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WWII On This Day: May 19

What happened on May 19 during World War II? This date brings together 4 events from 1940, 1941 and 1942, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
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

Maxime Weygand replaces Maurice Gamelin

The French government replaced Maurice Gamelin with Maxime Weygand on 19 May as German mobile forces approached the Channel and the northern Allied armies faced separation. Weygand inherited communications disrupted by the breakthrough and a command picture changing faster than headquarters could reconstruct it. He travelled to the northern pocket while staff work began on a counterstroke from both sides of the German corridor. The proposed north-south attack required forces, timing and coordination that the divided front could no longer supply at the necessary scale. Weygand soon had to prepare…

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British troops rescued in a ship at Dunkirk (France, 1940).
Divide and Conquer (Why We Fight #3) directed by Frank Capra
Dunkirk: Operation Dynamo

Ramsay is ordered to prepare a possible evacuation

The War Office and Admiralty began planning for the possible evacuation of a large force from the French coast as the German breakthrough widened. Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsay was given responsibility at Dover. The initial estimate was far smaller than the force eventually rescued because no one knew how many troops could reach the coast.

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1941
English translation of the Luftwaffe Führungsstab Ic situation report covering reconnaissance and air attacks on Crete on 19 May 1941; Archives New Zealand reference WAII2 Box 11/14 VII/117.
English translation of the Luftwaffe Führungsstab Ic situation report covering reconnaissance and air attacks on Crete on 19 May 1941; Archives New Zealand reference WAII2 Box 11/14 VII/117. Archives New Zealand, WAII2 Box 11/14 VII/117 · CC BY-SA 2.0 Source
Battle of Crete

The Luftwaffe attacks the final pre-invasion positions

On 19 May, German reconnaissance and attack aircraft continued the air campaign against Crete while the invasion force completed its preparations in Greece. A surviving Luftwaffe situation report records reconnaissance over Suda Bay and attacks on shipping and Maleme during the morning. Creforce knew from intelligence that an airborne operation was imminent, but the defenders had no fighter force capable of contesting the coming assault. The surviving Allied fighters were withdrawn from Crete, leaving the airfields, ports and ground units dependent on anti-aircraft fire and concealment. By nightfall the battle…

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

The Crimean Front ceases to exist

German headquarters declared Trappenjagd complete after the remaining organized Soviet positions on the peninsula collapsed. German reporting counted about 170,000 prisoners. The Soviet foothold that had diverted Eleventh Army since December was gone. Manstein could now concentrate against Sevastopol, and VIII Air Corps was available to support the fortress assault.

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