Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
24th August to 27th August
The Dutch simply will not give up. Even after being unceremoniously thrown out of Alkmaar, General Seyffardt made a heroic if deluded attempt to regain the province. Of course it was just a waste of 27 lives: all of them Dutch. General Model’s Panzers were not troubled at all.
To recognise yet another a division that has achieved more than could be expected, 10.Infanterie (motorised) has been acknowledged as the heroes of the Battle of Bitburg. It is very unusual for such an honour to be bestowed while a battle is still in progress, but the more cynical point out it is easier to do than to send reinforcements. Whatever the reason, the division will now be known as the “Bitburg” division. For eight days it has held off more than five times its number, alone for most part (other than the Slovak militia). It must be remembered these are green troops, flung straight from initial training into one of the bloodiest battles of the war so far. I am sure General Bless (while privately wishing he had received a few fresh regiments) will tell his men they will be proud to be known as “Bitburgers” for rest of their military careers.
Taking full advantage of the forest cover, “Bitburgers” feed their MG 34, as the French mount yet another attack. How many times can they be expected to repulse the attackers?
There was a brief alarm when a message came in from Kitzinger that his planes were under attack over Den Haag, but sighs of relief followed when a subsequent radio update identified the attackers as French fighters. The French Mauraine-Saultier M.S. 406 is nowhere near as feared as the British Spitfires and Hurricanes, though some of the newer Dewoitine D. 520s have shown themselves to be more dangerous. In any event, this seems to have crystallised fears in the Luftwaffe because within an hour I saw a transfer order sent to 5th Fliegerkorps. It is now assigned to the Army of the Ardennes, and its two geschwader are to leave their Berlin bases as soon as practicable. Selfishly, my first thought was that this meant the capital would have no air cover, but reason prevailed. Why should two hundred front line fighters sit doing nothing while our bombers are defenceless? It is not as though a single enemy bomber has appeared over the capital. In fact, since war began, we have only had a handful of raids on the whole of Germany, and those were in the first weeks.
Air Battle of Den Haag: no Hurricanes this time
Just after dawn on the 25th General Engelbrecht rang General Dennerlein at the headquarters of the Osterreich Army. He has crossed the Dijile and the Belgians are on the run. Reading between the lines of the few words in the telephone transcript, his relief at finally breaking the enemy is readily apparent: I think he could see his career slowly draining away the longer he was kept at bay behind the river. From the casualty figures, he should probably have admitted that it was the Luftwaffe who broke the back of the defenders. Engelbrecht lost 446 men, while the Belgians lost 1058 during the battle. But I remember the estimates of enemy strength were that the Belgians had about 8,000 men in Leuven. As only about 4,000 are reported to have fled, that would indicate that the Luftwaffe bombing over the past 11 days inflicted three times as many casualties.
Engineers from the Pioniere regiment of 4th Gebirgsjagers cross the Djiile under heavy fire: it was the beginning of the end for the Belgian defenders.
With one battle over, another began. The Gebirgsjagers are pushing further into Belgium, and Friedrich-Willich’s 2nd Gebirgsjager Division has attacked the fortress city of Namur. Once more the mountain troops must cross a river before they can hope to dislodge the defenders, with Namur guarded by the Sambre and Meuse rivers. Word from Osterreich Army HQ is that a long drawn out battle can be expected.
Probably more important news is that General Guderian’s light tanks and motorised infantry are moving through the outer suburbs of Bruxelles. Aufklarungs-Abteilung probes indicate that the 3eme and 7eme Divisions holding the city have had their defensive capacity sharply reduced through combat and bombing, and total less than 7,000 men. Nevertheless, the city will not be an easy victory: the Belgians have shown already that they can be tenacious fighters.
Battle of Bruxelles
Found on a fallen Belgian soldier: his unit at its march out parade in Bruxelles (it seems to have been taken only days before the Belgians attacked us).
Late that night we heard that for the first time in weeks the Royal Air Force tried another strategic bombing raid. Dortmund was the target again, and the wisdom of holding back our interceptors was demonstrated when Waber met them with three geschwader of Messerschmitt “Emils”. Some of the attackers were shot down and the rest abandoned their mission. Investigation of the crash sites revealed disturbing information. This was a new unit, the Far East Group, not previously encountered. The RAF is building up its strategic bombing capacity.
Air Battle of Dortmund: a new Strategic Bombing Group
Two decisive victories in Holland and still the Dutch government will not surrender! The Konincklijke Landmacht is on its knees but refuses to give in. Both of the reports show that the Dutch cannot inflict comparable casualties: all they can do is delay our advance. Den Haag was the tougher battle, and even there we lost only 358 to the Dutch 1060. The fighting for Haarlem cost us only 7 soldiers while the Dutch had 440 casualties. Any reasonable government would conclude that the Dutch no longer posses an effective army and that avoid needless loss of lives they should lay down their arms. But they still block our every move.
While the Dutch resist, battles will continue. General Model has sent his panzers into the province at the tip of the North Holland peninsula, Den Helder. Although on paper the Dutch General Beernaerts has a motorised division, it comprises (according to aerial reconnaissance) barely 2,600 men. Beernaerts is a complete novice, and he is up against one of our best commanders. With no advantage to be gained from the flat terrain, 5th Panzer Division should steamroll them into the sea.
