Impressive defense by the Dutch in 1940?

[Gen_Del_Pilar]

Wikipedia gives the stats of the Battle of the Netherlands as follows:

NL strength: 350.000 men in 9 div, 676 guns, 1 tank, 124 planes
NL losses: 7.500 KIA/WIA/MIA, 343.250 POW

DE strength: 750,000 men in 22 div, 1.378 guns, 759 tanks, 1.150 planes
DE losses: 4.000 KIA, 3.000 WIA, 700 MIA, 1.400 POW

Are these anywhere near accurate? If so, it would appear that the Dutch performed amazingly well considering the immense disparity in men and materiel. Excluding POWs, we have 7.500 Dutch casualties as opposed to 7.700 German losses...

Of course, another key question is how many of the 343.250 Dutch POWs were captured before the formal surrender, and how many did so afterwards. The former should of course be counted as Dutch combat casualties, while the latter should not.

[David Lehmann]

Hello,

I will probably not 100% answer your question but when reading in different sources likes these ones :
• "L'Arme Blindée Française (volume 1) : Mai-juin 1940 ! Les blindés français dans la tourmente" (Gérard Saint-Martin)
• "Le mythe de la guerre-éclair – la campagne de l'Ouest de 1940" (Karl-Heinz Frieser, Oberst Bundeswehr, MFGA)
• "Blitzkrieg à l’Ouest, Mai-Juin 40" (Jean-Paul Pallud)
• "La campagne de 1940" (Christine Levisse-Touzé)
and others ...

I gathered this :

GERMAN AND ITALIAN LOSSES (whole western campaign until the end of the battle of France) :
- 156,492 losses (27,074 KIA, 111,034 WIA, 18,384 MIA). This first figure established on 25th June 1940 has been corrected later to 45,218 German KIA (with the MIAs) + 111,034 WIA.
- 6,100 Italian losses in the French Alps in a few days (642 KIAs; 2,691 WIAs; 2,151 frozen men and 616 POWs)
- 1236 planes definitely destroyed (+ 323 damaged) + Italian losses
- 839 tanks definitely destroyed, not repairable (32% of the 2636 tanks engaged)

But I could not find data indicating the German losses gor the Netherlands only.

Nonetheless, don't forget that the Dutch were not alone there to face the Germans. French troops fought on the Dutch ground and in the air. The British air force was also present in these skies and the Royal Navy was also present during the French landing in the Zeeland islands.

French troops that fought on Dutch soil :
• 1e DLM armored division
• 2e GRCA - reconnaissance group (roughly the size of one battalion)
• 5e GRDI - reconnaissance group (roughly the size of one battalion)
• 2e GRDI - reconnaissance group (roughly the size of one battalion)
• 12e GRDI - reconnaissance group (roughly the size of one battalion)
• 27e GRDI - reconnaissance group (roughly the size of one battalion)

In the Zeeland islands :
• 224e RI (infantry regiment) from the 68e DI supported by 1 artillery group of the 89e RA from the 60e DI
• 271e RI
• motorized elements of the 68e GRDI
• 1 engineer company from the 60e DI.
• 7 torpedo ships and various French Navy elements including LN.411 dive bombers

While the 2e DLM and 3e DLM are engaged in Belgium with the 1st army, the 1e DLM (general Picard) has to fulfil a similar mission in the Netherlands for the 7th army. The French 7th army has to deploy between Breda and Turnhout but this line was rather far away from the starting line in France. The 1e DLM was to move first, to provide intelligence and reconnaissance for the 7th army and to establish contacts with the Belgian and Dutch armies. Its mission was then to delay the German troops long enough to allow the 25e DIM (general Molinié) and the 9e DIM (general Didelet) to occupy the position on the Marck River.

