Chronology of the western campaign in 1940

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This calendar overview represents a chronology of the western campaign in 1940. It is not an independent representation, but serves primarily to find Wikipedia articles on a date or event or its assignment to a period.

prehistory

→ See main article: Prehistory of the Second World War in Europe

1939

Europe after the invasion of Poland (October 1939)
French soldiers during the Saar offensive south of Saarbrücken (September 1939)
British and French soldiers in front of a shed called "Downing Street No. 10 " (November 1939)
  • September 9: After mobilization is complete , the French army can deploy 108 divisions and 2,700 tanks , including the fortress troops of the Maginot Line . The Wehrmacht has only 23 operational divisions on the German western border . Hitler avoids the risk of a two-front war and orders: “In the West it is important to clearly leave the responsibility for opening hostilities to England and France. Minor border violations must initially be countered purely locally. The German western border cannot be crossed at any point without my express permission. "
  • September 21: The French Chief of Staff Maurice Gamelin breaks off the Saar offensive. He pulls his units back to their starting positions behind the heavily fortified Maginot Line and its northern continuations in the Ardennes . In overestimating the combat strength of the Wehrmacht and, above all, of the German Air Force, the French military doctrine remains strictly defensive and does not envisage an offensive until 1941. First of all, the war economy of the German Reich, which is poor in natural resources , is to be weakened by sea ​​blockades . At the same time the technical armament of France with tanks and airplanes is to be pushed. Thus, there is no effective military relief for Poland.
  • October 6: After the surrender of the Polish armed forces, Hitler gives a "peace speech" in front of the Reichstag . He advocates a peace conference, free trade, the restoration of German colonies and arms restrictions to the Western powers . Despite his public declarations of peace, Hitler had the main part of the Wehrmacht relocated to the deployment rooms along the western border. On the western front, the passive phase of the seated war ( La Drôle de Guerre, Phoney War ) begins , which takes the form of a reciprocal propaganda battle.
  • October 19: The OKH 's plan of operations for the invasion of France is based on the Schlieffen Plan , which failed in World War I , and provides for a massive advance by the right wing through Flanders and the Netherlands ( yellow case ). Due to the bad weather and the cold winter, Hitler postponed the attack a total of 29 times.
  • November 14: The French and Belgian general staff agree on a common defense strategy ( Dijle plan ) in the event of a German offensive .

1940

Graphic representation of the sickle cut plan
Map of the French Maginot Line
Briefing of the situation between Keitel, von Brauchitsch, Hitler and Halder (from left to right)
  • January 6: Chief of Staff Gamelin appoints General Alphonse Georges as Commander in Chief of the Northeast Front and separates the two staffs . This decentralized division has a negative effect on the French command structure.
  • January 10th: Due to the emergency landing of a German courier aircraft in Belgium, illegally carried secret documents of the planned German western offensive reach the authorities there ( Mechelen incident ).
  • January 13: Alarmed by the Mechelen incident and in anticipation of a German offensive, the mobilization of the Belgian army begins . King Leopold III. takes over the military command.
  • January 16: After the Mechelen incident, Hitler postpones the date of the attack the following day.
  • February 17: Lieutenant General Erich von Manstein , former chief of staff of Army Group A , presents Hitler with an alternative offensive operation for the campaign in the west. Accordingly, the focus of the German attack should not be in the north, but further south in the central section of the front ( “Plan Sedan” ). He proposes occupying the Netherlands and thereby seducing the enemy into setting his strong units on the march north. The own motorized units, on the other hand, are to be grouped together and surprise the Western powers with a thrust through the forest mountains of the Ardennes . Then they should quickly reach the canal coast in the rear of the enemy and cut it off from their starting point. The traditionally thinking OKH expressed strong doubts about a successful advance through the Ardennes and initially rejected Manstein's plans as too "adventurous" due to open flanks and logistical concerns .
  • February 24th: Despite the risks associated with the “Plan Sedan” , Hitler accepts Manstein's proposal and orders the OKH to change the case of Gelb accordingly. The preparation of the operational plans will be completed by March 7th in the greatest secrecy .
  • March 18: Meeting between Hitler and Benito Mussolini at the Brenner Pass . The Italian dictator declares that his country will enter the war at an “opportune time” .
  • 19. – 21. March: Change of government in France. Because of his reluctance during the Soviet-Finnish Winter War is Prime Minister Edouard Daladier overthrown. He will be replaced by the previous finance minister, Paul Reynaud , who is considered a “symbol of life and death war” and an opponent of the appeasement policy of his predecessor. Reynaud only received a majority of one vote in the Chamber of Deputies and left Daladier as Minister of War in his cabinet. In the weeks that followed, Daladier asserted himself several times against Reynaud, who tried in vain to get the Chief of Staff Gamelin removed.
  • March 28: Representatives of Great Britain and France sign a joint declaration at a meeting of the Supreme Allied War Council in London . This excludes a separate peace or armistice with the German Reich without mutual agreement.
  • April 30th: By order of Hitler, the Wehrmacht is put on alert on the Western Front. The 141 German divisions are divided into three army groups and are now facing 144 divisions on the Allied side.
  • May 9th: To lead the campaign in the west, Hitler went to the Fiihrer's headquarters in Felsennest in Rodert / Bad Münstereifel and gave the Wehrmacht the order to attack in the case of Gelb ( "Soldiers of the Western Front! This is the hour of the most decisive struggle for the German nation The struggle that begins today will decide the fate of the German nation for the next thousand years ” ).

