Chapter 9
January 6, 1938
Defense Ministry, Antwerp, Belgium
“Alright General, what's your overall impression of our capabilities after this year's military exercises?”
General Victor Strydonck de Burkel, Commander in Chief of the Flemish Armed Forces, was giving a briefing to the Minister of Defense.
-”Well Minister, the General Staff and I both have mixed feelings about the results of last year's exercise.
As you know, we simulated a Flemish-Walloon, a Flemish-French and a Flemish-German war. I'll discuss these separately before I'll give you my final impression, I you don't mind.”
“I'm listening.”
-”Well sir, for the Flemish-Walloon conflict, we had 1st and 2nd Divisions act as “Force Blue”, or the Flemish force, and 3rd and 4th Divisions as “Force Red”, the Walloons. 1st Division was the only motorized Division in the exercise, since we know the Walloons haven't motorized anything larger than company sized forces.
Force Red invaded across a moderately defended border, with 1st Division in front holding a 5km front, and 2nd Division in reserve. Force Blue was at medium readiness, so as to simulate a surprise attack, but handled itself surprisingly well.
Force Red's attack bogged down as they had to deal with spread out resistance behind their front line, while 1st Division's main element withdrew orderly towards 2nd Division, which had organized and was preparing an offensive. 1st Division joined 2nd Division, and the offensive met with moderate success, with 2nd Division breaking open the front while 1st Division exploited the gaps. The enemy was driven back over the border, but our forces were halted as they needed time to bring up supplies. The exercise ended with Force Blue holding a small amount of enemy territory, and having a numerical advantage over Force Red, which means it was a moderate success. The enemy was defeated, but not destroyed.
The next exercise was a French attack. “Force Blue” consisted of 4th Division, supported by an armored car battalion, while “Force Red” was comprised of 1st, 5th and 6th Divisions.
The enemy attacked in force with 5th and 6th Divisions in front, and 1st Division in reserve, against a prepared 4th Division which had fortified and dug in, with the armored cars in reserve. 5th Division suffered heavy casualties in the initial assault, but was able to force a breakthrough after 1st Division's 1st Regiment came up to support their assault. While suffering heavy losses, they were able to force a breakthrough of about 1km wide, and 1st Division moved swiftly to exploit the breach. The armored cars counter-attacked, and contained the breakthrough, suffering heavy casualties themselves.
At the conclusion of the exercise, the enemy was in possession of a favorable position from which to launch a second attack, after they brought up reinforcements. This exercise was a moderate defeat, since we were not able to hold the enemy, however, we were able to buy ourselves enough time to mobilize the Army, and reinforce the lines.
The third exercise, a German attack, went much the same. Our forces were represented by 2nd Division, while 1st, 3rd and 6th Divisions were the Germans. They attacked with vigor, were able to force a breakthrough and exploit it, but they were nearly cut off when 1st Division's 2nd Regiment advanced too far. Communications were restored, but the attacking forces suffered heavy casualties in the process, and were forced to halt their attack.
This exercise ended with the enemy exhausted, but with our troops were forced to pull back to new lines, since the breakthrough was too deep and the enemy too well established for the salient to be destroyed.
My staff and I are pleased with the capabilities of our divisions sir. 1st Division especially handled itself well. It had to participate in every exercise, since it is still the only motorized division we have, but even though the men were exhausted by the time of the third exercise, they still fought well.
We were not able to halt the enemy forces when we were fighting the French and the Germans, but we feel that was partly because of a lack of real-time intelligence. The enemy established air superiority on the first day of their attack, thereby depriving us not only of the capability of defending our troops from bombing, but also of overflying the battlefield, and reporting on troop concentrations and movements.
However, in both cases, our defending troops did buy us enough time to mobilize the Army, which has always been the goal of our border defenses.
I once again have to stress the importance of the further mobilization of the other 5 infantry divisions. 1st Division has showed us for a year now that mobilization is the way of the future. They fought better than any other division, and they were the only division that was able to exploit a breakthrough.
I also need to stress the need for improved anti-tank weapons. Both the French and the Germans have large numbers of tanks, and our forces did not have enough means to stop these machines.
In the air, I am worried about our ability to control our own airspace, which will put us at a serious disadvantage. However, my staff and I believe that when the RSV-36 reaches the squadrons, this problem will be ameliorated. We also need a new light bomber to bring the air war to the enemy troops, but with the purchase of the Fairey Battle from Great Britain this year, that problem will have solved itself by the end of the year.”
“So I take it we can call the exercise a success then? We beat the Walloons, and we delayed the Germans and the French. When the Air Force gets its new toys, we might even be able to stop them at the border. This will make for great headlines.”
-“Well, as I said sir, we do have a great need for better anti-tank weapons. Air parity will not give us the ability to stop enemy tanks from overrunning our lines, and...”
“Yes yes, I heard you the first time. Weren't you the one who told me that tanks without infantry are useless?”
“-Yes sir, but that does not mean we can just ignore the danger they pose. Without the ability to take out tanks, the enemy infantry...”
“But we can take out the infantry. Besides, you're not going to tell me we didn't take out a single enemy tank during this whole exercise, are you?”
-”No sir, we did take out several enemy tanks, both with mines, artillery, and 25mm Hotchkiss anti-tank guns, but the mines and artillery are indirect weapons, and the anti-tank guns do not have enough penetrating power to...”
“But we still took them out. The Army got its new toys last year. You got armored cars, artillery, small arms, and you're still not satisfied?”
-”It is my job to ensure we are able to defeat any enemy sir, and I do not feel we can do that with our current anti-tank weapons.”
“As I said, we did take out some tanks, which obviously means we have the capability of destroying the damn things. I don't think we can buy any of these French 47mm APX guns you've requested in you report, I doubt I could raise any money for that. It's not like the economy is thriving you know. Anyways, the media will be pleased to hear our Army held 3 successful exercises, and stands ready to protect them.”
(General Victor Jean Clement Count Van Strydonck de Burkel, CinC Flemish Armed Forces)
