WI: Hitler tries to remilitarize the Rhineland in 1937 instead of 1936?

Ambusher11

There has been plenty of WI threads on this site about France stopping Hitler from remilitarizing the Rhineland in 1936. However, I haven't seen any WI threads about Hitler remilitarizing the Rhineland at a later date. What some of you may not know is that Hitler originally didn't plan to remilitarize the Rhineland in 1936. He had originally planned to do it in the spring of 1937, when German rearmament would be more advanced. However, he ultimately decided to do it a year earlier in 1936 as he had correctly thought that France and Britain would not respond to the remilitarization of the Rhineland with military action, and also possibly because he was searching for a national cause that would fire up the masses again.

What if Hitler had decided to stick to his original plan of remilitarizing the Rhineland in 1937? Would France and Britain respond differently to a 1937 remilitarization than they did with the OTL 1936 remilitarization? What effects would a 1937 remilitarization of the Rhineland have on the later course of events in Europe?
 

Garrison

Donor
Ambusher11 said:
There has been plenty of WI threads on this site about France stopping Hitler from remilitarizing the Rhineland in 1936. However, I haven't seen any WI threads about Hitler remilitarizing the Rhineland at a later date. What some of you may not know is that Hitler originally didn't plan to remilitarize the Rhineland in 1936. He had originally planned to do it in the spring of 1937, when German rearmament would be more advanced. However, he ultimately decided to do it a year earlier in 1936 as he had correctly thought that France and Britain would not respond to the remilitarization of the Rhineland with military action, and also possibly because he was searching for a national cause that would fire up the masses again.

What if Hitler had decided to stick to his original plan of remilitarizing the Rhineland in 1937? Would France and Britain respond differently to a 1937 remilitarization than they did with the OTL 1936 remilitarization? What effects would a 1937 remilitarization of the Rhineland have on the later course of events in Europe?
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The remilitarization was tied to openly throwing off the limitations of Versailles, revealing the full extent of the build-up of the Luftwaffe and a substantial expansion of the Heer. I'm not sure Germany gains anything by delaying.
 

Ambusher11

Garrison said:
The remilitarization was tied to openly throwing off the limitations of Versailles, revealing the full extent of the build-up of the Luftwaffe and a substantial expansion of the Heer. I'm not sure Germany gains anything by delaying.
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Uhhh... did you get the remilitarization of the Rhineland (an open repudiation of the Locarno Treaty that Germany agreed to in 1925 and which Hitler claimed that he'd respect in 1935) mixed up with Hitler's repudiation of Part V of Versailles in March 1935? I wasn't talking about the latter in this thread, I was talking about the former. In any case, I do agree that Germany almost certainly doesn't gain anything from a later Rhineland remilitarization. However, I don't think Germany really loses anything from a 1937 remilitarization of the Rhineland either (unless France is more willing in 1937 to use military force to block the remilitarization). After all, Germany would still be building up its military in 1936 even if the Rhineland remains demilitarized in that year, and Hitler didn't really start to speed up construction on the Westwall until May 1938 when he started preparing Germany for war with Czechoslovakia. If the remilitarization of the Rhineland happens in 1937 instead of 1936, it's perfectly possible that the events of 1938-1945 could still play out roughly the same as they did OTL.
 

NoMommsen

Well, ... it should not be forgotten that the Wehrmacht actually was keen on the remilitarization from 1934 onwards as they needed the recruits of this area for their rearmament program. Without the recruits of the Rheinland even the limited program of December 1933 for a 63 Div. Field Army in 1938 wouldn't have barly be achievable due to lack of trained soldiers.
For the generals and their rearmament plans even spring of 1936 was almost too late.
(Deist et al. part 3, chapter II., section 2 c.)

Btw ... where do you have read that Hitler planed the remilitarization in 1937 ?
 
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