![allplan wikipedia allplan wikipedia](https://denatris.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/DeNatrisArchitektur1.jpg)
There had been about 2,000 French casualties (killed, wounded, or sick). On 17 October the withdrawal was complete. Some French generals, such as Henri Giraud, saw the withdrawal as a wasted opportunity and made known their disagreement with it.Īs the withdrawal was taking place, on 28 September, a counterattack by the German 18th Infantry Regiment (from the then newly formed 52nd Division) in the area between Bischmisheim and Ommersheim was repelled by French forces. The French held German territory along all of the Rhine- Moselle front, but after the collapse of Poland, General Maurice Gamelin on 21 September ordered French units to return to their starting positions on the Maginot Line. The French stopped short of the Siegfried line, although they came within a few kilometres south of it, immediately east of Saarbrücken. The offensive was halted after French forces had taken the 7-square-kilometre (2.7 sq mi) Warndt Forest, which had been heavily mined by the Germans. Near the meeting point of the French, German, and Luxembourgeois borders, the Schengen bridge was destroyed. The French 32nd Infantry Regiment made further gains on 12 September, seizing the German town of Brenschelbach with the loss of one captain, one sergeant, and seven privates. On 10 September, while a minor German counterattack retook the village of Apach, French forces reversed the loss only hours later.
![allplan wikipedia allplan wikipedia](https://www.allplan-precast.com/_Resources/Persistent/8/4/b/4/84b466137c565fe90da5a7e55c5b48687d4205b4/Rieder-Success-Story_big-801x554-1538x1034.jpg)
Four Renault R35 tanks were destroyed by mines north of Bliesbrück.īy 9 September the French occupied most of the Warndt Forest. The French army advanced to as far as 8 km (5 mi) in some areas, and captured about 12 towns and villages with no resistance: Gersheim, Medelsheim, Ihn, Niedergailbach, Bliesmengen, Ludweiler, Brenschelbach, Lauterbach, Niedaltdorf, Kleinblittersdorf, Auersmacher, and Sitterswald (occasionally called "Hitlersdorf" in some French reports). Eleven French divisions, part of the Second Army Group, advanced along a 32-kilometre (20 mi) near Saarbrücken, against weak German opposition. The Wehrmacht was engaged in the attack on Poland and the French enjoyed a decisive numerical advantage along the border with Germany but the French did not take any action that was able to assist the Poles. A French offensive in the Rhine valley began on 7 September, four days after France declared war on Germany. French operations Ī French soldier outside of a Reichskolonialbund office in LauterbachĪlmost everyone expected a major French attack on the Western Front soon after the start of the war, but Britain and France were cautious as both feared large German air attacks on their cities they did not know that 90 per cent of German frontline aircraft were in Poland. Many pieces also had to be retrieved from storage before any advance could be made.
![allplan wikipedia allplan wikipedia](https://www.allplan-precast.com/_Resources/Persistent/a/f/8/5/af850067251b4c9623ae76b237ad91c6eba826f3/Blog-Vorteile-Vorfertigung_Header-555x554-1538x1034.jpg)
The French command still believed in the tactics of World War I, which relied heavily on stationary artillery, even though this took time to transport and deploy.
#Allplan wikipedia full#
The pre-emptive mobilisation was started in France on 26 August and on 1 September, full mobilisation was declared.įrench mobilisation suffered from an inherently out of date system, which greatly affected their ability to swiftly deploy their forces on the field. On the 15th day of the mobilisation (that is on 16 September), the French Army was to start a full-scale assault on Germany. The sector was defended by the German 1st Army. The French forces were to effectively gain control over the area between the French border and the Siegfried Line and were to probe the German defences. Objective of the offensive Īccording to the convention, the French Army was to start preparations for the major offensive three days after mobilisation started. In 1921, the French Army and the Polish Army made a defensive alliance against Germany in their military convention. French forces then withdrew amid a German counter-offensive on 17 October. When the swift victory in Poland allowed Germany to reinforce its lines with homecoming troops, the offensive was halted. Despite 30 divisions advancing to the border (and in some cases across it), the attack did not have the expected result. The original plans called for 40 divisions, and one armored division, three mechanised divisions, 78 artillery regiments and 40 tank battalions to assist Poland, which was then under invasion, by attacking Germany's neglected western front. The Saar Offensive was a French invasion of Saarland, Germany, in the first stages of World War Two, from 7 to 16 September 1939.