[WarInEur] RE: Anybody there?

[sgminfo]

One could ask that, if the Brits had no intention of sending a BEF,
> then why did they declare war in the first place?
a mixture of  bravado, anger, a certain amount of betrayal after 
Hitler's actions post Munich, innocence, and sheer incompetence on the 
part of the Political herarchy in London.

Htler called their bluff,
and they proved to have had a bare hand.

To put it bluntly...

 From the French point of view,
and not unreasonably...

If the British would not fight for Prague.
what Price Paris?

The price of the polish guarrantee was firm tied-in, cooperation with 
the French....
Anything less meant the French would not defend Poland,
and no Poland,
no european balance of power,
Germany would have won the game,
and Hitler gone down as the Greatest German since Bismark.


So the opening rounds looked lost when the grey columns drove into Prague,
the next bet could only be to raise the stakes with a firm threat of war...

 

A threat that Hitler (and half of europe with him) knew to be a bluff,
as the British had thrown away their trump card in the crazy diplomatic 
gaff at Munich.

The Anglo-French position was so weak,
that faiilure to honour the Polish guarrantee,
meant no ability to influence anything future going on in europe.
Pretty much a no win situation...

It was the old all or nothing gamble...
If it bluffed the Germans into drawing back,
a masterful move...

If it did not,
what had they got to lose,
things really could not be any worse (or so the logic went)
  then it was like lambs to the slaughter...

Only at the time, they thought they were Lions and Tigers...
So acted from a delusion of strength,
with the mistaken impression that they had time to prepare for the 
breaking of the storm.


Now seen against such a backdrop,
moving a BEF to France is both logical,
and understandable,
passing over the fact that in an unseen reality and unviewed hindsight,
it was not the best move in the opening book.


If you can accept the ethos behind what was going on...
Then the thought does not come up - 'not to commit with the French'.

Its a bit like,
Germany refusing to declare war on Poland...

The game and history,
doesn't work without it.

The alternate history might then unfold...

If you don't commit to France for the French 1940 campaign...

The more interesting possibility is this....


Game start...

Britain is at War with Germany
But France....

    France is an armed neutral, like Sweden....

That is the most likely outcome of a failure to commit to joint military 
planning after Munich, in the heat of the Warsaw autumn.

The French do not see a realistic prospect of crossing swords with Germany,
if England is not by her side,
the French are realists,
and would seek an accomodation with the foe...
to buy more time
at least for another 10years,
when the gaps in her manpower as a result of WW1 start to heal over...


The game is VERY different then....
and the outcome ???


Well it isone possible sequence...

-|steve|-