Episode 18-The fall of France, Part 1.

[0] Welcome to True Spies, the podcast that takes you deep inside the greatest secret missions of all time.

[1] Suddenly out of the dark, it's a bit in love.

[2] You'll meet the people who live life undercover.

[3] What do they know?

[4] What are their skills?

[5] And what would you do in their position?

[6] Vengeance felt good seeing these.

[7] People paid for what they'd done, felt righteous.

[8] True Spies, from Spyscape Studios, wherever you get your podcasts.

[9] This episode is brought to you by Audible.

[10] In case you didn't know, Audible .com is the premier provider of digital audiobooks with over 85 ,000 titles to choose from.

[11] Listeners of this podcast can sign up for a free 14 -day trial and receive a free audiobook download.

[12] You can cancel at any time before your 14 days are up and keep the audiobook.

[13] Or you can continue on and choose from one of their great subscription plans.

[14] Today, I would like to recommend The Man on Mao's Right by Zhou Zhu Ji.

[15] I just finished listening to this, and it was an amazing story.

[16] Ji, the young man, actually boy, really, he's raised, obviously born and raised in China, and his father is a well -known lawyer, but he's a communist.

[17] And everything's going fine for a while, and he and his brother are pretty much little princelings in the area that they live in.

[18] But it's the 1930s, and the Japanese forces are getting closer and closer to where they live.

[19] So they keep moving west, but the Japanese still keep coming.

[20] And then finally, Zhou Enlai, the man who ends up becoming the number two man in the Communist Party, says, why don't you take your family and go to America?

[21] Get them to learn English, get them to learn the ways to the west, and we could probably use them 20, 25 years from now.

[22] how they thought it was it was pretty amazing stuff so he goes to America and he picks up the language, and he falls in love with the country, and the country falls in love with him, especially the ice cream.

[23] He loves the ice cream there.

[24] And everything's going along fine.

[25] He goes to Harvard.

[26] He gets his degree.

[27] He's enjoying life.

[28] Everything's great.

[29] But then when the Korean War comes in the early 1950s, he feels the pull of his original country.

[30] And so he goes back to China to help, and through a lot of different events, he ends up becoming the English interpreter for Mao Zedong for two decades, and Zhou Enlai and some of the other communist hierarchy.

[31] So he is privy to all these amazing events that happened in the 20th century.

[32] And he's able to tell you all about it like a fly on the wall kind of point of view.

[33] And it's absolutely amazing.

[34] He's there for the Great Leap Forward, which was Mao's idea that ended up costing the lives of tens of millions of Chinese.

[35] They starved to death.

[36] He's there for the Cultural Revolution, more purging.

[37] He's there for the Nixon Summit, which was a very big deal when China was opened to America to a certain degree.

[38] And he's there for other events in Tiananmen Square.

[39] So it's an amazing story, amazing read, and he just had this incredible life.

[40] And you really get a...

[41] account, a personal account of what happened in China before he leaves and then when he goes back.

[42] And as far as, you know, China's going to be the new superpower and we should all learn about it.

[43] But it really is an amazing story.

[44] And, of course, after a couple decades, he's still seen by the people there as someone who's too westernized.

[45] So they send him to collective farms to be re -educated numerous times.

[46] I'm not sure if it took or not, but he certainly never lost his love for ice cream.

[47] But it's an amazing story.

[48] You should definitely check it out.

[49] Now, there are two ways to sign up for this free trial.

[50] You can go to my website, worldwar2podcast .net, and click on the banner, or you can go to audibletrial .com slash worldwar2podcast.

[51] Again, that's audibletrial .com slash worldwar2podcast.

[52] That way, they'll know who sent you.

[53] So at the end of the last episode, when I said we'd be covering Mao and China, because so far the Asian podcasts have been pretty much to the Japanese point of view, when I said we'd be covering Mao and China, I clearly meant we'd be covering the fall of France and Europe.

[54] No, seriously, what happened was, just to shake things up a bit, we're going to have a guest speaker when we cover some Mao and the Long March at the end of 1934 and 1935.

[55] We're going to have a guest speaker with us, speaker, podcaster, lecturer, I'm not sure what to call him.

[56] But his name is Laszlo Montgomery, and he has his own podcast called the China History Podcast.

[57] And it's a really amazing podcast.

[58] You should check it out.

[59] He really knows what he's talking about.

[60] We both started our podcast.

[61] podcasts at the same time, roughly.

[62] But he does a better job of getting his out.

[63] I think he's got like 30 episodes to my 18, so he works harder at it than I do.

