History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett
|
History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett |
|
Updated as of 2 October 05 Today in History: On October 2, 1780, Major John André, a British spy associated with Benedict Arnold, was executed on this day in history. Quote of the Day: "In my view we are much worse off now than when we went into Iraq. This is not a partisan position. I voted for these guys." A senior figure at a military-sponsored think tank as told to James Fallows in "Bush's Lost Year" in The Atlantic Monthly (Oct. 2004) Take the Ann Coulter Quiz Where are you politically? Take the Neocon Quiz and find out. "History is Far too Important to be left to History Professors" Teaching isn't such a novel idea
Bibliography:
History of Disease Contemporary Terrorist Organizations Map of Islamic Terrorist Cells in the U.S.A.
|
The Fall of France and England AloneWorld War IISpring 2006On the Eve of Dunkirk• On May 12, 1940, Hitler ordered the attack on the West to begin.• He used 136 divisions and over 2,500 tanks against the Allies which had 125 divisions and roughly 3,000 tanks.• Within two days, May 12, 1940, Heinz Guderian’s Panzers had crossed the Meuse which created a fifty-mile gap in the Allied lines.Germans Exploit the Breach• The Germans, more importantly, had air superiority (3,000 frontline aircraft to 1,400) over the battlefront.• Within six days, the Germans had reached the Channel.• Effectively cutting off and isolating the Anglo-French forces in Belgium.• Churchill wanted to know why the French did not counterattack.• The answer was obvious.• French spirits were crushed.The British Response• Churchill immediately had the Imperial General Staff plan for an evacuation of British forces.• Codenamed Operation Dynamo.• This would include French troops as well.• The actual nuts and bolts of the operation was left to Gen. John Gort, Commanding General of the BEF.Operation Dynamo• Between May 27 and June 4, the British collected 693 ships for the operation.• Those included 39 destroyers, 36 minesweepers, 77 trawlers, and 26 yachts, as well as a wide variety of other small craft.• All told the flotilla rescued 338,226 troops including 140,000 French troops.• Why was this possible?Notifying The French• Gort appeared not to notify the French of the decision initially to evacuate.• So, as he ordered the BEF to fall back to Dunkirk.• He left seven French divisions to hold off the on-coming Germans.• Even when the British commenced the evacuation, the British troops with bayonets kept the French from attempting to board rescue vessels.Hitler and Von Rundstedt• On May 24, Hitler issued his halt order for his Panzer forces west of Dunkirk at the river Aa.• A lively debate took place following the war to explain Hitler’s actions.• One theory was that Hitler simply wanted to pacify the British in order to reach a peace agreement.• But for all practical purposes, most German commanders awaited Rundstedt’s order since the the Battle of France was about to begin.• Why risk your best on the sideshow around Dunkirk.• Let the Luftwaffe handle it.After Dunkirk• The Germans were now ready for to take on France.• The Allies still had 61 divisions to defend France, but the French only had about 200 tanks remaining.• The French civilian population pressed the army not to destroy property.• In some cases, French locals kept the army from blowing bridges to stop the advancing Boche.French Military Strategy in 1940• Was to avoid military defeat.• The French planned to move their most mobile forces into Belgium and fight forward along the Dyle River line.• Once the Germans were halted, then the French then planned to execute a counterattack driving the Germans back.• This played right into the hands of the Germans once they breached the Meuse.The Start of the Fall• Following the German infantry advance on Dunkirk the Germans redeployed their tanks to North of the Somme and Aisne Fronts.• The French were now determined, if not dispirited, to defend the “Weygand Line” along the Somme.• The balance of forces was clearly with the Germans – 126 divisions to 65 French divisions.The Final German Offensive• The German attack began on June 5.• By June 9, German Army Group B had reached the lower Somme below Paris.• The French managed to hold the von Rundstedt’s Army Group A in check, until Guderian broke through on June 12-13, forcing the French into a headlong retreat.• This included abandoning Paris.The Situation along the Maginot Line• The French forces along the Maginot Line were now isolated and bypassed.• Likewise the French positions along the Maginot Line was breached at Saarbrucken and Colmar on June 14-15.• France was facing a momentous crisis.• Political turmoil was now in the offing.• But was going to happen?Crisis in the Alps• New crisis unfolded on June 10th.• The Germans crossed the Somme, something they were unable to do in World War I.• Italy declared war on France.