The Forgotten 1939 Invasion of Germany

[Music] if I say the invasion of Germany most people will think I'm referring to the Allied invasion of Germany in 1945 but there was another invasion of Germany that took place right at the start of World War two in 1939 that no one ever talks about and few have even heard of an invasion that could have altered the whole course of the war if its initial successors had been followed up the long road to war had by the summer of 1939 become a short path Germany appeared determined to invade Poland and France and Great Britain had entered into agreements to go to war with Germany if Hitler touched Poland so this end France had begun to mobilize on the 26th of August and by the 1st of September was ready for war the French army of 1939 owed more to world war 1 the modern warfare relying heavily on static artillery and out-of-date mobilization system and the decentralization of its armored strength to support infantry divisions rather than concentrating tanks like the Germans did in their Panzer divisions to achieve armoured breakthroughs but though a bit creaky and old-fashioned the French army nonetheless had in place a plan to deal with the upstart Germans should war actually break out and break out it did on the 1st of September when German forces attacked Poland using the new concept of blitzkrieg in lightning war Polish forces resisted valiantly but it was an unequal struggle hands within a week the Germans had made enormous inroads into the country what could France and Britain due to a Poland not very much directly owing to geography the France did see an opportunity the bulk of Hitler's forces were fighting in Poland meaning that only light defenses remained to defend Germany's western frontier regions that are battered France Germany had 22 divisions in the West 13 of these divisions were formed into the German 1st army commanded by General Irvin von vit slabin protecting the Saarland the area called the Saarland an area rich in coal and industry that have been occupied by France after World War one between 1920 and 1935 had returned recently to Germany when Hitler had regained the lost territory following a regional plebiscite or regional vote therefore from its long years of occupation the French army knew the region well for military planning purposes facing the German fast army was the French Maginot Line fixed defenses of huge forts bunkers and emplacements that the French thought would guard them against a future German invasion it was anticipated that France and Britain would launch some kind of attack on Germany but both nations feared a German aerial counter stroke and the bombing of their cities by the Luftwaffe they didn't know that 90% of the German air force was battling in Poland at the time however some action was taken commanding the operation to invade the Saarland was general maurice Ginola directing his third fourth and fifth french army's the french offensive kicked off on the 7th of september 1939 four days after Britain and France had declared war on Germany the French army outnumbered the defending Germans 11 French divisions advanced along a 20-mile front near the city of Saarbrucken German opposition was weak French forces marched largely unopposed into Cardon bond and the vant forests aliens these bits of Germany actually jutting out into France light reconnaissance units crossed on the 7th of September followed on the 9th by the infantry and tanks there was no real resistance German troops and officials had organized an evacuation it was all rather bizarre as french forces invaded german power stations in the Saarland continued to supply electricity to France but German minefields and booby traps were very dangerous the French advance ended in a snail's pace by the ninth of September the French had seized the vant forest a German first Army reacted by launching a local counter-attack at the village of a park - French motorized divisions five tank battalions and artillery occupied a slice of German territory German anti-tank fire against French char b-1b tanks was ineffective yet French tanks did not press forward probably fearing German Panzer forces but there were no Panzers facing them the Germans possessed no anti-tank weapons in the West that could knock out French tanks if the French had pressed their attacks nothing would have stopped them but the French were made ignorant of German weaknesses and very wary of their opponents the cautiousness of the French army was almost comical in one village a single German machine-gun held up the French for an entire day however by the 12th of September further French gains were made they had seized a total of 12 towns and villages in Germany the deepest penetration was 5 miles then the French advance came to a halt as her forces approached the Seyfried line the heavily defended line of obstacles and bunkers that protected the old western border of the German Empire some French units were only a few miles from the Seyfried line immediately east of Saarbrucken French artillery began to bombard the Siegfried line defences but without much effect the largest guns they brought forward were of 155 millimeter caliber too small to dent the concrete bunkers and defences the 12th of September the French met with British government representatives by this stage both nations believe that Poland was going to be defeated German forces had reached Warsaw on the 8th of September the Polish army was still fighting resolutely but the combined German armored and aerial offensive was pounding their armies to pieces the French therefore decided to hold all operations while the French and British governments developed a long-term plan the Polish government was informed that a full-scale offensive into Western Germany was delayed until the 20th of September but events soon overtook this decision on the 17th in a move not widely known today the Union launched an invasion of eastern Poland in a cynical grab for territory cooperating with the Germans Poland was to be dismembered between the two dictatorships and ceased to exist French forces immediately began to withdraw from the Saarland and the full-scale offensive was cancelled only small holding forces remained on German territory Poland was defeated soon after and having Hitler to shift his forces West and on the 16th of October 1939 he launched a counter-offensive into the Saarland pushing out the remaining French forces and actually taken some French territory the short-lived offensive had cost France 2,000 casualties and four tanks destroyed by mines the German 1st army came off better 196 Germans were killed 356 wounded and 114 missing the Luftwaffe lost about 11 aircraft but the invasion poses some serious questions what would have happened if the French with British support had pressed their invasion with more divisions and the necessary heavy artillery to deal with the ziegfried line bunkers an all-out French offensive in September 1939 could very well have made deep inroads into western Germany against inferior opposition would Hitler have been forced to scale back operations or even stop the invasion of Poland to reinforce the Saarland could Hitler have been brought to the negotiating table in 1939 preventing his attacks on France and the Low Countries in 1940 these are all intriguing questions but the French and British governments lack the resolve and will to carry out such an ambitious project and the French Army's ponderous mobilization and deployment hampered a faster a more developed strike against Germany but if the French generals had known what was to happen to their nation just a few short months later perhaps they would have prioritized an invasion of Germany in September 1939 thus our offensive remains one of the great what-ifs of world war ii german general z creed Westphal stated that if the French army had launched the attack in full force in September 1939 the fair marked quote could only have held out for one or two weeks unquote Colonel General Alfred Jodl was critical of the lack of an allied offensive in September 1939 it seemed strange 22 German divisions were faced by 110 French and British divisions in the West yet the Allies remained largely inactive during the Battle of Poland France and Britain would pay a heavy price for that inaction many thanks for watching please subscribe and share you can also visit my new audiobook channel war stories with mark Felton and you can also help support both of my channels at PayPal and patreon details in the description box below [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,136,153

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, Saarland, Maginot Line, Siegfried Line, French Army

Id: lKTbhC0s5xg

Length: 10min 11sec (611 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 16 2020