 How was she to face the onslaught? These scenes are ancient history. They occurred in 1914. The German armies, without warning, had 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 every vehicle that could move. Famous, taxicab army. Note well, it was riding out to battle. In the center of the French line stood the 9th French army, commanded by a then comparatively unknown general. On September 5th, 1914, he is reputed to have said, my right is driven in, my center is giving way. The situation is excellent. I 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 the signing of the armistice with the defeated Germans on November 11th, 1918. To this general, the French people erected a monument to Marshal Ferdinand Bosch, whose motto was, attack, always attack. Still later, the war weary French people erected another monument. This one to a minister of war, André Machinot. Between the ideas symbolized by these two statues, may well lie the military story of the fall of a great nation. In farsha's time, the proud spirit of France demanded nothing less than victory and placed its faith in the attack. In Machinot's 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 Machinot Line. These tremendous bastions 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 Machinot Line. And their generals, headed by Marshal Pater, proudly announced, whoever makes the first move in this war will be hurt. But Hitler didn't go near the Machinot Line. That was France's strong point. Instead he attacked the weak point. Hitler knew that the French had 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 important of all, he knew that France had become a cynical and disillusioned nation. What made this change in the French spirit? In the first place, between 1914 and 1918, France suffered more than six million casualties in the heroic defense of their land against 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 of 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 ripe for the insidious words of the devil. France still looked like an imposing castle, but Hitler's political termites had so gnawed away the binding of national unity that the castle was ready to crumble. The re-enactivity that we call the phony 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 couilles 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 Alsace-Lorraine is in 1870. Through the Low Countries is in 1914. What was the 1940 model conquest? The French considered the Maginot Line utterly impregnable, and therefore believed the Germans would again try a swing through the Low Countries is in 1914. But even after Hitler's rape of Scandinavia, Holland and Belgium, hoping against hope, still clung to their neutrality. French mass 78 divisions here along the border of Belgium. 17 were in the Maginot Line. 10 divisions 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, honeycombed with streams, its roads narrow trails, its bridges too weak for military vehicles. French strategists estimated the Forest of the Ardennes impossible for armored forces. As you will see, this was one of the costliest estimates in all military history. That was the situation on May 9, 1940. Democracies prayed for strength to meet the coming hurricane of terror. Mussolini has possessed the German nation. The coordinated attack crossed the neutral borders of Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland from the Maginot Line north to the section along the entire front with simultaneous. So for purposes of clarity, let's take up one country at a time. First, let's see what happened in Holland. This was smashed through the improvised and hastily erected border defenses. But the main attack was to come from the air far behind the defense lines where 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 and outlying sections of the city. At the time, Nazi armored columns were racing across the country. Their progress speeded by other fifth columnists and prevented the destruction of vital dykes and bridges. These forces affected a meeting with the parachutists landed in Rotterdam. The Dutch were doomed to defeat. 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.