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WWII On This Day: May 13

What happened on May 13 during World War II? This date brings together 6 events from 1940, 1941, 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
French troops in landing boats at Bjerkvik during the amphibious assault on 13 May 1940.
French troops in landing boats at Bjerkvik during the amphibious assault on 13 May 1940. British official press photograph / Imperial War Museums HU 91803 · public domain Source
Operation Weserübung

French troops land at Bjerkvik

French Foreign Legion troops crossed Herjangsfjord and landed at Bjerkvik after naval bombardment during the night of 12–13 May. The landing opened a position north of Narvik and allowed Allied and Norwegian forces to tighten the ground battle around Dietl's command. Tanks and additional infantry could now operate from newly secured ground on the eastern side of the fjord. Civilian casualties at Bjerkvik also became part of the operation's cost. Norwegian commemoration records eighteen civilians killed during the bombardment that preceded the landing.

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

German troops establish a bridgehead at Sedan

German infantry crossed the Meuse at Sedan on 13 May after concentrated Luftwaffe attacks struck French artillery, command posts and positions around the crossing sector. Assault groups moved in boats while engineers began bridge construction. The French 55th Infantry Division faced the crossing with limited depth behind its front, and local disruption spread as reports of German penetration moved through rear areas. By the following day vehicles of 1st Panzer Regiment were crossing a pontoon bridge at Floing. The bridgehead had become an operational corridor, allowing armoured formations to move…

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Battle of France 1940

Additional German bridgeheads widen the Meuse crisis

German forces established additional bridgeheads at Dinant and Monthermé during 13–14 May, widening the crisis across the French Ninth and Second Army sectors. At Dinant, units of Hoth's panzer corps expanded crossings on the west bank while French formations tried to stabilise broken local fronts. Monthermé added another penetration farther south along the river line. The several crossings made reserve allocation increasingly difficult. German commands could feed mobile forces through more than one bridgehead, while the Allied headquarters had to determine which penetration represented the main operational threat.

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1941
First page of the 13 May 1941 decree on military jurisdiction in the Barbarossa area.
First page of the 13 May 1941 decree on military jurisdiction in the Barbarossa area. German Armed Forces High Command · Public domain (German official work) Source
Operation Barbarossa

Military justice is suspended

The 13 May decree on military jurisdiction in the Barbarossa area removed major legal restraints before German troops entered Soviet territory. It authorised summary action against civilians suspected of resistance and made prosecution of German personnel for offences against Soviet civilians non-obligatory in many circumstances. Commanders retained disciplinary authority where military order required it, yet the decree altered the presumption under which violence would be judged. Soldiers and officers entered the campaign with broad protection from punishment when harsh measures were framed as security action. The decree joined economic exploitation…

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1943
Italian commander Giovanni Messe surrenders to New Zealand General Bernard Freyberg in Tunisia on 13 May 1943.
Italian commander Giovanni Messe surrenders to New Zealand General Bernard Freyberg in Tunisia on 13 May 1943. Capt John Charles White / National Library of New Zealand · Public domain NZ Source
Operation Torch and the Tunisian Campaign

Messe surrenders and the North African campaign ends

Italian commander Giovanni Messe surrendered to New Zealand General Bernard Freyberg on 13 May 1943 as the last substantial Axis formations in Tunisia laid down their arms. Captain John Charles White photographed the meeting. German and Italian troops had been driven into a pocket without secure ports or adequate resupply. Their capture ended the Axis ground campaign in North Africa; Allied planners could now draw on the region’s airfields and ports for the invasion of Sicily.

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1944
Polish and British flags raised over the shattered Monte Cassino monastery after Polish troops entered the ruins on 18 May 1944.
Polish official photographer / Imperial War Museums MH 1680 · UK Government public domain
Cassino and Anzio: The Road to Rome

French troops break into the Aurunci Mountains

French Expeditionary Corps troops penetrated German positions in the Aurunci Mountains after the opening Diadem attacks. Mountain infantry advanced along difficult paths on the southern flank of the Gustav Line. The advance threatened German positions around Cassino from the south while British Eighth Army pressed into the valley. Defending formations now faced a widening risk of encirclement.

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