Original subtitles

WHY WE FIGHT A series of seven information films

DIVIDE AND CONQUER SPECIAL SERVICE DIVISION INFORMATION FILM

Produced by the War Department Special Service Division Army Service Forces

With cooperation of: THE SIGNAL CORPS

This film will deal with the period when the Nazi blitzkrieg reached its highest point...

...and Nazi treachery reached its lowest point.

As you have seen on September 1st, 1939, the German armies blitzed into Poland.

The Nazi bid to smash the world into slavery was on.

The Nazi bid to smash the world into slavery was on.

On September 3rd, the British and French declared war on Germany.

By September 27th, the Germans had wiped out Poland and met the oncoming Russian Army.

Determined to avoid at two-front war, Germany halted her drive to the east and turned...

...west to first crush Britain and France.

Six years of hard-training and actual battle experience in Spain and Poland,

...had made the German army look invincible.

But what about the British and French?

First, let's take up the British.

They started from scratch but both at home and abroad, an army was growing.

For not only had Britain declared war Canada...

Australia...

New Zealand...

South Africa...

...the whole British commonwealth of nations was also determined on victory over...

.. Hitlerism and all it stands for

And Britain had one weapon that was ready The Royal Navy.

Shortly after war was declared, it swept German shipping from the high seas.

And units of the British fleet were deployed at Suez,

Malta, Gibraltar, in the Channel and in the North Sea,

...blockading Germany.

World conquest was impossible, without running smack up against the rock Britain.

How to strike at that little island? That was the question.

Between Britain and Germany, stood not only France,

...but the little countries of Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland,

...Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The people of these small neutral countries were peaceful,

...hardworking, and free.

They knew they were in the middle and feared violation of their neutrality.

Hitler knew this.

He also knew that if they united with the allies,

...they would form a solid democratic wall against Nazi aggression.

And their conquest would be far more difficult.

So before striking with his armies, he used another weapon.

The propaganda brirage, to confuse, to make them lose faith,

...to divide and conquer.

To lull the fears of the little neutrals, propaganda minister Goebbels told them:

...Germany didn't want a war at all.

It was Britain and France that caused all the trouble.

Then it was Hitler's turn.

In a speech on October 6, 1939,

...he made even more kinds of specific promises.

To the Danes he said: "We have concluded a non-aggression pact with Denmark."

To the Norwegians he said: "Germany never had any conflict with the northern states and has none today'

To the Dutch he said: "The new Reich is endeavored to continue the traditional friendship with Holland."

And to the Belgium's he announced: "The Reich has put forth no claim which might in anyway be

And to the Belgium's he announced: "The Reich has put forth no claim which might in anyway be

be regarded as a threat to Belgium.

And while Hitler was making these promises, his Generals were cold-bloodily...

...picking out the first victim, Norway.

And why did they pick Norway?

Its many steeping lets or fjords would make excellent u-boat bases,

...from which raiders could prey on British supply lines.

Also it would give the Nazis vital air bases.

This is Scapa Flow the British Naval Base.

And this the blockade fleet. At this time, the German base bombers couldn't reach them.

Possession of bases on Norway's western shore would bring these vital British defenses...

...under easy bomber attack.

But he couldn't take Norway without also taking tiny Denmark.

The spring board for his attack.

So at dawn on April 9th, 1940,

The German army rolled across the neutral borders of little Denmark...

...and in a matter of hours, it occupied the entire country.

By nightfall, Denmark is erased as a nation.

And the Danes go into slavery.

Although only 6 months before Hitler had announced:

We have concluded a non-aggression pact with Denmark."

The Danes will not forget.

Meanwhile in Norway, peaceful-looking German merchant ships like these...

...had sneaked inside Norway's neutral waterway.

And tied up at all principal ports.

That is, they looked like merchant ships.

But if the Norwegians had x-ray eyes, this is what they would have seen...

...the Trojan horse of ancient Greece, brought up-to- date with new and deadlier weapons.

At the precise moment the Nazis overran Denmark,

...these quiet looking ships sprang to life.

At the same time Nazi warships, discovered along the entire coastline,

...started steaming up the Norwegian fjords.

