Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
October 23rd to October 25th 1939
My doctor has advised me that trying to work seven days a week following my head wound would not be good idea, so on Sunday I took the day off. It seemed a good idea to get out of the city to enjoy the last days of fine weather, so I took a train trip to Potsdam to visit the palace and gardens of Sanssouci. Who would think such an island of peace and tranquillity could remain only 25 kilometres from the centre of Berlin? My secretary Gisela had agreed to accompany me (in fact it was she who had persuaded me to follow the doctor’s orders), and we spent a pleasant day strolling in the parks under the bright, if slightly chilly, October sun. From the Belvedere auf dem Klausberg we could look over kilometres of park and forest, all at peace. After a remarkably enjoyable day, we caught the train back to the city, surrounded by young soldiers and their girlfriends. Back in Berlin, we had a simple dinner and I escorted Gisela home (I warned of the possibility of drunken soldiers on the streets). For the whole day the war was forgotten, and I don’t think I have felt so relaxed for years.
The Belvedere auf dem Klausberg
View of the New Palace from the Belvedere
Monday morning I was so refreshed I leapt into work with a vigour I had not felt since before the assassination attempt. Maybe those doctors were right after all. Gisela also appeared to have benefitted from the day in the open air: she seemed to be positively glowing with good health.
Of course the war had not stopped while I took a day’s break. The Kanzlei never closes and the production and delivery of paperwork continues day and night. I saw that yesterday General Alpers took command of the new 3rd Sturm-Marine-Division. He has been posted with his men to Odense to join the 1st Marinekorps. His orders are to ensure his division is fully supplied and ready for combat as soon as possible, as his unit may be called upon to take part in an opposed landing. Could an invasion of Norway or Sweden be the baptism of fire for these brand new marines?
There was a huge pile of new contracts that had been approved over the weekend. Obviously some staff in the Ministry of Armaments have been clearing up a backlog. Putting together all the myriad different purchase orders and requisition forms, I gather that two new infantry formations have been approved: a Gebirgsjäger division and a motorised division. In addition, equipment for an anti-aircraft brigade has been authorised. (From reports from the front, anti-aircraft guns are in short supply). The Luftwaffe will receive a geschwader of Messerschmitt Bf 109G fighters, presumably to be attached as protection to a bomber fleet. Finally, sufficient electronic material has been ordered to commence construction of at least three of the new “Freya” radar units.
Professor Hollman checks the assembly of radar equipment, a new parabolic antenna in front of him.
Also on Sunday, General Nehring completed the formality of claiming victory in Joigny. Bethouart’s 30th Infantry lasted less than a day when faced by the Panzer IIIs of 1st Panzer Division. Only 67 men were lost as we inflicted 201 casualties on the French. Nehring lodged his report only hours before General Köstring was finally able to defeat the combined Allied force in Toul. Köstring’s infantry had a very different experience to Nehring’s panzertruppen, as they had to launch assault after assault on a numerically superior enemy. General Hoth was not able to secure any reinforcements for his divisional commander, but 134.Infanterie (mot) has managed to overcome more than 34,000 enemy troops in prepared positions. General Roberts lost 938 men, compared to our 1,328, but the victory definitely belongs to General Köstring. General Hoth attached a side report in which he commended Köstring for achieving success even when denied the additional troops that the task required. A rare distinction for the elderly ex-cavalry commander, recalled from retirement to serve his country again. Few can have given so much in their military careers, from his enlistment as a young Uhlan in 1895, his severe wounds in the First War, to his years as a military attaché in Moscow. If only we had more such commanders, long on experience but still having the fire to lead men to victory against the odds. We old timers can still show the younger ones a thing or two!
Von Nordeck continued his run of success in the Channel, sinking two more ore carriers from Freetown. The Western Channel Approaches are becoming a graveyard for British merchant ships. It cannot be long before the Royal Navy is forced to increase its patrols in the area, and probably to assign more destroyers to convoy details. Several naval analysts have pointed to the absence of destroyer squadrons in the “Royal Sovereign” fleet: is the Royal Navy becoming overstretched?
It was disconcerting to hear that the French recaptured the province of Sens, taking advantage again of a temporary gap in our lines. If they can hold this area then some of the previously cut-off units may be able to escape. Local commanders responded quickly and as dusk fell on Sunday evening General Petzel ordered his 34.Infanterie to throw out General Hubert’s 26ème Division before it could get settled.
Having ploughed through Sunday’s documents, I was able to examine the events of Monday 24th October. Yet another garrison unit, 143rd Reserve Division, has been posted to Holland. General Ernst has been assigned the Eindhoven area, another centre of mining activity (including some manganese and tungsten mines), as well as a source of technical staff. I hear that a Wehrmacht recruitment office will be set up soon, hoping to sign up volunteers to join a Dutch unit for the Heer. Together with Brandt’s 221st Sicherungs Division nearby at Nijmegen, the new garrison unit should ensure inland Holland is safe from insurrection.
