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FALL GRÜN (1938) swelling concentration camps, and the murder brigades of the Einsatzgruppen Sweden was neutral, as was Switzerland, leaving only one democracy still opposing Hitler in Europe at the end of June 1940 And Britain was on its knees in mid-1940, effectively defenseless on the ground, already fighting off the first Luftwaffe swarms to cross the Channel and about to undergo sustained Axis bombing of its major cities Roosevelt knew the British expected to be invaded at any given sunrise Against the mortal threat of an invasion fleet, Britain’s best defense must be to ask for suicidal sacrifice by the young men of the RAF and Royal Navy The Channel barrier had to be defended at any cost, because if ever the Germans made a successful lodgement on the British coast it would be a short land war before jackboots were heard tramping down the streets of London Before another year passed, Greece would be invaded in an unprovoked aggression by Italy, and Yugoslavia would be smashed to bits by armies from several Axis states, jackals all, snapping at each other over the carcass of the rule of law Where was America? Every free and once free man and woman outside the United States asked that question There seemed no other hope but American intervention for the British and Commonwealth struggle to restore decency and law in Europe, in alliance with frail fragments of the broken armed forces of erstwhile allies and occupied or extinguished states: a few brigades and squadrons of exiled Free French, Poles, Norwegians, Dutch, and other conquered but still defiant peoples Echoes of consequence of the defeat of France were felt as far away as China and around the Pacific Rim Japan was nudged significantly closer by FALL GELB to a decision to follow the nanshin path, or “southern advance,” toward imperial aggrandizement The newfound weakness of all European imperial powers in Asia after the German victory in Europe left overripe colonial fruit across Southeast Asia hanging before the Japanese Tokyo’s partner in Berlin seemed to be in cahoots with Moscow, while the Red Army had already proven to the Imperial Japanese Army at Nomonhan that the hokushin path (“northern advance”) was too hard The first step south for Japan was to force major concessions from a powerless Vichy governor of French Indochina, followed by military occupation of that distant colony, which France no longer had the strength to defend Dominos were falling all across the world by the end of 1940, toppled by the defeat of France See also Finnish–Soviet War (1939–1940) Suggested Reading: Julian Jackson, The Fall of France (2003); Ernest May, Strange Victory (2000) FALL GRÜN (1938) “Case GREEN.” German code name for an invasion plan for Czechoslovakia It was not implemented because Great Britain, France, and Italy instead delivered the Sudetenland to Adolf Hitler at the Munich Conference (September 29–30, 1938) The Wehrmacht ultimately rolled unopposed into Prague in March 1939 FALL GRÜN (1940) “Case GREEN.” Originally, the German code name for a proposed invasion of Switzerland It was changed to TANNENBAUM when the 368
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