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Post by Pumba on May 29, 2012 15:03:52 GMT 8
May 11, 1940 German troops have captured city of Maastricht. 1 Dutch man: "They're very orderly- queuing politely to buy chocolate."  -------------------------- Royal Marines have landed in Iceland, to "protect it from a pro-German coup". The island is now under British occupation. ------------------------ At clifftop command post Felsennest, Hitler just told that Allies are moving into Belgium- falling into German trap. "I could weep for joy!" ----------------------- Germans invading Low Countries are just a feint. Main Wehrmacht force secretly advancing through Ardennes Forest, to trap Allies from rear. ----------------------- After a meeting with King George, Winston Churchill has been announced as Britain's new Prime Minister.  ------------------------ Belgium's roads are clogged with refugees, fleeing westward via cart, bicycle or foot to escape advancing Germans.  ------------------------- Not all Belgians take war seriously. Mayor of Bouillon won't quarter troops in hotels: "This is a resort town! Hotels reserved for tourists" ------------------------- William Shirer, US journalist: "Great headlines today in Berlin papers over 'shameful' protests of the Low Countries against being invaded." ------------------------ Belgians in Eben Emael fort surrendering- been trapped since yesterday, when these commandos landed on roof via glider:  ---------------------- Wilhelm von Preußen, ex-Kaiser of Germany living in exile in Holland, has refused Churchill's offer of sanctuary in UK. --------------------- Today's Manchester Guardian: new Prime Minister "takes office with greater goodwill than any of our modern history." www.guardian.co.uk/world/1940/may/11/secondworldwar.past |
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Post by Pumba on May 29, 2012 15:14:46 GMT 8
May 12, 1940 UK shopgirl Eileen Hunt's wedding is today; but her fiancé is in RAF. "Policeman told me I'm not getting married: all leave is cancelled!" -------------------- Eileen: "But Hitler wasn't going to stop our wedding!" Her fiancé is being smuggled to London for wedding. Read more: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/14/a4056914.shtml---------------------- Rumours of Nazi parachutists causing panic: Allied airmen are held at pitchfork-point by suspicious peasants & strangers being shot as spies --------------------- Dirk van der Heide (12), in Rotterdam: "Soldiers with steel helmets patrol our little street. I wore a kettle on my head to protect me too." ------------------- Dirk: "The worst air-raid of all just came- ½ our street is gone. Now a smell like burnt meat & funny yellow light from incendiary bombs." ------------------------ French Capt. René Gavoille just returned from spy flight over Ardennes; superiors dismiss his report of huge tank columns: "night phantoms" ------------------------ Panzer Group Kliest- spotted by Gavoille- trying to take 41,140 vehicles over 4 forest roads- biggest traffic jam ever.  ------------------------- Germans have not yet broken into "Fortress Holland"; German general: "Dutch fight well for a nation who've not been to war in 100 years." ------------------------ Dutch Crown Princess Juliana & her young daughters Irene & Beatrice have boarded a warship for evacuation to Britain.  ------------------------ French Gen. Gamelin, in his headquarters at Vincennes (which doesn't even have a radio) admits he "has no idea" what's going on at the front ----------------------- British Expeditionary Force has now taken up position in Belgium, ready to face off against the Wehrmacht. www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r_yyV7X4jEs------------------------ Capt. Gavoille returns from 2nd flight over Ardennes, plane torn by flak. He has photos of German panzers; superiors: "obvious fake tanks" |
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Post by Pumba on May 29, 2012 15:18:12 GMT 8
May 13, 1940
Every adult male German & Austrian national living in southern Britain is being interned, out of fear of Nazi saboteurs posing as refugees.
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Luftwaffe terror bombing Low Countries; Dirk van der Heide (12), Rotterdam: "Mother is dead; killed by bombs. I don't want the war anymore."
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Heinz Guderian has become 1st German general to cross the Belgian border into France. His men have nicknamed him "Hurrying Heinz".
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Reinforced by tanks, Germans have broken into "Fortress Holland", joining up with their paratroopers on Dutch airfields
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German troops in dinghys are crossing river Meuse into France- stopping for photos with a sign saying "Joy-riding in canoes is forbidden".
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1000 Luftwaffe planes bombing French troops at Sedan; 1 soldier: "Extraordinary shrieking & rain of bombs! Where the hell are our planes?"
