Dr. Strangelove
Banned
From www.commonpedia.org/Battle_of_Brittany _(1940)
…after the fall of Paris and the german breakthrough towards Orleans and the Loire in late September, the german armies had finally succeeded in their goal of separating the French and british armies. With large French troop concentrations being surrounded in Lorraine and Champagne, the only allied forces capable of sustained resistance were now trying to reorganize south of the Loire. To gain time, british forces tried to resist in Bretagne, menacing the german flank.
…the Breton campaign was succesful in drawing many german troops away from the Loire front, but it only slowed down the german advance. However, when the germans took Brest in November 1, thousands of valuable elite german troops had been drawn away from the main advance towards Bourdeaux.
From A war to be won, history of the second World War, by Alan Millett; Harvard University Press, 2000
…Fall Rot was a pyrrhic victory for the Wehrmacht. In seven months of constant fighting, from the Belgian border to the Pyrenées, the germans lost 50% of their armoured forces, 65% of their fighter forces, and a staggering 70% of their bombers. Only the fact that the allied losses had been much worse, and that the allies were overestimating greatly the german capabilities, prevented the war from ending in 1940 out of exhaustion. Ironically, it has been pointed out that, had Churchill not put Britain into war footing in March 1939, the germans would have not done the same and their forces would have been too weak in 1941 to even attempt an invasion of Spain. This counterfactual must, of course, be taken with a pinch of salt. [1]
[1]This is how I deal with Alratan’s objection about Germany literally running out of tanks and planes in September. With Churchill and Reynaud waking up in March 1939, Hitler (OK, Speer) also decides to crank up the german industrial machine, with the result of the Wehrmacht having more tanks, planes and spare parts than in OTL. OK, this is too uncomfortably close to handwaving Alratan’s observation, but it is the best I could come up with.
…In mid-october, the rains stopped the german advance south of the Loire. By this time, the germans were finally enjoying numerical superiority over the entire front after hundreds of thousands of british and French troops had been captured or forced to evacuate to England.
…the last stages of this first battle of France, between October and late November 1940, were almost a return to 19th century warfare. With both sides’ armoured formations almost depleted, and aviation taking a lesser role with bad weather, the bulk of combat duties fell again over the infantry. During weeks, the ghosts of long trench lines, this time running from the Vendee to Savoie, haunted again both high commands. But, unlike 1914, the allies had lost too many men, too many equipment and was too disorganized to do little than withdraw towards Spain. La Rochelle fell in October 12, with Nantes and St Nazaire surrendering in October 15 after the French had destroyed the port facilities.
…In December 1940 the germans had lost almost half a million men in six months of vicious fighting[1]. This, coupled with the enormous losses of armour and aircraft, led the OKH to redefine the goals for 1941. Hitler started considering if the invasion of Russia could be delayed to 1942.
[1]that's four times the casualties they suffered in OTL between may and june 1940.
From Charles de Gaulle, by Ian Mitnick; Random House, New York, 1992
…With Paris fallen, the French government left Tours for Bourdeaux. Despite the staggering german losses, the allies could not stop their moment. De Gaulle was called to Bourdeaux in October 2, one week after the fall of Paris, and after his army had lost most of their tanks in the failed counteroffensive of Auxerre. By this time, the French armies guarding the Maginot Line were withdrawing and risked being encircled by the german spearheads that drove towards the Rhone.
…In Bourdeaux, De Gaulle found a demoralized government where an armistice with the germans was being seen as a viable option. Many generals did not like the idea of fighting a war in the behalf of the British and the anarchist rabble of Spain. Churchill’s negative to deploy the rest of the RAF in France to help win air superiority was not helping, even if, with hindsight, it seems obvious today that the Luftwaffe was already in the brink of collapsing as an offensive force.
…From the beginning it was clear that Pétain and De Gaulle could not be together in the same government. While the first was an outspoken proponent of armistice, the latter insisted that the fight had to be kept on. Debate kept going on for days, while the panzers, after a momentary stop to reorganize after the fall of Paris, crossed the Loire.
…In October 15, the French 2nd army group surrendered near épinal in Champagne. This was the last allied formation resisting north of the Seine, and it was by far the worst loss the allies had suffered, with 25 french divisions falling prisoners of the germans. When news of this defeat arrived to Bourdeaux, the Pétain faction pressed again for an armistice.
…Reynaud was during a very heavy pressure during these days. The german offensive and the fall of Paris had taken a very heavy toll on his morale, and his pronazi lover did not help things. Only De Gaulle’s staunch support was helping him to cope with increasing pressure to settle things with the germans.
…In October 21, with the german advance being bogged down by autumn rains, Churchill arrived to Bourdeaux from London via Madrid to discuss the situation in France. De Gaulle met with him and told that Reynaud was desperate and that he was in the brink of resigning.
From The Second World War, by Winston Churchill, 1951
…Reynaud confessed to me that he was losing whatever little support remained to him and that he would soon be forced to resign and that the Petainistes would then take over and force France out of the war. I brought him my continued reassurance that the Empire’s forces would forever fight to liberate France and end Hitler’s tyranny, as seen in the fresh Australian and New Zealand troops that were landing in Marseilles to prevent the germans from reaching the Mediterranean.
