Fall Grün (Czechoslovakia)

Fall Grün (German for Case Green) was a German plan for an aggressive war against Czechoslovakia before World War II. Some of the plan's psychological warfare and use of paramilitary actions were carried out, but the planned open war failed to occur because of the Munich Agreement.

Background

First drafted late in 1937, the plan was then revised as the military situation and requirements changed. The last revision of the plan scheduled the attack for 28 September 1938. However, as France and the United Kingdom were reluctant to go to war for the sake of Czechoslovakia and both expressed political will to appease Germany, the execution of the plan was postponed.

After the Munich Conference produced the Munich Agreement on 30 September 1938, the plan was abandoned altogether.

Aftermath

In ceding the border areas to Germany, Poland and Hungary, Czechoslovakia lost the majority of its border fortifications and was no longer defensible against any invading force. Germany invaded the remaining Czech part of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 (Unternehmen Südost, German for Operation Southeast) and annexed Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia to the Reich. Germany gave nominal independence to Slovakia and installed Jozef Tiso as head of a satellite state.

The name Fall Grün was later assigned to the plans for an invasion of Ireland.

Psychological warfare

The plans of Fall Grün had a large role for psychological warfare, both within Czechoslovakia and against Czechoslovak allies. Internally, Czechoslovak government and citizenship were supposed to be intimidated and have their will to defend themselves broken, and the ethnic German minority, which was massively pro-German, was supposed to internally weaken and disrupt the country.[1] Internationally, co-ordinated Nazi psychological and propaganda warfare aimed at making the country isolated to the point that it would stand alone against any aggression, with defence having no hope.[1] Modern media, especially radio, played key role in the Nazi psychological warfare. Within Czechoslovakia, Nazi Germany also relied on using the Sudeten German Party as well as its paramilitary organization the Freiwilliger Schutzdienst.[1]

Undeclared German-Czechoslovak war

On 17 September 1938, Adolf Hitler ordered the establishment of Sudetendeutsches Freikorps, a paramilitary organisation that took over the structure of Freiwillinger Schutzdienst/Ordnersgruppe, an organisation of ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia that had been dissolved by the Czechoslovak authorities the previous day because of its implication in large number of terrorist activities. The organisation was sheltered, trained and equipped by German authorities and conducted cross-border terrorist operations into Czechoslovakian territory. Relying on the Convention for the Definition of Aggression, Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš[2] and the Czechoslovak government-in-exile[3] later regarded 17 September 1938 to be the beginning of the undeclared German-Czechoslovak war. That understanding has been assumed also by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic in 1997.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hruška, Emil (2013). Boj o pohraničí: Sudetoněmecký Freikorps v roce 1938 [Fight for the Border: Sudeten German Freikorps in 1938] (in Czech). Prague: Nakladatelství Epocha, Pražská vydavatelská společnost. pp. 9–10.
  2. ↑ President Beneš's declaration made on 16 December 1941
  3. ↑ Note of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile dated 22 February 1944
  4. ↑ Ruling No. II. ÚS 307/97 (Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic 1997) ("Stran interpretace "kdy země vede válku", obsažené v čl. I Úmluvy o naturalizaci mezi Československem a Spojenými státy, publikované pod č. 169/1929 Sb. za účelem zjištění, zda je splněna podmínka státního občanství dle restitučních předpisů, Ústavní soud vychází z již v roce 1933 vypracované definice agrese Společnosti národů, která byla převzata do londýnské Úmluvy o agresi (CONVENITION DE DEFINITION DE L'AGRESSION), uzavřené dne 4. 7. 1933 Československem, dle které není třeba válku vyhlašovat (čl. II bod 2) a dle které je třeba za útočníka považovat ten stát, který první poskytne podporu ozbrojeným tlupám, jež se utvoří na jeho území a jež vpadnou na území druhého státu (čl. II bod 5). V souladu s nótou londýnské vlády ze dne 22. 2. 1944, navazující na prohlášení prezidenta republiky ze dne 16. 12. 1941 dle § 64 odst. 1 bod 3 tehdejší Ústavy, a v souladu s citovaným čl. II bod 5 má Ústavní soud za to, že dnem, kdy nastal stav války, a to s Německem, je den 17. 9. 1938, neboť tento den na pokyn Hitlera došlo k utvoření "Sudetoněmeckého svobodného sboru" (Freikorps) z uprchnuvších vůdců Henleinovy strany a několik málo hodin poté už tito vpadli na československé území ozbrojeni německými zbraněmi.").
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