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Capt. Gavoille, desperate to photograph German tanks in the Ardennes, has pushed his luck too far- his plane has been shot down (he escaped)
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Gavoille's photos too late: Panzer Group Kleist is smashing from Ardennes, into French at Sedan. If it falls, nothing between Germans & sea.
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German soldier Gunther Rall, with Panzer Group Kleist: "We have hardly seen a French soldier. This is not an invasion, it is a march!"
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French troops at Sedan have suffered 5 hours of Stuka dive-bombing; commander, Gen. Ruby: "It has shattered their nerve. They cannot react."
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French troops at Sedan starting to surrender. Defences smashed & guns overturned by bombing, they're in no shape to repel German infantry.
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Post by Pumba on May 29, 2012 15:33:04 GMT 8
May 14, 1940 French General Huntzinger, just told Germans have taken Sedan, & are flooding across the Meuse: "That will just mean we take more prisoners" -------------------- With "Fortress Holland" surrounded by Germans, Dutch government & Queen Wilhelmina flee for London by sea. Dutch Army now has full authority -------------------- 10.30PM Last French bunker at Sedan has surrendered. No more defensive lines stand between German armies & rolling fields of northern France ------------------- Winston Churchill now speaking to Parliament: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." Listen in: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVg7rnRheK8&feature=youtube_gdata_player---------------------- On Mother's Day, German magazine Frauen Warte celebrates what the Nazi Party does for women: www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/fw8-22a.htm------------------------ 3AM A view inside French headquarters: "The atmosphere is that of a family where there has been a death. General Georges sobs openly." ----------------------- Dutch Queen Wilhelmina arrived in UK at 4AM this morning & phoned King George, begging for more aircraft. King was sympathetic, but refused. ----------------------- Hitler has issued War Directive #11: "The resistance of the Dutch army is stronger than expected. It must be broken as soon as possible." ----------------------- German advance in Holland has stalemated at Nieuwe Maas River in Rotterdam- Germans can't capture city, Dutch can't force them back. ---------------------- 1PM Rudolf Schmidt, German general at Rotterdam, now delivering surrender ultimatum to Dutch. He's ordered Luftwaffe to bomb if they refuse. ----------------------- Mayor of Rotterdam knows of potential bombing- but thinks military are the target. No civilian evacuation: "It would only cause panic." ------------------------- 1.20PM As German ultimatum is being delivered under a flag of truce, drone of engines from sky: Luftwaffe coming to carpet-bomb Rotterdam. ----------------------- German troops watching from over Nieuwe Maas river as 90 heavy bombers pound Rotterdam- uncontrollable fires spreading:  ----------------------- Dutch man flees a shelter just before bombs hit: "I'll never forget that crazy record run with bombing at my heels." www.dbnl.org/tekst/_low001200101_01/_low001200101_01_0043.php----------------------- Across Rotterdam, windows smash & ground shudders. Black smoke blots out the sun. Jeff Nordermeer (3): "Mother, is it the end of the world?" ----------------------- In less than an hour of bombing, Luftwaffe have levelled centre of Rotterdam. 814 people are dead, 85,000 homeless.  ------------------------- French counter-attacking at Sedan, trying to push Germans back into River Meuse- but advance is tentative. Germans making a fighting retreat ------------------------ News of German breakthrough is reaching Allied troops in Belgium- who now find the Wehrmacht behind them, cutting off their line of retreat. --------------------- French abandoning parts of outflanked Maginot Line. 1 officer: "I wanted to live & die in my fort- but we retreat without firing a shot!" -------------------- Commander of Rotterdam has surrendered to an apologetic General Schmidt: "Luftwaffe didn't know of our negotiations."  |
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Post by Pumba on May 29, 2012 15:54:09 GMT 8