Fall yellow

→ See main article: Attack on the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and Battle of the Netherlands
→ See main article: Schematic war organization of the Wehrmacht on May 10, 1940

Landing of German Paratroopers near The Hague (May 10, 1940)
Panzer II (front) and Panzer I of the Wehrmacht during the western campaign
Units of the 1st Panzer Division cross the Maas near Floing on a pontoon bridge
  • May 12: During the attack by Army Group B in the north, the motorized units of Panzer Group Kleist (Army Group A) crossed the heavily forested Ardennes, which were considered impassable. Largely unnoticed by the Western powers, up to 40,000 German military vehicles are temporarily jammed on the impassable mountain roads .
    • The Belgian army blows up numerous Maas bridges.
    • The exiled former Kaiser Wilhelm II refuses a request from the Dutch government to leave Haus Doorn .
The destroyed old town of Rotterdam
General Guderian in a Sd.Kfz armored personnel carrier. 251 , front radio operator with Enigma encryption device and mobile radio station of the mobile land radio service (May 1940)
  • May 14th: In an attempt to break the resistance of Fortress Holland and to conclude the ongoing ceasefire negotiations, Kampfgeschwader 54 of Luftflotte 2 (Gen. Albert Kesselring ) is dispatched to an attack on Rotterdam . The Dutch defenders then offer to surrender, but 60 bombers cannot be recalled in time and bomb the city center . The old town of Rotterdam is completely destroyed and 814 civilians lose their lives.
  • May 15: In Rijsoord , Colonel General von Küchler receives the formal surrender of the Dutch armed forces, signed by General Henri Winkelman . The surrender will be announced on the radio at 8:30 p.m.
    • Delayed counter-attacks by the French 2nd Army (Gen. Charles Huntziger ) near the small Ardennes village of Stonne fail. Despite heavy fighting, the German bridgehead cannot be eliminated. Rather, the Kleist tank group breaks out and pushes into the depths at high speed. The surprised French are not prepared for the tactical-operational concept of a war of movement . Numerous regiments panicked, retreated quickly and tore a gap 80 kilometers wide in the front. In particular, due to the unpredictability and the unauthorized actions of their commanders Erwin Rommel ( 7th Panzer Division ) and Heinz Guderian, the sickle-cut plan gains its own momentum ( leadership from the front ).
    • The news of the Sedan breakthrough shocked the French public, who had previously believed that the Maginot Line was insurmountable. In view of the military crisis, Prime Minister Reynaud said to Churchill during a phone call: “We have been defeated ... The front has been broken at Sedan. The Germans are streaming through in large numbers with tanks and armored cars. "
  • May 16: As a reaction to the breakthrough at the front in the Ardennes, General Billotte orders Army Group 1 (1st and 7th Army, BEF) under his command to retreat from the Dijle to the Scheldt . The increasing panic of war and millions of internally displaced civilians pouring south from Belgium and northern France are partially dissolving public order. The road network overcrowded with refugees hampers the mobility of the Allied forces considerably, constant air strikes by German Stukas are terrorizing the military and the civilian population.
    • The Belgian government is moving from Brussels to Ostend .
    • Churchill flies to Paris for a briefing. During a meeting at the Foreign Ministry, he was stunned to learn that the French army had no strategic reserve for a counterattack.
  • May 17: For the first time, Hitler personally intervenes in the campaign and stops the advance of Army Group A. He would like the slowly advancing infantry to catch up with the advancing tanks in order to ensure adequate flank protection. The fast advancing Guderian ignores the orders of his superior Ewald von Kleist and leaves his flanks open. Thereupon he was briefly relieved of his command, but reinstated by Kleist's superior Gerd von Rundstedt. Now it is advancing further along the Somme towards the English Channel.
Card case yellow
  • May 20: Just ten days after the campaign began, the Kleist tank group reached the Somme Bay and the English Channel near Abbeville .
