The “just sit and wait for the Phony War to end in April 1940” option is a bit perplexing as an answer to “You are the German High Command! What is your next Combat Movement?” because it seems to imply that the Phony War was operating on a fixed timetable, and that this timetable was in someone else’s hands. The lack of action on land on the Western Front is certainly due in part to inaction by France and Britain (whose strategy was basically to sit around for a couple of years to built up their strength for a showdown, while simultaneously hoping that the Nazi regime would be overthrown by a coup), but it was also very much a deliberate choice by Germany. The Wehrmacht needed to analyze the Polish Campaign, fix the tactical and operational elements that hadn’t worked as well as expected, plan the upcoming campaign against France and the Low Countries, rest and replenish its forces, give them more training, provide them with additional equipment, and redeploy them to the west. Doing this properly took time, but Germany could afford to take the time to do the job right because of the lack of Anglo-French pressure on the western front. ( In other words, by sitting on their collective hindquarters France and Britain surrendered the strategic initiative to Germany, which gave the Wehrmacht the luxury of attacking at the time and place of its own choosing.) Moreover, the time period during which these activities took place were the fall of 1939 and the winter of 1939-1940, which was conveniently timed because this meant that the Wehrmacht wouldn’t have to fight in the fall (manageable, but rainy and muddy) or in the winter (far less harsh in the West than in Russia, but still potentially nasty as veterans of the Battle of the Bulge will recall). The late spring / early summer period chosen for the offensive in the West was much more congenial for military operations.
October 3rd: Italy's attempt at Empire
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3rd October 1935. Italy invades Abyssinia. In not what you would call a Blitzkrieg, the large, well supplied and partly mechanised Italian army crossed in to Abyssinia today from Eritrea. Despite having 2000 pieces of artillery, 800 tanks and 600 aircraft the Italian forces would take 8 months to enter the capital, Addis Ababa.
The Ethiopians had 3 tanks and 3 aircraft and most of the army were spear or bow armed, any rifles were outdated ones.
There was outrage, but for the most part the world watched on.
Italy would enlarge their African empire for just 5 years, before losing it to the UK in 1940.
Viva Il Duce. -
The Italians may have slown down the advance into the Ethiopian Empire in rememberance of the Battle of Adwa, where the Italians were the only European country to lose a African War in the Victorian Era.
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Hi Worsham. Cannot really expect Blitzkrieg from a nation that loves food as much as us: pasta breaks and gargantuan meals are our specialty. Hard to march if you are full!
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On a serious note, I suppose the memory of such an obvious defeat and humiliation was probably on the commanders’ minds and could have tempered their enthusiasm for a quick victory and possible repeat of Adwa.
I was only ridiculing my nation’s non warlike tendencies( since Roman times at least) and inability to win anything militarily.
Five years later nothing had changed, witness our DOW against a defeated France and embarrassing impasse there. -
There were also merits to the Italians tho’.
The real problem was with the command not with the soldiers. Most of Italy’s generals were just royal family members and/or other nobles, they had no real merits. -
@wittmann:
gargantuan meals are our specialty.
Interesting choice of adjective.
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@wittmann:
The Ethiopians had 3 tanks and 3 aircraft and most of the army were spear or bow armed, any rifles were outdated ones. There was outrage, but for the most part the world watched on.
“I must still fight on until my tardy allies appear – and if they never come, I say to you without bitterness: the West will perish.”
– Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, speaking before the League of Nations -
@CWO:
@wittmann:
gargantuan meals are our specialty.
Interesting choice of adjective.
What are you trying to say? :P
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You are in our daily thoughts Garg, what can we say!
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Haile Selassie’s words were to ring true. Four more years the Western Powers allowed Hitler, Mussolini and Japan to take what parts of the world they wished.
It was only arrogant errors by those same leaders that saw them reversed after some years and millions of deaths.
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