[64] And since I do a lot of driving, I pretty much listen to all his episodes, and he really knows what he's doing.

[65] He has this really smooth voice.

[66] He has this relaxed delivery.

[67] You really get into it.

[68] And if anybody's qualified to do a podcast on China, it's him.

[69] You know, for my podcast, I pretty much have to read a whole bunch of books, go on the internet, look at my DVDs, read memoirs.

[70] and put it all together to make it, which is why it takes so long for these to come out.

[71] But for Laszlo, he's the real deal.

[72] He's been studying Mandarin, I think, since 1979.

[73] He's actually lived in China, I think, for nine or ten years.

[74] And he still works with and travels to companies in China all the time.

[75] So I'm sure he has a library, but he probably has to crack it open a lot less than I do.

[76] So listen to his podcast.

[77] It's great.

[78] And there's little language lessons.

[79] By the time you listen to a couple, the Mandarin will probably start to make sense to you.

[80] And by the time you get to the end, you'll have figured out why the Chinese need all those little red envelopes for Chinese New Year.

[81] That was probably my favorite episode.

[82] So today we're going to set up the fall of France.

[83] And then the good news is, Laszlo and I are supposed to get together tomorrow.

[84] to cover that.

[85] So if everything goes well, the next episode will actually be out in two days, not in two weeks.

[86] So please say a prayer to the higher powers of telecommunications and time zones.

[87] And we should be able to pull this off.

[88] Hello, and thank you for listening to a History of World War II podcast, episode 18, The Fall of France, part one.

[89] On May 10, 1940, just after dawn, the Ambassador of Belgium and the Minister of the Netherlands in Berlin were told to come to the Wilhelmstrasse.

[90] There, they were told by Ribbentrop that German troops were entering their countries to protect them from the imminent attack of the Anglo -French forces.

[91] The Germans had been unable to come up with a better excuse than what they gave Norway and Denmark.

[92] The Germans expected no resistance, but if there was, it would be put down ruthlessly.

[93] In the capitals of the countries about to be invaded, German envoys went to the respective foreign offices and delivered the same message.

[94] Now, Germany had promised to respect the Low Countries' neutrality many, many times in the past.

[95] The first time was in 1839, when the five major European countries all promised Belgium disrespect in perpetuity.

[96] Germany broke that in 1914 after 75 years of respecting it.

[97] The Weimar Republic gave their pledge when they came to power, as did Hitler when he first came to power.

[98] Also, in his many speeches throughout the 1930s, he promised to respect the neutrality of the Low Countries.

[99] He emphasized that they had nothing to fear from the renewed German military might.

[100] Of course, he did this so they would break away from their formal alliances with France and Great Britain.

[101] And that is what they did in April of 1937, when they were released from the Locarno Treaty.

[102] But we now know that as early as August 1938, Hitler had an interest in taking these countries to protect his northwestern flank, as well as giving him air bases that much closer to northern France and Great Britain.

[103] Again on August 1939, Hitler talked to his generals about the possibility of invading Belgium and the Netherlands.

[104] But it was only after Poland had fallen that Hitler was ready to go past the discussion phase of operations.

[105] Now, we've covered the fact already about the warnings given to the Low Countries about the German attack.

[106] On November 5, 1939, a Colonel Oster, an anti -Nazi conspirator, had warned the military taches in Berlin that an attack was coming on November 12.

[107] And again, we covered on January 10, 1940, when a German plane was forced to land due to fog, the actual plans for the battle got into the Belgians' hands.

[108] So it was Colonel Oster, who was a good friend of Colonel Sasse, the military attaché for the Netherlands of Berlin, he'd given him the information, who then passed it on to his government.

[109] But since neither date was kept for the attack in the Netherlands or Belgium, Sasse lost some of his credibility.

[110] But he got it back when Oster gave him the correct date for the attack on Norway and Denmark, and passed it on to his superiors.

[111] As early as May 3rd, Colonel Oster told Colonel Sasse about the new date set for the attack.

[112] on May 10th for the West.

[113] The Dutch were able to get confirmation of this date from someone in the Vatican.

[114] And remember, Mussolini had Ciano leak this information as well, even though Hitler knew about that.

[115] The Dutch had told the Belgians, and they were both trying to get ready.

[116] On May 9th, Oster and Sasse dined together for the last time.

[117] Oster was able to confirm the date once again for Sasse, and after dinner, Sasse went to the Belgian legation, told them, and then he went back to his own, and he confirmed it with the Hague.

[118] Despite all this and other instances that the attack was coming, Britain and France were still taken by surprise.

