1940 Le Luftwaffe attaque la Belgique

May 15, 1940. French newsreel.Translation par mon ami, Olivenstein. 11 May, morning in Belgium. The civilian population already counts victims under unrelentling bombs from the sky. 12 May, over another Belgian town, German aviation hounds fiercely. The WAR that the German has just begun demonstrates the character of a pitiless war of extermination at the same time as a veritable war of outlaws, where the most odious tactics, the most appalling means of terror & oppression, the most dishonourable treacherousness--like those drops of paratroops cloaked in Allied uniforms--are ALL PUT INTO ACTION in a major, essential way to what accounts as [their] supreme [war] effort. Unchained in its work of savage excuseless death, German aviation has suffered, thanks to the Allies, considerable losses. Mr. Frossard, minister of Information could formally state on the evening of 13 May that more than 400 enemy aircraft were destroyed. 50 by the DCA (Defense contre avions: anti-aircraft), 50 shot the pieces at airfields, the rest shot down by fighters. Our own losses are, as Mr. Frossard established, minimal. To its credit, one of our fighter groups has shot down 39 enemy aircraft: SIXTEEN just on Friday 10 May, EIGHT on Saturday, FIFTEEN on Sunday in dogfights one in which one of ours was against thirteen and the last of which were two vs twenty! One the most beautiful pages from the glorious history of our "wings"--ten citations "a l'Ordre de l'Armee". General Gamelin, Commander in Chief, has addressed to his troops on the morning of 10 May in the mention of dispatchs which states, "Germany against France has got into a death struggle. The watchwords for France and all her allies are: Courage, Energy, Confidence."
"Each Frenchman must know he is under a solemn oath to VANQUISH [the Enemy]" Paul Reynaud [PM]

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Luftwaffe
• Belgium
• 1940
• Invasion
• Battle
• France
• Low
• Countries
• Namur
• Brussells
• Bruxelle
• Heinkel
• Junkers
• Bombers

[NishHammer]

the cameraman captured a UFO at 2:07

[ArchivesRadio]

Merci pour ce document!

[olivenstein]

Slight mistake in translation: "shot TO pieces" or "ripped to pieces on the ground", if you will.