Ships, transports, tanks, men, planes,

...all flung themselves simultaneously upon a defenseless country.

Airborne infantry seized every strategic Norwegian airport.

The whole job was made easier by treacherous fifth columnists.

Lead by Major Quisling, who seized power and issued orders to suppress resistance.

Nazi warships steamed passed silent guns that could have blasted them out of the water.

This was one of the most amazing acts of treachery they have ever known.

It brought Major Qusling international fame.

Making his very name synonymous with the word traitor.

By the afternoon of April 9th, the Germans were in complete control of all 7 ports...

...where they had landed in the morning.

For the first time in more than 200 years, the people of Norway saw an invading army

...parading through their city

Many of these Nazi soldiers, strutting as conquerors in 1940...

...had last seen Norway some 20 years earlier.

When as refugee German children, they had been raised and cared for by kind Norwegians.

Now these same Germans were back,

...to repay that kindness with terror and destruction.

Once they had occupied the capital, the Nazis quickly fanned out in all directions.

The loyal Norwegian troops stopped one German column between Hamar and Elverum.

So the Germans brought up their bombers.

The Norwegians were forced to flee to the north, under constant and unopposed air attack.

It was here that Captain Robert Lozey, and American military attach� was killed.

The first American soldier to lose his life in this war.

Meanwhile, the Nazis had spread out all over the country.

Small patrols occupied all strategic villages.

Parachute troops landed high in the mountains.

Unopposed bombing raids sent defenseless civilians fleeing in stark terror.

They hadn't wanted war. They had done everything to avoid it.

Hoping they could escape the Nazi scourge, they had compromised.

And tragically failed to unite with the other democracies.

And now they faced the scourge defenseless and alone.

But before the allies could come to their aid, the Germans were in control of all main ports.

Regardless of this, British, French and Polish contingents plunged in...

...and made several landings along the Norwegian coast.

They landed forces north and south of Trondheim and attempted a circling movement on the city.

They landed forces north and south of Trondheim and attempted a circling movement on the city.

Under constant and heavy and almost unopposed air attack.

While the scene of action was out of range of British fighter planes,

...so they brought up aircraft carriers.

But these are at a disadvantage when opposed by land based planes.

The allies therefore, were badly battered from the air.

Suffering heavy loses, they with drew from the hopeless situation.

Further to the north at Narvik, they met with better success,

.. inflicting heavy naval loses on the Nazis.

Incidentally, they also took their first prisoners of the present war.

Again, the Nazis overwhelming air superiority proved a deciding factor.

And the allies were forced to withdraw under terrific air bombardment.

Loyal Norwegians were left with their Quislings.

Their ruins, their dead. Even though 6 months before Hitler had said:

Germany never had any conflict with the Northern States, and has none today."

The Norwegians will not forget.

And Hitler, Hitler had another victory.

He high jacked two more countries. The world wondered...

...and sometimes marveled at this man's efficiency.

Gangster Dillinger was efficient too.

Railway Station Massacre!

When a man or a nation throws away all regard for the laws

of God and man, he is bound at first to be more efficient than his victims.

Society had a police force to deal with gangster Dillinger,

...but it had no police force to deal with gangster Hitler.

so he clubbed Norway into submission and got what he wanted. Bases for use against Britain.

Now he had the northern claw of an enormous pincer movement.

The drive through France would give him the southern claw.

Blockade by u-boats, coupled with mass bombing attacks,

...would weaken the British for final invasion.

Then with Britain gone, Germany could reach out in all directions for world conquest.

His next move must obviously be through France, to get his southern claw...

...through France.

How as she is to face the onslaught?

These scenes are ancient history. They occurred in 1914.

The German armies without warning has smashed across neutral Belgium.

Invaded France, reached the river Marne only a few miles from Paris.

Out of the French capital, poured the French reserves.

Riding out to battle the enemy in any vehicle that could move.

The famous taxi cab army. Note well it was riding out to battle.

In the centre of the French line, stood the Ninth French Army.

Commanded then, by a comparatively unknown General.

On September 5, 1914he is reputed to have said:

My right has driven in, my centre has given away the situation is excellent, I attack!"

