| German invasion of Luxembourg | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theGerman invasion of France and the Low Countries inWorld War II | |||||||||
 German troops crossing into Luxembourg through theSchuster Line | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Luxembourg FranceAir Supported by:  United Kingdom |  Germany | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Pierre DupongÉmile Speller  Robert PetietArthur Barratt | Heinz Guderian | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Luxembourg: 425 soldiers 246 gendarmes France: 18,000 soldiers United Kingdom: No. 226 Sqdn. RAF | 50,000 soldiers 600 tanks | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Luxembourg: 7 wounded 76 captured France: 5 killed United Kingdom: 1 killed 2 captured 1 aircraft destroyed | 36 killed 52 wounded | ||||||||
TheGerman invasion of Luxembourg was part ofCase Yellow (German:Fall Gelb), the German invasion of theLow Countries—Belgium,Luxembourg andthe Netherlands—andFrance duringWorld War II. The battle began on 10 May 1940 and lasted just one day. Facing only light resistance, German troops quickly occupied Luxembourg. The Luxembourgish government, andGrand Duchess Charlotte, managed to escape the country anda government-in-exile was created inLondon.
On 1 September 1939Germanyinvaded Poland, initiatingWorld War II.[1] This put Luxembourg's Grand Ducal government in a delicate situation. On one hand, the population's sympathies lay with the UK and France; on the other hand, due to the country's policy ofneutrality since theTreaty of London in 1867, the government adopted a carefulnon-belligerent stance towards its neighbours. In accordance with the treaty's restrictions, the only military force Luxembourg maintained was its small Volunteer Corps under CaptainAloyse Jacoby, reinforced by theGrand Ducal Gendarmerie under CaptainMaurice Stein. Together they formed theCorps des Gendarmes et Volontaires under Major-CommandantÉmile Speller.[Note 1]
At noon on 1 SeptemberRadio Luxembourg announced that in order for the country to remain unambiguously neutral it would cease broadcasting. Exceptions were a daily 20 minute-long message at midday and in the evening reserved for government announcements. For the rest of the month, the government supplied full transcripts of its broadcasts to the foreign legations in the country. Later that day several German stations posed as Radio Luxembourg by broadcasting in the Luxembourgish wavelength, making, in the opinion ofUnited StatesChargé d'AffairesGeorge Platt Waller, "grossly unneutral announcements". On the evening of 21 September, the Grand Ducal government suspended all broadcasts pending the resolution of the war.[3]
On 14 September the volunteer corps was bolstered by the addition of a 125-strong auxiliary unit.[4] German military manoeuvres and river traffic made the population increasingly nervous, so in the spring of 1940 fortifications were erected along the borders with Germany and France.[5] The so-calledSchuster Line, named after its chief constructor, consisted of 41 sets of concrete blocks and iron gates; 18 bridgeblocks on the German border, 18 roadblocks on the German border, and five roadblocks on the French border.[6] Since theCorps des Gendarmes et Volontaires had nopioneer unit, construction fell to the responsibility of civilian engineers, while technical advice was sought from the French, who took great interest in the line's establishment.[7] A series of nine radio outposts were established along the German border, each manned by gendarmes, with a centralradio receiver in Captain Stein's official office near the volunteers' Saint-Esprit Barracks in the capital.[8][9] On 4 January 1940, the Cabinet convened underGrand Duchess Charlotte and outlined steps to be taken in the event of a German invasion.[10] Charlotte decided that if possible she and the government would flee abroad in the event of an attack to advocate for the country's sovereignty. DuringWorld War I, her elder sister and then-Grand DuchessMarie-Adélaïde had elected to stay duringGermany's occupation of the country, bringing the monarchy into disrepute; Charlotte wanted to avoid such problems. The government moved some of the country's gold reserves to Belgium, and began stockpiling funds in its Brussels and Paris legations in the event it was forced to flee due to German attack. The Paris legation was also given a sealed envelope detailing a formal request of military assistance from the French government in case communications were cut-off in an invasion.[11]
After several false alarms in the spring of 1940, the probability of a military conflict between Germany and France grew. Germany stopped the export ofcoke for theLuxembourgish steel industry.[citation needed]Abwehragents under Oskar Reile infiltrated the country, posing as tourists.[12] This was observed by Captain Fernand Archen, an undercover senior French intelligence officer inLuxembourg City, posing as a wine merchant.[Note 2] He reported his findings to his superiors atLongwy on 7 May, understanding that the agents were to be used to seize key bridges over theSauer,Moselle andOur rivers.[14] Luxembourg authorities also took notice, and Captain Stein worked to stop the Germans' activities.[9] On 3 March, theFrench Third Army was ordered to occupy Luxembourg in the event of a German attack.[15]
