WO II - Chronologische lijst van de gebeurtenissen tussen 10 mei en 30 juni 1940.xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
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May 10th
May 10th. 1940: At 5:35 a.m. CET, the Wehrmacht begins Operation Yellow, the invasion of Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg, employing Heeresgruppe A (von Rundstedt) and B (von Bock), with Heeresgruppe C (von Leeb) in reserve. The attacking forces comprise 10 armored, 5 motorized, and 75 infantry divisions. The 3 Panzerkorps - XIX. (Guderian), XX. (Hoth) and XLI. (Reinhardt) - field 2,445 tanks, most of which are of the light Marks I, II, 35(t) and 38(t) type, against 3,373 French and British tanks. In his Order of the Day, Hitler declares, "Soldiers of the Western Front! The battle which is beginning today will decide the fate of the German nation for the next thousand years. Go forward now and do your duty!" Airborne troops seize airfields and strategic bridges near Amsterdam and Rotterdam in Holland. The Luftwaffe, using hundreds of level and dive bombers, attacks Allied airfields, troop assembly areas and rear communications. In Britain, Prime Minister ("Hitler missed the bus!" - in Norway, that is) resigns and is replaced by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, who forms a coalition government with the Labour and Liberal parties.
May 11th
May 11th, 1940: In the West, German troops occupy the Duchy of Luxemburg. A glider-borne parachute detachment of 1.Fallschirmjäger-Rgt. led by Hptm. Koch and Lt. Witzig capture the "impregnable" Belgian border fortress of Eben-Emael.
May 12th
May 12th, 1940: In the West, French forces withdraw behind the Meuse river between Dinant and Sedan.
May 13th
May 13th, 1940: Supported by waves of Luftwaffe Stuka dive-bombers, the two German Panzerkorps of Heeresgruppe B emerge from the Ardennes forests, advance to the Meuse and establish bridgeheads across the river, tearing a 50-mile gap in the French defenses between Dinant and Sedan. 7.Pz.Div. (Rommel) is the first division across. In the House of Commons, the new prime minister Churchill promises nothing but "blood, toil, tears and sweat."
May 14th
May 14th, 1940: In the West, 60 Luftwaffe He-111 bombers not having received the countermanding order attack besieged Rotterdam, devastating the center of the city. British and French aircraft are unsuccessful in destroying the German-built bridges across the Meuse; 50 bombers are shot down by AA fire.
May 15th
May 15th, 1940: In the West, the German XX.Panzerkorps (Hoth) repels a counter-attack by French armored forces, destroying 125 out of 175 tanks. An attack by 6.Armee (von Reichenau) against the Dyle line in Belgium is repulsed. After the fall of Rotterdam the Dutch Army surrenders (10,000 casualties). In Paris, panic breaks out over reports of a German breakthrough at Sedan; thousands of civilians leave the city for the west and south of the country, clogging the roads for Allied military traffic which is attacked by Luftwaffe bombers and fighter bombers. RAF Bomber Command (Peirse) begins a strategic air offensive against targets inside Germany by attacking industrial installations in the Ruhr, but with minimal effect.
May 16th
May 16th, 1940: Troops of the German 6.Armee break through the Allied Dyle line in Belgium.
May 17th
May 17th, 1940: In the West, troops of 6.Armee occupy Brussels. French prime minister Pierre Laval is replaced by Paul Reynaud who forms a new government.
May 18th
May 18th, 1940: In the West, XIX.Panzerkorps (Guderian) in its rapid advance toward the Channel coast reaches Peronne. German troops occupy Antwerp.
May 19th
May 19th, 1940: German troops of XX.Panzerkorps (Reinhardt) capture St. Quentin. General Gamelin, C-in-C of Allied Forces, is replaced by General Weygand.
May 20th
May 20th, 1940: In the West, units of XIX. Panzerkorps (Guderian) capture Amiens and advance to the Channel coast at Abbeville, separating the British Expeditionary Force (Gort) and the Belgian Army from the French forces to the south.
May 21st
May 21st, 1940: In the West, an attack by a French armored brigade under General de Gaulle against 7.Panzer-Division (Rommel) at Arras fails after initial success. The French Ninth Army is surrounded and destroyed, its commander, General Giraud, taken prisoner.