He did attack. The German onslaught was checked and Paris was saved.

That comparatively unknown General, later became Commander in Chief, of all the allied...

...armies, and presided at the signing of the Armistice with the defeated Germans on...

...November 11, 1918.

To this General the French people erected a monument.

To Marshall Ferdinand Foch.

Whose motto was: ATTACK! Always ATTACK!

Still later, the war-weary French people erected another monument,

This one to a Minister of War. Andr� Maginot.

Between the idea symbolized by these two statues,

...may lie the military story of the fall of a great nation.

In Foch's time, the proud spirit of France demanded nothing less than victory

And placed its faith in the attack.

In Maginot time, the spirit no longer proud,

...asked only to avoid defeat and placed its faith in concrete.

So the French built the mighty chain of fortresses called the Maginot Line.

These tremendous Bach tons were built deep into the French land.

They were connected by underground passages and railways.

Guarding France's eastern borders, facing Germany.

And when France was finally forced to declare war against the rising Nazi menace,

...the French troops, instead of attacking, were marched into their modern caves...

...to wait for the Nazi blitz to smash itself against the Maginot line.

And their Generals, headed by Mar�chal P�tain, proudly announced,

...whoever makes the first move in this war will be hurt.

But Hitler didn't go near the Maginot line. That was France's strong point.

Instead he attacked the weak point.

Hitler knew that the French tried to avoid war, instead of preparing for it.

That knowledge was one of his greatest weapons.

He knew they had planes, but he knew they were antiquated.

He knew they had tanks, but he knew they were few in number and lightly armored.

But most of all, he knew France had become a cynical and disillusioned Nation.

What made this change in the French spirit?

In the first place between 1914and 1918 the French suffered more than 6 million casualties.

In the heroic defense of their land, against the German invasion.

The flower of an entire generation was lost. With its stimulus of new blood,

new determination, new ideals.

Secondly the failure of the League of Nations to which the French had pinned their hopes...

...of peace, the corruption of many in high places,

...the greed of special interests, all had combined to shake the faith of...

...the French people in their democratic ideals.

And when a people loses its faith in its own ideals,

...it is right for the insidious words of the devil.

France still looked like an imposing castle,

but Hitler's political termintes had so gnawed away the binding of national unity

...that the castle was ready to crumble.

SABOTAGE!!!

FIFTH COLUMN!

STRIKES!

RIOTS!

During those months of military inactivity, that we call the phoney war,

...a ceaseless barrage of German propaganda crossed the still waters of the Rhine,

to affect the soldiers in the Maginot Line.

Why do you fight? asked the banners.

Poems and friendly notes were sent over by balloons.

French tunes were played by German bands.

And German hooey was broadcast in French.

The British will fight to the last drop of French blood.

You have been deceived. This is an imperialistic war for Britain.

We Germans want nothing of France.

What is happening to your wives back home, soldiers?

The British are stationed in your villages.

Yes, France was ready to be plucked.

The whole force of the Nazi might, was turned toward the west.

How would they strike this time?

Through Lorraine as in 1870?

Through the low countries as in 1914?

What was the 1940 model conquest?

The French considered the Maginot Line utterly impregnable.

And therefore believed the Germans would try a swing through the low countries, as in 1914.

But even after Hitler's rape of Scandinavia,

Holland and Belgium, hoping against hope, still clung to their neutrality.

So the French massed 78 divisions along here, the border of Belgium.

Seventeen were in the Maginot Line.

Ten divisions were here, in case Mussolini got bold.

Three and a half as a safeguard against Spain.

The British had 10 divisions here.

The allied strategy in the event of an attack against the Low Countries,

was to swing their armies like a gate, into Belgium.

The hinge being the north end of the Maginot Line.

This all important hinge was protected by the forest of the Ardennes.

A hilly and thickly wooded area, honey combed with streams,

its roads narrow trails, its bridges too weak for military vehicles.

The French strategists estimated that the forest of the Ardennes impassable for forces.

As you will see, this was one of the most costly estimates in military history.

That was the situation on May 9, 1940.

The hour of trial had come.

