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The invasion of Belgium or Belgian campaign[2] (10–28 May 1940), often referred to within Belgium as the 18 Days' Campaign (French: Campagne des 18 jours; Dutch: Achttiendaagse Veldtocht), formed part of the larger Battle of France, an offensive campaign by Germany during the Second World War.
In the years following the Spanish Civil War, Hitler gave several possible motives for German involvement. Among these were the distraction it provided from German re-militarisation; the prevention of the spread of communism to Western Europe; the creation of a state friendly to Germany to disrupt Britain and France; and the possibilities for economic expansion. [3]
When France and Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, Belgium remained strictly neutral while mobilising its reserves. [4] Without warning, the Germans invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940. During the Battle of Belgium, the Belgian army was pushed back into a pocket in the northwest of Belgium and surrendered on 28 May. [5]
Belgium tried to pursue a policy of unaligned neutrality before the war, but on May 10, 1940, the country was invaded by German forces. In the initial attacks, the fortifications which had been constructed to protect the borders like Fort Eben-Emael and the K-W Line were captured or bypassed by German forces.
During World War II, the Spanish State under Francisco Franco espoused neutrality as its official wartime policy. This neutrality wavered at times, and "strict neutrality" gave way to "non-belligerence" after the Fall of France in June 1940. Franco wrote to Adolf Hitler offering to join the war on 19 June 1940 in exchange for help building ...
200,000 Belgian military prisoners of war, who had been captured in 1940, were also transported to Germany. [27] Most were used as forced labour and paid only a nominal sum. [46] About 80,000 (mainly Flemish) prisoners were returned to Belgium between late 1940 and 1941, [27] but many remained in captivity until the end of the war. They were ...
Gibraltar portal. v. t. e. Operation Felix (German: Unternehmen Felix) was the codename for a proposed German Wehrmacht campaign to cross into Spain and to seize Gibraltar early in the Second World War. The planned operation presupposed the co-operation of the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco; it did not occur chiefly because of Franco's ...
A retractable gun turret at Fort Ében-Émael. On 10 May 1940, Germany launched Fall Gelb ("Plan Yellow"), the invasion of the Low Countries and France. By attacking through the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium, the German Oberkommando der Wehrmacht planned to outflank the Maginot Line, and advance through southern Belgium and into northern France, cutting off the British Expeditionary ...