DUNKIRK

  • OPERATION DYNAMO TO RESCUE TRAPPED BRITISH ARMY

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 10 minutes

    London, England • May 19, 1940 Following Britain and France’s decla­ra­tion of war on Germany on Septem­ber 3, 1939, neither of the Allies com­mitted to launching a signi­fi­cant land offen­sive against Adolf Hitler’s Ger­many as punish­ment for the invasion of its eastern neigh­bor, Poland, which was in a treaty relation­ship with the two Western powers. The…

  • GERMANS CRUSH DUTCH DEFENSES

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 6 minutes

    Rotterdam, The Netherlands • May 14, 1940 On this date in 1940 in Holland, the German Luft­waffe bombed Rotter­dam’s medi­e­val city cen­ter, killing nearly 1,000 people and leaving 85,000 home­less. Rather than endure more fero­cious bombings—leaf­lets dropped on Utrecht indi­cated it was next Dutch city in German cross­hairs—the Dutch Army surren­dered the next day. The German…

  • CHURCHILL ORDERS DUNKIRK RESCUE

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 6 minutes

    London, England · May 19, 1940 Following Britain and France’s decla­ra­tion of war on Ger­many on Septem­ber 3, 1939, neither of the Allies com­mitted to launching a signi­fi­cant land offen­sive against Adolf Hitler’s Ger­many as punish­ment for the invasion of its eastern neighbor, Poland. The most the Brit­ish were pre­pared to do was deploy a 315,000‑man…

  • GERMANS OVERWHELM DUTCH DEFENDERS

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Rotterdam, Netherlands · May 14, 1940 On this date in 1940 in Holland, the Ger­man Luft­waffe bombed Rotter­dam’s medi­e­val city cen­ter, killing nearly 1,000 people and leaving 85,000 home­less. Rather than endure more bombings—leaf­lets dropped on Utrecht indi­cated it was next Dutch city in Ger­man cross­hairs—the Dutch Army surren­dered the next day. The Ger­man offen­sive against…

  • CHURCHILL ORDERS DUNKIRK RESCUE

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 6 minutes

    London, England · May 19, 1940 Following Britain and France’s decla­ra­tion of war on Ger­many on Septem­ber 3, 1939, neither of the Allies com­mitted to launching a signi­fi­cant land offen­sive against Adolf Hitler’s Ger­many as punish­ment for the invasion of its eastern neighbor, Poland. The most the Brit­ish were pre­pared to do was deploy a 315,000‑man…

  • GERMANS OVERWHELM DUTCH DEFENDERS

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Rotterdam, Netherlands · May 14, 1940 On this date in 1940 in Holland, the Ger­man Luft­waffe bombed Rotter­dam’s medi­e­val city cen­ter, killing nearly 1,000 people and leaving 85,000 home­less. Rather than endure more bombings—leaf­lets dropped on Utrecht indi­cated it was next Dutch city in Ger­man cross­hairs—the Dutch army surren­dered the next day. The Ger­man offen­sive against the…