The unfortunate General Dorman-Smith is to be given no peace. General de Angelis has chased after him into Aix-en-Othe, where our 60.Infanterie (mot) will take on the fresh French 60th Infantry Brigade as well as Dorman-Smith’s badly mauled Belgians. Somehow the storms raging across France have missed Aix-en-Othe, and de Angelis is taking advantage of this break in the weather. Unternehmen Stahlknüppel is picking up speed, and talk around Berlin is already of a French collapse. If it were not for the presence of tens of thousands of British soldiers, we would already be at the Atlantic and probably not far from linking with the Italians to cut the country in half.
The debacle in Denmark has finally ended, as General Jahn has managed to extricate his 2nd Marine-Sturm-Division from Copenhagen. Overall we lost 2,601 men in this futile effort to evict the joint Scandinavian force, while they lost 1,712. Until we can deploy aircraft and are able to outflank the Swedes and Norwegians by landing in the rear, Copenhagen will remain held by the Allies. General von Rundstedt has been ordered by OKH to remove Copenhagen and Helsingör from the list of objectives for his Nordsee Army. I heard he was furious about what he sees as interference in his area of responsibility, but he is an officer of the old school, and will not disobey a direct order. He has been instructed to retain Slagelse, as it is essential we retain a foothold on the island of Zealand. Of course, relinquishing Copenhagen, even if only temporarily, exposes our Ostsee coast to the depredations of the Royale and the Royal Navy. The Kriegsmarine will not be allowed to mourn the loss of the “Admiral Scheer” – it has work to do to ensure that no invasion force can reach our shores.
During the day, General Model occupied Orléans. The French did not even attempt a token resistance – their divisions have kept retreating. Our intelligence is that the morale of the broken units is so low that the commanders are reluctant to even hold a defensive position.
Our soldiers admire the statue of Jeanne d’Arc in Orléans, the city having been captured without a shot being fired.
Von Nordeck is making hay while the sun shines. Until the Royal Navy deploys substantial assets to protect its convoys in the Channel area, our U-boats will continue to terrorise Allied shipping. II Unterseebootsflotte has notched another win off the Breton Coast, sinking a freighter bound for Kingston, Jamaica. Our information is that it was carrying supplies for the Royal Navy’s largest naval base in the West Indies.
On the morning of the 25th we heard that overnight General Revers has admitted defeat in the battle for St Dizier. His 4th Motor Brigade has evacuated the province, leaving the battlefield to General Feige and his 8.Infanterie. Casualties were about equal, 363 to 377, but the support of Friedrich-Willich’s 2nd Gebirgsjägers was critical. The flank attack from St Mihiel by another 10,000 elite troops was too much for the tiring French, and General Evers obviously decided to save his men for another day.
On the Channel Coast, General Biess has launched an assault of the city and port of Cherbourg. From what I gather, the feeling in the Heer is that he has jumped the gun a little, and that his 10.Infanterie (mot) is not really in a position to take on General Harvey’s 87th Brigade (mot) which is defending the city. Perhaps he hoped to take the British by surprise, in the same way our panzers have seized many French towns and cities. It seems the British are far more alert, and already Biess may be in running into trouble.
Having quickly sailed from the Breton Coast to the Western Channel Approaches, II Unterseebootsflotte added two more ships to its already impressive tally. Both vessels were Norwegian iron ore ships heading for Boston. The US customers will not pay for goods that fail to arrive, and this lack of foreign currency should impact Norway’s ability to pay for its imports, primarily oil. When the time comes to revenge our defeat in Denmark, hopefully we will find their navy, air force and mobile troops crippled from lack of fuel.
For the past two days Kesselring’s Stuka’s had been raining bombs on Dorman-Smith’s embattled men in Aix-en-Othe, gradually whittling away the resolve of the defenders. Their uninterrupted bombing campaign came to a halt when several hundred French fighters took them by surprise. Basset’s 14th and 21st Groupes de Chasse have been repaired and have rejoined the battle for the skies over France. They had a clear victory over Aix-en-Othe: although SG2 “Immelman” and SG 77 “Zeppelin” completed their mission, they did not carry out any further missions on the 25th.
Air Battle of Aix-en-Othe
Buoyed with success, Basset led his fighters to Sens, where Schwartzkopf was leading his own 2nd Taktischeluftflotte and Löhr’s 2nd Stukakorps in series of bombing attacks in support of General Petzel’s attack on 26ème Division. JG 70 “Sturm” was involved in several dogfights, but many of the enemy fighters broke through to the bombers, and casualties among the most vulnerable Stukas were high. Nevertheless, 34.Infanterie was able to rely on most of the bombers hitting their targets, and the ground attack continued as French strongpoints were neutralised by a combination of pinpoint attacks and pattern bombing. French casualties were reported to be very high, though not as high as achieved by Sperrle’s 1st Taktsischeluftflotte in Chaumont. If Sperrle’s Heinkels maintain their accuracy, General Beernaert’s force will disintegrate before his eyes. Already most of his units are below 40% strength (1st Guides cavalry regiment is at 35% of its nominal number of troopers), and the 3rd Carabiniers have lost more than three quarters of their armoured cars. Soon it will not matter how determined or well organised they are: they will have lost all ability to defend themselves. The fact that they have been abandoned by their French comrades does not seem to have reduced their will to fight, but how much can they take?
