During the first two years of war, Germany won
a series of victories on the continent of Europe
that staggered the world and made the Wehr-
macht appear invincible. Apprehensive at the
outset, the German people were intoxicated by
military success; all that Hitler had done appeared
justified. The nightmare that the experiences of
the First World War would be repeated seemed
for the Germans no more than a bad dream in- Europe learned the reality of the Blitzkrieg.
The Wehrmacht used the tactics of speedy pene-
tration by tanks, followed by mechanised infantry
and then more slowly by infantry on foot, sup-
ported closely by the Luftwaffe; towns were sub-
jected to indiscriminate bombing, and the
terrorised populations jammed the roads to
escape the advancing Germans. The Blitzkrieg
required careful planning, a well-coordinated
command structure and highly disciplined, well-
equipped troops. The armed forces, from the
most senior officers to the newest conscripts,
served Hitler’s cause, which they identified with
Germany’s, with efficiency and the utmost devo-
tion. The home front supplied the means. It was
their war, too, though Hitler’s lightning wars did
not require the entire mobilisation of the home
front as in Britain. Women were not conscripted
and luxury items continued to be produced to
keep the Germans happy. Military victory alone
made possible the horrors that Hitler’s regime
inflicted on the millions of people who fell into
Germany’s grasp.
In September 1939 Poland was conquered; in
April 1940, Denmark and Norway; during May
the Netherlands and Belgium; and then in June
1940 the greatest victory of all, France was
defeated. With France prostrate, Britain withdrew
from the continent of Europe. Did not the ‘good’
which Hitler had achieved outweigh the ‘bad’? –
so many Germans now reasoned. Hitler even
publicly offered peace to Britain. In July 1940 the
war, so it seemed, was virtually over, an astonish-
ingly short war rather than the expected long and
bloody struggle, leaving Germany victorious.
Why were these German dreams shattered so
soon?
Hitler was not satisfied with what he had
achieved so far. He had not won sufficient
Lebensraumin the east or the undisputed hege-
mony of Europe. Any ‘peace’ for him now would
have been tactical and short-lived. Everything he
said to his associates, either secretly at the time or
in conversations and writings before, points to the
fact that he regarded the victory in the west as
only a prelude to greater conquests. Plans for a
great fleet had been carried forward not with a
view to winning the continental European war
but with an eye to the wars after that, including
the world war with the British Empire and the
US. The struggle would continue as long as
Hitler lived and until Europe was racially trans-
formed and world power was won; but Hitler
proceeded according to his own timetable. The
Germans were not allowed for long to enjoy the(^1) Chapter 22
GERMANY’S WARS OF CONQUEST IN
EUROPE, 1939–41