revolution in warfare.
making quick believers.
scattering the rest.
10 May
General Gamelin launches Plan D
British and French forces quickly move to River Dyle.
Germany invades Belgium and Holland.
German airborne capture bridges before being
blown up by their Dutch defenders.
Rotterdam and The Hague attacked.
Eben Emael - Belgium fortress of 1,200 men
falls to 89 Germans in 24 hours. The Allies expected
Belgium's most formidable fort to hold out 3 to 5 days.
Somehow fortress designers didn't provide
a defense for enemy gliders landing on their roof.
It was almost lobbing bombs down chimneys.
0530 hours: Germany attacks Belgium, Holland, France.
0645 hours: General Gamelin orders execution of Plan D
Winston Churchill becomes Britain's Prime Minister.
Opposition leaders included in Churchill's War Cabinet.
13 May
Armies collide.
The Allies bet on Louvain as where they would meet
the main German attack head on. Here is where
Gamelin concentrated French and British troops -
80 miles from where a full-throttled armored attack was
soon to take place near the French river town of Sedan.
BEF commander General Lord Gort gets word of the
French Ninth Army's defeat near Dinant by German armor.
13 - 17 May
Germany gobbles up French underbelly.
13 May
Churchill tells House of Commons:
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
14 May
3 bridgeheads established across the Meuse
at Sedan, Dinant and Montherme.
French troops scattered or destroyed.
Allies outflanked.
German panzers race to encircle
France and Britain's last best hope.
1900 / 7 pm - Churchill reports to Cabinet:
French PM Reynaud says his forces in full retreat.
Rotterdam bombed.
15 May
German bridgeheads across the Meuse consolidates
into one, extending 20 miles west from the breakthrough,
heading toward the Somme and the English Channel.
phone call / 0730: Reynaud to Churchill
"We have been defeated."
order: "Cease Fire" / 1100: Holland surrenders.
telegram: Churchill to Roosevelt
"We expect to be attacked here ourselves in the near future.
If necessary, we shall continue the war alone. But I trust
you realize, Mr. President, that the voice and force of the
United States may count for nothing if they are withheld too long.
You may have a completely subjugated, Nazified Europe,
established with astonishing swiftness, and the weight may be
more than we can bear."
17 May
Brussels and Antwerp fall to German forces.
Allies in full retreat towards the channel coast.
General Gamelin gives Paris a two day guarantee of
safety. Government agencies begin burning documents.
18 May
Allies retreat in confusion
France attempts to form defense along Somme.
General Gamelin is replaced by General Weygand
as Supreme Allied Commander.
British Commander Gort begins planning a retreat to the coast.
Benito Mussolini, Il Duce, threatens war with France.
21 - 22 May
Britain and France unable to coordinate
an attack on flanks of German thrust.
British forces defending the crucial road junction town of Arras
are overwhelmed by four divisions of German armor,
attempt escape from a quickly materializing encirclement.
Churchill advises Admiralty to assemble vessels,
plan evacuation of BEF - British Expeditionary Force,
from French coast using assorted private craft -
Operation Dynamo.
22 May
Dunkirk is all that's left for Britain's army.
Confusion Marks Battle in France
"No newspaper correspondents of any nationality have yet
been permitted anywhere near the actual fighting line."
NY Times / 21 May
__________________________________
love
dad
© Tom Taylor
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