German invasion of Luxembourg
German invasion of Luxembourg | |||||||||
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Part of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries in World War II | |||||||||
German troops crossing into Luxembourg through the Schuster Line | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Luxembourg France Air Supported by: United Kingdom | Germany | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Pierre Dupong Émile Speller Robert Petiet Arthur Barratt | Heinz Guderian | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
Luxembourg: 425 soldiers 246 gendarmes France: 18,000 soldiers United Kingdom: No. 226 Sqdn. RAF |
50,000 soldiers 600 tanks | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Luxembourg: 7 wounded 76 captured France: 5 killed United Kingdom: 1 killed 2 captured 1 aircraft destroyed |
36 killed 52 wounded |
The German invasion of Luxembourg was part of
Background
On 1 September 1939
At noon on 1 September
On 14 September the volunteer corps was bolstered by the addition of a 125-strong auxiliary unit.
After several false alarms in the spring of 1940, the probability of a military conflict between Germany and France grew. Germany stopped the export of
Prelude
On the evening of 8 May, the Grand Ducal Government ordered for the first time that all doors of the Schuster Line be closed at 11:00 and remain so regardless of circumstance until 06:00 the following morning. Throughout the day Luxembourgish authorities witnessed much less activity on the far side of the border and made no reports of tank or machine gun movements.[10] On the afternoon of 9 May, a French intelligence officer stationed in Clervaux witnessed German troops preparing pontoon bridges in the Sauer. He attempted in vain to contact Captain Archen, and resorted to making a direct phone call to his superiors at Longwy.[14] Also that day a German national working in Luxembourg as a gardener and a member of the German fifth column warned his Luxembourgish employer, Carlo Tuck, that an invasion was impending. Tuck passed the warning on to government officials.[11] Late that evening, the Grand Ducal government came into possession of a document from a German divisional command. Dated 23 April 1940, it detailed the division's chief of staff's orders to various units to occupy strategic points within the country.[16] The Grand Ducal government put all border posts and Grand Ducal Gendarmerie stations on full alert. In Luxembourg City, gendarmes mobilised to defend public buildings and dispatched vehicle patrols to arrest fifth columnists. The economic councillor and the chancellor of the German legation were detained for questioning regarding allegations that they had used legation cars to organise subversive activities within the country. Since an invasion had not yet occurred they still enjoyed diplomatic privilege and the police were forced to release them.[8] One group of fifth columnists was arrested while attempting to reach the legation.[10] Meanwhile, Captain Archen had received his subordinate's report, but by that point, he had been told by informants in the Gendarmerie that shots had been exchanged with German operatives at a remote farm near the Moselle. At 11:45 on 9 May he radioed Longwy: "Reports of important German troop movements on the German-Luxembourg frontier." Throughout the night his messages became more and more frantic. Two Luxembourgish customs officials at Wormeldange heard horses and soldiers across the Moselle, but were unable to make out the Germans' activities due to heavy fog.[14]
At around midnight, Captain Stein, Minister of Justice
The steel doors of the Schuster Line were ordered closed on 10 May 1940 at 03:15, following reports of movement of German troops on the east side of the border rivers Our, Sauer, and Moselle.[12] At 03:30 Luxembourgish authorities released interned French pilots and German deserters.[10] The Royal Family was evacuated from its residence in Colmar-Berg to the Grand Ducal palace in Luxembourg City.[20] Around 30 minutes later, at dawn, German planes were spotted flying over Luxembourg City towards Belgium.[10]
Invasion
The German invasion began at 04:35 when the
Captain Archen repeatedly alerted his superiors at Longwy of the invasion, but his reports never reached the 3rd Army at Metz. General Charles Condé, the army's commander, was unclear about the situation and at 05:30 dispatched aerial reconnaissance units to investigate. At 06:00 the French 3rd Light Cavalry Division was ordered to intervene.[15]
Telephone and radio messages from the border posts to the Gendarmerie and Volunteer Corps headquarters informed the Luxembourgish government and Grand Ducal court of the invasion.
