Chapter 5- The Campaign in the West Summary and Analysis

There is a debate in the High Command on whether or not to repeat the Schlieffen Plan, a German advance into Belgium that is strong on the extreme right wing (by the coast). Field Marshall Manstein advocates a plan that attacks through Southern Belgium and Luxemburg and seizing Sedan and the Meuse River crossings in France, then turning north to the English Channel. Guderian becomes an insistent advocate of the Manstein Plan and using fast Panzer units to make a penetration without regards to flanks. Hitler adopts the plan and Guderian is given command of the XIX Army Group to carry out the attack.

Guderian believes that the fact that France did not attack Germany while German forces were tied up in Poland proves that the French want to...