[119] Neither general staff put much stock in the first reports that were coming out from Brussels or The Hague.

[120] Britain was in the middle of a political crisis of its own when Chamberlain was being blamed for the Norway fiasco and he was being replaced by Churchill, which wasn't resolved until the evening of May 10th, the first day of attack.

[121] When both staffs realized the situation, They couldn't help but feel some tension towards the latest victims of Nazism.

[122] Although Britain and France had been planning on what to do when northern France and the Low Countries were invaded, these discussions did not include the general staffs of the countries under assault right now.

[123] That was because they didn't want to be in the talks.

[124] They were trying to keep Britain and France at a distance, hoping that this would appease Germany.

[125] But now that they realized that this was a mistake, they were frantically calling on the Tupic powers for help.

[126] But of course, this resulted in very little coordination at first that could have made a big difference in trying to stymie the German plans of conquest.

[127] So the Franco -British plan went ahead as drawn up, and a huge Anglo -French force rushed northeastward from the French border to the main Belgian defense line along their wide rivers east of Brussels, the capital.

[128] We'll get into the details later.

[129] This is where the Allies hoped to stop the German invasion in its tracks and prepare for a counterthrust.

[130] Unfortunately for them, this is exactly what the German plan expected and hoped for.

[131] The Anglo -French forces, along with the Belgian line of defense, would soon find themselves trapped and cut off from Paris, and any help.

[132] That's because the German plan had been greatly changed since it fell into the intended victim's hands on January 10th, which turned out to be very fortunate for Germany.

[133] The plan at the time was very similar to the plan used in World War I. It was predictable, and therefore stoppable.

[134] So Fall Gelb, or Cachello, as the plan was called, was haphazardly put together in the fall of 1939, when it was clear that Poland was doomed.

[135] Hitler wanted to attack in the West by mid -November, when he realized that they were not ready.

[136] Again, the original plan called for the German forces to invade Belgium and northern France, and some forces would take the port cities along northern France, so the British could not land nearby and help out.

[137] And other German forces would continue to...

[138] arc around and get behind the French forces where the Maginot Line is at, and it would be able to attack from the front and the back and wipe them out.

[139] But as time went by, the plan evolved, and Hitler saw things differently now.

[140] He now wanted a more limited war.

[141] He wanted to save his troops for the big fight with the USSR.

[142] Hitler was now hoping to drive into northern France, take the port cities, and use their land bases to harass Britain with his Luftwaffe.

[143] But here's the big change.

[144] He only wanted to push back the French forces, not destroy them outright.

[145] That would take its toll on German men and equipment, even in victory.

[146] He still believed that the British and the French did not have their hearts in another war, and they would be willing to make peace with him if he could threaten Paris and bomb London.

[147] So again, the idea of German forces invading through Belgium and northern France was expected by the Allies.

[148] Their Plan D, written up on November 17, 1939, called for the French 1st and 9th Armies, along with the British Expeditionary Force, to quickly put themselves in the main Belgian defensive line along the rivers Dial and Meuse from Antwerp to Louvain.

[149] Now, the Allies saw the weakness in their own plan.

[150] They knew it would take time to rush their forces up to the main Belgian defense line.

[151] And again, that was because Belgium would not let any of the forces in their territory until Germany attacked.

[152] Again, understandably, they were hoping to remain neutral.

[153] So the French got the Belgians to promise to strengthen their defensive line along the rivers to give the Anglo -French forces time to reach them and to be able to help.

[154] But that's as far as the Belgians would go.

[155] At the end of November, the Allies then improved upon their plan to cancel out the supposed German plan by deciding to rush General Girard's 7th Army up the coast to help the Dutch in case Antwerp and the Netherlands was attacked.

[156] So the Allies believed that they were set.

[157] If Germany decided to flank the Maginot Line by swinging north of it, they would be met by the entire British Expeditionary Force, the best part of the French Army, 22 divisions from the Belgians, and 10 divisions from the Dutch, a force that would turn out to pretty much equal the Germans in that area.

[158] But it was this very expected crashing of opposing forces that Germany needed to avoid.

[159] Speed was needed.

[160] Speed was the only way Germany could roll back their enemy, in this case France, so Britain could be focused on.

[161] So when General von Manstein, the chief of staff for General Rudestadt's Army Group A in the west, saw Fall Gelb, or Case Yellow, he knew instinctively it needed changing.

[162] He was a relatively junior rank, but he turned out to be a gifted officer for strategy and tactics.

[163] So during the winter of 1939 -40, Manstein was able to get his ideas before Hitler with Rundstedt's help on February 17th.