…During my stay at Bourdeaux, the city was bombed several times by the Luftwaffe. Despite the german advance being bogged down at a line that ran from La Rochelle to Lyon due to the autumn rains, the Luftwaffe could now attack anywhere in mainland France. The situation was really grim. Despite having inflicted terrible losses to the germans, the allied forces almost had no tanks or planes, and, with the French factories in german hands, and the british factories under aerial attack, we could do little but to withdraw in order towards the Pyrenées
from A Contemporary History of Spain (1808-2002), by Gabriel Burnsdale, Palgrave Ed. London, 2004.
…the end of the early republic began in October 25, 1940, when, after weeks of intense negotiation, the centre and centre right parties agreed to partake on a War government. The nazi menace looming at the other side of the Pyrenees had achieved the miracle of uniting groups that, only years before, literally hated each other to death.
…Together with the political squabbling, the menace of invasion also put a moratory to the Revolution. It was time to win the war, and the revolution could be kept up once Hitler had been defeated. Rationing of many commodities had been in place since August. The War Measures Act tried to copy the british model of total war industry, while the Defense of the Motherland Act declared a moratory on every anarchist activity and instituted an expanded Civil Service. By late 1940, Spanish society was fully working for the war effort.
From Trotsky, Stalin, Durruti, by George Orwell. Secker & Wartburg, London, 1953
…Trotsky had been working in the book for all of 1940 when he decided that the situation in Spain could turn ugly if the Nazis crossed the Pyrenees. The collapse of the allied armies in August had taken everybody by surprise, and it now seemed like the Panzer divisions could storm Barcelona in any moment.
…During 1940, I was a privileged witness of Trotsky’s inner dilemmas. I cannot even understand how hard must have been to slowly realize to see the futility of more than 40 years of struggle. His revolutionary youth in Russia, his friendship and split with Lenin, his escape from the Siberian prison, the long road towards the Revolution, the utopian dreams of 1917, the civil war and the creation of the Red Army, the fight against Stalin, and the long exile… all that effort wasted in what he was realizing was a false ideal. He lost weight, suffered from insomnia, and spent the days either frantically writing at his study or contemplating Barcelona from the plaza at Park Güell, surrounded by his bodyguards.
…With the fall of France, and with only winter preventing the Wehrmacht from entering Spain, Trotsky finally accepted Hemingway’s offer to move to his Havana house and left Barcelona in December, shortly after the Luftwaffe had started bombing the city.
…after the fall of Paris and the german breakthrough towards Orleans and the Loire in late September, the german armies had finally succeeded in their goal of separating the French and british armies. With large French troop concentrations being surrounded in Lorraine and Champagne, the only allied forces capable of sustained resistance were now trying to reorganize south of the Loire. To gain time, british forces tried to resist in Bretagne, menacing the german flank.
…the Breton campaign was succesful in drawing many german troops away from the Loire front, but it only slowed down the german advance. However, when the germans took Brest in November 1, thousands of valuable elite german troops had been drawn away from the main advance towards Bourdeaux.
From A war to be won, history of the second World War, by Alan Millett; Harvard University Press, 2000
…Fall Rot was a pyrrhic victory for the Wehrmacht. In seven months of constant fighting, from the Belgian border to the Pyrenées, the germans lost 50% of their armoured forces, 65% of their fighter forces, and a staggering 70% of their bombers. Only the fact that the allied losses had been much worse, and that the allies were overestimating greatly the german capabilities, prevented the war from ending in 1940 out of exhaustion. Ironically, it has been pointed out that, had Churchill not put Britain into war footing in March 1939, the germans would have not done the same and their forces would have been too weak in 1941 to even attempt an invasion of Spain. This counterfactual must, of course, be taken with a pinch of salt. [1]
[1]This is how I deal with Alratan’s objection about Germany literally running out of tanks and planes in September. With Churchill and Reynaud waking up in March 1939, Hitler (OK, Speer) also decides to crank up the german industrial machine, with the result of the Wehrmacht having more tanks, planes and spare parts than in OTL. OK, this is too uncomfortably close to handwaving Alratan’s observation, but it is the best I could come up with.
…In mid-october, the rains stopped the german advance south of the Loire. By this time, the germans were finally enjoying numerical superiority over the entire front after hundreds of thousands of british and French troops had been captured or forced to evacuate to England.
…the last stages of this first battle of France, between October and late November 1940, were almost a return to 19th century warfare. With both sides’ armoured formations almost depleted, and aviation taking a lesser role with bad weather, the bulk of combat duties fell again over the infantry. During weeks, the ghosts of long trench lines, this time running from the Vendee to Savoie, haunted again both high commands. But, unlike 1914, the allies had lost too many men, too many equipment and was too disorganized to do little than withdraw towards Spain. La Rochelle fell in October 12, with Nantes and St Nazaire surrendering in October 15 after the French had destroyed the port facilities.
