France's Failed 1939 Invasion of Germany | Animated History

it is the fall of 1939 and of poland marshal eduard ritz schmiegly meets with his staff though the poles fight with all the zeal they can muster the germans continue to gain ground the young republic is firmly on the back foot teetering over the precipice ritz schmidtly assures his subordinates that they only have to hold out long enough for the french and british to muster their forces the twin empires will sweep into germany from the west and between them the three allies will surely crush the nazis and save poland [Music] hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian even casual observers will know that martial ritz schmidly's faith in his french and british allies was shall we say misplaced poland fell to the combined invasion of nazi germany and the soviet union as france and britain looked on seemingly uncaringly but history continues to resist simplicity and the german invasion would set off a chain of events that would lead to a french invasion of germany in 1939 an invasion pushed into the margins of history by its utter irrelevance in the face of the french defeat the following year in this video we will turn our attention to those margins and examine the czar offensive france's failed invasion of nazi germany while the performance of the french military early in the second world war is often the subject of much mockery their contributions to the field of cryptology are often overlooked french cryptologists were among the first to break the famous enigma machine working in close cooperation with polish and british colleagues to give the allies a decisive advantage in the information war against the axis powers this brings us neatly to the sponsor of today's video nordvpn whose industry-leading cybersecurity features promise to keep your classified data safe from any military rivals now every subscription to nordvpn comes with access to the threat protection feature which actively neutralizes cyber threats before they can damage your devices threat protection warns you of malware and malicious websites while blocking intrusive ads and making your internet experience safer smoother and more secure support our channel today get an exclusive deal and try nordvpn risk free for 30 days with their money back guarantee by signing up with the link in the description below french prime minister eduard dallady and foreign minister georges bonnet received word of the nazi invasion on september 1st the morning after it had begun france had a defensive treaty with poland but when the polish ambassador yuyus wukashevich called to personally alert bonaire to the danger his country faced bonaire had only bad news to share the french constitution prohibited france from going to war with germany or even presenting hitler with a last-ditch ultimatum without the input of the french legislature most of whom were on holiday bonaire told wukashevich the fate of his country would have to wait until the next day when the french lawmakers would reconvene as september 1st dragged into september 2nd the nazis drove deeper into poland while the traditionally bellicose ducey of italy benito mussolini began calling loudly for a summit to resolve the polish issue diplomatically bonet echoed mussolini's calls angering british prime minister neville chamberlain and foreign secretary lord halifax french chief of staff maurice gimlan wrote in his diary that the british were insisting that hostilities should begin as soon as possible in order to give some useful assistance to poland without delay they feared i believe that we would hesitate at the last moment in reality the french had already begun mobilizing their forces but gamla and his staff pushed their prime minister and bonet for time to organize an evacuation of french citizens along the german border should war break out now it would be the french army and people who would bear the brunt of it until the british could deploy to the continent which meant days of fighting before even the smallest group of tommies arrived and so even as the british pushed for an immediate response axis and allied diplomats exchanged furious cables the luftwaffe rained bombs on polish cities and the vermost drove deep into the embattled young republic the french played for time as they organized their side of the chessboard september 3rd would see the die cast for war as an initial polish defense at moiva collapsed the talks between the diplomats were ended by french ambassador to germany robert colange who informed joachim von ribentrop that at 5 p.m that day france and germany would be at war unless hostile action against poland ceased gem law still desperate for time gave a secret order that all branches of the french armed forces were to adopt a war footing at 5 a.m september 4th a full 12 hours after the declaration and when the british raf would begin moving against german targets it should be noted that gamla's seeming gun shyness was not shared by the french people they regarded war with germany as a sense of dutiful determination over four and a half million frenchmen were called up in the mobilization and they invinced high spirits and a desire to stop german aggression those on the home front were similarly tired of nazi expansionism ilfo or enough is enough became a refrain among the civilian population however there were some who foresaw calamity should france go to war with germany nazi sympathizers and french fascists warned anyone who would listen that to stand against hitler was to court destruction the vast majority of the french people were confident of victory however and these contrarian fascists were paid little mind france formally went to war on september 3rd but despite her extensive mobilization popular history tells us little else actually happened until germany invaded in 1940 a period of months known as the sitscree or phony war this characterization is entirely untrue not only was the polish invasion ongoing with krakow falling on september 6th but the french would do something completely unexpected back in may of 1939 gamla had assured his polish counterparts that a german invasion would be answered with french military action promising that it would take two weeks at the most for the cavalry to arrive but behind closed doors gamla told the british who were equally entangled with the poles that he did not intend to discourage his men by launching offensives willy-nilly stating i shall not begin the war by a battle of verdun this reflected a shift toward defensive warfare in the minds of french military planners as evidenced by the construction of the maginot line but france had a duty to perform and jem law may have been a cautious man but he did not go back on his nation's word on september 7th 1939 as the polish high command fled the nazi advance on warsaw and after much buildup and consideration gemla ordered a french invasion of germany the knight of the seventh would see 11 french divisions pour over the german border on a 15 mile or roughly 24 kilometer front southeast of zarbrooken dubbed the cotton bronze salient with the goal of drawing german forces away from poland a second wave was launched on the 9th and the reinforced french would advance slowly into nazi territory resistance was light and the french primarily had to contend with minefields and booby traps that inflicted relatively low casualties but when battle was joined it was intense reminding many of the invaders of the first world war corporal armand petit jean wrote of spending three days under mortar fire while taking shelter in a water pipe 80 centimeters