Was the German attack on the Netherlands in 1939 a strategic mistake?

The 7th originally was intended to be be the reserve and may not have been sent east in the first wave.

 

Thanks for pointing that out. Always something to learn around here.

 

It looks flat from a distance but much of the land is criss-crossed by deep drainage dykes. Rather inconvenient when you're trying to land an aircraft there......

 

Firstly, you are quite right to correct me Skipper - 10th of May 1940 was the date I was refering to.

Most authors just swiftly brush through Plan Yellow but Major General Julian Thompson does devote 3 or 4 pages to its development.

According to him (some of my other books disagree). Version one of Plan Yellow was issued on 19 October 1939 and called for an attack on Holland, Belgium adn Luxembourg to defeat as much as possible of the Allied Armies adn win air and sea bases for a subsequent attack on Britain.

This was changed at the end of October 1939 and version two omitted an attack on Holland and focused on a hook north of Brussels and fanning out down to Sedan.

Manstein and Von Runstedt were very critical but Brauchitsch was in favour. This was the Plan that Gamelin thought he was up against when he worked up his Plan D (and the Breda Variant).

The Plan was re-issued with minor changes up to Version 4 - all omitting an attack on Holland except for passing through Maastricht would need to be crossed to take Liege.

The famous dinner where Manstein introduced the Sickle Cut to Hitler was the final version - unfortunately Thompson does not say why Holland was now included.

I can't see that the German Command needed to provide further inducement to make the Allies rush into Belgium.

 

True enough - having been there in my youth....but the take off run of a laden He 111 is for example 350 metres...surely the Germans were bound to have been able to find that much flat ground!

EDIT: looking again at Heinz Nowarra's factory history of the Ju52...there were plenty of scratch landings in Holland in May 1940. Plenty of Ju52s seem to have made it down in long-enough fields...but soft ground snapped their undercarriages (they were designed to allow this to happen in extremis). Some of the Ju52s unable to make it into their objective fields diverted to Dutch Coastguard fields, like Katwijk and Ockenburg, while many landed on the long, hard strips beside main roads

 

Hitler was not happy with the first plan, but considering how little time he gave the generals, what did he expect. Manstein had proposed his plan to his superiors, but they didnt accept it. Manstein was given a corps commander job and he and other newly appointed commnders met with Hitler at a meal and it ws arranged he would have a little quiet time afterwards to talk to Hitler about his idea. Hitler had a vague idea of the same approach and he immediately liked the idea and after some resistance the plan was accepted.

 

Looking back at this sentence again - I just had a thought...

Actually - they did. Not the tactical air superiority battle of late July to the end of the second week of September, but definitely for the strategic air war against the UK. And we have very reputable source for that...

Adolf Hitler!

Or rather - his Directive No. 9 "Instructions for warfare against the economy of the enemy"...dated 29th November 1939 Which at THAT point in the war could ONLY have been intended to be prosecuted from German airfields.

 

Just found this topic and as a Dutch, I off course got triggered.

Why was the Netherlands interesting to the Germans.
1) Hitler already wrote in Mein Kampf he wanted to unite all German like people in his Reich. He looked at the Dutch as related to the Germans.
2) The Netherlands had and have strategic ports. Rotterdam was in those days already on of the worlds largest. These ports would be an advantage to the German warfare when Germany was really encoutering the British. Do not forget Germanydid not have any port directly to the Northsea and they used the Dutch ports intensively. With the planned buildup of the Kriegsmarine, the Dutch ports would be valuable. Also the Dutch ports, could be used by the British to bring forces into Europe, later in the war, Hitler wanted to prevent that. THese were one of the lessons of WW1 where the Reichsmarine was largely inactive.
3) For economic reasons, specially Rotterdam was and is the economic port to Europe.

Many of the barges, to be used for the invasion of England, were later placed in the porst in the Netherlands. It would have been the sprinboard to England. And yes, when Hitler drew up Fall Gelb, he was already planning for the invasion of England. Years before the war he did write and state in his speaches, that England had to be defeated by invasion if they did not accept German rule in mainland EUrope.

