page_title: Battle of France
section_title: Invasion of the Netherlands
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of France / Battle / Northern front / Invasion of the Netherlands
caption_attribution_description: "The German ultimatum ordering the Dutch commander of Rotterdam to cease fire was delivered to him at 10:30h on 14 May 1940. At 13:22h, German bombers set the whole inner city of Rotterdam ablaze, killing 814 of its inhabitants." The photo was taken after the removal of all debris. Nederlands: Op 14 mei 1940 rond 13.30 uur voerden de Duitsers in het kader van de aanval op Nederland een bombardement op Rotterdam uit. Dit om de eis tot overgave kracht bij te zetten. Foto van de schade met daarop de ruïne van de Laurenskerk in Rotterdam. Deutsch: Rotterdam 1940 nach der Zerstörung und Enttrümmerung Español: "Rotterdam después del bombardeo" Svenska: Rotterdams centrum efter bombningen. Den svårt skadade Laurenskerk (nu restaurerad) står som den enda återstånde av Rotterdams medeltida byggnader. Français&#160;: Centre-ville de Rotterdam après le bombardement allemand de mai 1940. Les décombres avaient déjà été déblayés au moment où la photo fut prise. L'église Saint-Laurent (Laurenskerk) a été restaurée. Română: Rotterdam după bombardamentul german din mai 1940
context_page_description: The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries during the Second World War. On 3 September 1939 France had declared war on Germany, following the German invasion of Poland. In early September 1939, France began the limited Saar Offensive. By mid-October, the French had withdrawn to their start lines. In six weeks from 10 May 1940, German forces defeated Allied forces by mobile operations, conquering France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, ending land operations on the Western Front until the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940.
  In Fall Gelb, German armoured units made a surprise push through the Ardennes, and then along the Somme valley, cutting off and surrounding the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium to meet the expected German invasion. British, Belgian and French forces were pushed back to the sea by the German armies and the British evacuated the British Expeditionary Force, French and Belgian troops from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo.
  German forces began Fall Rot on 5 June.
context_section_description: The Luftwaffe effort over the Netherlands comprised 247 medium bombers, 147 fighters, 424 Junkers Ju 52 transports and 12 Heinkel He 59 seaplanes. The Dutch Air Force, (Militaire Luchtvaartafdeling, ML), had a strength of 144 combat aircraft, half of which were destroyed on the first day. The remainder of the ML was dispersed and accounted for only a handful of Luftwaffe aircraft shot down. The ML managed 332 sorties, losing 110 aircraft. The German 18th Army captured bridges during the Battle of Rotterdam, bypassing the New Water Line from the south and penetrating Fortress Holland. An operation organised separately by the Luftwaffe, the Battle for The Hague, failed. Airfields around (Ypenburg, Ockenburg and Valkenburg) were captured in a costly victory, with many transport aircraft lost but the Dutch army re-captured the airfields by the end of the day. Ninety-six aircraft in all were lost to Dutch artillery-fire. Luftwaffe Transportgruppen operations had cost 125 Ju 52s destroyed and 47 damaged, a 50 percent loss. The airborne operation also cost 50 percent of the German paratroopers: 4,000 men, including 20 percent of its NCOs and 42 percent of its officers; of these casualties, 1,200 were made prisoners of war and evacuated to Britain.
  The French Seventh Army failed to block the German armoured reinforcements from the 9th Panzer Division, which reached Rotterdam on 13 May. That same day in the east, following the Battle of the Grebbeberg, in which a Dutch counter-attack to contain a German breach failed, the Dutch retreated from the Grebbe line to the New Water Line. The Dutch Army, still largely intact, surrendered in the evening of 14 May after the Bombing of Rotterdam by Heinkel He 111 medium bombers of Kampfgeschwader 54 (Bomber Wing 54) an act which has remained controversial. The Dutch Army considered its strategic situation to have become hopeless and feared further destruction of Dutch cities. The capitulation document was signed on 15 May but Dutch forces continued fighting in the Battle of Zeeland with Seventh Army and in the colonies. Queen Wilhelmina established a government in exile in Britain. Dutch casualties amounted to 2,157 army, 75 air force and 125 Navy personnel; 2,559 civilians were also killed.
caption: Rotterdam city centre after the bombing
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