Singapore 1st January 1940
Harry and Julie joined a group of friends at Raffles Hotel to celebrate the New Year. They all wore party hats and drank the Veuve Clicquot which had been placed on every table. A Chinese big band played all night and the mood was one of optimism for the coming year.
April 1940
Julie gave birth to an eight-pound baby girl. Harry and Julie name her Lara after Harry’s grandmother.
Europe May 1940
10th May
German paratroopers land in The Hague and Rotterdam.
10th May
German airborne elements land across Belgium and Holland in advance of ground forces, capturing key bridges and routes.
10th May
Eighty-nine German paratroopers land and take the Belgium fortress of Eben Emael with its garrison of two thousand soldiers.
11th May
British and French army forces begin defensive preparations in Belgium in an effort to stave off the German advance. A long line of strategic defences is constructed.
14th May
Facing light opposition, German Panzer Corps XV, XLI and XIX are free to set up three key bridgeheads covering Dinant, Montherme and Sedan.
14th May
Panzer Corps XV and XIX break through the Allied defences at Sedan, allowing German forces to completely bypass the formidable defences at the French Maginot Line.
15th May
German Panzer Corps cross into the north of France.
15th May
After periods of heavy bombing all across Rotterdam, the Dutch surrender to the Germans.
15th May
The RAF sends up its first night time bombing raid against Germany. Of the ninety-nine aircraft sent, only one fails to return home.
17th – 18th May
Allied forces are in full retreat of the Germans, making their way towards the French coastline.
17th – 18th May
Antwerp falls to the German Army.
17th – 18th May
Brussels falls to the German Army.
20th May
Sensing a catastrophic loss in the making, Winston Churchill orders preparation of vessels to evacuate the British Expeditionary Forces from northern France.
20th May
Compounding battlefield losses across France and the Low Countries, the Allies implement a change at the top. French General, Maxime Weygand replaces General Maurice-Gustave Gamelin as Supreme Allied Commander.
21st May
An Allied counterattack against the German Army near Arras ends in failure, as the attack is itself countered by another advancing German land force.
24th May
German Luftwaffe bombers hammer Allied defensive positions in and around the French port city of Dunkirk.
24th May
In a stunning move, Hitler orders his forces not to cross the Lens-Bethune-St Omer-Gravelines, allowing the retreating Allied forces more time to reach the French coast.
25th May
The German Army takes Boulogne.
25th May
Retreating Allied units arrive at the French port city of Dunkirk.
26th May
Over eight hundred and fifty British civilian vessels take part in assisting military forces to retreat from French soil. This would become the largest military evacuation in history.
26th May
Hitler orders his army forces towards Dunkirk for the final blow to the Allies.
26th May
Operation Dynamo, the all-out evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk officially begins.
28th May
The Belgian Army surrenders to the German 6th and 18th armies. This action gives the evacuating forces more time.
28th May
With Belgium now out of the war, the German Army begins making its way towards the French coastline in an attempt to completely destroy the Allied forces.
28th May
By the end of this historical day, twenty-five thousand four hundred and seventy-three British soldiers have been evacuated from France.
29th May
Another forty-seven thousand British troops are evacuated from Dunkirk.
30th May
A further six thousand French soldiers join an additional one hundred and twenty thousand Allied soldiers to be evacuated from Dunkirk.
31st May
Over one hundred and fifty thousand Allied soldiers arrive in Britain.
Singapore May 1940
10th May
Harry and Julie attend a surprise fancy dress party for their good friend’s fortieth birthday. They dressed as pirates. The Nanny cares for Lara.
11th May
Drinks and dinner at the Tanglin Club.
17th May
Dinner at the Bowes’ villa in Bukit Timah.
24th May
Tennis at dusk at the Tanglin Club followed by dinner.
25th May
Foursomes Golf at the Royal Tanglin Golf Course, then dinner.
31st May
Julie and Harry attended a performance of Swan Lake at the Singapore Dance Theatre.
On all the other days in May the two doctors went about their duties operating on various patients, including soldiers severely injured in training exercises. The Nanny had a busy month.
The month of May brought different experiences to both Europe and Singapore. However the winds of change were blowing across the Singapore Straits.