On the evening of 8 May, the Grand Ducal Government ordered for the first time that all doors of the Schuster Line be closed at 11:00 and remain so regardless of circumstance until 06:00 the following morning. Throughout the day Luxembourgish authorities witnessed much less activity on the far side of the border and made no reports of tank or machine gun movements.[10] On the afternoon of 9 May, a French intelligence officer stationed inClervaux witnessed German troops preparingpontoon bridges in theSauer. He attempted in vain to contact Captain Archen, and resorted to making a direct phone call to his superiors at Longwy.[14] Also that day a German national working in Luxembourg as a gardener and a member of the Germanfifth column warned his Luxembourgish employer, Carlo Tuck, that an invasion was impending. Tuck passed the warning on to government officials.[11] Late that evening, the Grand Ducal government came into possession of a document from a German divisional command. Dated 23 April 1940, it detailed the division's chief of staff's orders to various units to occupy strategic points within Luxembourg.[16] The Grand Ducal government put all border posts and Grand Ducal Gendarmerie stations on full alert. InLuxembourg City, gendarmes mobilised to defend public buildings and dispatched vehicle patrols to arrest fifth columnists. The economic councillor and the chancellor of the German legation were detained for questioning regarding allegations that they had used legation cars to organise subversive activities within the country. Since an invasion had not yet occurred they still enjoyeddiplomatic privilege and the police were forced to release them.[8] One group of fifth columnists was arrested while attempting to reach the legation.[10] Meanwhile, Captain Archen had received his subordinate's report, but by that point, he had been told by informants in the Gendarmerie that shots had been exchanged with German operatives at a remote farm near theMoselle. At 11:45 on 9 May he radioed Longwy: "Reports of important German troop movements on the German-Luxembourg frontier." Throughout the night his messages became more and more frantic. Two Luxembourgish customs officials atWormeldange heard horses and soldiers across the Moselle, but were unable to make out the Germans' activities due to heavy fog.[14]
At around midnight, Captain Stein, Minister of JusticeVictor Bodson, andPolice Commissioner Joseph Michel Weis held an emergency meeting. Bodson requested that the capital be reinforced by gendarmes from the south, and told Weis to forward this information to the capital's district commissioner to give the necessary orders. Weis later tried to contact the district commissioner by phone, but failed to reach him; reinforcements never came.[17] A short time later the gendarmes atDiekirch were ordered to patrol the local railway bridge and be wary of unfamiliar persons.[18] Luxembourgish authorities received the first reports of exchanged fire at around 02:00 on 10 May when two gendarmes were ambushed near the German border by plainclothes agents.[Note 3] The Germans retreated to the Fels mill nearGrevenmacher and around 20 soldiers who volunteered were dispatched to arrest them. The government then ordered all steel doors along the border locked. At 02:15 soldiers stationed inBous were attacked by Germans in civilian clothes. One soldier was badly injured, as was one German who was detained. Shortly thereafter a gendarmerie lieutenant and his chauffeur were ambushed and exchanged fire with German-speaking cyclists; no one was hurt. Fifth columnists successfully severed the telephone wires between the capital and the border posts, forcing the gendarmes to communicate via shortwave radio. German agents gradually seized the radio stations; the last post to fall, inWasserbillig, transmitted until the Germans breached the operating room.[10]
The steel doors of the Schuster Line were ordered closed on 10 May 1940 at 03:15, following reports of movement of German troops on the east side of the border riversOur, Sauer, and Moselle.[12] At 03:30 Luxembourgish authorities released interned French pilots and German deserters.[10] TheRoyal Family was evacuated from its residence inColmar-Berg to theGrand Ducal palace in Luxembourg City.[20] Around 30 minutes later, at dawn, German planes were spotted flying over Luxembourg City towards Belgium.[10]
The German invasion began at 04:35 when the1st,2nd, and10th Panzer Divisions crossed the border atWallendorf-Pont,Vianden, andEchternach respectively.[21] Wooden ramps were used to cross over the Schuster Line's tank traps.[12] Fire was exchanged, but the Germans did not encounter any significant resistance except for some bridges destroyed and some land mines since the majority of the Luxembourgish Volunteer Corps stayed in their barracks. The border was defended only by soldiers who had volunteered for guard duty andgendarmes.[2] A handful of Germans secured the Moselle bridge at Wormeldange and captured the two customs officers there, who had demanded that they halt but refrained from opening fire.[14] The partly demolished bridge over the Sauer at Echternach was quickly repaired by engineers of theGroßdeutschland regiment, allowing the passage of the 10th Panzer Division. Planes flew overhead, heading for Belgium and France, though some stopped and landed troops within the country.[citation needed]
Captain Archen repeatedly alerted his superiors at Longwy of the invasion, but his reports never reached the3rd Army atMetz. General Charles Condé, the army's commander, was unclear about the situation and at 05:30 dispatched aerial reconnaissance units to investigate. At 06:00 the French 3rd Light Cavalry Division was ordered to intervene.[15]
