet counteroffensives in November 1942 was the immediate cause of the coup. Significant numbers of Romanian troops were on the Crimean Peninsula, declared by Hitler a fortress not to be evacuated. When the Romanian High command acquiesced to this decision, the conspiracy became serious. The Italian surrender gave King Michael courage to dismiss the Antonescu Government, and the King found a groundswell of popular support. The evacuation of the Kuban east of Kerch began immediately, Romanian ships carrying supplies there were ordered to load troops. The Romanian Government offered to evacuate the Seventeenth German Army troops afterwards, German and Bulgarian ships joining in to complete the task on 27 September 1943. No German troops were permitted in Romania; they were disembarked at Odessa, or other Russian ports.
Simultaneously, reinforcements for Russia were suspended, and on 12 September, Romanian units in the Ukraine were ordered to turn their positions over to German troops, commencing a retreat to Romania within seven days. When the Germans protested, the new Romanian Government acidly responded that since the destruction of the Second Hungarian Army at Stalingrad, few Hungarian troops had served in Russia, but Germany had sent considerably less arms and material to Romania than to Hungary. Hungary had been rewarded with vast amounts of Romanian Transylvania for little war effort; and with the loss of Italian garrisons in the Balkans, the security of Romania required its forces at home. The Germans sought to reinforce their anti-aircraft units around Ploesti and other oil installations, but Romania refused. When XXXVI Korps arrived on Romanian soil, the Romanians then relented.
As Eighth and Ninth British Armies completed consolidating and building up supplies, XIII British Corps began an offensive against 16th Bulgarian Infantry Division in Thrace on 25 October 1943. The Bulgarian infantry were tough, brave, and individually skilled fighters; but without transport, tank support, effective anti-tank guns or air cover, and with significant amounts of World War I vintage equipment, they could do nothing to stop the British assault. This opened the way for a broad attack into central Bulgaria. This cleared the way for I Commonwealth Corps to launch its own offensive five days later against XIX Mountain Corps which had assumed command of 4th SS PanzerGrenadier Division “Polizei” and 1stMountain Division on the Greek-Yugoslav border. On 3 November, II Polish Corps launched its own attack to the west of I Commonwealth Corps, focused on V Bulgarian Corps. Its units were widely dispersed on static defense or anti-partisan duties, 15th Bulgarian Division to the south clustered around Bitola, well to the west of the axis of LTG Anders’ advance, with only two infantry battalions guarding the road and rail corridor. 14th Bulgarian Division, centered on Skopje further north was square in the path of and directly on the objective of the offensive.
The Axis Front could not hold, especially against the Allied advantage in armour and in the air. Within a week, the Bulgarians on either side of XIX Mountain Corps collapsed and few German divisions escaped going into the bag. Bulgaria requested and received an armistice on 13 November, and Eighth British Army reoriented itself towards Romania, while Ninth British Army assumed responsibility for the advance up the Danube Valley. On the 17th of November, Romania requested an armistice and declared war on Hungary, but not Germany. German troops were escorted out of Romania into Yugoslavia, and oil stopped flowing soon thereafter.
The German position was dire. Kiev was recaptured on 6 November by the Russians, and between Romania and Kiev, there was a very real danger of Army Group South being cut off and destroyed. Manstein ordered an all-out retreat and was relieved by Hitler, but the German withdrawals, once started could not be stopped until the line from Zhitomir-Carpathian Mountains was reached. Churchill also saw the potential and offered to send British Eighth Army into the Ukraine. Churchill was making a promise he could not deliver, British forces required considerable rest and resupply.
This threw another log on the infant flames of the Cold War. Stalin bluntly refused to allow British troops on Soviet soil, and made it clear this included Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina seized from Romania in June 1940. Churchill hotly responded that Great Britain did not recognize the Soviet move and gave Romania a guarantee of her territorial integrity in May 1939. Stalin responded angrily, and Churchill ordered XIII British Corps to cross into Bessarabia. At this the Commonwealth countries balked – they had no interest in being used to bolster British prestige in the Balkans, and I Commonwealth Corps was exchanged for X British Corps. Romania declared war on Germany on 6 January 1944.
The Germans could do nothing about the loss of Romania. Germany simply lacked resources to fight successfully on three major fronts.
The collapse in France was Germany’s sixth major problem. Although Marshall’s July offensive failed in its objectives, Allied attacks continued on a local basis through August and into September. Much of this involved new Allied units and commanders to be blooded, part to exploit local opportunities, and part to allow 15th Army Group to arrive from Southern France. The final part is to keep the seven German panzer divisions (1st, 14th, 16th, 24th, 26th, 130th “Panzer Lehr”, and 1st Parachute Hermann Goering Panzer Divisions from building up their strength. During this time there was a change in command structure. Churchill and Brooke wanted GEN Dill gone, and in late August removed him on grounds of ill-heath. Dill is replaced by GEN Alexander, to whom Marshall is amenable, and Alexander at 21st Army Group is replaced by Montgomery. LTG Paget is promoted and assigned to 15th Army Group, and a protégé of Montgomery’s LTG Miles Dempsey replaces him at Second British Army.
