The German Question, Part One Hundred Thirty-Nine

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Two/A
"Hitler Rules Western Europe" Part One: "France Falls"


These articles will not deal with all of the battles and details of World War Two, but rather they will be more of a general overview of events, with perhaps a little more detail on some subjects. There are literally tons of material on World War Two available, so use your local library's resources if particular events are of interest to you. There is plenty of information online, too.

The "Sitzkrieg" ("Sitting War," see "Word History" below) continued in western Europe throughout the fall and winter of 1939-1940.* By the spring of 1940, the German military, now with its forces transferred from Poland to western Germany, was ready to go on the offensive. The Maginot Line was a formidable barrier, so the Germans planned to go around it. The French and their British allies weren't stupid, and they knew Hitler, like Kaiser Wilhelm II before him, would choose to violate Belgium's neutrality (and probably Luxembourg's, too) with the idea of pushing into northern France via that area. The Allies stationed strong forces near the Franco-Belgian border, and these forces were prepared to enter Belgium to meet and halt the German offensive there.

The Germans kept their "West Wall" defenses (known as the "Siegfried Line" to many western Europeans and Americans) manned by scaled down forces, while the bulk of their "striking army" prepared to invade through Belgium, Luxembourg, and, unlike during World War One, through the Netherlands. The Germans weren't stupid either, and they knew the Allies would cross into Belgium once German forces invaded that country to try to defeat them there; thus sparing northern France the destruction it experienced in World War One. The thing about the German plan was, they WANTED the Allies to enter Belgium in force. Here's why: On May 10, 1940, the German offensive started against Belgium and the Netherlands. The Allies moved northward out of France into Belgium to meet the attack. The Germans then, in a stunning bit of strategy, sent strong armored and motorized forces through southeastern Belgium and Luxembourg, through the heavily wooded and rugged terrain of an area known as the Ardennes. The French border area opposite this area had been left relatively lightly defended, as the Ardennes was considered by the Allies to be impassable for heavy German forces. The Germans proved otherwise, and they broke through the French forces stationed around the city of Sedan and headed for the northern French coast. Once there, the Allies, still fighting German forces in Belgium, were cut off. It was a disaster of the worst kind, with British, French and some Belgian forces trapped around the city of Dunkirk. The British people rallied to the cause, sending every ship or boat they had available across the Channel to help evacuate the surrounded army. Many lost their lives, but an army of more than 300,000 was ferried to safety in Britain, albeit without their heavy weapons.

The handwriting was on the wall, but France fought on for a few more weeks.** The French signed an armistice on June 22 in the same railway car, on the same spot, used to get the German signature on the armistice ending World War One. Hitler now ruled much of western Europe.

* Just a note: In November of 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland. While the Soviets had a commanding superiority in men and equipment over Finland, the gallant Finns gave the Soviets an embarrassing tussle. Eventually the Finns could not hold on against such overwhelming force and a treaty was signed between the two countries, with the Soviet Union taking territory from Finland. This served to move Finland closer to a potential powerful ally, Hitler's Germany.

** On June 10, exactly one month after the German offensive started, Mussolini, fearful the war would end before he got into it; thus thwarting any Italian claim to territory in southern France (part of the "Riviera" had been disputed between France and Italy for quite some time), declared war on France and Britain. The relatively small French force on the Italian border gave the Italians all they could handle, and the Italian army gained very little ground.

WORD HISTORY:
Sit-This common verb goes back to Indo European "sed," with the meaning "to sit." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "sitjanan," with the same meaning. From this came Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "sittan," meaning "to sit, to be seated, to possess or occupy," which later became "sitten," before the shortened modern spelling and over time, it added the meanings "to be inactive, to be lazy, the act of a legislative body in session, to have a position of judgment over someone or something, to not get involved in some undertaking." Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "sitzen" (originally "sizzen"), Low German Saxon "sitten," Frisian "sitte," Dutch "zitten," Swedish sitta, Icelandic sitja, Danish sidde, Norwegian "sitte."