The people of the democracies prayed for strength, to meet the hurricane of terror.

While across the Rhine...

...the delirious madness possessed the German nation.

Their tag had come.

Without even bothering to declare war, the German armies launched a coordinated attack.

Across the neutral borders of Luxemburg, Belgium and Holland.

From the Maginot Line to the north of the sea.

The action along the entire front was simultaneous.

So for purposes of clarity, let's take up one country at a time.

First, let's see what happened in Holland.

The Nazi ground forces smashed through the improvised and hastily erected border defenses.

But the main attack was to come from the air far behind the defense lines.

Over 10,000 troops were landed in this manner.

Before the stunned citizens of Rotterdam even knew they were at war.

These troops aided by well-trained Fifth Columnists,

...quickly captured the airport in the out-lying section of the city

Meantime, Nazi armored columns were racing across the country.

Their progress speeded by other Fifth Columnists, who prevented the destruction...

...of vital dykes and bridges.

These forces effected a meeting with the parachuters who landed in Rotterdam.

The Dutch were doomed to defeat.

On the fourth day of the invasion, the Nazis gave the Dutch General an ultimatum.

On the fourth day of the invasion, the Nazis gave the Dutch General an ultimatum.

All Dutch resistance must cease, or Rotterdam will be bombed flat.

The Dutch General had little choice.

To save the lives of innocent civilians, he accepted the German terms.

But after the unconditional surrender the Nazis bombed the city anyway.

Flights of unopposed German bombers flew low over the centre of Rotterdam.

And methodically bombed it into a heap of rubble.

One of the most ruthless exhibitions of savagery the world has ever seen.

Over 30,000 men, women and children, were killed in the space of 90 minutes.

Though only 6 months before, Hitler had said:

The new Reich has endeavored to continue the traditional friendship with Holland."

The Dutch will not forget.

Meantime in Belgium, the whole force of Nazi Blitzkrieg had stormed across...

...its neutral borders.

The main German attack was directed at the Albert Canal, Meuse River line.

The anchor of which, was Fort Eban Emael. A modern and seemingly impregnable fortress.

The Germans had secretly built a replica of the mighty fortress in Czechoslovakia.

And rehearsed the attack until they knew every detail of the Fort's construction.

And it's every weakness.

When the real attack came it was fool-proof. Parachute troops,

...dive bombers, flamethrowers, specially trained engineer battalions,

...all working together as a well-trained team.

They knew exactly where to cross the river.

You will notice that this assault engineer knows where to put his high-explosive charge,

.. in order to destroy the blockhouse.

Fort Eban Emael withstood the Nazi attack, exactly two days.

And the German armies rolled on.

Meantime, an hour and a half after the German invasion began,

...allied troops crossed the French and Belgium borders to meet the advancing Germans.

As they raced across Belgium to take up their defense positions,

...they met an obstacle they hadn't counted on.

Refugees.

And there fugue-chocked roads didn't get that way by accident.

The Nazis methodically bombed little towns and villages.

Otherwise devoid of any military value.

Not so much to kill, but to drive the inhabitants out onto the highways.

Then by expert machine-gunning, the Nazis would herd them along in terror-striken flight.

And hopelessly entangled in the advancing allied army.

Refugees used as a weapon of war. A new low in inhumanity.

No school today, the sign says.

The children are otherwise occupied.

No, no school today.

Although only 6 months before, Hitler had announced:

The Reich has put forth no claim, which might in any way be regarded as a threat to Belgium."

The Belgium's will not forget.

And what about the allies? They were convinced that the German attack on Belgium and Holland

was the main thrust. And according to plan, had swung their armies like a gate into Belgium.

But the attack on Belgium and Holland was only a feint.

The main German attacks to be centered where the allies least expected it.

Through the Ardennes Forest.

For this decisive blow, they had secretly assembled a mighty striking force ever seen.

Including 45,000 armored vehicles.

At the same time the Nazi armies were plunging into Holland and Belgium,

...this column started to move.

Well-trained engineer battalions went first.

They were opposed by only scattered ally patrols.

They cleared path ways for the tanks to follow.

In three days the German armored forces reached the Meuse River.

