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Home , Battle of Rotterdam, Battle of Sedan (1940), Be ye men of valour, May 1940, Operation Alphabet, Rudolf Schmidt (Major)

TIMELINE -

As the month begins the battle for continues. Just to recap, German naval and ground forces had begun invading both Norway and Denmark on 9th April. Denmark had quickly capitulated but Norway had resisted. British forces were sent to Andalsnes on 18th April to 1st May, Namsos on 16th April to 3rd May, and from 15th April to 8th June. They were joined by Norwegian, French and Polish forces. But as May begins the evacuation of Allied troops from some of these areas is already underway and nearing completion. With the failure of the campaign for central Norway attention shifts to Narvik in the far north, strategically vital to the Germans for the shipping of iron ore from Sweden.

1 On 2nd May German troops reached Andalsnes, and on the following day Norwegian troops south of Trondheim surrendered to the Germans. The allied evacuation at Namsos was completed, but German aircraft located part of the evacuation fleet and sank the Afridi and Bison.

The Bison was a French and she was the first to be sunk with the loss of 136 of her crew. The surviving crew were then picked up by the Afridi. But when that ship came under attack a further 35 of her crew were lost, along with 53 of the Afridi’s crew and 13 soldiers - the only casualties among the whole force of 12,000 troops evacuated from Åndalsnes and Namsos

On 5th May the Battle of Hegra Fortress ended when the fortress capitulated. The Germans had now achieved complete victory on Norway’s southern front.

The following day a massive German armoured motorized column was spotted driving west through the , but the Belgian Army did not respond.

The most important casualty of the Norwegian campaign was the Prime Minister, . The failure of the Trondheim campaign triggered a two-day Parliamentary debate on 7-8 May. Known as the Norway or Narvik Debate, it was probably one of, if not THE, most momentous debates of the UK parliament in the 20th century. It is depicted in the film ‘Darkest Hour’ which you may or may not have seen. At the end of the debate there was a vote of no confidence in the Conservative Government. Chamberlain’s majority was reduced from 213 to 81. Attempts to form a coalition government under his leadership failed. On 10th May he resigned and was asked to become the leader and Prime Minister of a coalition government. This government would serve until .

Many Members of Parliament spoke in the debate, some household names, others not. But the nominees for most notable contributors include Conservative MP, (top first right of Chamberlain) who memorably quoted what Cromwell said to the Long Parliament when he thought it was no longer fit to conduct the affairs of the nation: “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”

2 The MP in the middle of the top row was Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Roger Keyes, who caused a stir as he arrived in the chamber resplendent in his uniform with gold braid and six rows of medals. Also a Conservative, he described in detail the government’s mishandling of the Norwegian campaign – at that point a campaign that was not yet over.

The man to the right at the top was Sir Archibald Sinclair, the leader of the Liberals. He drew from Chamberlain the admission that whilst troops had been held in readiness to be sent to Norway, no troopships had been retained to send them in. Sinclair gave instances of inadequate and defective equipment and of disorganisation reported to him by servicemen returning from Norway. Chamberlain had suggested that Allied plans had failed because the Norwegians had not put up the expected resistance to the Germans. Sinclair reported that the servicemen "paid a high tribute to the courage and determination with which the Norwegians fought alongside them”.

In the bottom row are some of the other key players – notably, Attlee, Lloyd George and Churchill.

What I find particularly striking is the parallels between what was happening 80 years ago – the debate around whether the government had adequately prepared for the battles to come – and the debate (in the broadest sense) that is currently being held around the level of preparedness of our current UK and devolved governments for the spread of a potentially lethal virus. What is also striking is that at the outset the Conservative government of the day had quite a healthy majority. The same is true today but will that remain the case?

The 10th of May was, of course, a momentous day for the countries of . At dawn invaded , , and the . Luxembourg was defeated within the day.

The attack began with German air raids on Belgium and the Netherlands, followed by parachute drops and attacks by ground forces. Having seized the initiative, the Germans captured the key Belgian fort of Eban Emael with a daring airborne operation. The speed of the German advance and the brutality of the air raids gave them a huge psychological advantage, and by 14th May the Dutch had surrendered.

The in the French Ardennes began on 12th May. Sedan was a strategically important point for the Germans. Capture would enable them to cross the river and advance into the undefended French countryside.

In response to the attacks the Allies pushed their best forces into Belgium but this played into the hands of the Germans. On 13th May the massed German forces emerged from the Ardennes – to the rear of the Allies - and began their race towards the Channel coast, slicing through Allied supply lines on the way. The first German troops arrived at the coast on 20th May.

Also on 13th May Winston Churchill made his first speech to the House of Commons as Prime Minister, memorably saying “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”.

That same day Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands arrived in in exile. You may recall that King Leopold of Belgium opted not to follow the same route and was subsequently held by the Germans.

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In relative terms the Battle of was a small but significant engagement. It began on 10th May and ended on the 14th following the Rotterdam Blitz.