[164] His idea was to faint right through the Low Countries, which is what everyone expected, and which had been done and almost worked in World War I. So the Allies would probably assume the Germans were trying it again.

[165] This fate would cause the British and French to rush their forces into Belgium, further away from Paris, and the real point of attack.

[166] He then proposed to strike in the center of the French defense line, just north of where the Maginot line ended, around Sedan.

[167] with massed German armor going through the Ardennes, a wooded area considered impassable by tanks by most military personnel of most countries.

[168] And the Ardennes is located in southern Belgium, just north of Luxembourg, which is going to be taken as well.

[169] It was a daring plan, it had risks, and Hitler loved it.

[170] He quickly thought of it as his own, and he pushed it on his generals.

[171] Halder and Browdich fought it at first, but then Halder changed his mind, got his hands on it, and with his general staff officers, greatly improved its details.

[172] So on February 24th, 1940, the OKW formally adopted it and sent out new deployment orders on March 7th.

[173] They were getting ready.

[174] Now, a previous version of the German attack plan left the Netherlands out, but unfortunately it was included again by November.

[175] It was the Luftwaffe that wanted this territory to be included in the plan.

[176] It would bring them that much closer to Britain again to bomb them into surrendering or making peace terms.

[177] So when the Luftwaffe was willing to put up some of their airborne troops to help take this country, its inclusion was made formal.

[178] So both sides were more or less ready, and their plans were made.

[179] and it would turn out that they would be basically evenly matched.

[180] 136 German divisions to 135 divisions made up of French, British, Belgian, and Dutch troops.

[181] And the Allies had their defensive line consisting of the Maginot line in the south, a line of Belgian forts in the center, and a line of forts...

[182] along the rivers in the Netherlands in the north.

[183] Surprisingly, even in tanks, the both sides were pretty much evenly matched, but the Germans had learned to mass theirs in Poland to be a lot more effective.

[184] This would wreak havoc on the lack of communication among the Allies, especially with the Dutch and the Belgians, because their general staffs just weren't talking that much to each other.

[185] Whereas the Germans had a unified command structure, no scribbles about attacking a neutral country, and most of all, confidence in their pending victory.

[186] The generals were anticipatory, and that reverberated among the troops.

[187] The men in the field were chomping at the bet to get started.

[188] Had they lost yet?

[189] No. Did they think they would lose this time?

[190] Not a chance.

[191] And it didn't hurt that France didn't have its heart in the struggle.

[192] They were politically divided, some wanted to fight, and some wanted peace at almost any price, and it did affect the troops.

[193] But for all the anticipation...

[194] The nerves of the General High Command was not made of steel.

[195] Battles can be planned, but once released, the fortunes of war can take many turns.

[196] Hitler, the Nazi warlord, knowing he was about to launch a true test of their evolving tactics and strategy that could involve his country in the dreaded drawn -out war, got cold feet.

[197] On May 1st, he ordered Fall Gelb to start May 5th, but on May 3rd, he moved it to May 6th.

[198] This move, he said, was due to weather.

[199] and he needed more time to strengthen his justification for attacking the neutral countries.

[200] He delayed the start two more times, but on May 8th, pushed by Gehring, moved the attack to May 10th, but warned everyone there would be no more delays.

[201] So on May 9th, Hitler boarded his train along with Keitel, Jodl, and some of the other OKW staff, and he made his way to his headquarters, which would be about 25 miles from where some of the German forces were bound for Belgium.

[202] When the weather reports came in and everything looked good for the operations on the 10th, the code word Danzig was given at 11 p .m. local time.

[203] Now in France, as stunning as the German victories were in Norway, Premier Reynaud of France was equally stunned by his lackluster 67 -year -old Generalissimo of the French Army, General Maurice Gamlet.

[204] He was respected by the French and German military and was full of action during World War I. But now, besides keeping politics out of the army, no small feat in the post -World War era, he seemed to be focusing on defense only and using tactics from the previous war.

[205] When Renault asked what Gamblin's plans were when the Germans made it to Norway first, he merely said that it was a naval and therefore British operation, and he would let them control it.

[206] But it was clear to Renault that Germany was the only one in control of the Norway operation.

[207] When Renault continued to push his ranking general to come up with a plan based on the current situation in Norway, Gamelin could not be moved.

[208] Deladier, the former premier and current defenseman, supported his generalissimo.

[209] So Renault wanted them both gone.

[210] France and French armed forces needed new blood in these key positions because it was obvious to everyone that war in the West was coming soon.

