On this day during W.W. 2

The formal capitulation of the Dutch armed forces took place on Wednesday, May 15th, 1940. The ceremony was held at Rijsoord, a small village south of burning Rotterdam, with General Winkelman and  General Von Kuechler of the 18th German army as the senior officers on either side. The colonies, the Dutchmen who had fled abroad, and the province of Zeeland where the French still fought a rearguard action, were excluded from the capitulation agreement.

In a remarkable contrast to the brutality of the war itself, the occupying German forces were at their best behavior towards the Dutch civilian population during the time that followed. It was made perfectly clear that no resistance or obstruction would be tolerated, but any misbehavior of German soldiers was also severely punished. There was even a short economic boom as individual German soldiers spent their cash at shops and local businesses and the German military provided welcome opportunities to Dutch factories ans shipyards. The Dutch have never been too scrupulous about whom they work for when there’s money to be made.

There was a reason for all this: the Germans saw the Dutch as a kindred nation, historically, racially, and linguistically closely connected to them. And indeed, the border between the east of the Netherlands and neighboring Saxony had been a very open one for centuries, and the Holy Roman Empire had once encompassed all those lands. So their long term plans were not so much an occupation, but an absorption of the Netherlands into the Third Reich. Their hope that the Dutch would eventually feel the same vanished only in later years, when the occupation took a grim and eventually violent and oppressive turn. But that is another story.

For now, the fight was over. And so is my retelling of it, which of course touched only on some of the highlights. I hope you enjoyed it.

Very grateful. Thank you for your time and passion.

22nd May 1939:  Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel.
It was signed by the two Foreign Ministers, Ciano and Ribbentrop.
It should have had a third signature, but Japan, unhappy at Germany’s and Italy’s refusal to put Russia properly on the agenda, refused to sign.
It was Mussolini who first called it the Pact of Steel.

23rd May 1945: Heinrich Himmler, former Reichsf�hrer-SS, committed suicide.
He had been one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany’s heirachy and probably the lost hated. He was born in Bavaria and went to university there. He was a member of a Reservist Infantry Battalion, but never saw active service in WW1.
Like many other Nazi officials, he built himself an empire. His Waffen SS numbered 38 Divisions by war’s end(some only Regiment sized) and were known for their ferocity and fervour.
More than anyone else, he implemented Hitler’s Final Solution.
Himmler craved a military position and was given one in 45; he failed abysmally.
He was sacked by Hitler on the 29th April when he realised the war was lost and tried to negotiate terms with the Western Allies and Hitler found out.
He committed suicide, aged 44, while a prisoner of the British and once his identity was discovered.

@wittmann:

He committed suicide, aged 44, while a prisoner of the British and once his identity was discovered.

When he was on the run, he had tried to avoid recognition by shaving off his mustache and disguising himself in (as I recall) an army private’s jacket, which was quite a climb-down for someone who had been one of the most powerful people in the Third Reich and whose Waffen-SS had such a competitive relationship with the regular army.  He killed himself by biting a capsule of cyanide which he had concealed in his gums, thereby ironically dying from the same general type of poison the SS had used in the death camps.

D-day?
midway?

On the 7th June the advance elements of 12SS Panzer Division, Hitler Jugend, saw their first combat. The 3 Battalion 25th Pzg Regiment was ordered to attack and push back the 3rd Canadian Inf Division which had pushed inland from Juno. In support the Regiment’s, soon to be infamous, commander, Kurt Meyer had the 2nd Battalion of the 12SS Pz Regiment, about 50 Mk IVs and a Battalion of Art. The attack was a success, but despite hopes of further gains, not the push to the sea that some expected.
During the attack a few hundred prisoners were captured and the SS Inf illegally shot 18 later today and tomorrow. 
The Canadian 3rd and the German 12SS were to be locked in combat as antagonists for a long time and both grew to respect the other. The atrocities were not an acceptable part of this rivalry, however. The 18 men and 2 others have a memorial at the Ardennes Abbey.

Kreuzfeld: I would have loved to have posted yesterday.
But what can I say and when do you stop?
It is a day we all know so well.
Sorry to have disappointed.
Midway, well, again a massive battle. Maybe I could have put up a few words. There are others who know more about the Pacific though.

Just watched Tora Tora, so I will watch the film Midway soon.
Also Surprise Attack’s thread is now over a year old. I would hate to repeat things.
Or is that allowed?
I love reading history and glad you and others read what I can dredge up.

On the 12th June 1944 Carentan was captured by Paras from the 101 Division. 
They had been fighting Von der Heydte’s 6th Para Regiment and some poorly equipped Coastal Battalions since the 10th, in an attempt to unite the two US landing beaches.
The Germans had pulled out late on the 11th.
They returned in force on the 13th when the 37th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment and Stugs(turret less tanks) from the 17th SS Panzer Battalion eventually reached the forward assembly areas. The Germans knew the importance of Carentan and put their best unit into the fight. They did gain ground against the Paras, forcing most of the 2nd Battalion of the 106 to run(Easy held its ground). By  the 14th the Germans abandoned any hope of recapturing the town. Bradley, commanding 1st US Army, had thrown the 2nd Armour’s Combat Command A at them, stabilising the situation.
There is not much to see in Carentan these days.

