Battle of France Timeline
Battle of France & World Events Timeline
(May 10, 1940 - June 22, 1940)
Introduction
In six weeks Germany defeated the worlds best army - the French - conquered Norway, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg, and drove the British Army from the continent. Although France had more tanks and of higher quality, German tactics and doctrine proved to be far superior than the Allies plan for a static defense. By using a new form of combined-arms combat labeled blitzkrieg, the Germans swept away all resistance in their path. This is a day-by-day account of how that happened.
Timeline
May 10, 1940
Time | Event | 0300 | Adolf Hitler arrives at his bunker near Aachen, Germany, to direct operation Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), the attack on western Europe. | 0400 | German forces begin operation "Sichelschnitt" (Sickle Stroke), a surprise assault against Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium, and France. | 0430 | Fleets of Luftwaffe bombers and fighters take off to attack western Europe. | 0445 | German parachute and airborne forces secure key bridges Rotterdam, Dordrecht, and Moerdijk, and at Maastricht. | 0500 | 77 German men in 10 DFS230 gliders descend on Belgium's Fort Eban Emael. Eight gliders land on the fort. | 0501 | 76 German divisions cross a 175-mile front into Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. | 0520 | Fort Eban Emael is neutralized. | Daytime | 32 British Battle bombers attack German columns in Luxembourg. 13 are shot down; all others are damaged. | Daytime | Luxembourg surrenders. | 1800 | At Buckingham Palace, London, England, King George VI asks Winston Churchill to form a new government. | Evening | Britain's prime minister Chamberlain resigns. Winston Churchill becomes new Prime Minister. | Midnight | British Prime Minister Churchill completes the forming of his government. | | |
May 11, 1940
Time | Event | 0800 | Fort Eban Emael is taken with the arrival of German ground troops. | Daytime | 8 British Battles bombers attack German columns entering Luxembourg. 7 are shot down | Daytime | Hermann Göring demands that the Swedes allow passage of trains to Norway. He is refused. | Daytime | Churchill gives Bomber Command permission to bomb Berlin. | | |
May 12, 1940
Time | Event | Dawn | Nine British Blenheim bombers attack German column on the Maastricht - Tongres road. Seven are shot down. | Dawn | Five British Battle bombers attack bridges over the Albert Canal. They break one bridge, but four planes are shot down. | Morning | A British Royal Navy battleship accidentally strikes anti-submarine trawler Ypres, sinking it. All 18 crew members survive. | Morning | 24 British Blenheim bombers attack bridges and roads in Maastricht. 10 bombers are shot down. | | |
May 13, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | A single Belgian bomber with 2 escorts attempts to destroy the Moerdijk bridge and delay German forces. The attack fails. | Afternoon | Queen Wilhelmina escapes from the Netherlands and arrives in England | Evening | German General Erwin Rommel's 7th Panzer Division crosses the Meuse River at Dinant. | Evening | British Prime Minister Churchill delivers his famous "Blood, Sweat, and Tears" speach. | Evening | German General Heinz Guderian's XIX Armored Corps crosses the Meuse River at Sedan. | Night | British Prime Minister Churchill contacts American President Roosevelt asking him for assistance. | | |
May 14, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | German aircraft bomb Rotterdam, Holland. 30,000 civilians are killed. | Morning | 63 British Battle bombers and 8 Blenheim bombers raid German bridgeheads over the Meuse River. 40 planes are shot down. | Daytime | Great Britain War Office calls for Local Defense Volunteers, later renamed The Home Guard. | Daytime | General Charles de Gaul's 4th Army counter-attacks German bridgeheads on the Meuse but is driven back. | | |
May 15, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | French Premier Paul Reynaud tells British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: "We have been defeated; we have lost the battle". | Morning | The Dutch King flees to England and surrenders Holland to Germany. | Morning | British Prime Minister Churchill tells US President Roosevelt "I think myself the battle on land has only just begun." | Morning | Churchill sends Roosevelt first telegram asking to buy American surplus aircraft and ships. | Daytime | Rommel's panzers clash with French armor at Phillippeville in first major tank battle of the war. | Daytime | The British War Cabinet gives Bomber Command permission to bomb the Ruhr area of Germany, east of the Rhine. | Daytime | A concentration camp for Poles is begins construction in Auschwitz. | Evening | French Premier Reynaud calls Churchill asking for all the troops and planes he can send. | Evening | French General Gamelin orders a retreat of forces from Belgium. | Evening | 96 Wellington, Whitley, and Hampden bombers attack industrial targets east of the Rhine river. Only one plane is lost. | | |
May 16, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | Churchill flies to Belgium where General Gamelin informs him that the battle is lost. | Daytime | United States President Roosevelt asks Congress for $285 million for defense spending. | Daytime | German forces destroy Corap's 9h Army and advance 50 miles to Rethel. | Daytime | British Prime Minister Churchill provides an extra 10 fighter squadrons to help France, with six operating out of Kent. | Night | Churchill flies back to England, dejected by the situation on the mainland. | | |