[211] On April 27, 1940, Renault was flying to London for a meeting with the Supreme Council.

[212] Only by coordinating their resources and actions could the West hope to stop the Goliath, that was the German armed forces.

[213] Right before the plane took off, Renault told Paul Baldwin, a member of his government, that Deladia and Gamblin had to go, but he wanted the permission of President Lebrun before taking any drastic step during the crisis.

[214] The meeting between Baldwin and the President was a complete waste of time.

[215] The President wished to remain above it all and pretended not to not even know that there was tension within the cabinet.

[216] But he did make one decision.

[217] He decided he could not go along with removing Deladier and Gamlin.

[218] President Lebrun ended the meeting by saying, Tell him, meaning Renaud, to be patient.

[219] Time arranges many things.

[220] He would be more right than he could possibly know.

[221] Welcome to True Spies.

[222] The podcast that takes you deep inside the greatest secret missions of all time.

[223] Suddenly out of the dark it's appeared in love.

[224] You'll meet the people who live life undercover.

[225] What do they know?

[226] What are their skills?

[227] And what would you do in their position?

[228] Vengeance felt good.

[229] Seeing these people pay for what they'd done felt righteous.

[230] True Spies from Spyscape Studios.

[231] Wherever you get your podcasts.

[232] When Premier Reynaud returned that same evening, he had come down with a grip.

[233] He was shivering and exhausted.

[234] A doctor told him to go to bed for at least a week.

[235] This allowed Countess de Porte, his mistress, to get behind his desk.

[236] She gave orders to the cabinet and some officers, and for some reason, no one walked over to the lady and escorted her from the room.

[237] And also during his absence, Marshal Patin, the current French ambassador in Spain, was thinking about his political future.

[238] Generals Gamlin and Georges, Gamlin's number two men, were fighting over strategy and who would command the coming battle.

[239] This was the political situation before the Germans attacked.

[240] As for the people in Parliament, the political right in France hated and feared the French Communists more than they did the Germans.

[241] During the first week of May, Marshal Henri -Philippe Pétain, the hero of World War I, returned from Spain to involve himself in the military meetings, as was his right.

[242] He was offered a place in Renault's cabinet, but turned it down.

[243] It seemed to General Gamblin that Pétain was saving himself for something more.

[244] For the coming battle, France would have about 100 divisions, and the British would have about 10 in their British Expeditionary Force.

[245] This was a marked improvement since the four divisions that they had last November.

[246] So the plan called for 40 of the French divisions to man the Maginot Line, five divisions to guard the border with Switzerland, which no one expected anything to happen, and 40 divisions, their best, best trained and best equipped to be in northern France, to be ready to go with the British into Belgium when the Germans invaded.

[247] That left about 10 divisions, which were under -equipped and less trained to guard the Ardennes Forest.

[248] The rest would be held in reserve.

[249] When the French military high command heard about the 50 Wehrmacht divisions, Gathering on the far side of the Ardennes, General Gamlin decided not to alter his plans, but chose to wait to see what would happen.

[250] This remained true even after they learned the date of the attack.

[251] General Gamlin knew that rushing his forces into Belgium once Germany attacked would be too late.

[252] He was focused on northern Germany because he was convinced that's where it was coming from.

[253] He asked the British to join him in asking the Belgians, the government and the king, King Leopold III, on April 11th, if they could put forces in their country before hostilities commenced.

[254] That way they'd be ready.

[255] And maybe they could even keep Germany out and maybe even muddle the entire German offensive plan.

[256] Belgium, understandably, did not want to take any action that would give Germany a reason to invade.

[257] So not only did they say no, they rushed Belgian troops to their part of the French border to keep the French out.

[258] They even mined the bridges on their side.

[259] They would blow them if the French tried to cross.

[260] They were so afraid of the Germans.

[261] So many Frenchmen and some politicians thought that since the German -Polish war was practically over, why fight?

[262] Why get involved?

[263] Hitler had gotten wind of this feeling from the Italian and Spanish ambassadors.

[264] And Bonet, his name came up, he was in the cabinet, the French cabinet, his name came up as heading this anti -war feeling.

[265] But even Bonet knew that he and others would have to wait until the conflict in Poland was over before they could move on this idea politically.

[266] He did not want to be seen as betraying the Polish.

[267] So on October 2nd, 1939, when the war in Poland is pretty much over, Italian ambassador to Germany.

[268] gave German State Secretary Weisacker the latest news from Paris.

[269] The majority of the French cabinet, along with a healthy percentage of the people in France, were in favor of peace.