On the 27th the Wehrmacht announced that an Integrated Supply system had been developed and would be implemented immediately. This should not only increase the ability of our headquarters troops to handle armour attacks, but also will allow us more opportunities to encircle our enemies. The researchers, however, have not been allowed to continue this line of enquiry. There have been ever increasing demands for the cream of our youth. The Wehrmacht wants more and more officers, there is pressure to increase our scientific potential, and even von Neurath is asking for more diplomats. So the theorists are to examine the education system with a view to improving the quality of graduates. If successful we will be years ahead of any comparable education system.
But this was of minor importance. The big news was that OKH has decided that we cannot achieve our objectives in the west with the troops available. Our commanders are crying out for more divisions and the desperate resistance of the Dutch and the Belgians is tying up men who should be pushing forward to the French border. High level discussions must have been taking place for days, involving several Ministers, but the decision has now been made.
We will rely on our non-aggression pact with the Russians and transfer two korps from OB East to the west. (Well, we will still leave 10 divisions behind – we don’t trust the Communists that much!).
IV Armeekorps under General Hansen is to move to Eindhoven, while Fett’s IX Armeekorps is relocating to Liege. Eight fresh divisions should give our offensive a real boost, but it will be some time before they can arrive. Effectively the Army of Polen Army Sud will cease to exist, so General Bach-Zelewski has assumed responsibility for the border all the way to Hungarian occupied Poland. His Army of East Prussia is reassigning defensive priorities and units should start to move soon to cover exposed areas.
The reinforcements will not come too soon: later that afternoon Bitburg was lost to the French. General Bless and his men could wait for reinforcements no longer. This is a major defeat, and not just because of the 1,993 men who died defending the city. The loss of the airbase creates a huge problem for the Luftwaffe, already struggling to squeeze its thousands of planes onto airfields designed for far fewer. The blow to national prestige is severe, as we have considerable manufacturing assets in the province. In addition, the large population is a key recruiting ground for the Wehrmacht and its higher education facilities provide many of our brightest graduates. While the French paid a high price (2,767 men), the cost to us is immeasurable.
Not a good note on which to end the day. For the first time I detected doubts among my staff that we would be victorious in the West. Of course I stamped out any negative comments immediately (I don’t want the Gestapo to think I run a hot-bed of discontent!) but privately I must admit that my confidence in ultimate victory has been shaken by the loss of so many of our border provinces. I hope the next few days bring us better news.
Bombing Summary
24th August
Luxembourg: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G:
??, ??
Haarlem: Grauert with 2 x He 111:
72, 148, 93
Den Haag: Kitzinger with 2 x He 111:
69, 107,69
Leuven: Muller-Michiels with 2 x He 111:
78
Luxembourg: Schwartzkopf with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
103
Leuven: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G, 2 x He 111:
??
Leuven: Kesselring with 2 x Ju 87G:
??, 73
Luxembourg: Lohr with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
??
25th August
Luxembourg: Kesselring with 2 x Ju 87G:
??, ??, ??
Saarlouis: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G:
??, ??
Den Haag: Grauert with 2 x He 111:
67, 110, 85
Leuven: Muller-Michiels with 2 x He 111:
57
Saarlouis: Schwartzkopf with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
113
Leuven: Kesselring with 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
??
Luxembourg: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G:
??
Saarlouis: Lohr with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 1112 x Ju 87G:
??
26th August
Luxembourg: Kesselring with 2 x Ju 87G:
??, ??
Saarlouis: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G:
??, ??
Dan Haag: Grauert with 2 x He 111:
72, 154, 45
Namur: Muller-Michiels with 2 x He 111:
100, 119
Saarlouis: Schwartzkopf with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
95, 67
Namur: Kesselring with 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
??
Haarlem: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G:
101, 52
Saarlouis: Lohr with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
??
27th August
Bruxelles: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G:
32, 90, 71
Luxembourg: Kesselring with 2 x Ju 87G:
??, ??
Saarlouis: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G:
??
Namur: Muller-Michiels with 1 x Bf 109G, 4 x He 111:
190
Saarlouis: Schwartzkopf with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111:
124, 74
Namur: Kesselring with 1 x Bf 109G, 6 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
??
Luxembourg: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87G:
??
Saarlouis: Lohr with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G:
??
Namur: Muller-Michiels with 1 x Bf 109G, 6 x He 111:
159
Fall Gelb at end of 27th August
Westwall at end of 27th August
French-Italian border at end of 27th August: Corsica is now free of French regular units
Libya: the French are advancing unopposed
Egypt: the Italians have stopped at the border – concerned about the French presence behind them?
The Marshall Islands: the Imperial Japanese Navy seems to be carrying out major exercises in the area. Admiral Ushiroku’s three battle ships, two aircraft carriers (with four carrier air groups), eight heavy cruisers, four light cruiser and ten destroyer flotillas make an impressive display of naval power.
To the north east, Admiral Koga has a battleship, a carrier and an escort carrier (with three CAGs), a heavy cruiser and two light crusiers and four destroyer flotillas at sea. The lack of transports leads our naval attaché in Tokyo to believe that no hostilities are planned, but here in Berlin the Kriegsmarine analysts are not completely reassured: we hope our ally is not planning something rash.
