Part XVII: The "Shtilkhome"
While the French, British and Commonwealth armies were being mobilized, the Polish army was getting the full attention of the German Wehrmacht. The German assault marked the first use of the so-called "Blitzkrieg" (German for "lightning war") military doctrine, which combined speed with power in order to break through enemy lines without regard to the flanks. The high speed that was involved was to keep the enemy unable to respond effectively in time. The German air force, the Luftwaffe, immediately achieves air superiority and begins destroying Polish communications. In the meantime, the Polish defense falters, and the Wehrmacht forces the Polish armies to retreat towards Warsaw and Lwów. Within a week, the Polish Corridor, Upper Silesia and Posen are abandoned and Marshal Edward Rydz Smigly orders a general retreat towards the so-called "Romanian Bridgehead" in the southeast of the country on the 10th of September. With 85% of its total armoured forces engaged in Poland, Germany's western flank was exposed to Allied attacks. On the 7th of September, in an attempt to relieve the Polish army and in preparation for a 40-division full offensive into Germany, eleven divisions of the French Second Army Group advance into Germany near Saarbrücken. Little German opposition is met, and more than 12 villages and towns are captured. After stumbling upon a heavily-mined German territory, the French forces, lacking mine detectors are forced to halt on the 12th of September 1939. The French troops retreat to their home country.
[German troops invade Poland]
With the Japanese-Soviet conflict over Manchuria ending with a ceasefire on the 16th of September 1939, the Red Army enters eastern Poland on the next day, using the claim that they are protecting the Ukrainian and Belarusian minorities as an excuse for the breaking of many bilateral and multilateral international treaties. The Polish defence had already been broken by the German forces and eastern Poland is quickly taken. By October Poland is defeated. The next victim of Soviet aggression is Finland, where the Red Army’s 21 divisions are successfully countered by the tactically superior and better equipped Finnish troops. After a long stalemate, Soviet reinforcements break through the Finnish Mannerheim line and by March a peace treaty is signed with Finland ceding strategic areas to the USSR.
[Left: Poland as divided between its neighboring countries. Right: Territories ceded by Finland]
A period of seven months would follow Poland‘s defeat, one marked by military inactivity on the western front, known in English as the “Phoney War“, in French as the “Drôle de guerre“ (“funny war“), in German as the “Sitzkrieg“ (“sitting war“, a wordplay on “Blitzkrieg“), in Afrikaans as the “Skemeroorlog” (“twilight war”) and in Yiddish as the “shtilkhome“ (a play on the words “shtil“ and “milkhome“, meaning “silent“ and “war“ respectively).
In April 1940 however, the so-called “Unternehmen Weserübung“ is launched by the German Reich – the invasion of Denmark and Norway. The operation was decided upon after German intelligence had become aware of the Allied plan (Operation Wilfred) to mine the Norwegian waters in order to prevent the transport of iron ore from Sweden to Germany and the plan (Plan R-4) to subsequently capture Narvik, Trondheim and Bergen in case of a German reaction. Denmark surrenders shortly after the invasion commenced and in Norway, only the northern territory around the harbour of Narvik can be held by British, Norwegian, French and Polish troops. Prime Minister Chamberlain is forced to resign as a result of constant attacks against him within the government, and King George VI appoints Winston Churchill as his successor.