[270] The only real question was how to allow France and Britain to save face.

[271] They had promised to help Poland.

[272] The best idea that anyone could come up with was if Germany and Russia set up a Polish state, although it would be completely powerless and controlled by them too, it would at least give the appearance of something happening and might appease those who were either on the fence or looking out for Poland.

[273] And the diehards who wanted Poland completely restored, they would hopefully be voted out of any popular cabinet voting.

[274] They would just have to deal with the reality of the situation.

[275] But Stalin of the USSR quickly put an end to this idea.

[276] He did not want the headache of going through the motions, especially when he already had what he wanted.

[277] He got the land back that Poland took in the 1921 war between the two countries, and he was able to stick Germany with the majority of the two independent, courageous, and crafty Polish people.

[278] But Hitler went along with this decision by Stalin without too much difficulty.

[279] But of course the report ended with no one being sure of Premier Deladier's position on the situation in Poland.

[280] To offer Britain and France something, Hitler made speech after speech in the fall of 1939 about respecting them and not wanting war with the two Western powers.

[281] In reality, Hitler wanted Great Britain to respect him and the German state, but as far as France was concerned, he would wage war against Germany's old rival on the continent.

[282] He needed that settled so he could either focus on Britain or at least focus on the USSR once it was all decided.

[283] On October 3rd, the day after the report reached Hitler, Premier Deladier made his position clear.

[284] He said, On October 12th, Chamberlain gave a speech backing up Deladier.

[285] Despite this, the idea of getting out of the war grew in France.

[286] Britain pushed France as far as they could, but they only got nods from those few in government.

[287] The majority of the people did not want to fight.

[288] So the winter and spring in France saw intellectuals, liberals, and trade unions chant, Why die for Danzig?

[289] French conservatives also wanted out of the war before it got started with Germany, but because of a government wartime censorship, their leaders were not allowed to say so in print.

[290] The Communist Party in France was against the war because of the Soviet -German pact.

[291] but also because Stalin told them to be against it.

[292] The communists in France on September 17th, taking their cue from Moscow, echoed the voices coming from the USSR that said Russia was going into Poland only to save the Ukrainians and the white Russians.

[293] Deladier had the party disbanded on September 26th, 1939.

[294] And although they were out of office, the communists who had been in the chamber on October 1st backed the message coming from Germany and the USSR that said, If there's war now, it will be Britain and France's fault.

[295] Germany has offered peace, which would be backed by Russia.

[296] If anything happens now, it's clearly on the Western powers' head.

[297] So throughout the end of 1939, personal politics and who had what office dominated the French politicians' time.

[298] With the Nazi monster looming on the horizon, these men battled and connived against each other in a way they would not against the German military.

[299] Some of those who did not like the direction of the country, or noticed that there was no direction in the country, blamed Deladier for it, and they started to make plans that involved Marshal Pétain as the leader.

[300] He was respected in Spain and Germany and his own country.

[301] Still, Deladier did ask him to join his cabinet, but Pétain said no in a letter and returned to Spain.

[302] Bataan did still converse with those in Paris, and some of the politicians still made plans for Bataan to be in charge, despite his statements about never taking power.

[303] Now during all this, Colonel de Gaulle, commander of the tanks of the 5th Army, wrote a letter to his superiors on November 11th, 1939.

[304] And he pointed out that the gasoline engine knocks out our military doctrines, just like it will knock out our fortifications.

[305] He begged those above him to learn the lessons of Poland and to think of the infantry as supporting the tanks and not the other way around.

[306] But the two leading men concerning tanks told General Gamlin to reject his idea.

[307] They could not imagine the day when the tanks would lead in front of the infantry.

[308] Why, they would be destroyed by the infantry.

[309] That was just incredible to them.

[310] They said that the tanks belonged behind the glorious and honorable infantrymen.

[311] In fact, they had so little value put on the tank that despite what was happening in Poland, the French military was approving selling of at least half of their latest units coming off of the assembly line in late 1939, early 1940.

[312] But what really affected the French government, the armed forces, and the people was la drole de guerre, or the French way of saying the phony war.

[313] I'm sure I butchered that.

[314] They saw month after month after month of nothing happening since war was declared on their border with Germany.

[315] And some, like Gamelin and Deladier, thought that they could use this time to their advantage.

[316] They would build up their forces, wait for Britain to do the same, get material from the U .S., and maybe even soldiers from the U .S., like in the last war, and then attack Germany in a couple years.

[317] Of course, all this depended on Germans waiting to be attacked.

