Posted on 05/20/2010 4:44:02 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
Churchill, my favorite all time read.
At least Churchill understood how bad it was going to get and didn’t try to sugarcoat the situation.
Not Lindberghs finest hour. That is for sure.
“Hitler eclaims Eupen-Malmedy”... There’s a name that’ll turn up down the road. At least the last part of it...
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/may40/f20may40.htm
Germans reach the English Channel
Monday, May 20, 1940 www.onwar.com
On the Western Front... The German armored advance again makes considerable progress. The most spectacular gains are made by Guderian’s 19th Corps. Amiens is taken in the morning and in the evening Abbeville is captured. Advance units even reach the coast at Noyelles. The Germans have now driven a corridor at least 20 miles wide from the Ardennes to the Channel. The obvious need is for the British and French to cut through this corridor before its walls can be strengthened to cut off irrevocably the forces to the north. Before his dismissal Gamelin was planning such an attack, but it has been cancelled following his sacking only to be revived now by Weygand. The delay imposed by these changes of mind prevents it from retaining even a slim chance of success.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/20.htm
May 20th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - road/rail communications at Catillon-Hannapes, Julich and bridges over River Oise. 10 Sqn. Six aircraft. Five bombed from low level (2 - 6,000 feet). 51 Sqn. Six aircraft, four bombed. 77 Sqn. Seven aircraft. Six bombed, one FTR. 102 Sqn. Five aircraft. Four bombed, one FTR.
Winston Churchill sends a telegram to President Roosevelt regarding his request for U.S. destroyers. Churchill acknowledges FDR’s problems in providing them but states that, “If they were here in six weeks they would play an invaluable part.” (Jack McKillop)
Minesweeping trawler HMS Olive commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Orwell laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORTH SEA: Minesweeping trawler HMS Rifnes bombed and sunk off Ostend. (Dave Shirlaw)
NETHERLANDS: Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the former Austrian chancellor, is appointed Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands.
FRANCE: At 2 am Hoth’s Corps in the north was set in motion again, with Rommel at its head, and pushed up to the heights of Arras, which seemed very important to the German High Command. “We will only have won”, wrote Halder, “when we have taken Arras high plateau”; and he expected “a decisive battle lasting several days” in this area.
When he arrived south-east of Arras, Rommel took up defensive positions. He made ready to by-pass the town on the following day on the south, and then to proceed to the famous heights north of Arras, where so much blood was shed in 1915.
In the south Guderian’s Panzers set off from the line of Cambrai-Peronne before dawn. A about 9am, the 1st Panzers, on the left, easily captured Amiens, in the presence of Guderian, who had particularly wished to witness this “historic event”. Then it established a bridgehead about 4 miles deep on the south bank of the Somme.
On the right, the 2 Panzers made a thrust from Albert towards Abbeville, through Doullens, Bernaville, and Beaumetz. At 7pm it seized Abbeville without much difficulty. From there it sent out one tank battalion, which reached the sea at Noyelles at dusk.
With understandable joy, the Panzer crews, who had crossed the Meuse scarcely a week before, filled their lungs with the sea air and their eyes with the sight of the sea.
When the Fuhrer got this news, “he was beside himself with joy”, declared Jodl, “and he already foresaw victory and peace”. The French army was now definitely cut in two.
“In the evening of this memorable day”, wrote Guderian, “we did not know in which direction we were to continue to advance. General von Kleist himself had no orders. May 21 was spent waiting for orders. I employed the time visiting Abbeville and making an inspecting of the Somme bridgehead.”
It was towards the end of the day that orders arrived from OKH for a swing northwards in order to seize the Channel ports and the Pas de Calais. Guderian then gave orders to the 1st Panzers, in the right, to start the next day straight for Calais, through Samer and Desvres; he told the 2nd Panzers, on the left, to head for Boulogne by going along the coast. On Guderian’s right, Reinhardt’s Corps was to go between Doullens and Arras and advance to Saint-Omer, but at the pivoting point, on the right, we shall see that Hoth’s Corps was held up in the Arras area.
Berlin Diary by William Shirer:
We came to a terrific hole in the road ... The German officer explained that the French blew this one up. “French dynamite experts,” he said. “At places they have done a beautiful job ... We lost little time,” he added, “even though you have to admit the French did a good job of it here.” His admiration for the French dynamiters was terrific.
Paris: Reynaud sacks Gamelin and replaces him with General Maxime Weygand. Until now Weygand has been in virtual exile in Syria, now his appointment as Supreme Commander is hailed in the press; but he is a staff officer who has never commanded armies in battle. He has disregarded plans already made for the Allied armies in north and south to attack and cut off the exposed German armoured columns, still unprotected by infantry. He spent his first day making ceremonial visits to the French president and cabinet ministers. Then he said he would visit the front, as his hero Foch had always done. He set off by air for Ypres to talk to French, British and Belgian commanders. During the meeting King Leopold decided that Weygand was completely ignorant of the plight of the Allied armies.
GERMANY: U-403 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: (Mark Horan) Word having arrived that the weather was improving over Narvik, at 0330 HMS Ark Royal, in position 70.24N, 16.10E, dispatched nine Swordfish of 810 and 820 Squadrons (armed with either 4x20 lb Cooper, 4x25 lb Incendiary, and either 2x500 lb or 4x250 lb bombs). This mission exhausted the last 250 lb GP bombs on the ship. At the same time a fighter patrol left for Narvik. At 0400, a second fighter patrol departed with orders to cover the Swordfish in their attack on the Hundallen and Sildvik. Unfortunately, the weather deteriorated drastically and the entire force had to abandon their mission and return to the ship.
At 0600 a further fighter patrol was dispatched. While it managed to get to the Narvik area, the weather was atrocious and the trio was lucky to find their way back to the ship. Further flying was suspended. However, at 2101 Flag Officer Narvik informed the Vice-Admiral commanding that Bardufoss landing ground now being operational, HMS Furious should dispatch the Gladiators of 263 Squadron to shore on the 21st.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 263 May 20, 1940
The Panzers reach the sea. In 10 days they have traveled 200 miles from the German border to the English Channel. Almost a million Allied soldiers are surrounded in Northern France and Belgium, leaving Allied plans to defend Belgium and France in ruins.
At 1.40 AM, Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division moves out of Cambrai and in 6 hours advances 20 miles. They pull up 2 miles from Arras, which is strongly held by the British Expeditionary Force, to allow the infantry to catch up.
The advance of Guderian’s Panzer Corps is even more spectacular. At 9 AM, 1st Panzer Division takes Amiens. At 7 PM, 2nd Panzer Division takes Abbeville. At 8 PM, a reconnaissance unit of 2nd Panzer Division reaches the sea at Noyelles-sur-Mer on the Somme estuary. They have covered 50 miles in a day, isolating British, French, Dutch, and Belgian forces to the North.
FDR era Ron Paul.
or worse
Churchill sounds like the UK could easily fall into German hands. wow.
The French may have entered the war riding the wrong horse (Gamelin) but they sure picked the worst time to change horses.
Although, by this time I don’t really think it mattered. The French army just couldn’t move with the speed of the Germans. I doubt they could have cut off or cut up the Panzer Gruppen. There was no way they were going to re-establish lines of communication and supply with 1st Army or the BEF.
1. It is hard to imagine a British prime minister use a phrase today such as "all that Britain is and all that Britain means." That would probably damage him politically.
2. Celebrating "I Am An American" Day for young Americans coming of age and for newly naturalized citizens is now unthinkable.
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