May 22nd
May 22nd, 1940: In the West, XIX.Panzerkorps (Guderian) strikes from Abbeville toward Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk along the Channel coast. British cipher experts at Bletchley Park break the Luftwaffe Enigma code.
May 23rd
May 23rd, 1940: In the West, units of 6.Armee (von Reichenau) cross the Scheldt river at Oudenarde in Belgium.
May 24th
May 24th, 1940: In the West, infantry units of XIX.Panzerkorps storm the citadel of Boulogne and take 5,000 British and French prisoners. The French fortress of Maubeuge surrenders, while 6.Armee captures Ghent and Tournai in Belgium.
May 25th
May 25th, 1940: In the West, the British garrison of Calais rejects a German call for surrender.
May 26th
May 26th, 1940: Employing hundreds of naval, commercial and private vessels, the beaten British forces in France begin Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk. Calais fall to the Germans, and the advance toward Dunkirk, ordered stopped by Hitler 3 days previously, is resumed.
May 27th
May 28th
May 28th, 1940: In the West, the Belgian Army surrenders, King Leopold being taken prisoner. In Norway, French mountain troops capture the port of Narvik, forcing the German defenders (Gebirgsjäger units and crews of sunk destroyers) into the surrounding hills.
May 29th
May 29th, 1940: In the West, the German 6.Armee occupies Lille, Ypres and Ostend. Off the beaches at Dunkirk, the British Navy loses 5 destroyers and 15 other vessels to Luftwaffe Stuka attacks.
May 30th
May 31st
May 31st, 1940: The evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk continues under heavy Luftwaffe attacks that sink two French destroyers; 68,000 men have been rescued thus far.
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June 1st
June 1st, 1940: In the West, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk continues, with another 64,400 men taken off the beaches. The British destroyers Keith, Basilisk and Havant and the transport Scotia are sunk by Luftwaffe dive bombers.
June 2nd
June 2nd, 1940: At Dunkirk, 26,200 British and French troops are evacuated from the beaches. The luftwaffe carries out raids on Lyon and targets in the Rhone valley.
June 3rd
June 3rd, 1940: In Norway, British and French forces (24,000 men) abandon Narvik, while the last Allied troops are evacuated from Dunkirk (in all, 218,226 British and 120,000 French).
June 4th
June 4th, 1940: German troops enter Dunkirk, taking 40,000 French prisoners and huge quantities of abandoned British equipment: 84,000 vehicles, 2,500 guns and 650,000 tons of supplies and ammunition. French bombers carry out night raids on Munich and Frankfurt, with negligible results.
June 5th
June 5th, 1940: Beginning of Fall Rot (Operation Red), the second stage of the German invasion of France, also called the Battle of France (119 divisions, including 10 armored). Heeresgruppe B (von Küchler), with 50 divisions, opens the offensive on the Somme against the fortified positions of the Weygand Line. Hptm. Mölders, leader ofIII/JG 53 and Germany's top air ace (25 kills) is shot down near Compiegne and taken prisoner.
June 6th
June 6th, 1940: In the West, 7. Panzerdivision (Rommel). advancing W of Amiens, penetratees 20 miles into French territory. U-46 (Kptlt. Sohler) sinks the British armed merchant cruiser Carinthia off the west coast of Ireland.
June 7th
June 7th, 1942: In the East, 11. Armee (von Manstein) begins the final assault on the Soviet fortress of Sevastopol in the Crimea.
June 8th
June 8th, 1940: In Norway, the evacuation of British and French troops (24,000 men) from Narvik and Harstad is completed. The British aircraft carrier Glorious is sunk by the German heavy battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau SW of Narvik. King Haakon and the Norwegian government leave Tromsö for England.
June 9th
June 9th, 1940: In the West, German forces of Heeresgruppe A (von Küchler) advancing S from the Somme capture Rouen on the Seine.
June 10th
June 10th, 1940: In Norway, the remaining troops of the Norwegian Army surrender. Italy declares war on Britain and France and begins an offensive along the coast of the Riviera.