May 17, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | 12 British Blenheim bombers attack advancing German columns near Gembloux. 11 planes are shot down. | Daytime | German panzers reach the Serre River in France, then stop. | Evening | British bombers make their first attack on Hamburg, Germany, with 48 Hampdens attacking oil refineries. | | |
May 18, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | German forces at the Serre River in France start moving again, heading north away from Paris. | Daytime | German forces capture the city of Antwerp. | Daytime | German forces capture the city of St. Quentin. | Daytime | German forces under Guderian capture Perrone on the Somme. | Daytime | The Swedish Council on Foreign Relations of the Swedish Cabinet rules against the transit of arms for Germany. | | |
May 19, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | French General Gamelin orders an attack into the southern flank of German General Guderian's Panzer corps. | Night | British Wellington bombers attack Bremen and Hamburg, two major German cities. | | |
May 20, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | German forces reach the sea near Abbeville, France, splitting Allied forces and trapping much of it in a pocket. | Daytime | German forces under Guderian capture Abbeville. | Evening | French General Gamelin is fired. General Maxime Weygand is brought in to replace him. | | |
May 21, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | Allies break the Enigma code that had been changed three weeks ago. | Daytime | Lord Gort launches an attack on the Germans at Arras but is repulsed after heavy fighting. | | |
May 22, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | Churchill and Weygand meet in Paris and decide on a strategy to save the city. | Daytime | French attack near Arras is beaten back. | | |
May 23, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | Boulogne, France, falls to German troops. | Daytime | German forces set siege to Calais, France. | Daytime | French General Weygand, while flying to the front lines and regain control of his demoralized forces, is shot down. He survives. | | |
May 24, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | RCN destroyers Restigouche, St. Laurent, Skeena, and Fraser head to the United Kingdom to aid the Royal Navy. | Morning | German Field Marshal von Rundstedt orders for his panzer divisions to halt their advance in France for resupply. | Daytime | The Allied Expeditionary Force withdraws completely from Norway. | Daytime | At Bjerkvik, Norway, north of Narvik, three battalions of French alpine troops and a Norwegian battalion land, for an assault on Narvik. | | |
May 25, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | The city of Boulogne is captured by the Germans. | Evening | British commander Gort cancels a planned advance to the south, and orders his troops north, so they can embark for England. | | |
May 26, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | The city of Calais is captured by the Germans. | | |
May 27, 1940
Time | Event | Dawn | German forces in France begin their advance again. | Daytime | British 1st Armored Division attacks near the city of Abbeville, but is forced to retreat after heavy losses from German artillery. | Morning | Belgium formally surrenders to Germany. | Morning | Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, across the English Channel begins. | | |
May 28, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | French General Béthouart leads a force from Bjerkvik on Narvik, Norway. | Daytime | Polish troops attack Narvik, Norway, from south of the village. | Daytime | French 4th Armored Division, lead by General de Gaulle, attacks Abbeville, but the attack fails. | Daytime | Belgian King Leopold officially surrenders his country to Germany. | Evening | Allied troops complete taking Narvik, Norway. | | |
May 29, 1940
May 30, 1940
May 31, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | Churchill flies to Paris to meet with Marshal August Pétain who announces he is willing to make a seperate peace with Germany | | |
June 1, 1940
June 2, 1940
Time | Event | Evening | The last of the British Expedition Force is evacuated from Dunkirk, France. A total of 338,000 Allied troops were saved. | | |
June 3, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | Norwegian and Swedish foreign ministers sign an agreement for Sweden to take control of the Narvik area. | Daytime | German bombers bomb Paris. | Daytime | German forces in France move south toward Paris. | | |
June 4, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and cruiser Hipper set out from Kiel to attack Allied forces. | Evening | British Prime Minister Churchill makes his "We shall fight on the beaches..." speech to Parliament. | | |
June 5, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | German forces begin their attack on the French army at the Somme. | Evening | French General Beaufrère surrenders the remaining French troops defending Dunkirk. | Night | German forces begin night reconnaissance over Britain. | | |
June 6, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | British Prime Minister Churchill proposes the development of a parachute troop corps with 5000 men. | | |
June 7, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | The Norwegian government flees to England. | Daytime | German troops capture the Norwegian city of Narvik from the Allies. | Daytime | The Norwegian government ceases hostilities with Germany. | | |
June 8, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | French troops evacuate the Somme region. | Daytime | The French town of Rouen falls to German forces. | Evening | The last British and French forces leave Norway. | | |