[318] To say that the phony war affected the French soldier is a vast understatement.

[319] The German high command could not have created a better plan to lower the French morale if they'd wanted to.

[320] The Frenchmen were called up, taken away from family, friends, lovers, and their jobs.

[321] And once they were in uniform and in their position, all they could do was wait and wait and wait.

[322] There were no large -scale exercises planned, there was no training planned, and it wasn't long before the men started drinking.

[323] When they went on furloughs, which started to be lengthened, the men would drink themselves into oblivion.

[324] Soon rooms were set up at railway stations so the men could sleep it off before returning to their duties.

[325] Whereas the French people did not suffer, they were not asked to suffer, they were not asked to sacrifice, and they wouldn't have taken kindly to it in any event.

[326] Food and supplies were not rationed until January of 1940.

[327] Gas, which was mostly imported into France, was not rationed.

[328] The spirit of coming together, sacrificing, and preparing for the national struggle was not in the air the French breathed.

[329] On May 9th at 10 .20 a .m., Premier Paul Renault returned back to his office after seeing the president at Le Brun.

[330] Le Brun had rejected his idea of getting rid of gambling.

[331] But Renault was still determined to get his way or to resign his cabinet if they did not go along with him.

[332] So he walked into his office where he had them assembled and waiting.

[333] Although his voice was hoarse from having the flu for a week, he read to the totally silent cabinet his indictment of gambling and his handling of the fiasco in Norway.

[334] It took two hours.

[335] At 12 .30, he put down the last page of his report.

[336] With very little voice left, he said that if we continue on this way, like we did in Norway, France will lose this war.

[337] He asked his cabinet again to support his naming a new commander -in -chief.

[338] After a very long pause, Lucien Lemoureux spoke up and said he was convinced by the premier.

[339] But then all eyes turned to Minister of Defense Deladier, the champion of Gamelin.

[340] Deladier waited and finally spoke up.

[341] He said that the Norway operation was Britain's fault.

[342] They were the ones in charge.

[343] touching upon the Western Front, now was not the time to start an active war with Germany.

[344] He did acknowledge that the British were not shrinking from their responsibilities, but they needed more time, just like France did.

[345] He then gave his opinion that General Gamlin was a great military chief.

[346] And with anger entering into his voice, he said that gambling was more active than most men his age.

[347] He said it was sad that the general was here not to defend himself, and that it was a shame so many had to be witness to this.

[348] Having stirred himself, he finished by saying that he opposed replacing the generalissimo.

[349] Renault asked the others what they thought, but no one spoke up.

[350] So Renault replied to the silence that he considered this cabinet resigned.

[351] He asked everyone not to say anything until a new government could be formed.

[352] But that afternoon, General Gamlin was told by someone of the conversation during the meeting.

[353] And at 1 a .m., General Gamlin was gently awakened and told, Columns are marching westward.

[354] France was about to be attacked by 136 German divisions, 10 of them armored and supported by a massive, trained, and experienced air force.

[355] To oppose this was a country that had no government and no commander -in -chief.

[356] Meanwhile, in Great Britain, on May 7, 1940, in the House of Commons, a debate began about the disastrous British campaign in Norway, but it ended up being a vote of confidence in Neville Chamberlain.

[357] Chamberlain won the vote, but it was clear that he had lost the confidence of his colleagues in the Conservative Party.

[358] Chamberlain then tried to survive by forming a national coalition government by joining his party, the Conservatives, with Labour and the Liberals.

[359] But Clement Attlee, the labor leader, would not join any government led by Chamberlain.

[360] This was because of Chamberlain's pre -war policy of appeasing Nazi Germany.

[361] So Chamberlain had no option left but to resign.

[362] And this left two Tory candidates for the position of Prime Minister, Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, and Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty.

[363] The three men met behind closed doors.

[364] Chamberlain tried to maneuver Churchill into backing Halifax for the position, but when it came time for Churchill to speak, he merely looked at Chamberlain, stared at him, and then turned around and stared back out the window.

[365] He would not say anything.

[366] The outcome was that Halifax, who was Chamberlain's choice and the establishment's candidate, turned down the offer to become Prime Minister.

[367] Halifax probably believed he could restrain Churchill more effectively by serving under him rather than his leader, and if all went wrong, he could step in from a position of strength.

[368] Churchill was regarded by many politicians as unreliable and impetuous.

[369] In other words, not a good military leader.

[370] Among other things, he was very stubborn, he did not want India to have self -government, and he switched parties in the past, which never makes anybody happy.