June 11th
June 11th, 1940: In the West, German forces capture Rheims. The French government of Premier Reynaud leaves Paris for Tours. The RAF carries out raids on Genoa and Turin in Italy. The British cruiser Calypso is sunk by an Italian submarine off Crete.
June 12th
June 12th, 1940: On orders from General Weygand, C-in-C of the French Army, the French forces opposing the advance of Heeresgruppe A withdraw to the south, offering little resistance. The Soviet Union issues an ultimatum to Lithuania which is soon followed by the occupation of the country by the Red Army.
June 13th
June 13th, 1940: In the West, German troops reach the northern outskirts of Paris which has been declared an 'open city'. Italian bombers attack the French naval base at Toulon. The British auxiliary cruiser Scotstown is sunk by U-25 (Kptlt. Beduhn) off the Irish coast. The German raider Orion lays mines off Auckland, New Zealand.
June 14th
June 14th, 1940: German troops enter Paris which has been evacuated by most of its inhabitants. Heeresgruppe C (von Leeb), with 24 divisions, prepares to cross the upper Rhine to attack the Maginot Line in Alsace. The French government leaves Tours for Bordeaux. All remaining British troops in France are ordered to return to England.
June 15th
June 15th, 1940: In the West, German forces of 7. Armee break into the Maginot Line and capture Verdun. 30,600 British and Canadian troops are evacuated from Cherbourg, Brest and St. Malo.
June 16th
June 16th. 1940: In the West, German forces, supported by heavy artillery and Stuka dive bombers, continue their assault on the Maginot Line on a broad front. Units of IXX.Panzerkorps (Guderian) reach Besancon on the Swiss border. The French government of Paul Reynaud resigns and is replaced by one led by Marshal Petain. 57,000 British troops are evacuated from Nantes and St. Nazaire. U-101 (Kptlt. Frauenheim) sinks the British merchant ship Wellington Star in the Bay of Biscay. In the Baltic, the Red Army occupies Latvia and Estonia. Tens of thousands of "hostile' natives and their families are rounded up and deported separated from one another to NKVD prison camps in the Soviet Union.
June 17th
June 17th. 1940: In the West, German troops cross the Loire near Orleans. The French premier, Marshal Petain, requests Germany's and Italy's terms for an armistice.
June 18th
June 18th, 1940: In the West, German troops capture Le Mans and Cherbourg; the garrisons of Belfort, Metz and Dijon surrender. General de Gaulle forms the French National Committee at London and vows to continue the war on the side of Britain.
June 19th
June 19th, 1940: German troops capture Brest, Toul and Strassburg.
June 20th
June 20th, 1940: German troops capture Lyons. The German heavy cruiser Gneisenau is damaged by a torpedo from the British submarine Clyde.
June 21st
June 21st, 1940: Franco-German armistice negotiations begin at Compiegne in the same railroad car of Marshal Foch where the German delegates received the Allied armistice terms in November, 1918. Hitler issues a proclamation announcing the end of the war in the West, and orders flags to be flown throughout Germany for ten days.
June 22nd
June 22nd, 1940: An armistice between France and Germany is signed at Compiegne. Its terms, read out loud to the French delegation by Generaloberst Keitel, provide for the occupation of the entire Channel and Atlantic coastlines, all major industrial areas, Alsace-Lorraine (to be returned to Germany). Most of southern France will remain unoccupied, with a French administrative center at Vichy; the French Army and Navy is to be demobilized and disarmed; France is to bear the cost of the German occupation, and all French prisoners of war are to remain in Germany until a peace treaty is signed.
June 23rd
June 23rd, 1940: Hitler makes a brief sightseeing visit to Paris; motoring through nearly empty streets, he makes a special point of viewing Napoleon's tomb, ending his tour at the Eiffel tower.
June 24th
June 24th, 1940: An armistice is signed between France and Italy at Villa Indusa near Rome.
June 25th
June 25th, 1940: At 1:35 a.m. CET, all acts of war between the French and German armed forces cease officially.
June 26th
June 27th
June 28th
June 28th, 1940: Following an ultimatum to the Rumanian government, the Red Army occupies Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina.
June 29th
June 30th
June 30th, 1940: German troops occupy the British Channel Islands off the coast of Brittany.
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Ik ben Delameilleure Philippe, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam 'tfront.