The 1e DLM will have to face the XVIII. Armee (general von Kuchler) including the 9.PzD (general Hubrig) and the 1. Kavallerie Division. The 9.PzD has to cross the Meuse River, to reach Tirlburg and to take Breda. It will then be split in two groups :
• a first group reinforced by the SS Verfügung (mot) division
• a second group reinforced by the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH) regiment and 2 airborne troops battalions of the VII. Fliegerdivision with the mission to take Rotterdam

I am not sure that the wikipedia link is accurate about te number of men, tanks etc.
IIRC only the 9.PzD was engaged in the Netherlands ... This division had 153 tanks
• 30 PzI
• 54 PzII
• 12 PzBef
• 41 PzIII
• 16 PzIV

Of course there were also amored cars, for example :
• AA 9 (9.PzD) with 56 armored cars
• AA Verfügungstruppen (SS VT mot.) with 26 armored cars
• In the 1. Kavallerie Division : there is no separate AA but each of the four Reiter-Regiment (cavalry regiment) have a heavy squadron including 3 armored cars and the "Radfahr-Abteilung" (Bicycle) has an armored car platoon in its battalion HQ (a total of about 15 armored cars)


ALLIED LOSSES during the 1940 western campaign :
• Belgian losses : 7,500 KIA, 15,850 WIA
• Luxembourg : no resistance except French troops meeting German ones
• Dutch losses : 2,890 KIA, 6,889 WIA = 9,779 losses compared to 7,500 in the source you quoted• British losses : 3,457 KIA, 13,602 WIA, 3,267 MIA (and about 28,000 POWs)
• French losses : 90,000 - 100,000 KIA and 212,000 - 202,000 WIA

The Swiss historian Eddy Bauer says also that the Germans lost much more men in the second part of the western campaign, in France the resistance was harder when time advanced.
156,492 German losses (KIA, MIA, WIA) in 45 days, that's 3,477 losses per day but in fact the French resistance was all days harder : 2,499 German losses per day between the 10th May and the 3rd June but 4,762 German losses per day between the 5th and the 24th June. You can compare that to the 4,506 German losses per day during operation Barbarossa from 22nd June to 10th December 1941. Once again the western campaign was much more deadly than the common myth admits it.

Thanks to recent studies (Gérald Dardart, Gérard Giuliano, Bernard Horen etc.) it appears that about 21% of the German losses took place in the French Ardennes.
From 15th to 25th May 1940, fierce battles will take place in the Mont Dieu area (including Stonne and Tannay), only 15 km south of Sedan. The Aisne River (and especially the area of Rethel), also south of Sedan in the Ardennes, will resist from 15th May to 11th June 1940.
The French Ardennes will therefore see several of the bloodiest battles of May-June 1940. About 10,000 French soldiers died in the Ardennes (10% of the total number of 100,000 KIA). On the German side there are about 9,500 KIAs in the Ardennes in May-June 1940 for a total of 45,218 KIA during the campaign. Therefore about 21% of the German KIAs felt in the French Ardennes. Most of them were killed in the area of Stonne / Tannay (at least 2,000 KIAs) and during 9th-10th June 1940 when attacking the French lines on the Aisne River (especially in the area of Rethel with about 3,500 KIAs).

Just as a side note, concerning the losses of the Luftwaffe (according to Facon) :
The "claimed victories" for May-June 1940 are :
• United Kingdom : 821 (for the fighters : 201 for the Air Component, 131 for the Advanced Air Striking Force and 489 for the Fighter Command)
• France : 853 (733 for the fighters + 120 for the AA defenses) (Buffotot and Ogier, 1975)
• Netherlands : 525 (fighters + AA defenses)
• Belgium : about 100
--> Total : 2,299

These numbers of course are impossible because the Germans lost about 1300-1400 planes. If we take into consideration the latest serious studies (Facon etc.), the Dutch would have destroyed 225 aircrafts, including about 170-200 transport aircrafts lost in the Netherlands during the airborne operations and often destroyed on the ground by the artillery. The Dutch troops concentrated their armored cars (39 armored cars on 10th May 1940), strong infantry and AA elements around their airfields. They inflicted therefore significant losses to the airborne German operation. The Belgian Air Force seems to have destroyed only 6 German aircrafts. If we take into consideration the German losses due to accidents (250-300) there are about 800-850 aircrafts that were destroyed by the British and French. To these losses for May-June 1940 you can also add the losses on the western front during the Phoney war.

Regards,

David

[Harro]

Very interesting David. Thank you for posting this info!

[Gen_Del_Pilar]

David,

Your detailed analysis is much appreciated. Our revised figures look like this [see below for why I updated the German POW figure]:

NL strength: 350.000 men in 9 div, 676 guns, 1 tank, 124 planes
NL losses: 2.890 KIA, 6.889 WIA, 343.250 POW, 100+ planes(?)

