France, January 1, 1936.
French chiefs of staff decide that troops need some winter exercise, most troops are ordered to race against each others to reach the maginot line, as if mobilization had been called. Naval transports are dispatched to collect Algerian and Tunisian contingents for some snow awareness in Normandie.
Some units make a beeway through Belgium trying to achieve higher speed.
Thinking to capitalize upon the confusion in French command trying to keep up with the units that were drifting apart as the different methods and speeds of locomotion were having effect, and the confusion in French political circles trying to smooth things over with Belgium, German madman #1 decided that it was time to reoccupy the Rhineland alongside with holding a speech in the reichtag early in the morning January 9, 1936.
The flustered French politicians, forced to work late and into weekend were not in a mood to accept such a flagrant violation of the Versailles treaty, the french generals almost across the borders already, and with loony #1 firmly committed to forcibly reoccupying the rhinelands, the crisis did quickly evolve into war, something that worried frenchmens at all levels, but there was nothing to do than to try to make it short and painless.
In desperation most of the French high command was sacked, ad-hoc combat units formed and Germany invaded by way of the undefended southern part of the border and with a madcap dash of tanks, trucks and cavalry, French divisions fanned out over the german hinterland.
January 12 saw the fall of Freiburg, the 14th - Konstanz, 16th - Würzburg, 19th - Erfurt, 20th - Nürnberg.
It was only after a week that the surprised German high command managed to eke some attack actions from the quagmire of confusion their great leader had dumped them in by promising that Germany would retreat in face of French oppositon and then fail to allow this retreat to save his face.
German resistance to the south of Köln was present and would soon beat back the French incursions there, that would in later writings be defined as a 'feint'. German counter-attacks in the vicinities of Halle and Freiburg would fail in the snow and storms against determined French resistance.
To be continued...
French chiefs of staff decide that troops need some winter exercise, most troops are ordered to race against each others to reach the maginot line, as if mobilization had been called. Naval transports are dispatched to collect Algerian and Tunisian contingents for some snow awareness in Normandie.
Some units make a beeway through Belgium trying to achieve higher speed.
Thinking to capitalize upon the confusion in French command trying to keep up with the units that were drifting apart as the different methods and speeds of locomotion were having effect, and the confusion in French political circles trying to smooth things over with Belgium, German madman #1 decided that it was time to reoccupy the Rhineland alongside with holding a speech in the reichtag early in the morning January 9, 1936.
The flustered French politicians, forced to work late and into weekend were not in a mood to accept such a flagrant violation of the Versailles treaty, the french generals almost across the borders already, and with loony #1 firmly committed to forcibly reoccupying the rhinelands, the crisis did quickly evolve into war, something that worried frenchmens at all levels, but there was nothing to do than to try to make it short and painless.
In desperation most of the French high command was sacked, ad-hoc combat units formed and Germany invaded by way of the undefended southern part of the border and with a madcap dash of tanks, trucks and cavalry, French divisions fanned out over the german hinterland.
January 12 saw the fall of Freiburg, the 14th - Konstanz, 16th - Würzburg, 19th - Erfurt, 20th - Nürnberg.
It was only after a week that the surprised German high command managed to eke some attack actions from the quagmire of confusion their great leader had dumped them in by promising that Germany would retreat in face of French oppositon and then fail to allow this retreat to save his face.
German resistance to the south of Köln was present and would soon beat back the French incursions there, that would in later writings be defined as a 'feint'. German counter-attacks in the vicinities of Halle and Freiburg would fail in the snow and storms against determined French resistance.
To be continued...
