Belgium Invaded

May 10-17th, 1940

Northern Front, Norway
The re-embarkation of Allied troops leaves the Germans in control of southern and central Norway. At Narvik in the north, 2000 German Alpine troops are slowly pushed back by 20,000 Allied troops.

Western Front, Belgium
Hitler moves to his forward headquarters, Felsennest (Cliff Nest) at Bad Munstereiffel, about 30 miles (48km) from the Belgian frontier, and issues the codeword 'Danzig' which sets off 'Fall Gelb' Operation Yellow, a strike through the Ardennes towards the English Channel to defeat the British and French.
Aircraft hit prearranged targets, while paratroopers prepared to seize vital objectives.
Before the Netherlands are attacked, a key frontier bridge is taken by "Brandenburgers", small groups of Dutch-speaking and sometimes Dutch-uniformed troops. Parachute troops are landed near The Hague and communications are soon in German hands.
Fort Eben Emael, guarding a bridge on the Begian border, is taken by German troops landing gliders on top of the caissons. Two panzer divisions move into Belgium.
Rotterdam is heavily bombed on the 14th to hasten the Dutch surrender. Rundstedt's Army Group A moves through southern Belgium, with a panzer corps under Guderian moving through the Ardennes' hills and forests.
The French, taken by surprise at armor coming through the "unpassable" Ardennes, wait for them to halt at the River Meuse. But Rommel's 7th Panzer Division crosses the river.
The same day, all of Guderian's panzers are across and racing through the open country beyond, with Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers clearing opposition before them. Their goal is to dislocate resistance.
General Ritter von Leeb's Army Group C covers France's Maginot Line, the subterranean forts and other defensive positions running along its border with Germany.
This is classic Blitzkrieg: to sustain the momentum of the advance by avoiding centers of resistance to strike the enemy's rear areas and lines of communication and supply. Bold commanders take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. Rommel solidifies his position as a brilliant and take-hands-on charge of front-line tank combat strategist.

Dutch resistance to the German attack crumbles, despite opening the flood gates and mining the Rhine River to obstruct the enemy. German forces begin to approach the Allied Dyle Line, while Belgian defenders are driven back from the Albert Canal.
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands escapes with the Dutch government to Britain on May 13. The city of Rotterdam is bombed before a cease-fire is declared on the 14th.


May 15th
The Dutch Army surrenders. One of Guderian's divisions is 40 miles (64km) beyond the Meuse and still advancing west.

May 17th
The Belgian capital, Brussels, is taken.

Chamberlain replaced by Churchill

May 7-10, 1940
Politics, Britain
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who signed the 'Peace In Our Time' headlined treaty with Germany, is severely criticized over the Norwegian campaign during a House of Commons debate. Chamberlain resigns after a significant fall in government support in a vote of confidence and the opposition Labour Party's refusal to serve under him in a coalition.
Winston Churchill replaces him and forms a coalition government

(These events closely parallel what happened in Britain this summer, 2010, when the government regime under Tony Blair was replaced by the coalition under their new prime minister David Cameron.)

Norway struggles to defend itself

April 15-30, 1940

Western Front, Norway
After securing their initial objectives, the German army begin their conquest of Norway. Major General Carl Otto Ruge, Norway's new commander-in-chief, leads a stubborn defense around Lake Mjosa and the Glomma valley.

An Allied expeditionary force of over 10,000 British, French, and Polish troops push back. Its objective to recapture Trondheim to secure a base, but its units are ill-prepared for the campaign. There has been little liaison with the Norwegians and various units lack cohesion. Lack of training in artic warfare, key supplies, air cover, and anti-aircraft weaponry exacerbate the situation.

German aircraft launch counterattacks. British and French troops eventually evacuate on May 1-2.

(I said I would catch up on the day-to-day events, and here it is three months later.)

April 10-14th, 1940
Northern Front, Norway
Anglo-French troops are landed at Narvik near Trondheim but are unable to do more than hold some of their landing areas.

Atlantic Sea War
U-49, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Johann Egbert von Gossler, is sunk by HMS Brazen and HMS Fearless. Secret documents, probably connected with the German "Enigma" cyphering machine, float to the surface and are then captured by the British.

Sea War, Norway
Five British destroyers launch a surprise attack on 10 German destroyers to the west of Narvik. Each side loses two, while eight German merchant vessels and an ammunition carrier are also sunk.

Last South Dakota code talker laid to rest

The last of the American Indian code talkers of South Dakota who served during World War II has been laid to rest.

Clarence Wolf Guts of Wanblee was buried Tuesday in Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis. The 86-year-old Wolf Guts died June 16 at the South Dakota Veterans Home in Hot Springs.

Wolf Guts was one of 11 Lakota, Nakota and Dakota code talkers from South Dakota. During the war, they transmitted messages from an Army general to his chief of staff in the field using their native language, which the Germans and the Japanese could not translate.

(by Associated Press)

Nurse from iconic 'kiss' pic dies, age 91.

A nurse who was photographed being kissed in Times Square to celebrate the end of the second world war in 1945 has died, aged 91.

The iconic VJ Day picture of Edith Shain by Alfred Eisenstaedt was published in Life magazine.

The identity of the nurse in the photograph was not known until the late 1970s when Shain wrote to Eisenstaedt to say that she was the woman in the picture. It was taken on 14 August 1945 when she had been working at Doctor's Hospital in New York.

The identity of the sailor who kissed her remains unresolved.

The photograph made its mark on Shain's life, as her subsequent celebrity led to invitations to war-related events such a wreath layings, parades and other memorial ceremonies.

(article edited from "guardian.co.uk")

WWII-era bomb explodes in Germany

In know, I know. I'm neglecting what I set out to do in this blog, reviewing daily/weekly events as they happened this month in 1940. A LOT happened. Germany invaded Western Europe and drove all the way in to Paris. No excuses other than spring business, highlights of events in this month to come soon. For now I will continue with this news found today.

June 2nd, 2010
An Allied bomb left over from World War II has exploded in Germany, killing three military engineers who were trying to defuse it.

The blast occurred in the central city of Goettingen on Tuesday after construction workers building a sports stadium discovered it in a densely populated area.

Bomb disposal experts were called to the scene to defuse the 500 kilogramme device, which police said was likely to be British. But it exploded before they could neutralise the device.

Bombs left over from the second world war are regularly found in Germany. Between 400 and 500 people are employed nationwide in removing them, and experts expect unexploded ordnance to pose problems for decades to come.

"After the war, there was a building boom, and buildings often went up in areas where there were bombs," Volker Scherff, the head of the association of German Explosive Ordnance, said.

"Those bombs are still there and when construction work is done today, the ground must always be actively searched for ordnance."

Last month, 9,000 residents of the Berlin district of Zehlendorf were evacuated when a 500-kilogramme bomb was unearthed. That discovery followed the closure of Berlin's main airport in April after a British bomb left over from the war was found nearby.

Berlin authorities believe there could be up to 3,000 bombs still buried in the city.

(article edited from Aljazeera.net)