Pope Pius XII shared intelligence with the Princess of Italy Marie José of Belgium that had been gathered by Vatican agents indicating that Germany was planning an attack on the Low Countries.[1]
Norway Debate: The British House of Commons began a contentious debate on the conduct of the war. Sir Roger Keyes dramatically appeared dressed in full military uniform with six rows of medals and described in detail the government's mishandling of the Norwegian campaign. Leo Amery stood and uttered the famous words, "Somehow or other we must get into the Government men who can match our enemies in fighting spirit, in daring, in resolution and in thirst for victory." After quoting Oliver Cromwell, he continued: "I will quote certain other words. I do it with great reluctance, because I am speaking of those who are old friends and associates of mine, but they are words which, I think, are applicable to the present situation. This is what Cromwell said to the Long Parliament when he thought it was no longer fit to conduct the affairs of the nation: 'You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!'"[10][11]
Almost 5,000 Polish mountain troops arrived at Harstad.[6]
The Norway Debate continued in Parliament. David Lloyd George said that since Chamberlain had asked the nation for sacrifice, "I say solemnly that the Prime Minister should give an example of sacrifice, because there is nothing which can contribute more to victory in this war than that he should sacrifice the seals of office."[12] Chamberlain survived a motion of no confidence by a vote of 281 to 200, but the number of absentions from within his own Conservative Party caused the level of support for his government to appear very weak.[13]
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt learned of the German attack at 11:00 p.m. (23:00) on May 9, Washington time. He phoned his Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau Jr., and told him to freeze Belgian, Dutch, and Luxembourger assets in the United States to keep them out of Germany's hands. Roosevelt could do little more that night, since phone calls to Paris and Brussels were rarely getting through, so he went to bed at 2:40 a.m. (02:40).[18]
The German-controlled Norwegian troopship Nordnorge was sunk at Hemnesberget by British warships.
The colonial governor-general of the Netherlands East Indies declared martial law, ordering the seizure of 19 German cargo ships and the internment of all German nationals.[19]
President Roosevelt added the newly belligerent countries to the list of states whose submarines were prohibited from entering American ports and territorial waters.[21]
British and French troops occupied the Dutch Caribbean possessions of Curaçao and Aruba. President Roosevelt announced that these actions were not contrary to the Monroe Doctrine and allowed them.[21]
The Battle of Sedan began. In this key battle the Germans attempted to capture the important strategic point of Sedan, which would enable them to cross the Meuse and advance into the undefended French countryside.[22]
Child star Shirley Temple, through her mother Gertrude Temple, canceled her movie contract with 20th Century Fox and retired from film acting at age 11.[23]
The Battle of Hannut ended in tactical French victory but strategic and operational German victory.
The Dutch Navy scuttled many ships to prevent capture by German forces. The Germans later salvaged the submarines O 8, O 11, O 25, O 26 and O 27 and put them into service.
French artillery and antitank guns hit Erwin Rommel's tank near the Belgian village of Onhaye. Rommel was wounded in the right cheek by a small shell splinter as the tank slid down a slope and rolled over on its side, but he escaped serious injury.[24][25]
The Netherlands surrendered to Germany at 10:15 a.m.[1]
As a response to the Rotterdam Blitz on the previous day, the first large-scale strategic bombing of World War II targets Gelsenkirchen, followed by Hamburg, Bremen, Cologne, Essen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Hanover during the next days.
