The German Invasion of Western Europe, 1940
After the German occupation of Poland, nothing much happened for month after month. War did not seem like war. A "phoney war," the
British called it. But in the spring of 1940 Hitler's forces struck
again, and by June he held Europe in his grasp.
Germany moved suddenly against Denmark and Norway on April 7. Tiny
Denmark surrendered under the threat that its capital of Copenhagen
would be bombed. The Norwegians, with the help of twelve thousand
British and French troops, held out until early June.
On May 10, the German forces launched a devastating attack on France,
the Netherlands and Belgium. German armoured , closely
supported by , hit west through the forested, hilly
Ardennes region of eastern Belgium, bypassing the fixed concrete,
gun and minefield defences of the Maginot Line on France's eastern
frontier. Reaching the English Channel on May 21, the Germans cut
off British soldiers from most of the French armies. Between May 26
and June 4, the British Royal Navy and an armada of British boats
operated by heroic citizens made possible the escape of more than a
quarter million British and French soldiers (but not their
equipment) from Dunkirk. Italy declared war and attacked France on
June 12. Paris fell to the Germans two days later. With more than
ninety thousand killed, the French surrendered on June 22.
Canada was part of the tragic story. No. 242 (Canadian)
partially made up of Canadian pilots in the , flew its Hawker
Hurricane fighters from French airfields. Men of 1st Canadian
landed in France on June 13, but never saw action. They
managed to get out with most of their equipment. Three Canadian
destroyers helped evacuate soldiers from the French coast, and HMCS
Fraser was lost along with 47 of her crew and at least 19 British
soldiers when she was accidentally sliced in half during the night
by a British cruiser.
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