Rotterdam is bombed as the Dutch campaign reaches a decision
German forces fighting for the Maas crossings demanded the surrender of Rotterdam on 14 May. A large Luftwaffe strike had already been ordered while negotiations were taking place, and the attempt to cancel it did not reach all of the approaching formation. Bombs struck the city centre for roughly a quarter of an hour and the resulting fire destroyed the historic core. Rotterdam's city archive places the deaths from the 14 May attack at roughly eight hundred, after detailed post-war and recent name-by-name research. The bombing was followed by the…
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