Diary May 9, 1940

War Diary, 05-1940, Diary WW2, Year 1940 / 1 minute of reading

Fueherhauptquartier Felsennest — Short meeting at Hitler’s headquarters ‘Felsennest’ at Bad Muenstereifel on the river Erft.

Diary for Thursday, May 9, 1940:

Western Front

At noon Hitler orders ‘Gelb’ offensive to begin at 5.35 a.m. on May 10. At 9 a.m. code word ‘Danzig’ transmitted to German commanders on Western Front. Hitler leaves Berlin in special train for his forward headquarter near Muenstereifel on Belgian border.

Home Fronts

France: CABINET CRISIS. Reynaud denounces CinC General Gamelin for his failure to defeat German invasion of Norway and demands appointment of new CinC. Minister of Defense Daladier defends Gamelin. Reynaud offers to resign but swears his colleagues to secrecy.

Sea War

Cruiser Birmingham and 7 destroyers attacked in Skagerrak by 4 E-boats (MTBs): S31 hits Kelly (Commanded by Lord Mountbatten), which has to be towed to Newcastle.
French submarine Doris sunk by German U-boat U-9 off Holland.

Air War

German aircraft drop 100 mines off Dutch and Belgian ports (night 9-10).

Secret War

Colonnel Oster from German Abwehr tells Dutch Colonel Sas that German attack in the West will begin at dawn May 10.
French Deuxieme Bureau reports no signs of ‘abnormal German movements‘ beyond frontiers of Holland and Belgium.

About The Author

Kretaner

My name is Norman 'Kretaner' and since my childhood I am interested in history and strategy games. Later, I have learned programming and the development of computer games, and finally with the Internet, also web design. I'm in the fortunate position to combine all my interests with my work and to live on a place of my choice, on Crete. All information, figures, specifications and statistics used here had been compiled from a variety of sources and the large, over decades collected, library of the author about military history, WW2 and weapons.