May 15, 1940 David Low cartoon in today's Evening Standard, inspired by Churchill's new coalition Cabinet: "All behind you, Winston"  ------------------ Luftwaffe dropping leaflets on Utrecht: "Capitulate or suffer the fate of Warsaw..." & Rotterdam. Facing devasation, Dutch are surrendering. --------------------- French & British attempts to hold up Germans by bombing bridges over River Meuse have ended disastrously- 60% of Allied planes shot down. ------------------- 1 captured RAF airman told: "You British are mad! You gave us 2 days to ready fighters & flak guns before attacking! Is this 'fair play'?" ----------------------- Surrender of Dutch Army in Holland now being negotiated. Netherlands resisted for 5 days, at cost of 5000+ Dutch lives.  ------------------------ From today's New York Times: "Tide of Nazi Troops Race Across Low Countries". Not shown: German breakthrough at Sedan.  ------------------------ At 7.30AM today, Churchill was woken by a call from Paul Reynaud, French Premier: "We are beaten! A torrent of tanks is pouring through!" -------------------------- Churchill now telling War Cabinet of call: "I doubt the mighty French Army could be beaten so easily, but M. Reynaud seemed near-hysterical" ------------------------- Police stations across Britain flooded with men wanting to join "Local Defence Volunteers"; last night's announcement: www.myoldradio.com/old-radio-episodes/bbc-sec-state-anthony-eden-calls-for-local-defense-volunteers/9----------------------- Volunteers- aged 17-65- rather annoyed there are no weapons & uniforms waiting. Harassed police promise armbands soon.  ---------------------- Belgian refugees flooding into northern France are being joined by fleeing French civilians; watch in this newsreel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vGSaYeNd6Y&feature=player_embedded-------------------------- German troops now driving in to occupy Amsterdam. Members of the (tiny) Dutch Nazi Party are cheering them in:  |
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Post by Pumba on May 29, 2012 16:06:29 GMT 8
May 16, 1940 French 9th Army (meant to be attacking Germans at Sedan) reports: "Communications cut- roads blocked with wrecked convoys- wholesale chaos." ---------------------- French hastily scraping together tanks to hurl at Sedan. They hope to smash German breakthrough before it's too late. ---------------------- General Giraud is infuriated at retreats & surrenders of 9th Army: "Send me some men who won't bolt- I mean who'll die where they stand." ------------------------ Churchill, signing himself "former Naval person", has sent a telegram to President Roosevelt requesting American supplies & diplomatic aid. ----------------------- Churchill's message ends: "Mr. President, the United States' aid may come too late. You could have a completely subjugated, Nazified Europe" ---------------------- Tonight, for 1st time in the war, RAF abandons its ban on non-military targets. Bombers now attacking factories & blast furnaces in the Ruhr --------------------- Speed of Wehrmacht advance scares both French & German command; panzers now ordered to stop advance, to regroup & let infantry catch up. -------------------- 1 panzer division, commanded by a Gen. Rommel, is ignoring orders by charging ahead, relying on speed to shatter Allies  ---------------------- Ida van de Criendt (13) is watching Dutch soldiers surrender to Germans: "Poor boys, absurdly saluting- tears roll down their unlined faces" --------------------- Nazis criticising Churchill's new Cabinet as "undemocratic"- because it has Labour & Liberal members, but Conservatives won last election. -------------------------- Troops of (outflanked) British Expeditionary Force puzzled as they're ordered to retreat from Belgium: "But we're beating the Jerries, sir!" ------------------------ Churchill, now meeting French commander Gamelin, asking: "Where is the strategic reserve?" Gamelin, with a shrug: "Aucune- there is none." ------------------------ Churchill: "In garden of the Quai d'Orsay I see venerable officials burning secret documents. Already evacuation of Paris is being prepared" |
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Post by Pumba on May 29, 2012 16:23:38 GMT 8
May 17, 1940 President has asked U.S. Congress for an unprecedented boost in military spending- over a billion dollars to "ward off enemy aggression". --------------------- From a German magazine- “Churchill & the neutrals: ‘There are still not enough vassal peoples dying for England."  ----------------------- Churchill ordering 10 RAF squadrons to France. Only 22 squadrons (~250 planes) left to defend Britain- less than ½ minimum recommended force --------------------- Hitler ordering Germans in France to halt & regroup; Gen. Jodl: Führer is "nervous & irritable- terrified by success, fearful of collapse." -------------------- Lifeboat Zeemanshoop (Seaman's Hope) has arrived in UK from Holland. Onboard: 46 refugees fleeing Nazis, mostly Jewish.  ----------------------- Occupying General Tiedemann reassures Amsterdam's Mayor: "If the Jews don’t want to see us, we don’t want to see them"  -------------------- German troops now in Brussel's Grand Place (main square); Belgian, French & British armies have abandoned the city.  ----------------------- Colonel Charles de Gaulle- long an advocate of massed tank attacks- just told by a superior: "Cheer up! The Germans have proved you right!" |