Following consultation with her ministers, Grand Duchess Charlotte decided to abandon the palace. Accompanied by her husband,
Charlotte's party was able to link up with the government motorcade at Longwy.[24] Meanwhile, Jean's party's car was strafed by a German aircraft while stopped at a cafe.[11] Near Esch, the group was delayed by a German roadblock, and they escaped when their chauffeur drove straight through the soldiers. The party ultimately joined Charlotte and the Grand Ducal government at Sainte-Menehould.[24]
At 08:00, elements of the French 3rd Light Cavalry Division under General Petiet, supported by the 1st Spahi Brigade under Colonel Jouffault and the 2nd company of the 5th Armoured Battalion, crossed the southern border to conduct a probe of German forces; these units later retreated behind the
The Grand Ducal Gendarmerie resisted the German troops, but to little avail; the capital city was occupied before noon. The Gendarmerie chain of command in the south was thrown into disarray by the influx of refugees and the arrival of German and French troops. Most gendarmes escorted refugees over the border, while some abandoned their posts and fled to France.[17] Total Luxembourgish casualties amounted to six gendarmes and one soldier wounded, while 22 soldiers (six officers and 16 non-commissioned officers) and 54 gendarmes were captured.[19]
By the evening of 10 May 1940, most of the country, with the exception of the south, was occupied by German forces. More than 90,000 civilians fled from the
Aftermath
On 11 May the Grand Ducal government reached Paris and installed itself in the Luxembourg legation. Fearing German aerial attack and finding the small facilities unsuitable, the government moved further south, first to Fontainebleau, and then Poitiers.[11] It later moved to Portugal and the United Kingdom, before finally settling in Canada for the duration of the war. In exile, Charlotte became an important symbol of national unity. Her eldest son and heir, Jean, volunteered for the British Army in 1942. The only official representative left behind was Albert Wehrer , head of the Ministry of State Affairs, as well as the 41 deputies.
By the end of May Wehrer and several high ranking functionaries established a provisional "Administrative Commission" to govern Luxembourg in lieu of the Grand Ducal family and the other ministers. Wehrer retained the Ministry of State Affairs and assumed responsibility for Foreign Relations and Justice; Jean Metzdorf held the portfolios for Interior, Transportation, and Public Works; Joseph Carmes managed Finance, Labour, and Public Health; Louis Simmer oversaw Education, and Mathias Pütz directed Agriculture, Viticulture, Commerce, and Industry.[27]
In the days after the invasion Luxembourgish officers walked about the capital freely, though the regular soldiers were mostly confined to their barracks.[28] Colonel Speller was briefly incarcerated by the Gestapo, though he was later released under close supervision.[29]
Notes
- ^ The Corps des Gendarmes et Volontaires was under the ceremonial command of Prince Felix, but actual control of the unit rested with Major Speller.[2]
- ^ Archen had been operating in Luxembourg since May 1936.[13]
- ^ The Belgian Press Association reported in 1941 that one of these gendarmes was killed and the other severely wounded,[10] through a 1948 war memorial commemoration printed in the Grand Duché de Luxembourg Ministére D'État Bulletin D'Information stated that no gendarmes or soldiers were killed during the invasion.[19]
Citations
- ^ Waller 2012, p. 11.
- ^ a b Thomas 2014, pp. 15–16.
- ^ a b Waller 2012, p. 23.
- ^ "Luxembourg Army History". National Museum of Military History Diekirch. Musée national d'histoire militaire. Archived from the original on 22 August 2006. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
- ^ Melchers 1979, p. 258.
- ^ Thomas 2014, p. 15.
- ^ Melchers 1979, pp. 258–259.
- ^ a b Government of Luxembourg 1942, p. 36.
- ^ Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg. p. 24.
- ^ a b c d e f g Belgium 1941, p. 100.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ramalho, Margarida de Magalhães (23 May 2019). "A fuga para a liberdade da família grã-ducal". Contacto (in Portuguese). Retrieved 29 March 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Horne, Alistair, To Lose a Battle, p.258-264
- ^ Melchers 1979, p. 259.
