World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » Events
• » 14 May 1940

• Anthony Eden, UK Secretary of State for War, called for volunteers to create the Local Defense Volunteers (LDV); more than 250,000 enrolled within the first 24 hours. . ww2dbase [TH]
• General Rudolf Schmidt's German 9th Panzer Corps threatened the Dutch city of Rotterdam with aerial bombardment, and the Dutch garrison surrendered; some Luftwaffe aircraft, however, did not get the order to abort; 95 tons of bombs were dropped on Rotterdam, killing 1,000 civilians and rendering 85,000 homeless. Elsewhere in the Netherlands, Dutch Commander-in-Chief General Winkelman ordered his forces to cease fighting as the situation became hopeless. In Belgium, Erwin Rommel personally led a 30-tank charge near Dinant, pushing back French and Belgian forces three miles. Near Sedan, France, Heinz Guderian's three armored divisions crossed the Meuse River. In central Belium, German Gernal Erich Hoepner sent 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions in pursuit of the French defeated at the Battle of Hannut in the previous two days, but French anti-tank artillery fire destroyed many pursuers. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | TH]
• The British Admiralty required the owner of large boats to send in specifications within two weeks. ww2dbase [TH]
• Werner Mölders was shot down over Sedan, France, but was able to bail out to safety. ww2dbase [Werner Mölders | CPC]

• Marcel Albert, flying a D.520 fighter, shot down a Do 17 bomber and claimed a Bf 109 fighter later on the same day. ww2dbase [Champagne-Ardenne | CPC]

• Winston Churchill told American Ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph Kennedy that even if Britain was to be conquered by Germany, the British government would continue the fight from Canada with the Royal Navy. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | London, England | CPC]

14 May 1940 Interactive Map