THE EARLY SUCCESSES OF GERMANY

PRE-WAR DEVELOPMENTSPANZERS- e.g. Panzer III- Modern German tanks.

LUFTWAFFE- e.g. Stuka dive-bombers- The most capable air force in theworld when war broke out.INFANTRY- e.g. fallschirmjäger troops- Overall the army was one of thebest fighting forces at the time.

POLAND- The Polish army was outdated.For example Poland still had verylarge cavalry forces operating.It had barely anything that wasas technically advanced aswhat Germany had.- Blitzkrieg ("lightning war")was used for the first time:enemy defences andstrategically importanttargets were bombed byairplanes and artillery,which was followed by animmediate attack by tanksand motorized infantry.(- The Soviets also invadedPoland alongside Germany.) 

DENMARK & NORWAY- Both Denmark and Norway had small armies when compared to Germany. Like Poland, neither had much chance.

- Denmark was onlyimportant to Germany as aneighbouring country to becontrolled and as a basis forthe invasion of Norway.

- Norway was an excellentlocation for U-boat basesand provided Germanyaccess to iron ore located inSweden.

PLAN GELB ("YELLOW")

The French did not think the Germans would dare to attack through theArdennes forest as it was so thick. However, this is exactly what happened,and the Germans easily trapped their enemies by advancing to the Channel as had been planned.

2. The strongest attackwent through theArdennes forest,which the French did notdefend against properly.

1. To the north of the mainattack, German forces went for the heart ofHolland & Belgium.

3. French, British and Belgianforces were surrounded bythe German advance to theEnglish Channel. 

HOLLAND & BELGIUM- Holland's forces were outdated,poorly equipped and had littleexperience. Even Hitler himselfexpected a victory in a week or so.- Belgium had a similar situation.It mimicked the French strategy ofusing large fortifications to fend off theGermans. Fort Eben Emael wasconsidered the strongest fortress inthe world, being resistant to heavybombing and housing 1000+ menand various artillery, anti-tank andanti-air guns. However, it was madevirtually useless by 70 fallschirmjägerswithin 20 minutes.The fort's forces hadpoor morale, little combat experience, didn't maintain their weaponry properly and were victims of terrible organization in command.

FRANCE (& BRITAIN)- Most of the best French troops andBritish Expeditionary Force had beensurrounded in Dunkirk as a result ofPlan Gelb. Almost all of themescaped to Britain over theChannel, leavingbehind a majority of both the French andBritish heavy weapons and machinery. - With not enough troops to hold the nowmuch wider front and nearly no heavyweapons available, it was only a matter oftime before the German forces brokethrough the French lines and took Paris,effectively marking the end and success ofPlan Gelb.