The Battle of Sedan ended in German victory. All the bridges across the Meuse were captured, allowing the Wehrmacht to pour across the river and advance toward the English Channel unimpeded.[22]
Churchill sent a message to Roosevelt asking for a one-year loan of forty or fifty older destroyers as well as aircraft, antiaircraft guns and steel.[26]
Following the Battle of Sedan, the XIX Panzer Corps of Heinz Guderian headed west instead of driving south or southwest as the French had expected. The Battle of France entered a new phase, the dash to the English Channel.[27] Guderian's forces reached Marle and Dercy, an advance of 40 miles in a single day.[28]
President Roosevelt sent a message back to Churchill explaining that a loan of destroyers would require an act of Congress, but generally agreeing on the other matters.[26]
Roosevelt made a speech before Congress requesting an immediate appropriation of $896 million for national defense. "Surely, the developments of the past few weeks have made it clear to all of our citizens that the possibility of attack on vital American zones ought to make it essential that we have the physical, the ready ability to meet those attacks and to prevent them from reaching their objectives," the president explained.[29]
Commander Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist ordered the German advance halted and held a tense meeting with Heinz Guderian, berating him for disobeying orders by advancing aggressively instead of waiting to secure his flank. Guderian offered to resign his command and was ordered to turn it over to next senior general in his corps. When Gerd von Rundstedt learned of what had happened he intervened to allow Guderian to keep his post, and a compromise was reached in which Guderian would be allowed to pursue a "reconnaissance in force." Guderian resumed advancing anyway while misleading his superiors about his location.[28][31][self-published source]
Rommel's 7th Panzer Division captured Cambrai through deception. Rommel ordered his tanks and self-propelled guns to drive across the open fields and create as much dust as possible, creating the illusion that the advancing force was much larger than it actually was. The defenders abandoned the town without firing a shot.[25][35]
Winston Churchill made his first broadcast to the British people as Prime Minister. Churchill acknowledged that the Germans were making swift progress and that it would be "foolish ... to disguise the gravity of the hour," but said that only a "very small part" of the French Army had yet been heavily engaged. Churchill explained that he had formed an "Administration of men and women of every Party and of almost every point of view. We have differed and quarreled in the past; but now one bond unites us all - to wage war until victory is won, and never to surrender ourselves to servitude and shame, whatever the cost and the agony may be." The speech was titled Be ye men of valour, after a quotation from 1 Maccabees in the Apocrypha.[37]
Charles Lindbergh made another nationwide radio address in favor of American isolationism. "We need not fear a foreign invasion unless American peoples bring it on through their own quarreling and meddling with affairs abroad," Lindbergh said. "If we desire peace, we need only stop asking for war. No one wishes to attack us, and no one is in a position to do so."[38][39]
The Battle of Arras was fought when Allied forces commanded by Major-General Harold Franklyn mounted a counterattack in northeast France. The Allies made initial gains but then withdrew to avoid being encircled.
Reynaud appeared before his parliament and blamed the military "disaster" on "incredible faults" in the French high command that he said would "be punished." Reynaud dramatically proclaimed, "France cannot die! If a miracle is needed to save France, I believe in miracles because I believe in France!"[40]
Britain passed the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1940 putting banks, munitions production, wages, profits and work conditions under the control of the state.[8]
The Germans captured the Belgian cities of Ghent and Tournai.[1]
In agreement with a request from Gerd von Rundstedt, Hitler ordered Paul von Kleist to halt his panzer advance only 18 miles from Dunkirk, not wanting to risk the tanks getting bogged down in the Flanders marshes. This decision would prove to be a crucial mistake by the German leadership.[42]
Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of the remaining Allied troops in Norway, was authorized.
Assailants working for the Soviet Union attacked Leon Trotsky at his compound in Coyoacán, Mexico. Several bombs were detonated and hundreds of machine gun rounds were fired at the bedroom, causing such extensive damage that the attackers left assuming that Trotsky was dead. However, he and wife Natalia had taken cover on the floor beside his bed and escaped serious injury.[43][44]
On Empire Day, King George VI addressed his subjects by radio, saying, "The decisive struggle is now upon us ... Let no one be mistaken; it is not mere territorial conquest that our enemies are seeking. It is the overthrow, complete and final, of this Empire and of everything for which it stands, and after that the conquest of the world. And if their will prevails they will bring to its accomplishment all the hatred and cruelty which they have already displayed."[45]
The British cruiser Curlew was sunk in Ofotfjord by a German air attack.
