Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
28th and 29th June 1939
That feeling that something was not right was still with me as I walked from the Bahnhof to the Reichskanzlei building, passing the Foreign Ministry at 76 Wilhelmstrasse. Unusually for this time of the morning (diplomats keep very civilised hours) there seemed to be a lot of activity there, and I am positive I saw one of Minister Frick’s advisors going through the main doors. I am sure I’ll find out what is happening very soon.
Good news spreads fast: by the time I reached my office I had been told at least four times of General Guderian’s victory. He is never shy and I have no doubt that as well as the official report there were a few private messages to let people know of his success. The Poles must have been waiting for midnight because he reports that from time his men met no resistance in Zdunska Wola. Losses low (179 men), victory clear (506 enemy killed) and a province captured quickly and with no fuss. This is how anyone who has read the General’s pre-war writings would have predicted he would operate.
Guderian’s win would have probably been the topic of conversation all morning (he would have very pleased about that!), but his victory was trumped by General Barckhausen. He has captured Lodz! The city is re-united with the Reich. Unfortunately few of the German residents of 1918 are still there, but maybe they will return now. More important, I suppose, is that the capture of the third largest city in Poland must further weaken the Polish Government’s resolve. The fact that it fell so quickly may be an indication of the faltering morale of the Polish troops. They are realising that the French attacks in the west will not halt the conquest of their country. I nearly overlooked the casualty report: only 19 men lost! Admittedly it was an easy fight (the Poles lost a mere 88 men) but to take such a significant target for so little cost is very impressive.
A last attempt by the Poles to hold Lodz: committing their only fighters to battle over the city. Unfortunately for Kalkus, our interceptors were ready for him.
Klobuck was the topic of the only other important document on my desk. Von Kuchler has been given command of 2nd Leichte Panzer Division as well as his own Falkenburg division and ordered to evict Grznot-Stotnicki’s Mazowiecka Brigada Kavelerii. It is quite unusual for an infantry leader to be given command of an armour unit: von Kuchler has impressed the powers-that-be. This should be another swift victory, with the tanks racing from Tarnowskie Gory and the Falkenburgers moving from Lubliniec the Polish cavalry have little hope on the open plains of Klobuck.
That was all the excitement for the day. As I worked way on routine tasks, however, I did pick up a few pieces of conversation as people passed my door. I also noticed that the Cabinet Room was being prepared for a meeting. A few casual questions and a short chat with Gisela (secretaries know everything) and I knew something was brewing. An emergency Cabinet meeting had been scheduled, and according to Gisela the initiative to call the meeting had come from von Neurath’s office. The Fuhrer himself was attending, and several of Minister Frick’s Intelligence officers were on the list of invitees. What was even more interesting was the Foreign Ministry’s delegation. (It is amazing how easy it is to find out this information: one of Gisela’s secretary friends had been given the job of organising the nameplates for the invitees).
Anyway, other than the normal attendees, the Foreign Ministry was to be represented by the Head of the Belgian desk, with several of his staff. A quick phone call and I confirmed that the Intelligence officers listed to attend were all experts on Belgium. What can it mean? The last I heard the Belgians were decidedly neutral, and had some marked differences in policy to the Allies. Perhaps we are preparing to invade Belgium to flank the French attacking the Westwall? Or maybe we are going to seek permission to cross their territory? That would seem unlikely as Belgian neutrality would prevent our supplying any troops that crossed into France that way.
It gave me a lot to think about that night. Still, the Cabinet meeting was not designated “top secret” so I could expect to see the minutes the next morning.
Being keen to find out what was going on, I left for work so early that there were very few people on the streets. I was within a few streets of the Reichskanzlei when I saw a newspaper vendor with an early edition. I heard him yell something unintelligible that included the words “Belgien” and “Krieg” and thrust 10 pfennigs in his hand and grabbed a paper.
The newsprint was still damp, evidence of how recently this edition had been printed: probably within the hour. But for once I was not worried about ink-stained fingers and quickly scanned the front page. We have been stabbed in the back! Belgium has repudiated its declarations of neutrality and joined the Alllies! At midnight the new Belgian Prime Minister, Hubert Pierlot, and the new Foreign Minister, Paul-Henri Spaak joined with the King to announce that a military alliance with France and the United Kingdom has come into effect! Belgium is as a consequence at war with Germany, Italy and our other allies.
A newspaper photograph of King Leopold III and the Minister for War, General Denys, inspecting one of the Belgian Army’s British made T-15 tanks. Our military experts say that although its only armament a 13.2mm machine gun, with our own tanks unavailable it could be a significant threat.
