Chapter 19 Army Headquarters' (or Hitler's) Project

If I were asked to describe the basic strategy that Army Headquarters (and Hitler) planned to adopt on the Western Front in light of operational orders issued by Army Headquarters, I could briefly reply as follows: In accordance with Hitler's order of October 9, the Army Headquarters advocated sending a strong right-wing force through the Netherlands into northern Belgium to defeat the British and French allied forces expected to be encountered there, together with the forces of the Netherlands and Belgium.In other words, the main thing is to seek a decision with a powerful assault from the right.This assault consisted of the N Group Army Detachment (the so-called Group Army Detachment, the German is Armee｜Abteilung English translation is Army detachment, which is a small group army with two or three armies under its jurisdiction) and the B Group Army Group (the commander-in-chief is Admiral Polk) composed of.This force was concentrated in areas such as the Upper Rhine and northern Eifel. Army Group B commanded a total of three armies.This northern wing comprised a total of thirty infantry divisions and most of the mechanized units (nine armored divisions and four motorized infantry divisions).Since the total strength of the German army on the Western Front is only 102 divisions, it accounts for about half of our total strength.

Army Group N was tasked with eliminating Dutch resistance, while the three armies of Army Group B were to pass north and south of Liege through the Northern Belgian Offensive.A strong tank force should play a decisive role here in an attempt to disperse the enemy. On October 29 this first battle plan was revised, leaving Holland completely out of the initial stage.This may be due to the advice of the Army Headquarters. Therefore, Army Group B should bypass Liege's flanks and attack respectively, with two armies (4th and 6th) leading and the other two armies (18th and 2nd) following.However, the Netherlands was still included in the scope of operations in the future, and the Eighteenth Army was responsible for destroying the enemy forces in this area.

When Army Group B was responsible for the decisive assault, Army Group A was responsible for covering its southern flank.The latter consisted of two armies (12th and 16th) with a total of 22 infantry divisions, but none of them were mechanized at all.Having assembled at the south of the Eifel and at Hunsruck, the army group advanced through southern Belgium and Luxembourg.On the left side of Army Group B, the Twelfth Army has deployed echelon defenses to cover Army Group B's continued advance so that it will not be obstructed by the enemy. After the Sixteenth Army has crossed Luxembourg, it should turn south in order to protect the entire deep flank of the operation.It was to take a defensive position immediately north of the westward extension of the Maginot Line between the Saar and the Meuse east of Sedan.

Army Group C left two armies and eighteen infantry divisions to defend the Siegfried Line from the border of Luxembourg to Switzerland.Another seventeen infantry divisions and two mechanized divisions served as the general reserve. The first section of the Operational Order of the Army Headquarters of October 19, entitled General Intentions, defines the objectives of this operation as follows (this is again based on the order issued by the Supreme Command on October 9th) : Defeat the largest possible number of units of the French and their allies, and at the same time occupy as large a territory as possible in Holland, Belgium, and northern France, as the basis for successful air and naval operations against Great Britain, and provide for the Ruhr area. A wide protective zone.

The second section of the operational order pointed out the first target of the attack of the two army groups. This action should also be coordinated by the army commander-in-chief Brauchitsch himself.This target should be: Eliminate the Dutch forces, try to defeat the Belgian army near the border fortresses, and quickly concentrate a powerful mechanized force to establish a base for the attack of the powerful right-wing forces and the rapid occupation of the Belgian coastline. In the revised operational order issued on October 29, Army Headquarters again rephrased its general intent as follows, so that the objectives of Army Group B were considerably expanded.Its content is:

In northern France and Belgium, destroy the largest number of French units possible, in order to create favorable conditions for a land and air war against Britain and France. In the section on the order of battle and tasks, the Army Headquarters stipulated the objectives of the army group as follows: Defeat the Allied forces on the north bank of the Somme and push up to the coast of the channel. The cover mission of Army Group A, although still focused on defense, has also been expanded.Its right-wing army (Twelfth Army) now stipulated that it should cross the Meuse south of Fumay and advance through the French border fortress area in the direction of Laon.

The operational intentions of these two combat orders seem to be briefly described as follows: that is, to use the strong right-wing forces to defeat the British and French allies expected to encounter in Belgium from the front, while the weaker left-wing forces cover their flanks.The geographic target is the Channel Coast.As for how to act after the first strike, the combat order did not tell us at all.