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Rotterdam after blitzkrieg
On May 10, 1940 German imperialism launched its invasion of Western Europe with a blitzkrieg assault on Holland, Belgium and northern France that split the armies of the imperialist Allies and forced them into a retreat. The offensive ordered by Hitler put an end to nearly eight months of “phony war” between German and French imperialism, following the Nazi invasion of Poland.
In Holland, German airborne units parachuted onto the outskirts of Rotterdam, while armored forces attacked frontier defenses, breaking through the southern flank and causing disruption and alarm among the Dutch troops. Widespread bombing by the Luftwaffe (German air force) added to the confusion. Holland surrendered within four days. German airborne units parachuting into Belgium managed to neutralize a major fort near the frontier and to secure key bridges that allowed German armored units to cross canals and break through the thin Belgian lines of defense. The Belgian troops sounded a retreat just as French and British forces were arriving to support them, and soon surrendered.
The Nazi offensive in Holland and Belgium served to divert the most mobile Allied forces away from the strategic point of the German offensive, further south, in Luxembourg, where German forces targeted the gap at the end of the uncompleted Maginot line, hoping to drive through it all the way to the English Channel, splitting the Allied forces in half.
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