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WWII On This Day: May 28

What happened on May 28 during World War II? This date brings together 9 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

The Belgian Army ceases resistance

King Leopold III accepted the capitulation of the Belgian armed forces on 28 May after eighteen days of fighting and growing pressure along the Lys and the shrinking northern pocket. Belgian withdrawal and combat had covered a large section of the Allied northern front while the BEF and French forces moved toward Dunkirk. The capitulation altered the eastern boundary of the remaining bridgehead. British and French formations extended positions to cover the exposed sector as embarkation accelerated. The Belgian government's political relationship with the king would become a separate wartime…

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Pictures of my grandfather, According to the caption "Prisoners from the famous Fort Eben-Emael
Pictures of my grandfather, According to the caption "Prisoners from the famous Fort Eben-Emael Wiki User:Raboe001 - CC-BY-SA-3.0 Source
Dunkirk: Operation Dynamo

The Belgian Army ceases resistance

King Leopold III accepted the capitulation of the Belgian forces after eighteen days of fighting. The surrender opened a serious gap on the Allied eastern flank. British and French units extended and reorganised the perimeter while Belgian soldiers near the coast were disarmed or dispersed.

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German mountain troops landing in Norway, April 1940.
Photo: Bagn Bygdesamling – Valdres Folkemuseum, Norway · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Operation Weserübung

Norwegian, French and Polish forces recapture Narvik

Norwegian, French and Polish forces completed the offensive around Narvik on 28 May and re-entered the town after German troops withdrew toward the Swedish frontier. French units drove from the north and east while Polish troops fought around Ankenes and the approaches south of the fjord. Norwegian forces under Carl Gustav Fleischer pressed the mountain front and maintained the campaign's local command structure. The recapture became the first major Allied land victory of the war and disrupted the ore port. The evacuation order already shaped the next phase, giving the…

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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

SS troops murder British and French prisoners near Wormhout

Members of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler captured soldiers during the fighting south of the perimeter and forced groups into and around a barn near Esquelbecq. Dozens of British and French prisoners were killed with grenades and gunfire. Some survived and later gave evidence about the massacre.

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Three of the armada of 'little ships' which brought the men of the BEF from the shores in and around Dunkirk, to the safety of British warships and other vessels.
Three of the armada of 'little ships' which brought the men of the BEF from the shores in and around Dunkirk, to the safety of British warships and other vessels. Imperial War Museums, HU 41241 · Public domain Source
Dunkirk: Operation Dynamo

Small craft begin moving troops from the shallow beaches

Naval authorities assembled motor boats, lifeboats, fishing vessels, barges and other shallow-draft craft to ferry soldiers from the shore to ships waiting offshore. Civilian crews operated many vessels, while others were taken over or crewed by naval personnel. The smaller craft supplemented rather than replaced the destroyers, ferries and transports.

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1941
German paratroops descending over Crete, May 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 141-0864 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
The Balkans and Crete

Over the mountains to Sfakia

The garrison withdrew across the White Mountains to the fishing village of Sfakia, a march of about forty miles on foot with a rearguard fighting behind it, and was taken off over four nights. Around 16,500 men were evacuated. Some 5,000 were left on the beach when the last ship sailed and went into captivity. Several hundred took to the mountains and were hidden by Cretan families for years, at a price those families paid.

German troops leave a Ju 52 in the Chania area on 28 May 1941, during the pursuit of Creforce toward the south coast.
German troops leave a Ju 52 in the Chania area on 28 May 1941, during the pursuit of Creforce toward the south coast. Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1980-090-34 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE Source
Battle of Crete

The main force turns south across the White Mountains

Canea and Suda Bay were lost as the main western Creforce column moved through Stilos and into the mountain road toward Askifou and Sfakia. Rearguards fought delaying actions around Stilos and Babali Hani to keep the Germans from reaching the withdrawal route before the bulk of the force had passed. The Germans initially had to determine whether the Allied movement was a retreat toward the south coast or a redistribution farther east. The terrain helped the withdrawing troops gain time, but it also reduced the movement to a few mountain…

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German paratroopers descending on Crete during Operation Merkur in May 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 141-0864 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Battle of Crete

The evacuation opens on two separated coasts

Royal Navy ships began lifting the main western force from Sfakia while a separate naval force entered Heraklion to remove its garrison. The two evacuations reflected the fragmentation of Creforce: troops at Heraklion could not march to the western column, and the western army had to cross the mountains to a small anchorage with no developed harbour. Approximately 4,000 men embarked from Heraklion. At Sfakia, embarkation had to be conducted at night in numbers limited by the ships that could arrive, load and clear the coast before German aircraft returned…

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1942
A German tank commander in southern Soviet territory in June 1942, shortly before the opening of Case Blue.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0528-30 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus

Kharkov changes the estimate

The German counterstroke around Kharkov in May destroyed much of the Soviet Barvenkovo salient and inflicted severe losses on formations that would otherwise have reinforced the southern front. The victory materially improved the starting position for the summer offensive. It also reinforced an existing German judgment that the Red Army had been reduced to a final reserve of strength and that another sequence of encirclements might bring the Soviet field army close to collapse. That second conclusion was more consequential than the battlefield gain. Case Blue would encounter armies that…

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