Two days faster than the French thought that any troops could get through.

The Germans should have paused here to bring up heavy artillery before attempting the river.

But the Nazis had a new type of artillery Dive bombers.

They plastered the French positions across the Meuse.

With feverishly haste, the Germans laid a barrage across the river...

...with anything and everything that would shoot.

This tremendous concentration of fire-power, continued all through the night.

By the following day, troops were able to get across the river.

These troops held a bridge entrance till the engineers brought up topping and built bridges.

Then without wasting a moment, across these bridges the main armored forces...

...of the German military machine rolled through the Sedan.

The all-important breakthrough went to a dismayed and flat-footed France.

There went the old ballgame for the allies.

From here on, it was only a matter of how long.

Watch the map as one of our intelligent officers explains the details...

...of the German breakthrough.

Well actually the break was along a wide front extending...

...for 50 miles from Namur in Belgium to Sedan.

...for 50 miles from Namur in Belgium to Sedan.

Further north, the allied armies had swung like a gate into these positions.

The German armies had swept over Holland broken the line for the Albert Canal,

...and for all anyone knew were preparing

...to smash against the allied front with all their power.

The situation, dangerous but obscure on the evening on May 13th.

On the 14th and 15th, it became clear that the German breakthrough south of Namur

...was in the greatest strain.

And that the French 9th army attacked while moving into position had been shattered.

Without doubt, this was the point of mortal danger.

And the French high-command ordered the abandonment of these positions.

Although they had not yet been attacked.

Those positions were abandoned solely because of the situation developing along the Meuse.

In the meantime, the French 7th army had been ordered...

...to make its historic forced march...

...far to the south, into the area threatened by the rapidly advancing German spearheads.

This army was not used to attack the German flank.

But was rather used as a plug to restore the broken front.

Throughout, the allies had not placed their faith in offence, but in defense.

And the defense was doomed to failure.

Because it was confronted by an entirely new technique in warfare.

The plane, tank infantry team in action.

The world was staggered by the speed in which the German armored columns moved.

What was the secret that enabled armies to move so far so rapidly?

The secret lay in the organization of the striking spearhead.

Armored forces came first, closely followed by motorized divisions.

Which peeled off forming solid walls.

And through the corridor, thus formed, raced the supply trucks...

...to feed the ever lengthing column.

It was obvious that if the allied situation was to be restored,

...the German column would have to be cut.

On May 17th, General De Gaulle attacked the German flank,

...and captured a few prisoners.

But his light mechanized forces were like a pin pricking the side of a rhinoceros.

A subsequent attack, met with even less success.

The means for a really successful counter attack against the German corridor,

...simply did not exist.

Where numbers of divisions were required, only handfuls of...

...companies, and battalions were available.

A valiant attempt to cut the German corridor...

...was made by a group of slow-moving British tanks...

...just south of Area.

But lack of sustained striking power

...doomed this valiant unit to destruction.

On May 21st, the German spear head reached the Channel Port of Abbeville.

Protecting that flank along the seam,

...the Germans fanned out to the north and east.

This was to be the perfect battle of annihilation.

On May 28th, the Belgium army compressed into a small space,

...and weary of battle lay down its arms.

That left the desperate French and British defenders,

...with their backs to the sea at the small channel port of Dunkerque.

One of the greatest disasters in history seemed in the making.

An entire British army faced annihilation.

But out of the fog and mist, came a strange armada.

Of navy craft, fishing boats, pleasure yachts,

...anything that would float.

The sea-going people of Britain had come to rescue their army.

High overhead, British planes brought the Luftwaffe to a standstill.

While below, small suicide units held the Germans back long enough...

...for the miracle of Dunkerque to take place.

21 1,500 British troops plus 112,500 French and Belgium's were rescued.

Over 300,000 battle-tested men grimly determined to go back again with new tools,

new weapons, in which to blast the heated Nazis out of this world.

For free men are like rubber balls, the harder they fall, the higher they bounce.

Leading the British at this time, was a man who had been bouncing all his life. Winston Churchill.

Who had tried for years, to warn the world about Germany.

Meantime, the situation that faced France was as hopeless as a military situation can be.