  • May 21: Franco-British counter-attacks under Major General Harold Franklyn in the Arras area are supposed to cut the lines of communication between the German 7th Panzer Division ( Battle of Arras ). After initial successes, the attacks put Rommel's division under pressure, but they can be repulsed.
Rescuing British soldiers on Dunkirk beach
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
  • May 23: On the way back to his headquarters, General Billotte is critically injured in a traffic accident and dies two days later. Thereupon General Georges Blanchard , previous commander of the French 1st Army , takes over command of the Allied Army Group 1.
  • May 24th: Since Colonel General von Rundstedt seemed too fast to attack and he shied away from combat in the difficult coastal area, he had the armored units of Army Group A halt while the OKH wanted to advance immediately to Dunkirk, only 18 kilometers away . Finally, Hitler, who wanted to spare the battered armored troops, made an operational decision and withdrew the OKH's power of disposal over the armored divisions and, in agreement with Rundstedt, had the attack on the La-Bassée-Canal stopped ( “stop order” ). After the events of Arras, Hitler wants the infantry to move in to ensure adequate flank protection.
    • Army Group B, as the north wing of the German attack wedge, breaks through the Allied defensive position on the Scheldt near Ghent , Oudenaarde and Lille . However, Hitler's order to stop allows the encircled British Expeditionary Corps and the French 1st Army to retreat to the coast in Dunkirk . The troops are to be evacuated by sea via the only port still accessible to them . To cover the rescue operation, they set up a deeply staggered defense ring around the city.
  • May 26th: After a four-day siege , the 10th Panzer Division occupies the port city of Calais. 20,000 Allied soldiers are taken prisoner of war.
    • When Hitler realizes that the British troops are starting to evacuate in Dunkirk, he cancels his “hold order” of May 24 after 49 hours.
  • May 26th - June 4th: Battle of Dunkirk . After Hitler's order to halt, the attack on the Allied defense ring begins. Operation Dynamo started during the fighting . The Royal Navy but also civilian ships and boats can embark a total of 338,226 soldiers (224,000 of them British) from Dunkirk and the surrounding beaches to Great Britain by June 4th. Extensive military equipment such as 65,000 transport vehicles, 20,000 motorcycles, 2,400 artillery pieces , 445 tanks and 147,000 tons of fuel have to be left behind. Large parts of the French armed forces evacuated to Dover are returning to their homeland after the stopover.
    • During the aerial battles in the Dunkirk area, the German Air Force lost 132 aircraft of all types and the British RAF 106 fighter aircraft .
  • May 28: After heavy attacks by the 6th Army, King Leopold III. the unconditional surrender of Belgium. The Belgian army (22 divisions) trapped in the Dunkirk pocket ceases fighting at 4 a.m., opening a 32-kilometer-wide breach on the left flank. This can be closed after fierce fighting by British units at Nieuwpoort .
    • In view of the military situation, Foreign Ministers Lord Halifax and Neville Chamberlain plead in the British War Cabinet to start negotiations with the German Reich and to conclude a separate peace. Churchill, however, does not believe in acceptable conditions for Great Britain and wants to continue the war. After all, he can assert himself within the government.
    • The French 4th Panzer Division under Charles de Gaulle forces the Wehrmacht to withdraw temporarily on the Aisne .
    • During the Wormhout massacre , soldiers of the Leibstandarte SS , commanded by Sepp Dietrich , murdered 80 and 97 Allied prisoners of war, respectively.
  • May 31: After a four-day siege of the city of Lille , the remaining troops of the French 1st Army capitulate and 35,000 soldiers are taken prisoner by Germany (including General Gustave Mesny ). During the fighting, parts of the Allied troops were able to cross the Leie into the besieged Dunkirk.
  • June 3: At least 700 Luftwaffe aircraft carried out heavy attacks on airfields and aircraft engine plants in the Paris area ( Operation Paula ). 200 people lose their lives.

