Nazi Objectives: War in 1939

Long term objectives:

Hitler had long made it known that he had an expansionist foreign policy. The aim of moves into Austria and Czechoslovakia had been designed to build a Greater Germany and provide an element of Lebensraum in which the population of the Third Reich could live. The territorial gains achieved through anschluss and the acquisition of Czechoslovakia were merely the starting point however, the aim was to take land in the east from non German people to allow the resettlement of Aryans into eastern Europe. This, ultimately, would lead to war. Hitler had rarely wavered from this aim, having stated as much from as early as 1923:

If one wanted territory in Europe, this could be done on the whole at the expense of Russia, and the new Reich would have to set out to march over the road of the former Knights, in order to give soil to the German plow by means of the German sword, and to give daily bread to the nation.

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

A position further clarified in this extract of Mein Kampf:

we, National Socialists, have to hold on steadily to our foreign political goals, namely, to secure on this earth the territory due to the German people. And this action is the only one which will make bloody sacrifice before God and our German posterity appear justified.

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

Foreign policy throughout the period 1933-1939 was geared towards an eventual conflict. Evidence of this includes the participation of German forces in the Spanish Civil War, the Pact of Steel and the Molotov -Ribbentrop agreement. The latter two initiatives would prevent war on two fronts and enable Germany to develop her level of interest in Eastern European politics.

NB: Historians are not united in their interpretation of Hitler's objectives in Eastern Europe. Some historians argue that Hitler planned his acquisition of lebensraum whilst others claim that he was opportunistic in his expansionist policies. A discussion of this issue can be found online at Planet Papers.

Military Objectives (Polish Invasion)

 

German and polish troop positions, August 31st, 1939.

The Military objectives for Fall Weiss (case White, the operational name for the invasion of Poland) were:

Army Group North would attack into the 'Polish Corridor' cutting off access to the sea and separating forces to the north of the corridor from supply lines and possible reinforcements. To facilitate a rapid end to this part of the campaign, the 3rd army would attack from the west and the 4th army would begin its assault from East Prussia. This would effectively encircle Polish troops in the corridor.

The 3 armies of Army Group South would advance in a north easterly direction with the 10th army directed to advance directly on Warsaw. The arrival of the 10th army in the Warsaw region would encircle the remaining Polish forces who had been defending the border and isolate the capital city. This plan was modified to include the encircling of warsaw at this point in the campaign, thus minimising the amount of aid that the people of Warsaw could draw upon from outside the city.

The overriding aim of the campaign was to achieve victory quickly. Hitler was sure that the British and French would use diplomatic means to attempt to end the invasion and that full mobilisation would only follow the diplomatic process. Mobilisation would take several weeks, therefore, from the execution of Fall Weiss. The western frontier of germany was defended by a reserve: the Wehrmacht was not at full strength at this point. This reserve was not strong enough to withstand an assault by a sizeable and organised Allied force. Therefore the destruction of Poland had to be achieved before Britain and France were in a position to deploy their military forces against the German borders.