DE strength: 750,000 men in 22 div, 1.378 guns, 153 tanks, 1.150 planes
DE losses: 4.000 KIA, 3.000 WIA, 700 MIA, 1.700 POW, 225 planes

So the total losses are currently 9.779 Dutch and 8.000 Germans - but there's still the question of how many Dutch troops surrendered before the end of hostilities, which I'm sure will swell the Dutch figues to well over 10k. And as a whole, do the German loss figures look credible enough to you?

Since the Battle of the Netherlands was an integral part of the 1940 Western campaign, it's indeed hard to distinguish between losses suffered in Holland and those suffered in France/Belgium. Maybe it helps to look at individual battles? For instance, the Battle for the Hague and the nearby Ypenburg/Valkenburg airfields appears to have been a disaster for the Germans. This website quotes E.H. Brongers, who in his book The Battle for The Hague 1940 gives casualty figures of:

NL: 515 KIA
DE: 400 KIA, 590 WIA/MIA, 1700+ POW(!), 200 planes

The POW figure in particular is very interesting - it exceeds some estimates of total German POWs for the entire Netherlands campaign!

As for the French (and for that matter the British), how much of a combat contribution did they end up making to the defense of the Netherlands? Didn't the French mechanized divisions recoil back into Belgium as soon as they realized that their position was strategically untenable? At any rate, I think that it's easier to assess Holland's combat performance against the Germans than for instance Belgium's, since the former received a miniscule amount of Allied combat support in relation to the latter.

[Kingfish]

What was the one tank the Dutch had in '40?

[Gen_Del_Pilar]

Apparently it was a Renault FT-17. First saw action in 1918, but thousands were still in service in the French army of 1940.

http://www.wwiivehicles.com/france/tank ... ft_17.html

[David Lehmann]

As for the French (and for that matter the British), how much of a combat contribution did they end up making to the defense of the Netherlands?

Hello,

This is quoted from a document I wrote about the French cavalry corps in 1940. It will give you elements about the French troops in the Netherlands.

While the 2e DLM and 3e DLM are engaged in Belgium with the 1st army, the 1e DLM (general Picard) has to fulfil a similar mission in the Netherlands for the 7th army. The French 7th army has to deploy between Breda and Turnhout but this line was rather far away from the starting line in France. The 1e DLM was to move first, to provide intelligence and reconnaissance for the 7th army and to establish contacts with the Belgian and Dutch armies. Its mission was then to delay the German troops long enough to allow the 25e DIM (general Molinié) and the 9e DIM (general Didelet) to occupy the position on the Marck River.

The 1e DLM will have to face the XVIII. Armee (general von Kuchler) including the 9.PzD (general Hubrig) and the 1. Kavallerie Division. The 9.PzD has to cross the Meuse River, to reach Tirlburg and to take Breda. It will then be split in two groups :
• a first group reinforced by the SS Verfügung (mot) division
• a second group reinforced by the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH) regiment and 2 airborne troops battalions of the VII. Fliegerdivision with the mission to take Rotterdam


10th May 1940

The 1e DLM will be supported by 2 reconnaissance groups :
• one with the 2e GRCA and the 5e GRDI under command of lieutenant-colonel Lestoquoi, which will operate with the 1e DLM
• one with the 2e GRDI, 12e GRDI and 27e GRDI under command of colonel Beauchesne, which will operate independently

Nevertheless these reconnaissance units are reduced, only the motorized elements are used, the horse mounted elements being to slow. All these reconnaissance groups include motorcycle platoons. The 2e GRDI is the reconnaissance group of the 9e DIM and includes also 13 Panhard 178 armored cars and 13 Hotchkiss H39 tanks. The 5e GRDI is the reconnaissance group of the 25e DIM and includes 13 Panhard 178 armored cars and 13 Hotchkiss H35 tanks.

The reconnaissance regiment of the 1e DLM is the 6e RC (Régiment de Cuirassiers), commanded by colonel Dario, with about 40 Panhard 178 armored cars. It is reinforced by the Lestoquoi group (2e GRCA and 5e GRDI). Together, they cross the Belgian border at 10h30 and reach the Albert canal east of Anvers during afternoon. They move beyond Turnhout during the night. The tanks of the 1e DLM arrive by train around Oosmalle, 15 km west of Turnhout.