Although the Netherlands had a system of defences along the Hollandic Water Line, Rotterdam was not included and, in fact, had almost no defences whatsoever. On the morning of 10th May German ground forces began arriving by seaplane and seized undefended bridges on the river that runs through the city. Throughout the day, soldiers on both sides were killed as they exchanged fire. Urban street fighting continued for five days, with neither side able to gain an advantage.

The Germans issued an ultimatum – surrender or Rotterdam would be destroyed. Hermann Göring had pushed for an aerial bombardment, but the German Commander, , had opposed that. As Schmidt prepared to deliver a signed ultimatum to the Dutch military leader, German bombers arrived.

The Rotterdam Blitz, as it came to be known, killed almost 900 people, most of whom were civilians. The medieval city centre was almost completely destroyed, and 85,000 more civilians were made homeless. The Dutch troops were largely unharmed by the bombing, but their communication lines were cut, forcing the Dutch Colonel to decide the fate of the city himself. He surrendered later the same day. He met General Schmidt on the bridge and was understandably furious that the German forces had broken their word. Schmidt, who had not ordered the bombing, responded; “Colonel, I fully understand your bitterness.”

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Following the capture of Sedan the French urged the bombing of bridges across the river Meuse to try and halt the advance of the German Panzer Divisions. RAF Squadrons of light bombers and escort fighters were sent into the attack on 14th May.

21 Squadron, based in Watton in Norfolk, was one of several groups involved. Itwas equipped with newly acquired Blenheim IV’s, and one of the gunners was 1st Class Aircraftman Alfred George Wilson. He was 21 years old. There is nothing remarkable about Alfred – he was one member of a large family, a cousin of mine, and doing his bit for his country. His Squadron was briefed to attack enemy troops in the woods north of Sedan. They came under heavy attack from German fighters and ground defences, and two of the Blenheim’s, including Alfred’s, were shot down.

The RAF losses overall that day were considerable. Out of 71 aircraft despatched, 39 were shot down and others damaged. And the bombing results were poor, with three bridges damaged and one possibly destroyed.

There is a postscript to the loss of Alfred’s aircraft which has enabled his family to better understand what happened to him and his fellow crew members. Initially, of course, they were reported missing with the precise location of the crash site unknown. But following the war there were MOD/RAF investigations and some items were found though no human remains. The real detective work has been undertaken by local men, Alain and Roger Nicholas, and they were able to inform the family that the plane crashed in the woods near Sugny. Having identified the exact site there were plans to erect a memorial to the lost crew this Spring, 80 years after they died, but unfortunately that event is now on hold. But Alain and Roger Nicholas have published a book in memory of the lost flight, detailing their findings.

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On 15th May, one day after the Rotterdam Blitz, the Dutch forces surrendered and signed a capitulation agreement. The government of the Netherlands had already fled to Britain with the Queen. The country was placed under German occupation, with some mild resistance that became increasingly active as the war progressed.

Also, by 15th May all the bridges across the River Meuse had been captured by the Germans and the Battle of Sedan had effectively been lost. The French did counterattack the bridgeheads over the next couple of days, but to no avail. The German surge to the coast was underway.

As a response to the Rotterdam Blitz the RAF Bomber Command was authorised to begin attacks on strategic sites east of the Rhine. On the night of 15th/16th May 96 bombers crossed the Rhine and attacked targets in Gelsenkirchen. The following night the RAF bombed oil installations in Hamburg and Bremen, and railway yards at Cologne. During the rest of May Essen, Duisburg, Dusseldorf and Hanover were also attacked in similar fashion. Unfortunately, at the time, Bomber Command lacked the equipment and technical know-how necessary for effective night attacks, and the accuracy ofthe bombings was abysmal.

Interestingly, despite the British attacks on German cities, the did not begin to attack military and economic targets in the UK immediately.

The Belgian cities of and fell to the Germans on 17th and 18th May respectively, and by 19th May the Germans were hours away from reaching the Channel coast.

The British Expeditionary Force was now faced with the very difficult task of conducting a fighting retreat across Belgium, their problems compounded by the realisation that the French to the south had little hope of stopping the Germans either. On 19th May the Commander of the BEF, Lord Gort, ordered a withdrawal toward port cities, including just inside the French border.

Under no illusions as to the gravity of the situation, Winston Churchill made his first radio broadcast as Prime Minister – the speech was entitled ‘’, and concluded with a quotation from the Apocrypha:-

“Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.” (1 Maccabees 3:58–60)

6 The German armoured units led by General Guderian capture , and Noyelles-sur-Mer and reach the northern French coast on 20th May.

Guderian was a very significant player during World War II. An early pioneer and exponent of the ‘’ approach, he led an armoured corps during the , and the armoured corps that broke through the Ardennes, capturing Sedan. His forces were the first to arrive at the northern French coast.

He also led the 2nd Panzer Army during , the invasion of the , but that of course proved to be a step too far, and he was dismissed after he failed to capture Moscow.

Later in the war, when Germany was facing defeat, he was appointed to the German High Command. He surrendered to US forces in May 1945 and was interned until 1948. He was subsequently released without charge and retired to write his memoirs. Although an ardent German Nationalist, there was insufficient documentary evidence to convict him of war crimes.