below ground and knee deep in the mud if the ceiling collapses we are stuck perhaps taking a page from their chief of staff spoke doctrine on the ground called for caution above all a mindset that helped reduce losses but this risk aversion also took root in the french government at large reducing effectiveness as much as it did casualties prime minister dalai d vigorously vetoed any raf moves to bomb germany fearful that the luftwaffe would visit destruction on paris winston churchill presented a plan dubbed royal marine to float naval mines down the rhine damaging shipping and infrastructure until dalladie again protested in fear the germans would do the same to the sane the hamstrung raf would ultimately bomb germany with a torrent of highly destructive leaflets as the half-hearted offensive half-intensified meanwhile a second french thrust was launched in the west of germany with the 21st motorized infantry taking extensive territory occupying the heights around beale and woodlands around zarbrucken this new group brought the french up to a staggering 85 divisions in the region against which the german had a raid 34 with a full 23 of them being reservist divisions with little training nor equipment panzer divisions and motorized infantry were all in poland giving the french absolute dominance in the armor and maneuverability stakes the french occupied a position that would make any general green with envy poised to push deep into enemy territory with as little resistance as an elephant would face in stomping on a ground-bound sloth the french continued to advance cautiously until september 12th when gimla gave his men a fateful order they would take the momentum of their advance and utterly squander it gimla ordered a complete halt to offensive operations september 12th he further ordered his men to prepare for an immediate retreat as he had become convinced that a german counter-attack through belgium was imminent meanwhile the soviet union would invade poland on september 17th sealing the fate of the young republic and showing the world that hitler and stalin were all too happy to glut themselves on the independence of other nations the sudden stop in even these poultry attacks incensed jamlal's subordinates charles de gaulle future free french president and commander of an armored group in the anemic offensive called the effort a few demonstrations andre beaufrey noted strategist railed that the operation was nothing general jamlal true to character decided to make no more than a gesture that was our aid to poland by the time shem law ordered an end to the offensive operations the nazis had been laying siege to the polish capital of warsaw for four days a siege that would ultimately end on september 28th perhaps with the nazis at the gates of the polish capital gem law thought that the fall of poland was inevitable and this played into his decision to bring the french invasion to a halt regardless of its genesis gimlan would take his logic to dalidi who gave his begrudging ascent to the shift to a defensive posture the men decided not to inform the rest of dalidi's cabinet about the decision and an immediate withdrawal from germany was ordered in the utmost secrecy troops were only withdrawn under the cover of darkness and a screening force left in contact with the enemy to give the illusion of continued battle german troops began to return from conquering poland toward the end of september reinforcing their fellows and launching the counter-offensive dekum law so dreaded the polish government in exile arrived in paris on september 28th nazi and soviet forces would complete the latest partition of poland on october 6th and the french would complete their evacuation of the azar region on october 17th with the germans hot on their heels and eager to take a retaliatory bite out of france the vermont recovered every inch of territory seized in the french effort but their attempts to go into france were largely unsuccessful with the status quo antebellum largely restored the phony war could well and truly begin fighting largely ceased until the german invasion of france in may of 1940. these are offensive was more than a strategic failure it laid bare the critical flaws in the french army and most critically its highest commander gemlong was a man obsessed with defense unwilling to commit to anything but a perfunctory offense the timidity with which he treated the tsar operations in which he enjoyed unquestioned superiority in men and materiel until the literal last minutes utterly confounded the germans alfred yodel declared if we did not collapse in 1939 that was due to the fact that during the polish campaign the approximately 110 french and british divisions in the west were held completely inactive against the 23 german divisions general siegfried vestfall aid to erwin rommel and later chief of staff for von roonstedt wrote that if the french had actually tried they could have blazed from the french border to the rhine river in two weeks this sentiment was shared by franz halder chief of army high command who opined if the french had used the opportunity presented by the engagement of nearly all of our forces in poland they would have been able to cross the rhine without our being able to prevent it and would have threatened the roar which was decisive for the german conduct of the war gamla was well and truly presented with an opportunity to change the course of history and let it pass him by gen law's passivity would have repercussions throughout the french army the men who marched into the tsar were as said before in high spirits and ready to counteract nazi aggression but as they found their offensive stalling out due to not enemy effort but their commander's apparent caution morale plummeted inaction was the primary factor cited and it created an atmosphere of depression and carelessness the french had come to strike back defend poland and stop hitler once and for all instead they were marching from deserted village to deserted village wandering through minefields and occasionally meeting some intense but limited german resistance french casualties totaled 1878 for the operation while the germans acknowledged a total of 666 a relatively low number compared to the rest of the war a war that the nazis would soon bring to france's doorstep and the germans would prove far more aggressive than the toothless french under gemlon between the end of the tsar offensive and the fall of france the allies would do little more than mark time modern historians cite this period of inaction as a critical blunder a time in which the allies could have refined their strategies and built up materiel as the germans did whether this was simple war wariness some mistaken belief that hitler was finally sated or disbelief that another conflict was inevitable is debated to this day what we can say is that the czar offensive was an utter failure succeeding in penetrating german territory and placing the french in a position to well and truly take the war to hitler only to collapse under the weight of its commander's fear could the french have ended the second world war in its opening months could an anglo-french force riding the momentum of a vigorous offensive in the tsar region come up behind the vermost as they arrayed their full strength against poland and brought the bronze eagle crashing down to earth that's a question for the alternate historians out there [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

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Length: 17min 10sec (1030 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 23 2022