• F.D.R’s response said it all: “On this tenth day of June 1940, the hand that held the dagger struck it into the back of its neighbor.”The Italian Invasion• Mussolini saw that France was on the ropes and sought to gain at France’s expense.• In Europe, Mussolini want Nice and Corsica.• In Africa, he wanted French Somaliland and Tunisia.• The Italian Army came through the Little Saint Bernard Pass.• Due to a snowstorm and French resistance, the Italians made little headway.The British Propose a Political Union• Churchill proposed a political union between Britain and France.• Paul Reynaud had hoped that this would stiffen the defeatists in his own government.• Reynaud’s mistress leaked the news to his political enemies in order to kill the idea.• Reynaud then resigned and Petain formed a new government that was willing to make a deal with Hitler.De Gaulle and Winston Churchill• Churchill tried a last desperate proposal to keep France in the war.• The goal was to make Great Britain and France one nation.• Churchill called Reynaud by phone on June 16 and proposed a union of the two countries.• The French cabinet discussed the issue.• What was the result?Churchill’s Take on the French• The key was that all decisions, all military moves, would be placed under one war cabinet.• Every citizen of France would have citizenship in England.• Churchill noted: "Rarely has so generous a proposal encountered such a hostile reception".• Reynaud then resigned opening the way for Marshal Pétain at 11:30 on June 16.The French Options• The government fled Paris and set up shop in Vichy.• Paul Reynaud even thought about taking the government to North Africa and continuing the war from there.• But when his entourage reached Bordeaux, his mistress, Helene de Portes, used all of her charms to press for an Armistice with the Germans.• Weygand and Pétain did not encourage Reynaud to continue the fight.The Impact of Churchill Proposal• Once the French cabinet refused to accept Churchill’s proposal.• Reynaud resigned.• There was a cabinet shuffle within the French government.• A new government under Marshal PétainPétain’s Impulse to Surrender• Pétain was predisposed to surrender.• Blaming the war on the incompetence of Third Republic and thirty years of treason.• So the first thing he did was to discuss the situation with his commanders.• And asked for terms of an armistice on June 20, 1940.• The Germans accepted and it was signed on June 22.The Armistice at Compiègne• The French surrender all of their troops already engaged.• Northern and Western France will be under German control.• Occupied France will be administered by the Germans.• All French forces will be demobilized.• All guns and munitions are not to be destroyed.• The French war fleet will return to ports under German control.• Except for the portion of the French war fleet in colonial waters.Map of France After June 20, 1940Was it a Military Failure or a Political Failure?• The French had horrible leaders.• Often too old.• Lock into a previous war.• Emphasis on a static defense.• Great tanks, but not a doctrine to go with it.• Political divisions in France between right and left.• Common refrain was “Better Hitler than Blum.”Churchill’s Fear• In order to keep the French Fleet from failing into the hands of the Germans, the Fleet was moved to Oran.• Churchill lost faith and ordered the Royal Navy to attack the fleet in Oran.• This the French never forgave the English, in light, of everything else.Churchill vs. Hitler• Churchill loathed Hitler and worried that Hitler was taking Europe to the depths of the abyss.• Churchill faced a crisis within his own party – the Conservatives – who may have wanted Lord Halifax.• Hitler felt that he knew the British.• That they would come to their senses and save their Empire.• But he never understood Winston.Local Defense• After Dunkirk, there was a sense of public activism.• But the government did not know what to do.• On May 14, 1940, Anthony Eden spoke to the nation.• But reports had reached the War Office that armed bands were roaming the countryside trying to defend the country!• So the government made an army out of nothing.The Birth of Dad’s Army• This was Local Defense Volunteers.• Eden encouraged men simply to turn in their names.• And turn in their names they did.• Within 24 hours, 250,000 men enrolled.• The age was 17 to 65.• By the end of May 1.4 million joined.• There were so many men…there were not enough uniforms.• Men had to wait for uniforms to arrive.Stopping the Huns at the Beaches• The men used anything that they could find.• Golf clubs, muskets, cricket bats.• Soon World War I-era arrived from Canada and the United States.• But it gave Englishmen a sense of responsibility.• And while the War Office had problems with them, when the Blitz started, they played a key role in civil defense.Could They Have Stopped The Huns?• No.• Not possible.• But they filled a void and gave over-aged men a sense of purpose.• Playing part of the war effort.• Defending hearth and home against a foreign threat.• They were dedicated and 1,206 were killed during the war.• By 1944, the War Office stood down the Home Guard.
|