11th May 1940

At 4h15, the first French troops are landing on the Walcheren and Zuid Beveland islands (Zeeland islands) during operation F (F as Flessingue = Vlissingen) : the 224e RI (infantry regiment) from the 68e DI (general Beaufrère), supported by 1 artillery group (12 75mm Mle1897 field guns) of the 89e RA from the 60e DI (general Deslaurens). The transport ships are escorted by 7 torpedo ships.

The reconnaissance elements reach Breda, Tilburg and Eindhoven. 400 German paratroops held the Moerdjik bridge next to Breda. They have occupied the previously Dutch fortifications and are equipped with MGs, mortars AT rifles and AT guns. 1 Panhard 178 platoon (5 armored cars) and 2 motorcycle platoons are ordered to prevent the Germans to move towards Breda which is the final objective of the 1e DLM. They block the Germans with the help of Dutch infantry units.

Motorized German elements are moving north-east of Tilburg and skirmish with French advanced elements. One German tank is destroyed. Around 21h00, detachment Dudognon (Panhard 178 armored cars from the 6e RC) defend the Moergestel bridge over the Reussel River. At 23h00, 3 German armored cars accompanied by 3 side-cars and a truck full of troops appear. Maréchal-des-logis (NCO rank) Gaulthier recalls : "the leading 2 German armored cars do not see me and head for the Panhard 178 "La Varende". The first German armored car crushes 2 of our side-cars and barely dodges the "La Varende" (tearing off a mudguard on the way) and crashes into a cement pole. The second German armored car (an 8-wheeled Sd.Kfz.231 probably) stops to my left and opens fire. Meanwhile the third German armored car turns out in front of me on the bridge. I open fire with my 25mm SA35 gun and I hit it square on. The German armored car rolls for several extra meters before stopping to my right. At the same time, the explosive charges placed under the bridge explode as the German truck is on the bridge. I was in the turret so the deflagration stunned me and I fell inside. When I recovered and went back to the hatch I saw the second German armored car still firing on my left. I pivoted the turret and fired point blank with both the main gun and MG (with AP bullets). It quickly ceased firing. The whole action only lasted a quarter of an hour. The enemy lost around 20 dead and drowned. The 6e Cuirrasiers detachment has captured 4 men including 2 wounded. The three German armored cars whose motors cannot be started again are scuttled as well as a German side-car. Two more intact BMW side-cars will replace the 2 that were crushed and we used them up to Dunkirk." The French troops had only a few lightly wounded men.

The 2e GRCA deploys in Breda and the 5e GRDI is in Tilburg after the loss of 1 armored car in an ambush. The infantry of the 1e DLM is deployed on the Reussel River between Tilburg and Turnhout, north-west of the Belgian 18th infantry division. The deployment would be satisfactory but the Belgian and Dutch troops retreat rapidly and the 1e DLM is suddenly alone to face the German troops. The Belgian army abandoned a triangle formed by 3 canals (Turnhout, Campines and Albert). The right flank is completely unprotected and German troops are infiltrating. Tilburg, Breda, Turnhout and Oostmalle are bombed by the Luftwaffe.


12th May 1940

The 9.PzD has crossed the Meuse River at Gennep and moves towards Breda. The French reconnaissance elements retreats to the Wortel – Merxplas – Turnhout – Desschel line after having skirmished with German armored elements. The movement of the 7th army towards Breda is cancelled to reconstitute a continuous front after the retreat of the Belgian army on the Berg op Zoom – Anvers line. The 25e DIM is deploying in Wortel. The infantry of the 1e DLM and Belgian troops are in contact with the enemy on the Turnhout canal and are reinforced by the 9e DIM on 13th May only. The pressure of the 9.PzD is increasing in the area of Turnhout and a German infantry division crosses the canal but cannot advance more.


13th May 1940

The 1e DLM is strongly attacked by the Luftwaffe and the 9.PzD. Movements through the Anvers tunnel are delayed because Dutch employees in charge of the air intake went on strike !
General Picard launches 2 Hotchkiss squadrons of the 18e RD (42 tanks) in a counter-attack against the German troops who managed to cross the Turnhout canal. The objectives are Moll and the bridges on the Turnhout canal. An other canal has to be crossed and only one, 8 meters long, engineered bridge enables the crossing of tanks but only the lighter ones. The Somua S35 tanks cannot be engaged. 1 German battalion is forced to retreat from Moll but the bridges are strongly defended by AT guns and infantry. Without infantry the French attack cannot go on. Several German AT guns are destroyed or crushed and the enemy infantry sustained losses. Several French tanks are damaged but only when engaged at close range. At the end of the day, receiving no infantry support to open the way, the French tanks have to move back.