Fall red

German advance during the Rot Fall (June 13-25, 1940)
A destroyed Renault Char B1 in Beaumont, Belgium .
Left to right: General Weygand , Paul Baudouin , Paul Reynaud , Marshal Pétain
German soldiers in front of the Arc de Triomphe (June 1940)
Hitler (center) with entourage in the clearing of Rethondes (June 21, 1940)
General Huntziger signs the armistice
Italian invasion of France (June 21-24, 1940)
France after the armistice
  • June 5: The fall of Rot marks the beginning of the second phase of the western campaign. Accompanied by violent Stuka attacks, the Wehrmacht goes on the offensive again from 05:00 on the Somme and Aisne. Army Group B is to advance between Reims and the Channel coast in the direction of Paris, Army Group A from the Sedan area is to roll up the southern wing of the Allied front towards Switzerland .
    • The German superiority of 119 divisions is now facing only 65 French and one British, who have to defend a front 540 kilometers in length. In order to repel the attack on the heartland, Weygand hastily built an improvised defensive position south of the Somme, Ailette and Aisne rivers, weakening Army Group 2 on the Maginot Line ( Weygand Line ). With this tactic he moves away from the previous linear combat and organizes a staggered defense in depth.
  • 10-13 June: In Operation Cycle, 11,000 Allied soldiers (mainly British) are evacuated from Le Havre .
  • June 13: During the last meeting of the Allied Supreme War Council in Tours, Churchill appeals to France's loyalty to the alliance and calls for stiff resistance. The French are supposed to retreat to the "fortress of Brittany " and appeal to the United States for help. Churchill rejects the relocation of the Royal Air Force to the continent, which is demanded in return, with reference to the necessity of his own national defense.
    • In a briefing, Weygand explains that the army is no longer capable of military operations, and that a retreat to Brittany is impossible. He calls on the government to put an end to the destruction of the French army and to ask the German Reich to announce the terms of the armistice. As a result, two camps are formed within the French cabinet: Prime Minister Reynaud, Interior Minister Mandel and de Gaulle want to continue the resistance at all costs, if necessary from within the colonial empire . Other ministers around Marshal Pétain are calling for immediate negotiations on a ceasefire.
    • After negotiations between the military governor Henri Fernand Dentz, who was only appointed on June 5, and parliamentarians of the Wehrmacht, the troops of the French 7th Army evacuate Paris. The capital is declared an open city .
  • June 16: Churchill makes the French government an offer to form a state union immediately . This is to give them the opportunity to move to North Africa and continue the resistance against the Axis powers . However, the majority of French ministers believe that Great Britain will face an imminent military defeat and that further fighting is hopeless, which is why the proposal is not approved. Since Prime Minister Reynaud receives little support in the cabinet, he is stepping down from office. In the evening, President Albert Lebrun charged 84-year-old Philippe Pétain with forming a new government.
  • June 17: At 00:30, France's new Prime Minister Philippe Pétain asks the German Reich to announce the terms of the armistice. At noon, Pétain informs the population of this step in a radio address. As a result, parts of the French army believe that the fighting will stop immediately and that numerous regiments are disbanded or taken prisoner. It is now impossible for the French high command to build up a new unified defensive front.
    • After the note from the French government arrived at the German headquarters, Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel ( head of the OKW ) describes Hitler as "the greatest general of all time."
    • The newly established Guderian Panzer Group reached the Swiss border in a large operational movement near Pontarlier .
    • After Rommel's 7th Panzer Division had advanced 150 miles, it was able to occupy Cherbourg the following day.
    • Wilhelm II, sends a congratulatory telegram to Hitler “under the profound impression of France's extension of arms” .
  • June 19: Hitler declares his readiness to announce the conditions for the initiation of armistice negotiations. A prerequisite is that the French government contacts Italy in the same way.
    • At Belfort , parts of Army Group A advancing from the north unite with Army Group C advancing west. This encircles three French armies and parts of the Maginot Line (approx. 400,000 soldiers) in the "Trap of Lorraine" between Metz and Besançon . Lyon is occupied further south .
    • Army Group B conquered Le Mans and Brest . German associations reach the lower reaches of the Loire .
  • June 25: At 1:35 a.m., the ceasefire agreements come into force and the fighting ceases.
    • Hitler proclaims a proclamation "at the end of the war in the West" and orders a ten-day flag for the Reich territory.