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Post by Pumba on May 29, 2012 16:36:59 GMT 8
May 18, 1940 It's Norwegian Constitution Day but celebration (incl. traditional children's parades) banned by Nazi occupiers. Only far north remains free ---------------------- A lone voice broadcasts from Radio Tromsø: poet & resistance fighter Nordahl Grieg reads a verse of national defiance. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVKcar-vOWA------------------------ 250,000 British men have now joined new local defence volunteers- nicknamed "parashots" because they hope to guard against Nazi paratroopers ------------------------- Marshal Pétain (84), WWI hero, has been recalled from his role as ambassador to Spain to bolster French morale.  ------------------------- Pétain- a firm friend to Fascist Generallisimo Franco- believes "France's greatest mistake has been to enter this war." ---------------------------- Paris has been declared "a military zone" & martial law declared. Despite rumours, PM Reynaud declares: "Government will remain in Paris" -------------------------------- German victories are intoxicating. Victor Klemperer, Jewish man in Berlin: "In the market they say Hitler will speak in London by May 26." --------------------------------- Victor: "Hitler is like a boxer who must win the first round; he cannot last two. Will England & France be able to take the punishment?" ---------------------------------- With Germans in Brussels, & Antwerp now threatened, King Leopold & Belgian cabinet have set up improvised HQ in Bruges.  ---------------------------- Brian Horrocks, with retreating BEF: "Shame & exhaustion. Shame as we march by white-faced, silent Belgians, who cheered us only 4 days ago" -------------------------- Brian: "We were so jaunty; now we scurry back like whipped dogs. But the infuriating part is we've not been whipped. It's no fault of ours." |
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Post by Pumba on May 29, 2012 16:41:06 GMT 8
May 19, 1940
Allies, paranoid of disguised paratroops, order captives not in uniform shot. Berlin: "We'll shoot 10 French prisoners for every 1 you kill"
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Nazi invasion has 1 benefit: vastly more German cipher traffic. UK cryptographers at top-secret Bletchley Park get more data to break codes.
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Working by hand, Bletchley Park have now cracked German military code, "Red": "Roars of excitement, people standing on chairs waving papers"
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Wehrmacht has now captured Antwerp. Allies are abandoning Belgium- French worried for France, British preoccupied with possible evacuation.
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Lt. Com. Alex Stanier: "Just arrived in Boulogne; A Frenchman barged in, saying: 'I won't have your soldiers moving over my flowerbeds"
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Mussolini has replied to Roosevelt's message begging him to keep out of the war: "Italy cannot stand idle while Europe's fate is decided."
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Germans making "distraction raids" on Maginot Line, to keep French pinned down; they've hit 1 fort, Fort 505, trapping defenders underground
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Ammunition in Fort 505 has caught fire, cutting off upper floors & filling tunnels with gas. French command refusing permission to evacuate.
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Lights in Fort 505 have failed; troops trapped in choking darkness, ordered, pointlessly, to hold out. 107 men dead to carbon monoxide gas.
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Lead German tanks now only hours from Channel coast. Rommel's division, in lead, has taken 10,000 prisoners & lost less than 200 men.
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Allied paranoia about German infiltrators reaching fever-pitch. Some Belgian & French civilians being shot simply for having fair hair.
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Lt-Col. Stanier: "We caught a priest with a Bible in his cassock, awfully full of notes. My men threw him in a river- I daresay he drowned."
