Germans troops crossing a river

Hitler's Germany invaded the Low Countries and France on 10 May 1940. It was the beginning of a remarkable lightning campaign that not only swiftly defeated the Netherlands and Belgium, but also, more surpisingly, led to the collapse of France and brought Britain on the brink of disaster in just over a fortnight.
The rivers and canals in the Low Countries proved a major obstacle to the invading army. In spite of its reputation as a modern, armoured and motorised army, the bulk of the German Wehrmacht was for most of the war still relying on feet, horse and cart. The key to the initial successes was to concentrate the armoured forces and exploit the weaknesses in the enemy's defence, which is exactly what happened on the Meuse at Sedan and Dinant.

Refugees

The French called it "l'Exode". Millions of people from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France fled the German invasion in May 1940. Whole cities were deserted, roads clogged, families dispersed, lives lost - this mass migration, often terrorised by German air attacks, was the first stage in a war that would spare no one. After the capitulation of France in June 1940 most people returned home. Yet when this war would be over, worldwide some 40 million civilians had died.

Cultural heritage under threat

While the First World War already caused irreparable losses to the cultural heritage of many countries, worse was yet to come after 1940. Destruction of heritage went hand in hand with the looting on an unseen scale of museums and private art collections and archives in the occupied countries.
The city of Tournai was destroyed by German incendiary bomb raids between May 16 and 19. The retreating British troops blew up the bridges on the Scheldt. Even the medieval "Pont des Trous", which had so far survived 600 years of human presence and couldn't be used for crossing the river, was partly demolished. It was later found out that the whole bridge had been mined, but for some reason never exploded.

Dominating the skies

The wreck of a British Spitfire fighter plane. The success of the German invasion was to a large extent made possible by supremacy in the air. Belgian, Dutch, French and British air forces may have matched the Luftwaffe in numbers at the outbreak of the war, without a coordinated air defence system the Allies didn't stand much of a chance. The Germans had the element of surprise and could choose when and where to strike. In any case, the pattern for the remainder of the war was set: as the Germans would soon found out to their disadvantage, controlling the skies was the key towards victory.

Tank battle

During the crucial days of the German breakthrough on the Meuse the French army could theoretically have stopped the advance. In spite of the myth of the feared German panzers, the French had better tanks with better guns than the Germans, yet the operational speed of the French army was far too slow and unlike their opponents many of their tanks still didn't have modern radio equipment on board.

Captured on the ground

A German soldier inspects an abandoned Potez 63.11 reconnaissance aircraft of the French air force. The Armée de l'Air may not have been inferior to the Luftwaffe, yet it was hopelessly dispersed over a wide area and lacked a centralised command and control structure. As a result many French planes where either destroyed on the ground or captured on the airfields.

Dunkirk ablaze

German bombardments destroyed the oil storage tanks in Dunkirk. The thick smoke columns helped at least for some time to obscure the evacuation.

Dunkirk in ruins

In 1940 90% of the city was destroyed. Hermann Göring had promised Hitler his Luftwaffe would annihilate the trapped armies in Dunkirk before they could be evacuated. As usual, the German commander grossly overestimated the striking power of the already overstretched air force and the evacuation took place right under his nose.

Dunkirk in ruins

The scale of the devastation in Dunkirk can be judged from this picture of the area around the Saint Eloi church and the belfry tower.

Material left on the beach

A beach at low tide after the evacuation littered with debris and abandoned vessels and vehicles. To the right can be seen strings of vehicles, parked in a long line to form an improvised jetty, on which troops could reach the rescue ships.

Beached

The British paddle steamer "Devonia" was launched in 1905 and operated as a ferry in the Bristol Channel and on the English South Coast. Converted into a minesweeper in both wars, the "Devonia" was severely damaged and finally beached between Bray-Dunes and Zuydcoote during the Dunkirk evacuation. Parts of the wreck are still in place.

Abandoned motorbikes

The evacuation of Dunkirk saved many lives, but practically all the heavy material had to be left in enemy hands. Some 445 tanks, 2,500 guns and 64,000 vehicles were lost.

Cambrai

A German soldier on the Place Aristide Briand in Cambrai. Cambrai was occupied by the Germans on 19 May 1940.

Beauvais

The city of Beauvais was of no strategic importance, yet repeated bombing by the German Luftwaffe between 18 May and 10 June 1940, flattened the old city centre. Most citizens had been evacuated. The famous 13th-century gothic cathedral miraculously survived the inferno.
Cities in ruins are a recurring image of World War II. The few remaining scruples against the bombing of civilian targets were gradually swept overboard and the strategic bombing of cities soon became in the minds of some a way to shorten the war.

A German sentry on a beach

As soon as the occupation of France and the Low Countries was completed, the Germans began to organise the defence of the coastline. First as support of the projected but soon aborted invasion of England, then to defend the newly occupied countries against an Allied invasion. In a few years time the coastline from Norway to the Spanish border would be fortified - the Atlantic Wall.

Preparations for the invasion

With France defeated and Great Britain run off the continent, it seemed like an unavoidable step for Nazi Germany to invade England. However, ill-prepared and even less well-equipped for such a massive undertaking, and with the Luftwaffe unable to defeat the Royal Air Force or bomb the English into submission, the Germans got nowhere further than some trials, as on this image where an amphibious landing is staged. By the beginning of October 1940, the invasion of England was aborted and Hitler doubled back to meet his destiny in the east. The only bit of English turf the Nazis ever set foot on were the Channel Islands.

Schweinekotelett, Bratkartoffeln und Spiegeleier

The details of this photo are unknown, but it seems the owner of this restaurant already had adjusted to a new clientele. Fried potatoes and fried eggs were apparently very popular.