Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
1st August to 3rd August 1939
A brand new artillery brigade has been assigned to 18.Infanterie and is on its way to Cloppenburg where the unit is recovering after the successful Battle of Winschoten. The division will be fully integrated and resupplied by the time it is needed for the next stage of Fall Gelb. Unless, of course, Holland surrenders beforehand. With news of another victory, at Eibergen, that is possibly not too far away. What is promising is that we only lost 112 men while the Dutch lost 1,076, so maybe the Dutch will to resist is fading.
The Gebirgsjagers have finally got into action. There have been a few senior officers who were not happy about the fact that the 1st Gebirgjagerskorps was transferred to the south of the Westwall when it was intended to use them in Belgium. In my view, you can never understand the workings of OKH and it is not worth worrying. Perhaps they were more concerned about the French attacks than they let on? With Osterreich Army focussed on Bruxelles, General Hell is to force his way through the much fought over province of St Wendel. His 6th Gebirgsjager Division has its full complement of 10,000 officers and men, and is opposed by General Kiefer’s 3eme Motorised, which, although a veteran unit, has taken heavy casualties recently.
I was so busy clearing up after the end of month mess that the afternoon went by in a flash, with nothing but routine messages. My staff have all been working incredibly hard the past few weeks, so I indicated that for once I would not be concerned if any made an early Feierabend. Sometimes rules are meant to be relaxed.
Every important event seems to happen in the middle of the night! I am convinced that there is something the politicians and researchers love about midnight as without fail it is the time that they make their announcements. A little consideration for the rest of the population would be good.
This midnight announcement was from Denmark, and was no surprise: Fall Rache is over. We always thought that when we occupied the interim capital of Arhus (Muller’s 20.Infanterie marched in unopposed) the Danes would accept that further resistance was futile. The surrender was complete, and we have annexed the whole country, including Iceland and Greenland. How long we can keep those distant possessions is another matter.
As soon as the surrender documents were verified, a priority telegram went to General von Rundstedt at the headquarters of the Benelux Army. Lt General von Witzleben’s VIII Armeekorps is to be released immediately and transferred to Army of the Ardennes. There is to be no time to rest: it is essential to keep Fall Gelb moving.
If Fall Gelb does slow, it will not be the fault of General Leeb. Only a day or so after his victory in Winschoten, he is on the move again, this time attacking 3e Divisie in Delfzijl. Leeb’s 28th and 13th Divisions have obviously received replacements as he has 19,996 men available for the battle, while the Dutch have barely 5,000.
During the night another diplomatic announcement: Sweden is mobilising its army. The Cabinet asked for an urgent briefing note, concerned that the Swedes were about to join the Allies. Minister von Neurath was very quick with his response (a direct request from the Reichskanzler’s Office often has that effect). While Sweden sees the Reich as a grave threat, it has some similarities with our policies and has significant difficulties with some of the Allies. It has strong trading links with the Axis and, if anything, it is growing closer to our point of view. This is not to say that a strong diplomatic push by the Allies may not cause it to suddenly join the war against us (the memory of Belgium is still present), but it is not likely in the next few weeks. The crucial point, however, is that our military intelligence tells us that Sweden only has four infantry divisions at the most, so even if it did declare war, it is no real threat. Our navy can keep it bottled up and it does not have the capability to invade Denmark as long as we keep Copenhagen garrisoned.
A Swedish Stridsvagn m/37. We believe they have about 50 of these vehicles, armed with twin 8mm machine-guns. Although the Swedes do have a few vehicles capable of armoured warfare, there are not enough to cause serious concern.
With an assurance that Denmark (and therefore the Ostsee) is under control, the Luftwaffe has transferred 3rd and 4th Taktischeluftflotte from Benelux Army to Army of the Ardennes. As usual with the tactical bombers, we will need to wait a few days for them to adjust to their new bases before they resume regular bombing missions.
They may be needed soon, as Bitburg, a key industrial city and the site of our major forward airbase, is under attack. The French under Giraud have sent 3 divisions against General Bock, who has only his own 36.Infanterie and a Slovak militia brigade (though luckily for him 1st Gebirgsjager Division was passing through Bitburg as the attack commenced.) His report seemed quite nonchalant for someone seriously outnumbered and I worried about his attitude until a friendly military aide took me to a map and pointed something out. The French divisions are all attacking from Saarlouis, and we have units in two bordering provinces. If General Kesselring has any sense (and I understand he is a very experienced and capable officer) a counter-attack on both flanks will soon have the French on the run.
Thoughts of Bitburg were put to one side as a series of battle reports were received. The first was from Eupen where the Belgian Army took more punishment, though they are still holding together. Bock acknowledges 1,210 dead from his 36.Infanterie, against 2,042 Belgians. He mentions that at least one fresh Belgian division moved to the front to shield the beaten units as they retreated in disorder. He commented on the bravery and discipline of these troops who gave their lives so that the bulk of the Belgian Army could escape.
Comparing the date stamps on the documents (I believe I have already mentioned that my staff are under strict orders that every document be stamped as soon as it arrives in the office) General Bock was sending his victory report when the French attacked. He was even more fortunate than we first realised. No wonder he was relaxed in his report: if the French had attacked a few hours earlier when his division was committed against the Belgians he would have been in serious trouble. As it is, if he waits a few hours he should be OK. As they say, a lucky general is a good general.
The second victory brought some cheers from some of the military men present. Looking at their uniforms, it was easy to see they were all Panzer men, pleased that armoured units had shown their worth again. It was a decisive win. Despite having 18,000 men to defend Morbach, the French have been beaten in less than four days, and have lost 1,587 dead. Out of our nearly 80,000 soldiers that ended up committed to the battle, we lost only 548. I thought of mentioning that my brother’s unit had been in the battle but hesitated in case they thought I was just making it up to appear to be one of their group. And then the moment was lost. I hope Heinz is not one of the 548.
