Hitler's Early Invasions: Prelude To Austria

Before invading Austria, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, specifically the Sudetenland region, which was the first time he flexed his military muscles in Europe. The German occupation of the Sudetenland was the result of the Czech government conceding the region to Germany in an attempt to avoid war. Hitler's invasion of the Sudetenland was motivated by his desire to unite German-speaking people in the region with Germany and to test the resolve of other European powers. This invasion set the stage for Hitler's subsequent invasion of Austria as part of his drive towards a Greater Germany.

The Sudetenland

The Munich Agreement was signed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, and Hitler. The agreement ceded the Sudetenland to Germany, despite the strong opposition of the Czechoslovak government, which was not invited to the negotiations. The Sudetenland was occupied by German troops between October 1st and 10th, 1938, without any military resistance. This occupation was the first step in Hitler's plan to take over all of Czechoslovakia.

The annexation of the Sudetenland had a significant impact on the people living in the region. The Jewish population was targeted during the Holocaust, with synagogues set on fire and many Jews sent to concentration camps. Additionally, the German-speaking population of the Sudetenland was expelled after World War II, and the region was resettled primarily by Czech speakers.

Czechoslovakia

Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia was foreshadowed by his annexation of the Sudetenland, a border area of Czechoslovakia containing a majority ethnic German population, in 1938. The annexation was the result of the Munich Pact, an agreement between Hitler, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and Benito Mussolini to hand over the Sudetenland to Germany in the name of peace. However, this pact proved futile as Hitler's forces went on to invade and occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939.

On the day of the invasion, Hitler met with Czech President Emil Hacha and threatened a bombing raid on Prague unless he was allowed free passage for his troops into Czech borders. Hacha conceded, and German troops poured into Bohemia and Moravia, which offered no resistance. By evening, Hitler had made a triumphant entry into Prague, and the two provinces became a protectorate of Germany.

The invasion of Czechoslovakia was part of Hitler's plan for a war of expansion, as outlined in the Hossbach Memorandum from 1937. In his speech to the Reichstag on January 30, 1939, Hitler hinted at justifying the war and the Nazis' potential plans for the mass murder of Europe's Jews. Czechoslovakia's democratic government resigned following the invasion, and the country was partitioned, with Slovakia becoming an independent state under the leadership of a Catholic priest, Jozef Tiso.

Poland

Hitler's invasion of Poland was the culmination of his desire to create a Greater German Reich that was to include all ethnic Germans and all the lands and territories that the German Empire had lost after World War I.

Hitler's invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, began on September 1, 1939, and marked the beginning of World War II. The invasion was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union. The invasion was referred to by Germany as the 1939 Defensive War, with Hitler proclaiming that Poland had attacked Germany and that Germans in Poland were being persecuted. However, this was a false claim designed to justify the invasion.

The German invasion of Poland was characterized by extensive bombing to destroy the enemy's air capacity, railroads, communication lines, and munitions dumps, followed by a massive land invasion with overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery. The German forces, both the SS and the regular Wehrmacht, committed atrocities against Polish men, women, and children, with tens of thousands of civilians being murdered. Hitler's troops made extensive use of methamphetamine, which enabled the constant movement of troops without sleep for several days.

The Polish army, though 1 million strong, was severely under-equipped and attempted to take on the Germans head-on rather than falling back to more natural defensive positions. The outmoded thinking of the Polish commanders, coupled with the antiquated state of its military, was no match for the overwhelming and modern mechanized German forces. The invasion resulted in severe losses for Poland, with about 65,000 Polish troops killed and roughly 3,000 prisoners of war executed, while another 660,000 were taken as prisoners.

The invasion of Poland was the first step in Hitler's plan to create Lebensraum ("living space") for Germans in eastern Europe. It was also a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war, using the blitzkrieg strategy, which involved rapid and overwhelming force to devastate the enemy. The invasion of Poland demonstrated Hitler's aggressive territorial ambitions and the failure of Britain and France to take action against him for violating the Versailles Treaty.

Denmark

The attack on Denmark was a breach of the non-aggression pact the country had signed with Germany less than a year earlier. Denmark's military forces were inferior in numbers and equipment, and after a short battle, they were forced to surrender. The German ground campaign against Denmark lasted approximately six hours, making it one of the shortest military operations of World War II.

