"After the Berlin premiere of Sieg im Westen on 31 January 1941, it went on to become a box-office hit not only across Germany, but throughout continental Europe.
Despite this popular success, however, National Socialists were uneasy about the film for cogent reasons, foremostly because it concluded for viewers that “Victory in the West” was entirely due to the Army.
The only Luftwaffe aircraft shown are some dive-bombers occasionally allowed to participate as flying artillery or the lone spotter-plane, all at the Army’s behest. There is no mention of the fighter arm that cleared the skies of enemy opposition, thereby making operations on the ground possible, nor the pivotal role played by Stukas and Messerschmit-110s in smashing superior French armor.
The worst omission was leaving out all reference to the paratroops who took Belgium Fort Eben Emael, perhaps the single most decisive attack of the entire Campaign. This key success was entirely the brainchild of Adolf Hitler and Luftwaffe General Kurt Student, neither of whom receive recognition in the film. Naturally, Reichsmarshal Goering was particularly put out.
Also upset with the production’s myopic viewpoint was Dr. Goebbels, who tried to steal Sieg im Westen’s thunder by premiering another film about the French Campaign, Auf dem Strassen des Sieges, “On the Road to Victory”, which paid equal homage to all the armed forces, before the Army version’s premiere.
Heinrich Himmler, too, was miffed by the movie, because it mentioned his Waffen-SS only once and briefly in passing, while ignoring the Leibstandarte’s vital capture of the Dutch canals before they could halt the entire German offensive into Holland, or the Totenkopf Division’s no less crucial capture of the Somme.
Although Hitler himself is given short shrift, and is portrayed as hardly more than a somewhat distant overseer, while the generals do all the real planning, he liked the film, especially those scenes depicting the soldiers’ camp life".
Quote: Marc Roland @ www.pzg.biz |
