1939, Hitler negotiated a treaty of the lions with the Soviet Union. Hitler installed to invade and divide Poland, and Russia is allowed to swallow the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia,and Lithuania.
Now Hitler's back is secured, he takes a giant step. On the first of September ignoring warnings from the aroused Britain and France he attacked Poland with masses of tanks leading are the stoker's screaming dive bombs, it is a new form of warfare a blitzkrieg.
The Polish horse cavalry valiantly and briefly charge the tanks. Britain and France declared war on Germany. Hitler was stunned but his foreign minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop stands besides him. Hitler did not intend to start WW2, he did not even intend to start a European war, he only proposed to have a nice little war to Poland, and that was he made his mistake, it was Hitler's first major miscalculation. He believed that France and Britain will never attack Germany having the Russian as his Allie which was confirmed by his foreign minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop, which had the great responsibility for the outbreak of WW2.
Ignoring the risk, Hitler planned an attack against France. At first the generals think the tactics that they used during WW1. An army in the north will slice through Netherlands and Belgium then to France. And the other army group in the center and from the south will exerts pressure. One maverick general Erich Von Manstein objected, he said that it is exactly what the allies expected, it will bag down into a trench warfare. Manstein wants to put the trust in the center, advance a massive number of tanks and drive in, into the center through the Ardennes forest, but Manstein was over ruled and sent away. By a chance Hitler invites a group of officers for lunch and Manstein is among them. He manages to present his plan directly to Hitler, and he accept it.
It was spring, the attack order was passed even though it was postponed for 29 times. This is the time to find out if the radical battle plan worked, and it does more than that. It writes the whole new chapter in the history of warfare. It finally happened in May 10 1940. The German armored division smashed across the border. Tanks are no longer used to support the infantry, instead they are allowed to strike with in their own massively, and stoker planes bombs to clear the path. The British and France do exactly what Manstein, had predicted they march into Belgium expecting the big attack to come that way. Instead the attack passes through beneath them. The French were surprised because they did not expect that the German will pass through the thick forest of Ardennes. But Hitler was worried of possible flank attack on the extended German columns. General Holdeir head of the general staff, said that Hitler worried that things are moving too fast. And Manstein say's that Hitler is bold in planning but timid in execution.
Meanwhile the German tanks raced into France in just incredible 10 days. And the two battle group closed in the town of Dunkirk from north and from the south. More than three hundred thousand allied soldiers and the entire British expeditionary forces are pin up to their back on the beach, an enormous victory is in sight for Germany. If the entire British army is captured Britain will be defenseless. But then something incredible happened, Hitler orders his tanks to halt and not only to halt but to pull back. General Guderian the panther leader is speechless and disappointed, they saw the success and the possibility to catch the British army. It was the very serious mistake of Hitler, that changed the course of the war.
Why Hitler did it? Several reason, general Heinrich Von Ronstadt commander of the central army is worried of possible counter attacks. But field marshal Herman Goering said that the tanks wont be needed , he will destroy the British army by his stoker and Luftwaffe. The stoker bomber dive to do it and the Luftwaffe flies above them to support. But the spitfire of the British air force swarm to the scene to protect the soldiers, and a ragtag of big and small boats sails from the English coast to rescue the stranded soldiers. The slow diving stokers mismatched by the fast moving spitfire the stoker suffers terrible loses. And the first time the Luftwaffe fails. As a result the British and French army escaped leaving their weapons behind.
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