The breakthrough of Sedan is a major and decisive offensive during the Second World War, launched on May 10, 1940 by the Wehrmacht from Germany crossing Luxembourg and Belgium (Luxembourg Province) towards Sedan; German troops cross the Ardennes massif, deemed impassable by the French General Staff,
Originally, the OKW, Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Wehrmacht), envisaged an attack from the western front by advocating a strategy of enveloping the Allied armies from the north; in a way a revival of the Schlieffen plan of 1914 which would have led a powerful army group B, of Gene
The phoney war (in English phoney war, false war; in German Sitzkrieg, seated war) is the period of the Second World War in the European theater between the declaration of war by France and the United Kingdom ( the Allies) to Nazi Germany on September 3, 1939 and the latters invasion of France, Belg
LIST OF FRENCH PILOTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE BATTLE OF ENGLAND (Assigned between September 9 and October 31, 1940) Didier Beghin:assigned to 245 squadron on October 15, 1940. Killed on November 26, 1944 over Holland . Companion of the Liberation. Pierre Blaize:squadron 111. Killed in aerial o
NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF HUMAN CONFLICT HAVE SO MANY MEN HAVE SO FEW OF THEM.” With this famous sentence pronounced on August 20, 1940, in the House of Commons, Winston Churchill paid tribute to the fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force who distinguished themselves during the summer and autumn of 1
After a 4-day truce, during which the General Staff of the Luffwaffe reconsidered its plans, the assault resumed on the 24th and continued until September 7, the German bombers now concentrating their efforts on vital objectives, such as the airfields in Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Fighter Command saw
To attack England, the Luftwaffe brought together 1,800 bombers and 1,000 fighters in 3 air fleets:Luftwaffe V, based in Norway (to launch diversionary operations in the northeast), Luftwaffe II, based in Holland , in Belgium and France north of the Seine, and the Luftwaffe III, based in Brittany an
In July 1940, Great Britain and Germany came face to face. The armistice signed by the French government does not only deprive England of an ally which had undertaken, 3 months before, not to conclude any separate agreement with the Reich, it gives to the Kriegsmarine, at the time when it begins to
Bastogne had held out in terrible circumstances, and during the afternoon of the 26th the valiant American garrison was about to be relieved. But first, the Germans made a last desperate effort that looked more like a gesture of desperation. A Gpt. of the 26th Volksgrenadier Division, supported by
Kinnard played a very significant role in the battle; he realized in particular that the Div. had spread too far, especially to the west. This had resulted in making coordination difficult, especially between paratroopers and armored units. On the 24th, therefore, Kinnard ordered a tightening of the
Realizing that this incident could be very morale-boosting if handled skillfully, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Danahy, Chief of Intelligence at Divisional Headquarters, wrote in his daily report that The generals response, under a sarcastic appearance of humorous patience, had been energetically negative
Bastogne encircledDuring the course of the 20th, the battle for the city increased in intensity with simultaneous attacks by Panzer Le, of the 26th Volksgrenadier Division. None of them succeeded, but their increase in power hinted at what was to follow. At the evening, the two Div. Enemies had surr
During the days of the 20th and 21st, the Germans continued the investment of Bastogne by launching a whole series of attacks gradually increasing in intensity. McAuliffes men succeeded in repelling them, however, and a defensive perimeter gradually formed around the town at a distance of about 2,75
The 501st Reg., meanwhile, had moved and encountered the enemy at Neffe, about 1,800 m east of Bastogne. Confused fighting raged throughout the day as the paratroopers sought to occupy good defensive positions, the outposts of the Div. tanks retreated and the Germans tried to get through. There were
The first to go into action was the 501st Regt. of Inf. Para, of Lieutenant-Colonel Julian Ewell, who was ordered on the 18th to leave Bastogne the following day at 06:00, to try to make contact with American outposts in the east and deal with the situation. These outposts, belonging to the 9th an
Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, commanding the 12th Army Group, in whose sector the offensive had begun, urgently sent two Div. tanks to stem the enemy invasion and, at the same time, General Eisenhower, commander of the Allied forces in Western Europe, released from its reserves the XVIII Airborne
During their short history, airborne forces around the world have rightly earned a reputation as elite troops, and the part of that reputation that is due to defensive operations carried out under the worst possible conditions is not thin. Such were the magnificent efforts deployed at Cassino by the
1944 August 25-27 :the 12th and 30th British corps cross the SeineAugust 29 :the 30th corps begins its march on Belgium, but the opposition of the Germans limits its advance to 30 kilometers.August 30 :the 30th corps is ordered to seize the bridges near Amiens.August 31 :at 11 oclock, all the bridg
Still, Hackett had done what he could to try to put some order in this situation and when, at last, Urquhart, having managed to escape from his attic, came to resume his post, he too could not manage to put an end to the messFrosts men, he was told, bravely continued their fight on the bridge in the
The advance on Arnhem could therefore not begin before 2.45 p.m. It was led by the 2nd Battalion of General Lathburys 1st Parachute Brigade.Lieutenant-Colonel Frost, who commanded the battalion, was struck by the large number of Dutch men, women and children who gathered around his troops, who were
In 1967, the Neuwirth law legalized contraception, but access to it remained difficult. On 27 May 1974, Valéry Giscard dEstaing was elected President of the Republic. From the start of his mandate, he wanted to carry out societal reforms. Abortion is illegal in France. Women who terminate pregnancy
The end of the Christian rule over the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire marks the end of the Middle Ages in the history of Europe and the end of the Dark Ages in Europe and the beginning of a new era of knowledge and consciousness. It was as if Europe had woken up from its slumber with a great st
In fact, his division had not taken part in the operations of Normandy; it had remained in reserve in England. For the past three months, he and his men had been planning a number of operations that had never taken place, either becauseweather conditions or because they had been canceled as being im
Pacification was one of the major euphemisms used by the Americans and the South Vietnamese to cover various activities related to security, counterintelligence, the war economy, and the treatment of civilians. According to the process of pacification , two were the basic tactics of the government f