One of our Panzer IIs moves through a rubbled street. Our Panzertruppen are showing their inventiveness: frustrated by the low range of their vehicles (less than 140 kilometres off-road) they have attached a modified trailer with an extra fuel tank. To me it looks extremely dangerous. I don't think I'll ask Heinz if he has tried this: I think I know what the answer will be.
The final win was of course in Delfzijl, where the Dutch simply fell apart under Leeb’s attack. He only suffered 27 casualties while the Dutch lost 192 men before they broke. Considering that the battle began at 4PM yesterday, and was over by 8AM today, it looks as though Dutch resistance in the north of the country is over. Outnumbered, under-equipped and under continual air and sea bombardment, it is understandable that raw courage can sustain troops only so far. Unless the Dutch have a reserve of fresh, well-equipped divisions, then surrender cannot be far away.
The Dutch admit defeat in Delfzijl: trapped soldiers unable to retreat offer to surrender
The Battle of Saarlouis began earlier than I expected. Maybe Kesselring is more cunning than he is given credit for. Did he predict the French attack on Bitburg? Or did he have direct intelligence that it was to take place? Perhaps he will explain how within an hour of Giraud giving his men the order to advance into Bitburg, Kesselring ordered General Petzel to take 34.Infanterie and 2nd Gebirgsjager from Luxembourg into Saarlouis, hitting the French on the flank just as they engaged Bock’s men in Bitburg. Giraud will have a hard time disentangling his troops from this mess, and may suffer considerable casualties in the process.
It took just another two hours for Bock to contact Kesselring and the battle report to be sent to Berlin. Giraud has called off the attack on Bitburg and his men are desperately turning to adjust to the flank attack. Casualties were about equal (115 to 130) but as Bock states in his description of the battle, it could have been so much worse. He is just grateful that fortune smiled on him today.
The Luftwaffe reported clashing with French fighters over Metz, which is about as far forward as the Armee de l’Air can get its planes. Weise had no trouble in preventing them from getting near our bombers.
As dusk approached, a message from Wilhelmshaven arrived. Commander Fricke has taken 3rd Unterseebootsflotte into the darkening Nordsee, heading for the East Gibbs Fracture Zone. His mission is to concentrate on unprotected convoys and avoid combat if at all possible. We now have all 6 flotillas of our U-boats at sea. Knowing the odds against them, perhaps I should worry more about my brother-in-law Christoph than my brothers, who at least have a series of victories under their belts. While the French and Belgians are not push-overs, I don’t think they match the power of the Royal Navy. And I suspect that, like a lioness defending her cubs, the British will be ruthless when answering a call from a merchantman under attack.
Some of our submarines on the afternoon of the 3rd August: as soon as it is darker they will leave Wilhelmshaven and enter the dangerous waters of the Nordsee.
Bombing Summary
1st August
Eibergen: Udet with Ju 87G:
39
Eupen: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
70, 143
Morbach: Kesselring with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
74
Neunkirchen: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G:
29
Morbach: Muller-Michiels with 1 x Bf 109G, 4 x He 111:
114
Neunkirchen: Schwartzkopf with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
100
St Wendel: Lohr with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
121, 50
Morbach: Kesselring with 1 x Bf 109G, 4 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
75
Neunkirchen: Lohr with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
50
2nd August
Eupen: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
67
Morbach: Kesselring with 4 x He 111:
60
Morbach: Kesselring wit 1 x Bf 109G, 4x He 111, 4 x Ju 87G:
47
St Wendel: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G:
70
Eupen: Dorstling with 2 x Bf 109G, 4 x He 111:
143
St Wendel: Muller-Michiels with 2 x He 111:
122
Neunkirchen: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G:
76
Eupen: Sperrle with 2 x Bf 109G, 4 x He111:
146, 121
Morbach: Kesselring with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 4 x Ju 87G:
113
St Wendel: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G, 2 x He 111:
148
Morbach: Kesselring with 1 x Bf 109G, 4 x He 111, 4 x Ju 87G:
48
3rd August
Morbach: Kesselring with 4 x Ju 87G:
54
Eupen: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
156
Saarlouis: Grauert with 2 x He 111:
147, 89
The Luftwaffe attached an explanatory note to the bombing estimates. It acknowledged that the mass bombing raids attempted on Morbach had been counterproductive, that even an experienced leader like Kesselring had difficulty managing nearly a thousand aircraft in limited airspace. What was of more concern was that the following day (3rd August) several missions were not completed: although the planes left their bases intent on a bombing mission, their orders were confused and the units believed they were to carry out a rebase. As a direct result, enemy losses due to bombing were sharply reduced. No-one knows what caused this mix-up, but a close check will be kept on administrative procedures to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Denmark: Fall Rache complete
Fall Gelb at end of 3rd August
Westwall at end of 3rd August
The Italians have started to be a little more forthcoming with information. They have let us know that they have been building up their forces in Albania, in preparation for the recovery of Korce. (We have not told them that we are well aware of this, courtesy of the Yugoslav government and our own spies).
Greece at end of 3rd August
We have also been informed that the Italians have gone on the offensive in East Africa, seizing the French port of Daddato. They may have exaggerated their performance: from other sources we gather that the port was unoccupied.
East Africa at end of 3rd August
An Italian soldier and a Somali irregular raise the Italian flag over a captured strongpoint in Daddado. Needless to say, this photograph was provided by the Italian Embassy.
