myth 5 - the USA needed to enter the war
On May 24, 8:12 am, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > Let’s Bury These Phony Myths About World War IIby Eric MargolisMETZ, FRANCE– > In this ancient fortress city on the Mosel River that stand guard on the > traditional invasion route into France, one is surrounded by the ghosts of > great wars past -- and the often cruel myths that still linger. > As a former instructor of military history and specialist in France’s 20th > century wars, let me address four particularly annoying and misleading > myths:First, France’s army did not simply surrender or run away in 1940, as > ignorant American know-nothing conservatives claim.The German Blitz that > smote France on May-June, 1940, scattering its armies like leaves before a > storm, was a major historical revolution in warfare. Blitzkrieg combined > rapidly-moving armor and mobile infantry, precision dive bombing, flexible > logistical support, and new high technologies in C3 -- command, control and > communications. In 1940, Germany led the world in technology: 75% of all > technical books were then written in German. > France’s armies and generals, trained to re-fight World War I, were > overwhelmed by lightening warfare. France was then still a largely > agricultural society. Blitzkrieg -- now adopted by all major modern armed > forces -- was designed to strike an enemy’s brain rather than body, > paralyzing his ability to manage large forces or to fight. The Germans called > it their "silver bullet." > Indeed it was. France still relied on couriers to deliver vital information. > Germany was the world’s leader in mobile radio communications. Amazingly, the > French commander in chief, Gen. Gamelin, did not even have a telephone in his > HQ outside Paris. > Britain’s well-trained expeditionary force in France was beaten just as > quickly and thoroughly as the French, and saved itself only by abandoning its > French allies and fleeing across the Channel. > No army in the world at that time could have withstood Germany’s blitzkrieg, > planned by the brilliant Erich von Manstein, and led by the audacious Heinz > Guderian, and Erwin Rommel -- three of modern history’s greatest generals. > They were also incredibly lucky. Just one bomb on a German bridge over the > Meuse, or one impassable traffic jam in the Ardennes forest could have meant > the difference between victory and defeat. The French had temporarily moved > some of their weakest reserve units just into the sector the Germans struck. > It was, as Wellington said after Waterloo, a damned close run thing. > Germany’s new, fluid tactics shattered France’s armies. They were unable to > reform their lines in spite of often fierce resistance. The fast-moving > German panzers were constantly behind them. Retreat under fire is the most > difficult and perilous of all military operations. After six weeks, and a > stab in the back by Mussolini’s Italy, France’s armies had disintegrated. > France lost 217,000 dead and 400,000 wounded in combat. Compare that to > America’s loss of 416,000 dead during four years of war in the Pacific and > Europe. At least France did not suffer the 2 million dead it lost in World > War I. Germany losses: 46,000 killed in action, 121,000 wounded, and 1,000 > aircraft. By comparison, the US, British and Canadians lost some 10,000 dead > and wounded at D-Day.Second, the forts of France’s Maginot Line were not > tactically outflanked, as myth has it. The Germans struck NW of the Line’s > end, through the Belgian/French Ardennes Forest, a route anticipated by the > French Army which held war games there in 1939. The immobile French field > army failed, not the Maginot Line.The Line, which was never completed, was > too costly, tied down too many men, and came to symbolize France’s defensive > attitude. But the Great Wall of France fulfilled its designated mission of > defending France’s vital coal and steel industries of Alsace and Lorraine. > The Line was also designed to channel any German attack through either > Belgium or Switzerland. > The Germans concluded an attack on the Maginot Line would be too costly, and > opted for a different route -- through Belgium. > The high water table of Flanders, and France’s aversion to building forts > behind its Belgian ally, left the Franco-Belgian border with only scanty > fixed defenses. > Ironically, after the German breakthrough at Sedan on the Meuse, a French > corps held in reserve to cover this vital sector moved east to the Stenay Gap > to protect the Maginot Line’s left flank, opening the way for Guderian’s > panzers to fan out to the NW behind French lines. > The second largest amphibious operation in Western Europe during WWII was the > totally forgotten German crossing under fire of the Rhine in June,1940. > The crews of the unconquered Maginot forts held out until the armistice. > Those who mock France for building forts that were supposedly "outflanked" > should know the "impregnable" modern US fortifications at Manila, and > Britain’s Fortress Singapore, were both taken from the rear by the Imperial > Japanese Army. Germany’s much vaunted "Westwall" and coastal defenses fared > no better.Third -- Germany’s Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe were crushed well before > D-Day. In commemorating the war, we must remember to salute the courage and > valor of Russia’s dauntless soldiers and pilots who, like German soldiers, > fought magnificently albeit for criminal regimes. World War II in Europe was > not won just at D-Day, as popular myth has it. Germany’s army and air force > were broken on the Eastern Front’s titanic battles.Russia just celebrated the > 66th anniversary of victory in World War II, a commemoration almost totally > ignored in the west. > The numbers speak for themselves. The Soviets destroyed 75-80% of all German > divisions -- 4 million soldiers -- and most of the Luftwaffe. Russia lost at > least 14 million soldiers and a similar number of civilians. > The Red Army destroyed 507 Axis divisions. On the Western Front after D-Day, > the Allies destroyed 176 badly under-strength German divisions. > When the Allies landed in Normandy, they met battered German forces with no > air cover, crippled by lack of fuel and supplies, unable to move in daytime. > Even so, the Germans fought like tigers. Had the invading US, British and > Canadians encountered the 1940’s Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, the outcome may > well have been different.Fourth -- World War II was not a good and evil > struggle between "western democracies" and "totalitarian powers," as we are > still wrongly taught.It was a world conflict over land and resources pitting > the British Empire which controlled 25% of the entire globe, the French > Empire, Dutch Empire, and Belgian Empire, and, later, the US imperium > (Philippines, Pacific possessions, Central America), against the Italian and > Japanese empires. The Soviet Union was an empire unto itself. > In 1939, the only major powers without colonies -- that were not imperial > powers -- were Germany (who lost her few colonies in World War I) and China. > Once the war ended, Britain and Holland, who complained mightily about the > evils of Nazi occupation, scrambled to reoccupy their former colonies, some > of which had declared independence. > One can hardly call this a crusade for freedom. Liberation for the white > people of German-occupied Europe, certainly. But not for the peoples of > Africa and Asia. However, in the end, the war did set in motion forces that > would eventually spell the end of colonialism. The collapse of the British > Empire, which Winston Churchill had vowed to defend at all costs, opened the > way to worldwide decolonization. > We should not forget all this.www.ericmargolis.com -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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