Throughout July and August, the Canadian bridgehead east of Le Havre is expanded, with First Canadian Army hugging the coast, and Second British Army, unit by unit assuming positions on the right flank. Gradually additional bridges – mostly pontoon are set up across the Seine are set up to handle the logistics. The Allied armies are arrayed in an “L” shape, with First Canadian, Second and Fourth British Armies under 21st Army Group north of Paris; 12th Army Group with First French Army (XIX and XX French Corps, both organized in North Africa) facing Paris from the west and south; Third and Seventh US Armies facing north from west of Troyes to Chaumont; and 15th Army Group with First British and Fifth US Armies running to the Swiss border. First US Army is in reserve. The offensive begins on 26 September 1943,
Marshall starts with 16 armoured divisions (seven US, six British, two Canadian and one French) plus two Canadian and five British tank brigades and two independent armoured brigades, one British and one Polish. The US armoured divisions are still under 1942 Tables of Organization and Equipment with two armored regiments instead of three tank battalions. A total of 232 Medium and 158 light tanks were assigned to each US armored division, well over twice as many as the standard panzer division. All US infantry divisions had one Tank destroyer battalion attached, and most had a tank battalion as well. The Allied superiority in armour was overwhelming.
Marshall’s plan was for Canadian First Army to continue to drive up the channel coast – each port liberated lessoned the supply line somewhat. Dempsey’s Second British Army would drive directly east towards Rheims, and near there be met by Patton’s Seventh US Army, enveloping the bulk of Army Group B. The armies in the center were to fix and hold the Germans, preventing a disengagement and 15th Army Group was to cover Patton’s eastern flank. It worked. Hitler would not countenance a retreat, but it took Marshalls just under two months to extinguish the last German resistance. The schwerpunkt of the offensive was the commitment of II SS Panzer Korps under Obergruppenfuhrer Paul Hausser gainst Patton at Chalon. It was another example of using seed corn, none of its three divisions were fully trained or equipped for combat, but the SS fought with formidable fanaticism, and blocked linking the two pincers for three weeks.
In the end, the 4th U.S. Armored Division deserved much of the credit for the destruction of the II SS Panzer Korps. Commanded since May of 1942 by MG John S Wood, known to his troops as “the Professor”, a thorough scholar-warrior who had drilled his subordinates into a common tactical philosophy that allowed any units to task organize with any others, and whose orders most clearly mirrored German auftragtaktik (mission-type orders) that would become common post-war. Wood enjoyed the support of several superlative subordinates: most prominently, COL Bruce Clarke, commander of CCA; LTC Creighton Abrams, commander of 2/37th U.S. Armored Regt. Wood’s philosophy was “the purpose of this division is to terrify the enemy infantry. The way to do that is to plan attacks carefully and execute them violently. The task at hand is to figure out how best to do that.”
The Canadians rumbled into Antwerp in mid-October 1943, and with the completion of the destruction of Army Group B, the remainder of Belgium was liberated in late November. After recovering for a month, Marshall resumed his offensive on 9 January 1944, again on a broad front as he had logistically prepared to. The shattered front could not be restored, once found, resistance was bypassed, and the pocket mopped up later. There was no fuel for training panzer units, much less sending them into combat. The Rhine was crossed north of Duisburg by Second British Army on 20 January after an airborne assault by 1 and 6 Airborne Divisions of I British Airborne Corps. Two days later, Third US Army crossed south of Koln led by XVIII US Corps consisting of 82nd and 101st US Airborne Divisions.
The Western Allies then rolled across Germany, surrounding Berlin on 6 March 1944 with First British, Third US Armies and smaller units from each combatant except the USSR, which refused to send units that would appear as tokens. I Polish Corps was transferred to Second British Army, which together with Fourth British Army and Seventh US Armies were tasked with advancing into Poland. First and Fifth US Armies were ordered to advance into Czechoslovakia and Hungary, while First and Second French Armies cleared Austria.
After allowing hunger and despair to take its toll on Berlin’s defenders, Marshall launched attacks on 16 April 1944. These were slow and methodical, to lessen casualties as much as possible. Hitler committed suicide on 30 April, and the last resistance ceased on 2 May 1944.
There was nothing Germany could do to stave off defeat in the West.
Collapse in the East was Germany’s seventh and last problem arising from the landings in Normandy in 1943. Slowed by the lack of US Lend-lease trucks, the Dneiper-Carpathian Offensive by the Russians was delayed until 6 January 1944. The Germans fought with the desperate savagery the Eastern Front was accustomed to, then retreated as the situation grew hopeless, the main Russian difficulty was that the Germans were hundreds of miles still inside the USSR. The Germans continued scorched earth tactics as they retreated, slowing the advance as bridges, tunnels, roads and rail lines were rebuilt. Once Berlin was surrounded, the Germans began a non-stop march to the west, recognizing the war was lost. The Germans also gave up resisting II Polish Corps and allowed it to reach Lvov on 27 March 1944.
Troops of Seventh US Army met Russian troops near Brest-Litovsk on 29 April. First British Army met the Soviets at Grodno on 4 May 1944. With Hitler safely dead, Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring surrendered to the Allied powers at Konigsberg on 7 May 1944. The War in the East was lost 15 months earlier, after Stalingrad, and the Germans did nothing to reverse that verdict.