Rabelesius Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Was the Belgian corps always that strong in Brussels? It certainly is much more difficult to dislodge than before. This makes the Blitzkrieg in Belgium which happened before much harder! Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill101 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Thanks, and that was one of the many changes made. Glad you like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettowvorbeck Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Something I read recently finally explained to me why Belgium's force distribution was so terrible. They basically felt obligated to disperse their forces in positions roughly equidistant from the French and German borders so as not to appear favoring one side over the other. Nice political move, but not exactly a sound military setup! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kommandant Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Something I read recently finally explained to me why Belgium's force distribution was so terrible. They basically felt obligated to disperse their forces in positions roughly equidistant from the French and German borders so as not to appear favoring one side over the other. Nice political move, but not exactly a sound military setup! Very interesting, indeed a good political move, but not a good military move, Belgium depended on neutrality in place of military strength, so it all makes sense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 That, and a neutral country can never truly trust major powers or even minor ones not to betray them at opportune moment. IIRC in the case of Belgium, Netherlands actually allowed German forces to pass through a small part of their territory while not letting Belgium to fortify that strip of land prior to war. And in 1938 when Germany took their part of Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary did the same. Karma hit the Poles back in 1939 when, in the middle of taking a beating from Germans, Red Army joined in the fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivanov Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 And in 1938 when Germany took their part of Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary did the same. Karma hit the Poles back in 1939 when, in the middle of taking a beating from Germans, Red Army joined in the fun. Just to be correct, we cannot forget that the Czechs occupied the disputed teritorry in 1919, when Poland was engaged in the war on her eastern border against the Ukrainians and the Bolsheviks. The area is called Zaolzie and a plebiscite organized by the League Of Nations was underway to decide if the teritorry should belong to Poland or Czechoslovakia ( before the IWW the area was predominantly inhabited by Poles ) . According to a British historian Richard M. Watt: "Beneš strategically waited for Poland's moment of weakness, and moved in during the Polish-Soviet War crisis in July 1920. As Watt writes, "Over the dinner table, Beneš convinced the British and French that the plebiscite should not be held and that the Allies should simply impose their own decision in the Teschen matter. More than that, Beneš persuaded the French and the British to draw a frontier line that gave Czechoslovakia most of the territory of Teschen, the vital railroad and all the important coal fields. With this frontier, 139,000 Poles were to be left in Czech territory, whereas only 2,000 Czechs were left on the Polish side(...) The affair soured the Prague-Warsaw relationship and proved a tragedy when the needed co-operation against expansionist Nazi Germany failed to materialise in 1938". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kommandant Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 That, and a neutral country can never truly trust major powers or even minor ones not to betray them at opportune moment. IIRC in the case of Belgium, Netherlands actually allowed German forces to pass through a small part of their territory while not letting Belgium to fortify that strip of land prior to war. And in 1938 when Germany took their part of Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary did the same. Karma hit the Poles back in 1939 when, in the middle of taking a beating from Germans, Red Army joined in the fun. The conclusion of this is, humans are all as*holes... Mainly politics... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of war Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Just to be correct, we cannot forget that the Czechs occupied the disputed teritorry in 1919, when Poland was engaged in the war on her eastern border against the Ukrainians and the Bolsheviks. The area is called Zaolzie and a plebiscite organized by the League Of Nations was underway to decide if the teritorry should belong to Poland or Czechoslovakia ( before the IWW the area was predominantly inhabited by Poles ) . According to a British historian Richard M. Watt: "Beneš strategically waited for Poland's moment of weakness, and moved in during the Polish-Soviet War crisis in July 1920. As Watt writes, "Over the dinner table, Beneš convinced the British and French that the plebiscite should not be held and that the Allies should simply impose their own decision in the Teschen matter. More than that, Beneš persuaded the French and the British to draw a frontier line that gave Czechoslovakia most of the territory of Teschen, the vital railroad and all the important coal fields. With this frontier, 139,000 Poles were to be left in Czech territory, whereas only 2,000 Czechs were left on the Polish side(...) The affair soured the Prague-Warsaw relationship and proved a tragedy when the needed co-operation against expansionist Nazi Germany failed to materialise in 1938". Well said Ivanow. Additionally I would like to object to comparing Polish invasion of Zaolzie in 1938 to Russian invasion of Eastern Poland in 1939, which was an outcome of criminal, clandestine pact between two totalitarian countries. Poland was not a totalitarian country and therefore Czech people were never discriminated, nor exterminated. When Soviets "joined in the fun" around 1,5 mln of Poles were evicted to Syberia, many of them didn't survive it. The results of Soviet invasion were also such events as Katyn massacre. We shouldn't forget about that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivanov Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Well said Ivanow. Additionally I would like to object to comparing Polish invasion of Zaolzie in 1938 to Russian invasion of Eastern Poland in 1939, which was an outcome of criminal, clandestine pact between two totalitarian countries. Poland was not a totalitarian country and therefore Czech people were never discriminated, nor exterminated. When Soviets "joined in the fun" around 1,5 mln of Poles were evicted to Syberia, many of them didn't survive it. The results of Soviet invasion were also such events as Katyn massacre. We shouldn't forget about that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre Bingo. Interesting comparison between the modus operandi of the Republic Of Poland and the Soviet Union in the 1930s, provide the assassinations cases of Bronisław Pieracki ( Polish minister of internal affairs ) and Sergey Kirov ( high ranking Bolshevik leader ). Both assassinations took place the same year, in 1934. Bronisław Pieracki was killed by a Ukrainian nationalist, who was then sentenced in an open and public trial. The trial lasted for 56 days and the perpetrator was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment ( he evaded the justice, escaped abroad and died in Argentina in 1966 ). In Soviet Union however, the same day as Kirov was murdered ( not a day after - THE SAME DAY ) the Central Committee of the Communist Party, "voted" a new act "of extraordinary procedures in case of the terrorist acts". According to it, the time for an investigation was reduced to maximum 10 days, the court was examining the accusations without the presence of neither prosecutor nor the attorney, the death sentence was final and immediately executed. Shortly after that, the Stalinist Great Purge begun. Let it be a sobering reminder for all those who for whatever reason, tend to perceive the greatest tragedy of the human history in terms of "fun". More humility please. Ps. Wait - is this thread called "First observation 1.04 Belgium" ??? :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kommandant Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 And that's wahy i love to live in soulth america.... Wait... We are explored by americans interests since the end of WW2... darn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetSome Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 how do you keep Belgium in the war? I struggle to stop the germans before calais? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill101 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Keeping Belgium in can be hard, and to a large extent it's dependent on what the Germans do. They could easily have taken them out if they hadn't set their hearts on marching on Paris in August 1914. I will normally pull back both Corps and the HQ to the Ypres area, while leaving the Detachment in Antwerp. The Ostend Detachment and the French Marines and any other units that can be found might be added to these, but the amount of reinforcements depends on the overall situation on the western front. I will also always defend both Ypres and Antwerp to the utmost. Even if they fall, the Belgian defence will have bought some time for Britain and France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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