- ^ a b c d May 2015, pp. 3–4.
- ^ a b Kaufmann & Kaufmann 2007, p. 176.
- ^ Government of Luxembourg 1942, p. 34.
- ^ a b Artuso 2015, pp. 138–139.
- ^ Rothbrust 1990, p. 47.
- ^ a b "Inauguration du Monument érigé à la Mémoire des Morts de la Force Armée de la guerre de 1940-1945" (PDF). Grand Duché de Luxembourg Ministére D'État Bulletin D'Information (in French). Vol. 4, no. 10. Luxembourg: Service information et presse. 31 October 1948. p. 147.
- ^ a b c d e Government of Luxembourg 1942, p. 37.
- ^ Spiller 1992, p. 234.
- ^ Waller 2012, p. 29.
- ^ Grand Duché de Luxembourg Ministére D'État Bulletin D'Information (PDF) (in French). Service information et presse. 1996. p. 74. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-13. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- ^ a b Government of Luxembourg 1942, p. 38.
- ^ Raths 2008, p. 7.
- ^ "75 Jahre danach!". National Museum of Military History Diekirch (in German). Musée National d'Histoire Militaire. 2 July 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
- ^ Waller 2012, p. 58.
- ^ Waller 2012, p. 42.
- ^ "Décès du Colonel E. Speller, Aide de Camp de S. A. R. Madame la Grande-Duchesse de Luxembourg" (PDF). Grand Duché de Luxembourg Ministére D'État Bulletin D'Information (in French). Vol. 8, no. 12. Luxembourg: Service information et presse. 29 February 1952. p. 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
References
- Artuso, Vincent (9 February 2015). "LA « QUESTION JUIVE » AU LUXEMBOURG (1933-1941) L'ETAT LUXEMBOURGEOIS FACE AUX PERSECUTIONS ANTISEMITES NAZIES" (PDF). Le Gouvernement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg (in French). University of Luxembourg. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- Belgium. Vol. 1. Belgian Press Association, Incorporated. 1941. OCLC 2258244.
- Government of Luxembourg (1942). Luxembourg and the German Invasion, Before and After. London: Hutchinson & Co. OCLC 902302461.
- Kaufmann, J. E.; Kaufmann, H. W. (2007). Hitler's Blitzkrieg Campaigns: The Invasion And Defense Of Western Europe, 1939-1940. Da Capo Press. ]
- May, Ernest R. (2015). Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France. Hill and Wang. ISBN 9781466894280.
- Melchers, Emile Théodore (1979). Kriegsschauplatz Luxemburg: August 1914, Mai 1940 (in German) (4th ed.). Luxembourg: Sankt-Paulus-Druckerei. OCLC 251752603.
- OCLC 723898422.
- Rothbrust, Florian K. (1990). Guderian's XIX Panzer Corps and the Battle of France: Breakthrough in the Ardennes, May 1940. Praeger. ISBN 9780275934736.
- Schaack, Albert (1 January 2017). "L' Abwehr et l'invasion allemande du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg". Hémecht (in French). 69 (1).
- Spiller, Roger J., ed. (1992). Combined Arms in Battle Since 1939. Fort Leavenworth: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Press. OCLC 25629732.
- Thomas, Nigel (2014). Hitler's Blitzkrieg Enemies 1940: Denmark, Norway, Netherlands & Belgium (illustrated ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781782005971.
- Waller, George Platt (2012). Fletcher, Willard Allen; Fletcher, Jean Tucker (eds.). Defiant Diplomat George Platt Waller: American Consul in Nazi-occupied Luxembourg, 1939-1941 (reprint ed.). Lexington Books. ISBN 9781611493986.
Further reading
- Koch-Kent, Henri (1971). 10 Mai 1940 en Luxembourg: Témoignages et Documents. Luxembourg. )
- Artuso, Vincent (2013). La collaboration au Luxembourg durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale (1940-1945) : Accommodation, Adaptation, Assimilation. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Edition. ISBN 9783631632567.