The French troops in the Walcheren and Zuid Beveland islands are reinforced by the 271e RI, motorized elements of the 68e GRDI and 1 engineer company from the 60e DI.


14th May 1940

The 1e DLM is attacked south of Berg op Zoom and defeats the Germans. Because of the context of the German breakthrough in Sedan and the very advanced position of the French 7th army and of the 1e DLM, the French troops are ordered to retreat towards Anvers. The 9e DIM and the 25e DIM are sent to the south to reinforce the French 1st army.

During this day 1 tank battalion of the 9.PzD, reinforced by German infantry, AT guns and supported by artillery fire encircles and destroys the 12e GRDI and several armored cars of the 6e RC in Berg op Zoom, west of Tilburg.


15th May 1940

Rotterdam and La Haye have been captured by the Germans. On 15th May, the Dutch army capitulates.
The 1e DLM is deployed in the area of Kontich and begins to move back at 21h00. The 1e DLM will fight hard delaying combats. In one week the division moved on more than 600 km, managing to defeat all the German encirclement attempts before being trapped around Dunkirk.

A strong German attack is launched against the French troops still in the Zeeland islands. The French 271e RI is in Zuid Beveland and the French 224e RI is in Walcheren. The French troops are completely cut from the 7th army, encircled by German troops and the 224e RI is a B reserve regiment. The 271e RI launches a counter attack but without success. The regiment is destroyed, only 300 survivors retreat to the island of Walcheren.
Walcheren is defended by the 224e RI supported by 1 group (12 75mm Mle1897 field guns) of the 89e RA and the remains of the 271e RI who are completely demoralized. These troops are nevertheless supported by the fire of the French torpedo boats and by several Loire-Nieuport LN.411 dive bombers of the French fleet air arm. The canal between Wlacheren and Zuid Beveland is a poor defense since it is completely dry at low water. The French troops will resist until 17th May.


17th May 1940

The torpedo boat "Cyclone" fires 80 shells of 130mm on the main road of Zuid Beveland where German troops are concentrating. It is replaced by the "Siroco" and later by the British ships "Wolsey" and "Vimiera". During the same time, the 12 guns of the 89e RA fire 3,000 75mm shells. Nevertheless that does not prevent the Germans to cross the little canal separating the 2 islands, mainly thanks to the support of the Luftwaffe.
The French defense collapses and the troops have to retreat slowly to the harbour of Flessingue to be evacuated. General Deslaurens (commander of the 60e DI and of the operation) is killed in Flessingue (Vlissingen) while fighting, a carbine in his hands. Most of the French troops are embarked by the French navy but operation F is a failure. The general commanding the operation has been killed, the 271e RI doesn’t exist anymore as operational unit and 2 battalions of the 224e RI have been captured. The 12 guns of the 89e RA group have been destroyed or scuttled. Concerning the navy it proved able to land and embark troops under heavy German air attacks, only 1 British ship was sunk.


Regards,

David

[David Lehmann]

Apparently it was a Renault FT-17. First saw action in 1918, but thousands were still in service in the French army of 1940.

Hello,

Concerning the Renault FT17m (MG) and FT17c (37mm SA18 gun) : the French Army had not thousands of them in service in May 1940.

In fact 1,297 FT17 tanks were still in service : 1,062 tanks in France and 235 in the colonies.
From the 1,062 FT17 tanks in France only 462 were in combat units (frontline) on 10th May 1940.

You can really say that the French Army had 462 Renault FT17 tanks in COMBAT UNITS on 10th May France in 1940. The others were in various police/protection units and in the colonies.