First Air Battle of Sens (4PM)
Schwartzkopf was not to be deterred by the French interceptors and in the evening launched a final attack on General Hubert’s men. Basset anticipated this move (have the French developed profiles of our commanders?) and was waiting. The attack was a disaster. Only about a third of the aircraft hit their targets (some of this can be explained by the darkness), and losses were high. Just two fighters from JG 70 were lost, but SG 2 “Hammer” reported 20 missing aircraft while SG 1 “Schwertz” was crippled. It now has only 55 of its 100 aircraft available for duty. The Heinkels of 2nd Taktischeluftflotte did not escape the carnage: “Blitz” lost 10 aircraft while “Geier” lost 5. Our estimate is that the French lost a total of 14 fighters.
Second Air Battle of Sens (10PM)
The sacrifice of the Luftwaffe was not in vain. Hubert had lost enough men (386 dead in ground combat) and abandoned the province. Petzel gratefully accepted the victory: there is no doubt that without the efforts of the bomber pilots his men would still be bogged down in Sens facing a resolute defence. His loss of 192 men would have been much higher. Air power won this battle, but unless our fighters start to oppose the enemy planes there must be a question as to how long our bomber geschwaders can absorb these losses. And the Allied fighters are getting far more experienced.
One of Basset’s surprises: the twin-engined Potez 631 has proved to be very effective against our bombers, though it fares badly against our fighters. Taken from one of 2nd Taktischeluftflotte’s Heinkels, the blurred photograph perhaps reflects the photographer’s uncertainty as to whether he will live to develop the film.
On the train home, I noticed that the evening newspapers concentrated on the victories achieved on the ground, rather than the problems that recent events have revealed in our fighter command. I suppose that a wartime newspaper editor doesn’t have the luxury of asking difficult questions. It is too easy for a load of newsprint to be held up or for an unexplained suspension of publishing rights. It doesn’t really matter: I am sure Ernst and his fellow pilots will be let off the leash soon.
Bombing Summary: 23rd October to 25th October
Luftwaffe
Chaumont: Kesselring with 1st Stukakorps (2 x Ju 87G):
130, 188, 181, 81, 52, 143
Toul: Sperrle with 1st Taktischeluftflotte (1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111):
105, 191, 117, 127
Joigny: Schwartzkopf with 2nd Taktischeluftflotte (1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111):
79
St Dizier: Grauert with 4th Taktischeluftflotte, 2nd Stukakorps (2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G):
122
St Dizier: Löhr with 2nd Stukakorps (2 x Ju 87G):
235, 195
Sens: Schwartzkopf with 2nd Taktischeluftflotte (1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111):
129, 198, 207, 231, 84
Sens: Grauert with 4th Taktischeluftflotte (2 x He 111):
126
St Dizier: Sperrle with 1st Taktischeluftflotte (1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111):
121
Aix-en-Othe: Kesselring with 1st Stukakorps (2 x Ju 87G):
77, 175
Chaumont: Sperrle with 1st Taktischeluftflotte (1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111):
121, 334, 280
Sens: Schwartzkopf with 2nd Taktischeluftflotte, 2nd Stukakorps (1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G):
111
Aix-en-Othe: Kesselring with 1st Stukakorps, 6th Taktischeluftflotte (2 x Ju 87G, 1 x Bf 10-9G, 2 x He 111):
177
Royal Air Force
Troyes: Joubert de la Ferte with Far East and Indian Groups (2 x TAC):
74, 193, 68
Montagis: Portal with 14th Fighter, 1st and 5th Tactical Bomber Groups (1 x MRF, 2 x TAC):
140, 136
Romilly: Joubert de la Ferte with Far East and Indian Groups (2 x TAC):
100, 45
Nemours: Joubert de la Ferte with Far East and Indian Groups (2 x TAC):
164, 114
Romilly: Portal with 14th Fighter, 1st and 5th Tactical Bomber Groups (1 x MRF, 2 x TAC):
112, 156, 193, 318
Carentan: Joubert de la Ferte with Far East and Indian Groups (2 x TAC):
125, 127
U
nternehmen Stahlknüppel at end of 25th October: note that de Lattre de Tassigny has taken his 4th Mountain Brigade out of the battle of Chaumont, leaving Beerneart’s Belgian cavalry to cover his retreat.
French-Italian border at end of 25th October: on the Swiss border St Claude has fallen to the Italians and it seems the French are abandoning the south.
Libya at end of 25th October: the Italians cut off east of Tobruk have surrendered to the Iraqis.
East Africa at end of 25th October: perhaps realising that their supply lines are threatened, Italian units close to Egypt have turned south.
