Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
8th August to 11th August 1939
When I arrived at work on the 8th, on top of my pile of overnight deliveries was a memo from an administrative officer in Kesselring’s Westwall headquarters. A dispatch rider had been injured while carrying messages from XII Armeekorps and as a result delivery had been delayed. Most of the messages were routine, but one came from General Petzel of 34.Infanterie. Yesterday, assisted by with 2nd Gebirgsjager Division, his men retook Saarlouis, though paying a cruel price: 1,201 men killed. The French put up a heroic resistance, losing 1,947 men themselves, but have retreated back through the forests of Cattenom.
Mountain troops of 2nd Gebirgsjager Division follow the retreating French to the forests of Cattenom
There has been a change of command in my brother’s 2nd Fliegerkorps. His commander since 1936/1937 has been Major-General Weise, an experienced officer who has performed well. It has just been noticed, however, that his training was as a bomber commander and that his skills lie more in that direction. He has been replaced by Major-General Felmy, recognised as a superior tactician who should get better results from the two Bf 109E geschwader.
More good news came via our listening posts in Portugal. Our submarines operating in the area are starting to have an impact, with Admiral Doenitz leading an attack on a convoy from Cyprus. He not only sank three cargo ships, but also destroyed one of the escorts. Things are definitely looking up for the U-boats, and should get better, as 3rd Unterseebootsflotte is preparing to set sail this evening. It is supposed to be top secret, but the Kriegsmarine forgets that sailors always let their loved ones know when they are about to set off to sea, whether it bethe use of a key phrase or a certain word. Plenty of the young women who work here have boyfriends, fiancés and husbands in the Wehrmacht, and some serve on U-boats. It is not hard to see the ones with tear-streaked faces.
One of the British merchantmen sinking after taking a torpedo amidships
In Holland, General Model’s 5th Panzers have crossed into Nijmegen, seizing the bridge intact. No regular Dutch units were present in the province, and the few soldiers on duty at the bridge did no more than close the gates. When the tanks turned up they wisely surrendered. The tanks sped across the flat land into Ede, where they were joined by General Nehring’s 1st Panzer. There was some fighting here but within hours the Dutch 2e Divisie was beaten and fled, losing 70 men for 12 Panzertruppen.
Bridge at Nijmigen: the Dutch closed the heavy gates, but with no troops to guard them, they were quickly re-opened.
Battle of Ede
The bad news for the day was yet another massive French counterattack. They seem to have an endless supply of fresh troops. Our men in Luxembourg, 2nd Gebirgsjager Division under Friedrich-Willich, are facing three full divisions from Metz and another from Cattenom. A fifth division is in reserve, unable to get into position to attack. Outnumbered more than five to one, the mountaineers will be sorely tested.
More success in France came the next day, though thankfully the casualty list was a little shorter, only 251 men this time, and the win was in St Wendel, where de Angelis has kept his word and thrown out the French tanks. What has mystified everyone is that we cannot identify the commander of the so-called 46th Infantry Brigade. None of our prisoners could give us his name or any details. It is as though the Brigade was leaderless. No doubt it is another Gallic subterfuge, like calling a tank brigade an infantry unit. Personally I find such things a little childish, and they do not reflect well on the French Army. Regardless, they took a beating, losing 567 men to de Angelis’s motorised and mountain troops: not impressive considering that they had quite a few medium tanks.
A Char B of 46th Infantry Brigade: although more than a match for our Pz IIIs, the French did not use these tanks well and our infantry soon had them on the run
De Angelis didn’t have time to rest on his laurels, as 60.Infanterie (motorised) was attacked by General Gott’s 54th Infantry (part of the BEF) as it moved through St Wendel. The Gebirgsjagers were still marching forward and the motorised troops were on their own, but de Angelis radioed that all was under control. He believes that the British are still shaken from their previous fighting, while his men are still at their peak. He can easily hold until reinforcements arrive, and in fact can probably push Gott back by himself. In fact de Angelis was, if anything, underestimating his own men: the British broke after only 4 hours, losing 52 men to our 23. 2.Infanterie (motorised) kept moving west.
The Dutch are now only capable of a series of delaying actions. In Breda, Ruoff’s motorised 2.Infanterie, 10,000 men strong, is not expecting much in the way of heavy fighting from von Geusau’s 8e Divisie. Our reconnaissance shows just over 3,500 Dutch holding the province, and with communications virtually non-existent in the Dutch forces, and our planes hitting anything that moves or fires, Breda will soon be ours.