These WW1 tanks were completely obsolete in 1940. They were much slower (about 10 times in cross country) than the German tanks, poorly armored and armed either with an infantry gun or a MG.

a) FT17 tank battalions :
• 11e BCC : 42 Renault FT17m/c
• 18e BCC : 63 Renault FT17m/c
• 29e BCC : 63 Renault FT17m/c
• 30e BCC : 63 Renault FT17m/c
• 31e BCC : 63 Renault FT17m/c
• 33e BCC : 63 Renault FT17m/c
• 62e BCC : 30 Renault R35 and 15 FT17 (Morocco) – in transformation on Renault R35
• 64e BCC : 45 Renault FT17 (Tunisia, coming from Algeria) – in transformation on Renault R35
• 66e BCC : 45 Renault FT17 (Morocco) – in transformation on Renault R35
• colonial BCC : 63 Renault FT17m/c
• 343e CACC : 21 Renault FT17m/c
• 344e CACC : 21 Renault FT17m/c

Total in the tank battalions : 567 Renault FT17 tanks.

b) Regional platoons of FT17 tanks :
After the September 1939 mobilization, there were also many regional platoons (sections régionales) of four FT17 tanks to provide armor to the regional regiments. These regional regiments were mobilized to defend important locations and perform construction duties in rear zones of the armies and in the military districts. They were organized from the locally available reservists (series C troops) and were equipped, if at all, with whatever weapons were available.

There were various types of regional regiments :
• "Régiment régional de protection" : guarding factories, ammo and fuel dumps, bridges, telephone exchanges, railway stations etc.
• "Régiment régional d'infanterie" : also tasked with such protection duties
• "Régiment de garde d'étrangers" : guarding interned foreigners
• "Régiment régional de travailleurs" : labour units

1 to 4 FT17 regional platoons (4 to 16 tanks) were issued to 25 regional regiments (sections de chars de régiments régionaux) for a total of 192 Renault FT17 tanks.

c) The rapid German advance and fear of airborne troops led to the break up of the tank training battalions (BIC = bataillon d'instruction de chars = instruction tank battalion) and also the stripping of the tank schools and depots to form companies and platoons providing protection for military and civilian installations in the military district. These units created during May 1940 included :
• Anti-paratroops tank companies : 7 companies of 12 tanks for a total of 84 Renault FT17 tanks.
• Airfield protection platoons : 1 to 5 FT17 regional platoons (4 to 20 tanks) were issued to 11 military districts for a total of 112 Renault FT17 tanks.
• Important buildings protection platoons : 1 to 3 FT17 regional platoons (4 to 12 tanks) were issued to 7 military districts for a total of 72 Renault FT17 tanks.
• Paris military region special group = 50e BCC : 50 Renault FT17m tanks.
• regional platoon of protection tanks : 9 tanks in 10 military regions for a total of 90 Renault FT17 tanks.

• Overseas regional platoons :
--o One independent tank company in Tunisia to guard the coastline : 16 Renault FT17 tanks.
--o District tank platoons to defend the major cities in Morocco (28), Tunisia (16) and Algeria (20) for a total of 64 Renault FT17 tanks.

• In the Levant there were the 56 former FT-17 tanks of the 63e BCC. Most remained in depots but the CACL (compagnie autonome des chars du Levant was created) with 3 groups of 10 tanks (9+1 replacement tank = = 3x FT17m, 6x FT17c, 1x FT17BS) in the cities of Beyrouth, Alep and Damas for a total of 30 Renault FT17 tanks. In June 1940, the CACL is reinforced by 6 FT-17 tanks (1x FT17c in each groups and 3 FT17m for the protection of the airbase in Estabel in Lebanon).

• There were also about 20 Renault FT17 tanks in Indochina (not all operational).

--> TOTAL : 1297 FT17 tanks were still in service but 462 Renault FT17 tanks in COMBAT UNITS in FRANCE on 10th May France in 1940.


SOURCES :
• "L'automobile sous l'uniforme" (François Vauvillier)
• "The French army 1939-1940 – organisation, order of battle, operational history" (4 volumes, Lee Sharp)
• "L'Arme Blindée Française (volume 1) : Mai-juin 1940 ! Les blindés français dans la tourmente" (Gérard Saint-Martin)
• "Weygand, De Gaulle et quelques autres – La Somme 16-28 mai 1940" (Henri de Wailly)
• "Blitzkrieg à l’Ouest, Mai-Juin 40" (Jean-Paul Pallud)



_____________________________________

Concerning the Dutch armored cars :

The Dutch had 5 Vickers-Carden-Lloyd Mk. VI tankettes armed with a single Schwarlose MG in a casemate (same basic layout and size as the Italian L3/33) and probably 3 armored cars known as "Buffel". The Buffels were in fact a lightly armoured box built on a 6-wheel Morris chassis. The crew had 3-4 Lewis MGs, which were fired through a number of loopholes or pistol ports. The 5 Carden-Lloyds and 3 Buffels were originally issued to each of the four corps-level recon units at a rate of two vehicles per corps.

