Western Front
Germans enter Brussels. Colonel de Gaulle‘s 4th Armored Division counter-attacks Guderian‘s XIX Panzer Corps at Montcornet, but is repulsed. General von Kleist reprimands Guderian for the ‘excessive’ speed and extent of his advance ! Guderian immediately resigns; he is persuaded to reverse his decision later in evening by List and Rundstedt.
XVI and XXXIX Panzer Corps detached from German 6th Army in Belgium and sent south to Meuse sector.
Air War
German bombers destroy Middelburg on Walcheren (Holland).
Sea War
Cruiser HMS Effingham hits uncharted rocks off Bodo (Norway) and capsizes (finally scuttled, May 21).
German aircraft commence minelaying operations outside French Channel ports, from Le Havre to Dunkirk (night May 17-18).
Venezuelan Navy seizes two German merchant ships at Maracaibo to prevent them leaving and causing diplomatic incidents.
