Part I- Chapter VIII: The Great Bombardment - And a Decision
The following is an excerpt from Albrecht Speer’s best-selling book: The Rise and Fall of the Third French Empire, and the Beginnings of the Modern World. It was published after the Great Revolution and the Lebrun Government.
“By February 22,1936 the French Armies were digging in at Brussels, Antwerp, Mons, Metz and Luxembourg, as the French Air Force prepared to use their advantage in planes against the Belgians. However, the weak 2. Infanterie Armee under General Weygand was pushed out of Luxembourg by a Belgian Mountain and two Infanterie divisions on the 24, before the bombing could begin. Weygand was forced to retreat to the area around Strasbourg. Here he joined up with two divisions of the 15. Infanterie Armee, or the Maginot Line Armee.
After weeks of fighting in Luxembourg French soldiers such as these were forced to retreat.
Weygand believed that he would be able to drive the Belgians back, but only with the full two divisions of the 15. Armee and help from the 6. Infanterie Armee. Field Marshall Gamelin agreed, as did Generals Doumenc and Colson (Commanders of the Sixth and Fifteenth Armees). However, at the last minute then-President Leburn intervened. He was still worried about Germany, and only ended up releasing to Weygand the 54. Infanterie Division. He ordered Doumenc to likewise only support the attack with a brigade of Artillery. With only four divisions and limited air support, Weygand’s assault on February 28 failed. The Belgians had been able to bring up more divisions as the French High Command bickered. Grand Duchess Charlotte returned to Luxembourg City the next day, as the Belgians continued to hope for support from Hitler.
Despite a strong counter attack by the 2. Armee, the Belgians were able to dig in and defend Luxembourg City.
The defeats at Luxembourg City were preventable; at the very least the counterattack. If Lebrun had allowed the Sixth and Fifteenth Armees to support the counter attack the French might have won, along with air support. Although such a victory may look minor today, it would have meant a lot more. The 3. Infanterie Armee would have been able to advance into Arlon from Reims with their flanks secured, facing no Belgian divisions. This would have opened the way North and across the Meuse. The Armies in Flanders could then have advanced on Namur and then Liège, with armoured support in only a few weeks. The Belgians might have then sued for peace, before the intervention of the foreign powers. France might have gained the Kongo, thus avoiding a second war with Belgium. But as I dream on about what could have happened, we must get back to what really happened. The following map shows the French Positions before the ‘Great Air Bombardment.’
French Positions on February 30, 1936. The Bombardment would last until March 7.
And so France put her future in the hands of her air force. For day after day France’s tactical bomber wings, five in all, bombed position after position. On one day alone the French took out an entire Infanterie Brigade, while in Luxembourg City completely destroyed the Belgian 9. Infanterie Division. Belgian morale sank very low, as civilians tried to flee to the countryside and escape the cities. The Australian Air Force, along with two RAF Strategic Bomber wings also joined in. It was the RAF that had the biggest impact on the Belgian Economy, and indirectly the Belgian Army. By bombing Belgian factories, the Belgians were unable to send any supplies, as the Belgian transportation network and infrastructure crumbled. The Belgian Air Force was meanwhile powerless to do anything, as the Armee des Alps had taken its last major airfield at Antwerp on February 26.
A pair of Amiot 143’s on their way to Arlon for another bombing run. The 143 was France’s main bomber in 1936 and 1937.
A few examples of the many bombing runs launched against Belgium by the RAF and the Armee l’Air in March 36.
However it was during the middle of the bombardment that an important event happened: for Lebrun’ worse nightmare had happened. The following interview with former Chief of the Air Force Victor Denain shows Lebrun’s reaction, and how history could have been changed.
“I was with the Emperor that night. I had just informed him that our bombardment was over, and that we had completely destroyed several divisions, especially in Namur and Arlon. We were joking, as he had dinner and invited me to sit down. We were talking about further research with Amiot to improve the 143 when then-Prime Minister Sarraut and Foreign Minister Flandin, Gamelin following behind, entered the room. They quite simply handed Lebrun the folder and said ‘It’s happening.’ The room was silent, with only the sound of Paris outside heard. Emper- I mean Lebrun, broke the silence.
‘What do we do?’
–Victor Denain in an Interview with Albrecht Speer
I think those word sum up what the world was like for the French in this moment.
Yet again it is not like I was Armaments Minister for Germany, traveling to Berlin to see the Führer one last time like Hjalmar Schacht. I was an architect, who worked for many nations in my life- from France to Germany to Poland."
Germany had re-occupied the Rhineland.
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