1940 The British and French move into Belgium

May 15, 1940. British Newsreel. Germany initiated Fall Gelb on the evening prior to and the night of 10 May. During the late evening of 9 May, German forces occupied Luxembourg.In the night Army Group B launched its feint offensive into the Netherlands and Belgium. Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) from the 7th Flieger and 22. Luftlande Infanterie-Division under Kurt Student executed that morning surprise landings at The Hague, on the road to Rotterdam and against the Belgian Fort Eben-Emael in order to facilitate Army Group B's advance.The French command reacted immediately, sending 1st Army Group north in accordance with Plan D. This move committed their best forces, diminished their fighting power through loss of readiness and their mobility through loss of fuel. That evening 7th Army crossed the Dutch border, finding the Dutch already in full retreat. The French and British air command was less effective than their generals had anticipated, and the Luftwaffe quickly obtained air superiority, depriving the Allies of key reconnaissance abilities and disrupting Allied communication and coordination.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Battle
• France
• Belgium
• Holland
• Plan
• BEF
• French
• British
• Army
• Brussels
• 1940

[olivenstein]

Outstanding! Splendid Allied materiel. On the sadder note of the Belgian and Northern French refugees, What strikes me each time watching May 1940 "La Debacle" segments is how many of them appear to be well-dressed everyday middle-class families. Maudits prussiens !

[skoblinI]

The French newsreels are starting next...more refugees...more tragedie...

[Perversus666]

yankobutt you're wrong : the french and british COMMAND was a joke in 1940, not the troops nore the material.

[Armydicked]

It is painful to watch these fine british and French troops rushing forward to their doom!!! Did you know in the FRENCH wargames of 1938, the French Commanders PROVED an attack through Belgium was possible---the move was disallowed!!! It was the same in 1913. Generalisimo Michel predicted the German attack through Belgium and had planned to stop it cold. But because he went up against the School of Attack officers, he lost his job to "FAT-FUCKER' JOFRE and the French were caught flat footed!!!

[scarff94]

These old newsreels are so class.

[Camerameister]

@tannalv Hate to break the bad news to you but the Americans didn't save Europe.

80% of German casualties were on the Eastern Front. The Wehrmacht would have eventually been bled white, even if Overlord had never happened. Take the great American victories of the Ardennes and compare them with Kursk. Kursk was much bigger. Operation Bagration made the Normandy campaign look puny.

[Microglia1]

@Holowachuk No borders=greatest mistake ever.

[Microglia1]

I wonder how these people reacted they heard that France had fallen.

[Holowachuk]

70 years later, there are no boarders left... who would have thought that?

[Kamfrenchie]

@tannalv

ddon't forget USSR

[tannalv]

It's funny to watch this as just a couple of weeks later all of Europe (apart from England) was under the heel of the nazi forces. And if it wasn't for the Americans saving Europe it would still be there.

[iroscoe]

@aribenzane Your right the perfidous nature of the Belgian government was a major factor in the fiasco of 1940,first "were with you" on second thought "no actually were neutral" then "help us the Germans are attacking" and finally "thanks for coming all this way to fight but we are surrendering" . At least the Dutch were consistent (although obviously mistaken) in clinging to their neutrality .

[vicenzo77]

@sambot111 Lors du débarquement de 1944? 0_o que c'est t-il passé en 1943? Stalingrad? c'est une victoire allemande? un front russe après le Jours J? Mais qu'est que tu me raconte là?lol C'est a pensé si TOI tu as déjà ouvert un livre d'histoire... Le pacte germano soviétique à été rompu le 22 juin 1941 (début de l'invasion de l'URSS par les nazis), 1944 c'est après 1941 a croire que tu n'a pas la notion du temps... Incroyable ton com lol