As the Germans advanced rapidly towards the French coast in May 1940, the area around the town of was reinforced BEF troops.

By 20 May 1940, Arras itself was surrounded but still holding out. Lord Gort decided on a counter-attack codenamed Frankforce.

The attack was supposed to be manned by two infantry divisions, comprising about 15,000 men, but it was ultimately executed by just two infantry totalling around 2,000 men, and reinforced by 74 tanks.

The infantry battalions were split into two columns for the attack, which took place on 21 May. The right column initially made rapid progress, taking a number of German prisoners, but they soon ran into German infantry and SS, backed by air support, and took heavy losses.

The left column also enjoyed early success before running into opposition from the infantry units of Brigadier 's 7th Panzer Division.

French cover enabled British troops to withdraw to their former positions that night. Frankforce was over, and the next day the Germans regrouped and continued their advance.

Frankforce took around 400 German prisoners and inflicted a similar number of casualties, as well as destroying a number of tanks. The operation had punched far beyond its weight - the attack was so fierce that 7th Panzer Division believed it had been attacked by five infantry divisions.

The attack also made the German commanders nervous, and it may have been one of the factors for the surprise German halt on 24 May that gave the BEF the slimmest of opportunities to begin evacuation from Dunkirk.

7 The Battle of Boulogne and the Siege of were fought simultaneously and briefly between 22nd and 26th May. I’m not going to go into detail about either of the battles – those of you that are interested in military history will no doubt be familiar with what happened. Suffice to say here that a combination of several thousand French, Belgian and British troops defended the ports against attack from German panzer divisions. The battle and siege allowed time for the evacuation of allied troops by sea, but not all managed to escape.

The last British unit to arrive in Boulogne was a of the 2nd Welsh Guards, and the last evacuation ship had already left. The company officer, Major Windsor Lewis, took over a large party of Allied stragglers and civilians in the sheds at the quayside, and when they came under German fire he moved them to the harbour railway station. Despite a valiant defence against tank and machine gun attack, a shortage of food and ammunition, and no hope of evacuation, forced them to surrender on 25th May. In all the Germans captured 5,000 Allied troops in Boulogne, the majority being French.

The saw some of the most desperate fighting but ultimately also ended in the surrender of about 20,000 Allied troops, including about 3,500 British troops.

There has been much debate since the war about whether it was the fierce defence of the Allied forces or the halt order issued to the German forces that allowed time for the evacuation of Dunkirk. Either way any hope of launching a counterattack against the German ‘blitzkreig’ was effectively lost.

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After their failure in central and southern Norway the Allied forces launched a counter offensive in the north of the country and eventually recaptured the strategically important Narvik from the Germans on 28th May. But by that stage the decision had already been taken to pull Allied troops out of Norway. Operation Alphabet was approved in London on 24th May, against the wishes of Churchill, and the Allied commanders received their orders on the 25th.

It is thought the recapture of Narvik was partly carried out to mask the Allied withdrawal. The Luftwaffe immediately launched a bombing raid on the city causing considerable damage. When the Germans re- entered the city on 7th June they found the Allies had gone and the port had been destroyed. The Allies had been evacuated by four convoys between 4th and 8th June and enabled the escape of the King of Norway and his family to Britain. The Norwegian forces eventually capitulated on 10th June, but the duration of their resistance - 62 days – was second only to the Soviets during WW2

Although Allied action did not achieve its objective in stopping the transport of iron ore to Germany, or in recapturing Norway – on land it was an overwhelming victory for the Germans - the German losses suffered during the action at sea ultimately resulted in there being too few ships for the proposed invasion of England.

On the evening of 26th May Churchill ordered the commencement of Operation Dynamo – the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk.

27th May was a day of mixed fortunes for the Allies – the Germans took Calais, but in Norway the Allies were taking Narvik, albeit briefly.

9 The first day of Operation Dynamo saw over 7,500 British troops evacuated from Dunkirk. But a group of soldiers of the , in attempting to reach the coast, were less fortunate. They had become isolated from their unit and they occupied and defended a farmhouse against an attack by Waffen-SS forces in the village of Le Paradis. After running out of ammunition, the defenders surrendered to the German troops. The Germans led them across the road to a wall where they were murdered by machine gun fire. Ninety- seven British troops were killed. Two survived, with injuries, and hid until they were captured by German forces several days later. After the war, the Commander of the SS Unit was convicted by a war crimes court, with the two survivors acting as witnesses against him, and he was executed in 1949.

After 18 days of fighting in which Belgian forces were pushed back into a small pocket in the north-east of the country, the Belgian military surrendered to the Germans on 28th May, beginning an occupation that would endure until 1944.

The surrender was ordered by King Leopold III without the consultation of his government and sparked a political crisis after the war – he was ultimately forced to abdicate. King Leopold did not at any point co- operate with the Nazis during the war, and he was held as a prisoner. Despite the capitulation, many Belgians managed to escape to the where they formed a government and army-in-exile on the Allied side.

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