Benito Mussolini met with Army Chief of Staff Pietro Badoglio and Air Marshal Italo Balbo in Rome. Mussolini told them that Italy would have to enter the war soon if it wanted a place at the peace conference table when the spoils were divided up. Badoglio tactfully tried to explain that Italy was still unprepared for war, pointing out that there were not even enough shirts for all the soldiers. Mussolini snapped back, "History cannot be reckoned by the number of shirts." He set June 5 as the date for the Italian invasion of France.[25]
U.S. President Roosevelt gave a fireside chat titled "On National Defense". The president reviewed the grave international situation and then recited many facts and figures to show that America was much better prepared for war than it was at the time he took office in 1933, while assuring the American people that "There is nothing in our present emergency to justify a retreat from any of our social objectives."[48]
Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover made a radio speech titled "We Have No Good Reason to be Discouraged or Fearful," arguing in favor of a strong national defense program. "It can be argued that warmakers from overseas have no reason or intention to attack the Western Hemisphere," Hoover said. "Reasons can be advanced that this war cannot reach American shores. Whatever the outcome in Europe may be, or whatever the intentions of European warmakers may be, that is not the problem I wish to discuss. What America must have is such defenses that no European nation will even think about crossing this three thousand miles of ocean at all. We must make sure that no such dangerous thoughts will be generated in their minds. We want a sign of 'Keep Off the Grass' with a fierce dog plainly in sight."[50]
King Leopold III of Belgium ordered the Belgian Army to cease fighting.[16]
The Wormhoudt massacre (or Wormhout Massacre) took place with the mass murder of 80 British and French POWs by Waffen-SS soldiers from the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler during the Battle of France in May 1940.
Belgium surrendered unconditionally to Germany at 4 a.m. A bad-tempered Paul Reynaud announced in a radio address that day that "France can no longer count on the Belgian Army" and said the surrender had been made without consulting the British or French governments.[51]
In the wake of the previous day's losses, the British Admiralty ordered all modern destroyers to depart Dunkirk and leave 18 older destroyers to continue the evacuation. A total of 53,823 were evacuated on this day.[1]
The French destroyer Bourrasque was damaged by a mine off Nieuwpoort, Belgium and finished off by German artillery fire.
German submarines U-100 and U-123 were commissioned.
Died:Ronald Cartland, 33, second British Member of Parliament killed in World War II (killed during retreat to Dunkirk)
Poor weather over Dunkirk allowed the British to conduct the day's evacuations with reduced fear of German air attacks. This day was the high point of the evacuation, with a total of 68,014 rescued.[1]
French destroyer Siroco was sunk in the North Sea by German S-boats and aircraft.
The German submarine U-13 was depth charged and sunk in the North Sea.
The Anglo-French Supreme War Council had another meeting in Paris. Reynaud argued with Churchill over the disparity in numbers between the British and French troops being evacuated at Dunkirk.[52]
President Roosevelt sent a written message to Congress asking for an additional $1.3 billion to accelerate military production and training. He also requested that Congress pass a law before it adjourned granting the president authority to "call into active service such portion of the National Guard as may deemed necessary to maintain our position of neutrality and to safeguard the national defense, this to include authority to call into active service the necessary Reserve personnel."[16][53]
Died:Arnold Wilson, 55, third British MP killed in World War II (plane crash near Dunkirk)
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^Collins, Sandra. "Tokyo/Helsinki 1940." Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement. Ed. John E. Findling and Kimberley D. Pelle. Greenwood Publishing, 2004. p. 121. ISBN978-0-313-32278-5.
^ abLewin, Eyal (2012). National Resilience During War: Refining the Decision-making Model. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. p. 136. ISBN978-0-7391-7458-6.
^Frieser, Karl-Heinz (2005). The Blitzkrieg Legend. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-1-61251-358-4.
^ abcdMitcham, Samuel W. Jr. (2009). Triumphant Fox: Erwin Rommel and the Rise of the Afrika Korps. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN978-0-8117-5058-5.
^Murphy, John F., Jr. "Trotsky Leon (1879–1940)." Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right, Volume 1: The Left Ed. Rodney P. Carlisle. Sage Publications, 2005. p. 456. ISBN978-1-4522-6531-5.
^Julicher, Peter (2015). "Enemies of the People" Under the Soviets: A History of Repression and Its Consequences. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 93. ISBN978-0-7864-9671-6.
^Boden, Michael A. "Narvik, Allied Landings and Evacuation." Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History. Ed. David T. Zabecki. ABC-CLIO, 2014. p. 899. ISBN978-1-59884-981-3.