WWII On This Day: May 12

German troops in northern France during the campaign of 1940. — Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-299-1808-10A · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source

May 12, 1940 · 12:00 Battle of France 1940

French and German armoured forces fight in Belgium

French mechanised divisions met German panzer formations around Hannut from 12 May and then withdrew toward the prepared Gembloux position after completing their delaying mission. Somua S35 and Hotchkiss tanks fought effectively in direct engagements, and French artillery helped hold the Gembloux line against attacks on 14–15 May. The battle consumed armour and attention on both sides. The operational centre had shifted south to the Meuse. As Ninth Army and Second Army sectors came under pressure, the strong French position around Gembloux became part of a wider withdrawal from Belgium.

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May 12, 1940 · 18:00 Battle of France 1940

The panzer columns reach the Meuse approaches

German armoured and motorised columns emerged from the Ardennes on 12 May after a congested march through Luxembourg and the forest road network, reaching the Meuse from Sedan north toward Dinant. French air and ground reconnaissance had reported heavy traffic, yet the scale and destination of the concentration developed faster than the reserve system behind the river could respond. The German timetable now compressed approach and assault into a single sequence. Infantry, engineers, artillery and Luftwaffe units prepared crossings while panzer formations waited for bridges that could carry tanks and…

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The synthetic-oil plant at Brüx photographed minutes before Eighth Air Force heavy bombers attacked it on 12 May 1944. War Department, Army Air Forces / National Archives, NAID 204917829 · Public domain in the United States Source

May 12, 1944 · 11:00 Big Week and Air Superiority

The fighter battle moves to oil

On 12 May the Eighth dispatched a major force against synthetic-fuel plants at Merseburg, Lützkendorf, Brüx, Böhlen and Zeitz. Oil was becoming a strategic target because German aircraft, vehicles and training establishments depended on a fuel system concentrated in a relatively small number of vulnerable plants. The oil offensive should not be described as an instant explanation for the Luftwaffe's weakness over Normandy three weeks later. Its immediate effects varied by plant and stockpile, and German fuel problems had several causes. What mattered was that repeated attacks began reducing a…

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German troops in the ruins of Sevastopol, 1942. — Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-231-0703-27 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source

May 12, 1944 · 18:00 Sevastopol and the Crimea

Organized Axis resistance in Crimea ends

The remaining Axis pocket at Cape Khersones was eliminated, ending the Soviet Crimean strategic offensive on its standard 8 April–12 May operational boundary. U.S. Army official-history reconstruction records 64,700 German and Romanian personnel at Sevastopol in the first week of May and 26,700 left on the beaches and captured after the final evacuation.

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Three No. 226 Squadron Mitchell IIs on their way to bomb railway yards in northern France on the evening of 12 May 1944. Bridge B (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Imperial War Museums, CH 13071 · Public domain Source

May 12, 1944 · 18:00 The Transportation Plan

Mitchells carry the rail war at medium-bomber scale

Three No. 226 Squadron Mitchell IIs were photographed heading to bomb railway yards in northern France on the evening of 12 May. The image records the tactical side of the Transportation Plan: smaller formations attacking the same transport system that Bomber Command and the American heavies were hitting at larger scale.

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