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Edgar Rabbets, British sniper: "Spotted 2 men ploughing field into arrow shape- pointing at our HQ, for benefit of aircraft. So I shot them"
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Parisian Irène Némirovsky: "Though reports of German advance are terrible, no-one believes them. No more than if victory had been announced"
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Churchill ordering evacuation plan for British Expeditionary Force, codename Dynamo; it's a desperate race to avoid being trapped in Belgium
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Post by Pumba on Jun 8, 2012 16:37:26 GMT 8
May 20, 1940 Incompetent Gamelin replaced as French commander by Gen. Weygand (73), who warns "You will not be surprised if I cannot answer for victory." ----------------------- Winston Churchill making 1st radio speech as Prime Minister; just called Nazism "foulest tyranny in history." Listen: www.bbc.co.uk/archive/dunkirk/14342.shtml------------------------- UK fascist Oswald Mosley has been stopped from speaking near Manchester by a crowd of 10,000 who stormed past police to assault him with leaflets -------------------------- New French general Weygand has cancelled orders for an immediate counterattack; he says 1st he must tour the front to "assess the situation" --------------------------- 17 Princeton professors, led by Albert Einstein, have signed a letter to Pres Roosevelt urging him to end US neutrality  ------------------------ Hitler has ordered German advance to halt, but Guderian's panzers are storming forward anyway; he claims it is a "reconnaissance in force". ------------------------- Lord Halifax, UK Foreign Secretary, secretly asking a Swedish businessman to contact Nazi minister Hermann Göring- to request peace terms. |
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Post by Pumba on Jun 8, 2012 16:39:12 GMT 8
May 21, 1940 Belgian Charles Farrand (11): "Luftwaffe shot sister in the arm; she's getting all the attention- so I bandaged my toe big to look hurt too" ------------------------ Belgian & French towns being devastated by indiscriminate Luftwaffe bombing. Fleeing refugees are strafed- to spread panic & block roads. ------------------------ Germans have reached Abbeville, on the Channel coast. Allied armies now trapped in Belgium. Hitler is "beside himself with joy." ------------------------ Now in British cinemas: newsreel of British Expeditionary Force "defending Belgium"- meanwhile, BEF plans to evacuate. www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oMuTK1EEvTE------------------------ 3 US journalists accompanying German army in France; 1 is William Shirer: "Our Wehrmacht officer guide is very complimentary to the French." ------------------------ All journalists with BEF evacuated; 1 says: "We can take nothing but our typewriters, but we're very happy to escape the constant air raids" |
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Post by Pumba on Jun 8, 2012 16:43:31 GMT 8
May 22, 1940 French PM, Paul Reynaud, admitting "unbelievable faults" in French defences; begs nation: "rise to the height of our country's misfortunes." ------------------------ Reynaud's speech ends. As if on cue, Paris air-raid sirens begin to wail, & it's started raining- 1st storm since German attack, 12 days ago ---------------------- Goodbye kiss for a British soldier at a London rail station. He's on his way- via ship- to join stranded BEF in Belgium  ------------------------- NKVD men at Katyn & other Soviet camps have been given cash awards for successfully killing over 21,000 Polish POWs without a single escape. ----------------------- These murdered Polish prisoners were 1st allowed to write to relatives; working from these lists, NKVD are deporting the families to Siberia ------------------------ 1 group of deported Polish boys have written to Stalin: "We promise to be good Soviet citizens- but it is hard to live without our fathers." ----------------------- French General Billotte, chief of Allied military cooperation, has had a fatal car crash. British reaction: "With all respect, he's no loss" ------------------------- J. Perkins, British intelligence: "Our Army's cut off & retreating to the sea at Dunkirk. We'll be lucky if we get 20,000 [of 316,000] out" ---------------------------- Churchill has flown to Paris, hoping to "inspire the French" to break German encirclement (map) before it's too late.  -------------------------- For 1st time since war began, Admiral Raeder- chief of the Kriegsmarine- is suggesting to Hitler a bold new plan: the invasion of Britain. |
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Post by Pumba on Jun 8, 2012 16:49:48 GMT 8
May 23, 1940 "Gypsies" (Roma & Sinti people) now being rounded up in Germany for "resettlement" in Poland- in concentration camps.  ------------------------ Women, children & the elderly now being evacuated from (British-held) Gibraltar to French North Africa "where they'll be safe from the war" ------------------------- UK Parliament has just approved Emergency Powers Act: government now has right to conscript "every person, property & penny in the Realm". ------------------------- "If Churchill wants to borrow Lord Nuffield's fortune or build a factory on the 18th green at St. Andrews, all he has to do is say." (NYT) -------------------------- Churchill's in France, with Gen. Weygand who says: "We've made so many mistakes that it gives me confidence; in future, we shall make less." ------------------------- Capt Beaufre, aide to Gen Wegand: "It is too late for this planned counter-attack. The French are finished- & most likely, the British too" ------------------------ Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of US president, appealing to all Americans to donate to Red Cross to relieve "horrors of war": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1940-05-22_Mrs_Roosevelt_In_Red_Cross_Appeal.ogv-------------------------- Today's Standard- official newspaper of UK Labour movement- tells the left to pull together, warning "If Hitler Wins":  --------------------------- French counter-attack- last, desperate hope of Allies- grinding to a halt under German bombing- no help from RAF, who weren't told of plan. -------------------------- French soldier Lt. Chambard: "We've been under constant air attack for 12 days, no sight of our planes- for whom we now have a dull hate." ------------------------- Sir Oswald Mosely & 33 other British Fascists have been arrested (without charge) in a lightning raid.  -------------------------- Also arrested: MP Captain Archibald Ramsay, leader of the "Right Club", a high-class secret society "to oppose Organized Jewry". ---------------------------- Right Club members (club song is "Land of Dope & Jewry" to tune of "Land of Hope & Glory") include peers & Nazi spies: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWrightclub.htm---------------------------- German newspapers today applaud British government's new emergency powers: "At last England has seen sense & abandoned decadent democracy." |
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Post by Pumba on Jun 11, 2012 8:17:48 GMT 8
May 24, 1940 Newly arrested UK fascists being interned alongside refugees from Germany- most of them Jewish. Predictable reports of anti-Semitic violence --------------------------- German panzers have surrounded Boulogne; British troops trapped there are evacuating via ship- but harbour is in range of German rifle fire. ------------------------- Times: "Blackest day so far- Germans in Boulogne, 30 miles from UK coast. For 1st time since Napoleon, Britain faces spectre of invasion." ------------------------ Evacuated today from Boulogne, on HMS Venomous: convent orphanage of St Vincent de Paul, hoping to head to Normandy.  ---------------------- Calais now surrounded- but UK troops still landing via ship, told to fight "as long as possible" to distract Germans from evacuation of BEF. ---------------------- Steve Sykes, with Royal Engineers at Calais: "Dockside cranes destroyed by German shells- we need them to load wounded"  --------------------------- Sykes: "New & unpleasant smell in the air: the smell of scorched flesh, coming from corpses of men who received direct hits on the quayside" --------------------------- 10 leading Paris fashion houses (incl. Chanel & Hermès) announcing they won't close despite war: "At this grave hour, couture will continue" -------------------------- 12.45PM With German panzers just 18 miles from capturing Dunkirk, Hitler has phoned through a "halt order"- Wehrmacht to stop immediately. ----------------------------- Hitler fears Allied counterattacks; Generals in field are furious: "This order is insane! Are we building golden bridges for the British?" -------------------------- Göring [R], chief of the Luftwaffe- over protests of his Generals- promises Hitler bombers can destroy trapped BEF. --------------------------  -------------------------- UK War Cabinet has decided to evacuate all troops from Norway- just as they close in on port of Narvik. Norwegians not informed of decision. |
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Post by Pumba on Jun 11, 2012 8:28:40 GMT 8
May 25, 1940 British tanks are fleeing Arras, abandoning their last hope to break German encirclement. See this German command map:  ---------------------------- 1 UK officer: "I left as Arras burned, standing in a tank, drinking a bottle of champagne. Not in celebration- I'd nothing else to drink." ------------------------- Stalinist assassins have machine-gunned the house of Soviet ex-leader Leon Trotsky- now in exile in Mexico. He survived  --------------------------- UK rearguard at Cambrai, protecting route to Dunkirk, has been overrun-40,000+ soldiers of British Expeditionary Force surrendering. -------------------------- Sgt. Pexton, just captured: "Order: 'Cease fire' so stood up & put hands up. My God, how few of us stood up. I expected to die & lit a fag." --------------------------- French Algerian troops who've surrendered as prisoners-of-war being shot by German SS Totenkopf (Death's Head) units.  ------------------------ Gen. Guderian, German panzer commander, is addressing his men: "I asked you to go without sleep for 48 hours. You have gone for 17 days!" ----------------------------- French engineers are blowing up locks on the Rhine-Rhône canal, flooding 100s of square miles of border territory to block German troops. -------------------------------- Eastern France being abandoned; floods of refugees. Gustave Folcher, watching 90% of Lille's citizens flee: "People are half-mad with fear!" ------------------------------- Gustave: "Entire families on the road; children trudge along holding the dog, or cat, or canary they couldn't bare to leave for the Germans" ---------------------------- Some refugee columns are being strafed by passing German planes. 1 disgusted British pilot: "So the Luftwaffe are shits after all." ------------------------- The last British-controlled airfield in France has fallen. Royal Air Force now forced to fly from UK to defend Allied troops. ------------------------ King Leopold of Belgium refusing to flee country to escape capture by Germans: "I will remain with my troops, whatever happens." |
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