[371] And he was involved in the 1936 abdication crisis, but above all of his unrelenting opposition to the appeasement of Nazi Germany.

[372] This made the populists love him, but made the politicians wary of him.

[373] And it was this opposition to Germany that got him the position First Lord of the Admiralty.

[374] Before that, he was in the wilderness politically.

[375] He thought his career was over.

[376] In June of 1936, Churchill learned about the rumors that King Edward VIII intended to marry Mrs. Wallace Simpson were true.

[377] Churchill then advised against the marriage, but called for delays as he didn't want the king to be pressured unduly.

[378] So behind closed doors in London, there was a political crisis, and some of the politicians thought Churchill was going to take advantage of this by trying to get the current government sacked so he could take over, at least have a shot at the leadership.

[379] But then the abdication crisis became public in December of 1936, and Churchill publicly gave his support to the king.

[380] So Churchill met with the king on December the 4th and urged him to delay about any decision about abdicating.

[381] And on the December 5th, Churchill issued a statement saying that the king was being pressured to make a hasty decision.

[382] And of course, the people within Parliament were very angry at Churchill.

[383] It made them, again, made them look bad because everybody liked the king.

[384] And again, it looked like Churchill was using this to maybe...

[385] to form his own cabinet.

[386] And on December 7th, Churchill tried to address the House of Commons to plea for a delay and for everyone to stay calm, but he was shouted down.

[387] Seemingly staggered by the unanimous hostility to him by everyone, he left.

[388] Churchill's reputation in Parliament and England after this was very badly damaged.

[389] He was convinced, along with everyone else, that his political career was over.

[390] But again, he stays around, he sees what's happening with Nazi Germany, and he's one of the only few people from the very beginning opposing this, which gets him back into the cabinet with Chamberlain, so he's able to go from there.

[391] So when Churchill is made prime minister, it's not initially welcomed by many of his political colleagues, but he did enjoy widespread public support, and he was greeted by cheering crowds outside Downing Street.

[392] And his appointment was celebrated by David Lowe in his All Behind You Winston cartoon, published in the Evening Standard newspaper on May 14, 1940.

[393] Once he took office, Churchill wrote that he felt he was walking with destiny.

[394] Three days later, he told the House of Commons, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.

[395] They have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.

[396] We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.

[397] You ask what is our policy.

[398] I will say it is to wage war by sea, land and air with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us.

[399] To wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime.

[400] That is our policy.

[401] You ask, what is our aim?

[402] I can answer in one word, victory.

[403] Victory at all costs.

[404] Victory in spite of all terror.

[405] Victory however long and hard the road may be.

[406] For without victory there is no survival.

[407] Let that be realized.

[408] In Italy, Foreign Minister Ciano, who was still anti -German, was falling behind on his self -appointed task of moving Mussolini away from Hitler.

[409] Ciano used Mussolini's constant swinging back and forth and his enthusiasm for risking everything for war.

[410] But getting Mussolini to hold a decision was like trying to hold back the wind.

[411] He would agree with you in the morning, but change his mind by afternoon.

[412] It seems Mussolini never quit playing the what -if game in his mind.

[413] Ciano found himself in the early spring of 1940, spending more time at the golf course away from his father -in -law, or in Albania, his private fiefdom.

[414] Both places allowed him to be the big man in the room, and he was tired of Mussolini overshadowing him.

[415] Ciano also had to fight against the growing German list of victories.

[416] Italians who were either against or neutral about Germany were coming around after Norway and Denmark, the latest victims of Germany.

[417] This would leave Mussolini alone to call Claretta Patacci.

[418] At least he would be able to impress someone on the phone with his mostly decided decision to go to war alongside Germany.

[419] Next time, we'll have Laszlo Montgomery of the China History Podcast with us, and we will cover the war from China's point of view for a while.

[420] The long march at the end of 1934 -1935 has become a myth within the Communist Party in China.

[421] While the Communist hierarchy are running away from Chiang Kai -shek's nationalist troops, Mao was able to use that time to solidify his position within the Communist Party.

[422] And again, Chiang does all this to get his son back.

[423] Eventually he will get his son, but Mao will get China.

[424] Welcome to True Spies.

[425] The podcast that takes you deep inside the greatest secret missions of all time.

[426] Suddenly out of the dark it's appeared in lab.

[427] You'll meet the people who live life undercover.

[428] What do they know?

[429] What are their skills?

[430] And what would you do in their position?

[431] Vengeance felt good.

[432] Seeing these people pay for what they'd done felt righteous.

[433] True Spies from Spyscape Studios.

[434] Wherever you get your podcasts.