…of France: Insubordination in the Wehrmacht
"During the early stages of the German invasion of France (May 10-June 22, 1940), on May 17, General Heinz Guderian grew so infuriated by cautious halt orders from his superiors that he officially tendered his resignation in the middle of leading XIX Panzer Corps across France—a reckless act of insubordination that his superior, General Ewald von Kleist, was forced to immediately reject because Guderian's tanks were moving too fast to be stopped.
This dramatic clash of wills illustrates the intense doctrine-driven friction within the German High Command during the invasion of France (Fall Gelb). In the spring of 1940, the Western Allies held numerical parity in troops, superior numbers of heavy tanks, and formidable fortified positions along the Maginot Line. Standard military theory held that a swift, decisive conquest of Western Europe was impossible, leading most senior officers on both sides to anticipate a prolonged, methodical war of attrition akin to World War I.
However, victory was not determined by raw firepower or static defensive calculations, but by a fundamental revolution in command philosophy and operational mobility. While senior leaders in the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) remained terrified of overextending their supply lines, a radical minority of armored commanders embraced maneuver warfare, using speed, combined-arms integration, and air support to break through the Ardennes and race toward the English Channel. Central to this rapid advance was the traditional German doctrine of Auftragstaktik (mission-type tactics), which granted field commanders wide latitude to achieve operational objectives—a culture of flexibility that frontline commanders frequently stretched into outright disobedience. Ultimately, the rapid conquest of France was not merely the result of superior military planning, but of calculated insubordination: by repeatedly ignoring cautious halt orders from risk-averse superiors, a handful of visionary Panzer leaders maintained unprecedented momentum, paralyzed Allied decision-making, and engineered one of the most decisive military triumphs of the twentieth century…"
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Armand
tackles his greatest foe - another Green Vehicle...