June 9, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | Norway falls to the Germans. King Haakon flees to London, England. | | |
June 10, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | Norway officially surrenders to the Germans. | Daytime | The French government leaves Paris for Tours. | Daytime | Italy declares war on England and France. | | |
June 11, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | The French city of Reims falls to German forces. | Daytime | Italian aircraft attack French bases in Africa. | Daytime | Churchill flies to France where he meets with the French Supreme War Council in Briare. | Daytime | The French demand Britain send more fighters to France. Dowding refuses saying that victory will come over the skies of Britain. | Daytime | Churchill obtained promises from French Navy Admiral Darlan that the Navy would not fall into German hands. | Daytime | Paris, France, is declared an open city. | Night | From bases in the Channel Island, 32 R.A.F. Whitely bombers attack the Italian city of Turin and bomb the Fiat factories. | | |
June 12, 1940
June 13, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | U.S. President Roosevelt signs $1.3 billion defense spending bill. | Daytime | French Premier Paul Reynaud publicly broadcasts an appeal for American intervention. | Daytime | Spain's Generalissimo Franco changes Spain's status from neutral to nonbelligerent. | | |
June 14, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | German troops enter Paris. General von Studnitz leads the 87th Infantry Division in a victory march through the city. | Morning | In Brest, France, British General Brooke orders Canadian forces to withdraw from France. | Daytime | Spain sends a 3,000-man force to occupy the former international city of Tangier, a port of Morocco. | | |
June 15, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | In convoy HX-48, German submarine U-38 torpedoes and sinks Canadian merchant ship Erik Boye near Land's End. | Daytime | The Maginot Line is attacked and broken at Saarbrucken and Colmar | | |
June 16, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | French Premier Reynaud, whose government was in exile, resigns. | Daytime | British battleship Revenge arrives in Halifax, Canada, with 40 million Pounds Sterling in gold, for safekeeping. | Daytime | Germany forms its first specialized night-fighter plane unit. | Daytime | Marshal Henri Pétain takes over the government of France. | | |
June 17, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | France requests an armistice with Germany. | Evening | Churchill decides de Gaulle should be recognized as speaking for France, not Marshal Pétain. | Night | British Bomber Command launches 138 aircraft on Germany, primarily on oil targets. Only one plane does not return. | | |
June 18, 1940
Time | Event | Morning | In Canada, Prime Minister Mackenzie King introduces the National Resources Mobilization Act in the House of Commons. | Morning | Germany threatens action if Swedish railways don't permit transport of German troops and supplies to Norway. | Daytime | Sweden receives notice from Britain indicating that Britain might have to make peace with Germany. | Daytime | Churchill speaks to Parliament: “What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin.” | Daytime | French General de Gaulle becomes the leader of "Free France". He refuses to acknowledge Vichy France as a government. | Daytime | Russian forces invade the Baltic States. | Evening | The Swedish government agrees to allow German troops to pass from Sweden to Norway, via Swedish railways. | Evening | General de Gaulle broadcasts on BBC radio, appealing to French soldiers to join him and fight on for France. | Night | RAF bombers attack Bremen and Hamburg. | | |
June 19, 1940
Time | Event | Night | 30 British Blenheim bombers raid German airfields at Rouen and Amiens. All aircraft return. | | |
June 20, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | Italy launches an offensive on the Alpine front in the south of France. | Daytime | The British Air Ministry sends a directive to Bomber Command, instructing it to focus attacks on German aircraft. | Night | 47 British Blenheim bombers raid German airfields at Rouen and Schipol. All aircraft return. | | |
June 21, 1940
June 22, 1940
Time | Event | Daytime | France formally surrenders to Germany. | Evening | England, with 25 squadrons of fighters against a much larger Luftwaffe, now stands completely alone against Nazism. | | |
Equipment
| Germany | France | UK | Belgian | Dutch | Total Allies | Total Divisions : | 136 | 104 | 15 | 22 | 11 | 152 | Total 1st Class Divisions : | 76 | 69 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 93 | Total 2nd Class Divisions : | 26 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 7 | 30 | Motorized Infantry Divisions : | 7 | | 10 | | | | Tank Divisions : | 10 | | | | | | Airborne Divisions : | 1 | | | | | | All Tanks : | 2438 | 3254 | 640 | 270 | 40 | 4204 | Artillery Pieces : | 7378 | 10700 | 1280 | 1338 | 656 | 13974 | Combat Aircraft : | 3369 | 3562 | 1246 | 102 | 71 | 4981 |
Note: The Allies out-numbered the Germans in light and medium tanks by a ratio of about 2:1, although the German light tanks were considered superior to the Allies, while the Allied medium tanks were considered superior to the Germans. Germany possessed no heavy tanks at this time, while the Allies had several hundred.
Casualties
Nation | Prisoners | Wounded | Killed | Germany | 0 | 111,034 | 27,074 | Italy | 0 | | | France | 1,900,000 | 200,000 | 92,000 | England | | 68,000 | | Holland | | 6,889 | 2890 | Belgium | | 23,350 |
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