 

Can you give us some more information on this very interesting sentence!

 

Before the fall of France, Hitler was convinced the British would surrender. When they did not do so he orderd directive nr 16 already on July 16th, 1940 to prepare for invasion.
This indicates that he before the invasion of France was already convinced the British would surrender and if not they would be invaded. Otherwise the directive would not have been needed at all.

When you read his speeches carefully right form the Anschluss, you every time read that he expects the French and British to comply to his wishes. He each time state he does not want war, but is they interfere, they will be defeated. Over and over he refers it will not be like in at the end of the Great War that Germany will be submitted, but that times have changed and that those (directing at France And Britain) that uppose him will be paying with the lives of their sons as he reaches to them. ALready in Mein Kampf he refers to the rule of Germany over mainland EUrope and that upposing forces need to be fought. Just read all his speeches, most of them are even found translated in English on the internet.

 

There was a THIRD possibility, you know...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechelen_incident

This is an interesting incident, with lots of unanswered questions (and room for what ifs...). The capture of these documents, the subsequent subterfuge as to their destruction, the discussion between France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, as well as the assumption by Gamelin to believe the plan still unchanged in May.

It seems rather unlikely that it was a German ruse, but there are those who make this claim. It is clear, however, that they made good use of the Allies expectations

 

Too much trust in the Maginot line, I fear...

 

And that was?

 

For the German Bombers this was a fact, but the German fighters did not have the range to be able to defend the bombers. Therefore the Dutch, Belgian and French Canal Coast airfields were needed.

 

Before the fall of France, Hitler was convinced the British would surrender. When they did not do so he orderd directive nr 16 already on July 16th, 1940 to prepare for invasion.

What that indicates is that he was not expecting to have to invade prior to the fall of France and the unexpected refusal of Britain to conclude the war.

 

THis is not entirely true, during the Battle of Britain more airfields in the Netherlands were used by the Germans as starting airfield or as emergency airfield

Lehrgeschwader 2 used Leeuwarden
Jagdgeschwader 1 used Leeuwarden
Zerstörergeschwader 76 used Leeuwarden
Jagdgeschwader 54 used Souburg near Vlissingen (Flushing)
Kampfgeschwader 4 used Soesterberg, Eindhoven and Schiphol
II/Kampfgeschwader 30 used Gilze-Rijen

Other airfield used during the Battle of Britain were Twente, Woensdrecht, Bergen, Eelde, Haamstede, Hilversum, Valkeburg, Waalhaven, Ypenburg mostly by parts of already mentioned units or as temporary or emergency base.
During the Battle of Britain also the Germans built new airfields intended to be used and they were Deelen, Volkel, Venlo and Havelte.

 

That is your interpretation which I do not agree reading through the transcripts of Hitlers speeches during the Austrian and Czechoslovakian crisis and the Polish invasion. He already stated before that the British were to be defeated by all means, but he expected to be able to bring them to their knees without having to invade.
He stated several times that if the British did not except the German rule of mainland Europe, they could get themselved into a war that would bring the war to their own doorstep. It would be inevitable that when the British did not surrender they had to be forced, this would ultimately also include a possible invasion. It was Göring that tried to convince Hitler he could bring the Birtish to surrender by only use of the Luftwaffe.

 

THis is so very true, the actual invasion plans were drawn up after directive nr 16, so after the fall of France. And yes, already in 1940 the plans were drawn and put into action to activate and extend Deelen Airfield north of Arnhem. This airfield was actually intended and later so used for the Luftwaffe Nighfighter force in the defence of the German Reich against Allied, at that moment British bombers. These plans were already activated in june 1940 which is very early after the May 1940 invasion of the Netherlands. To me this indicates that Holland was actually to be also a forward defence of the German own territory.

 

I suggest you read your own post: he expected to be able to bring them to their knees without having to invade

Your own words contradict themselves. Instead of just arguing, take some time and think about what you are trying to say. Better yet, think about what is true and makes sense, and try to say that.