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Curated playlist

Invasions by Germany

  • Battle of France11 minThe Battle of France began on the 10th of May 1940, and within six weeks an empire that had survived the carnage of the First World War had collapsed. France, the largest army on the continent, with more tanks than Germany and a defensive…
  • German invasion of Belgium (1940)13 minOn the 10th of May 1940, Germany invaded three countries simultaneously: Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Within 18 days, the Belgian Army would surrender, the Allied forces that had rushed to defend Belgium would be trapped with…
  • Operation Panzerfaust6 minOperation Panzerfaust was the name Germany gave to a scheme conceived in October 1944 to prevent Hungary from abandoning the war. At its center was a single alarming piece of intelligence: Admiral Miklós Horthy, the regent who governed…
  • German invasion of Greece15 minThe German invasion of Greece began in the early hours of the 28th of October 1940, not with German troops but with an Italian ultimatum delivered by Ambassador Emanuele Grazzi to Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas. The ultimatum demanded free…
  • German invasion of the Netherlands14 minThe German invasion of the Netherlands began in the pre-dawn hours of the 10th of May 1940. Within five days, the main Dutch forces had surrendered. The entire country was under German occupation seven days after that. What makes that…
  • Anschluss12 minThe Anschluss was the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, completed on the 12th of March 1938 without a single shot fired. German troops crossed the border that morning and were met with cheering crowds, Nazi salutes, and flowers. The…
  • German invasion of Denmark (1940)10 minThe German invasion of Denmark on the 9th of April 1940 lasted approximately six hours, making it one of the shortest military campaigns of the Second World War. By the time most Danes had started their working day, their country had…
  • German invasion of Luxembourg12 minThe German invasion of Luxembourg lasted exactly one day. On the 10th of May 1940, three panzer divisions crossed the border at dawn, and by noon the capital was in German hands. But the speed of the conquest obscures how much preparation,…
  • Invasion of Yugoslavia12 minThe invasion of Yugoslavia began on the 6th of April 1941. German-led Axis forces attacked the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in what became known as the April War, or Operation 25. Adolf Hitler ordered it after a Yugoslav coup d'état overthrew a…
  • Operation Weserübung12 minOperation Weserübung began at 05:15 on the morning of the 9th of April 1940, when German forces struck Denmark and Norway in one of the most daring and unconventional military gambits of the entire war. Within a single day, port cities…
  • Battle of Crete13 minThe Battle of Crete began at 08:00 on the 20th of May 1941, when dozens of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft disgorged German paratroopers into the skies above Maleme Airfield. Within hours, the invaders were being cut down before they could reach…
  • Operation Achse16 minOperation Achse began at 19:50 on the 8th of September 1943, when an aide to General Jodl broadcast a single coded word to every German command across the Mediterranean theater: "Achse." That word was the signal for German forces to turn…
  • Operation Sea Lion12 minOperation Sea Lion was Nazi Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom, code-named Unternehmen Seelöwe in German. It was conceived just nine months into the Second World War, after Germany had already swept through France and the Low…

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