I sprinted to my office and riffled through the papers looking for the minutes of the meeting: they weren’t there. Of course, for a Cabinet meeting there are checks and protocols that have to be performed before the minutes can be released. It will be an hour or so before I see what was discussed.
Already, however, I can see some of the results. Among the papers I have shuffled out of the way I spotted a single sheet date-stamped 1AM this morning. Signed by the Fuhrer and General Blomberg, it authorises the creation of the Army of Belgium. It is made up of divisions along the south of the Westwall. 16th, 17th and 30.Infanterie are now under the command of General Geib, a known expert in defence. The new Army has been assigned to Benelux Army Group, but it may take a while for the new headquarters to get things moving.
No matter how fast it moves, the new Army could not affect the events of the next few hours. The Belgian General Daufresne de la Chavalier has ordered three infantry divisions to attack from Eupen, the target being General Haase’s two divisions in Bitburg. Haase is completely unprepared for this: his men are busy assaulting the French in Saarlouis and have been fighting for days. There are some shocked faces among the military attaches, but there is also a growing anger and determination to respond to this affront to our pride.
Finally the minutes arrived, and I could get an idea of what was really going on.
While it is clear that the minutes are not verbatim (and in fact have been quite sanitised), some of the emotions raised during the meeting can be detected. Von Neurath and Frick got straight to the point: their agents and diplomats had found out 24 hours before the Belgian announcement that a major change in policy was in the wind. Unfortunately we have neglected our spy networks in Belgium over the last year as we had more pressing need for operatives in other countries. (French speakers were in big demand, and we don’t have many Walloon speakers). As a result we found it difficult to discover what was intended, and when we did find out that Belgium was about to declare war, it took a little while to confirm such a major change.
It is easy to tell that the Fuhrer was furious. And he was not alone. The military men were also upset that the Belgians could so lightly drop their neutrality policy – apparently they felt that such behaviour was not that of “an officer and a gentleman”. The Fuhrer’s anger, however, extended to our lack of warning of this bombshell. How could we not have seen this coming?
Von Neurath’s only explanation was that the all the information we had was that the Belgians were a long way from having any policy similarities with the Allies. What seems to have been overlooked was how threatening the Belgians perceived us to be. Apparently fear that we were going to attack them overshadowed the differences with the Allies, and the Belgian government felt that the population demanded action. There were a lot of unanswered questions but it is clear that both von Neurath and Frick were very keen to move the topic to our response.
A Foreign Ministry diagram showing Belgium’s political position: we have been misled by the apparent difference in policy between the Belgians and the Allies.
Several Ministers tentatively suggested an approach to the Poles, but a few words from the Fuhrer put an end to any thought of buying peace with Poland. On the contrary, he forbade any reduction in the Wehrmacht forces in the east. The Belgians must be held with what was available in the west. He argued that the Poles were on the brink of collapse, and that to relax the pressure would delay their surrender. It was essential that all commanders were clear that Poland must fall quickly. Any general who did not keep moving east as fast as possible was to be recalled to Berlin to explain why. There was no need to say another word.
Having stated that OB West (and Heeresgruppe West) were to handle the situation, various alternatives were considered. It was decided that the new Belgian Army would be set up, using troops from the Westwall where it was felt we could reduce the number of defenders without too much risk. In addition, Fall Rache would be placed on hold. As soon as Sonderborg is ours, the Marinekorps would hand back 50.Infanterie to XI Armeekorps and head west, to be used as a “fire brigade”. Protests from Grossadmiral Raeder that the Sturm Marines would be wasted in such operations were ignored. The Marines would move southwest as soon as possible. There were to be no “administrative problems” or other delays. General Halder was to report on progress directly to General Blomberg.
Finally, units in the process of being formed would be assigned directly to the Benelux Army, regardless of their intended use. A motorised division would be ready in a week or two, and as soon as it was supplied it was to be sent to the front.
Of course, when the Poles capitulated, we would transfer our best units west and go on the offensive. Immediately conflict ended, every plane was to rebase. Reichsmarschall Goering tried to interrupt to explain that the airfields could not handle so many aircraft, but it was not a good time to point to his own incompetence. The aircraft would move, the Marschall would make it work. Within hours of the cessation of hostilities, every motorised and armour unit would head west. In addition, the whole of the Army of Polen Nord and the Osterreich Army would be transferred to Heeresgruppe West. Security and border protection would be covered by the Army of East Prussia and Army of Polen Sud (both having released their mobile divisions). Procedures were to be set in place to allow for rapid rail and road transport.
