by Mark Hopkins

Created on: May 28, 2008

Every country is apt to make blunders in War, as recent events have so sadly reminded us, but it is important to distinguish between genuine 'blunders' and 'missed opportunities', which are only apparent with hindsight.

Arguably the biggest blunder made by the Germans in World War Two was under-estimating their opponents. A country whose leader dismissed the British leadership striving for peace in 1938 as 'Little Worms' and the whole of the Slavic nations as 'Untermenschen' was always likely to over-reach itself sooner or later. Hitler's casual declaration of war on the United States after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was simply more of the same.

Some have argued that 'Dunkirk' was a German blunder. This is highly questionable, though it may have been a missed opportunity. The Germans had fooled the Allies with their strategy in May 1940. The Allies expected Germany to do what it had done in 1914 and attack through Belgium, which was still neutral and would not admit Allied troops. With the impregnable Maginot line to the south along the Franco-German border, Belgium was the weak spot and the French First Army, which included the 250,000 British Expeditionary Force, was deployed on the Franco-Belgian border ready to advance when Germany attacked. The attack, when it came, was a ruse to draw the Allies forward whilst the main German thrust was delivered to their south, through the Ardennes forest. This area of the border had been left very weakly defended as it was agreed to be impenetrable to mechanized armored forces.

Led by Heinz Guderian, German Panzers moved through the Ardennes undetected and swept into France, brushing aside the weak defenses at Sedan, crossing the river Meuse on May 12th and 13th. With air support they moved swiftly through lightly defended territory behind the main French forces, causing panic in Paris. A nervous Hitler ordered a halt from May 15th -17th. Guderian's thrust had been more successful more quickly than anyone had thought possible. He was counter-attacked by the French from the south on May 18th but beat this off and was able to continue his advance towards the English Channel. This was reached at Abbevile on May 19th, trapping the Allied forces which had been lured into Belgium in a huge pocket. A British attack at Arras to the south of the pocket alarmed the Germans, but was only a momentary success.

From the German point of view, the risk now was that Guderian's long line of advance had outrun his infantry support, leaving

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