Telephone and radio messages from the border posts to the Gendarmerie and Volunteer Corps headquarters informed the Luxembourgish government and Grand Ducal court of the invasion.[3] Foreign MinisterJoseph Bech, in the presence of Prime MinisterPierre Dupong, attempted to contact the German ambassador at the legation and at his private residence, but they were informed that he was present at neither.[20] At 06:30 the majority of the government, including Dupong and Bech, evacuated the capital bymotorcade to the border town ofEsch.[12] Bodson stayed behind at the Saint-Esprit Barracks to monitor the situation.[11] In Esch a group of 125 German special operations troops had landed byFieseler Storch, with orders to hold the area until the main invasion force arrived. A gendarme confronted the soldiers and asked that they leave, but he was taken prisoner.[12] The government motorcade encountered a roadblock at a crossroads manned by German units, and was forced to detour through the countryside to avoid capture.[20] French Ambassador Jean Tripier followed the government party but was stopped by the Germans and forced to return to the capital. Belgian Ambassador Kervyn de Meerendré was also stopped by German soldiers at the border and ordered to turn back,[22] as was the Luxembourgish Minister of Education,Nicolas Margue, who had attempted to escape by taxi. Bodson later fled the capital and, having learned many of the secondary roads by memory, was able to avoid German roadblocks and navigate his way to France.[11]
Following consultation with her ministers, Grand Duchess Charlotte decided to abandon the palace. Accompanied by her husband,Prince Felix, her mother,Dowager Grand Duchess Marie Anne, and members of the Grand-Ducal suite, she departed for the border village ofRedange.[20] After a brief stop, her party crossed the border at 07:45.[23] Meanwhile,Hereditary Grand Duke Jean and two of his sisters, accompanied by anaide-de-camp,Guillaume Konsbruck, were to wait at the border for confirmation of occupation.[20][11] Around 08:00 the prime minister and his entourage passed over the border before making contact with French troops atLonglaville. Last minute telephone calls with Luxembourg City revealed the capital to be completely surrounded.[citation needed]
Charlotte's party was able to link up with the government motorcade at Longwy.[24] Meanwhile, Jean's party's car was strafed by a German aircraft while stopped at a cafe.[11] Near Esch, the group was delayed by a German roadblock, and they escaped when their chauffeur drove straight through the soldiers. The party ultimately joined Charlotte and the Grand Ducal government atSainte-Menehould.[24]
At 08:00, elements of the French 3rd Light Cavalry Division under General Petiet, supported by the 1st Spahi Brigade under Colonel Jouffault and the 2nd company of the 5th Armoured Battalion, crossed the southern border to conduct a probe of German forces; these units later retreated behind theMaginot Line. FiveSpahis were killed.[25] British Air MarshalArthur Barratt, impatient with the reluctance of theFrench Air Force to conductair strikes, ordered a flight ofFairey Battle bombers from the226 Squadron to attack German tank columns.[12] They went unescorted and encountered heavyanti-aircraft fire. Most were damaged byflak but managed to escape. One received a direct hit and crashed nearBettendorf. German soldiers pulled the three injured crew from the burning wreckage, one of whom later died in a local hospital.[26]
TheGrand Ducal Gendarmerie resisted the German troops, but to little avail; the capital city was occupied before noon. The Gendarmerie chain of command in the south was thrown into disarray by the influx of refugees and the arrival of German and French troops. Most gendarmes escorted refugees over the border, while some abandoned their posts and fled to France.[17] Total Luxembourgish casualties amounted to six gendarmes and one soldier wounded, while 22 soldiers (six officers and 16non-commissioned officers) and 54 gendarmes were captured.[19]
By the evening of 10 May 1940, most of the country, with the exception of the south, was occupied by German forces. More than 90,000 civilians fled from thecanton of Esch-sur-Alzette as a consequence of the advance. 47,000 evacuated to France, joiningthe Exodus of refugees from Belgium and Northern France. Another 45,000 poured into the central and northern part of Luxembourg.
On 11 May the Grand Ducal government reached Paris and installed itself in the Luxembourg legation. Fearing German aerial attack and finding the small facilities unsuitable, the government moved further south, first toFontainebleau, and thenPoitiers.[11] It later moved to Portugal and the United Kingdom, before finally settling in Canada for the duration of the war. In exile, Charlotte became an important symbol of national unity. Her eldest son and heir, Jean, volunteered for the British Army in 1942. The only official representative left behind wasAlbert Wehrer [de], head of the Ministry of State Affairs, as well as the 41 deputies.
By the end of May, Wehrer and several high ranking functionaries established a provisional "Administrative Commission" to govern Luxembourg in lieu of the Grand Ducal family and the other ministers. Wehrer retained the Ministry of State Affairs and assumed responsibility for Foreign Relations and Justice; Jean Metzdorf held the portfolios for Interior, Transportation, and Public Works; Joseph Carmes managed Finance, Labour, and Public Health; Louis Simmer oversaw Education, and Mathias Pütz directed Agriculture, Viticulture, Commerce, and Industry.[27]
In the days after the invasion Luxembourgish officers walked about the capital freely, though the regular soldiers were mostly confined to their barracks.[28] Colonel Speller was briefly incarcerated by theGestapo, though he was later released under close supervision.[29]
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