Two-fifths of the French army was lost.

There were fewer than 50 divisions left to defend the front almost 200 miles long,

.. running from the northern end of the Maginot Line to the sea.

And behind that thin front line, there were no reserves.

The sparing people of Paris sent their children south,

...praying that some miracle would keep them from harm.

The hopeless men of the French army without adequate arms,

...braced themselves for the coming blow

The first blow fell on June 5th.

The French resistance was determined, but by June 8th, the left flank army...

...had been shattered and a general withdraw was ordered with the line of the Seine.

On June 9th, the German's main attack came.

Within two days, the German armored and motorized divisions,

...roared out into the open terrain.

With this breakthrough, the issue of the battle of France was decided.

And from that time on, there was official talk of an Armistice.

Now what about the famous Maginot Line?

Let's go back and take a look.

On June 14th, the Germans launched two attacks against the Maginot Line.

In both cases penetration was effective.

But we must remember that this was against fortifications,

...defended by men, devoid of hope.

In the meantime, Mussolini now thinking it's safe,

...sent his division racing across the border.

The hand that held the dagger

...has struck it into the back of its neighbor.

Organized resistance in France was no longer possible.

The Government faced two alternatives,

...retire to North Africa and carry on from there or,

...give up the struggle.

France's leaders were old and tired.

And the oldest and most tired was Mar�chal P�tain.

Egged on by men like Lavalle, who saw in a German victory the chance for personal power,

...on June 16th, P�tain asked for an Armistice.

The news is carried to Hitler, who received this word of a great nation's fall,

...in a characteristic manner.

Also characteristic were his terms for the Armistice.

It must be signed in the coach where Mar�chal Foch met the defeat of Germans in the last war

The French delegation arrived.

To pay the final price of French disunity and the treachery of some of its leaders.

The final price. A price for centuries to come, the French will not forget.

More than three-fifths of their country was to be blacked out by a military occupation.

The remainder was to be controlled by a French government acceptable to Hitler.

A tax of 400,000,000 Francs a day, was to be imposed on the French people.

Nearly 2 million French prisoners of war, were to be taken into Germany.

And kept there as hostages, to work as slaves or,

...rot of hunger, or tuberculosis or other diseases in concentration camps.

Men deliberately and permanently separated from their families,

...in order to decrease the French birth rate.

And thus eliminate France as a world power in future generations.

French civilians, men, women and children,

must slave on farm or in factory for the Nazi master race, or starve.

There will be a class of subject alien races: we need not hesitate to call them slaves." Hitler

French children were to grow up on such inadequate food,

...that many would reach the age of 12 before they grew new teeth.

And for any attempts to protest against these restrictions,

...thousands of innocent French civilians would be executed.

This was the price the French were to pay, as they signed the Armistice.

And the Master of the master race must go to Paris.

To tour the streets of what once was the City of Lights.

You notice no cheering crowds hereto welcome in the new order.

When the people of Paris come to the streets again,

.. it is to hear the voice of dictators, telling them what they must do.

How they must live.

What they must say.

What they must think.

Telling them how to be slaves.

Gone is the Republic of France.

Gone is free speech and reprehensible government.

Gone is liberty.

Fraternity.

With their ears they listen, but their minds and their hearts, are down...

...on the Mediterranean where the battle collared regiments are being taken to Africa.

Out of the Nazi grasp.

The people weep as their glory departs.

For they don't as yet know that France has hope, a rallying point.

Charles De Gaulle, a soldier in the great tradition of Foch,

...is not surrendering.

He will continue to fight. Gathering around him loyal Frenchmen...

...from all over the world to become the free French army.

The Fighting French!

Yes, the people weep as they watch their colors go,

...not knowing that two years later, those same flags...

...would again be unfuled in North Africa.

Along side the Stars and Stripes, along side the Union Jack.

Once more their leaders united in the common cause with the leaders of their allies.

Once more the red, white and blue of France was raised on high.

For out of the ashes of defeat and humiliation of France,

...her soul has been born again.

Victory of the democracies can only be complete with the utter defeat of the...

...war machines of German and Japan. -G. C. Marshall