Chapter 25 Chapter Seven Between Two Battles

The day the French army laid down their weapons, the Germans erased the darkest imprint in their hearts, which was the armistice treaty signed on November 11, 1918, on the special train of the French Marshal Foch that stopped in the forest of Compiègne.Now the French signed their own surrender treaty in the same place and in the same carriage. June 22, 1940 may be regarded as the culmination of Hitler's career.The military power of France, which had been a great threat to Germany since 1918, was now completely defeated and no longer a rival to the Third Reich.Britain had not suffered final defeat, but had been expelled from the Continent.Russia has now become Germany's neighbor, and in spite of the Moscow Treaty is still a potential threat in the East, but with repeated victories in Poland and France, it is unlikely that she will dare to challenge Germany invades.If the Kremlin had indeed wanted to take advantage of Germany's involvement in the West to take advantage of further expansion, it had clearly lost its chance and should not have allowed the Germans to win such a quick and decisive victory over the Allies.

The great success of the German army in Poland and France did not mean that its leaders had been preparing for a war of revenge since the first Compiègne.Contrary to what all hostile propagandists say, the policy of the German General Staff between 1918 and 1939 was in fact anything but a retaliatory or aggressive war , but only to ensure the safety of Germany.But we should also admit that the military leaders finally allowed Hitler to manipulate them, which means that they recognized the superiority of policy.Although they do not agree with this policy, there is nothing to overturn it other than a coup d'état.

Hitler did his best to rearm, but that was not the only reason for his success.True, the Treaty of Versailles left Germany defenseless, so rearmament was a prerequisite for victory in the war.But there is no doubt that Germany's military preparations are not sufficient, not as good as Russia on land, and not as good as Western countries in the air.Even in terms of numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery alone, the West was at least equal to Germany, and probably superior in some respects.The decisive factor in the Western Front was not armaments, but the better quality of the German troops and better leadership.While never forgetting the immutable laws of war, the Wehrmacht has learned only one or two new things since 1918.

After the truce, Army Headquarters began to take steps to demobilize a considerable number of divisions, while some infantry divisions also began to convert into armored or motorized divisions. The headquarters of XXXVIII Corps was initially moved to the Samserre area, in the middle reaches of the Loire, to handle the reorganization of certain divisions.We left the quaint fort and moved into a smaller villa.Our new abode is a fake antique, the private property of a wine merchant, and is everywhere in the most bad taste, except for the view from the top of the hill over the valley of the Loire.

On July 19, all senior generals were summoned to Berlin for the opening of the Reichstag, where Hitler officially declared the end of the Western Front.At the same time, in order to express the country's gratitude to the soldiers, he honored some senior officers, as if the war had been completely won.Naturally, the German people should be grateful to the army, but we soldiers feel that this kind of reward seems a bit excessive in nature and scope. Hitler appointed a dozen field marshals and an admiral of the navy at the same time, an action that undoubtedly devalued the prestige of this rank, which had been a very noble honor in Germany in the past.Except for William II who had appointed several marshals in peacetime, the rest of the people had to brave the fire and make great military exploits in order to obtain this title.

At the end of the Polish campaign, the commander-in-chief of the army and the two commanders-in-chief of the army group were able to meet this requirement, but Hitler did not promote them to field marshals to express his gratitude to the army.Now he created a dozen marshals at a time. In addition to the commander-in-chief who had fought two outstanding campaigns, he also included the head of the armed forces. He was neither a commander nor a chief of staff.There was also the Undersecretary of the Air Force, whose organizational achievements were indispensable but by no means equal to the Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

Hitler's most arrogant action was to elevate Goering to the head of the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, make him Reichs Marshal, and make him the only recipient of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross.In this case, the way of this kind of award seems to be deliberately belittling Brauchitsch, which can also clearly show Hitler's views on the Army Headquarters. On this day, I also learned that my army has a new mission.We are to be stationed on the Channel coast and prepare to invade England, with three infantry divisions placed under our command.Our camp is at Le Touquet, a seaside resort near Bologan where many Englishmen have beautiful villas.Our military headquarters is located in a very luxurious hotel.I lived with a few confidential personnel in a small villa that belonged to a French ship owner.Although the owner has fled, he has left his housekeeper there to take care of everything.In contrast to the behavior of the Allied forces in Germany in the future, we Germans did not regard ourselves as masters in France, and we never dared to occupy the enemy's property arbitrarily.Owing to the strict discipline of our troops, we never had a serious dispute with civilians during our six months in France.

Our garrison on the coast afforded us the opportunity of bathing in sea water in the middle of November, which was a great pleasure to my entourage.At one point, we forgot that in the English Channel the difference between high and low tide can be as much as twenty-six feet, so we were almost out of danger.This is also an extremely important factor for the problem of crossing the sea to attack Britain. But the enjoyment and attractions of this beautiful country, and the repose after victory, have not softened our troops, which is usually very difficult for an occupying army to avoid.Because we need to train troops to perform a brand new mission, everyone dare not slack off at all.Troops practice daily on the dunes, many of which resemble imagined landing areas.When our means of crossing the sea arrive, the modified Rhine and Elbe barges, small tugboats and motor boats, etc. in calm weather, we can practice boarding and disembarking with the navy.None of these crews are proficient at their tasks either, but we're confident they can be learned with time.