“The confident feelings among the Panzertruppen are based chiefly upon our superior combat elan and only secondly on our fire power. The total of gun armed Panzers is less than those allocated to the French Forces. Improvement is necessary in these areas.”
OBERST KUEHN, 3RD PANZER BRIGADE, JUNE 6 1940
Grenadiers advance past a knocked-out allied tank. The unpopular riveted construction of many of the early war tanks can clearly be seen in this example.
Among Germany’s enemies dismay and apprehension reigned. Their disquiet was well founded. The next display of German military expertise, code-named ‘Exercise Weser’, was to be equally ruthless. Norway and Denmark were both neutral countries. Their strategic importance became crystal clear, however, when Hitler realised that Germany’s supplies of iron ore from Sweden could easily be severed by an allied invasion. On 7th April German forces launched their invasion of Denmark and Norway by land, sea and air, to grant those countries the euphemistically phrased ‘Protection of the Third Reich’. The Wehrmacht swept over the border into Denmark, and as troops landed at Copenhagen the Luftwaffe circled ominously overhead. Denmark had no choice but to accept an ultimatum and surrendered early on 9th April to its mighty neighbour. Norway had last seen a war in 1814 and was totally unprepared for the invasion.
Destroyers protected by the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau transported mountain troops to Trondheim and Narvik, where they were landed by amphibious craft, and similar landings took place at Oslo, Kristiansand and Bergen. Once again the speed of German activity had rendered the plans of her enemies ineffective. Three of the experimental heavy tanks, Neubau-Panzerkampfwagen IV, were deployed during the short campaign in Norway, but although they did see some action, the real purpose was the propaganda value. This was to be the one and only deployment of the Neubau-Panzerkampfwagen IV in action. From now on only the Panzer IV would be deployed in the infantry support role.
The door to Scandinavia was now slammed in Britain’s face and, buoyed with success, the Führer confidently focused on a more glorious prize than any he had yet attained - France.
France was Germany’s ancient enemy and had been her humiliator at Versailles. Hitler initiated planning for ‘Fall Gelb’ - Case Yellow.
Case Yellow was repeatedly postponed. The delay was put to good use, as an intensive study of the Polish campaign was undertaken. The role of the armoured divisions and the other Blitzkrieg components came under particular scrutiny. One of the men eager to discover what improvements could be introduced was Heinz Guderian.
Since the Great War Guderian had worked extensively with wireless, and gained invaluable experience in the deployment of infantry, artillery and aircraft. He had a clear vision of the force he wished to create. He had won the battle to ensure that his tanks would be concentrated in armoured divisions, not dispersed in small numbers. They would be spearheads of a single, large military formation, also encompassing aircraft, artillery and mechanised infantry. The commander would not be stationed far in the rear, but would operate near the front, responding instantly to changing situations and issuing orders by wireless directly to his units.
Making the most efficient use possible of available technology was only part of Guderian’s work. He also had a clear understanding of the value of proper training, and knew that it was vital to encourage drive and initiative even in the lowest ranks. The German army as a whole had incomparable standards: the men of the tank arm were trained to an even higher pitch.
By the early months of 1940 Guderian was moving steadily closer to realising his ideal of a highly mobile, integrated striking force. In Poland the tanks had rarely driven more than ten miles a day. Now Guderian disposed of larger, far more modem forces, to be used in the first full-scale experiment in Blitzkrieg tactics. Early in the morning of 10th May 1940 Fall Gelb was activated. German forces swung down into the Low Countries and the term ‘Blitzkrieg’ a synonym for terror and death, was burned into the pages of history.
As the tide of Hitler’s conquests now turned to the west the Germans would be fighting more modern armies equipped with at least equal and sometimes superior equipment. The British and French forces also had superiority in numbers and were much better prepared than the Poles. By a combination of careful planning, surprise and some very daring innovations, the Germans were able to make the victory against Poland seem like a side-show. New tactics, such as the German Paratroopers who were dropped on top of the major Belgian fortification of Even Emael in gliders, made their first appearance on the modern battlefield during this campaign. The Maginot Line that stretched along the majority of the French border to the east was easily bypassed when German Panzers advanced through Ardennes region in Belgium. Once past here they advanced all the way to the coast with little in their way to stop them. What had proved impossible in four years of trench warfare during the First World War was to be accomplished in the space of six weeks. In France the value of the tank in modern warfare would be well and truly established.