On the 13th June 1944 the first V1 was launched at London.
These terror attacks were Hitler’s way of detracting from the D-Day landings and worsening situation on all fronts. The attacks on England, sometimes of 100 rockets a day, continued until the launching sites in the Pas de Calais and Holland where overrun in  September and October of 44. The remaining rockets were fired on Antwerp and other continental targets.
The rocket was the precursor to the Cruise Missile and could fly at between 350-400 mph.
The Allies soon discovered means to lessen their impact, but considerable resources were needed to do so. A total of  9521 were launched at England, causing over 22000 casualties in the first three months.

On the 16th June 1940 Marechal de France Henri Philippe Petain became France’s Prime Minister, replacing Reynaud. He was 84 years old. He had been a great soldier of France; in WW1 he had excelled in defence and at counterattacking.
Now with no reserve to speak of, he decided that France must surrender to Germany and did so on the 22nd. At the time he was a very popular man and much loved by the French people.
He would live to the age of 95, having been imprisoned for treason for collaboration.

@wittmann:

Now with no reserve to speak of, he decided that France must surrender to Germany and did so on the 22nd. At the time he was a very popular man and much loved by the French people. He would live to the age of 95, having been imprisoned for treason for collaboration.

He got off lightly: he had been sentenced to death in a post-war trial, but de Gaulle commuted the sentence to life in prison in view of his advanced age (unlike Pierre Laval, who was executed for treason).  I’ve seen some of the annual messages to the French people that Petain recorded when he was head of the Vichy regime, and I doubt that they endeared him to his fellow citizens.  In them, he talks to the population in the reprimanding tone of a stern father, saying that their memory is poor (an odd thing to say for an eighty-something-year-old whose own mental powers were fading) and that they will only acquire the virtues they ought to have “through the discipline that I impose upon you.”

Very interesting CWO Marc, didn’t know about that.

@aequitas:

Very interesting CWO Marc, didn’t know about that.

Extracts from Petain’s annual speeches can be seen (with English subtitles) in the documentary The Eye of Vichy, which is available on DVD.  One of the creepiest things about Petain during the Vichy years was the way he fostered around himself a personality cult worthy of North Korea: pictures of “le Marechal Petain” handed out to schoolchildren, newsreel narrators enthusiastically describing his public appearances and private functions (including his notorious handshake with Hitler at Montoire), crowds of (presumably picked) admirers assembled in public squares to cheer him, an ocean liner named after him – the whole works.  The ocean liner, by the way, was given a new name when Petain fell from power.

At 3.30am on Sunday the 22nd June 1941 7 Infantry armies and 4 Panzer Groups rolled into Russia. From Notlrthern to South the frontier was about 1000 miles, this distance grew the further the Germans advanced.
3 million soldiers, 600000 vehicles, 3580 Panzers, 7184 guns and over 1800 aircraft were employed. Nearly every Panxer Division was involved(17 of 20). We forget the Hermans relied on horses for much of their towing and 3/4 million were used.
The invasion force was divided into 3 Armu Groups: North under Leeb, Centre under Bock and South under Von Rundstedt. They were to follow the three traditional invasion routes, heading for Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev. AG Centre was led by two Panzer Groups under the successful and experienced Guderian and Hoth.
The Russians, despite warnings, were totally surprised.

@wittmann:

At 3.30am on Sunday the 22nd June 1941 7 Infantry armies and 4 Panzer Groups rolled into Russia.

Operation Barbarossa was launched just two days short of the anniversary of Napoleon’s own invasion of Russia.  In fairness, Barbarossa had been delayed some five weeks owing to Germany’s invasion of the Balkans…but still, the June 22 date wasn’t a good omen.

I had no idea Napoleon’s invasion was in June too.
Thank you.

@wittmann:

I had no idea Napoleon’s invasion was in June too.
Thank you.

In a book I once read, the author commented on the Barbarossa date by saying that Hitler had a reckless disregard for anniversaries.

Speaking of anniversaries, yesterday I noticed a magazine rack selling copies of a glossy commemorative one-shot magazine marking the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Grr! You know I am not coming. And I should.
I am sure I could get something similar here though.

Re Hitler: Glad to see I am not the only loony obsessed with anniversaries!

Have subsequently read only 15 Panzer Divisions(of 19!)were involved in Barbarossa.
I was sure the 10 Divisions of 1940 were doubled on Hitler’s orders, but with a corresponding loss in Panzer Battalions(fewer tanks per Division).
I hate reading(and remembering)facts wrong or different.
Need to find another source.