Editing 1940 (section)

===May===
{{Main|May 1940}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-055-1592-05A, Frankreich, französische Kriegsgefangene.jpg|thumb|French prisoners of war being marched away from the front, May 1940]]
*[[May 10]] – WWII:
**The [[Battle of France]] begins.
**German forces invade the [[Low Countries]]:
***The [[Battle of the Netherlands]] begins.
***The [[Battle of Belgium]] begins.
***The [[German occupation of Luxembourg during World War II|Invasion of Luxembourg]] begins.
**The British [[invasion of Iceland]] begins.
**With the resignation of [[Neville Chamberlain]], [[Winston Churchill]] becomes [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]].
*[[May 13]] – WWII:
**[[Winston Churchill]], in his first address as Prime Minister, tells the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]], "I have nothing to offer you but [[blood, toil, tears and sweat]]."
**German armies open a {{convert|60|mi|km|adj=on}} wide breach in the [[Maginot Line]] at [[Sedan, France]].
*[[May 13]]–[[May 14|14]] – Queen [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands]] and her government are evacuated to London, using the British destroyer {{HMS|Hereward|H93|6}}.
*[[May 14]] – WWII:
**[[Rotterdam]] is subjected to savage terror bombing by the [[Luftwaffe]]; 980 are killed, and 20,000 buildings destroyed.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/04/first-official-list-of-victims-of-rotterdam-bombing-published-after-82-years/ |title=First official list of victims of Rotterdam bombing published after 82 years |work=DutchNews.nl |date=12 April 2022 |access-date=12 April 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412132124/https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/04/first-official-list-of-victims-of-rotterdam-bombing-published-after-82-years/ |archive-date=April 12, 2022}}</ref> General [[Henri Winkelman]] announces the surrender of the [[Royal Netherlands Army|Dutch army]] (outside [[Zeeland]]) to German forces.
**Recruitment begins in Britain for a volunteer home defence force: the [[Local Defence Volunteers]], later known as the Home Guard.
*[[May 15]]
**WWII: The [[Royal Netherlands Army|Dutch Army]] formally signs a surrender document.
**Women's [[stocking]]s made of [[nylon]] are first placed on sale across the United States. Almost five million pairs are bought on this day.<ref>{{cite web |title=the history of nylon |url=http://www.caimateriali.org/index.php?id=32 |first=L. |last=Trossarelli |publisher=Club Alpino Italiano, Centro Studi Materiali e Tecniche |year=2010 |access-date=2012-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425044410/http://www.caimateriali.org/index.php?id=32 |archive-date=April 25, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
*[[May 16]] – President of the United States [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], addressing a joint session of the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]], asks for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900,000,000 to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.
*[[May 17]] – WWII:
**[[Brussels]] falls to German forces; the Belgian government flees to [[Ostend]].
**[[Zeeland]] is overrun by German forces, ending the [[Battle of the Netherlands]] and beginning full [[German occupation of the Netherlands]] ([[Noord-Beveland]] surrenders on May 18, and the remaining Dutch troops are withdrawn from [[Zeelandic Flanders]] on May 19).
*[[May 18]] – Marshal [[Philippe Pétain]] is named vice-premier of France.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Selected Who's who in Vichy, France, June 1940-August 1944 |publisher=United States. Office of Strategic Services. Research and Analysis Branch |year=1944 |page=303}}</ref>
*[[May 19]] – General [[Maxime Weygand]] replaces [[Maurice Gamelin]] as commander-in-chief of all French forces.
*[[May 20]]
**WWII: German forces ([[2nd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|2nd ''Panzer'' Division]]), under General [[Rudolf Veiel]], reach [[Noyelles-sur-Mer|Noyelles]] on the [[English Channel]].
**[[The Holocaust]]: The [[Nazi concentration camp]] and [[extermination camp]] [[Auschwitz-Birkenau]], the largest of the German concentration camps, opens in [[Occupation of Poland (1939–45)|occupied Poland]], near the town of [[Oświęcim]]. From now on until January [[1945]], around 1.1&nbsp;million people will be killed here.
*[[May 22]] – WWII: The [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] passes the [[Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1940]], giving the government full control over all persons and property.
*[[May 24]] – WWII:
**The [[Anglo-French Supreme War Council]] decides to withdraw all forces under its control from Norway.
**Hitler issues ''Der Halte Befehl'', a stop order preventing his [[Panzer division]]s advancing on Dunkirk.
*[[May 25]] – The [[Crypt of Civilization]] time capsule at [[Oglethorpe University]], [[Brookhaven, Georgia]] in the United States, is sealed shut, with a projected opening date of 8113 [[Common Era|CE]].
*[[May 26]][[File:Dunkirk 26-29 May 1940 H1628.jpg|thumb|210px|British troops [[Dunkirk evacuation|evacuated from Dunkirk]] arrive at [[Dover]], May 1940]]
**WWII: The [[Dunkirk evacuation]] of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War II)|British Expeditionary Force]] from France begins.
**The first free flight of [[Igor Sikorsky]]'s [[Vought-Sikorsky VS-300]] helicopter is made in the United States.
*[[May 27]] – WWII: [[Le Paradis massacre]]: 97 retreating British soldiers of the [[Royal Norfolk Regiment]] are executed by German troops of [[3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf|3rd SS Panzer Division ''Totenkopf'']] after surrendering in France.
*[[May 28]] – WWII:
**King [[Leopold III of Belgium]] orders the Belgian forces to cease fighting, ending the 18-day [[Battle of Belgium]]. Leaders of the Belgian government on French territory declare Leopold deposed.
**[[Battles of Narvik#Land battle|Land battle of Narvik]]: German forces retire, giving the Allies their first victory on land in the war; however, the British have already decided to evacuate [[Narvik]].
**[[Winston Churchill]] warns the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]] to "prepare itself for hard and heavy tidings."
**The [[Wormhoudt massacre]] (or Wormhout massacre) takes place with the mass murder of 80 British and French POWs by Waffen-SS soldiers from the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler during the Battle of France.
*[[May 29]] – The Vought XF4U-1, prototype of the [[F4U Corsair]] U.S. fighter later used in WWII, makes its first flight.