Germany invades Belgium and Netherlands

The Low Countries maintained their neutrality and hoped to avoid the fate that befell Norway and Denmark. However, at approx. 3:00 a.m. on May 10, 1940, the Germans launched a Blitzkrieg on the Belgian frontier and, on the pretext that Britain and France were planning to invade Germany via Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, invaded the Low Countries. Belgium presented Germany with a fiercely worded protest: “All facts in the possession of the Belgian government indicate that the offensive was planned in advance.” The Netherlands were attacked mainly by air. As negotiations for the surrender of the Dutch were under way, Hitler had Rotterdam bombed�not for any military reason but to express the doctrine of intimidation: Terror impairs the will to resist. The bombardments leveled the center of Rotterdam and killed more than 800 people. The Germans’ main intention in this invasion was to enhance their ability to threaten France.