European theater

World War II General WWII Discussion
#1

Hi my name’s Ash, im 40 from North Wales. I’m trying to learn about WW2 European Theater by reading this website - https://www.historycrunch.com/european-theater-of-world-war-ii.html#/ A mate of mine who knows a lot about ww2 European theater suggested to me that i should learn when the outbreak of WW2 was which i know, it was in 1939 and Germany invaded Poland. 2 days later Britain and France declared war on Germany but then there was a period where Britain saw no fighting from Germany, called the Phoney war. That’s all i know so far. Then my mate suggested to read up on the Battle of France which i don’t really understand. I know it started in may 1940 where Germany attacked France, Belgium and Holland through the Ardennes Forest, Where Belgium and Dutch troops in France? How did Germany separate all the different forces? I don’t understand.

I’m typing out all these facts and putting them into questions and answers to make them easier to understand.

#2

I think Wikipedia gives a decent overview of the Battle of France. For books I’d suggest starting with by Alistair Horne’s informative but flawed [u]To Lose a Battle[/u]. If you’re looking to go deeper, [u]The_Blitzkrieg_Legend[/u] by Karl-Heinz Frieser, which swerves as the unofficial German military history of the Western Campaign of 1939-1940, written some 60 years on. The latter, especially, may be a bit complicated for someone starting out reading military history, and there is a whole set of writings on the Battle for France with a focus accurately appraising the reasons for the defeat from the simpleton ‘surrender-monkey’ and unstoppable-Blitzkrieg-vast-over-generalizations…

#3

The Phony War you are referring too was actually the period from September 1939 to May 1940 prior to the German attack Fall Gelb (Operation/Case Yellow). There were only limited skirmishes during this period as the Germans fought in Poland. The French Army did attempt a minor, very limited operation into the German Saar, but it was halfhearted at best despite not receiving much active resistance from a weak force of second-rate Heer garrison infantry. There were no Dutch troops in France, and save for a few units, it was the other way around with Belgium as the best of the French Army catastrophically pushed into Belgium causing them to be outflanked…