World War II in Photographs

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Holland refused to give way to a German

ultimatum, and was duly invaded. Surrender

negotiations were under way on May 14,

but news failed to reach the German aircraft

that bombed Rotterdam, destroying part of

the city centre and killing over 800 civilians.

GERMANY INVADES THE

LOW COUNTRIES AND FRANCE

The Germans considered a number of plans for the invasion of

France and the Low Countries. Hitler eventually backed the most

ambitious, which concentrated the main weight of armour in a major

thrust through the Ardennes. This struck the hinge between the

static French forces in the Maginot Line and the north-eastern wing

of Allied armies, part of which was to move forward into Belgium as

soon as the Germans attacked. The offensive began on May 10,

1940, and the Germans crossed the Meuse at Sedan on the May 14,

driving on to reach the Channel coast near Abbeville on May 20.

BELOW

The Dutch surrendered on May 14.

Here a Dutch officer, still wearing a

sword, in an echo of more chivalrous

times, is interrogated by his captors.

OPPOSITE

Belgium remained scrupulously neutral,

denying access to British and French

troops, until the invasion began.

Here British infantry cross the

frontier near Roubaix on May 10.

LEFT

ABOVE

The powerful Belgian fortress of Eben

Emael covered the Albert canal just south

of Maastricht. German airborne troops,

shown here in the elation of victory, landed on

top of it in gliders, destroyed many guns and

observation slits, and forced the numerically

superior garrison to surrender on May 11.

RIGHT

The first attackers crossed the Meuse

on May 14 in rubber boats under cover of

a heavy land and air bombardment.

Only when the far bank was secure

could bridges be built to take tanks across.

1940

ABOVE

BELOW

The field telephone remained at the heart of

communications in 1940. A German NCO mans

a telephone exchange in a roadside slit trench.

An unposed action shot, with the photographer

sensibly placed, showing a German anti-tank

gun engaging French troops in the trees lining

the road near Handainville, June 15, 1940.

I 940

OPPOSITE, TOP

A British field gun in action May 30-31.

German air superiority made artillery

deployed in the open especially vulnerable:

this gun enjoys the benefit of some cover.

OPPOSITE, BOTTOM

A member of the German 56th

Artillery Regiment, on his way to

the Channel coast, took this photograph

of refugees killed in an air attack.

ABOVE

French prisoners in a

makeshift camp, summer 1940.

LEFT

Exhausted Belgian troops on

the Louvain-Brussels road.

All European armies except

the British used substantial

numbers of horses in 1940.

1940

ABOVE

In an image taken near Louvain, refugees

make their way to safety, May 1940.

I 940

DUNKIRK

The German breakthrough left the BEE, the Belgian army and

substantial French forces encircled. On May 25, Gort decided

that his position was untenable and issued orders for a withdrawal

through Dunkirk, a controversial decision which many Frenchmen

regarded as betrayal. Bertram Ramsay, Vice-Admiral Dover, had

begun plans for the evacuation of limited numbers of specialists,

and was able to increase the scale of the rescue, aided by unusually

fine weather. A total of 338,000 men, 120,000 of them French,

were evacuated from Dunkirk itself and the open beaches to its east.

The Admiralty increased its Small Vessels

Pool by appeals broadcast by the BBC,

and dozens of "little ships", many crewed

by their owners, helped evacuate troops

from Dunkirk. These, photographed

on the Thames on June 4, survived the

experience, though all too many did not.

BELOW

Many troops waited under intermittent

air attack on the beaches between Dunkirk

and La Panne: the skipper of the Little

Shamrock said they looked "like thousands

of sticks." They were ferried out to waiting

ships in an assortment of small craft.

LEFT

I 940

RIGHT

There were two long and relatively fragile

moles protecting Dunkirk harbour, and on

May 27, large vessels began to evacuate

troops from the east mole. Here soldiers

board HMS Harvester from the mole.

BELOW

French, Belgian and Dutch vessels

also played their part. Here the

French destroyer Bourrasque, loaded

with troops, sinks off Dunkirk.

OPPOSITE

Destroyers were the workhorses of the

evacuation, and six were sunk: HMS

Wakeful went down in seconds with

650 troops aboard. These men are more

fortunate, and have reached Dover, where

the majority of evacuees disembarked.

1940

LEFT

The Isle of Man steam packet Mona 's

Queen took 1420 men home on

May 26, but was sunk three days later.

BELOW

Survivors from Mona's Queen

coming alongside HMS Vanquisher.

OPPOSITE, TOP

The reality of evacuation: dishevelled

but grateful survivors at Dover.

OPPOSITE, BOTTOM

And the necessary myth: the tea, sandwiches

and captured German helmet underline the

propaganda value of this photograph.