Mechelen incident
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The Mechelen incident of 10 January 1940, also known as the Mechelen affair, took place in Belgium during the Phoney War in the first stages of World War II. A German aircraft with an officer on board
A Messerschmitt Bf.108, the type of aircraft that Erich Hoenmanns flew.
The location of the crash site
Today, a monument commemorates the crash
Original German plans captured at Maasmechelen, now in the collection of the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels
Battle of France
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The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of the Low Countries and France during the Second World War. The plan for the invasion of the Low Countries and France w
Mechelen incident
…and France. When the real invasion came, on 10 May 1940, the Germans had fundamentally changed their strategy and this change resulted in the swift Fall of France, whereas arguably even a partial German victory would have been far from certain if the original plan had been followed. Determining the exact nature…
The Withdrawal from Dunkirk, June 1940 by Charles Cundall
French soldiers in underground bunkers on the Maginot Line during the Phoney War
French soldier in the German village of Lauterbach in Saarland
The British Army in France, 22 January 1940