…In December 1940 the germans had lost almost half a million men in six months of vicious fighting[1]. This, coupled with the enormous losses of armour and aircraft, led the OKH to redefine the goals for 1941. Hitler started considering if the invasion of Russia could be delayed to 1942.
[1]that's four times the casualties they suffered in OTL between may and june 1940.
From Charles de Gaulle, by Ian Mitnick; Random House, New York, 1992
…With Paris fallen, the French government left Tours for Bourdeaux. Despite the staggering german losses, the allies could not stop their moment. De Gaulle was called to Bourdeaux in October 2, one week after the fall of Paris, and after his army had lost most of their tanks in the failed counteroffensive of Auxerre. By this time, the French armies guarding the Maginot Line were withdrawing and risked being encircled by the german spearheads that drove towards the Rhone.
…In Bourdeaux, De Gaulle found a demoralized government where an armistice with the germans was being seen as a viable option. Many generals did not like the idea of fighting a war in the behalf of the British and the anarchist rabble of Spain. Churchill’s negative to deploy the rest of the RAF in France to help win air superiority was not helping, even if, with hindsight, it seems obvious today that the Luftwaffe was already in the brink of collapsing as an offensive force.
…From the beginning it was clear that Pétain and De Gaulle could not be together in the same government. While the first was an outspoken proponent of armistice, the latter insisted that the fight had to be kept on. Debate kept going on for days, while the panzers, after a momentary stop to reorganize after the fall of Paris, crossed the Loire.
…In October 15, the French 2nd army group surrendered near épinal in Champagne. This was the last allied formation resisting north of the Seine, and it was by far the worst loss the allies had suffered, with 25 french divisions falling prisoners of the germans. When news of this defeat arrived to Bourdeaux, the Pétain faction pressed again for an armistice.
…Reynaud was during a very heavy pressure during these days. The german offensive and the fall of Paris had taken a very heavy toll on his morale, and his pronazi lover did not help things. Only De Gaulle’s staunch support was helping him to cope with increasing pressure to settle things with the germans.
…In October 21, with the german advance being bogged down by autumn rains, Churchill arrived to Bourdeaux from London via Madrid to discuss the situation in France. De Gaulle met with him and told that Reynaud was desperate and that he was in the brink of resigning.
From The Second World War, by Winston Churchill, 1951
…Reynaud confessed to me that he was losing whatever little support remained to him and that he would soon be forced to resign and that the Petainistes would then take over and force France out of the war. I brought him my continued reassurance that the Empire’s forces would forever fight to liberate France and end Hitler’s tyranny, as seen in the fresh Australian and New Zealand troops that were landing in Marseilles to prevent the germans from reaching the Mediterranean.
…During my stay at Bourdeaux, the city was bombed several times by the Luftwaffe. Despite the german advance being bogged down at a line that ran from La Rochelle to Lyon due to the autumn rains, the Luftwaffe could now attack anywhere in mainland France. The situation was really grim. Despite having inflicted terrible losses to the germans, the allied forces almost had no tanks or planes, and, with the French factories in german hands, and the british factories under aerial attack, we could do little but to withdraw in order towards the Pyrenées
from A Contemporary History of Spain (1808-2002), by Gabriel Burnsdale, Palgrave Ed. London, 2004.
…the end of the early republic began in October 25, 1940, when, after weeks of intense negotiation, the centre and centre right parties agreed to partake on a War government. The nazi menace looming at the other side of the Pyrenees had achieved the miracle of uniting groups that, only years before, literally hated each other to death.
…Together with the political squabbling, the menace of invasion also put a moratory to the Revolution. It was time to win the war, and the revolution could be kept up once Hitler had been defeated. Rationing of many commodities had been in place since August. The War Measures Act tried to copy the british model of total war industry, while the Defense of the Motherland Act declared a moratory on every anarchist activity and instituted an expanded Civil Service. By late 1940, Spanish society was fully working for the war effort.
From Trotsky, Stalin, Durruti, by George Orwell. Secker & Wartburg, London, 1953
…Trotsky had been working in the book for all of 1940 when he decided that the situation in Spain could turn ugly if the Nazis crossed the Pyrenees. The collapse of the allied armies in August had taken everybody by surprise, and it now seemed like the Panzer divisions could storm Barcelona in any moment.
…During 1940, I was a privileged witness of Trotsky’s inner dilemmas. I cannot even understand how hard must have been to slowly realize to see the futility of more than 40 years of struggle. His revolutionary youth in Russia, his friendship and split with Lenin, his escape from the Siberian prison, the long road towards the Revolution, the utopian dreams of 1917, the civil war and the creation of the Red Army, the fight against Stalin, and the long exile… all that effort wasted in what he was realizing was a false ideal. He lost weight, suffered from insomnia, and spent the days either frantically writing at his study or contemplating Barcelona from the plaza at Park Güell, surrounded by his bodyguards.
…With the fall of France, and with only winter preventing the Wehrmacht from entering Spain, Trotsky finally accepted Hemingway’s offer to move to his Havana house and left Barcelona in December, shortly after the Luftwaffe had started bombing the city.