As will be Zwolle. Another of our motorised units (Kostring’s 13.Infanterie) has discovered that the only unit facing it is 3e Legerkorps HQ, not even 3,000 men. General Kostring is a very aggressive leader: for their own sake I hope the Dutch do not put up too much resistance.
No surprises on the 10th August, though some of the officers had hoped that the Gebirgsjagers in Luxumbourg could have held a little longer: reinforcements were on the way. But with 1,219 men dead, Friedrich-Willich could not stay longer. Our mountaineers are well trained and courageous, but city defence is not what they prepared for, and towards the end they faced nearly 65,000 men. I must say that the Slovakian General Turanec received a lot of praise from not only General Friedrich-Willich but all the way up to OK West HQ for the way he committed his Slovakian militia to assist in the defence. Although knowing it was a hopeless cause, his men joined the fight and many of the casualties came from their ranks. When the shooting was over, though, the result was that the Tricolour flies over Luxembourg, and only 294 French were lost.
Or that was what we thought. Barely had we become resigned to losing Luxembourg, than a faint message was received from General Petzel’s 34.Infanterie communications officer. While the Gebirgsjagers were making a fighting retreat, buying time with their blood, the 34th had forced marched into the city. The whole division is now occupying the province, still blocking access to de Vedillac’s enormous army. Petzel is not sure how long he can hold off 50,000 men, but has asked for air support and any possible reinforcements or supporting attacks. Unfortunately for him, towards the end of the day the French escalated the attack to a major assault, keen to clear the defenders before fresh troops can arrive.
Victories in Breda and Zwolle were expected, and nobody thought the Dutch could hold a day, let alone longer. Ruoff lost 25 of his motorised infantry, while Kostring lost a single man. Dutch losses were 115 and 242 respectively. I knew the HQ soldiers would suffer if they tried to hold Kostring’s men – his reputation as an officer who loves to attack precedes him.
Again Minister Schacht’s boffins have delivered for him. The latest breakthrough is for our civil defence repair gangs. A mixture of new equipment, better organisation and motivation is predicted to speed repairs to installations and infrastructure by 5%. Seeing reports of the devastation being caused in the west by both heaving ground fighting and extensive bombing, we will need to move fast to get the provinces profitable again. Despite Schacht’s protests that his scientists could improve the speed even more, General von Blonmberg has grabbed them for another of his infantry projects: support weapons.
Liege has fallen. The city may have held out for 12 days in the last war (until the defences were pulverised by our “Big Berthas”) but it could only last 5 days against von Schweppenburg’s lechte Panzers. The defences protected the Belgians, who only lost 155 men to our 329, but they could not resist the steady advance. To the best of our knowledge, more than 20,000 Belgian soldiers fled the city, twice the number of men in von Schweppenburg’s 2nd Leichte.
A PzKpfw II of 2nd Leichte Panzer sits in a Liege square, the city now firmly under our control
In what must be one of the last battles before we can assault the Dutch capital, 4th Leichte is moving into the marshes of Amersfoort, where Hopner says the only troops he has met are HQ staff and attachments. One unit is the ill-fated 3eme Legerkorps, already mauled by Kostring’s motorised, the other is 2e Legerkorps. He hasn’t struck any decent anti-tank weapons, and expects minimal casualties as he clears the roads forward through the swampy terrain.
Bombing Summary
8th August
Liege: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G:
82
St Wendel: Lohr with 2 x Ju 97G:
31, 82
Ede: Sperrle with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
124, 150
Liege: Grauert with 2 x He 111:
207
Metz: Kitzinger with 2 x He 111:
143, 103
St Wendel: Dorstling with Bf 109G, 2 x Ju 87G, 2 x He 111:
120
Cattenom: Dorstling with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
162, 62
Liege: Muller-Michiels with 4 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
198
Liege: Udet with 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
139
St Wendel: Dorstling with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
82
9th August
Liege: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G:
43, 162, 72
St Wendel: Sperrle with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
58
Metz: Grauert with 4 x Bf 109E, 2 x He 111:
40, 56, 67
Cattenom: Sperrel with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
180, 168, 113
Liege: Dorstling with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
167
10th August
Cattenom: Grauert with 2 x He 111:
47, 138, 116
Zwolle: Dorstling with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
79
Liege: Kitzionger with 2 x He 111;
51, 155
Breda: Sperrle with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
82
Zwolle: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G:
130
Zwolle: Dorstling with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
142
11th August
Liege: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G:
32
Liege: Sperrle with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
148
Fall Gelb at end of 11th August
Westwall at end of 11th August
French/Italian border at end of 11th August: indications another attack is under way