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German ability to operate on several fronts.
A
In more than one place in the appreciation it is stated that Germany could conduct simultaneous operations in Northern and South Eastern Europe, while remaining on
the defensive in the West.
5.
Our own view is that by the spring of 1940,
Germany, while reme.ining on the defensive in the West, should have
sufficient forces, judged from the viewpoint of numbers of
divisions and air squadrons, to overrun Sweden and tu
occupy Rumania and Hungary, even if these countries
decided to resist. If, therefore, Germany feels that
either her iron ore or oil supplies are threatened we cannot rule out the possibility that she might undertake both operations simultaneously.
6.
Unfortunately.
In the event of an invasion of Rumania by Germany, we are almost certain to receive urgent calls for assistance
from Turkey. On the other hand, Germany could not at the
same time undertake an offensive in the west and it should
therefore be possible for us to divert some forces from
the Western front to the assistance of Turkey. not only would such diversion by sea be a very slow process but the forces which would be most urgently required would be those very units (i.e, fitter aircraft and anti- aircraft artillery) which we could least afford to release
from the Western front. It must be remembered that
Germany's preponderence in air forces and their
Suluterical mobility on interior lines would enable
them to present a constant threat to Great Britain and France, even while Germany was conducting operations
in Scandinavia and the Balkans,
* Paragraphs 26, 33, 40, 45 and 46.
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