After the campaign

Europe after the Weser Exercise Company and the Western Campaign (June 1940)
Hitler (center) with Albert Speer (left) and Arno Breker (right) in front of the Eiffel Tower (June 23, 1940)
  • June 28: De Gaulle founds the Forces françaises libres (Armed Forces for a Free France) in London and is recognized by the British government as the leader of the Free French .
  • July 1: The French government moves its seat from Bordeaux to the unoccupied zone in Vichy . The health resort, located near the demarcation line, has good road and rail connections and a modern telephone switchboard. The numerous hotels offer the ministries, authorities and embassies sufficient accommodation options.
  • July 3: In order to prevent extradition to the German Reich, the British government finally demands the surrender or demobilization of the French fleet that called at the naval port of Mers-el-Kébir . After the ultimatum expires, the Royal Navy Force H bombs this fleet ( Operation Catapult ), killing 1,297 French navy members. At the same time, all French warships in British ports are captured and confiscated ( Operation Grasp ). In response, Pétain breaks off diplomatic relations with Great Britain on July 5th.
  • July 10: In the wake of the catastrophic military defeat ( "Le Dêbacle" ), the National Assembly, at Pierre Laval's instigation, authorizes Pétain with 569 to 80 votes to draw up a constitution for the État français that guarantees the rights of work, family and fatherland . That is the de facto end of the Third Republic and the beginning of the authoritarian État français ( Vichy regime ). This strives for a policy of collaboration with the German Reich ( see: Collaboration in France )
  • JULY 19: On the occasion of the victory over France, Hitler appointed at the Berlin Kroll Opera nine army generals (Keitel, von Bock, von Brauchitsch, von Kluge, List, von Leeb, von Reichenau, von Rundstedt, von Witzleben) and three of the Air Force ( Milch, Kesselring, Sperrle) to field marshals . Hermann Göring receives the superior rank of Reichsmarschall .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Larres: Churchill's Cold War. The Politics of Personal Diplomacy. New Haven 2002, p. 31 f.
  2. ^ Raymond Cartier: The Second World War. Volume 1. Lingen Verlag, 1967, p. 66.
  3. ↑ The German Reich and the Second World War . Volume 2. Stuttgart 1979, p. 272.
  4. ^ Robin Holmes: The Battle of the Heligoland Bight, 1939: The Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe's Baptism of Fire. Grub Street, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-906502-56-0 .
  5. ^ Raymond Cartier: The Second World War. Volume 1. Lingen Verlag, 1967, p. 66ff.
  6. ↑ John Keegan. The Times Atlas of the Second World War. London: The Times. pp. 16-17. | access-date = requires | url = (help)
  7. ^ Raymond Cartier: The Second World War. Volume 1. Lingen Verlag, 1967, p. 89.
  8. ↑ Medard Ritzenhofen: A spark - not a flame of resistance. De Gaulle's appeal of June 18, 1940 and its effects. Ingo Kolboom: Nation and Europe. Charles de Gaulle - as a symbol for a misunderstanding. Ernst Weisenfeld: Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals. A magic formula - a vision - a policy. Pierre Maillard: Germany with France - an "unfinished dream". In: Documents / Documents. Journal for the Franco-German Dialogue (PDF; 15.63 MB).
  9. ↑ Peter Taghon: Vinkt, Meigem et Deinze. Quand les légends deviennent des vérités. In: Frances Balace (ed.), Jours de Guerre. Volume V. Brussels 1995, pp. 19-35.
  10. ↑ Joachim Scholtyseck : The Blitzkrieg against France - Return to the “normal” war? In: Manuel Becker (ed.): The military resistance against Hitler in the light of new controversies. Lit, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-8258-1768-8 , pp. 51-80, here p. 68; William T. Allbritton / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr: SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. 68 CVs. Primus, 2nd edition, Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-89678-727-9 , pp. 308-315, here p. 310.
  11. ↑ Le bombardement de Paris le 3 juin 1940 , Radio France International, January 16, 2010 (French)
  12. ↑ Werner Girbig: On the approach to the Reich capital. Documentation of the bombing raids on Berlin . Stuttgart 2001, pp. 19-21.
  13. ↑ According to Laurenz Demps ( air raids on Berlin , 2nd edition 2014, p. 237) there was no air raid
  14. ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser: Blitzkrieg legend. The West Campaign 1940. 3rd edition Oldenbourg, Munich 2005, p. 377, ISBN 3-486-57824-3 .
  15. ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser: Blitzkrieg legend. The western campaign in 1940 (= operations of the Second World War. Volume 2). 3. Edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-486-56124-3 .
  16. ↑ Götz Aly: Hitler's People's State. Robbery, Race War and National Socialism. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 170.