The German plan of attack included an airborne assault on the Aalborg airfields, a surprise landing of infantry from naval auxiliaries in Copenhagen, and a simultaneous ground assault across the Jutland peninsula. The first clash between the Danish and German armies occurred at Lundtoftbjerg, where a Danish anti-tank platoon armed with two 20 mm guns and a light machine gun had taken up positions. The Germans lost two armoured cars and three motorcycles, while the Danes suffered one dead and one wounded.

Another clash occurred at Bredevad, where a German vanguard of four armoured cars was met by Danish forces. The Danes knocked out the lead armoured car and killed its driver, and a short skirmish followed. The Danes knocked out three more German armoured cars and suffered four casualties. At Rabsted, a cyclist platoon from Korskro captured two German dispatch riders and learned that Bredevad had been taken. They then retreated to the northeast via secondary roads.

At Haderslev, a garrison of 225 men of the Jutland Division defended the town and troops mobilized at 7:00 am. The Danes set up three roadblocks, but two German tanks lined up and opened fire. The Danes landed all three of their shots, but two of the gun crew were killed and the rest wounded. One tank then drove over the gun, and the garrison capitulated at 8:15 am.

The invasion of Denmark was swift and resulted in a uniquely lenient occupation. The Germans were content to leave the Danes to manage their own affairs, and the country's Jewish population was not deported until nearly all of them were warned and on their way to refuge in neutral Sweden. The rapid capitulation also postponed the arrest and deportation of Danish Jews, and in the end, 477 Danish Jews were deported, and 70 of them lost their lives, out of a pre-war total of over 8,000.

Norway

On April 9, 1940, Hitler invaded Norway. The invasion of Norway was part of a strategic plan to secure ice-free harbours from which German naval forces could control the North Atlantic. Hitler also wanted to secure the supply of iron ore from mines in Sweden.

The invasion of Norway was also a pre-emptive strike against a planned British and French invasion, which aimed to disable the Swedish iron ore mines in Gällivare. The British and French had planned to place naval mines in Norwegian waters (Operation Wilfred) and then land troops at four Norwegian ports: Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, and Stavanger. However, the date of the mining was postponed from April 5 to April 8, and on April 1, Hitler ordered the German invasion of Norway to begin on April 9.

The German invasion of Norway was a Blitzkrieg attack, with German forces attacking Norway by sea and air. The first wave of German attackers counted only about 10,000 men. German ships came into the Oslofjord, but were stopped when the Krupp-built artillery and torpedoes of Oscarsborg Fortress sank the German flagship Blücher and damaged the other ships in the task force. The surprise and the lack of preparedness of Norway for a large-scale invasion of this kind gave the German forces their initial success.

The major Norwegian ports from Oslo northward to Narvik were occupied by advance detachments of German troops, transported on destroyers. At the same time, a single parachute battalion took the Oslo and Stavanger airfields, and 800 operational aircraft overwhelmed the Norwegian population. Norwegian resistance in the major cities was quickly overcome, and Oslo's effective resistance to the seaborne forces was nullified when German troops from the airfield entered the city. Just 1,500 paratroopers were involved in taking over the Norwegian capital.

The Germans launched a ground offensive against scattered resistance inland in Norway, and while this resistance had little military success, it allowed the Norwegian government, including the royal family, to escape. The Norwegian Army planned its campaign as a tactical retreat while awaiting reinforcements from Britain.

The British Navy cleared the way to Narvik on April 13, sinking one submarine and eight destroyers in the fjord. British and French troops began to land at Narvik on April 14. However, the Germans landed fresh troops in the rear of the British at Namsos and advanced up the Gudbrandsdal from Oslo against the force at Åndalsnes. By this time, the Germans had about 25,000 men in Norway.

By May 2, both Namsos and Åndalsnes had been evacuated by the British, and on May 5, the last Norwegian resistance pockets remaining in South and Central Norway were defeated. Fighting continued in Northern Norway until June 10, when the Norwegian 6th Division surrendered shortly after Allied forces had been evacuated against the background of looming defeat in France.

About 300,000 Germans were garrisoned in Norway for the rest of the war. Hitler had ensured the protection of Germany's supply of iron ore from Sweden and had obtained naval and air bases with which to strike at Britain.

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