The Dutch army acquired 12 Swedish Landsverk L181 armored cars (known to the Dutch as M36), 12 Landsverk L180 armored cars (known as M38) and 2 M38 command armoured cars. All these armored cars were in the 1st armored car squadron of the light division (Lichte Divisie).
Pantserwagen (Paw.) M36 (Landswerk L181) : 12
Pantserwagen (Paw.) (Landswerk L180) : 14 (including 2 command cars not counted here)

In 1938, DAF began buildin 12 armored cars known as the M39, which were issued to the 3rd cavalry squadron in September 1939. The 3rd Squadron was considered a temporary "depot" squadron in which the crews were supposed to receive training in the new vehicles. At the end of the training cycle, the squadron was supposed to be broken up into 4 platoons of 3 vehicles each as replacements for the Carden-Lloyd's and Buffels in the 4 army corps of the Dutch army. It seems the 12 vehicles were delivered by May 1940, but the crew had not completed their training and several vehicles still had an incomplete equipment : no armament, most of them were still lacking their bullet-proof tires etc. Perhaps 7 DAF M39 armored cars were operational on 10th May 1940.

--> TOTAL : 39 armored cars

Regards,

David

[jopaerya]

Hello David

Could you help me , I have a problem , why was the 60e Division d'Infanterie
under control of the 7 Armee from General Giraud and the 68e Division d'Infanterie
under control of the Admiral Nord or was this only during the transport to Walcheren ?
The first French soldiers who died on Walcheren were 2 airman of the French fleet air arm
who were shot down by German fighters in there Potez 63 .

Regards Jos

[David Lehmann]

Hello,

The 60e DI was commanded by General Deslaurens (also commander of the operation F). On 10th May it was assigned to 7th Army.

The 68e DI was commanded by General Beaufrère. This division was formed on 16th January 1940 (and completed in March 1940) from the "Groupement Littoral du Nord" (previously "Groupement Littoral des Flandres"). It seems therefore to have been build from a coastal unit (with links to the Navy).
On 16th January 1940 it is assigned to Amiral Nord and on 18th May 1940 to XVI Army Corps.
In the fighting around Dunkirk the division bought valuable time for other troops being evacuated. It was captured on 4th June 1940 with the rest of the troops in the Dunkirk pocket.

Most of these information are from Lee Sharp's Volume 2 about the French Army.

Regards,

David

[jopaerya]

Hello David

Thanks for your answer , there was also
a Contre Admiral Platon in Middelburg in
May 1940 , I think he was also from the
Admiral Nord or even the commander ?

Regards Jos

[David Lehmann]

Hello Jos,

AFAIK contre-amiral Charles Platon was commander of the "groupement des secteurs de défense du Nord" from 15th October 1939 to August 1940 but I don't really know the role he could have played in the Netherlands. He was probably the commander in chief of all the naval component of operation F (ships, fleet air arm).

Regards,

David

[Pips]

Fascinating informatlon, thanks to all for contributing. Sadly most English accounts only deal with the period up to Dunkirk. Yet as is quite evident here there was a lot more happening than that.

[David C. Clarke]

Excellent posts David, really enlightening!!!!!

Best,
David

[JonS]

GERMAN LOSSES (whole western campaign until the end of the battle of France) :
- 156,492 losses ... (45,218 German KIA + 111,034 WIA).
- 1236 planes definitely destroyed (+ 323 damaged)
- 839 tanks definitely destroyed, not repairable (32% of the 2636 tanks engaged)

156,492 German losses (KIA, MIA, WIA) in 45 days, that's 3,477 losses per day ... 2,499 German losses per day between the 10th May and the 3rd June but 4,762 German losses per day between the 5th and the 24th June.

... the Germans lost about 1300-1400 planes. ...

Hi David,
thank you for sharing all this information. I have a question, raised by the above figures: do you feel that this level of losses had a significant part to play in the infamous halt orders before Dunkirk, or is the received wisdom - that Hitler et al simply bottled out at the thought of their panzer forces so far out in front - more correct?

Regards
Jon