Reading the minutes, it is clear that there was no discussion: these were directives. Possibly some of the Ministers were relieved that they did not have to make suggestions, just follow orders. I hope this submissive attitude does not lead to problems in the future.
The last item was directed at Ministers Goebbels and Frick: the regular end-of-month Cabinet meeting would be tomorrow and they would be expected to provide a full report on our new foe. They would also be expected to provide an assessment of the current Dutch position. To be stabbed in the back twice would not be a good thing in the Fuhrer’s view. There was wholehearted agreement from all the Ministers (though I suspect the two Minister’s who would be blamed in the event of such a surprise were not as happy as the others).
When I had finished reading the minutes I felt a bit better. While the Belgian betrayal was a disaster, adding to our problems in the west, at least we have a plan and a determination to see things through. It is a relief to think that some-one is in control.
It was after lunch that the real impact of the Belgian intervention became apparent. We have admitted defeat in Saarlouis. With our divisions in Bitburg under attack from the Belgians, there was no way we could maintain the assault. The death toll was horrendous: we have lost 5,312 men in this one battle. The French have also suffered heavily, losing 5,376. I shudder to think what it must have been like as 30,000 of our men clashed with 70,000 French soldiers. The only comparison I can think of is the bloodbaths of the last war. This was not what we planned. Rather than head to head battles of attrition we were to have swift armoured thrusts leading to the collapse of the enemy with little actual combat. The sooner our mobile units can reach the Westwall the better.
Barely had news of our defeat been received when we heard that General Bock’s 36.Infanterie was under attack in Saarlouis. He was moving to reinforce the battle and our communications system must have broken down as he was unaware that we had called off our attack. He has blundered into the advancing French and is facing 2 divisions, with more on the way.
Von Kuchler can be relied upon to deliver good news, and his report from Klobuck was the one ray of hope on a dark day. He has completely smashed the Polish cavalry, inflicting 655 casualties for loss of only 78 men. While it seems a long time since he commenced the attack, it is in fact only 30 hours ago. I can imagine that General Blomburg is making sure the Fuhrer sees this report: it will give his reputation a boost at a time when several other ministers are under a cloud.
At least the Luftwaffe has struck back in the west, intercepting two French fighter Groupes over Metz. Hundreds of our fighters soon drove the French back to their bases.
Just as we were closing off our records for the day, a last report was rushed from the telegraph room. Another successful general, Ott, has moved east into Pruszkow. His way is blocked by Haller de Hallenburg with 4 Dywizjon Piechoty. General Ott’s divisions are both motorised and he predicts that he will clear the enemy out of the way quickly. The Fuhrer’s desire for swift action must have permeated to divisional level already, as he emphasises that he wants to keep moving and his units will only stop if absolutely necessary. Nobody wants a trip to Berlin if it involves a meeting with the Fuhrer to explain why you have failed to obey a direct order.
With that we completed the day’s work and I left my skeleton night shift to their duties. It seems my premonition was correct: while we had stripped the Belgian and Dutch borders of troops to repel the French, we had neglected to monitor the political mood of the Belgians and had paid a heavy price. And I suspect we will be paying it for some time yet.
Bombing summary
28th June
Zdunska Wola: Grauert with 2 x He 111:
89
Saarlouis: Sperrle with 1Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
115, 101, 126, 78
Wissembourg: Dorstling with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
125, 105, 112, 57
Ostroleka: Muller-Michiels with 2 x He 111:
87, 108, 79, 122
Zdunska Wola: Grauert with 4 x He 111: 4 x He 111, 2 x Bf 109D:
99
Lodz: Kesselring with 4 x Ju 87B:
97
Klobuck: Graueret with 2 x He 111:
88
29th June
Wissembourg: Dorstling with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
102, 99, 90, 57
Saarlouis: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
126, 120
Klobuck: Grauert with 2 x He 111:
98, 102
Ostroleka: Udet with 2 x Ju 87B:
97, 116, 54
Johannisburg: Kesselring with 2 x Ju 87B:
57, 62, 20
Fall Weiss at end of 29th June
Westwall at end of 29th June
French-Italian border at end of 29th June – the Italians are using their total control of the air to good effect, heavily bombing the French in the Puget-Theniers region. Is this softening them up for attack? Our analysts note that a French armour unit that had been heading north is now moving south.
