IT is said that in World War II two significant battles played a pivotal role in Germany’s defeat. Here is a brief account of the two battles.
On Sept 2, 1939, Germany attacked Poland and overwhelmed it after 28 days of intense fighting. A lull, called the ‘Phoney War’, followed during which Britain sent its army and air force (RAF) of 28 squadrons to France. The lull was broken in May 1940 when France and other countries were overrun by a blitzkrieg. The British Army and two RAF squadrons were evacuated from the Dunkirk region. The then British prime minister Winston Churchill declared: “The Battle of France is over, the Battle of Britain is about to begin.” This historic battle was the first of its kind, since it was fought entirely in the air.
The Germans could not invade Britain unless they controlled the English Channel to counter the naval interference and this meant having supremacy in the air to attack the Royal Navy and merchant ships bringing in supplies from the USA. Before the battle, the Luftwaffe (Germans) had 2,500 aircraft (Messershmit fighters and bombers) while the RAF had 1,200, including 800 Hurricane Spitfire fighters. The Spitfire were superior to anything that the Germans had.
German pilots were highly trained and battle-hardened, but their aircraft operated far from their airbases and the fighters could not support the bombers inhibited by shorter flying time. Reich Marshal Goering was in charge of the invasion plan. RAF pilots were poorly trained but they operated from home bases and therefore could rearm and refuel in no time. This proved to be of great advantage to the RAF in the second phase of the battle. The RAF also had an edge over their opponents as far as radar stations along the coast were concerned. It had an able commander in Sir Hugh Downing too.
The battle began on July 10, 1940 when the Germans attacked radar stations, different bases and military installations. Daytime bombing was followed by nighttime ones to prevent repair of damaged infrastructure, particularly the bases. The RAF found itself in dire straits, but then, paradoxically, a miracle happened. Adolf Hitler went for London. The RAF mistakenly bombed Berlin and this angered Hitler so much that he ordered the bombing of British cities, especially London. The Germans were forced to divert their major resources to the new targets that were not of military use. Marshal Goering put all his resources in this new phase of war.
Sir Hugh Downing, too, threw everything in the struggle, including the induction of Polish, Czech and hastily-trained British pilots. British defiance was to prove crucial in the battle.
The lifting of pressure on the bases allowed RAF fighters to take off. Messershmit aircraft proved to be no match to the Spitfire. German bombers suffered heavy losses, which were usually forced to fly alone without fighter cover. The RAF’s ability to refuel and rearm faster than the Luftwaffe allowed them to maintain more operational aircraft in the sky than their opponents. On Sept 15, 1940, unsustainable losses forced the Germans to call off the invasion and the air battle, though night raids continued. The battle was over and the British won.
It is now known that the RAF was close to facing defeat when Hitler ordered a change of targets. Churchill summed up the battle saying: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Britain would serve as a base for the Allied Forces culminating in the Normandy landing of June 6,1944.
A DECISIVE BATTLE: A five-month long battle between the German and Russian forces was the most decisive in the Second World War, for it turned the tide in favour of the Russians. As a result, the Germans remained defensive till their final defeat in May 1945.
On June 21, 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barborossa that took the German Army deep into Russia; but the Russians did not suffer defeat because of their stiff resistance. To break the stalemate and ensure victory, Hitler, in the summer of 1942, launched another massive offensive in the south to reach the Caucasus. The city of Stalingrad on the River Volga was chosen as the prime target for no apparent reason, except that it was named after Stalin, someone Hitler hated. The 6th Army of 250,000 men was kept under General Paulus.
Wary of the threat, the Russians had sent reinforcements to the south and the defence of the city was entrusted to the 62nd Army under a 41-year-old Lt-Gen Chuikov, who proved to be the right man for the purpose. The attack started and the 6th Army reached the outskirts of Stalingrad on Aug 19, and soon captured half of the city. To stop the advance Chuikov issued his famous order, “There is no land beyond the Volga.”
On Oct 14, Paulus pulled out his reserves and made his final attempt to capture the city, before the tough winter season could reach its peak. The Russians, including thousands of women soldiers, fought desperately street-by-street, leaving no inch uncontested. A German officer writing home called the fighting ‘Rattenkrieg’ or the War Of The Rats. Paulus used his troops to the limit to push the Russians against the wall, but failed.
Chuikov’s determined defence of the city had bought valuable time for the Russian high command to assemble a huge army, under Gen Rokossovsky, to launch two attacks on the flanks of the 6th Army barely held by Germany’s allies that were quickly overrun. By Nov 23, they completely surrounded the Germans.
The Germans were in dire straits as their supplies of different daily requirements were stopped. Despite their desperate position, Hitler refused to buckle under pressure, which was futile considering the Russian strength and severe winter season that added to the Germans’ woes. Hitler’s army fought back, but due to food shortage, weather conditions and a hopeless situation, it began to disintegrate. Paulus was given an ultimatum in January 1943 to surrender, but Hitler forbade it and to shore up Paulus’s morale, he promoted him to the rank of Marshal on Jan 31. It was a futile gesture because three days later, on Feb 3, 1943 the 6th Army surrendered and 110,000 starving Germans were captured.
